Father Robert T. Cooper

August 19, 2018

          "Too late have I loved Thee, O Beauty, ever ancient, ever new." St. Augustine was in his forties by the time he penned this personal lament. As readers of the Confessions know (and the Confessions has been a universal must-read for 1600 years), Augustine wasted himself for 30 years before he finally embraced the Lord in the greatest conversion story ever told.

          Throughout his retrospective, he refers to beauty, the need for beauty, and the search for beauty. His wanderings away from the faith of his mother were intimately bound up with a search for beauty. He did not find beauty in his catechesis, nor in his early education, so he sought it in the wild passions of love and friendship. Eventually, Augustine found the Lord by realizing in very painful ways that other beauties disappointed when they were mistaken for real Beauty.

           In his praise of the Lord, St. Augustine connects love and Beauty, for they are correlatives. Love is aroused by what is beautiful, beauty inspires love. We need to be inspired by what is truly beautiful, to be passionate about what is lovely, and to enjoy in the objects of natural affection a suggestion, a reflection of the Beauty that never passes.

            Our nation's Puritanical past might lead us to think that to be religious is to deny ourselves of what is beautiful, but the opposite is true. The Danish movie, Babette's Feast, provides a parable about a small fishing village that has driven out all that is beautiful in life in its misguided following of Christianity. The loss of beauty leads to a loss of joy and friendship. The humble cook, who is really a refugee French chef, wins a lottery fortune and uses it to prepare a sumptuous feast to celebrate the founder of the community. In the course of the feast, the village is re-awakened, re-evangelized, and re-united.

            Catholic schools have a joyful duty to present what is beautiful to their students. At the center of the school, the church and all religious services should present a feast for the eyes, the ears, the mind, and the heart. Classrooms and hallways should be tastefully decorated; students will imbibe fine works of art over the course of their years at a school. Tasteful, rich, clever visual presentations should be an important factor when considering textbook series.

            Beauty has an important place in the central activity of teaching and learning. Learning certainly requires discipline, but deep down it is a feast for the mind and heart. An ancient expression describing what it means to be beautiful is, "What pleases merely by being seen." What is beautiful does not have to be possessed, consumed to please us; merely a look is sufficient to delight us. When we hear this, we immediately think of paintings, faces, the visible things seen by the eyes. However, in a more profound sense, what pleases the mind by itself, without reference to possessing something, is truly beautiful.

          Many who teach know what this means. As young men and women, they were enchanted by their subjects and fell in love with them. Their great desire has always been to share that enchantment with their students. None expressed this desire better than the great entomologist, J. Henri Fabre. The man honored by Darwin as the "Inimitable Observer" realized the crucial importance of inspiring a love for the insects whose habits he wished to make the object of their scientific interest.

"And why should I not complete my thought: the boars have muddied the clear stream; natural history, youth's glorious study, has, by dint of cellular improvements, become a hateful and repulsive thing. Well, if I write for men of learning, for philosophers, who, one day, will try to some extent to unravel the tough problem of instinct, I write also, I write above all things for the young. I want to make them love the natural history which you make them hate; and that is why, while keeping strictly to the domain of truth, I avoid your scientific prose, which too often, alas seems borrowed from some Iroquois idiom."

           Dr. Paul Lockhart expresses the same, heartfelt desire in his Mathematician's Lament, in which he mourns the fact that most students never get a clue in twelve years of schooling as to why mathematicians love what they do.

"There is no question that if the world had to be divided into the "poetic dreamers" and the "rational thinkers" most people would place mathematicians in the latter category. Nevertheless, the fact is that there is nothing as dreamy and poetic, nothing as radical, subversive, and psychedelic, as mathematics. It is every bit as mind blowing as cosmology or physics (mathematicians conceived of black holes long before astronomers actually found any), and allows more freedom of expression than poetry, art, or music (which depend heavily on properties of the physical universe)."

          I recently read a lament from a graduate student in classical literature at a prestigious graduate school, one with which graduate students in all fields who entered their programs in love with a subject can sympathize:

"I'm frustrated by what I see of academia. I rarely get to consider a text as literature – I feel like there's always a huge emphasis on socio-historical context or the validity of manuscripts – and so often classes center closely around the professors' rather obscure interests. I enjoy when I can spend a day reading Homer or Ovid. I'm just learning that Classics is not really about doing that."

           Teachers of literature must ensure that they spend less time training students to recognize metaphor and simile than they do inspiring them to feel the power of the beauty of the stories and poems they encounter in their classes. Of course, no teacher will succeed with every student, nor can he neglect his duty to pass on things that need to be "known" about it. Nevertheless, he should take every opportunity he can to manifest the beauty of a subject to which he has given his own heart. When he succeeds, he has given his students something which will make a greater impression in their lives than any test they might ever pass. For, as St. Augustine also realized, every encounter with a beauty is really a meeting with the Beauty that is the goal of all our longing: "And I replied unto all the things which encompass the door of my flesh: "Ye have told me of my God, that ye are not He; tell me something of Him." And they cried out with a loud voice, "He made us." My questioning them was my thoughts on them: and their form of beauty gave the answer."

August 12, 2018

         “Whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things” (Phil 4:8). 

          This teaching from St. Paul captures well the heart of Catholic education at St. Benilde. Woven throughout, and uniting, the rich variety of activities that unfold daily in our school is the mission to “think about these things.” Therefore, it is incumbent upon everyone involved in the ministry of Catholic education within our parish family to ensure that by means of our curriculum, extra-curricular activity, and Christian witness, our students are immersed in the true, the good, and the beautiful and helped to ponder them deeply in the light of our Catholic faith.

Truth
           In his message for World Communications Day 2017, Pope Francis observed: “The early Christians compared the human mind to a constantly grinding millstone; it is up to the miller to determine what it will grind: good wheat or worthless weeds. Our minds are always “grinding”, but it is up to us to choose what to feed them (cf. Saint John Cassian, Epistle to Leontius).” The human mind seeks naturally to know what is true. Truth is a person, Jesus Christ, who reveals Himself as "the Way, the Truth and the Life” (John 14:6). At St. Benilde School, we feed the minds of our beloved students with truth by facilitating their encounter with the Truth, who is Jesus.

Goodness
            “God saw everything that he had made, and indeed, it was very good” (Genesis 1:31). Catholic education seeks to help our students be aware of their own inherent goodness as children made in the image and likeness of God. Modern media, with its many illusory messages about what is “good,” can distract our students away from this awareness. By placing before them the Word of God, traditional devotionals and the celebration of the sacraments, Catholic education offers our students the opportunity to be silent and hear the voice of God summoning them to holiness and assuring them they are His beloved.

Beauty
            By helping our students look upon reality through the lens of divine revelation, we lead them to see the beautiful in what a purely human gaze often perceives as unattractive, namely, in the faces of persons who are poor, sick, suffering, and alone. Catholic education strives to make a difference in the lives of individuals and in the wider community by challenging students to recognize the inherent beauty and worth of every person and to serve others, especially the poor, with compassion and justice. By embracing the call to serve, the active response of our students to anyone in need holds strong transformative potential for a world seeking justice, peace, and unity.

          At the start of the 2018-2019 school year, we give thanks to God for the beautiful ministry of Catholic education at St. Benilde Parish. By the help of His grace, may we enable our students to ponder the true, good and beautiful, and thus come to realize how God is present and at work in the world and in every moment of their lives, leading them to salvation.

August 5, 2018

          Rooted in the classical world of Greek thought and Thomistic philosophy, Catholic education is not shaped by trends, fashions, and fads but founded on a great tradition that has passed the test of time. It teaches all subjects in their integrity, according to their first principles, the logos that conform to the structure of reality and the nature of things–whether it is the grammar that governs language, the reasoning that underlies arithmetic and geometry, or the revealed truths that form the basis of theology. Catholic education is founded on universal truths derived from all spheres of knowledge, that is, the unchangeable laws, the eternal truths, and the perennial wisdom that form the food of the mind and the life of the soul. Catholic education does not dilute, oversimplify, or “dumb down” subject matter to accommodate students but teaches them how to rise to the level of demand required by a particular discipline such as grammar, theology, Latin, or chemistry.

           Like its moral teaching that inspires moral excellence and an imitation of Christ, Catholic education holds high ideals for its students and instills a love of learning because of man’s innate desire for knowledge—a love of truth that climaxes in a sense of wonder at God’s created and supernatural order and His revealed truths. This authentic education does not lower its standards nor commits grade inflation. Recalling the words of St. Thomas Aquinas that “All truth, whoever said it, comes from the Holy Spirit,” it cultivates in the mind openness and love of truth to “all that is,” that is, the truths that come from all bodies of learning, both the arts and the sciences. All these fields of knowledge illuminate some attribute of God’s nature as goodness, love wisdom, justice, beauty, mercy, or power.

            Catholic education has its heritage in the liberal arts that pass on the wisdom of the past and the venerable traditions of Western civilization known as The Perennial Philosophy—what is universally true for all people, in all times, in all places (“the best that has been thought and said” in Matthew Arnold’s famous phrase). Thus, it rejects the doctrines of moral relativism, political correctness, indoctrination, and ideology by educating the mind to detect lies, propaganda, and heresies in all their various disguises. It embraces what Edmund Burke in Reflections on the Revolution in France refers to as the accumulated knowledge of the human experience that transcends one person’s “private stock of reason” and encompasses “the general bank and capital of nations, and of ages.”

              Catholic education recognizes that just as there is a health of the body and a perfection of the soul, there is also an excellence of the intellect, both the knowledge of the head and the knowledge of the heart—the ability to read, write, speak, and listen; the skill to observe, calculate, and think logically; and the sensitivity to respond to the wonder of beauty and appreciate the virtues of the heart: kindness, charity, mercy, gratitude, loyalty, and hospitality. This education does not ignore man’s social or emotional nature, and therefore it cultivates manners, courtesy, tact, and propriety in speech, behavior, and clothing, recognizing that the beautiful or gracious is the attractive aspect of the good. In the words of Gerard Manley Hopkins, “Glory be to God for dappled things – For skies of couple-colour as a brinded cow; For rose-moles all in stipple upon trout that swim; Fresh-firecoal chestnut falls; finches’ wings ….” Catholic education, then, integrates and sees the unity between all bodies of knowledge ordered to a greater understanding of God’s truth, goodness, and beauty as objects of the mind to know and contemplate with wonder, love, and gratitude and then to incorporate in one’s own life.

              Blessed Cardinal John Henry Newman best describes this ideal of Catholic and liberal education in these words from The Idea of a University that defines the nature of intellectual excellence at its highest: “the clear, calm, accurate vision and comprehension of all things.” As Cardinal Newman continues, “It is almost prophetic from its knowledge of history; it is almost heart-searching from its knowledge of human nature; it has almost supernatural charity from its freedom from littleness and prejudice; it has almost the repose of faith, because nothing can startle it; it has almost the beauty and harmony of heavenly contemplation, so intimate is it with the eternal order of things and the music of the spheres.”

              It is common to hear students dismiss certain fields of knowledge as useless to their profession and career. Why should a student majoring in information technology, accounting, music, or biology study philosophy, literature, or Latin? Surely, they will not need this knowledge in their specialized, technical fields of study. The courses designated as “liberal arts” have no practical, utilitarian value for many professions that require skills acquired only in that particular discipline. Business majors need to study accounting, economics, and statistics to become expert in their field, and pre-medical students benefit more from the study of the sciences than the humanities.

               Newman, however, addressed this very question during the Victorian Age when trade schools and technical training established respectability as models of education essential for the Industrial Age centered upon the importance of manufacturing and the progress of science. Thus, Newman’s age made the common distinction between “the good” and “the useful,” separating the two ideas as exclusive. While the useful was good, the good was not useful or “utilitarian” as it was defined in that period. For something to be classified as “good” or beneficial, it needed to have immediate results and produce tangible benefits. As Sir Francis Bacon argued, knowledge is power. An education that led to a job was useful; work that resulted in good income was useful; the income that improved a person’s standard of living was useful. The useful, then, was measured in quantitative ways and seen in materialistic advantages.

              A bonafide classical or Catholic education, however, is not utilitarian, a form of training in a marketable skill motivated by economic considerations for the sole purpose of earning a livelihood. It is a love of learning for its own sake, a desire for truth as an end in itself and as a great good that suffuses all areas of life. Classical education views the study of the liberal arts as a pursuit that resembles the habit of worship, the cultivation of friendship, the appreciation of beauty, the enjoyment of play, and a love of learning as activities that are intrinsically good in and of themselves. They lift the heart, animate the spirit, and inspire a love of life and of the goodness of creation. As Newman explains, the good, while not utilitarian, is always useful. The good is “not useful in any low, mechanical, mercantile sense, but as diffusing good, or as a blessing, or a gift, or power, or a treasure, first to the owner, then through him to the world.”

            Good is not only good, but reproductive of good; this is one of its attributes; nothing is excellent, beautiful, perfect, desirable for its own sake, but it overflows, and spreads the likeness of all around it. Good is prolific . . . . A great good will impart a great good.

           In short, if there is no limit to all the good a blessing, a gift, power, an act of love, or a precious treasure can add to the world or to the life of one person and if there is no limit to the overflow of goodness that communicates and diffuses itself everywhere and touches many lives, a Catholic education is the most useful of educations because of all the practical, real good that abounds for all who receive this goodness and transmit it in a generous, charitable sharing way for all to know, love, and perpetuate.

July 29, 2018

          To understand the devotion to the Most Precious Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ, we should look carefully at the meaning of blood and blood that is shed. By doing this, we can then consider the meaning of the shedding of the Precious Blood of Christ.

          We all know that blood is biologically part of our body. However, blood is also intimately associated with the vital element of the individual as a person. That is why we give to the Blood of Christ all the adoration due to Christ Himself. Our blood is naturally meant to be inside the body. Hence, every time we bleed, it is something of an unnatural or catastrophic nature. Many illnesses, for example, are perceived by bleeding caused by some malfunction inside the body. Bleeding is essentially a sign of alarm, which because of its violence, calls attention to the fact that something is terribly wrong with the person.

          Besides illnesses, bleeding also calls to mind fighting and crime. For example, the idea of bloodshed instantly calls to mind the blood of Abel, shed by Cain and which, according to Scripture, rose to God clamoring for vengeance. When blood is shed by crime, we sense a profound violence applied to the body that conveys the idea of something unjust, brutal and iniquitous which profoundly disturbs an existing order and clamors to God for the reestablishment of order.

           When we consider the infinitely Precious Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ, many things come to mind. We think of that blood begotten in the womb of Our Lady. We think of that Blood that was shed, leaving His Body from whence it should never have left. That Blood, like everything else in the Body of Christ, is in hypostatic union with Him and when it leaves His sacred Body, it is as if symbolizing all the dignity of that Body. We might compare this departure to the juice that comes from the grape to make up wine. That juice represents the essence of the grape, all the best the grape has to give. So also, our Lord’s Blood represents the best of blood–the blood of David, the blood of Mary, the Blood of God-Man.

          Through a series of unspeakable, violent deicidal actions, that Blood was shed in the scourging, the crowning with thorns, the cross, and torments of all kinds. That Blood was shed by the great anguish of soul when Our Lord, in His agony, began to suffer and sweat blood all over His Body. That Blood shed and falling on the ground clamorously attests to the insult made to the God-Man. It is a manifestation of how far human wickedness can go. It is a manifestation of the mystery of iniquity. We see in that Blood how much God tolerates. We are reminded how fallen human nature in this valley of tears (above all when guided by sin and the devil) is capable of going to the extremes of evil shrinking from nothing.

          These considerations should lead us to always be extremely suspicious towards evil. We should follow Our Lord’s precept: “Watch and pray.” Our suspicions are based on the fact that evil is capable of the worst infamies. One can expect everything from it. Thus, we should do great violence to ourselves to fight against it. We should avoid all drowsiness, foolish optimism, or procrastination in face of evil. Indeed, failing to combat evil is a true crime since we see that if evil was capable of such horrible acts against Our Lord, it is capable of everything. Evil calls unto other evils and can go to the very depths of all evil.

          Looking at this bloodshed, we should note that the mercy of God wanted all that Blood to be shed with unheard-of abundance. All the blood in the Body of Our Lord Jesus Christ was shed, as if to show that He gave us everything, without holding back even one drop, because of His immense desire to save us. One drop of His blood would have sufficed, yet He shed all His blood to the point that the last drops were mixed with water that left His Side when Longinus pierced His Heart with the lance. He wanted to hold nothing back in order to redeem us.

           This superabundance of blood, suffering, and offering up of self recalls Our Lord’s words: “Greater love than this no man hath, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” Considering the devotion to the Most Precious Blood, we might say, “Greater love than this no man hath, than He who gave His life for us.” However, He did even more than just giving His life. He wished to suffer death from the beatings, anguish, and the shedding of every drop of blood in His sacred Body. In this sense, every drop of blood is like a tiny death, for it is a drop of life that goes away. He wanted to go through all these “deaths” to show how infinite was His friendship for us.

          Such considerations lead us to confide in His mercy. If He so wanted to save us, we should understand that we might cover ourselves in His Blood and present ourselves to the Eternal Father. Begging forgiveness thus covered in His Blood, we should confide that we could obtain it. The eternal destiny of the damned, on the other hand, is something we must consider quite horrifying. If Our Lord suffered all these torments to spare us from eternal doom, then this damnation is a very serious thing. So let us meditate on the depths of Hell by considering a drop of the Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ.

           This inevitably leads us to other considerations. First, we must see how the Blood of Christ calls to mind the tears of Mary, shed along with the Blood of Christ. Our Lord did not want Our Lady to shed any drop of her own blood. He allowed all types of torments against Himself but forbade the powers of evil from raising even a finger against His Immaculate Mother. Thus, she suffered no physical torments. None of her blood was shed on behalf of humanity, nor would it have had the redeeming force of the infinitely precious Blood of Christ. The entire Redemption would come specifically from the Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ.

            However, Our Lady did shed a kind of blood: Her tears. It would serve as only a kind of complement to Our Lord’s Blood. We can say that tears are the blood of the soul. She suffered all the pain of His death and shed tears. That is why it is impossible to think about the Blood of Christ without at the same time considering the tears of Mary that were joined to that Blood and constituted the first tribute of Christendom to complete the part of His Passion that God wanted to be completed–with the suffering of the faithful–so that souls would be saved in great numbers.

          Finally, we should think about the Holy Eucharist. The Blood of Christ was shed in streets, squares, Pilate’s palace, and on top of Mount Calvary. That Blood of Christ is found entirely in the Holy Eucharist. How many times we have received this Blood of Christ in us. Thus, as we receive the Body and Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ, we should remember this: We are receiving this Precious Blood, shed for us. Inside us, it is like the blood of Abel, not to clamor for punishment against us, but to clamor for mercy for us. So let us receive the Eucharist with great confidence and joy, as we receive the Blood of Christ that rises to Heaven clamoring for mercy on our behalf.

July 22, 2018

           Once there was a liberal clergyman who became pastor of a somewhat traditional church, and after a few weeks of listening to his modernistic, politically-correct preaching, some of his parishioners came to him and asked, “Reverend, do you believe in the devil and in hell?” The pastor scoffed at these ideas and responded, “No, of course not; those are silly medieval superstitions.” To this, the parishioners said, “Well, then, please resign and go somewhere else—for if there is no devil and no hell, we don’t need you, and if there is a devil and a hell, we don’t want to be led astray by you” (David F. Burgess, Encyclopedia of Sermon Illustrations, #451).

          The Church has always taught the reality of the devil, and the possibility of being eternally damned along with him as a result of the spiritual warfare he wages against us. For instance, Pope Francis has stated that the devil “exists in the 21st century, and we need to learn from the Gospel how to battle against him,” and also that “the presence of the devil is on the first page of the Bible, and the Bible ends as well with the presence of the devil, with the victory of God over [him].” It is not only mistaken, but also spiritually foolish—and potentially disastrous—to deny or ignore the devil’s existence. He hates each one of us personally, and is always plotting and working against us, seeking our eternal damnation. Only by remaining on guard against him, and by using the spiritual weapons and defenses the Lord provides us through the Church, can we be sure of defeating his attacks and of one day reaching our true home in heaven.

          Jesus uses the image of weeds among the wheat to explain why evildoers are to be found in the world and even in the Church. However, it is also possible to interpret this parable on a more personal basis: namely, Satan is trying to sow his evil seeds of sin and spiritual destruction in our own lives—and it is our duty to guard against this threat. The devil studies us very carefully, taking note of our strengths and weaknesses, our habits and inclinations, and he shrewdly chooses the particular temptations and attacks best suited to overcome us—all the while striving to work behind the scenes without us suspecting anything. Therefore, it is good to ask the Holy Spirit to enlighten us. In this regard, we might ask ourselves: what particular evil seeds is the devil attempting to sow in the field of our lives?

          The Church speaks of the “Seven Deadly Sins,” which are anger, envy, gluttony, greed, lust, pride, and sloth or laziness. Every human being is weak or easily tempted in at least one of these areas, and probably several of them—and so these are usually the focus of the devil’s attacks.

• In regard to anger, for instance, the devil wants us to nurse grudges and refuse to forgive other people, to become impatient with their failings, and to overreact to the things about them that annoy us.
• Satan tries to use the sin of envy against us by getting us to compare ourselves with others, to adopt an “entitlement mentality,” and to consider ourselves better than those around us.
• Because we Americans are, compared to most people, very self-indulgent, the devil has found gluttony to be a fertile field for his evil seeds. He tempts us to overdo life’s legitimate pleasures, to disdain or reject sacrifice and self-control, and to ignore other people’s poverty or suffering.
• Greed is also a common weakness in our society, so Satan tempts us to want more money and possessions, more technology and convenience, and more luxury and leisure—when we should instead be concerned with storing up treasure for ourselves in heaven.
• Lust is a particularly fertile field for the devil’s seeds; as Our Lady of Fatima revealed, more souls are in hell for sins against the 6th Commandment than any other. Satan is constantly tempting us to misuse sex, to glorify and expose our bodies, and to treat other people as objects for our own pleasure.
• Pride is the sin which transformed Lucifer, the greatest of all the angels, into the hideous creature of Satan—and so the devil delights in using this sin against us. He wants us to think, “I’m superior to others, I know what’s best for me, and no one is going to tell me how to live my life”—for such attitudes make spiritual growth impossible, while causing us to reject the God-given authority and saving power of the Church.
• Even if all these temptations fail, the devil will try to get us to fall victim to sloth, or spiritual laziness, in which we know we have to repent or take our spiritual duties more seriously, but we just cannot motivate ourselves to get started. Instead of striving for holiness, Satan wants us to settle for being good enough—for that may eventually allow him to turn us against God.

            Other snares of the devil include poisoning our relationships, distracting us with this life’s concerns so that we are always too busy or preoccupied to pay attention to God, making us afraid to do what is right because of what other people might say, inflating our egos by appealing to our natural desire to be popular and praised by others, and trying to discourage us by convincing us we will never overcome our faults and that holiness is beyond our reach.

           Farmers use weed-killers or pesticides to prevent or remove weeds in their fields, and fertilizer to nourish the crop and bring about the greatest possible growth. The most potent weed-killer against Satan’s evil seeds of spiritual destruction is humility. The more we humble ourselves, the more God’s grace can be at work within us, helping us overcome our faults and grow in holiness. In particular, frequently examining our consciences and regularly receiving the Sacrament of Reconciliation will ensure the devil will not gain a solid foothold in our lives. As far as the spiritual fertilizer we need, worthily receiving Holy Communion each Sunday is the single greatest thing we can do to be made ready for eternal life in heaven. Other valuable means of tending the field of our souls include reading the Bible and other worthwhile spiritual books, setting aside time for prayer every day, seeking God’s guidance in all our decisions, learning more about our Catholic faith, submitting to the authority of the Church on moral and religious issues, praying for the conversion of sinners and for the souls in purgatory, and cultivating a loving relationship with the Virgin Mary, our guardian angels, and our favorite saints. Satan is real; he is hate-filled and dangerous, and is conducting spiritual warfare against each of us personally. However, the devil is doomed to fail—if we take our faith seriously, and if we make a loving relationship with Jesus our highest priority.

July 15, 2018

         Jesus said, “I have observed Satan fall like lighting from the sky.” Most modern progressive Catholic thinkers would say, that Jesus was using some very colorful language to make His point about evil and its existence but – He did not mean this literally. So the question remains, does personal evil really exist?

         The modern Catholic, who is uneducated in their faith, would say, is not the devil just some story or tool invented by the Church to control people? To make us afraid so we will follow blindly whatever the Church says–so that the popes, bishops, and priests could control us? Cannot all those stories in the Bible about Jesus casting out demons be explained away by modern psychology and its understanding of psychological disorders–or religious fanatical behavior? Are not Hell and the devil just childhood stories told around the campfire, to entertain us with a little bit of fear? Or maybe just the reoccurring plot–of too many horror movies? Did not the Second Vatican Council with its new modern liberal mindset bring us out of a backward medieval belief system to make us modern progressive thinkers capable of realizing that hell and Satan are just the products of ignorance, superstition, or an over active imagination?

          Let us think about this for a moment. Here is what Gaudium et Spes, one of the documents of the Second Vatican Council notes: “The whole of man’s history has been the story of our combat with the powers of evil, stretching, so our Lord tells us, from the very dawn of history until the last day. Finding himself in the midst of the battlefield, man has struggled to do what is right, and it is at great cost to himself, and aided by God’s grace, that he succeeds in achieving his own inner integrity” (Gaudium et Spes, 37).

         Some Catholics maybe surprised that the existence of evil, the devil as well as hell, are all truths of our Catholic Faith. All one has to do is pick up a copy of the Catechism and you will find that the Church officially teaches–from paragraph #1033 through paragraph #1037 – that evil does exist, that there is a person, a fallen Angel to be exact, who wants nothing more than to destroy humanity and if that is not possible then at least to get as many people away from God, away from salvation to spend eternity in hell with him. Pope Paul IV, taught that “evil is not merely a lack of something, but an effective agent, a living spiritual being, perverted and perverting.  A terrible reality–mysterious and frightening–who goes about acting in a way contrary to the teaching of the Bible and the Church.”

         Of course, there is the New Testament, which alone refers to the devil and his wickedness nearly 300 times as a warning to us of his presence and activity in our world. This leads us to the Gospels, where Jesus talks more about the devil and evil than anything else except His divinity. We read that the disciples were overjoyed because–demons were subject to them through the Holy Name of Jesus. This power of the name of Jesus was given not only to the disciples but also to the whole Church to fight against and overcome any and every evil in this world. This power is the authority of the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church, built on the authority of Jesus Christ Himself, which causes the gates of hell to tremble.

         What we learn from the New Testament is that the main purpose of Jesus’ ministry was to destroy the works of the devil and to bring about the Kingdom of God, which will destroy the Kingdom of Satan. Christ came to cast out, bind up and deliver humanity from its slavery to sin and death as well as from the chief works of the devil called vices. According to the Old Testament, the devil gets his foothold in this world and in our lives through things like fortune-tellers, soothsayers, charms, diviners, and spells as well as when we consult with ghosts and spirits or seek oracles and revelations from the dead. In our day and age, he still uses these things including horoscopes, the new age movement, Gnosticism, moral relativism, or even more explicitly through Satanism and the worship of the devil.

         Every day we see his evil played out right in front of our eyes and then we ignore what we see and the underlying cause. We fail to recognize that there is a very real enemy, who likes to remain hidden, while he plots our destruction and doom. This evil is increased with the destruction of Fatherhood, marriage and traditional family life; in the increase in war, murder, and suicide; the devastation of our youth through drugs and sexual addiction; the massive diffusion by the media of corrupting errors and sinful practices. And most especially in our day, with the ruinations of our religious freedoms and those individuals who bravely speak up for them.

          Nowadays, objective evil is displayed out in the open–all of which are meant to destroy us–caused by a malicious Angel who wants nothing more than to eradicate us from the face of the earth. Satan has gone so far as to attack humanity at its source with the sin of abortion, birth control, embryonic stem cell research, and cloning as well as using the cumulative forces of this world’s sinfulness to redefine life and marriage as we know it and calling it progress and the new, modern family. Nothing can escape from the rebellious forces of hedonism and secularism in their violent march throughout the world trying to force us to believe that sinfulness and evil rebellion against our Creator and His definition of morality is normal and warranted.

          We have come so far that not to follow this march of evil to our own destruction is to be portrayed as crazy, abnormal, or ignorant. We have come so far that good is bad and evil is really good. Good people are boring and evil people are fun. We defend the criminal and imprison the lawful. Our daily poor example to our children teaches them that magic and fairy tales are real and that God, His angels and Saints, do not exist but somehow all humans and dogs go to heaven. No wonder our world is so confused and ignorant of what God really says and teaches.

          So it goes without saying, with all certainty, that those of us who want to be truly holy and virtuous, who want to wholeheartedly embrace the Catholic Church’s authentic teaching and mission to save souls, will live a very difficult life. One full of challenges and at times real sorrows, but at the same time, a life of immense blessings and graces, which all those who follow Christ enjoy for all eternity. If we really want to be God’s saints and His holy people, we need not fear what is coming or what is already here, we need not fear the other sheep or those wolves among us dressed up like them for God will not be mocked or made a fool of for in the end all will be revealed; He does not deal lightly with the devil or his unrepentant companions, be they angelic or human. That is why He created hell, just for them.

           We are in the midst of a war–a war between good and evil–and the worst thing you can do in any combat situation is to believe that you’re not in one and that this fight has nothing to do with us. This, sadly, has been the mindset of us humans, us Christians, and us Catholics, for far too long. Pope Leo XIII stated it boldly, “Catholics are born for combat!” Therefore, we the people must become we the Saints. We must once again become the Church Militant–soldiers and warriors of Jesus Christ. The devil certainly knows that his time is short and that it would be even shorter should the One, Holy, Catholic, Apostolic Church ever take the call to spiritual warfare and authentic holiness seriously.

         The Liturgy of the Hours for the Martyrs states: “We are warriors now, fighting in the battlefield of faith, and God sees all we do; the Angels watch, and so does Christ. What honor and glory and joy, to do battle in the presence of God, and have Christ approve our victory.” Let us arm ourselves in full strength, with Rosary in hand and prepare ourselves through Eucharistic Adoration, for the ultimate struggle with blameless hearts, true faith, and unyielding courage.

            The venerable Bishop Fulton Sheen taught, “Christ demands fire–he demands zeal for His followers.”  In the scriptures, Christ commands us to go out and preach the Gospel, to live virtuous holy lives, to convert the nations and to cast out evil. When we pray the “Our Father,” we ask God to deliver us from evil; this is the normal daily petition said in the Church’s greatest prayer. Maybe it is time for us to make this petition part of our daily actions and not just part of our prayers.

            Praying for the deliverance from evil, working for its destruction, is at the very center of our Catholic faith because when we act this way we recognize that only God can truly save us from the power of the devil, who enslaves us with sin and evil. So be at peace, be unafraid, as St. Paul tells us, “we bear the marks of Christ on our bodies” through baptism and the Holy Eucharist, as we are being “sent out into the world as lambs among wolves” where “the harvest is rich and the laborers are few” where “the world is crucified to me and I to the world.” So rejoice because “your names are written in Heaven” and “as a mother comforts her child–so God will comfort you.” It is time, my brothers and sisters, to get up and engage in spiritual combat!

July 8, 2018

           When I was parochial vicar in a parish with a large Catholic School, a parent of one of our students passed away after a tragic and long illness. Many of the students struggled with how to express their grief or condolences appropriately. I suggested to a few of them that having a Mass offered for the dead is always a beautiful and appropriate way to express one's solidarity with the grieving. Most, if not all, looked at me as if I had something growing out of my head. It occurred to me that many really did not understand the value of offering a Mass for the dead. Moreover, I would guess that there are many people out there-while they recognize the Mass as something important-do not fully understand why offering a Mass for someone, especially the dead, is so important, not only for those who grieve, but for the person who died.

           First of all, we must never forget the infinite graces that flow from the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass–graces which are directed for the salvation of all humanity. After all, the Mass is the sacrifice of Christ Himself. It is Christ Himself through the ministerial priesthood, who makes the benefits of His Passion, Death, Resurrection, and Ascension present to us in the here and now. By our full and active participation in the Mass, we offer our own sacrifices and our very lives in union with Christ to the Father in the Holy Spirit. Therefore, something mystical and something extraordinary happens to us at every Mass!

           But something extraordinary happens too to the entire Church here on earth, in heaven, and in purgatory. Pope Leo XIII, in his encyclical "Mirae caritatis" (1902), emphasized that there is a connection between the deceased and the living members of the Church (the Communion of Saints), and the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. He wrote: "Faith teaches that although the [Mass] can be offered to God alone, it can nevertheless be celebrated in honor of the saints now reigning in Heaven with God, who has crowned them, to obtain their intercession for us, and also, according to apostolic tradition, to wash away the stains of those who died in the Lord but without yet being wholly purified."

           Hence the Mass is the means through which we, the church here on earth (the Church Militant), together with those in heaven (the Church Triumphant), offer our intercessions or prayers on behalf of the dead (the Church Suffering). Catholic teaching affirms that our prayers on behalf of the dead, particularly the offering of the Mass, actually are beneficial for the souls of the dead. As Pope Leo said, through the Mass we ask God to "wash away the stains [or sins] of those who died in the Lord." The Mass is also, as the Holy Father pointed out, a means for us to seek God's graces on our behalf and on behalf of others who are in need of God's graces (i.e. the sick and the suffering).

           This tradition of offering Masses for others, particularly the dead, originates at the time of the apostles and in the history of the early Christian Church. We find evidence of this practice in inscriptions found on tombs in the Roman catacombs of the second century. For example, the epitaph on the tomb of Abercius (c.a. 180), Bishop of Hieropolis in Phrygia, asks for prayers for the repose of his soul. St. Hippolytus of Rome (c.a. 235) (to whom we attribute the second Eucharistic Prayer) mentions explicitly the offering of prayers for the dead during the Mass. St. Cyril of Jerusalem (c.a. 386), in his catechetical talks, explained how the living and dead are remembered at Mass, and how the Mass is a benefit to sinners, living and dead. St. Ambrose (c.a. 397) preached, "We have loved them during life; let us not abandon them in death, until we have conducted them by our prayers into the house of the Lord." St. Augustine (c.a. 430) in his Confessions recorded the dying wishes of his mother, St. Monica who asked: "One thing only I ask you, that you remember me at the altar of the Lord wherever you may be." And lastly, Holy Scriptures in the Second Book of Maccabees (12:43-46) records that praying for the dead is a "holy and pious thought" and that we do so, so that "they might be freed from sin."

           Therefore, when a priest offers the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, he has three intentions: first, he offers the Mass reverently and validly according to the liturgical norms of the Church. Second, he offers the Mass in union with the whole Church and for the good of the whole Churc –both living and the dead in purgatory. And third, he offers the Mass for a particular intention, such as the repose of the soul of someone who has died.

           The Catholic Church teaches that the effects of the Mass bring certain benefits or fruits. Generally the fruits of the Mass are bestowed upon the entire Church–to the living faithful and those souls in purgatory. That is why in the Eucharistic Prayer you might hear a special mention remembering both the living and "those who have died and have gone before us marked with the sign of faith." But the special ministerial fruits of the Mass are applied to the particular intention of the Mass, i.e. "for whom the Mass is offered." That is the reason why the priest or commentator might mention the name of the person "for whom the Mass is offered" or you might see a person's name recorded in the bulletin for a particular Mass. Most of the time, it's for a deceased person, but it could also be for a person living who might have a special intention (anniversary, thanksgiving, illness, etc.).

           Customarily, a stipend is usually given to the priest for offering the Mass. The stipend serves as a "symbol" of one's sacrifice of self–a giving of something of ourselves in Christ's Holy Sacrifice at Mass. What is a sacrifice without an offering? What is a sacrifice if it does require us to give something of ourselves, even if it is only symbolic? This is why when one is making a request for a Mass, a stipend is requested. It is not a payment for the Mass (I have often heard people say "I want to buy a Mass"–as if God's graces can be bought!), but rather it serves as a symbol of one's offering or sacrifice.

          And so, this custom of "offering" the Mass has both a historic and scriptural origin, but is also of the greatest importance for the Church–for the salvation of the living and the dead. Therefore, I will offer the same suggestion to you that I offered those students years ago: when someone dies, even a person who is not Catholic, have a Mass offered for the repose of his or her soul. Now that you posses an understanding of the significance of offering the Mass for the dead, you will agree I am sure, that the Mass, as well as our own personal prayers for the dead, is more beneficial and comforting than any other sympathy card. Remember too, you can also request to have a Mass offered for your particular intention or for someone else.

July 1, 2018

          When President Bush addressed Pope Benedict XVI on the White House Lawn during his Holiness’ Pastoral Visit to the United States in 2008, the President invited the Holy Father to give all Americans a catechesis on the true meaning of freedom. “In a world where some see freedom as simply the right to do as they wish,” the President said, “we need your message that true liberty requires us to live our freedom not just for ourselves, but in a spirit of mutual support.” The Pope did not let the President down. Throughout his pilgrimage, Benedict returned time and again to the subject of freedom, celebrating with Americans the fundamental role of freedom in our history, defining its true nature, and calling our attention to counterfeit versions of freedom that are undermining the real thing. On Wednesday, when we as a nation give thanks to God for the gift of our freedom, it is fitting to return to Benedict’s message so that our country may remain and become ever more that which we sing in our national anthem: “the land of the free.”

           At the White House reception, Pope Benedict began his response to the President’s request by reminding us that our country’s founding fathers, who risked their lives to sign the Declaration of Independence over 230 years ago, recognized that there is an essential link between freedom and the truth of a moral order coming from God. “From the dawn of the Republic,” he stated, “America’s quest for freedom has been guided by the conviction that the principles governing political and social life are intimately linked to a moral order based on the dominion of God the Creator. The framers of this nation’s founding documents drew upon this conviction when they proclaimed the ‘self-evident truth’ that all men are created equal and endowed with inalienable rights grounded in the laws of nature and of nature’s God. The course of American history demonstrates the difficulties, the struggles, and the great intellectual and moral resolve which were demanded to shape a society that faithfully embodied these noble principles. In that process, which forged the soul of the nation, religious beliefs were a constant inspiration and driving force, as for example in the struggle against slavery and in the civil rights movement.”

           The Holy Father added that throughout the centuries Americans cultivated the moral virtues that kept our country free, and how their example provides a challenge to us today. “Freedom is not only a gift,” Benedict emphasized, “but also a summons to personal responsibility. Americans know this from experience—almost every town in this country has its monuments honoring those who sacrificed their lives in defense of freedom, both at home and abroad. The preservation of freedom calls for the cultivation of virtue, self-discipline, sacrifice for the common good and a sense of responsibility towards the less fortunate. It also demands the courage to engage in civic life and to bring one’s deepest beliefs and values to reasoned public debate. In a word, freedom is ever new. It is a challenge held out to each generation, and it must constantly be won over for the cause of good.”

             There is, Benedict implied, a battle to keep freedom tied to the good against those who want to invoke it to do evil. In speaking to the younger generations at Dunwoodie Seminary, the Pope made this battle explicit. “Numerous individuals and groups vociferously claim their freedom in the public forum,” he remarked. “Yet freedom is a delicate value. It can be misunderstood or misused so as to lead not to the happiness that we all expect it to yield, but to a dark arena of manipulation in which our understanding of self and the world becomes confused, or even distorted by those who have an ulterior agenda.” One obvious example of this type of manipulation of freedom is in the so-called “freedom to choose” to kill one’s own children through abortion. In order to prevent freedom from being co-opted, Benedict told the throngs of young people that freedom must remain bound to the truth of the human person and what is good for him. “Have you noticed how often the call for freedom is made without ever referring to the truth of the human person? Some today argue that respect for freedom of the individual makes it wrong to seek truth, including the truth about what is good. In some circles to speak of truth is seen as controversial or divisive, and consequently best kept in the private sphere. And in truth’s place — or better said its absence—an idea has spread which, in giving value to everything indiscriminately, claims to assure freedom and to liberate conscience. This we call relativism.”

             Pope Benedict then illustrated the type of damage this false notion of freedom, based on the “dictatorship of relativism,” brings about. “What purpose has a ‘freedom’ that, in disregarding truth, pursues what is false or wrong? How many young people have been offered a hand which in the name of freedom or experience has led them to addiction, to moral or intellectual confusion, to hurt, to a loss of self-respect, even to despair and so tragically and sadly to the taking of their own life?”

            “Dear friends,” he continued, “truth is not an imposition. Nor is it simply a set of rules. It is a discovery of the One who never fails us; the One whom we can always trust. In seeking truth, we come to live by belief because ultimately truth is a person: Jesus Christ. That is why authentic freedom is not an opting out. It is an opting in; nothing less than letting go of self and allowing oneself to be drawn into Christ’s very being for others.”

            Real freedom, in other words, comes through living by Christ’s love. “The path that leads to true freedom,” he synthesized at Nationals Park in Washington, is “the path of a sincere and generous imitation of Christ.” At Yankee Stadium, he further developed the point. “The Gospel teaches us that true freedom, the freedom of the children of God, is found only in the self-surrender which is part of the mystery of love. Only by losing ourselves, the Lord tells us, do we truly find ourselves. True freedom blossoms when we turn away from the burden of sin, which clouds our perceptions and weakens our resolve, and find the source of our ultimate happiness in him who is infinite love, infinite freedom, infinite life…Real freedom, then, is God's gracious gift, the fruit of conversion to his truth, the truth which makes us free. And this freedom in truth brings in its wake a new and liberating way of seeing reality.”

            Since real freedom is tied to embracing the truth revealed by God, Christians have a particular responsibility in keeping our nation free. “Authentic freedom,” Benedict told Catholic educators, “can never be attained by turning away from God. Such a choice would ultimately disregard the very truth we need to understand ourselves.” For that reason, he called upon Catholic teachers to exercise an “intellectual charity” in their instruction, so that they will form not just the mind but also the will of younger generations to “opt-in” for truth in faith and win freedom over for the cause of good. “The profound responsibility to lead the young to truth is nothing less than an act of love” guiding the young toward “the deep satisfaction of exercising freedom in relation to truth” and striving to “articulate the relationship between faith and all aspects of family and civic life.” The Church has this responsibility of “intellectual charity” to the nation as a whole.

             As the challenge of freedom, so nobly advanced by our founding fathers and preserved and defended by generations of valiant Americans, is passed precariously to us, the message of Pope Benedict charts for us a path to rise up to the challenge, and safeguard and strengthen this precious gift.  

June 24, 2018

           Today we celebrate the Nativity, the birth, of St. John the Baptist. Throughout the year, the Church has marked dates upon which we remember the work of the Lord through particular people: Apostles and Prophets and pastors and missionaries and many other holy men and women of God through whom the Lord has proclaimed His saving Gospel and shown us His gracious good works. So today, we remember and give thanks for the birth of St. John the Baptist.

          St. John the Baptist was a unique man. He is rightly called the last of the Old Testament prophets. He was the last one to preach the Gospel before the Savior came. John is also the first of the New Testament preachers. His calling was to point out Christ for the world and to identify, for the people, the man who is God in the Flesh, Jesus, the Son of God–the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

          Some people would like to remember John simply because of the strange circumstances surrounding his birth: the angel's announcing his coming to his father, Zechariah; striking Zechariah unable to speak until his birth; the birth of John to Elisabeth, who was well beyond her childbearing years. Some think John should be remembered for the kind of life he lived: a harsh and strange life dressed in camel's hair, eating locusts and wild honey. Some remember John for his harsh preaching against the self-righteous Pharisees. Many would say that John's death by being beheaded by King Herod was what made John most famous.

          We are going to cast all of these aside today and remember St. John the Baptist for his finger. That's right, his finger! Because of all the things that John the Baptist did, the most important was what he did with his finger: he pointed to Christ. He pointed to the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. He did this in fulfillment of his father's words: "You, my child, will be called a prophet of the Most High, for you will go before the Lord to prepare His way; to give His people knowledge of salvation, in the forgiveness of their sins" (Luke 1:76-77).

          John's finger pointed to Jesus, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. That is salvation for all of us, who are also finger-pointers. However, when you and I "point the finger," we do not point to Jesus. When you and I point fingers, we are pointing them at each other. From the highest levels of scandal in world government and big corporations to kids running around outdoors and getting into trouble, "finger-pointing" is our thing.

          Our finger-pointing even does double duty! When we point the finger at someone to blame them, we are making them the one responsible for whatever problems there are, while at the same time trying to escape our own responsibility and blame! Adam, when he was caught in sin pointed his finger at Eve, and even at God Himself. "The woman YOU gave me made me eat the fruit" (Gen. 3:12). The woman pointed her finger at the serpent. It was his fault. And ever since that day, we have loved ourselves rather than our neighbor by using our fingers to identify the people around us who ought to get in trouble so that we do not.

          Oh yes, the way in which we love to point the finger, lay the blame, and try to save ourselves is the way of people in this fallen world. Moreover, it is a damnable way. For such finger-pointing leads to death and hell! After all, what use does God have for those who are only worried about themselves and would abandon their neighbor the instant they can save their own skins?

          For a world full of such finger-pointing people comes the finger of John the Baptist, pointing not to the sins of others but to the Lamb of God. "Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world" (John 1:29). Zechariah knew that, beginning with John, the days of salvation were about to be accomplished. By the Holy Spirit, John's father prophesied of his son's place in the world: to be the man who points us all to the Savior, to Jesus, to the Lamb who takes away all our sins.

           John came into this world for this purpose: to point to Christ. To call God's people away from their sins in repentance and to faith in the One to whom he pointed. John baptized in the Jordan River for the forgiveness of sins and to bring sinners to faith in Christ, the Son of God. John wasn't there to bring attention to himself but to Christ. His finger was aimed always at Jesus: "Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!"

            All fingers ultimately point to Jesus. Not only the fingers of faithful preachers, but also the fingers of all the blame in the world, for Jesus took upon Himself our sins. It was to Jesus that the Jewish religious leaders pointed as the One who was worthy of death. It was to Jesus that the finger of Pontius Pilate pointed when he announced, "Behold the man!" (John 19:5). It was to the crucified Jesus that the fingers of His enemies and those who mocked Him pointed. And it was in the wounds of Jesus that the fingers of His disciples rested when He showed that He was indeed risen from the dead! How worthless and silly all of our finger pointing seems in comparison with the Lamb of God who was pure and innocent and yet suffered for our sins and conquered death!

          Dear friends, follow the finger of St. John the Baptist! See to Whom it points! And follow the finger of your priest to see where it points! For I, too am called to point my finger. But, like John, my finger is not here to point out your sins for condemnation or to point you to the sins of others. My finger is to point where John's pointed: to the Lamb of God.

          Repent of your own finger-pointing! Receive our Lord’s forgiveness from such finger-pointing! Moreover, learn, then, to use your fingers for good and not for evil! Use them for pointing others to Christ, not for pointing out their sins. Husbands and wives, instead of pointing out what's wrong with each other, point one another to your rings and vows and the grace of God which has bound you together. Parents, as your kids grow, point them to the Altar as the sure and certain means of knowing that God loves them in Christ. All of you: whether you are on the playground, or at work, or with friends or family – learn to stop pointing out the sins of others, whether to blame them, or excuse yourself, or to make others laugh at them! Rather, point one another to Christ and to His means of grace and to His forgiveness. Let it be said of you, "Gee, she never points fingers!" What a blessing that would be wouldn't it? In addition, of course, when the sinful urge to point your finger at someone overcomes you, run back to the Church and receive the Lord’s mercy in the Confessional.

          Today we remember the Nativity, the birth of St. John the Baptist–not for his sake, but for yours–to recall that he was the one born into this world to identify the Christ for us. John the Baptist points to Jesus. And by pointing to Jesus, John has identified for us the one Source of all of our hope and comfort and peace and life and joy. John brings God's people knowledge of salvation by the forgiveness of our sins. That is salvation: the forgiveness of sins.

          John was born to point to the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Let all who are entrusted with the care of God’s people do this faithfully. Then we will always be directed to the Savior who takes away our sins. To the Altar! To the Font! To the Confessional! To Scripture, and Tradition, and the Teaching office of the Church! To the preaching and absolving! There is Christ, just as St. John has shown us.

          Praise be God for the birth of St. John the Baptist! Praise God for St. John's finger, for it points us to our Savior, Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God who has taken away our sins. Happy Nativity of St. John the Baptist!

June 17, 2018

          Father's Day is a time when we celebrate fatherhood. This is well and good, but I cannot help but notice that the families that fathers are supposed to be fathering are in utter disarray. Therefore, it seems that one thing we could do on this special day is reflect on the state of our families and try to answer the following question: What are fathers being called upon to do today?

           Cardinal Gaudencio Rosales, the former Archbishop of Manila, writes that “fatherhood comes from God.” We have been created in the image of God and made sharers in His life and work, though we can reject His plan for us. Consequently, natural fathers are meant to share in the fatherhood of God in a special way. This means that fathers are to do what God does: defend, protect, initiate, motivate, and sustain.

          So how does one share in the role of God's fatherhood? Cardinal Gaudencio Rosales tells us that we share in God's fatherhood by defending life and the values that protect life. These values comprise that which is true, right, good, just, compassionate, and loving. If we defend life and the values that protect it, then we are actively sharing in the role of God's fatherhood as defenders, protectors, initiators, motivators, and sustainers.

          Nowhere do these values need to be more protected today than in the family, for the family is under direct attack on many fronts. One of these fronts is the relationship between the state and the family. In his article published in the American Spectator, "America's Ruling Class -- And the Perils of Revolution," Angelo Codevilla gives us an excellent synopsis of the relationship between the state and the family as it exists today.

          He writes as follows: "the relationships between men, women, and children and the state is fundamental. That is why individuals such as Hillary Clinton have written law review articles and books advocating a direct relationship between the government and children, effectively abolishing the presumption of parental authority. Hence, whereas within living memory school nurses could not administer an aspirin to a child without the parents' consent, the people who run America's schools nowadays administer pregnancy tests and ship girls off to abortion clinics without the parents' knowledge. Parents are not allowed to object to what their children are taught. However, the government may and often does object to how parents raise children. The ruling class's assumption is that what it mandates for children is correct ipso facto, while what parents do is potentially abusive. It only takes an anonymous accusation of abuse for parents to be taken away in handcuffs until they prove their innocence. Only sheer political weight has preserved parents' right against the ruling class's desire to accomplish what Woodrow Wilson so yearned: 'to make young gentlemen as unlike their fathers as possible.'"

          The state, or the ruling class if you prefer, does not have a direct relationship with our children. It has no right to bypass the authority of parents, except when the family is in acute distress. The family is primary to the state. The Catechism of the Catholic Church explains how to protect and sustain this order based on the principle of subsidiarity. According to this principle, "a community of a higher order should not interfere in the internal life of a community of a lower order, depriving the latter of its functions. . ." (CCC 1883).

          This principle is derived from the way that God governs the world and His respect for human freedom. God did not reserve the exercise of all power to Himself. We can see this when we look at creation. God entrusted "to every creature the functions it is capable of performing, according to the capacities of its own nature" (CCC 1884). Thus, the principle of subsidiarity "sets limits for state intervention" (CCC 1885).

          "Authority, stability, and a life of relationships within the family constitute the foundation for freedom, security, and fraternity within society. The family is the community in which, from childhood, one can learn moral values, begin to honor God, and make good use of freedom. Family life is an initiation into life in society" (CCC 2207). Thus, there is a direct relationship between the well-being of the family and true freedom.

          Of course, when a family is not able to care for itself or a grave danger of some sort is present, it is right for the state to intervene with respect to the principle of subsidiarity. However, this is not what is happening today. Instead, the state has literally injected itself into the family to such a degree that relationships within the family are being undermined and members of the family are being unnecessarily harmed by the state. 

          Depending on the specific situation, such aggressive intervention can easily drive a wedge between members in the family by causing distrust and alienating family members. It can undermine parental authority such that children do not listen to their parents and rebel. This can cause problems in the family for years, sometimes for a lifetime. Moreover, it creates a weak citizenry that can easily be enslaved by unscrupulous people in positions of power.

          For these reasons, as well as others, fathers need to speak the truth about our relationships and defend that truth against those who are perverting it. It seems to me that this is what fathers are being called to do today, that this is how they are to share in God's fatherhood. Fathers also need to sustain what is right and good in their families. Perhaps the best thing fathers can do for their families and society is to nurture their relationship with God and develop a devout prayer life. They can also defend motherhood by sustaining the dignity of motherhood and motivating others to do so. In addition, they can love their children's mother as Christ loves His Church.

June 10, 2018

         June is traditionally the month dedicated to Jesus’ Sacred Heart. It has always struck me as noteworthy that we do not have a feast of Jesus’ sacred brain, even though Jesus is the eternal logos. We do not honor His hallowed hands, which, in spite of calluses from hard work in a hidden Nazarene carpentry shop, brought a tender healing touch to so many. There is no commemoration of the Lord’s consecrated feet, which traversed the ancient holy land as He announced the Good News from town to town. There is no liturgical observation of Jesus’ blessed eyes, which looked on the rich young man with love and were so powerful that, with one glance, they could make Peter weep in the high priest’s courtyard. There is no festival of His venerable voice, which amplified the Word of God made man.

           While there would be a certain fittingness to honoring all of these parts of Jesus’ sacred anatomy—especially since His head was crowned with thorns, His hands and feet pierced by nails, His eyes bruised and beaten and His voice thoroughly parched on Good Friday out of love for us—Jesus has never asked that we do so. Rather, when He began to appear to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque in 1673, He did request that a feast be instituted to honor Him under the image and reality of His Sacred Heart. The Lord’s reason for choosing His heart will always remain, in some ways, a great and beautiful mystery, but even with our limited human intellects we can come up with at least two partial explanations why.

             First, according to the language and imagery of the Bible, the heart has always been considered the center of the person, the point where reason, will, and emotions converge, the place where one finds his inner unity and direction. To honor Jesus’ heart means that we give homage to His entire sacred humanity, conscious that Jesus took our own nature in order to offer it for us, redeem it, and make it the sacred dwelling place of God once again.

             Second, the heart is the organ that most effectively symbolizes love. To adore Jesus’ heart is to venerate His great love for us. When Jesus appeared to St. Margaret Mary, He exposed His heart and she saw it engulfed in flames, a sign that He burns with love of us. Twice during the Last Supper, Jesus said that He loves us as much as the Father loves Him (Jn 13:34; Jn 15:13) and, just like the Father’s love for Him, Jesus’ love for us has no limits. Jesus Himself revealed this to St. Margaret Mary when she saw His exposed, ardent heart also surrounded by a crown of thorns. No one has greater love, Jesus said, than to lay down his life for his friends, and the crown of thorns united in the midst of the flames is a sign of just how much suffering Jesus’ love for us was willing to bear.

               Because Jesus has a human heart, however, that heart can be broken, and it has been—and not just when it was pierced with a lance upon the Cross. Jesus told St. Margaret Mary as much in 1675, because the burning love of His heart for us so often goes totally unrequited. Pointing to His heart, He said to her, “Behold the heart which has so much loved men that it has spared nothing, even exhausting and consuming itself in testimony of its love. Instead of gratitude, I receive from most only indifference, by irreverence and sacrilege and the coldness and scorn that men have for me in the sacrament of love.”

               The sacrament of love He was referring to was, of course, the Eucharist. This was the reason why Jesus wanted the Feast of the Sacred Heart established within the octave of the Feast of Corpus Christi, so that a reparation of love and adoration could be done by the Church in response to the glacial indifference with which His abiding Eucharistic love is met. It is no surprise that He told St. Margaret Mary that that reparation should take a particularly Eucharistic form in the practice of frequent communion, especially on first Fridays, as well as by a vigil of prayerful adoration on Thursdays in memory of His agony and desertion.

               It is important to stress that Jesus was not just asking for devotion, not merely recognition, of His sacred humanity and burning love. For Him, it was not enough that people know that He loved them passionately enough to take on our humanity, redeem it, and then remain with us until the end of time in the Eucharist; He desired for that knowledge to pass from their heads, to their hearts, to their knees, to all parts of their lives. Much like what the Lord did with the Feast of Corpus Christi in the 13^th century and of Divine Mercy in the 20th — creating the occasion for belief in His real presence in the Eucharist and in our need for His mercy to pass from knowledge to ardent love — so with the revelation of His Sacred Heart, He wanted us to adore His sacred humanity and merciful love all in one, not in plaster statues, but in the Eucharist.

                Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus brings us to the “source and summit of the Christian life,” which is the Eucharist. That is why Pope Benedict said that devotion to the Sacred Heart is essentially the “center of the faith.” The Heart of Christ, he stated, “expresses in a simple and authentic way the ‘glad tidings’ of love, summarizing the mystery of the Incarnation and the Redemption in itself…God desired to enter into the limits of history and the human condition. He took on a body and a heart; thus we can contemplate and meet the infinite in the finite.”   

                 Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI calls every person to find his “center” in Jesus’ Sacred Heart, which he poetically says constitutes a “source of truth and goodness to draw from in the flux of the different situations of everyday life and its toil. Every one of us, when he pauses for a moment of silence, needs to feel not only the beating of his own heart, but more deeply, the beating of a trustworthy presence, perceptible to the senses of faith and yet more real: the presence of Christ, the heart of the world.”

               For that reason he explicitly wanted to “invite everyone to renew his devotion to the Sacred Heart of Christ,” in which man and woman can find again their center by rediscovering in Christ both the ontological meaning of their humanity—which Christ humbled Himself to take so that we might share in His divinity—as well as the moral meaning, in receiving and sharing the self-sacrificial love of Christ.

               This June is a special occasion for each of us to return to this devotion of our faith, this summary of the mystery of the Incarnation and Redemption. O Sacred Heart of Jesus, make our hearts like unto thine! 

June 3, 2018

           This Sunday is the Feast of Corpus Christi, the Feast of the Body and Blood of the Lord, in the Catholic Church. There has been a popular custom for years in the Western Church of processing the Eucharist through the public streets. The priest, accompanied by a deacon or another priest would lead the faithful in the Procession, singing hymns and leading in prayer. This procession is undergoing a resurgence in many places as adoration of and devotion to the most Holy Eucharist experiences a wonderful renewal. After having received the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ in Holy Communion, Catholic Christians come from the Sanctuary and process into the streets of the world, pausing along the way for solemn worship, singing songs of adoration, and holding the Lord enthroned.

          The procession symbolizes the ongoing redemptive mission of Jesus Christ to the world as it is now lived out through His Church. I have fond memories of this beautiful event that stretch back into my early childhood. Since my ordination, it has also come to signify my call as a Catholic priest to go, as I so often say, “from the altar into the world.” As the years have unfolded in my life, the true beauty and profound symbolism of this Catholic custom has captured me, along with a deep appreciation for what it really calls us to become: living witnesses to Jesus Christ in the very real world of our daily lives.

           We march with the Body of Jesus Christ, the Eucharistic Host, enthroned in a “monstrance,” a sacred vessel made of precious metal, where the priest or deacon enthrones the consecrated Eucharist for public worship. This worship not only occurs in the Church sanctuary but also is intended to form a way of life wherein we spread our faith into the “city streets” of the entire world and allow our faith to inform and transform every area of our lives. In this act of public procession, we are reminded that God still loves the world so much that He still sends His Son through each one of us as members of His Body on earth, the Church. This procession is a reminder of the baptismal vocation of every Christian, to carry on the mission of Jesus Christ, through His Church, until He returns.

           At an interior level, it also symbolizes the universal call to holiness, to continuing conversion in Christ. We who are baptized are called into a very real communion with the Trinitarian God. He comes to dwell within us and we live our lives now in Him. We are also called to allow Him to reign in every area of our real lives. We do that by living what spiritual writers often call a “unity of life.” The Feast is an invitation to reaffirm our belief in the implications of the Incarnation of Jesus Christ. To be a Christian is a fundamentally relational reality. It also means that we are to live differently. We must fight the temptation to compartmentalize our faith into some “religious sphere” where it does not act as a leaven within us, and then through us for the world. Through our Baptism, through our participation in all of the sacraments and, in particular, through the Holy Eucharist, we now abide in God. We live in Him and He lives in us. We also carry Him into the world as we carry the monstrance into the streets today.

             Jesus told his disciples: “Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you” (Jn 6:3). We who have been given the bread of angels now have life within us; His Life–the very life of the God who is Father, Son and Holy Spirit–a communion of Divine Persons in the perfect unity of Perfect love. This is why this Feast of Corpus Christi follows the great Feast of the Holy Trinity in the Church calendar, to show us this profound connection. Through the Holy Eucharist, we are invited into the Trinitarian communion and then sent into the world to carry Jesus to others so that they all may join in the Feast!

             The Eucharist is a mystery that is meant to plunge its roots deeply into every area of our lives. It is a gift to be received and lived. We are called into communion with the living and true God. The implications are meant to unfold into a dynamic, daily encounter with a living God who calls us to continual conversion. This conversion happens in and through the very “stuff” of the struggles and travail of our daily lives, through the mistakes, the wrong choices, the failures and even through the pain. Through it all, the love of God purifies and refines us as the refiners’ fire purified the gold that was used to make the many Monstrances that are being carried into the streets of the world on this great and glorious Feast of Corpus Christi.

             Often, especially in times of difficulty, the Lord appears to be hidden, as He does to so many in the Holy Eucharist. Nevertheless, with the light of faith, He soon reveals Himself. Through the continuing work of grace, and our response to God’s loving invitations, we really can become such “living monstrances,” living tabernacles, wherein the Lord dwells. Like Mary, the Mother of the Lord–and the mother of all who follow her Son–we are invited to give our “Fiat,” our surrender of love, our “Yes” to the God of love. We are sent into the world in Christ with redemptive love. Through living our lives in the “Fiat” of surrendered love, we can carry Jesus Christ everywhere, just as we carry the Monstrance today. We can help to bring Him back into the lives of those who, knowingly or unknowingly, still hunger for Him. We can enthrone Him in the center of the “city” of this age as we marched the Monstrance into the cities of the world today.

           The early Eastern Church Fathers referred to the Church as the “world transfigured” and the “world reconciled.” These insights help us to unpack the mystery of this great Feast. That reconciliation and transfiguration continues in our day. The baptized, no matter what their state in life or vocation, continue this mission of Jesus Christ until He comes again. We do that through living in His Body, His Church, of which we are members. St. Paul, in his letter to the Christians in Philippi, reminded them—and reminds us—that our true “citizenship” is now established “in heaven.” While we live in this current age, we participate in bringing heaven to earth and earth to heaven. We now live in the Church, which is that communion of the faithful in Christ, and go into the world to bring it back to God in Christ.

           In his letter to the Corinthians, St. Paul wrote: “So whoever is in Christ is a new creation: the old things have passed away; behold new things have come. And all this is from God, who has reconciled us to himself through Christ and given us the ministry of reconciliation” (2 Cor 5:17-19). On the Feast of Corpus Christi, we commemorate the great gift of God to mere mortals, the banquet of immortality. This God of Love, who chose to give Himself fully and completely to you and me, in and through His Son Jesus Christ, now feeds us in the most Holy Eucharist and transforms us into Himself. He then reaches out through us to embrace a world that He still loves. He gathers that world back to Himself through the ongoing mediation and mission of the Church, which is the new world, renewed in His very Life Giving Spirit.

           The same God who fed His chosen people Israel manna in the desert, satisfying their physical hunger, gives the Living Bread, the Eucharist, to satisfy the deepest spiritual hunger of every man, woman and child. In the Eucharist, we receive the Lord Jesus, Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity, heavenly provision and eternal food for our earthly journey. The great theologian, St. Thomas Aquinas wrote: “Material food first of all turns itself into the person who eats it, and as a consequence, restores his losses and increases his vital energies. Spiritual food, on the other hand, turns the person who eats it into Itself, and thus the proper effect of this sacrament is the conversion of man into Christ, so that he may no longer live for himself, but that Christ may live in Him. And as a consequence it has the double effect of restoring the spiritual losses caused by sins and defects and of increasing the power of the virtues.”

              Our participation in the Eucharist is a communion in the inner life of God. It is a call to continuing conversion and transformation. It is a call to participate in the transfiguration of the world. When we feed on this heavenly food, the Lord comes to dwell within us and makes us like Himself. We then “give thanks” by living our lives differently. That is what the word Eucharist literally means, “thanksgiving.” We have received the Living Bread from heaven. Let us now become what we consume, enthroning the Lord in our daily lives and in the world. 

May 27, 2018

           We have known the Rosary since we were children and still use it today. It is uniquely and identifiably Catholic. All who pray it are drawn closer into the heart of the Church. It is a prayer guided by Our Lady and at the same time focused on the mysteries in the life of her Son, Jesus. It leads us deeper into the words of Scripture while it also captures the essence of our Catholic Tradition. It is at the same time contemplative, suited well for prayer on one’s own, and communal, effective in the family and the parish.

          We must regard the Rosary as a singular gift, which teaches us how to pray. The Church existed for many centuries before the Rosary became a part of our tradition. We thank God for this way of prayer and devotion which has nourished the Church for almost eight centuries through good times and bad. In May 2008, Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI said that the Rosary was “not a pious practice banished to the past, like prayers of other times thought of with nostalgia. Instead, the Rosary is experiencing a new springtime. Without a doubt, this is one of the most eloquent signs of love that the young generations nourish for Jesus and His Mother, Mary.”

          There are many forms of prayer in the Church – the most perfect form being the communal celebration of the Eucharist. Joined closely to the Eucharist are the Divine Office, which sanctifies the hours of each day, and Eucharistic Adoration, which extends from the celebration of the Mass itself. Beyond the liturgical prayer, the Rosary has a special place for Catholics. Let me share with you why I believe the Rosary is not only an important devotion in itself, but in fact teaches us how we are truly to pray.

          First, each decade of the Rosary is introduced by an “Our Father” and then continued with ten “Hail Marys.” I would encourage you when you pray each decade to view the “Hail Marys” not as something separate but as a continuation and extension of the Lord’s Prayer. When the disciples asked Jesus to “teach us to pray,” Jesus gave them the “Our Father.” To pray our Lord’s Prayer is to be a disciple. The greatest of the disciples was His Mother, who was with the disciples in the Upper Room, in the days before Pentecost, “constantly devoting themselves to prayer” (Acts 1:14).We can imagine that with Mary the disciples prayed as Jesus taught them. This is what we do in the Rosary. Like the disciples, we gather with Mary in the “upper room” of our hearts and pray in the school of Mary.

          Second, as St. Pope John Paul II insisted in his Apostolic Letter on the Most Holy Rosary in 2002, “the Rosary, though clearly Marian in character, is at heart a Christocentric prayer.” Each mystery we contemplate is a mystery of Christ. The “Hail Mary” always seems to reflect the way in which, between the conception of Jesus and His nativity, Mary carried Jesus in her womb. Like the great prayer of the Eastern Church, the Jesus Prayer, the Rosary repeats, again and again, the most Holy Name of Jesus. “There is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved,” Saint Peter said (Acts 4:11).

          Thirdly, the Rosary is a Scriptural prayer. The twenty “mysteries” are all drawn from Scripture. There is a deep relationship between the practice known as “Lectio Divina” – the prayerful reading and listening to the words of Scripture – and the Rosary. Prayer is a dialogue with God which begins not with our words to God, but God’s words to us. It is the Holy Spirit speaking to us through the words of Scripture that “teaches us to pray.” As Saint Paul wrote to the Church in Rome, “we do not know what we should pray for, as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered”(Romans 8:26). The prayer of the Divine Office, consisting of Psalms and Scripture readings, teaches us the same lesson. For this reason, I suggest you sometimes use the “Scriptural Rosary” resources, which recommend verses of the Scriptures to accompany meditation on the mysteries.

          Finally, the Rosary teaches us to “pray constantly” (1 Thess 5:17). I strongly recommend carrying a set of rosary beads in the pocket as a reminder to take opportunities throughout each day to pray. There will be times for a few moments to pray, perhaps while waiting in line or during our lunch break. The Rosary is a circle, which reminds us that our prayer should be never-ending. The tradition of praying a certain set of mysteries on certain days, such as the Joyful Mysteries on Saturday or the Sorrowful Mysteries on Friday, also means that we will never be at a loss as to what to pray: the Rosary gives us direction at every moment.

         I urge you to take up your beads and to spend some time sitting with Mary using this most precious gift to learn how we should “pray as we ought!”

May 20, 2018

         This Sunday we celebrate the Solemnity of Pentecost, that day on which the Holy Spirit appeared to the apostles in the Upper Room as tongues of fire and came to rest on each one of them (Acts 2:3). The Catechism of the Catholic Church explains that fire symbolizes the transforming energy of the Holy Spirit's actions (CCC 696). Indeed, the infusion of the Holy Spirit enabled the apostles to plunge bravely ahead into the midst of a world filled with severe and even murderous opposition.

          When Jesus Christ promised to send the Advocate to the apostles, He assured them that the Spirit of truth would guide them into all truth (cf. John 16:13). This gift of the Spirit was given to the Church as a means of sanctifying her not only on Pentecost but for all eternity: "The Holy Spirit was sent on the day of Pentecost to sanctify the Church unceasingly, and thus enable believers to have access to the Father through Christ in the one Spirit" (Lumen Gentium 4). On that day the Church "was openly displayed to the crowds and the spread of the Gospel among the nations, through preaching, was begun" (CCC 767).

           On Pentecost the Church receives the mission, supported by the guidance of the Holy Spirit, of proclaiming and establishing the Kingdom of Christ; she then becomes "on earth the seed and the beginning of that kingdom" (LG 5). The Church is thus established as the sacrament of salvation, a visible and spiritual community of faith, hope, and charity founded and sustained by Christ, through which the Risen Lord communicates truth and grace to all men (cf. CCC 771).

            It is the Holy Spirit who reveals Christ, "the way and the truth and the life" (John 14:6); and it is that same Spirit who is the Spirit of truth, since He proceeds from the Father and the Son as from one principle, the origin and source of truth. It is the Holy Spirit who awakens in us the life of faith, and who, according to the Father's plan, draws us into mother Church whose life-blood flowed forth from our Lord's pierced side on the cross. Simply, the Holy Spirit calls us to access the fullness of truth held within the Church, fall in love with it, and live immersed in its beauty throughout our entire existence.

           However, truth is a concept which is often misunderstood in contemporary Christendom: there is often a perplexing and frustrating lack of concern for the fullness of truth, for unity of faith and morals, and for that oneness which the very name Christian implies. How often is Christ's own ardent prayer for oneness (cf. John 17:21) overlooked, dismissed, or forgotten; how frequently is the notion of personal infallibility adamantly held; and how numerous are those who live as if the Magisterium – in which we indeed hear the Word of God – were an intrusion on the Gospel.

            We often wonder: "What has happened?" While the situation is complex, it nevertheless is as if Pentecost has, for many, lost its meaning. There are, of course, nominal Catholics and other Christians who are heavily influenced by the incessant undertow of radical secularism, relativism, and religious indifferentism found in the West. It is not unlike choking on pollution. Therefore some posit that the lackadaisical attitude so often displayed by Christians is simply the product of an inescapable secular conditioning which begins during childhood and continues right on through elementary school and college, establishing itself quite firmly as adults immerse themselves in the often empty yet demanding world of business.

           However, while it is true that Christians are often affected by the negative influences of society, it is incorrect to think that they are incapable of breaking free from them. For God has given us the Advocate who unceasingly reaches out to us, who desires to carry us along on the wind of His love, and who constantly moves us delicately toward Christ. Thus each and every one of us is provided with the grace necessary to turn away from the evils often found in the world, set our gaze upon our Savior, and begin our journey of salvation. 

          The Spirit of truth unceasingly calls us to respond to His grace, to open our hearts to His transformative, regenerative, and healing love, which empowers us to live fully the sacramental life of the Gospel, and which grants us new eyes with which to see. If we will but turn to the Holy Spirit in prayer, give Him His due attention as the Person of unspeakable importance that He is, relinquishing self in abandonment to the Advocate, we will begin to understand – a new world will slowly yet steadily unfold before us. It is the Spirit of truth who reveals Christ to every Christian, and it is through the Catholic Church that Christ communicates His truth and grace to all men.

          In response to the impulse of the Spirit of truth, who instills in us a thirst for the fullness of truth, thousands of Anglicans and others are journeying into full communion with the Catholic Church. This journey begins with God's grace, flourishes in recognition of the continuity of faith and morals found in the Catholic Church, and is actualized in taking concrete steps to enter into full communion with mother Church. That the Spirit of truth seeks to lead us into the fullness of truth rather than simply partial truth is all about Love. If it can be said that the importance of love is infinite, the same can be said of truth; for love and truth do not exist in isolation, but rather together as aspects of the one God.

           We begin to glimpse the importance of truth and oneness when we meditate upon the Holy Trinity: The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit who are all one God in substance, and whose life is one of existential unity and love, each giving infinitely of Self to the Other. The Holy Trinity is the foundation of the Christian faith and the source of all truth. This Truth is an undivided and indivisible Truth; it is an inviolable Oneness of power and glory which is the cause of all that is visible and invisible. It can hardly seem possible that Christians would not fall in love with truth, thirst for it, and seek it out always and everywhere.

          Further, since God Himself has revealed to the faithful this secret of His inner life, this Trinity of Persons whose embrace of supreme love and devotion is limitless, and whose attribute is Truth, it hardly seems possible that Christians could fail to quickly notice the supreme importance of truth and unity. Those who do notice, flock toward the truth and unity which shines forth with such brilliance in the Catholic Church; for it was the Holy Spirit who was given to the Church on Pentecost, who dwells within her "as in a temple," and who guides her "into the way of all truth" (LG 4; cf. John 16:13).

          Catholics who, in response to the grace of the Holy Spirit, have abandoned themselves in love to Christ and His Church understand that the fullness of truth is an incomparable treasure through which they access the means to attain life, security, and peace. For these Catholics, truth is not simply an abstract, malleable concept which is of little significance, but rather becomes their very life, for they recognize that the life they have received is from Truth Itself: God.

          The experience of Pentecost is not lost to the past, but rather is a reality which continues to live on in the Church, for Christ does not revoke what He has promised: "I am with you always" (Matt. 28:20). On the day of Pentecost, Christ's Passover is fulfilled in the outpouring of the Holy Spirit (cf. CCC 731), a gift of Love which is unceasing. The question remains: do we thirst for the Spirit's love with such ardent desire so as to abandon self and devoutly embrace the movements which He instills within our hearts?

          Archbishop Luis Martinez wrote: "Sweet abandonment to all the movements of love is the characteristic mark of devotion to the Spirit. To love this divine Spirit is to let ourselves be taken along with him, as the feather is carried along by the wind; to let ourselves be possessed by him, as the dry branch is possessed by the fire that burns it; to let ourselves be animated by him, as the sensitive strings of a lyre take life from the artist's touch" (The Sanctifier 83). 

          The Byzantine liturgy of Pentecost proclaims: "We have seen the true Light, we have received the heavenly Spirit, we have found the true faith: we adore the indivisible Trinity, who has saved us." 

May 13, 2018

           This Sunday our country celebrates our mothers—and rightly so. For the care and love, which our mothers have given us, is beyond price or measure. Of course, our earthly parents are not perfect. Sometimes they are quite far from perfect. But any love we have known from them is a likeness of the love God has for us. A religious icon is made of mere wood and paint, but it can be a window to heavenly realities. In the same way, we can see through our parents’ love a glimpse of God Himself.

          Most of us have more memories about our mothers than we could possibly count, but today, I would like to take you back to a time and place about which you have no clear memories—to the time in your mother’s womb. In the Bible, the number forty denotes times of waiting and preparation: For instance, Noah spent 40 days and nights in the ark. The Hebrews wandered with Moses for 40 years in the desert. Before His ministry, Jesus fasted 40 days in the wilderness, and after His death, He rested 40 hours in the tomb. Similarly, you remained 40 weeks, more or less, within your mother’s womb, being prepared for a new life.

            Attached to your mother’s vine you grew into the mature fruit of her womb. You were nourished and matured within her. You were never far from her heart or mind. You existed within her, connected to her at the center of your being. She fed you with her very self. She provided for all your needs. Apart from her, you could do nothing. You remained in her and found rest within her.

          In the womb, at the earliest stages of our lives, our minds did not comprehend very much, but what if you could have understood everything that your mother was doing for you at the time? Surely, you would have directed your thoughts to her often. And certainly, from time to time, you would have turned to her with the eyes of your heart to bask in her love for you. What if you could have talked with your mom from the womb? Would you not have taken the opportunity to speak with her every day? Would you not have thanked her daily out of a deep gratitude? Would you not have let her know each day how much you love her? Whoever would refuse or neglect to express such love and thanks would continue to live, at least functionally or biologically, but they would not be fully alive without this relationship with their mother.

          As you and your mother would continue to talk, as the days and months of pregnancy passed by, she would eventually present you with a most-frightening prospect: She might put it this way, “My child, soon, in a little while, you are going to begin a new stage of your life. You will be departing from the life you know, and then you will experience a whole world of people and things you have never known before.” You might say, “I’m scared! I don’t want to go—not now, not ever!” But she would answer, “I realize this concept is scary for you, but trust me when I say that it is better that you go. In fact, someday soon you will look back and think it a silly thought to be again as you are now. This transition is going to hurt a little bit … trust me, I know … but when the appointed time comes, I will be right here with you. Do not be afraid. It’s going to be alright!”

          Today, we reflect on this time in the womb because our life, in our mothers, is like our life in Christ. As it was with our mothers, so it is, in our life with Christ. You are attached to Him as to a vine; you mature as a child of God. You are nourished and grow within Him. You are never far from His heart or mind. You exist within Him, connected to Him at the center of your being. He feeds you with His very self. He provides for all your needs. Apart from Him, you can do nothing. You remain in Him and find rest in Him.

          Knowing and believing this, should not we direct our thoughts to Him often? Should not we, from time to time, turn to Him with the eyes of our hearts to bask in His love for us? We have the ability to talk with Jesus Christ, in prayer, whenever we wish. Who would not take the opportunity to speak with Him every day? Who would not thank Him daily out of deepest gratitude? Moreover, who would not let Him know each day how much we love Him? Whoever would refuse or neglect to speak with Him, would continue to live, at least functionally or biologically, but they will not be fully alive without this relationship with Christ. We need to pray every day if we want to remain in Him and bear much fruit.

          We do not want to die and that is perfectly natural. But Jesus says to us, “Soon, in a little while, you are going to begin a new stage of life. You will be departing from the life you know, and then you will experience a whole world of people and things you have never known before. I realize this concept is scary for you, but trust me when I say that it is better that you go. In fact, someday soon you will look back and think it a silly thought to be as you are now once again. This transition is going to hurt a little bit … trust me, I know … but when the appointed time comes, I will be right there with you. Do not be afraid. It’s going to be alright!”

          Today, let us thank God for the life, love, and tender care we have received from our mothers and through Jesus Christ. God bless our mothers and praised be Jesus Christ, now and forever, Amen!

May 6, 2018

           An Italian bishop has articulated what many Catholics in the United States are thinking: our homilies—the pre-eminent form of preaching, according to Canon Law—are not consistently of a good standard. Bishop Mariano Crociata, the once secretary-general of the Italian Bishops’ Conference, has said that many congregations’ minds are not sufficiently nourished by the quality of the homilies they hear at Sunday Mass. “Too often, sermons are just boring mush, unappetizing fare, and certainly not too nourishing,” the bishop said, urging priests to pay greater attention to their sermons.

          Canon law states that “the people of God are first united through the word of the living God, and are fully entitled to seek this word from their priests. For this reason sacred ministers are to consider the office of preaching as of great importance, since proclaiming the Gospel of God to all is among their principal duties” (762). The Sunday homily is absolutely pivotal in preaching the Good News. Bluntly put, a boring or poorly constructed or delivered homily can do greater harm than good.

          Documents of the Second Vatican Council were intended by the Council Fathers to shape and form the role of preaching in the Church today. The documents reaffirm the primacy of the ministry of preaching in the mission of Jesus Christ and His followers (Sacrosanctum Concilium 6). And they reaffirm preaching as the unique instrument of faith and conversion; most especially evangelical preaching (SC 9). Finally, they designate the privileged place for preaching within the sacred liturgy itself in which the homily is the means by which "the mysteries of the faith and the guiding principles of Christian life are expounded" (SC 52).

          The preacher of the 21^st century faces many challenges not encountered by those who have gone before him: mass media, global communications, technology, the increasing presence of secular humanism, and philosophical relativism, to name a few. Although much has changed, the essential properties of preaching have not. Vatican II emphasizes the imperative to "preach the good news to all nations" and the serious responsibility that the bishops have in this regard (Christus Dominus 30). The ordained are reminded as always that "they are consecrated to preach the gospel … and announce the divine will to all" (CD 30). And finally, in any cultural background, time, place, people, language, or geography, the preacher is to "penetrate the world with a Christian spirit" and "to be witnesses to Christ in all things in the midst of human society" (Gaudium et Spes 43).

          The Sunday homily is today as it has been for centuries essential in the evangelization of the parish. Unlike in the past, the preacher is now generally given from seven to twelve minutes to deliver the homily. Prior to Vatican II, the Sunday sermon afforded the preacher the opportunity to preach at greater length on a specific topic over a series of weeks. This permitted the priest ongoing assessment of the spiritual needs of the parish. The priest could then address these needs in greater depth over a longer period of time. This was particularly helpful in the area of ongoing catechesis and moral formation.

          For many adult Catholics, the Sunday Mass and its homily will encompass the entirety of the catechesis, spiritual inspiration, faith formation, scriptural study, and moral and conscience formation that they will receive all week. For this reason, the homily should provide not only solid faith formation but also the tools for evangelization. The homily cannot stop with instructing, but must answer the important existential questions: What exactly do we believe? Why do we believe it? How do we live this belief? What will happen if we do not?

         This approach to homiletics must include an element whereby the hearers are made aware of their accountability for the choices they make. A homily is not effectively evangelical if it is abstract or vague. The homily must reflect the true meaning of the Gospels and Church teaching, lest the hearers not receive the fullness of revealed truth. The preacher must be a model for his listeners as Jesus was, deeply convicted of the truth and rightness of what he is preaching, and he must preach it with clarity and compassion. He must have a love for his listeners and must be earnest in his concern for their salvation and spiritual welfare. Finally, the preacher must be able to connect the message with his hearers and the baptismal imperative to evangelize. At the same time, he must be prepared to give them practical tools for applying what has been said to their lived experience.

          When I speak with Catholics who have left the Catholic Church, the number one reason I get that they left was poor preaching. This is especially true of those who left for the Evangelical communities. Catholic priests, as a group, have the reputation of being poor preachers. I think there are several reasons for this.

1. The expected length of a Catholic homily is 5-7 minutes. This is far too brief a time to really develop well a biblical or doctrinal theme. It results in a slogan based and brief exhortation. In this matter, the people of God have to be willing to work with us. Most Catholics are upset if the liturgy goes more than 60 minutes. We all need to agree to take more time to be with the Lord. Longer sermons are necessary to really develop and break open most passages. Most Protestant sermons are about a half hour. True, I don’t want a preacher to go longer unless he really has something to say but it is also true that most priests have to wrap up when they’ve barely gotten started. It’s not a good context for preaching. The old “say it in seven” rule needs to be re-evaluated.
2. I think many confuse simple application for preaching. Most of the homilies I grew up with could be summarized in two sentences:  “(1.) Jesus is challenging us to do better today.” And (2.) “Let us try to do better” (Now please stand for the Creed).”  This is application but true preaching takes the Word of God and does four things: Analyzes, organizes, illustrates, and then applies it. It doesn’t just exhort us to do better; it shows how, and sets for the why and wisdom of God’s Word. This, as you might guess, takes a little more than 7 minutes.
3. Teaching is often lacking. When I ask Catholics who have gone on to the “Word communities” why they like the preaching there more they usually say it is because the minister teaches the Word of God. Perhaps he shows the stages of the faith journey of a biblical character, or five aspects of a healthy marriage from Ephesians 5. Maybe he expounds on the Four Disciplines of Devoted Discipleship in Matthew and so forth. But the Word of God is both taught, and applied to life in memorable ways.
4. The Three Essential questions often go unaddressed. It would seem that every homily should ask and answer three questions: What? So What? And Now What? I think we as Catholic Priests do alright with the “what” but not so well with the other two questions. Homilies are not just about information (the What) they also aim at transformation. Addressing the “What” can help to inform but the “So what” and “Now What” aim more for transformation.
5. Good preaching is edgy. It comforts the afflicted and afflicts the comfortable. But too many priests are afraid of offending or upsetting. Despite the fact that we serve a Lord who got killed for what He said, too many of us are not willing to suffer even the raised eyebrows of our congregation. We have to be willing to talk forthrightly about serious issues today: about sin, about injustice, about promiscuity and so forth. We have to speak the truth in love but the “Jesus loves you homilies” are not enough. Jesus loved us enough to speak the truth to us even when we killed Him for it. We priests have to get a spine and a heart and be willing to preach even the difficult message. It has been my experience that Catholics respond well to tough sermons. They don’t want angry priests but they do want priests who are zealous for the truth. 
6. How about a little enthusiasm? If you really care about what you are saying shouldn’t it be reflected in your mannerisms and tone of voice? Too many priests have a kind of lecture like discursive approach instead of a fiery Charismatic approach. True enough there are different personalities but a fiery enthusiasm is hard to hide. But being on fire cannot be faked. It comes only from prayer and a deep love for God and His people.

          I know you can add to the list above. Perhaps your feedback will help some of us priests improve. So have at it! Be kind and constructive but speak the truth. We priests can use it. And pray, pray, pray. You get the priests and the homilies you pray for. Also encourage us when we do well and gently admonish when we need improvement. Perhaps we do well to end with the words of St. Gregory the Great who exhorts the faithful to pray for the Priests in their preaching role:

Pray for us so that we may have the strength to work on your behalf, that our tongue may not grow weary of exhortation, and that after we have accepted the office of preaching, our silence may not condemn us before the just judge.  For frequently the preacher’s tongue is bound fast on account of his own wickedness; while on the other hand it sometimes happens that because of the people’s sins, the word of preaching is withdrawn from those who preside over the assembly.  With reference to the former situation, the psalmist says: But God asks the sinner: Why do you recite my commandments? (PS 50:16) And with reference to the latter, the Lord tells Ezekiel: I will make your tongue cleave to the roof of your mouth, so that you shall be dumb and unable to reprove them, for they are a rebellious house.  (Ez 3:26) He clearly means this: the word of preaching will be taken away from you because as long as this people irritates me by their deeds, they are unworthy to hear the exhortation of truth. It is not easy to know for whose sinfulness the preacher’s word is withheld, but it is indisputable that the shepherd’s silence while often injurious to himself will always harm his flock. (Liturgy of the Hours, Volume 3)

April 29, 2018

          "Be bright, be brief, and be gone. If you don’t strike oil in ten minutes stop boring." That was the first advice I ever got on preaching. It came from a retired priest. I was a seminarian at the time, and I thought his advice was quaint. As the years have passed, I have found that many people agree with him: Preaching should be well-prepared, engaging—and at all costs brief. While this view is somewhat helpful, it nevertheless falls far short of what the Church intends by the ministry of preaching at Sunday Mass.

          For many adult Catholics today, the Sunday Mass is the only opportunity to receive substantial faith formation, to be inspired by the Word of God, and to be given the tools to live out the Gospel in daily life. It is therefore essential—especially given the challenges presented by our contemporary culture—that preaching be thoroughly researched, prepared, cogent, clear, practical, inspiring, and empowering of Catholic values. Unfortunately, many times it is not. Normally, criticisms fall into three broad categories (here are some examples):

1. Length. One man said, "He takes off well, but he has trouble landing." Or, even more memorably, the sweet grandmother who shouted "his homilies are too (expletive) long!”
2. Say what? "I am not sure what he said." Or, "Very good homily, all six of them!"
3. Content. Lastly—and I think most significantly—the theological content and application or scriptural exegesis is incongruent with Catholic Church teaching. On this point, St. Ignatius of Loyola writes, "come out in support of all the precepts of the Church. Never attack them, but on the contrary, be quick to seek reasons for them and rebut those who do attack them." (The Spiritual Exercises)

          The Second Vatican Council states that the "proclamation of the Word through preaching is the most important duty of a priest …" (Presbyterorum Ordinis 4). The homily is not merely a message about faith but rather, as Pope Paul VI wrote, "the occasion for an actual salvific meeting between God and man…" (Acta Apostolicae Sedis 763). To capture the deep significance of preaching, one must trace its history. We start with ancient Judaism and the commentary given on the sacred text during the synagogue service. Jesus built on that tradition, and from that time the Church has given the art of preaching a primary place in the ministry of evangelization. Our long and beautiful tradition of homiletics clearly emphasizes the role and significance of preaching in the economy of salvation and the sanctification of the world. Therefore, the form and content of the homily must be treated with great seriousness because of the impact it has on the spiritual welfare of the hearers.

          Jesus is the preacher par excellence and the exemplar for the homilist. In His preaching, we find the perfect balance of clarity and charity. Motivated by perfect love and compassion, Jesus preaches directly and specifically to the deepest needs of His hearers. He draws them into deeper understanding of the kingdom of God and their salvation by using examples firmly rooted in the cultural and religious experience of His audience. He gives clear and tangible examples and concrete tools. He used preaching as His primary medium for imparting truth that was both informational and transformational. Drawing upon the direct experience of the preaching of Jesus, the apostles took up the ministry of preaching. Through the preaching of the apostles, the Catholic faith was transmitted not only through time but also into many diverse languages, geographies, and cultures. Most notable are the seven discourses of Peter and the six discourses of Paul, including the address on the Areopagus referred to in Acts 17:22-33. This speaks powerfully—not only of the universal appeal of the Gospels—but of the universal nature and organic necessity of preaching as the medium for transmitting them.

           The oldest extant sermon in Catholic history comes from the "Second Sermon of Clement to the Corinthians" (ca. 150). Already in the second century, the Sunday homily was an integral part of the Mass. As St. Justin wrote, "After the reading of the Scriptures the president of the brethren exhorts us to the imitation of these good examples in a speech" (1 Apology 67).

               Bad preaching, it seems, is as old as good preaching. As early as the third century, Eusebius criticizes Paul of Samosata, bishop of Antioch, for doctrinal errors and for what he calls "the quackery in church assemblies that he devises courting popularity and posing for appearance sake… and those who do not applaud or wave their handkerchiefs as in a theater… he rebukes and insults…He brags about himself as though he were not a bishop but a sophist and a charlatan" (Ecclesiastical History by the Venerable Bede, 7.30). In the fourth century, the Cappodocians made great contributions to the exegetic homily by incorporating the elements of Greek rhetoric, appealing not only the heart but also the mind of the listener.

           The fifth century was heralded by the preaching of the great doctor and homilist St. Augustine of Hippo, who preached as often as twice a day. For more than 30 years, he preached with great skill on the mysteries of salvation, often focusing on moral formation. Augustine was keen to adapt his homily to the precise needs of the congregation, whether preaching to scholars and priests, those lacking formal education, or the newly converted. He gave homilies that were strong in doctrine and accessible to listeners, as he wrote in his De Doctrina Christiana. Augustine was arguably the greatest preacher of his time. Drawing on the works of Cicero, he concluded that preaching has three purposes: to explain, to make holy, and to convert. He typically sat down while preaching and used the form of a dialogue, often questioning an "invisible person" about unorthodox beliefs. Clarity was his primary concern. He preached from the heart, and most of his homilies were brief. He believed that the focus of the preaching must always be on the topic and not on the preacher. He said, "the preacher prepares the soil and awakens the seed to inquiry so that Christ can enter and bring forth the harvest" (De Doctrina Christiana 4.2).

              The Scholastic period (toward the end of the 12th century) was a golden age for preaching. Canon 17 of the Council of Tours decreed the sermon should be in the vernacular, which opened the door for a new era in homiletics. The quality of preaching in Europe had been low, but the founding of the Franciscans and the Dominicans effectively addressed this situation. Drawing from the pedagogical style of the scholastic schools of theology, logic and dialectic were applied to the homily. The method was for the preacher to announce his topic and then to offer questions followed by defenses. He used scriptural citation and the writings of the Church Fathers to prove his point. The homily typically ended with the promise of future happiness in the glory of heaven. The great Angelic Doctor, St. Thomas Aquinas, devoted much of his life to studying and writing on theology. Two of his greatest works were originally intended for the formation of preachers. For example, the Summa contra Gentiles was intended to be used by preachers to refute the philosophers of the Near East. Perhaps the technique from this period best preserved in preaching today is the emphasis on "concrete" themes and practical application to the Christian life.

             The Council of Trent (1545-1563) put a renewed emphasis on preaching. Trent mandated that all prelates were to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and that pastors should preach at the very least on all Sundays and solemn feast days. St. Charles Borromeo—a highly skilled and zealous preacher—reformed priestly formation to ensure proper education in homiletics. Formal seminary preparation for priests was put in place to eliminate the ignorance of theology among priests and the impoverished preaching of the time. These serious defects were also extensively addressed at the Fifth Lateran Council (1512-1517).

             In our own time, Vatican II took up the issue of preaching. Whereas previously Sunday preaching was understood to consist in the form of a "sermon," the Second Vatican Council spoke specifically of the "homily" in terms of its grounding being in the Sacred Scripture. It went on to identify the homily as the climax of the liturgy of the Word. The Council went further in situating the homily not only within the Mass, but also within the celebration of the other sacraments. This makes the proclamation of Sacred Scripture followed by the homily an integral part of the entire sacramental ritual. The intention was to enable those present to understand and internalize the sacrament.

          With this history as a backdrop, we will continue our examination of the present state of preaching in the Church in next week’s bulletin article.

April 22, 2018

           The first Letter of Peter features prominently in the Church’s liturgy during Easter. It is read in the Office of Readings during the Octave of Easter. It provides the Second Readings for the Easter Season every third year in the three-year cycle of readings, and three of the Easter season Epistles in the Extraordinary Form of the Mass are from First Peter. The Church’s reflection on the Scriptures, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, has led to the attention given this short Epistle in this season.

         The First Epistle of Peter emphasizes faithful living under the stress of hostility and persecution.  It ties the Church’s sufferings to those of her Lord. It urges a stance of fidelity and of high moral seriousness no matter what the circumstances. St. Peter thus is not endorsing slavery when he urges slaves to be submissive to their masters; he is urging Christian witness. Christians are to be prepared to suffer for doing good just as Christ innocently suffered. Christian living is to be on a high moral level as a testimony to the Lord.

         Some scholars think that the epistle or at least parts of it originated as a Baptismal homily, calling on the newly baptized to be prepared to live out their faith in dedicated discipleship and if necessary in suffering and to live out their faith by continuing to grow in it. “As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the Word” is one of the best-known quotes from First Peter – and it supports the idea that at least parts of the letter are addressed to the newly baptized. 

          That phrase is the introit for the Sunday after Easter, the day when in ancient Rome the newly baptized laid aside their white baptismal garments. (In Latin it is Quasimodo geniti and gave the name to the Hunchback of Notre Dame who was deposited on that day at the steps of the great Cathedral.) In any case, we see in First Peter a call to live out our Baptism in faithful discipleship in all circumstances. We are, as St. Paul says in the Letter to the Romans, buried with Christ by Baptism into his death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might live a new life. Resurrection, Baptism, Faithful discipleship – these critical Easter themes meet again and again in First Peter.

          I have begun this reflection with references to First Peter rather than to the Gospel of the Good Shepherd because I want to lay a foundation for reflection on this World Day of Prayer for Vocations. This day has that designation because on the Fourth Sunday of Easter, the Gospel is always from John 10, where Jesus speaks of Himself as the Good Shepherd. The Church has accordingly set this day aside as a time to give particular attention to prayer for vocations to the priesthood, so that there will be adequate and able priests to shepherd the people of God, to help them to live out the baptismal vocation to which the First Epistle of Peter calls our attention repeatedly.

          There is no question of the need. A shortage of priests diminishes the opportunities for the Sacraments and it dilutes the critical opportunities for teaching. The problem is not limited to the Catholic Church and cannot simply be laid at the door of the requirement for celibacy. And it is this situation that, I believe, makes First Peter so important on this World Day of Prayer for Vocations. For the key to robust vocations is not a recruitment program – nor even the marriage of the clergy. The key to vocations as to every other problem that faces the Church is faithfulness. The key is discipleship. If we live out our baptismal calling, if we are prepared to suffer rejection or even persecution for the sake of the truth, if we imbibe the sincere milk of the Word by striving ever more to know and understand our faith, if we avail ourselves of confession and examine our consciences, if we see our material gifts as gifts from God and generously share them for the ministry of the Church and the service of those in need, if we are prepared to say no to the madness of the world around us, if we are joyful because we remember that Jesus wins in the end, if we are people of prayer, study and contemplation, if we endeavor to die with Christ each day to sin and to rise with Him to newness of life, then we will have a healthy vibrant Church that will produce ample vocations to the priesthood and to the religious life, which is also such an important leaven in the Church’s life.

           So we should pray for vocations and we should do so daily. We should not hesitate to suggest the possibility to the young or to weigh it for ourselves. But first of all, we must be the kind of disciple that First Peter urges us to be. For you see, we are not only sheep; we are all in some measure shepherds – shepherds for ourselves, for those who are near and dear, and for those whose lives intersect with ours.

          I’m not making that up. The Church has always understood that it is the function of the bishop – with his priests – to ‘teach, govern, and sanctify’ the Church. It is a magnificent summary. The faith and morals of the Church need to be taught. The Church needs to be governed lest we become a random collection of lost sheep. Moreover, the Church needs to be sanctified by constant closeness to Christ – through the Sacrament and through imitating him. This is the role of the bishop for it is his calling as ‘episcopos’ which in Greek simply means overseer. But as the Epistle of Peter reminds us – echoing the Old Testament, especially the Book of Exodus – the whole Church is “a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people of his own, so that you may announce the praises” of Him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light

          Through the Sacrament of Baptism we all have a share in the priesthood of Christ. And I am reminded of that every time I baptize. After the Baptism, the child is anointed on the crown of the head. The only other time that happens in a Sacrament is when a bishop is ordained! It is a powerful reminder that we are called to exercise the royal priesthood, so that we may announce the praises of Him who called us out of darkness into His wonderful light.

          He has called us out of darkness – out of the darkness of death, sin, and ignorance. He has called us out of the darkness of an angry, confused, self-indulgent culture. He has called us to teach by word and example that following Christ is the better path. He has called us to govern in the Church – first by governing ourselves and listening to the teaching of the Church, especially when it is uncomfortable – and then by contributing to its ongoing life. Moreover, He has called us to sanctify ourselves in a quest for a holier life and to sanctify others by our word and example.

          When the people of God strives thus to live, their prayer for vocations will yield fruit.

April 15, 2018

           In the Fall of last year, I had the joy to attend the Erasmus Lecture in New York sponsored annually by First Things magazine. It has a rich history, starting in 1988 when Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger inaugurated the tradition. This year the Lecture was given by Bishop Robert Barron, auxiliary bishop of Los Angeles, creator of the Catholicism Series, founder of Word on Fire ministries, and the country’s leading Catholic evangelist.

          Before a record crowd jammed into the Union League Club, Bishop Barron spoke on a theme on which all Catholics need to be thinking … and thinking a lot: the transmission of the Gospel at a time in which one quarter of the country, and one half of Catholics under 30, self-identify as “nones.” The 25 percent who claim no religious affiliation has risen from 3 percent in 1970 and only 14 percent a decade ago. Despite the powerful words and work of the popes over the last 50 years to summon the Church to a new evangelization, “nones” are growing much faster than converts. It is a problem that Bishop Barron aptly calls a crisis and a clarion “wake-up call” for parents, teachers, catechists, priests, bishops and the whole Church. How should we effectively respond to it? Bishop Barron proposed five ways. I would like to spend time on three of his suggestions.

          The first is evangelizing through the beauty of our faith, since the transmission of the true and good today are far more challenging because of prevalent epistemological and ethical relativism. The Church, Bishop Barron said, has much to offer in this regard, from the great Cathedrals, composers, painters, sculptors and writers. What he did not state but we all know is that the rise of the “nones” has coincided with a choice on the part of many in the Church toward uglification in the name of creativity: bland, asymmetrical Churches that are not just devoid of beauty but often are downright hideous; cartoonish missalette covers; banners that look like they were made by first graders during recess; saccharine liturgical music more fit for smoky lounges; unisex stick-figures instead of manly crucifixes; and the general loss of the basic art of rhetoric in our pulpits.

          In 1985, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, the future Pope Benedict XVI, said words I have never forgotten: “The only really effective apologia for Christianity comes down to two arguments, namely the saints the Church has produced and the art which has grown in her womb.” The genuine encounter with God generates beauty, both moral and aesthetic, which becomes the living proof of faith. Beauty manifests something of the divine pulchritude and attracts us toward love and truth, eventually helping us to discover the God who is Love and Truth. Evangelization today needs to begin with helping people to encounter the beauty of faith working through love and seen in the deeds of inspired artists and inspired saintly actors. Beauty (not architectural functionalism, artistic infantilism, or liturgical and moral minimalism) must become an evangelical priority.

          The second thing that Bishop Barron said we must urgently do is “stop dumbing down the faith.” After the Second Vatican Council, he argued, “a debilitating anti-intellectualism came to hold sway in the Church, at least in the west,” and this has been a “a pastoral disaster, significantly contributing to the mass exodus of two generations from the Church,” because a “childish, intellectually shallow religion simply cannot stand in the face of the trials of life and the questions of a skeptical mind.” He is absolutely right.

          We have dumbed down our catechetical textbooks so that some series are little more than coloring and comic books that assuage the emotions rather than solidly form the mind and heart. Clergy dumb down their homilies both in time as well as in content out of the mistaken assumption that people cannot handle more than 8-12 minutes of back-patting encouragement, even though evangelical Protestants—who go to the same schools and live in the same culture—are somehow capable of listening to their ministers for 45 minutes. We’ve dumbed down the moral challenge of living the Gospel to both young and old alike, seldom hearing about the hard teachings with regard to the Cross, sexual morality, forgiving our enemies, spreading the faith, and loving God not with some but with all our mind, heart, soul and strength.

          Bishop Barron said that justly recovering the necessary intellectual side of passing on the faith will involve a “new apologetics” that focuses on who God is in a context in which so many have false notions of a God who is just one being among many rather than the one who is Being Himself who holds us in being; the proper interpretation of the Bible, responding to those who try to debunk or debate it out of relevance; theodicy, or the defense of God’s goodness and providence in the face of evil, which is ever the most powerful challenge to the existence of a good, all-powerful Deity; the connection between religion and violence at a time when terrorists scandalously justify their evil on the basis of religion; and the link between religion and science, in an age of scientism that often teaches the young that if we cannot know something via the scientific method, it does not exist.

          In calling for a new apologetics, Bishop Barron is not trying merely to summon a few superstar Catholic intellects to get to work. In response to the dumbing down of the faith, we all need to get to know our faith better, especially in those areas where it is most challenged. God has given each of us minds and their foremost purpose is to use them to know Him and help others to come to know Him. None of us should accept knowing our faith—the most important subject of our life, and the greatest gift we can pass on to others—less than doctors and nurses know medicine, or engineers know math, or sports fans know players’ numbers and statistics. We are happily living at a time of unprecedented resources available to Catholic young people and adults to grow in their understanding of the faith and their capacity to pass it on, but we cannot bury those gifts.

          The third thing I will mention that Bishop Barron emphasized is that we must engage in radical witness: “Especially in light of the sex abuse scandals of recent years and the emergence of an aggressive new atheism, the recovery of a radical form of the Christian life is essential to the task of evangelization. We must regain our moral and spiritual credibility.”

          It short-circuits the proclamation of the faith when Christians proclaim the Beatitudes but then do not seek to live them. It undermines evangelization all the more when Christians do not even know or try to live the commandments, pretending as if keeping holy the Lord’s Day, not killing the unborn or seniors, not lying, stealing, coveting or engaging in sexual immorality, were all optional parts of the faith. Perhaps more than anything it subverts the faith when Christians proclaim that God is real, that He listens to us in prayer, that He comes to feed us with Himself on the altars, that He forgives us our sins in Sacrament of Reconciliation, that He joins a man and a woman in one flesh for the rest of their lives in marriage, and then do not live in accordance with those literally awesome gifts.

          On the other hand, what an extraordinary thing it is when we find radical Christian witness. We see it in the saints and martyrs. We also see it in daily life in so many unheralded disciples and apostles. They proclaim the faith by their body language in a way that forces others to question their own way of living. They give witness to a love, to a friendship, to a beauty that the world cannot give or rob.

          In the face of the “nones,” and of so many others who still believe but are only partially living by faith, Bishop Barron is prophetically challenging all of us to respond to the signs of the times with a recommitment to letting the beauty of our faith radiate, to learning and teaching it in its fullness, and living it in such a compelling, magnetic way that people can eventually be led to come to meet Christ in all His beauty, truth and holiness.