Tis the season--of Advent!

Advent is a largely forgotten season of the year. We jump straight from Thanksgiving to Christmas, forgetting the importance of taking a breath--Advent.

Advent is a time to prepare for the feast of Christmas. Advent means "coming." As we say in the Mass right after praying the Our Father, "Deliver us Lord from every evil and grant us peace in our day. In your mercy keep us free from sin and protect us from all anxiety as we wait in joyful hope for the coming of our Savior, Jesus Christ."

This "waiting in joyful hope" lies at the heart of Advent. The readings of the first two weeks focus on the second coming of Christ and his judgment so we can prepare our hearts for his return. At the beginning of the third week, that Sunday is also called Gaudete Sunday. Gaudete means Rejoice! We move from a time of preparation and penance to a more joyful time of rejoicing and readiness. Christmas is coming!

Christmas is coming, but it is not quite here. The readings shift to focus of prophesies of the birth of a Savior, a Messiah, a Christ.

The best recommendation I've heard regarding Advent is to think of it as the Church does! It is the beginning of the Liturgical year, the Church's New Year! And just as we make resolutions to lose weight or stop smoking or turn off Oprah, we should make Advent resolutions. We might decide to learn to pray with the Church using the Liturgy of the Hours in some form. Or maybe go to daily Mass more often. We could make a commitment to contribute to the food pantry every month, or to volunteer at on of the parish's social ministries. Advent is the perfect time to examine our lives and ask "Lord, what do you want me to do, to be?"

Try waiting until at least to the third Sunday of Advent, Gaudete Sunday, to string lights or put up the Christmas Tree or play Christmas music. The commercial, retail world will overwhelm you at times; but the more you enter in to the time of waiting in joyful hope that is Advent, the more joyful your Christmas season will be. For the Church celebrates Christmas for more than just one day! It lasts from December 25th all the way to the Feast of the Epiphany on January 6th. Now that's a time of rejoicing in joyful hope!

"Walk(man) on By" (apologies to Burt Bucharach & Hal David)

BBC News Magazine has this story about a 13 year-old boy they invited to swap his iPod for--brace yourselves--a Walkman!

I wonder if occured to the young reporter that in 30 years some other young reporter will have the same feelings he did about the Walkman compared to today's technology as that future young reporter will have when he compares whatever's around in 2039 to what we have now?

In other words, specifically those of GK Chesterton: "My attitude toward progress has passed from antagonism to boredom. I have long ceased to argue with people who prefer Thursday to Wednesday because it is Thursday." - New York Times Magazine, 2/11/23

Best First Line of A Song

Here's a simple survey. What is the best first line of a song you've heard? You were listening to the radio or playing a new CD and the first line of a song just reached out and grabbed you. Some examples:

"What a beautiful piece of heartache this has all turned out to be."
from "Latter Days", Over The Rhine, Good Dog Bad Dog.

"After the rain in the streets light flows like blood"
from "After the Rain", Bruce Cockburn, Dancing in the Dragon's Jaws

"The screen door slams, Mary's dress waves"
from "Thunder Road", Bruce Springsteen, Born to Run

So what's your favorite first line of a song? It has to be a first line, not a whole verse or chorus or a line that's not the first line--that's for another time!

Line, Artist, Album.

Birthday Spirit—A Reflection on Pentecost Sunday

Happy Birthday to Us! Pentecost has been called the birthday of the Church. The disciples of Jesus had been gathered together in prayer for 9 days since the Ascension. There were about 120 of them. Luke names the Eleven Apostles, Judas’ successor, Matthias, and “Mary, the mother of Jesus.”

Imagine being there. You’ve seen or been told that Jesus has returned to the Father in Heaven. He told you that “you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be my witnesses…” You’re not sure what this Holy Spirit is and you’re a little nervous about being a witness. So you pray with the others. And you wait. For 9 days. It’s becoming a little routine. The feast of Pentecost is coming. What began as a feast celebration the first fruits of the spring harvest had also become a commemoration of the giving of the Law on Mt. Sinai.

Suddenly, as Luke says, suddenly there is the sound of a strong driving wind. It shatters the quiet of your prayer. As you look around trying to see the source of the wind, you see a fire above you in the room. First wind, now fire. It is strange and frightening. As you watch, the fire divides into smaller flames. The flames come to rest on each of you. Luke calls what is happening being “filled with the Holy Spirit.”

What happens next is perhaps the strangest of all. You hear yourself and your brothers and sisters speaking in different languages. Those who have made the journey to Jerusalem for the feast of Pentecost hear the commotion and gather outside the house where you are; the same house where Jesus celebrated Passover with the Apostles. They hear you speaking in their native tongues.

In a moment the disciples went from hiding and praying privately to a very public preaching of the Gospel. This was brought about by the Holy Spirit, sent by Jesus from the Father as promised. It is a blazing beginning, a firey birth of the Body of Christ.

The Holy Spirit has come. The Church is alive. The harvest has begun. But what happens now? Paul tells us that the Holy Spirit gives gifts to the Church. This unites the Church. We need each other. The gifts are given to each for the benefit of all. The Holy Spirit also gives us the strength to fight against sin. He nurtures us not only with gifts, but with the first fruit of the Spirit; the love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control that nourish us to make us strong against sin.

Jesus gives us the Holy Spirit not only to bring the Church into being, but to lead and guide us. He will remind us of what Jesus taught us. As the Spirit of Truth, he will lead us into the Truth. He will lead us to Jesus.

If you want to know Jesus, you do so through the Holy Spirit. He will give you the power to live as Jesus did. He will give you the strength to suffer for the sake of the gospel and to be a witness to Jesus Christ. If you want to be like Jesus, pray that he will send the Holy Spirit into your life. Don’t worry about what others will think. Let’s imitate the early Church and, in obedience to Christ, gather in prayer and pray for a new Pentecost, a re-birth of the Church in the Holy Spirit.

They're Hot! They're Pockets!

Did you know that although Hot Pockets come 2 to a box, you only have to eat one? I was shocked recently to find instructions for cooking one, one!, hot pocket! Stunning. There is even a tab/slot that allows you to re-close the box until you want to eat the remaining Hot Pocket. This fundamentally changes the balance of eating prepared snack type foodstuffs. I mean, what's next? Eating one Funny Bone? Ah, but they cannot be resealed.

Breaking News: Hot Pockets also lists the serving size as one and list the nutritional information based on one pocket. More as this develops.

Topic: Has anyone used Hot Pockets to actually heat their pockets? Discuss.

Kept by Christ—A reflection on the Seventh Sunday of Easter

In today’s reading from John’s gospel, Jesus is praying what has been called his high priestly prayer. It is a prayer for the unity of the Church. He asks the Father to protect the disciples so they may be one as Christ and the Father are one. Jesus has protected them so that not one of them was lost, except for Judas.

And what of Judas? Why was he lost? Jesus calls him “the son of destruction” and says that Judas was lost “in order that Scripture might be fulfilled.” The first reading from Acts tells us that Peter was with 120 others waiting for the Holy Spirit to come on the day of Pentecost. He reminds them that Judas was the guide for those who arrested Jesus. He was the betrayer, the son of destruction. Peter finds in the Psalms that Judas’ vacant office needs to be filled. So they selected Justus and Matthias and after praying, they chose Matthias by lot. This may seem like a strange was to go about choosing a successor to Judas, but it was the ordinary way things were done. We might pick names out of a hat!

I think the deeper reason for Judas being lost is found in the reading from St. John’s epistle. It too is about our unity in God. It is a unity of love. God loves us, so we must love one another. If we remain in love we remain in God and God in us. Judas did not remain in love, he betrayed Love to death. If Judas had sought true repentance, he would have remained in God’s love. The difference between Peter’s denial and Judas’ betrayal is that Peter repented with bitter tears and Judas chose to end his own life outside of God’s love.

But this is Easter, the season of glory and joy in the risen Lord Jesus Christ! So why are the readings talking about Judas? Because the Church understands our human frailty. I am reminded of St. Philip Neri. Philip had a prayer he used to pray every day. It was “Lord, watch over Philip today, or he will betray you like Judas.” St. Philip Neri, whose feast we celebrate this coming Tuesday, understood our frailty. He knew that we are all the kind of people who could betray Jesus. Judas’ price was 30 pieces of silver. Our price is often much less. We betray Jesus every time we deny that Jesus is the Son of God. We do that when we take him for granted, when we put him to the test, when we tell those who ask us about our faith “I do not know him”, when we treat the sacraments casually, when we deny the Church which is his body by dissenting from its teaching, when we do not help those in need.

The good news is that Jesus is praying for us to the Father. The writer of the book of Hebrews says that he always lives to make intercession for us.(Hebrews 7:24-25 ) In today’s gospel, Jesus prays for our unity, he prays for protection, he prays for our joy, he prays that the Father will keep us from the evil one, he prays that the Father will consecrate us in the Truth of his word. Then he sends us into the world protected by this prayer of consecration. Jesus is praying for us now in this Mass. The Eucharist is his answer to all that he prayed for us and all that we pray for ourselves. It is the source of our unity and the way God remains in us and brings his love to perfection in us. Let us receive Christ, remembering St. Philip Neri’s prayer. We are frail but Jesus is our redeemer. He took on our human nature and ascended to Heaven. Let us work for the unity in truth before the Father, for Jesus is that Truth.

Keys to Ascension--A Reflection on the Feast of the Ascension

On the Feast of the Ascension, the Church remebers the day that Jesus returned to Heaven. To some, this sounds childish. It recalls a 3-tiered view of the world with Hell below, Earth in the middle and Heaven above.

But whatever the geography of heaven there is a reality here. Jesus had risen from the dead. Conquering death, he is immortal as Son of Man and Son of God. So, where is he? He could not die again, ever. He is not on Earth. The answer in the Gospels and Acts is that, in some mysterious way, he returned to Heaven to his Father.

Mark's gospel says only that Jesus was "taken up into Heaven", as does Luke's gospel. The first reading from Luke's book of the Acts of the Apostles gives us more detail. The Apostles ask him if he will restore the Kingdom to Israel. He tells them not to worry about that, but promises them that they will receive to be his witnesses when the Holy Spirit comes upon them. Then as they were watching, a cloud took Jesus out of their sight. Why a cloud? Remember the cloud that folowed Israel in the wilderness? That cloud, the shekinah, was the glory of God. In the early Church this was understood to be the Holy Spirit. Luke is telling us that Jesus was taken up into Heaven by the Holy Spirit, God's presence in the world.

What's going on here? At least three things. First, Jesus is returning to the Father to take his rightful place as King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Jesus is ruling the universe for the Father. As Paul says in Ephesians "And he [the Father] put all things beneath his [Christ's] feet and gave him as head over all things to the church,which is his body,the fullness of the one who fills all things in every way." Jesus is ruling the world and he is ruling it through his body, the Church. Luke tells us what Jesus is doing now.

Second, Jesus returns to the Father so he can send us the Holy Spirit. Some have said that the Acts of the Apostles could also be called the Acts of the Holy Spirit. It's Ascension Thursday, but Pentecost is coming after 9 days! In the meantime the desciples and Mary, a group of about 120 people, waits and prays. These 9 days of prayer was the first novena! The Pentecost novena to the Holy Spirit is the oldest novena of the Catholic Church.

Third, Jesus is preparing for his second coming. He is preparing a place for us. At the end of time, when his plan for the universe is fulfilled, Jesus will return to Earth. Then every knee will bow and everyone confess that Jesus is Lord. He will judge the world; those who have not lived in God's love will continue to live without God for eternity, those who lived in God's love will continue to live with God for eternity. We call the first state Hell and the second Heaven.

Jesus' Ascension has opened the gate of Heaven to all, but not all will enter. The saints, known and unknown, are there; Our Blessed Mother Mary is there; and the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are there. We will see God face-to-face. The gate is narrow, but is open. Will you enter in?

There is no need to wait until you die or Christ returns to enter Heaven. We do that at every Mass! Jesus is present in his Word during the Liturgy of the Word. He is especially present in the Eucharist. He is present in his mystical body, the Church--in you and me. If Jesus is present, the Heaven is present for, as Pope Benedict has said, "Jesus himself is what we call Heaven."

Jesus is here at Mass. Yet how many of us enter in? He is waiting for us, yet we act as if he is not here at all! We come late, we leave early, we dress as if we were going to a playground rather than Heaven. Yet, these are all external things. How is your heart? Is your heart coming late, leaving early, immodestly dressed? We are here to worship Christ the Lord. Let us show him, by clean hearts, pure minds, working hands and outward modesty, that we believe he is here with us. Let us enter heaven at this Mass and receive Jesus Christ our Lord and God.

Love and the Spirit--A Reflection on the 6th Sunday of Easter

Love. The word “love” occurs 9 times in today’s gospel and another 9 times in the epistle. Friend occurs 3 times in the gospel and joy twice. We expect God to love us. We don’t really believe it, but we expect it! After all, isn’t God supposed to love everyone?

One of the most astonishing statement’s in all of Scripture is found in today’s gospel reading. Jesus says “No one has greater love than this, than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you.” Jesus says that we are his friends. This is the love of God we don’t expect; to be his friends. Not only that, but it is the kind of friendship that lays down its life for others.

But isn’t there a catch? Jesus' friendship seems conditional; if we do what he commands us he will be our friend. That sounds more like a servant or slave than a friend. No, we have it wrong. Christ says that he does no longer calls us slaves, because a slave does not know what his master is doing. Isn’t that amazing? We are not slaves but friends because Jesus has told us what he is doing. He tells us through the Scriptures, the Church and the Holy Spirit.

It was the Holy Spirit who led Peter to understand that even the Gentiles are loved by God, are God’s friends. Peter was shown by the Holy Spirit in a vision that God shows no partiality. He accepts anyone who fears him and acts uprightly. In today’s reading from the Acts of the Apostles, St. Luke tells us that as Peter was still speaking these things, the Holy Spirit fell upon all those who were listening. God gave the Gentiles the same gift of the Spirit that he gave to the Jewish believers. He gave them himself.

Love is so essential because, as John tells us in his epistle, God is love. If we want to be like God were must love as God loves. We must love without partiality. We must accept all those who God accepts and love all those God loves. And we must lay down our lives for them. This is no sentimental love, but the love of God. It is a love, as St. Paul says, that spared not God’s own Son but delivered him up for us all. A love that will freely give us all things.

When my friend Vincent Druding was ordained to the priesthood last week, one of the verses he used on his invitations and holy cards was from today’s gospel, “No one has greater love than this, than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends…It was not you who chose me, but I who chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit that will remain, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name he may give you. This I command you: love one another.”

Vince understood that laying down his life for God’s friends is at the heart of the priesthood. It is also what we are all called to as Christians. In imitation of Christ, we love as he loves. To do this, to have the strength to lay down our lives, we must receive from the Holy Spirit God’s grace, his very life. This life comes to us through the Sacraments, especially Confession and the Eucharist. In Confession, we lay aside every burden and sin that clings to us and holds us back from loving God and his friends. As we receive from this altar the sacred body and blood of God’s Son, Jesus Christ, we will be filled with every grace and blessing. We will receive the strength to love as God loves. As St. John says, “God sent his only Son into the world so that we might have life through him.”

Our Blessed Mother is sets an example for us. Having accepted the Father’s love by saying Yes to the angel Gabriel’s news that she was to be the Mother of the Son of God, she went to see her cousin Elizabeth. In that moment of joy and love and friendship, Mary brought Jesus to her.

Let us pray that the Holy Spirit will fall on us as he fell on the Church in Acts so that, filled with the Spirit, we will know the joy and the love and the friendship of Christ. Then let us bring that joy and the love and friendship of Christ to all of God’s friends.

Living in Christ--A Reflection on the 5th Sunday of Easter

In today's Gospel, Jesus uses a agricultural metaphor to talk about the Christian life. He is the true vine and we are branches. We grow as we take his life into ours. Branches cannot survive without the vine. Cut off from the vine, they wither and die. Around my house we have wild grape vines. They grow everywhere! As they climb other plants and trees, their tendrils grab hold. The only way to disentangle them is to prune them, cutting the branches so they are no longer attached to the vine. Once they wither, they're much easier to pull off.

What grows on vine? Grapes. My grandmother used to make grape jelly from the wild grape vines. Saint John uses this story of vines and branches to talk about Christian living because of his theme of the Eucharist. Remaining in the vine, refers back to the Bread of Life discourse in chapter 6. There Jesus also talks about remaining in him "Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him." (John 6:56).

The Church only grows by remaining united to Christ. As it does so, the Holy Spirit is free to grow the Church. We see this in the first reading from Acts as Barnabas introduces Paul to the Apostles. As they come to understand Paul's calling, they accept him, even risking their lives to rescue him. The Church was briefly at peace and the Holy Spirit caused the Church to grow.

Saint John also tells us in his epistle that "the way we know that he remains in us is from the Spirit he gave us." The peace we know as we remain in Christ comes from God who is greater than our hearts. Our hearts often condemn us for failing to keep his commandments. But because God is greater than our hearts, we can be confident that God will give us what we ask. John says that "those who keep his commandments remain in him."

We remain in Christ, the true vine by keeping his commandments. We gain strength to keep his commandments through the sanctifying grace of the sacraments. Through the forgiveness of sin in Confession, God prunes away the sins that injure, and even kill, his life in us. In the Eucharist, Jesus gives himself, his true life, to us. As we remain in his life, we will bear much fruit as his life grows in us. If we separate ourselves from Jesus, we will wither and die as a branch does cut off form the vine. Jesus himself says that without him we can do nothing. United to him, we will grow and bear fruit, glorifying the Father.

The Good Shepherd--A Reflection on the 4th Sunday of Easter

If you've ever had a problem with an employee or a contractor, then you know what Jesus means when he talks about the difference between hireling and true shepherds--it's ownership. The hireling works for pay and has no concern for the sheep. To the true Shepard, the sheep are like family. He cares for them because they are his. He knows the and they know him; the sheep know the shepherd's voice and follow him. A good shepherd will lay down his life for a sheep to keep them from the wolf. Jesus says "I am the good shepherd." I suppose that makes us sheep!

Jesus says "There will be one flock, and one shepherd." As our shepherd, he is our unity. He will bring together all the sheep into one flock, even the ones "that do not belong to this fold." When the Church teaches that "outside the Church there is no salvation" she doesn't mean that you have to be Catholic to be saved; she means what Jesus meant. There is one flock and Jesus is bringing those who belong to another sheepfold to the one flock. The Church as the body of Christ carries on this mission: to bring all the sheep together to his one flock.

This is also what Peter is saying in the first reading from Acts that "There is no salvation through anyone else, nor is there any other name under heaven given to the human race by which we are to be saved." Salvation is through Jesus Christ. The Church is his body, but the Church is bigger than just the Catholic Church. It is wherever people are seeking Christ, even if they don't know it is Christ they are seeking! Saint Paul says that God wants all people to be saved.

How will Jesus bring all his sheep together? By laying down his life for them. The cross didn't happen to Jesus, he wasn't a victim. He willingly gave his life for us, his bedraggled, smelly, wandering sheep. He laid down his life in order to take it up again. The salvation he secures for us by laying down his life is described by Saint John. "See what love the Father has bestowed on us that we may be called the children of God. Yet so we are." Calling God our Father is not just a expression of faith. The Father loves us and gives his life to us through the Sacraments. He makes us his children in reality, not just figuratively.

And this salvation procured by Christ is not just for now. As we grow in grace, in the very life of God in us, Saint John tells us that "we shall be like him for we shall see him as he is." Trust the Jesus, the Good shepherd, to bring his sheep into one flock to present to the Father, who will give us his very life in grace through his Church.

Saint Joseph the Worker

The Church has dedicated the month of May to honor the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God. May 1st is the feast of Saint Joseph the Worker, institiued by Pope Pius XII in 1955. It coincides with May Day celebrations held in may parts of the world.

It is fitting that the month of May, dedicated to Mary, start with a feast in honor of Saint Joseph, her husband and the foster-father of Jesus. Together Joseph and Mary raised Jesus. It has been said that Joseph had to be a saint to live with the Immaculate Conception and the Incarnation!

We know little of Joseph. He is mentioned in the infancy narratives in Matthew and Luke. God speaks to him through dreams, just like the patriarch Joseph in the Old Testament. In his desire to protect Mary from the dishonor of a public divorce, he wants to do it quietly--until Gabriel tells him in a dream that, as Bruce Cockburn puts it, "God did this and you're part of his scheme." For this Joseph is called a righteous man.

We know Joseph was a carpenter, a craftsman; a trade he taught to Jesus. He did this work to provide for his family, so we honor him on this day as St. Joseph the Worker to remind people of the dignity of work and it's value to living out the universal call to holiness.

Reality--A Reflection for the 3rd Sunday of Easter

If there is one word that sums up today’s reading, it is reality. Now reality is something we tend to avoid at all costs. It can be hard and narrow. Jesus said that the gate that leads to destruction is wide and the road broad; many enter
through it, but the road that leads to salvation is narrow and the gate small; few shall find it. That is reality.

In the first reading, Peter is preaching after healing a lame man. He boldly reminds the people that they had “denied the Holy and Righteous One and asked that a murderer be released to you. The author of life you put to death, but God raised him from the dead; of this we are witnesses.” (Acts 3:14-15) This is something God had announced beforehand through the prophets, that Christ would suffer.

The people listening to Peter probably thought that Jesus was just another troublemaker like they has seen before. Perhaps they thought he was a prophet. But the certainly didn’t believe he was their Messiah. The Messiah was supposed to deliver then from the Romans, not be crucified at their hands. Yet, God had said that the Christ, the Messiah, would suffer. What God says is reality. And this Reality suffered before being raised from the dead. Peter and the others were eyewitnesses to this. That was their reality.

In the second reading, Saint John writes about the necessity of keeping God’s commandments. “The way we may be sure that we know him is to keep his commandments. Those who say, ‘I know him,’ but do not keep his commandments are liars, and the truth is not on them.” To call people liars sounds harsh. But Saint John is trying to get us to deal with reality. Many claim to believe in God. How do we know that we know God? John’s answer is that we know we know if we keep God’s commandments; then we are keeping with reality.

Today’s gospel is about the reality of the resurrection. When Christ appears to them, in their surprise they think they are seeing a ghost! To allay their fears, he invites them to look closely at him, even to touch him. John says, “He showed them his hands and his feet.” He is inviting them to see the wounds of his crucifixion. The resurrected body of Jesus, though glorified, is real. It can be clearly seen, even touched. He even eats a piece of fish on front of them. You don’t get much more real than eating!

Jesus reminds them of the reality of the Scriptures, that everything written about him must be fulfilled; that he would suffer and rise from the dead and that repentance for the forgiveness of sins would be preached in his name to all nations.

This is the reality we are living in today. The Church is still carrying out this mission, preaching the Gospel to the world. If we wish to live in reality, we must bring the Gospel of Jesus Christ to our family, friends and neighbors. Like Peter and John, we do that by living a life grounded in the reality of the Gospel and by our eyewitness testimony to what Christ is doing in our lives. We are simply to tell them about Christ and his Church and to trust the Holy Spirit to open their hearts. As he worked through the disciples, he will work through us as we live in the reality of the Gospel.

Canticle for Earth Day

Today is Earth Day.

Saint Francis of Assisi and Blessed Kateri Tekawitha are patrons of the environment(-alists) and ecology (-ists).

Saint Francis is well-known for his love of nature, a love that came out of his love for Jesus Christ. St.Francis' "Canticle" starts with praise of God and blesses the Lord for his creation. He refers to creation as his brothers and sisters because the share a common Father. Concern for creation properly comes out of love for the Creator.

A contemporary St. Francis was Rich Mullins. Several of his songs, like "The Color Green" share a sensibility with St. Francis' "Canticle." Rich Mullins started Kid Brothers of St. Frank ,to help train other men in the Christian faith and outreach. Mullins was killed in a car accident in 1997. His family continues this legacy.


I imagine Rich, St. Francis and Blessed Kateri praying that our love for the Earth will flow from our love for Jesus Christ.

Believing Thomas--A Reflection for the 2nd Sunday of Easter

Poor Thomas. One moment of doubt and he is labeled for life--"Doubting Thomas". Jesus appears to the disciples one night and Thomas is not there. Maybe he was visiting his twin? When the others tell him that "We have seen the Lord", Thomas gives his so-called doubting reply, "Unless I see the marks of the nails in his hands and put my finger into the nail marks and put my hand into his side, I will not believe." In other words, for this Thomas wants proof, empirical evidence. He is a materialist; like so many of us, he wants proof before he will believe.

Thomas' refusal to believe without this proof is strange for a man who has spent the last three years with Jesus. He has seen the blind see, the deaf hear, the lame walk, the dead raised to life again. He has heard Jesus' teaching. What more proof could he want? But then this is a big claim by is friends--Jesus has appeared to then!

It's one thing to believe that Jesus is someone. To some he is the Messiah, to others he is a moral teacher, to some he is a revolutionary, to others he is another spiritual master. Some even believe he is God.

Yet, it in not enough to believe things about Jesus. As St. James says, even the demons believe and tremble. We must believe in Jesus. It is not enough to give intellectual or even faith assent to him. We must trust Jesus; that is the lesson of this Divine Mercy Sunday's motto, "Jesus, I trust in you." We must put our faith, our trust, in Jesus as a divine person, son of God and son of man, not in facts about him, but in him.

That kind of faith is transformative. As St. John says in today's 2nd reading, "Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is begotten of God..." God is our Father now. He puts his nature, his life into us by his Holy Spirit--that is divine mercy! Transformed by this love and mercy into his children, we can build the kind of community we see in the first reading from the book of Acts. St. Like tells us that "no one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they had everything in common."

But what of Thomas? Did his doubt exclude him from this community of faith? Again, we see God's divine mercy. Jesus appears again and this time Thomas is there. Jesus invites Thomas to "put you finger here and see my hands, and bring your hand and put it into my side, and do not be unbelieving, but believe." Jesus challenges Thomas with his own words at his own point of doubt. Thomas' distrust was really in the other disciples' testimony that they had seen the Lord. Perhaps he was more upset at being left out than anything else.

I wonder if it's too much to say that Jesus appeared again to the disciples for Thomas' sake; to offer Thomas a chance to show his faith to them all after his public doubting. After all, Jesus would soon offer Peter the chance to redeem his three-fold denial of him. This is divine mercy.

Thomas' response to Jesus is one many of us echo each time we receive our Lord in the Eucharist, "My Lord and my God." That is the response of faith in Jesus. But then Jesus reaches even beyond Thomas to each one of us when he says, "Have you come to believe because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed." We are those who have not seen Jesus as Thomas did, but have believed. We, too, say "My Lord and my God."

Strengthened in his faith by his Lord and his God, Thomas becomes one of whom Acts says, "With great power the apostles bore witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus..." This witness and power of faith eventually brought St. Thomas to preach the Gospel in India. He founded the Church there around AD 52 and was martyred around AD 72. When travelers arrived in India, they found the Church, through St. Thomas, had gone there before them. The Syro-Malabar Catholic Church is the largest of the Catholic Churches in India. It traces its origins to St. Thomas. It is in full communion with Rome.

Doubting Thomas? Not after receiving God's Divine Mercy in Jesus. Not after he said, "My Lord and my God." We repeat his words as we receive Jesus in the Eucharist. As Jesus said, "Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed."

Two Cathedrals

(No,this is not a West Wing post.)

Yesterday NYC saw the installation Mass for Archbishop Timothy Dolan at St. Patrick's. Today is the home opener for the new Yankee Stadium. Both were joyous occasions for New Yorkers everywhere. Both had charismatic personalities. Both had beautiful liturgies (really, the Yankees do beautiful liturgies, they just don't call them that, but it's a religious experience for many!). I am sure there were some people who attended both events.

Archbishop Dolan hit a home run at his installation. He was warm, funny, joyous, fatherly and priestly. Hopefully the Yankees will do as well.

Almost a year ago, Pope Benedict XVI said Mass at the old Yankee stadium; a cathedral of baseball. (See, I told you the Yankees do beautiful liturgies!). Maybe he'll be back to say Mass at the new stadium. It's a certainty that there will be a papal Mass at the new stadium eventually. Maybe Pope Dolan?

Update: Shortly after posting this, Archbishop Dolan was a guest on the Yankees Radio Network broadcast with John Sterling and Suzyn Waldman. Abp. Dolan could always go into sports broadcasting if the Archbishop gig doesn't work out...

Dolan Mania at Installation

I am watching in preliminaries to the installation Mass of Timothy Dolan as Archbishop of New York. He has been standing outiside St. Patrick's Cathedral greeting people as they process in. As he greets them, he is saying repeatedly, "Thanks for coming!", "I need you" and "Pray for me." He is smiling the whole time, joking and laughing.



This is the day the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad! Psalm 118:24



Archbishop Dolan is living these words today.


Pray for him.

Raising Lazarus--A Reflection for the 5th Sunday of Lent

Most, if not all, of us here have lost a loved one; someone we were close to. It may have been a friend, family member or even a pet. We have known sorrow and grief; the pain of loss.

In the gospel of St. John, chapter 11, the evangelist tells us how Jesus experiences to death of his friend, Lazarus. Lazarus and his sisters, Mary and Martha, were some of Jesus closest friend. St. John tells us that Jesus loved them.

When news reaches Jesus that Lazarus is sick, he waits two more days before he leaves to see his friend. In fact, he waits long enough for Lazarus to have died! Jesus tells his disciples that Lazarus’ death from this illness is not the end for Lazarus; that it is for the glory of God.

When Jesus and his disciples arrive at Bethany, where Lazarus, Mary and Martha live, Martha greets him. She says “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” It sounds almost like an accusation! When Jesus tells her that her brother will rise, she gives the theologically correct answer, “I know he will rise, in the resurrection on the last day.” Isn’t this how we respond to grief? We look for the correct answer.

What Martha failed to understand is that the correct answer was standing right in front of her! Jesus, as he tells her, is “the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, even if he dies, will live and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die.” Martha had her theology right; Lazarus would rise in the resurrection on the last day. But theology, as important as it is, can only take us so far. Theology cannot raise the dead! To raise the dead, it takes the power of “the resurrection and the life”. Notice that Jesus is not only the resurrection, the power to bring the dead to life; he is “the life.” That is, Jesus is life itself. Once raised from the dead, we will live in and by Jesus.

After challenging Martha with to look beyond her theology to understand that he is what she is truly looking for, Jesus asks, “Do you believe this?” Do you believe that I can conquer death and give life? Beyond your good theology, do you trust in me?

Martha answers, “Yes, Lord. I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one who is coming into the world.” She answers a best she can, she responds with more good theology. She lists three facts about Jesus. She doesn’t say that she believes Jesus is “the resurrection and the life.” In her grief, she doesn’t rise to Jesus challenge go beyond her theology to believe in him.

When Mary meets Jesus, she says the same thing her sister Martha did. “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” This time St. John tells us that Jesus, seeing her weeping with grief, becomes “perturbed and deeply troubled.” This time, his response is deeply emotional. He becomes “perturbed and deeply troubled.” He even weeps.

He asks them to roll the stone away from the tomb. Lazarus has been dead four days now. According to the Jewish belief at the time, his soul would have definitely left his body. Decay had begun, hence “there will be a stench.” The stone is rolled away. After a brief prayer for the benefit of the mourners, Jesus cries out in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” Does Jesus think a dead man can hear? When “the resurrection and life” call, they can! Lazarus shuffles to the door of the tomb, still wrapped in his burial bands. Having raised Lazarus form the dead, Jesus asks the others to untie Lazarus and let him go. When Jesus gives new life to our loved ones, we need to free them from their bondage to sin and let them go to him.

Jesus answered Mary and Martha’s prayer. He doesn’t tell Martha “Sorry, but you didn’t answer my question ‘Do you believe that I am the resurrection and the life?’ correctly, so I won’t raise your brother. No, he raises Lazarus. He doesn’t tell Mary that her weeping indicates lack of faith. No, he weeps with her, and then he raises Lazarus.

Lazarus has been raised from the dead. As a result many people will believe in Jesus. The chief priests will plan to kill Lazarus. Stories will be told that Lazarus lives another 30 years, goes to Cyprus and is made bishop of Kition by St. Paul. In any event, Lazarus will die again. But next time, at the resurrection of the last day, Jesus will raise his friend Lazarus and his sisters, Mary and Martha, and all those who believe to the fullness of eternal life, never to die again. We will live in Jesus, the resurrection and the life. Do you believe this? Then believe beyond just sound theology, (as important as that is) and believe in Jesus.

Bishop Montgomery

Interesting story about Bishop Montgomery here.

Michael Dubruiel, Resquiat in Pace

You may have heard by now that Michael Dubruiel, Amy Welborn's husband, passed away on Tuesday, Feb. 3rd. More at my Rosary Around the World blog here.

The Meaning of Data

Information. Lots and lots of information....
H/T to Deacon Greg at The Deacon's Bench.



The problem with technology, as shown in this video, is that we know the data, but have no idea what it means. "And the word became flesh and dwelt amoung us..." (John 1:14). The logos, the word, the data, became flesh and dwelt amoung us. So what does it all mean? The meaning we are looking for is in Christ. Unless we give the data flesh and blood, the data will be all there is. Data tells us facts about our world, we must put that information in context. We need to master the data, or we will be mastered by it. We have the tools of theology and philosophy. Let's get to work.

Scandal At The Weather Channel

If you like nothing better on a stormy day than to spend it watching The Weather Channel, then this report from ONN might shock you.


Weather Channel Accused of Pro-Weather Bias