Paul..A Man For Our Time

On Monday, June 29, the Church celebrates the Feast of Saints Peter and Paul. On this day, we remember Paul as a companion of Saint Peter, who, converted millions to Christianity, all the while on his way to Rome, the Eternal City where he would eventually die. In fact, Paul's last request was that he be crucified on an inverted cross, because he felt unworthy to die in the same position that Christ did.

Paul converted his life to Christ and literally was thrown off his high horse where he would hit the ground and his Maker. After that event, Paul changed. His life was no longer about him, but rather about Christ. Paul, in his many letters we have come to know as the Epistles, speaks of his struggles. He speaks of how he longs to be with God in heaven but at the same time realizes he has work to be done. He was strongly attracted to both!

Paul was also a man who had demons inside him, as we all do. To paraphrase Paul, he said, there is a battle goin on inside us; a battle between the forces of good and evil. The good that we would do, it is that that we do not do. The evil that we would avoid, it is that which we do. Sound familar?

On this day, may we all come to realize our ongoing need for God. May we come to understand that our life is an ongoing process of conversion. As Independence Day approaches, may we come to know our complete dependence on God. After all, it was the great Augustine who said: "O God, you have made us for yourself and our hearts are restless until they rest in you!"

Happy Summer!

All About God and Mom

Author, Ronald Rolheiser, in his book, The Holy Longing: The Search for A Christian Spirituality, intimates the following: “When the last syllable of the last word about Jesus the Christ has been spoken, a small, balding man who until now has been silent will say, ‘just a moment I…’ After two thousand years people still journey to Jesus. They bring a vaunting ego and last year’s scar, one unruly hope and several debilitating fears, and unwarranted joy and a hesitant heart-and ask Jesus what to make of it. We have only gradually become aware of the hook in Jesus’ promise, ‘I will be with you all days, even to the end of the world.’ This not only means he will not go away but that we cannot get rid of him. He continues to roll back the stone from the caves we entomb him in”.

On Sunday, May 10h, we celebrate Mother’s Day. We celebrate many “kinds of mothers”. We are grateful for our birth mothers, grandmothers, godmothers, adoptive mothers and for those who fulfill the role of mother in our lives. We also pray for Mother Earth and Mother Church. May we honor them always for the significant roles they play in each of our lives.

HERE ARE SOME QUOTES BY PEOPLE OF FAME ON MOTHERS

“All that I am or ever hope to be, I owe to my angel Mother." -- Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865)

"My mother was the most beautiful woman I ever saw. All I am I owe to my mother. I attribute all my success in life to the moral, intellectual and physical education I received from her." -- George Washington (1732-1799)

A Prayer for Mothers

Father, we give you thanks for the many gifts you have given us; the gift of life, the gift of those who love us. We thank you today for the gift of our mothers and grandmothers. We give thanks for our Mothers and Grandmothers who have died and for the unique way they have revealed for us your love. We ask that you bless them and keep them in your care until the time comes for us to join them in your Kingdom. We ask your Blessing upon the Mothers and Grandmothers who are unable to be with us here today. May they know how much we love and care for them. We pray for birth mothers who have loved their children so much they have shared the gift of their child with those who could better care for them and their needs, and give them a secure home. And we pray for adoptive mothers, that they may always know their special role of being a true mother, a revelation of God's love for their children. We ask your blessing upon Mothers who have lost children through stillbirth, crib death, accident and tragedy, that they may have your continuing strength and courage. We ask your blessing too, upon those who would very much like to be mothers but who are having trouble having a child. We ask your Blessing upon the Mothers and Grandmothers standing before us here. Give them the strength to live the faithful and loving lives you call them to live. AMEN.

In the Vineyard

For all the “glitzier” stuff out there, it is sometimes easy and all too tempting to forget that at its truest and best, the work of the church and its teachings in action take place a long ways away from the headlines.Along those lines, then, a couple stories that I have come across over the last few days from the trenches....

First, Catholic News Service notes the severe injuries suffered by a local Caritas director who went into the line of fire in a war-torn corner of Sri Lanka "where tens of thousands of civilians have been displaced in recent days":

Father T. R. Vasanthaseelan, director of Caritas Vanni-Hudec, had to have one leg amputated after shells struck St. Anthony Church in Valaignarmadam April 23. Many civilians had sought safety in the church.

"Sri Lanka is undergoing the worst scenario. Innocent civilians are paying a huge cost and are the worst hit. Already there are more than 130,000 who have crossed over to the government-controlled side," Father Fernando said."These people are coming out in highly traumatized conditions. Most of them are tired and worn out after months of suffering. Many of them are injured and some of them are very severely wounded. The hospitals have totally exceeded their capacity to receive the wounded," he said.

And in China -- where the genuine difficulties often experienced by Christians are no secret -- the church recently mourned a 93 year-old priest who, after thirty years in a prison camp, returned to the simple ministry of a catechist on his release:

The Catholics of Guangzhou today said their last goodbye to Fr. Francis Tan Tiande, who died last April 23 at the age of 93. He spent almost 30 years of his life in a prison camp in Heilongjiang. But the fame of his witness and his apostolic work is far from dead.
Testimonies are coming from all over the world about the way in which Fr. Tan helped many to discover the beauty of Christianity, and then accompanied them to baptism. For many new faithful in the diocese of Guangzhou, the life of Fr. Tan, and even his imprisonment, are "a blessing for us Catholic Chinese." She considers him a priest of strong faith, who truly loved God and mankind. As he was growing weaker. Every Sunday, he made himself useful by greeting the many people attending Mass, talking with them, encouraging them, blessing the religious objects they had bought.

Shortly before he died, Teresa went to visit Fr. Tan in the hospital. In his room were the bishop, priests, sisters, and many others who had come to say goodbye to the elderly priest. Teresa stopped at the entrance to watch, deeply moved. Fr. Tan held his arm up in the air, constantly blessing everyone. "That gesture," Teresa says, "was his goodbye to us of the Church of Guangzhou. It was a blessing to us Catholic Chinese, so that, like him, we may remain faithful to God until the end."

Amid the storms of a 24-hour news cycle, it's often easy, and all too tempting, to define the days by what's bad as opposed to what's good, to glom on controversies, crusades or buzz at the expense of the stories and people a waiting world that wants to believe should know, and deep down inside, really longs to hear.

This is the Easter Season - that moment of grace when the first witnesses of the Resurrection changed the lives of masses not by spreading around their own interests, causes or tastes, but with one simple, unimpeachable testimony: "We have seen the Lord."

Then as now, we owe our faith to these folks, who realize day in and day out that the church doesn't rise and fall on what everybody else does or doesn't do, but what they what every last one of us, in every place we go and for each person we meet-do or don't.

Even this Easter, even in our midst, these witnesses exist in droves - from the clinic to the classroom, the sanctuary to the minefield, the office and the shelter, all across the globe and even to our own kitchen tables.Sure, they exist far from the headlines and aren't the “glitziest” story going. When it comes to the life of this body, however, they're the most valuable and crucial thing we've got.In each of them, we haven't just seen the Lord ,we see Him anew all the time. Both on and off the printed page, may we always give them the admiration, attention and thanks they deserve.

Easter 2009

As we celebrate the great Easter-event, we are reminded that this awesome season of life and hope spills over into a fifty- day celebration. In fact, at every Sunday Mass we celebrate the Easter-event: Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again, we acclaim for 52 weeks a year in every corner of Christendom. The Risen Christ is here among us in a unique way to remind us that our lives our not purposeless, that we do not travel alone, that Someone cares and that one day we too shall shine bright and beautiful with the fullness of the Risen Christ’s love.

A meditative piece that I would like to offer comes from the writer Anne Dillard. This popular author had converted to Catholicism and here is how she looked at that step. She said that at a Catholic Mass surrounded by so many people from different backgrounds with many different colors, shapes and ages, she said, “I am taking a stand with these people. Here I am. One of the people who love God.”We are part of a whole civilization in danger of forgetting the true God. We are in the fast lane of agnosticism or practical atheism which is established on this point of view: Even if there is a God, God really doesn’t matter to me.

The Easter Event is a gigantic spiritual huddle by which we hope to get inspired, challenged, comforted, forgiven, and loved by the person of Jesus Christ. Integral to Him is the restoration of the true God to pre-eminence in human life. It all begins by remembering God and God’s loving acts in human history.The followers of Christ were forever changed by the victory of Christ over death and by meeting the Risen Lord in the weeks after Easter. May it happen again this Easter as we gather in prayer and are able to say, “I am taking a stand with these people. Here I am. One of the people who love God.”

What a promising message and astonishing admonition for this season of Easter joy! Allow the Risen Christ to break the chains that bind us, especially those that bind our families, so that we might open our hearts to make room for the One who sets us free-the great liberator, Jesus the Christ.

May we all continue to support and encourage one another as we pray: Stay with us Lord…Live in our hearts forever.

EASTER SUNDAY TABLE PRAYER

Leader: This is the day the Lord has made.Let us rejoice and be glad,let us praise the Lord for his goodness.For behold, Jesus diedand now lives for evermore. Alleluia!

ALL: He has gone before us.Yet he is with us for all time. Alleluia!

Leader: Lord,on this most holy daylet your blessing rest upon usand upon our table.Strengthen us in this time together.We ask this in Jesus' name.

ALL: Amen.Leader: Blest are you, Lord our God,who gathers us together in Jesus' name.We thank you for sharing your life with us,both in this mealand in all the ways you sustain us,through Christ, our Risen Lord.

ALL: Amen.

SYMBOLS OF THE SEASON

THE EASTER CANDLE…stands tall in the Main Lobby of our school. It is the symbol of Christ, our light. The candle represents Christ, the beginning and end of all times and ages. Five wax nails are inserted into the candle to signify the wounds that Jesus received in his hands, feet and side when he was crucified. The candle will remain burning brightly for the next fifty days. It is the light of Christ’s revealing love.

WATER…is also one of the great symbols of the Season of Easter. It is a symbol of Baptism through which we are initiated into the Christian Community. The baptismal font of the church has sometimes been referred to as the womb of the church. Baptism bridges our human divisions and calls us to the unity of one body, one spirit, one hope, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God. Vessels of water are placed in the main lobby to remind us of our baptismal call to be disciples of Christ Jesus.

The Risen Christ is here among us in a unique way to remind us that we do not travel alone, that Someone cares and that one day we too shall shine bright and beautiful with the fullness of the Risen Christ’s love.

SOME THOUGHTS ON EASTER BY SAINT AUGUSTINE

Let us chant Alleluia. Then the word of scripture will be accomplished,the word not of combatants any more, but of victors:Death has been swallowed up in victory!
Let us chant Alleluia here in the midst of dangers and temptations.O blessed Alleluia of heaven! No more anguish, no more adversity. No more enemy.No more love of destruction.Up above, praise to God, and here below, praise to God.
Praise mingled with fear here, but without disturbance above.Here we chant in hope, there, in possession;here it is Alleluia on the way,there it is on arriving home.

Entering into the Holiest of the Holy 2009

Hard as it is to believe how Lent's flown...welcome to Holy Week.In these days, the Christian world stops and goes on pilgrimage, recalling, reliving and giving thanks for its very reasons for being -- the Cross, the Eucharist, the Paschal Mystery, the glory of Redemption... a new life born from things below -- betrayal, cruelty, suffering and death... the definitive, eternal proof that things above -- love, hope, sacrifice, God -- are even stronger than these.All other things fade away in these days... at least, they should. Because as things go, nothing can be allowed to overshadow or distract from this, and to think or act otherwise is to betray its power and import before a hungry, hurting world that needs its witnesses more in our own day than, quite possibly, it ever has.

If something's kept you from giving it your all, go for it and good luck. Because, even more than usual, there's no time like the present.Again, to each of you and all those you love and serve, every prayer and good wish for every gift, blessing and grace of this Week Called Holy... still called that for a reason two millenia after the fact... and just as these privileged, emotional days are Holy, so may their strengths be its fruit in each of us.As we prepare to live this Week and soak it up with everything we've got, God love you alot today and forever.

It's worth noting that in much of the global church, today's observance of Palm Sunday coincides with the annual celebration of World Youth Day.

The lead venue for the Palm Sunday WYD, however, is Rome -- where, a delegation from 2011's global site of Madrid will receive the event's traveling cross from last summer's hosts in Sydney.

Here's the Pope's homily from last Palm Sunday, tying together the twin themes of the Passion of Christ with the passion of the young.

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Year after year the Gospel passage for Palm Sunday recounts Jesus' entry into Jerusalem. Together with his disciples and an increasing multitude of pilgrims he went up from the plain of Galilee to the Holy City. The Evangelists have handed down to us three proclamations of Jesus concerning his Passion, like steps on his ascent, thereby mentioning at the same time the inner ascent that he was making on this pilgrimage. Jesus was going toward the temple - toward the place where God, as Deuter-onomy says, had chosen to "make his name dwell" (cf. 12: 11; 14: 23). God who created heaven and earth gave himself a name, made himself invocable; indeed, he made himself almost tangible to human beings. No place can contain him, yet for this very reason he gave himself a place and a name so that he, the true God, might be personally venerated as God in our midst. We know from the account of the 12-year-old Jesus that he loved the temple as his Father's house, as his paternal home. He now visits this temple once again but his journey extends beyond it: the final destination of his climb is the Cross. It is the ascent described in the Letter to the Hebrews as the ascent towards the tent not pitched by human hands but by the Lord, which leads to God's presence. The final climb to the sight of God passes through the Cross. It is the ascent toward "love to the end" (cf. Jn 13: 1), which is God's true mountain, the definitive place of contact between God and man.

During his entry into Jerusalem, the people paid homage to Jesus as the Son of David with the words of the pilgrims of Psalm 118[117]: "Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!" (Mt 21: 9). He then arrived at the temple. There, however, in the place that should have been taken up by the encounter between God and man, he found livestock merchants and money-changers who occupied this place of prayer with their commerce. Certainly, the animals on sale were destined to be burned as sacrifices in the temple, and since in the temple it was impossible to use coins that bore the likeness of the Roman emperors, who were in opposition to the true God, they had to be exchanged for coins that did not show the idolatrous image. All this, however, could have taken place elsewhere: the place where this was now occurring should have been, in accordance with its destined purpose, the atrium of pagans. Indeed, the God of Israel was precisely the one God of all peoples. And although pagans did not enter, so to speak, into the Revelation, they could however, in the atrium of faith, join in the prayer to the one God. The God of Israel, the God of all people, had always been awaiting their prayers too, their seeking, their invocations. Instead, commerce was prevailing - dealings legalized by the competent authority which, in its turn, profited from the merchants' earnings. The merchants acted correctly, complying with the law in force, but the law itself was corrupt. "Covetousness... is idolatry", the Letter to the Colossians says (3: 5). This was the idolatry Jesus came up against in the face of which he cites Isaiah: "My house shall be called a house of prayer" (Mt 21: 13; cf. Is 56: 7), and Jeremiah: "But you make it a den of robbers" (Mt 21: 13; cf. Jer 7: 11). Against the wrongly interpreted order, Jesus with his prophetic gesture defends the true order which is found in the Law and the Prophets.
Today, all this must give us, as Christians, food for thought. Is our faith sufficiently pure and open so that starting from it "pagans", the people today who are seeking and who have their questions, can intuit the light of the one God, associate themselves in the atriums of faith with our prayers and, with their questions, perhaps also become worshippers? Does the awareness that greed is idolatry enter our heart too and the praxis of our life? Do we not perhaps in various ways let idols enter even the world of our faith? Are we disposed to let ourselves be ceaselessly purified by the Lord, letting him expel from us and the Church all that is contrary to him?
In the temple's purification, however, it was a matter of more than fighting abuses. A new time in history was foretold. What Jesus had announced to the Samaritan woman concerning her question about true worship is now beginning: "The hour is coming, and now is, when true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for such the Father seeks to worship him" (Jn 4: 23). The time when animals were sacrificed to God was over. Animal sacrifices were only a substitute, a nostalgic gesture for the true way to worship God. The Letter to the Hebrews on the life and work of Jesus uses a sentence from Psalm 40[39]: "Sacrifices and offerings you have not desired, but a body have you prepared for me" (Heb 10: 5). Christ's body, Christ himself, enters to take the place of bloody sacrifices and food offerings. Only "love to the end", only love for human beings given totally to God is true worship, true sacrifice. Worshipping in spirit and truth means adoring in communion with the One who is Truth; adoring in communion with his Body, in which the Holy Spirit reunites us.
The Evangelists tell us that in Jesus' trial false witnesses were produced who asserted that Jesus had said: "I am able to destroy the temple of God, and to rebuild it in three days" (Mt 26: 61). In front of Christ hanging on the Cross some people, taunting him, referred to these same words: "You who would destroy the temple and build it in three days, save yourself!" (Mt 27: 40). The correct version of these words as Jesus spoke them has been passed on to us by John in his account of the purification of the temple. In response to the request for a sign by which Jesus could justify himself for such an action, the Lord replied: "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up" (Jn 2: 18ff.). John adds that, thinking back to this event of the Resurrection, the disciples realized that Jesus had been referring to the Temple of his Body (cf. 2: 21ff.). It is not Jesus who destroys the temple; it is left to destruction by the attitude of those who transformed it from being a place for the encounter of all peoples with God into a "den of robbers", a haven for their dealings. But as always, beginning with Adam's fall, human failure becomes the opportunity for us to be even more committed to love of God. The time of the temple built of stone, the time of animal sacrifices, is now passed: the fact that the Lord now expels the merchants does not only prevent an abuse but points to God's new way of acting. The new Temple is formed: Jesus Christ himself, in whom God's love descends upon human beings. He, by his life, is the new and living Temple. He who passed through the Cross and was raised is the living space of spirit and life in which the correct form of worship is made. Thus, the purification of the temple, as the culmination of Jesus' solemn entry into Jerusalem, is at the same time the sign of the impending ruin of the edifice and the promise of the new Temple; a promise of the kingdom of reconciliation and love which, in communion with Christ, is established beyond any boundary.

St Matthew, whose Gospel we are hearing this year, mentions at the end of the account of Palm Sunday, after the purification of the temple, two further, small events that once again have a prophetic character and once again make clear to us Jesus' true will. Immediately after Jesus' words on the house of prayer for all the people, the Evangelist continues: "And the blind and the lame came to him in the temple, and he healed them". In addition, Matthew tells us that children cried out in the temple the acclamation of the pilgrims at the city gates: "Hosanna to the Son of David" (Mt 21: 14ff.). Jesus counters the animal trade and fiscal affairs with his healing goodness. This is the temple's true purification. He does not come as a destroyer; he does not come with the revolutionary's sword. He comes with the gift of healing. He dedicates himself to those who, because of their ailments, were driven to the end of their life and to the margins of society. Jesus shows God as the One who loves and his power as the power of love. Thus, he tells us what will always be part of the correct worship of God: healing, serving and the goodness that cures.
And then there are children who pay homage to Jesus as the Son of David and acclaim him the Hosanna. Jesus had said to his disciples that to enter the Kingdom of God it was essential to become once again like children. He himself, who embraces the whole world, made himself little in order to come to our aid, to draw us to God. In order to recognize God, we must give up the pride that dazzles us, that wants to drive us away from God as though God were our rival. To encounter God it is necessary to be able to see with the heart. We must learn to see with a child's heart, with a youthful heart not hampered by prejudices or blinded by interests. Thus, it is in the lowly who have such free and open hearts and recognize Jesus, that the Church sees her own image, the image of believers of all ages.

Dear friends, let us join at this moment the procession of the young people of that time - a procession that winds through the whole of history. Together with young people across the world let us go forth to meet Jesus. Let us allow ourselves to be guided toward God by him, to learn from God himself the right way to be human beings. Let us thank God with him because with Jesus, Son of David, he has given us a space of peace and reconciliation that embraces the world with the Holy Eucharist. Let us pray to him that we too may become, with him and starting from him, messengers of his peace, adorers in spirit and truth, so that his Kingdom may increase in us and around us. Amen.

On the BrinK of the Holy

As I write this message, we find ourselves in the last full week of the Lenten Season. The celebration of Holy Week 2009 begins with the liturgies of Palm or Passion Sunday this coming weekend. It has been the tradition that Palm Sunday initiates us into the holiest of octaves-the eight days of Palm Sunday through Easter Sunday. We begin this holy observance of the Passion, Death and Resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ with the blessing of palm branches that recall his triumphal entry into the holy city of Jerusalem. We are all joyfully implored to an intense, lively and prayerful Holy Week. This week is a week like none other, which commemorates the activities surrounding the Christ-event.

Some thoughts as Holy Week draws near…

The Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life released a sobering study. Among many items in the study, this was very significant for us here: No religion in America has seen more members lapse than the Catholic Church. While Roman Catholicism remains the largest religious denomination in the USA, roughly 10% of all Americans are ex-Catholics. Perhaps Holy Week might be a time to return to the Church!

Psychiatrist Gerard May writes,“After twenty years of listening to the yearnings of people’s hearts, I’m convinced that all human beings have an inborn desire of God whether they are consciously religious or not, this desire for God is our deepest longing and our most precious treasure. It gives us meaning. Some of them have repressed this desire, burying it beneath so many other interests that we are completely unaware of it. Or we may experience it in different ways—as a longing for wholeness, fulfillment, and completion. Regardless of how we describe it, it is a longing for love. It is a hunger for love, to be loved, and to move closer to the source of love.”

There is a Lenten song which summarizes these thoughts:

Marked by ashes, we have come,We, the world so troublesome,We, the members: Christ, our sum.Now we pray by day and night,Keep the fast to clear our sight,Share our goods to set things right.

Happy last week of Lent! .May you and I arrive at Easter, converted, changed and transformed.

Fasting to Feasting

As we continue our journey of Lent this week, we pray that God may enlighten us to see some of the vanities we hold as necessities. We fast to call to mind the greater hunger and thirst we have for what matters in life; good relationships rather than material possessions. We give alms in order to aid those whose hunger and thirst that they can be can be satisfied with our assistance. May this last stretch of the Lenten Season be one of true repentance and sincere hearts that return to God.

Fasting to Feasting
Lent is a time for fasting but also a season for joyous feasting!During Lent, the Church calls on us to fast from certain things and feast on others.For example:

Fast from judging others...feast on Christ dwelling in them.Fast from emphasis on differences...feast on the unity of life.Fast from apparent darkness...feast on the reality of light.Fast from thoughts of illness...feast on God's healing power.Fast from words that pollute...feast on phrases that purify.Fast from discontent...feast on gratitude.Fast from anger...feast on patience.Fast from pessimism...feast on optimism.Fast from worry...feast on divine order.Fast from complaining...feast on appreciation.Fast from negatives...feast on affirmatives.Fast from unrelenting pressures...feast on unceasing prayer.Fast from hostility...feast on nonresistance.Fast from bitterness...feast on forgiveness.Fast from self concern...feast on compassion for others.Fast from personal anxiety...feast on eternal truth.Fast from discouragement...feast on hope.Fast from facts that depress...feast on truths that up lift.Fast from lethargy...feast on enthusiasm.Fast from suspicion...feast on truth.Fast from thoughts that weaken...feast on promises that inspire.Fast from shadows of sorrow...feast on sunlight of serenity.Fast from idle gossip...feast on purposeful silence.