Homily for the Solemnity of the Nativity of the Lord
Given at St. Patrick’s in Wareham
Midnight Mass—by Rev. Mr. Ronnie P. Floyd
One day, at then end of his historic 1979 tour of the US, Pope John Paul II, was being driven back to the Airport in a limousine. Knocking on the window between him and the driver, he explained to the chauffeur that he had never been in a limo, and asked the man if he could drive for a while.
After a few minutes of uncomfortable silence the man agreed, pulling the limo over and swapping places with the Pope. Little did he know the the pope, being a young man then, had a lead foot.
The Holy Father "floored it," going from 0 to 60 mph in just a few seconds, to see what the limo could do.
Going well over 80, an acceptable speed in Europe, the Pope noticed flashing blue lights in his rear view mirror, and so he pulled over.
The state trooper who approached the drivers door was shocked to see the white clad driver. Asking him to wait just a moment he went back to his cruiser to radio in for instructions.
He told the Sargent--"I've got a problem, I pulled someone important over"
"Who is it?" The sergeant asked, "the governor again?"
"No more important," the trooper replied.
"The President?" the sergeant inquired?
"No even more important!"
"Well who the heck is is it?" The sergeant demanded!
"I don't know," replied the trooper, "but the pope is his Chauffeur"
In most cases important people—have and show off the trappings of importance. I mean even the poverty of a Dalai Lama, Mother Teresa, or a certain Cardinal of Boston becomes in a sense a type of status symbol complete with entourage and paparazzi.
And this isn’t necessarily a bad thing—its just a fact of human society.
But this fact makes it difficult to truly understand the gift of Christmas.
Tonight we celebrate the coming of the limitless God in the form of a tiny baby.
Why does he come to us in the darkness of the night? In a hidden corner of the world? In the form of a little baby, born to parents of no worldly importance?
This entrance make it sometimes seem as if our God is a weak or silly God, doesn’t it?
I mean we say he is all-powerful and all-knowing, but if this is true, why not come in glory and might?
I think this is one of the questions that bothers the modern believer most about God—and it is closely related to another question of a similar vein. Where is God when he allows so much evil to occur in the World? If we believe that our God is all powerful His coming in poverty and weakness seems and absurdity. And if He is truly good and loving, then why does he allow people to suffer?
This question is a old one and throughout the centuries it has been answered in three ways:
The Greek Philosophers—who rejected pagan myths about the gods
- answered that the one God,
- was so much greater and beyond us
- that he couldn’t possibly care about man.
Two thousand years later, however—Jesus introduced us to the unknown God of the Philosophers a God who truly cared for men and suffered with them
The second answer, was the skeptical one,
Fifteen hundred years after the birth of Christ, people started to look for evidence of God and finding nothing hard and fast, they slowly began to deconstruct God pushing him further and further into the background until eventually they made the logical step toward atheism.
The third answer is the Christian answer—It was an answer that had been made during the first centuries of the Churches existence to defend our belief in the incarnation and crucifixion.
We, like the pagans, expect our God to come in glory on a chariot of fire, like the roman god Helios or in a limo, driven by the Pope.
We expect him to come with supernatural pyrotechnics, like some sort of rock star, with the heavenly hosts flanking him like the secret service,
and yet our God comes in a barn, a rock cave, used for housing animals he is wrapped in rags for his birthday suit and his crib is a manger—basicly a slop bucket from which animals are fed. How do we understand this?
The Christian answer to this question is a question base in Love.
You’ve seen the bumper stickers—John 3:16- God so loved the world that in the fullness of time he sent his only begotten son that we may not perish but have eternal life!
God comes in silence, quietly into the darkness the world without any fanfare because he loves us.
As I said on Sunday—God keeps His promises even when we fail to love Him and keep our promises.
He loves us so much that he comes in silence so as to respect our freedom, and to challenge us to become truly Holy
Sure it would be easier and less painful if he rolled into town like the US Marines into Iraq—with shock and awe and fixed all of our problems and ended all suffering. Like a TV Santa Clause
But as they say—if you give a man a fish he will eat today if you teach him how to fish he will eat for a lifetime.
God wants to challenge us, to stretch us, to take our selfish hearts and make them hearts that love even when it hurts to love.
He doesn’t do it for us, but also he doesn’t leave us to do this alone, rather he does it with us.
Emmanuel, a God who love us so much that he condescends to become one of us, experiencing all the pain and suffering that is part of human life.
By doing this he is showing us how to fish, that is, how to truly love and to be at peace in a world that is anything but peaceful.
Tomorrow the world might fall apart: famine, war, terrorism, plague, all of these are real possibilities.
But why should we be afraid of them, when our God promises that he will be here with us through them all.
As I have told some of you in private. This peace, was how I knew, that this was the vocation God was calling me to.
Our God is just as comfortable in a palace as in a stable. He would just as soon break bread with us as go to the cross with us.
This is true love—and the source of a peace that shatters the power of war.
This is the true gift of Christmas. He is with us now, come let us adore Him.
What Recompense can I give to the Lord?
Ordination to the Diaconate
Tuesday, December 25, 2007
Christmas Eve
Vigil of The Solemnity of the Nativity of the Lord
Christmas Vigil—Rev. Mr. Ronnie P. Floyd
Ever since I was a child I always loved reading.
When I was about twelve I picked up one of C.S Lewis’s The Chronicles of Narnia books, and I was hooked.
And after reading the entire series I moved on to other authors ending up with one of my very favorites: J.R.R. Tolkien
You might remember a few years ago at Christmas time the final chapter of the movie version of Tolkien’s famous Trilogy The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King came out in theaters.
As I was preparing for this homily this book stuck in my mind.
With good reason, Tolkien, a devout Catholic could not help but base his mythical tale on the basic structure of reality, his Christian Faith, that was so central to his life. Tolkien believed, as I do, that while Children fear monsters under their bed that don’t exist adults fail to fear the monsters that really do exist in dark places.
Although everyday life is usually not as dramatic as one of Tolkien’s stories: most of us are living “a hobbits life” of creature comforts and rountine tedium
Tolkien believed that in the absence of proactive good without someone to guide society in the way of truth, and ultimately without access to God, mankind would grow careless, allowing dark things to emerge and become powerful.
In the absence of a good King, power, greed, ambition, lust, and those individuals and forces that would use these things to control people would necessarily try to lead mankind and the world down the road to destruction.
It’s a pretty fantastic story—and yet it is our story.
We have all seen the results of evil in the world so often during the last century:
in Communism’s iron curtain,
in Nazism’s “scientific” plan
to wipe entire people’s from the face of the Earth
in 40 years of Cold-War on the brink of self-annihilation
and just a few years ago in New York and Washington
but so often we who have seen these things fail to believe in the Evil that is at their root. I think it true, that the devil’s best trick is convincing people that he doesn’t exists.
But as Christians we believe in monsters men who have been corrupted by power, as well as in other creatures, fallen angels, Who want nothing else than to see the world fail. It is important to remember this reality in which we live and in which Christ was born into, a reality which we often forget or ignore just so that we can sleep at night.
While we may sing peaceful songs like: silent night and away in a manger, tonight
We can’t forget that just days after Jesus’ birth King Herod ordered the massacre of the Holy Innocents, hoping to kill the baby Jesus.
As we will hear in a few weeks on the Feast of the Presentation The Prince of Peace; the baby Jesus is born to be a sign of contradiction, destined for the rise and fall of many. On Christmas night we celebrate the Return of the King Jesus, who is born into a long line of Kings going back to David, to Abraham and to Adam, but who is also a king because he is the Son of God and God himself
We celebrate his coming with joy, joy at his arrival, and joy at the promise of victory over evil.
He will shine light on all the dark places of our lives giving us strength to overcome our fears and we must not forget that although the War is won just by the fact of His Birth
Many Battles remain and each of us are called to stand with Him every day of our life--not just avoiding evil, but in doing good!
That is what Christmas is about, and that is what our faith is all about.
As we enter into this reality here at the Altar let us pray that the King of Kings will help us to dispel the powers of darkness and lead each of us to Victory this Christmas.
The King is very near, come out and greet Him!
Christmas Vigil—Rev. Mr. Ronnie P. Floyd
Ever since I was a child I always loved reading.
When I was about twelve I picked up one of C.S Lewis’s The Chronicles of Narnia books, and I was hooked.
And after reading the entire series I moved on to other authors ending up with one of my very favorites: J.R.R. Tolkien
You might remember a few years ago at Christmas time the final chapter of the movie version of Tolkien’s famous Trilogy The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King came out in theaters.
As I was preparing for this homily this book stuck in my mind.
With good reason, Tolkien, a devout Catholic could not help but base his mythical tale on the basic structure of reality, his Christian Faith, that was so central to his life. Tolkien believed, as I do, that while Children fear monsters under their bed that don’t exist adults fail to fear the monsters that really do exist in dark places.
Although everyday life is usually not as dramatic as one of Tolkien’s stories: most of us are living “a hobbits life” of creature comforts and rountine tedium
Tolkien believed that in the absence of proactive good without someone to guide society in the way of truth, and ultimately without access to God, mankind would grow careless, allowing dark things to emerge and become powerful.
In the absence of a good King, power, greed, ambition, lust, and those individuals and forces that would use these things to control people would necessarily try to lead mankind and the world down the road to destruction.
It’s a pretty fantastic story—and yet it is our story.
We have all seen the results of evil in the world so often during the last century:
in Communism’s iron curtain,
in Nazism’s “scientific” plan
to wipe entire people’s from the face of the Earth
in 40 years of Cold-War on the brink of self-annihilation
and just a few years ago in New York and Washington
but so often we who have seen these things fail to believe in the Evil that is at their root. I think it true, that the devil’s best trick is convincing people that he doesn’t exists.
But as Christians we believe in monsters men who have been corrupted by power, as well as in other creatures, fallen angels, Who want nothing else than to see the world fail. It is important to remember this reality in which we live and in which Christ was born into, a reality which we often forget or ignore just so that we can sleep at night.
While we may sing peaceful songs like: silent night and away in a manger, tonight
We can’t forget that just days after Jesus’ birth King Herod ordered the massacre of the Holy Innocents, hoping to kill the baby Jesus.
As we will hear in a few weeks on the Feast of the Presentation The Prince of Peace; the baby Jesus is born to be a sign of contradiction, destined for the rise and fall of many. On Christmas night we celebrate the Return of the King Jesus, who is born into a long line of Kings going back to David, to Abraham and to Adam, but who is also a king because he is the Son of God and God himself
We celebrate his coming with joy, joy at his arrival, and joy at the promise of victory over evil.
He will shine light on all the dark places of our lives giving us strength to overcome our fears and we must not forget that although the War is won just by the fact of His Birth
Many Battles remain and each of us are called to stand with Him every day of our life--not just avoiding evil, but in doing good!
That is what Christmas is about, and that is what our faith is all about.
As we enter into this reality here at the Altar let us pray that the King of Kings will help us to dispel the powers of darkness and lead each of us to Victory this Christmas.
The King is very near, come out and greet Him!
Sunday, December 23, 2007
God keeps his promises!
4th Sunday of Advent Given at St. Patrick's in Wareham
By: Rev. Deacon Ronnie P. Floyd
At Baptism, we were adopted into God’s family and became members of his chosen people.
That’s why we read sacred scriptures, both the Old and New Testaments at Mass, in our private prayer, and in small groups. Because the Scriptures are the stories and memories of God’s family, which is also our family.
So when we read today the promises made to the Israelites, To the chosen people, we should see in them promises made to us!
The Old Testament is full of prophecies. But what exactly do they all mean?
Throughout the Old Testament, from the very first sign of trouble when our first parents lost their way God promises to save us.
The bible is the story of His promise to us
and of the way God has carried them out
• the calling of Abraham,
• Moses and the liberation of the Israelites from Egypt,
• The entrance into the promise land
• the establishment of Israel under King David
All of these events tell us about God’s work to save us in the past but also today, in our lives!
Today's First Reading is taken from the last period of salvation history just before the coming of the Christ.
The Kingdom of Israel broke down because:
• the people of God were unfaithful.
• they stopped following God's commandments,
o and so their nation was divided,
o and they became vulnerable to invasion.
• The Israelites failed to keep their promises to God.
o abandoning Him,
o and so they suffered the consequences.
But even though the Chosen People didn't keep their promises, God still kept his.
God didn't force his people to follow him – he allowed them to break their promises.
But because true love is freely given, without strings attached he was faithful to his promises.
This story should sound familiar because this is not only the story of Israel but our own personal story.
Just like the Children of Israel each and every one of us sins. We can’t help it, because separated from God we can never live perfect lives. And just like that first sin our sins have ripple effects, effects that further divide and alienate us from each other, and from our God. This is the situation that God promised to repair.
As St. John Chrystdom writes: The pagan desire to see and have access to God which for them took the form of the worship of statues for us becomes a reality in the birth of Christ, Emmanuel, God with us.
The God, who is all-powerful and just, keeps his promise with his people by humbling himself to become a little Child
So that we who have sinned, are able to approach him, without fear, and to find in him a foundation for true life.
This gift, of Emmanuel, is the basis for all human hope. As Pope Benedict points out in his recent encyclical letter,
He says: God is the foundation of hope: not any god, but the God who has a human face and who has loved us to the end, each one of us and humanity in its entirety.
His Kingdom is not an imaginary hereafter, situated in a future that will never arrive; his Kingdom is present wherever he is loved and wherever his love reaches us.
His love alone gives us the possibility of soberly persevering day by day,
[For it] is at the same time our guarantee of the existence of what we only vaguely sense and which nevertheless, in our deepest self, we await: a life that is “truly” life. (Spe salvi, #31)
________________________________________
God’s love is the foundation of our Hope, our hope for a life and a world, that is truly human—where true happiness can be found
In a world full of suffering and difficulties, it's easy for us to forget this. We are so wounded by life, by experiences in which people have broken their promises to us, or not lived up to their word to us, that our hearts can get cold. We build walls around our hearts to protect them, but those walls end up keeping God out too.
In the mountains in northern Alaska there is a lake whose waters are always warm.
• Even in the coldest winter months, it is warm enough to swim in.
• In the midst of a frozen wasteland some underground channel constantly feeds it and keeping it warm.
• Creating a real oasis of warmth and life amid the desolation of arctic winter.
Christ is like that lake.
• No matter how much this fallen world causes us to suffer, no matter how cold the world gets, his love never weakens, his goodness never freezes over.
• Like this warm lake in the midst of arctic ice, the Heart of Christ, a heart that keeps his promises, is always there to welcome and sustain us.
• He is the fulfillment of the Father's promises.
In a couple of day we will celebrate the fulfillment of these promises, so as we enter this final, short, fourth week of Advent our hearts should be especially full of gratitude.
• But what is the best way to express this gratitude?
• God loves us, he keeps His promises to us!
• But have we loved and kept our promises to Him?
During this last day and a half of Advent let's renew our commitment to keep our promises to Him made at Baptism and Confirmation:
• to reject evil, but also to do good,
• to imitate Christ in our daily lives, most especially by
o loving God with all our hearts
o and loving our neighbor as ourselves.
Let’s prepare to enter into the spirit of Christmas, a spirit that is all about giving, because when we do this we become truly God’s family and experience the life changing warmth and light of God’s Love, even in these darkest and coldest days of the year.
As we prepare to God to the Altar take a minute to recommit yourself to God to giving yourself as a gift to Him even as we prepare to receive him into our Hearts.
(Preperation materials and example from www.epriest.com)
By: Rev. Deacon Ronnie P. Floyd
At Baptism, we were adopted into God’s family and became members of his chosen people.
That’s why we read sacred scriptures, both the Old and New Testaments at Mass, in our private prayer, and in small groups. Because the Scriptures are the stories and memories of God’s family, which is also our family.
So when we read today the promises made to the Israelites, To the chosen people, we should see in them promises made to us!
The Old Testament is full of prophecies. But what exactly do they all mean?
Throughout the Old Testament, from the very first sign of trouble when our first parents lost their way God promises to save us.
The bible is the story of His promise to us
and of the way God has carried them out
• the calling of Abraham,
• Moses and the liberation of the Israelites from Egypt,
• The entrance into the promise land
• the establishment of Israel under King David
All of these events tell us about God’s work to save us in the past but also today, in our lives!
Today's First Reading is taken from the last period of salvation history just before the coming of the Christ.
The Kingdom of Israel broke down because:
• the people of God were unfaithful.
• they stopped following God's commandments,
o and so their nation was divided,
o and they became vulnerable to invasion.
• The Israelites failed to keep their promises to God.
o abandoning Him,
o and so they suffered the consequences.
But even though the Chosen People didn't keep their promises, God still kept his.
God didn't force his people to follow him – he allowed them to break their promises.
But because true love is freely given, without strings attached he was faithful to his promises.
This story should sound familiar because this is not only the story of Israel but our own personal story.
Just like the Children of Israel each and every one of us sins. We can’t help it, because separated from God we can never live perfect lives. And just like that first sin our sins have ripple effects, effects that further divide and alienate us from each other, and from our God. This is the situation that God promised to repair.
As St. John Chrystdom writes: The pagan desire to see and have access to God which for them took the form of the worship of statues for us becomes a reality in the birth of Christ, Emmanuel, God with us.
The God, who is all-powerful and just, keeps his promise with his people by humbling himself to become a little Child
So that we who have sinned, are able to approach him, without fear, and to find in him a foundation for true life.
This gift, of Emmanuel, is the basis for all human hope. As Pope Benedict points out in his recent encyclical letter,
He says: God is the foundation of hope: not any god, but the God who has a human face and who has loved us to the end, each one of us and humanity in its entirety.
His Kingdom is not an imaginary hereafter, situated in a future that will never arrive; his Kingdom is present wherever he is loved and wherever his love reaches us.
His love alone gives us the possibility of soberly persevering day by day,
[For it] is at the same time our guarantee of the existence of what we only vaguely sense and which nevertheless, in our deepest self, we await: a life that is “truly” life. (Spe salvi, #31)
________________________________________
God’s love is the foundation of our Hope, our hope for a life and a world, that is truly human—where true happiness can be found
In a world full of suffering and difficulties, it's easy for us to forget this. We are so wounded by life, by experiences in which people have broken their promises to us, or not lived up to their word to us, that our hearts can get cold. We build walls around our hearts to protect them, but those walls end up keeping God out too.
In the mountains in northern Alaska there is a lake whose waters are always warm.
• Even in the coldest winter months, it is warm enough to swim in.
• In the midst of a frozen wasteland some underground channel constantly feeds it and keeping it warm.
• Creating a real oasis of warmth and life amid the desolation of arctic winter.
Christ is like that lake.
• No matter how much this fallen world causes us to suffer, no matter how cold the world gets, his love never weakens, his goodness never freezes over.
• Like this warm lake in the midst of arctic ice, the Heart of Christ, a heart that keeps his promises, is always there to welcome and sustain us.
• He is the fulfillment of the Father's promises.
In a couple of day we will celebrate the fulfillment of these promises, so as we enter this final, short, fourth week of Advent our hearts should be especially full of gratitude.
• But what is the best way to express this gratitude?
• God loves us, he keeps His promises to us!
• But have we loved and kept our promises to Him?
During this last day and a half of Advent let's renew our commitment to keep our promises to Him made at Baptism and Confirmation:
• to reject evil, but also to do good,
• to imitate Christ in our daily lives, most especially by
o loving God with all our hearts
o and loving our neighbor as ourselves.
Let’s prepare to enter into the spirit of Christmas, a spirit that is all about giving, because when we do this we become truly God’s family and experience the life changing warmth and light of God’s Love, even in these darkest and coldest days of the year.
As we prepare to God to the Altar take a minute to recommit yourself to God to giving yourself as a gift to Him even as we prepare to receive him into our Hearts.
(Preperation materials and example from www.epriest.com)
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
Mass of Thanksgiving--Sacristy
How good God is to us. The past month and half has flown by. During the time since I last blogges I have been on retreat, my family and friends came to visit me, I was ordained, went on vacation, and now am a new Student at the Pontifical University of St. Thomas, the Angelicum. After this brief sabbatical I plan to continue blogging, check in from time to time.
Friday, August 31, 2007
Farewell
What thanksgiving, then, can we render to God for you, for all the joy we feel on your account before our God?
St. Paul’s question in today’s first reading is often my own.
Being a seminarian isn’t always easy, there are lots of difficulties that we must contend with, as there are in any Christian vocation. However, as I tell people so often, my past four years in seminary have been great, mostly because of the privilege of meeting, praying with, and getting to know so many people who take their faith seriously.
Jesus challenges us in today’s Gospel to stay awake!
None of us does this perfectly but it gives me great joy to spend time eith those who are at least trying With those who have not been lulled by the hum of modern life.
So as I finish this summer assignment, here on Martha’s Vineyard, I want to thank each of you and those who are unable to be here today for your example of faith, which truly gives joy to my heart.
I especially want to thank Father Nagel, who has given me a great deal of latitude
Allowing me freedom to try a number of different initiatives this summer and who has been a model of Christian hospitality and generosity to me.
As I told Father, the other day, my one regret was that I couldn’t do more. There is so much work to do here and all over our country. We need to wake people up to the fact that there is more to life than 80 years of money making, merriment, and then death. We need to show people that there is truth and goodness and the possibility of happiness available to them,… in this world. We need to show them that even suffering
can serve its purposes and lead to happiness. We need to show people Jesus!
There is so much to do, but how do we the servants awaiting the masters return,
take care of his household?? There of course are many things that we can do, but as I leave you this week, I would just like to share the most important thing, that we MUST do.
The beginning of any faithful servants vigilance, is seeking to know the will of his master.
For the past month we have been blessed to have Eucharistic Adoration here each morning. But whether or not you have been able to come before Mass, for a period of adoration, our Eucharistic Lord is always here in the tabernacle. He always remains with us and is available to us. Making time each day, or a couple times a week to come here to church, to ask the lord what he desires of you today is so important to living as faithful servants wwaiting the master’s return.
And so I pray that each of you will take advantage of his Eucharistic presence, and invite other people especially the young, to come and spend a little time with God, truly present, in this Blessed Sacrament.
When I arrived here, one of the things that struck me immediately, … was how blessed you were that you are able to leave this Church and St. Augustine’s, unlocked and accessible all day long—TAKE advantage of this blessing!
Because spending just a few minutes with out Lord in heartfelt prayer, can change your life. I say this from experience, because it changed mine!
God Bless you all and please pray for priests and seminarians, and pray for me.
St. Paul’s question in today’s first reading is often my own.
Being a seminarian isn’t always easy, there are lots of difficulties that we must contend with, as there are in any Christian vocation. However, as I tell people so often, my past four years in seminary have been great, mostly because of the privilege of meeting, praying with, and getting to know so many people who take their faith seriously.
Jesus challenges us in today’s Gospel to stay awake!
None of us does this perfectly but it gives me great joy to spend time eith those who are at least trying With those who have not been lulled by the hum of modern life.
So as I finish this summer assignment, here on Martha’s Vineyard, I want to thank each of you and those who are unable to be here today for your example of faith, which truly gives joy to my heart.
I especially want to thank Father Nagel, who has given me a great deal of latitude
Allowing me freedom to try a number of different initiatives this summer and who has been a model of Christian hospitality and generosity to me.
As I told Father, the other day, my one regret was that I couldn’t do more. There is so much work to do here and all over our country. We need to wake people up to the fact that there is more to life than 80 years of money making, merriment, and then death. We need to show people that there is truth and goodness and the possibility of happiness available to them,… in this world. We need to show them that even suffering
can serve its purposes and lead to happiness. We need to show people Jesus!
There is so much to do, but how do we the servants awaiting the masters return,
take care of his household?? There of course are many things that we can do, but as I leave you this week, I would just like to share the most important thing, that we MUST do.
The beginning of any faithful servants vigilance, is seeking to know the will of his master.
For the past month we have been blessed to have Eucharistic Adoration here each morning. But whether or not you have been able to come before Mass, for a period of adoration, our Eucharistic Lord is always here in the tabernacle. He always remains with us and is available to us. Making time each day, or a couple times a week to come here to church, to ask the lord what he desires of you today is so important to living as faithful servants wwaiting the master’s return.
And so I pray that each of you will take advantage of his Eucharistic presence, and invite other people especially the young, to come and spend a little time with God, truly present, in this Blessed Sacrament.
When I arrived here, one of the things that struck me immediately, … was how blessed you were that you are able to leave this Church and St. Augustine’s, unlocked and accessible all day long—TAKE advantage of this blessing!
Because spending just a few minutes with out Lord in heartfelt prayer, can change your life. I say this from experience, because it changed mine!
God Bless you all and please pray for priests and seminarians, and pray for me.
Bombs away
Some times you just need to let go and let God! Thanks to Bill McGrath for this photo. You can see the whole set at http://www.flickr.com/photos/7263390@N02/
Thursday, August 23, 2007
Gratitude
As I read today’s (Thursday, August, 23, 2007 ) readings in preparation
for this meditation the main lesson of today’s Scriptures seemed
obscure. The first reading being about war, battles, and places of
battles, and about abargain with God that ended in human sacrifice. The
second reading being about rude guests and fashion tips for wedding
goers. But then it occurred to me that both readings connect to each
other and teach and us a very simple but very important lesson about
showing gratitude to God, for all He has done for us.
Often we are too busy to look at and take account of all the good things God has done for us.
And yet, if we stop, and take a moment, the list of things that God has done for us quickly fills.
Lets just list a few things we all have to be thankful for each day:
We all were born
We all woke up this morning.
We all are loved by our God.
We are all called to share fully in His Love
here at the Altar
Theseare just a few examples common to us all, each one of us could think up a long list of other things that each of us individually has to be thankful for. How often do we really stop to thank God for these things?
In today’s Gospel, we hear the Parable of the wedding feast, God invites friends to come, freely, and when they fail to come he invites strangers to the banquet.
A wedding banquet was an expensive affair in those days: food, wine, and provisions had to be made for guests and usually the banquet went on for several days, since friends and family often came from far away.
So to invite guests to your house and have them ignore your invitation was extremely rude, extremely ungrateful.
The parable teaches that God’s generosity goes beyond inviting his friends, when the invited guests don’t come God invites strangers. In a day and age where just getting enough food to survive was difficult, inviting anyone and everyone was very generous.
There was just one requirement—that you be presentable. You are invited to someone else’s party, where you eat and drink as much as you like, and all that is asked is that you prepare yourself. This doesn’t seem like too much to ask.
Likewise, All are invited to the banquet of God, we have done nothing to merit
this invitation God invites us out of graciousness.
Still, there is an expectation that those who are invited will respond, and those who respond will prepare themselves.
This theme is central in our first reading; Jephthah asked a favor of God, promising to give God whoever came to greet him, when he returned home victorious as a human sacrifice.
I have got to believe that when Jephthah made the promise he either didn’t really believe that God would save him, he really didn’t believe that he would ever have
to keep his promise to God, or he didn’t consider that someone he cares about would be the one he vowed to sacrifice. God granted Jephthah’s favor, and so, he returned home, and was greeted by his only child, his daughter, who came to greet him with song and dance, only to find our that her father had signed her death warrant.
The concept of human sacrifice, is foreign to us today, but don’t let this dimension get in the way. Remember all scripture has two authors—Man and God. Setting the historical and cultural context aside, the theological point spoken by the divine author is clear: We owe God everything, for the good things he does for us, everything, including what we value most in the world.
When we enter into relationship with God we gamble everything, just as Jephthah did.
We ask God to be our God, to be our Lord to protect and defend us in time of need
conscious of the fact that as part of this deal, as his dependants, we owe him everything and should be willing to give everything to him, confident that He loves
us, that He knows and always does what is truly good for us. This is true faith in God and true gratitude.
Jephthah returned home, and saw that it was his daughter that he would lose, and of course this saddened him, but Jephthah showed true gratitude by keeping his vow to
the Lord. Like Jacob before him, he was willing to give God everything that mattered.
When we need something from God, as Christians, we are on our knees to pray for it—but if we get what we want, or once we get what we need, then what? Then what do we do? How often do we, in times of desperation, make a bargain with God and then when things work out, realize that what we promised was too steep, to valuable to us to actually give God.
We owe God everything, but God does not demand sacrifices from us, human or other, as payment. As we heard God say in today's Psalm, “I desire neither sacrifices nor oblation.” Make no mistake, Jephthah is not buying God’s favor with his promise of sacrifice. Rather, he is showing gratitude by keeping his promise, just as we show
gratitude to God when we keep our word, especially the promised we make at Mass, at Baptism, Confirmation, and Marriage.
This attitude of gratitude that God demands of us manifests it self in prayer, and
preeminently in the Mass, BUT, I think the first reading also suggests another important form of gratitude and thanksgiving—abandonment to the will of God.
Jephthah made this promise to God, and must keep it. While TODAY we might not promise to Sacrifice our children, since as Christians we know that Goddoesn ’t want this, sometimes God’s plan for the world, does require hard sacrifices: The loss of a child or a parent to sickness; Disappointments in our family or career; Personal pain and suffering.
When faced with these difficulties in life it strikes me that we can look at them in two different ways, we can resent them, focusing on the negative, sometimes even blaming God! Or, we can accept them in gratitude, focusing not on the difficulty itself, but on all the good things that preceded the difficulty.
The lose of life s always hard, I remember last summer visiting catholic patients at St. Luke’s Hospital in New Bedford. One lady, in particular, stood out to me I loved to visit her, because even though she was dying, As in truth we all are, she was so peaceful, in fact so joyful about all the good things God had given her.
Its not that she was not sad at the prospect of death, but that she accepted that life is a gift worthy of thanksgiving, even when it is only given for a short time.
I find the response of Jephthah’s daughter in this story most interesting! Learning that her father promised God her life, she reacts not with fear or anger, but consigned to do right by God. Like Jesus,Jephtah’s daughter freely returned to accept death in gratitude to God for the love he shows us.
All of us are called to make both our lives and our deaths a worthy sacrifice, which we offer up to God, in Thanksgiving. This is part of the sacrifice that we offer here on the altar and this is our duty and loving response in gratitude to God.
for this meditation the main lesson of today’s Scriptures seemed
obscure. The first reading being about war, battles, and places of
battles, and about abargain with God that ended in human sacrifice. The
second reading being about rude guests and fashion tips for wedding
goers. But then it occurred to me that both readings connect to each
other and teach and us a very simple but very important lesson about
showing gratitude to God, for all He has done for us.
Often we are too busy to look at and take account of all the good things God has done for us.
And yet, if we stop, and take a moment, the list of things that God has done for us quickly fills.
Lets just list a few things we all have to be thankful for each day:
We all were born
We all woke up this morning.
We all are loved by our God.
We are all called to share fully in His Love
here at the Altar
Theseare just a few examples common to us all, each one of us could think up a long list of other things that each of us individually has to be thankful for. How often do we really stop to thank God for these things?
In today’s Gospel, we hear the Parable of the wedding feast, God invites friends to come, freely, and when they fail to come he invites strangers to the banquet.
A wedding banquet was an expensive affair in those days: food, wine, and provisions had to be made for guests and usually the banquet went on for several days, since friends and family often came from far away.
So to invite guests to your house and have them ignore your invitation was extremely rude, extremely ungrateful.
The parable teaches that God’s generosity goes beyond inviting his friends, when the invited guests don’t come God invites strangers. In a day and age where just getting enough food to survive was difficult, inviting anyone and everyone was very generous.
There was just one requirement—that you be presentable. You are invited to someone else’s party, where you eat and drink as much as you like, and all that is asked is that you prepare yourself. This doesn’t seem like too much to ask.
Likewise, All are invited to the banquet of God, we have done nothing to merit
this invitation God invites us out of graciousness.
Still, there is an expectation that those who are invited will respond, and those who respond will prepare themselves.
This theme is central in our first reading; Jephthah asked a favor of God, promising to give God whoever came to greet him, when he returned home victorious as a human sacrifice.
I have got to believe that when Jephthah made the promise he either didn’t really believe that God would save him, he really didn’t believe that he would ever have
to keep his promise to God, or he didn’t consider that someone he cares about would be the one he vowed to sacrifice. God granted Jephthah’s favor, and so, he returned home, and was greeted by his only child, his daughter, who came to greet him with song and dance, only to find our that her father had signed her death warrant.
The concept of human sacrifice, is foreign to us today, but don’t let this dimension get in the way. Remember all scripture has two authors—Man and God. Setting the historical and cultural context aside, the theological point spoken by the divine author is clear: We owe God everything, for the good things he does for us, everything, including what we value most in the world.
When we enter into relationship with God we gamble everything, just as Jephthah did.
We ask God to be our God, to be our Lord to protect and defend us in time of need
conscious of the fact that as part of this deal, as his dependants, we owe him everything and should be willing to give everything to him, confident that He loves
us, that He knows and always does what is truly good for us. This is true faith in God and true gratitude.
Jephthah returned home, and saw that it was his daughter that he would lose, and of course this saddened him, but Jephthah showed true gratitude by keeping his vow to
the Lord. Like Jacob before him, he was willing to give God everything that mattered.
When we need something from God, as Christians, we are on our knees to pray for it—but if we get what we want, or once we get what we need, then what? Then what do we do? How often do we, in times of desperation, make a bargain with God and then when things work out, realize that what we promised was too steep, to valuable to us to actually give God.
We owe God everything, but God does not demand sacrifices from us, human or other, as payment. As we heard God say in today's Psalm, “I desire neither sacrifices nor oblation.” Make no mistake, Jephthah is not buying God’s favor with his promise of sacrifice. Rather, he is showing gratitude by keeping his promise, just as we show
gratitude to God when we keep our word, especially the promised we make at Mass, at Baptism, Confirmation, and Marriage.
This attitude of gratitude that God demands of us manifests it self in prayer, and
preeminently in the Mass, BUT, I think the first reading also suggests another important form of gratitude and thanksgiving—abandonment to the will of God.
Jephthah made this promise to God, and must keep it. While TODAY we might not promise to Sacrifice our children, since as Christians we know that Goddoesn ’t want this, sometimes God’s plan for the world, does require hard sacrifices: The loss of a child or a parent to sickness; Disappointments in our family or career; Personal pain and suffering.
When faced with these difficulties in life it strikes me that we can look at them in two different ways, we can resent them, focusing on the negative, sometimes even blaming God! Or, we can accept them in gratitude, focusing not on the difficulty itself, but on all the good things that preceded the difficulty.
The lose of life s always hard, I remember last summer visiting catholic patients at St. Luke’s Hospital in New Bedford. One lady, in particular, stood out to me I loved to visit her, because even though she was dying, As in truth we all are, she was so peaceful, in fact so joyful about all the good things God had given her.
Its not that she was not sad at the prospect of death, but that she accepted that life is a gift worthy of thanksgiving, even when it is only given for a short time.
I find the response of Jephthah’s daughter in this story most interesting! Learning that her father promised God her life, she reacts not with fear or anger, but consigned to do right by God. Like Jesus,Jephtah’s daughter freely returned to accept death in gratitude to God for the love he shows us.
All of us are called to make both our lives and our deaths a worthy sacrifice, which we offer up to God, in Thanksgiving. This is part of the sacrifice that we offer here on the altar and this is our duty and loving response in gratitude to God.
BUSY!!!
For those of you who have been reading my blog faithfully I am sorry but I have been horribly busy the past few weeks. Doing what you ask? Well, I had a class on the Mass and Altar server training on Monday, I spent Tuesday with my family running errands, Wednesday we had a full day of Holy Day Masses, plus my good friend Deacon Ernest Cibelli was visiting from Baltimore (some of you might have seen him assisting at Mass on Thursday), and then today I have a Wedding rehersal in just a few minutes. More than anything though it has been the volumn of visitors that I have been entertaining. Last year when I was in New Bedford no one came to visit me, I can't imagine why they are all coming this year!
The Cliffs of Gay Head are of course a must see and so here is my guest book with pictures from Aqinnah.
The Cliffs of Gay Head are of course a must see and so here is my guest book with pictures from Aqinnah.
Paula and John Wilk and my mom
Visiting from Wareham, some friends and my mom. Paula, who is the DRE at St. Patrick's also visited a few days later with the youth group.
Wednesday, August 15, 2007
Celibacy
This past Easter, during Holy Week
I traveled to the Ukrainian city of Lviv
With a group of seminarians—
To celebrate Easter according to
the Ukrainian Catholic Rite.
At the boarder we were detained because one of our group
An Austrailian, lacked the required visas.
Eventually it was determined
that he would need to leave the country,
obtain the required visa,
and return, hopefully the next day.
I volunteered to stay with him, since I speak some Polish.
As we sat in a border police station, for a number of hours,
Waiting, basically, to be deported
I talked with two of the Ukrainian Border Guards,
Eventually the fact that I was studying
for the priesthood, came up.
What shocked them,
was not that I was studying for the priesthood,
but that I planned to live celibacy.
For these men, both of them faithful Ukrainian Catholics,
The thought of not having a wife
and family was beyond belief.
They asked me, didn’t I think it would be hard?
And I answered them honestly,
Of course it would be hard!!
I grew up thinking and planning to have a family
In fact I wanted a large family.
THAT WAS MY PLAN
But God had other, thoughts.
However, I pointed out to them,
That marriage also is hard.
As Jesus himself says,
“Not all can accept this word,
but only those to whom that is granted.”
The reaction of those two boarder guards
Was typical of the modern reaction to celibacy.
At the root of our problems with celibacy
Is a problem with marriage.
In Massachusetts this misunderstanding
is readily apparent—in so called “Gay Marriage.”
But also in divorce on demand
And in the numbers of people living out of wedlock
Our problem with understanding the Vocation to celibacy
is related to our problem understanding the vocation to marriage.
And in reality our understanding of true love.
People think that being married
is easier than being celebate
but I think that this is only because
they approach marriage as a means of self-fulfillment.
But, Marriage, is supposed to be about love
Its supposed to be about self-sacrifice and self-denial
And cooperation for the sake of the common good.
If marriage is truly about the gift of self,
then how can it be easy,
we are sinful people
and so to give ourselves totally to another
means to give everything day in and day out
even when we stop liking the other person
even when the fire is gone, when sexual attraction fades
and when sexual relations become impossible.
Marriage is about service TO THE OTHER,
TO YOUR SPOUSE BUT ALSO TO THE LARGER COMMUNITY
just like celibacy is about service
And its hard, those of you living, or trying to live,
Truly Christian marriages, know that marriage and family
Are a cross, are both a great blessing and also a heavy burden.
The modern mentality that questions celibacy,
In truth also questions chastity before marriage
And even the possibility of a Christian marriage
As men we are more than just our animal appetites
Food, water, shelter, procreation
Humanity needs all these things,
But humans also have reason,
we have the ability to transcend our basic animal needs
to seek and know the good, to know God.
We have Souls.
We are made by God, not just to meet our own needs
But also to serve each other, to love each other,
and to come to love God through this love of creation.
We are made to serve each other through natural society,
through: Marriage and Families,
And the towns, cities, and states that these create.
However, because we have souls,
Because we have free wills,
Throughout the history of salvation
We see examples of men living supernaturally
to serve each other through lives of work and prayer:
from Jeremiah to John the Baptist to St. Paul
these individuals lived as a sign of things to come.
These men and women lived in the now,
the celebate life of the future Heaven, they hope for,
where our only spouse will be Christ Jesus.
They did not see marriage as something evil,
No in fact as we read in St. Paul’s letter to the Ephesians
It is a great gift and sign of the Church—the ordinary means
for the sanctification of men, women, and children.
But just as husbands and wives grow in holiness
Learning to love and freely submit, to their spouse,
Those who live lives of celibacy, learn to love and to submit
In their relationships with the Church
and with their eternal spouse God
Jesus created his Church based on
The natural model of the family,
With spiritual fathers and mothers,
Who beget so many children not by sexual fecundity
But by grace, creating people anew in the love of God.
Just like marriage is not easy,
Celebacy is not easy, its not even natural,
but it is a central component of God’s plan for the world
Like, Peter and the twelve,
who were called to leave behind their old lives
including their wives and children
to preach the gospel and minister the mysteries of God,
likewise today priests and religious make this same sacrifice
god willing we make it willingly
without grudge or conditions.
In making this commitment to love
They fulfill their human vocation to give of oneself
To love and to be holy.
How do they do it?
Only by the grace of God.
The SAME GRACE THAT SUSTAINS CHRISTIAN MARRIAGES
It is true, we are weak creatures
Truly loving relationships are almost beyond us
But God gives us the strength to love the way He loved us
By giving His life for us.
The next time you hear some one speaking badly about celibacy
Please remember that what they are really attacking
is the possibility of true Love.
The type of love that is the Cross of Jesus Christ,
the center of our faith
I traveled to the Ukrainian city of Lviv
With a group of seminarians—
To celebrate Easter according to
the Ukrainian Catholic Rite.
At the boarder we were detained because one of our group
An Austrailian, lacked the required visas.
Eventually it was determined
that he would need to leave the country,
obtain the required visa,
and return, hopefully the next day.
I volunteered to stay with him, since I speak some Polish.
As we sat in a border police station, for a number of hours,
Waiting, basically, to be deported
I talked with two of the Ukrainian Border Guards,
Eventually the fact that I was studying
for the priesthood, came up.
What shocked them,
was not that I was studying for the priesthood,
but that I planned to live celibacy.
For these men, both of them faithful Ukrainian Catholics,
The thought of not having a wife
and family was beyond belief.
They asked me, didn’t I think it would be hard?
And I answered them honestly,
Of course it would be hard!!
I grew up thinking and planning to have a family
In fact I wanted a large family.
THAT WAS MY PLAN
But God had other, thoughts.
However, I pointed out to them,
That marriage also is hard.
As Jesus himself says,
“Not all can accept this word,
but only those to whom that is granted.”
The reaction of those two boarder guards
Was typical of the modern reaction to celibacy.
At the root of our problems with celibacy
Is a problem with marriage.
In Massachusetts this misunderstanding
is readily apparent—in so called “Gay Marriage.”
But also in divorce on demand
And in the numbers of people living out of wedlock
Our problem with understanding the Vocation to celibacy
is related to our problem understanding the vocation to marriage.
And in reality our understanding of true love.
People think that being married
is easier than being celebate
but I think that this is only because
they approach marriage as a means of self-fulfillment.
But, Marriage, is supposed to be about love
Its supposed to be about self-sacrifice and self-denial
And cooperation for the sake of the common good.
If marriage is truly about the gift of self,
then how can it be easy,
we are sinful people
and so to give ourselves totally to another
means to give everything day in and day out
even when we stop liking the other person
even when the fire is gone, when sexual attraction fades
and when sexual relations become impossible.
Marriage is about service TO THE OTHER,
TO YOUR SPOUSE BUT ALSO TO THE LARGER COMMUNITY
just like celibacy is about service
And its hard, those of you living, or trying to live,
Truly Christian marriages, know that marriage and family
Are a cross, are both a great blessing and also a heavy burden.
The modern mentality that questions celibacy,
In truth also questions chastity before marriage
And even the possibility of a Christian marriage
As men we are more than just our animal appetites
Food, water, shelter, procreation
Humanity needs all these things,
But humans also have reason,
we have the ability to transcend our basic animal needs
to seek and know the good, to know God.
We have Souls.
We are made by God, not just to meet our own needs
But also to serve each other, to love each other,
and to come to love God through this love of creation.
We are made to serve each other through natural society,
through: Marriage and Families,
And the towns, cities, and states that these create.
However, because we have souls,
Because we have free wills,
Throughout the history of salvation
We see examples of men living supernaturally
to serve each other through lives of work and prayer:
from Jeremiah to John the Baptist to St. Paul
these individuals lived as a sign of things to come.
These men and women lived in the now,
the celebate life of the future Heaven, they hope for,
where our only spouse will be Christ Jesus.
They did not see marriage as something evil,
No in fact as we read in St. Paul’s letter to the Ephesians
It is a great gift and sign of the Church—the ordinary means
for the sanctification of men, women, and children.
But just as husbands and wives grow in holiness
Learning to love and freely submit, to their spouse,
Those who live lives of celibacy, learn to love and to submit
In their relationships with the Church
and with their eternal spouse God
Jesus created his Church based on
The natural model of the family,
With spiritual fathers and mothers,
Who beget so many children not by sexual fecundity
But by grace, creating people anew in the love of God.
Just like marriage is not easy,
Celebacy is not easy, its not even natural,
but it is a central component of God’s plan for the world
Like, Peter and the twelve,
who were called to leave behind their old lives
including their wives and children
to preach the gospel and minister the mysteries of God,
likewise today priests and religious make this same sacrifice
god willing we make it willingly
without grudge or conditions.
In making this commitment to love
They fulfill their human vocation to give of oneself
To love and to be holy.
How do they do it?
Only by the grace of God.
The SAME GRACE THAT SUSTAINS CHRISTIAN MARRIAGES
It is true, we are weak creatures
Truly loving relationships are almost beyond us
But God gives us the strength to love the way He loved us
By giving His life for us.
The next time you hear some one speaking badly about celibacy
Please remember that what they are really attacking
is the possibility of true Love.
The type of love that is the Cross of Jesus Christ,
the center of our faith
Tuesday, August 7, 2007
Young visitors, rain, XLT Sermon
Yesterday, I spent the day with some youth from my home parish, St. Patrick's in Wareham. They came over to the island for the day to spend some time at the beach, check out Oak Bluffs, and attend the Lift Team XLT (EXALT) Praise and Worship Holy Hour. The text, in PDF format, of my sermon for the holy hour will be available here by the end of the week.
I was really impressed by the young people who visited, we had a great day at the beach, but just as we were picking up our dinner, pizza, which we planned to eat on the steps of Star of the Sea, it started downpouring. We ran back from Giordanos to the Church, and providentially I had a tent there that we could eat under, but the group got soaked. I was worried that this would ruin the day for them, but instead they all seemed to take it very well. I am reminded daily by this and other experiences that no matter how well or poorly I do or plan something, God works on our hearts in mysterious ways, and can turn what seems to be a setback or failure into a moment of grace. Praised be Jesus Christ...
I was really impressed by the young people who visited, we had a great day at the beach, but just as we were picking up our dinner, pizza, which we planned to eat on the steps of Star of the Sea, it started downpouring. We ran back from Giordanos to the Church, and providentially I had a tent there that we could eat under, but the group got soaked. I was worried that this would ruin the day for them, but instead they all seemed to take it very well. I am reminded daily by this and other experiences that no matter how well or poorly I do or plan something, God works on our hearts in mysterious ways, and can turn what seems to be a setback or failure into a moment of grace. Praised be Jesus Christ...
Walking on Water with St. Peter and St. Sixtus
You know I hate standing up in front of people to speak, I am an introvert trying really hard to be extroverted, and so when I hear this passage in scriptures, I really relate to it.
There are some out there who God has blessed with the skills needed to be a priest: charisma, a sharp mind, nerves of steel. Peter and I on the other hand, need to rely on Jesus a whole lot more than others.
As Christians we are all baptized into Christ. We all share in his destiny—to be eternally with the Father, but we all also share in His weakness, in his cross, and although his yoke is easy and his burden light we too sometimes stumble and fall under its weight just as Jesus did under the Cross.
Our mission is a supernatural one to convert the world, to build up God’s kingdom this is what we are sent forth from Mass each day to do…
This task seems sometimes like walking on Water. Impossible! And so often we can be discouraged by the voice of the world, the howling wind that seems too strong for us. It is in these times that we need to cry out to Jesus: Lord Save ME
We know that Jesus will always be there to lift us up, when we call to him in distress.
And when he lifts us up we need to continue working
We need to ignore the wind, ignore the voice of the world, confident that he is always supporting us.A s Baptised members of the Body of Christ we must realize that God has already won the day.
That our little works, even if they seem fruitless, will one day be a little stone in the walls of the Kingdom.
This is the example of St. Sixtus, who we honor today. He died, and seemed a failure, but by his example Christ watered the ground of Rome so that His Church could grow strong on the blood of the Martyrs.
We are weak, but his is strong So let us make the prayer of Divine Mercy our prayer: Jesus I trust in you.
There are some out there who God has blessed with the skills needed to be a priest: charisma, a sharp mind, nerves of steel. Peter and I on the other hand, need to rely on Jesus a whole lot more than others.
As Christians we are all baptized into Christ. We all share in his destiny—to be eternally with the Father, but we all also share in His weakness, in his cross, and although his yoke is easy and his burden light we too sometimes stumble and fall under its weight just as Jesus did under the Cross.
Our mission is a supernatural one to convert the world, to build up God’s kingdom this is what we are sent forth from Mass each day to do…
This task seems sometimes like walking on Water. Impossible! And so often we can be discouraged by the voice of the world, the howling wind that seems too strong for us. It is in these times that we need to cry out to Jesus: Lord Save ME
We know that Jesus will always be there to lift us up, when we call to him in distress.
And when he lifts us up we need to continue working
We need to ignore the wind, ignore the voice of the world, confident that he is always supporting us.A s Baptised members of the Body of Christ we must realize that God has already won the day.
That our little works, even if they seem fruitless, will one day be a little stone in the walls of the Kingdom.
This is the example of St. Sixtus, who we honor today. He died, and seemed a failure, but by his example Christ watered the ground of Rome so that His Church could grow strong on the blood of the Martyrs.
We are weak, but his is strong So let us make the prayer of Divine Mercy our prayer: Jesus I trust in you.
Friday, August 3, 2007
Away for the Week
You may have noticed that I have been away this week, and haven't been posting. That is because the Bishop of Fall River annually invites his seminarians to a week long get away at Sacred Heart Retreat Center in Wareham. This week, being most likely my last, because next year God willing I won't be a seminarian but rather a priest, was in my book one of the most enjoyable. We had a new man join us this year, Chris Peschel who is entering 2nd College at St. Charles Seminary, and more than this there was a great sense of optimism amoung the priests and seminarians about the future of our Diocese. We spoke of things that need to be accomplished to promote vocations, what we can do to be good models of priesthood, and about what was going on in the diocese and the Church throughout the world. We also had a good time, playing some board games, watching a movie, making good use of the beach, and just chatting with brother seminarians who we too seldomly see and have a chance to talk with.
Good things are happening in Fall River, pray for vocations, and by next year we may double our numbers of seminarians!
Good things are happening in Fall River, pray for vocations, and by next year we may double our numbers of seminarians!
Saturday, July 28, 2007
The Spirit vs. the Law??
In the New Testament it always seems like there is a tension between the Law and Faith or the Law and the Spirit.
This tension is perhaps at the root of some of the greatest theological divisions of Christian history: Marcionism, Pelegianism, Protestantism
These are just a few of the “isms” that it has caused.
And this tension continues to affect us even today, not only in modern Protestantism but even within the Church.
We see occasionally Catholics who want the faith without the Church, that is without the hierarchy, the Law. Spirituality without communal Worship and practice.
Conversely there are Catholics who want the Church without the spirit, without the sometimes uncontrolable mysticism of charismatic members and movements. This is what Jesus is addressing today in explaining the parable of the sower of seeds.
As Jesus explains the seed that falls on the path refers to those who reject the gospel, but I believe that the other two situations are more dangerous than the first
The other two places that the seed falls I believe refers to the two extremes of Law vs. Spirit
We live in an age of extremes and it strikes me that this dichotomy has been deadly to the Church especially over the past 50 years.
The seed that falls on rocky ground is received with joy, however these seeds cannot penetrate deep into the heart and so they are washed away.
This refers to those who hear the word, and are excited who embrace the good news
and begin to practice it, observing its outward manifestations but fail to allow its Spirit to enter their hearts.
How many people have grown up as Catholics going to mass, receiving the Sacraments, considering themselves Good Catholics
Without ever opening a Bible, without ever imagining the passion of a John of the Cross or Theresa of Liseux toward the faith, and even, without ever really praying—because after all there is a difference between rattling of the word: such as a Hail Mary, and actually praying them.
AMEN. Why do we say it? What does it mean?
When we understand why we are doing something, then we make its meaning our own
This is the Spirit of the thing, but when we don’t understand the action or word is by definition meaningless.
Jesus said when he was giving the Sermon on the Eucharist, in John chapter 6, the Spirit gives life.
A parrot who mimicks the words of the Creed is not a Christain because it is the Spirit that gives life, but how many Catholics lack this Spirit?
The tension between the Law and Spirit we see in the New Testiment, and St. Paul in particular,
Arises not from a desire to separate these two things but from a realization that the Jews, the Pharasees had separated them, observing rules and regulations without understanding.
Jesus testifies: I have not come to abolish the Law, but to fulfill it.
But many Jews were so blind to the Spirit of the Law that they failed to see God’s promised Christ, in Jesus. I think it was the great Russian author Dostoyevsky who wrote a short story within one of his novels about Christ being put on trial before the Catholic Grand Inquistor
Although the story was clearly anti-Catholic I think the message is still esential for us to think about our Catholic faith cannot be a dead thing, it cannot be all letter and law, lest we run the risk of not recognizing Christ in our midst.
This being the case, the law provides and essential form and space, for our faith to grow in.
St. Paul of all people knew this, and nowhere in his letters does he encourage us to ignore the law. Likewise, when Jesus cured people on the Sabbath, He was not encouraging men to ignore the Sabbath, to ignore God, but rather to put the Sabbath observance in its proper place, seeing the Spirit of the Law, not just the letter.
When Jesus speaks of the seed that falls in among thorns He is speaking of the opposite extreme, the Spirit without the Law without authority and hierarchy, without guidance
The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath Jesus explained to those who complained that he violated the Sabbath Law.
This is not to say that it is abitrary or can be lightly dismissed, but that the God gave Man the Law to help us live good lives. The law is made for man, BECAUSE our maker, the one who knits us together in our mother’s womb AND who knows us better than we know ourselves tailored the Law to us, so that it fits like a glove and shows us the sure way to happiness.
Without the Law the seeds of the Faith take root, they may even take root in our heart but they are choked to death by the world.
The Spirit without the Law is like a human body without any bones.
This mentality, which is the essence of protestantism, and has been around almost as long as the Church has because it makes people feel liberated and free, the way eating the Apple seemed to be liberating to Adam and Eve.
Often this Spirit without law mentality is accompanied by the desire “to live like the first Christians,” who, we are told, did not have any formal structures. What it fails to recognize is that within the first few decades after the early followers of Christ were first called Christians
they were already developed hierarchical structures. Structures, that developed out of the Apostolic hierarchy established by Jesus, which helped them combat years of persecution and countless heresies so that the Early Christians could stay true to the Faith. so that the seeds would not be killed by the thorns of the world.
The famous Russian Orthodox theologian, Vladimir Soloviev, made exactly this argument at the end of the 19th Century pointing out that before the Great Schism Rome had always come to the defense of the Church in the East against the Eastern Emporers. Since the schism the Orthodox Church has been at the mercy of secular powers—he claimed.
Therefore, Soloviev saw in Papal Primacy, that is the Law, the only guarantee of true orthodoxy and of true freedom against the State and the world.
A prophetic arguement, if you consider the fact that the Russian Orthodox Church was heavily infiltrated by the KGB after the Communist Revolution.
Jesus’ final alternative, is the truly Catholic option, one that embraces the Law, but always leaving room for the workings of the Spirit. This is what St. Augustine is getting at
in his famous sermon of St. John’s Gospel. "Dilige et vis quod fac." “Love and do whatever you will.” However, if you love God, if you are truly in his Spirit you will want to follow his path. The ten commandments, laid out today in our first reading are not an impediment to our freedom,
but the only true way to exercise it.
They are not set against the Spirit, but the normal ways the Spirit of God acts in our lives.
As the Book of Deuteronomy says: today I have set before you blessings and curses, life and death, choose life—life, found in both the Spirit and the Law working together to bring about the Kingdom.
This tension is perhaps at the root of some of the greatest theological divisions of Christian history: Marcionism, Pelegianism, Protestantism
These are just a few of the “isms” that it has caused.
And this tension continues to affect us even today, not only in modern Protestantism but even within the Church.
We see occasionally Catholics who want the faith without the Church, that is without the hierarchy, the Law. Spirituality without communal Worship and practice.
Conversely there are Catholics who want the Church without the spirit, without the sometimes uncontrolable mysticism of charismatic members and movements. This is what Jesus is addressing today in explaining the parable of the sower of seeds.
As Jesus explains the seed that falls on the path refers to those who reject the gospel, but I believe that the other two situations are more dangerous than the first
The other two places that the seed falls I believe refers to the two extremes of Law vs. Spirit
We live in an age of extremes and it strikes me that this dichotomy has been deadly to the Church especially over the past 50 years.
The seed that falls on rocky ground is received with joy, however these seeds cannot penetrate deep into the heart and so they are washed away.
This refers to those who hear the word, and are excited who embrace the good news
and begin to practice it, observing its outward manifestations but fail to allow its Spirit to enter their hearts.
How many people have grown up as Catholics going to mass, receiving the Sacraments, considering themselves Good Catholics
Without ever opening a Bible, without ever imagining the passion of a John of the Cross or Theresa of Liseux toward the faith, and even, without ever really praying—because after all there is a difference between rattling of the word: such as a Hail Mary, and actually praying them.
AMEN. Why do we say it? What does it mean?
When we understand why we are doing something, then we make its meaning our own
This is the Spirit of the thing, but when we don’t understand the action or word is by definition meaningless.
Jesus said when he was giving the Sermon on the Eucharist, in John chapter 6, the Spirit gives life.
A parrot who mimicks the words of the Creed is not a Christain because it is the Spirit that gives life, but how many Catholics lack this Spirit?
The tension between the Law and Spirit we see in the New Testiment, and St. Paul in particular,
Arises not from a desire to separate these two things but from a realization that the Jews, the Pharasees had separated them, observing rules and regulations without understanding.
Jesus testifies: I have not come to abolish the Law, but to fulfill it.
But many Jews were so blind to the Spirit of the Law that they failed to see God’s promised Christ, in Jesus. I think it was the great Russian author Dostoyevsky who wrote a short story within one of his novels about Christ being put on trial before the Catholic Grand Inquistor
Although the story was clearly anti-Catholic I think the message is still esential for us to think about our Catholic faith cannot be a dead thing, it cannot be all letter and law, lest we run the risk of not recognizing Christ in our midst.
This being the case, the law provides and essential form and space, for our faith to grow in.
St. Paul of all people knew this, and nowhere in his letters does he encourage us to ignore the law. Likewise, when Jesus cured people on the Sabbath, He was not encouraging men to ignore the Sabbath, to ignore God, but rather to put the Sabbath observance in its proper place, seeing the Spirit of the Law, not just the letter.
When Jesus speaks of the seed that falls in among thorns He is speaking of the opposite extreme, the Spirit without the Law without authority and hierarchy, without guidance
The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath Jesus explained to those who complained that he violated the Sabbath Law.
This is not to say that it is abitrary or can be lightly dismissed, but that the God gave Man the Law to help us live good lives. The law is made for man, BECAUSE our maker, the one who knits us together in our mother’s womb AND who knows us better than we know ourselves tailored the Law to us, so that it fits like a glove and shows us the sure way to happiness.
Without the Law the seeds of the Faith take root, they may even take root in our heart but they are choked to death by the world.
The Spirit without the Law is like a human body without any bones.
This mentality, which is the essence of protestantism, and has been around almost as long as the Church has because it makes people feel liberated and free, the way eating the Apple seemed to be liberating to Adam and Eve.
Often this Spirit without law mentality is accompanied by the desire “to live like the first Christians,” who, we are told, did not have any formal structures. What it fails to recognize is that within the first few decades after the early followers of Christ were first called Christians
they were already developed hierarchical structures. Structures, that developed out of the Apostolic hierarchy established by Jesus, which helped them combat years of persecution and countless heresies so that the Early Christians could stay true to the Faith. so that the seeds would not be killed by the thorns of the world.
The famous Russian Orthodox theologian, Vladimir Soloviev, made exactly this argument at the end of the 19th Century pointing out that before the Great Schism Rome had always come to the defense of the Church in the East against the Eastern Emporers. Since the schism the Orthodox Church has been at the mercy of secular powers—he claimed.
Therefore, Soloviev saw in Papal Primacy, that is the Law, the only guarantee of true orthodoxy and of true freedom against the State and the world.
A prophetic arguement, if you consider the fact that the Russian Orthodox Church was heavily infiltrated by the KGB after the Communist Revolution.
Jesus’ final alternative, is the truly Catholic option, one that embraces the Law, but always leaving room for the workings of the Spirit. This is what St. Augustine is getting at
in his famous sermon of St. John’s Gospel. "Dilige et vis quod fac." “Love and do whatever you will.” However, if you love God, if you are truly in his Spirit you will want to follow his path. The ten commandments, laid out today in our first reading are not an impediment to our freedom,
but the only true way to exercise it.
They are not set against the Spirit, but the normal ways the Spirit of God acts in our lives.
As the Book of Deuteronomy says: today I have set before you blessings and curses, life and death, choose life—life, found in both the Spirit and the Law working together to bring about the Kingdom.
Puzziling Scripture passage
In today’s Gospel we hear one of several passages about the relationship between Jesus and his mother that make us scratch our head in confusion.
Mary, who is full of Grace who was beloved by God, who said let it be done to me, who bore Jesus for nine months in the womb
And raised him to manhood
Comes to see Jesus, accompanied by His brothers, that is, in this context, his family, his cousins, and they are dismissed by Jesu who seems to prefer his disciples to his own mother
What is going on here?
This passage is difficult for us because it defies the logic of the world, the logic of fallen man, of selfishness which tells us to prefer ourselves first and then our family, our clan, our tribe, our city, our nation… to all others
In Scriptures in general, and in the Gospel’s in particular, the Word of God is often revealed by what we might call double
communication.
Double communication is a linguistic tool used to convey a hard truth.
An example of this, common in the Gospels, is Jesus’ preference for the poor and sinful. Does Jesus really prefer sinners to saints?
NO, what Jesus is really saying is that He has no choice but to prefer sinners, BECAUSE WE ARE ALL SINNERS, even the Saints among us!! THERE ARE NO TRULY RIGHTOUS PEOPLE AROUND!
You see how hard it is, even today, for us “basically good people” to accept the fact that WE are sinners in need of FORGIVENESS, in need of his Grace.
If all Jesus preached was REPENT AND BELIEVE IN THE GOSPEL we would all stand behind him, together with the Pharisees, wagging our figures at others
Because, after all, “he is not talking to me!” Right?
Similarly, in today’s Gospel Jesus says something outrageous,
to catch our attention, to get us thinking.
His family arrives, and he seems spurns them in favor of his disciples. What is he trying to teach us?
Some Protestants try to say that this is an example of a rift that opens up between Jesus and Mary, when his ministry begins. Guided by tradition, we know that this is nonsense.
So what is it we are supposed to see? What is the difficult notion
that Jesus is trying to teach us?
We will hear it at the end of this week, it is the first of the ten words spoken on Sinai to the children of Israel.
The one that is first chronologically, but also first in importance,
first existentially and ontologically Love God. The One God. With your whole being!!!
This is the Great Commandment of Jesus that is so often forgotten
in favor of the Golden rule.
“Whoever does the will of my heavenly Father is my brother, and sister, and mother.” Jesus says. The Christian is to honor God even before honoring and protecting his biological wife, child, or parent. Like the mother of the seven sons in the book of Maccabees, we are to prefer God, even to our own lives, and even to the lives of our children.
What a tough teaching!! But it is in this love for God, that we become capable of truly loving our neighbor and with them our families. This is the crux of our faith, the core, the mustard seed the grows into a great tree.
GOD IS GOOD, we use to tell the kids at youth retreats to which they would respond, ALL THE TIME!!!
If this is true, then loving God and doing his will, is always good. Good for us and good for others, and so by loving God first, we truly love others.
We become able to truly love others because we become able
to see all people as brothers and sisters. Wives and children can be thought of as possessions and cattle by men who do not know the Love of God, but if we know this Love, if we do his will, if we do the will of His Father in Heaven, this becomes impossible because we become His family, and we cannot help but to see others as brothers and sisters.
This becomes our primary identity: the Christian is a Christian, before he is an American, before he is an Islander, before he is a parishioner of this parish or of that church,
As a Christian, as one who does the will of the Father he must work together with all other Christians regardless of all the worldly distinctions that separate us to build up the Kingdom.
In this light, Mary, whose fiat, “let it be done to me according to thy word” is her crowning glory, SHOWS HERSELF AS Jesus’ mother par excellence, because she always did the will of the Father she is uniquely privileged. Not just because of her biological connection with Jesus, But because she had faith, a spiritual connection to Jesus stronger than flesh and bone. This is why the Angel confesses her: Full of Grace.
God wills that all mankind be saved and so Mary, cooperates completely with his plan of salvation uniting herself to her sons mission. In the end she does the will of the father wven to the point of offering up her son on the Cross, preferring God’s will even over her own son’s life and thereby becoming a true spiritual mother to not only her son but also to each of us.
Mary, who is full of Grace who was beloved by God, who said let it be done to me, who bore Jesus for nine months in the womb
And raised him to manhood
Comes to see Jesus, accompanied by His brothers, that is, in this context, his family, his cousins, and they are dismissed by Jesu who seems to prefer his disciples to his own mother
What is going on here?
This passage is difficult for us because it defies the logic of the world, the logic of fallen man, of selfishness which tells us to prefer ourselves first and then our family, our clan, our tribe, our city, our nation… to all others
In Scriptures in general, and in the Gospel’s in particular, the Word of God is often revealed by what we might call double
communication.
Double communication is a linguistic tool used to convey a hard truth.
An example of this, common in the Gospels, is Jesus’ preference for the poor and sinful. Does Jesus really prefer sinners to saints?
NO, what Jesus is really saying is that He has no choice but to prefer sinners, BECAUSE WE ARE ALL SINNERS, even the Saints among us!! THERE ARE NO TRULY RIGHTOUS PEOPLE AROUND!
You see how hard it is, even today, for us “basically good people” to accept the fact that WE are sinners in need of FORGIVENESS, in need of his Grace.
If all Jesus preached was REPENT AND BELIEVE IN THE GOSPEL we would all stand behind him, together with the Pharisees, wagging our figures at others
Because, after all, “he is not talking to me!” Right?
Similarly, in today’s Gospel Jesus says something outrageous,
to catch our attention, to get us thinking.
His family arrives, and he seems spurns them in favor of his disciples. What is he trying to teach us?
Some Protestants try to say that this is an example of a rift that opens up between Jesus and Mary, when his ministry begins. Guided by tradition, we know that this is nonsense.
So what is it we are supposed to see? What is the difficult notion
that Jesus is trying to teach us?
We will hear it at the end of this week, it is the first of the ten words spoken on Sinai to the children of Israel.
The one that is first chronologically, but also first in importance,
first existentially and ontologically Love God. The One God. With your whole being!!!
This is the Great Commandment of Jesus that is so often forgotten
in favor of the Golden rule.
“Whoever does the will of my heavenly Father is my brother, and sister, and mother.” Jesus says. The Christian is to honor God even before honoring and protecting his biological wife, child, or parent. Like the mother of the seven sons in the book of Maccabees, we are to prefer God, even to our own lives, and even to the lives of our children.
What a tough teaching!! But it is in this love for God, that we become capable of truly loving our neighbor and with them our families. This is the crux of our faith, the core, the mustard seed the grows into a great tree.
GOD IS GOOD, we use to tell the kids at youth retreats to which they would respond, ALL THE TIME!!!
If this is true, then loving God and doing his will, is always good. Good for us and good for others, and so by loving God first, we truly love others.
We become able to truly love others because we become able
to see all people as brothers and sisters. Wives and children can be thought of as possessions and cattle by men who do not know the Love of God, but if we know this Love, if we do his will, if we do the will of His Father in Heaven, this becomes impossible because we become His family, and we cannot help but to see others as brothers and sisters.
This becomes our primary identity: the Christian is a Christian, before he is an American, before he is an Islander, before he is a parishioner of this parish or of that church,
As a Christian, as one who does the will of the Father he must work together with all other Christians regardless of all the worldly distinctions that separate us to build up the Kingdom.
In this light, Mary, whose fiat, “let it be done to me according to thy word” is her crowning glory, SHOWS HERSELF AS Jesus’ mother par excellence, because she always did the will of the Father she is uniquely privileged. Not just because of her biological connection with Jesus, But because she had faith, a spiritual connection to Jesus stronger than flesh and bone. This is why the Angel confesses her: Full of Grace.
God wills that all mankind be saved and so Mary, cooperates completely with his plan of salvation uniting herself to her sons mission. In the end she does the will of the father wven to the point of offering up her son on the Cross, preferring God’s will even over her own son’s life and thereby becoming a true spiritual mother to not only her son but also to each of us.
Monday, July 23, 2007
Thursday, July 19, 2007
Coffee Talking
After Mass today a few of the Parishoners asked me out for Coffee. We had a very nice time discussing a whole host of topics.
Coffee and conversation is a staple of any good daily Mass community, because it continues out in the world the Communion we receive in the Church. It sort of sad though that so many Catholics forego the social aspect of Church. True, for some the social aspect takes a disordered prominence in Church, however we as a Church are a family, a community, and sadly this aspect often fails to be seen or accepted.
Anyone who talks to me for long knows that the Divine Liturgy is one of my key academic interests. I would even claim that it is the most important ecclesiological and theological issues facing the Church today. Part of the problem I see with the liturgy today is the lack of distinctions, we come to Mass and we try to cram divine worship and the sacraments together with the lay apostolate, entertainment, and a social dynamic. In other parts of the Catholic world, they have all of these dynamics, but each is properly separated, conscious of time and place. One of my past-times is learning about and attending other Rites of the Catholic Liturgy, attending the ancient 4th century Ge'ez rite of Ethiopia a few years ago I saw this dynamic in action. For two hours, the Ge'ez community (the only one in the US at the time) worshiped God, all of the music, actions, and dialogue was about God and God alone. Much to my surprise, when the Liturgy was over, after two hours, we were invited downstairs for a distinct but equally important social aspect. It was in this second context that people were greeted and acknowledged by name, that we exchanged embraces, that we sang music (religious music) for entertainment's sake, and that we share fellowship and a common meal.
These two distinct realities are so important to the life of the Church, to the life of a family. They come from Jesus' great commandment Love God, with your whole heart, and your neighbor as yourself. Truly theocentric love, which results in Worship, is necessary if we are to share heartfelt community fellowship. These two realities can't be confused, or they will both be lost.
Coffee and conversation is a staple of any good daily Mass community, because it continues out in the world the Communion we receive in the Church. It sort of sad though that so many Catholics forego the social aspect of Church. True, for some the social aspect takes a disordered prominence in Church, however we as a Church are a family, a community, and sadly this aspect often fails to be seen or accepted.
Anyone who talks to me for long knows that the Divine Liturgy is one of my key academic interests. I would even claim that it is the most important ecclesiological and theological issues facing the Church today. Part of the problem I see with the liturgy today is the lack of distinctions, we come to Mass and we try to cram divine worship and the sacraments together with the lay apostolate, entertainment, and a social dynamic. In other parts of the Catholic world, they have all of these dynamics, but each is properly separated, conscious of time and place. One of my past-times is learning about and attending other Rites of the Catholic Liturgy, attending the ancient 4th century Ge'ez rite of Ethiopia a few years ago I saw this dynamic in action. For two hours, the Ge'ez community (the only one in the US at the time) worshiped God, all of the music, actions, and dialogue was about God and God alone. Much to my surprise, when the Liturgy was over, after two hours, we were invited downstairs for a distinct but equally important social aspect. It was in this second context that people were greeted and acknowledged by name, that we exchanged embraces, that we sang music (religious music) for entertainment's sake, and that we share fellowship and a common meal.
These two distinct realities are so important to the life of the Church, to the life of a family. They come from Jesus' great commandment Love God, with your whole heart, and your neighbor as yourself. Truly theocentric love, which results in Worship, is necessary if we are to share heartfelt community fellowship. These two realities can't be confused, or they will both be lost.
The Mystery of Evil and Love
On Tuesday we meditated on the great thing that God has done in our lives, and how often the greatest things he does for us are not the overt miracles such as the plagues that we will here God bring against Egypt in tomorrows first reading.
After Mass on Tuesday someone reminded me of a quote by the Physicist Albert Einstein, a man who often strikes me as much of a mystic as a scientist, neither past-time suffering because of the other.
Einstein once noted: There are two ways to live your life - one is as though nothing is a miracle, the other is as though everything is a miracle.
Of course you might think that this is the easy way out…
To label everything a miracle so as to explain away the absence of miracles of biblical proportions in our modern day and age.
Why is it then that in Bible story after Bible story we here of burning bushes that aren’t burned, Angels, Demons, visions, plagues, seas and rivers parting, people being heal…
And yet none of these things are part of our every day experience of God. I believe, as I said the other day, that these types of miracles can happen, but why don’t they happen more often. Why is it possible for man to even dream that God doesn’t exist or doesn’t care about his creation?
This question was central to the Spanish philosopher Xavier Zuberi, who at the beginning of the twentieth century found himself in a quandary. Deeply Catholic, he found him self in crisis, having experienced the first world ward, Spanish Civil war, and then world war two he asked if God is good and all powerful why does he allow evil to exist in the world, why is he silent to us.
Why didn’t God do this or avert this, why didn’t he save 6 million Jews and 3 million poles and others from the Germans, why did he allow the countless deaths, why does he allow war, poverty, hunger, etc.
Why does he even allow people to blaspheme his Holy Name and deny his existence?
Without getting into the intricacies of Zuberi’s Philosophy and that of his students, he basically answered this question by exploring the wonderful gift of human freedom.
Zuberi reasons that if the almighty God is silent and unseen to man there must be a reason. That reason Zuberi reasoned was that he wanted man to freely cooperate with him.
Consider it for a moment, to be free is to, without constraint, choose the good, however if God were not normally silent, if he was as present to us as the sun or the sky, imposing his will like the sun causes sunburns, then how could we say that we were free to choose God, to cooperate with God.
Man’s ability to choose not God, to choose war, and greed, and slavery over peace, solidarity, and freedom is exactly what makes man free.
It is man’s existence as a mystery before himself, before others, and before God that makes him truly free to choose to be sons of God by God’s grace.
God works, most often in quite, subtle ways, and even when he performs the occasional overt miracle he allow men to doubt, to be skeptical, because he wants man to be free to reject him.
Or rather since true freedom is in choosing the good, God wants man to freely choose to make an act of faith, to give of and risk his own being for God and others, despite the mystery, despite his uncertainty.
He wants us to do this because this is true love.
Think about the love between a human parent and child, most parents try to give their children good things, to love their children, with no assurances that the child will love them back, or honor them as a teenager, or call them as a young adult, or care for them when they get old.
God reveals himself as a good and loving, all-powerful and all-knowing God, however he leaves rooms for mystery, to uncertainty, because in this uncertainty man finds freedom and with it the ability to love.
I want you to consider this for a few moments. Consider all the evil in this world, and then consider the act and ability of love. God believes that the freedom to love is worth all of this suffering. If this is true, shouldn’t we make a greater effort each day to love God and one another, as Jesus commanded?? And shouldn’t we make a greater effort to help people to see this great gift God has given them and to choose love, to choose, life.
As Christian we are called to choose love always in spite of, and actually because of the mystery of our existence.
Love is the yoke of Jesus, spoken of in the Gospel today, which make all the sufferings and evils of this life easy.
In contrast, when you take the mystery out of our existence, especially the mystery of love, our life becomes a heavy yoke, which to quote the English Philosopher Thomas Hobbes, is short, nasty, and brutish.
I will end as I began quoting that Jewish mystic Albert Einstein:
The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and all science. He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead: his eyes are closed.
Open your eyes Christian and see the mystery of love that is the Cross.
After Mass on Tuesday someone reminded me of a quote by the Physicist Albert Einstein, a man who often strikes me as much of a mystic as a scientist, neither past-time suffering because of the other.
Einstein once noted: There are two ways to live your life - one is as though nothing is a miracle, the other is as though everything is a miracle.
Of course you might think that this is the easy way out…
To label everything a miracle so as to explain away the absence of miracles of biblical proportions in our modern day and age.
Why is it then that in Bible story after Bible story we here of burning bushes that aren’t burned, Angels, Demons, visions, plagues, seas and rivers parting, people being heal…
And yet none of these things are part of our every day experience of God. I believe, as I said the other day, that these types of miracles can happen, but why don’t they happen more often. Why is it possible for man to even dream that God doesn’t exist or doesn’t care about his creation?
This question was central to the Spanish philosopher Xavier Zuberi, who at the beginning of the twentieth century found himself in a quandary. Deeply Catholic, he found him self in crisis, having experienced the first world ward, Spanish Civil war, and then world war two he asked if God is good and all powerful why does he allow evil to exist in the world, why is he silent to us.
Why didn’t God do this or avert this, why didn’t he save 6 million Jews and 3 million poles and others from the Germans, why did he allow the countless deaths, why does he allow war, poverty, hunger, etc.
Why does he even allow people to blaspheme his Holy Name and deny his existence?
Without getting into the intricacies of Zuberi’s Philosophy and that of his students, he basically answered this question by exploring the wonderful gift of human freedom.
Zuberi reasons that if the almighty God is silent and unseen to man there must be a reason. That reason Zuberi reasoned was that he wanted man to freely cooperate with him.
Consider it for a moment, to be free is to, without constraint, choose the good, however if God were not normally silent, if he was as present to us as the sun or the sky, imposing his will like the sun causes sunburns, then how could we say that we were free to choose God, to cooperate with God.
Man’s ability to choose not God, to choose war, and greed, and slavery over peace, solidarity, and freedom is exactly what makes man free.
It is man’s existence as a mystery before himself, before others, and before God that makes him truly free to choose to be sons of God by God’s grace.
God works, most often in quite, subtle ways, and even when he performs the occasional overt miracle he allow men to doubt, to be skeptical, because he wants man to be free to reject him.
Or rather since true freedom is in choosing the good, God wants man to freely choose to make an act of faith, to give of and risk his own being for God and others, despite the mystery, despite his uncertainty.
He wants us to do this because this is true love.
Think about the love between a human parent and child, most parents try to give their children good things, to love their children, with no assurances that the child will love them back, or honor them as a teenager, or call them as a young adult, or care for them when they get old.
God reveals himself as a good and loving, all-powerful and all-knowing God, however he leaves rooms for mystery, to uncertainty, because in this uncertainty man finds freedom and with it the ability to love.
I want you to consider this for a few moments. Consider all the evil in this world, and then consider the act and ability of love. God believes that the freedom to love is worth all of this suffering. If this is true, shouldn’t we make a greater effort each day to love God and one another, as Jesus commanded?? And shouldn’t we make a greater effort to help people to see this great gift God has given them and to choose love, to choose, life.
As Christian we are called to choose love always in spite of, and actually because of the mystery of our existence.
Love is the yoke of Jesus, spoken of in the Gospel today, which make all the sufferings and evils of this life easy.
In contrast, when you take the mystery out of our existence, especially the mystery of love, our life becomes a heavy yoke, which to quote the English Philosopher Thomas Hobbes, is short, nasty, and brutish.
I will end as I began quoting that Jewish mystic Albert Einstein:
The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and all science. He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead: his eyes are closed.
Open your eyes Christian and see the mystery of love that is the Cross.
Wednesday, July 18, 2007
Reflection: Tuesday July 17th
As a seminarian I am often asked to give an account of my vocation story.
I don’t like to tell it, however; not because I am ashamed of it or out of some false humility, but rather because in telling it my story seems to become so much less mysterious, less awesome, less miraculous, than it is to me. To me it is a miracle that I am where I am today.
You see, my vocation story, like the vocation stories of so many others is not like that of Peter and Paul, who saw great signs and miracles, but rather more like the vocation of the disciples on the road to Emmaus.
Walking along the road to Emmaus, Jesus appeared to them, though they did not recognize Him, and began to explain to them how all the things they had experienced
over the past years, as they traveled with Jesus, pointed to the Passion and Resurrection of Jesus, and pointed them toward their own personal vocations.
Jesus set their hearts on fire, pointing out God’s plan for them by showing them how seemingly unimportant encounters really had great significance in light of the Paschal Mystery and in light of their Vocation.
It was this way for me, as well—when I tell my vocation story it sounds like a long string of events and coincidences none of which justify my vocation.
However, taken together in the light of faith, all these little
encounters and experiences, many of which are very normal everyday events, led me to listen to and heed the calling of Jesus Christ, which called me to his Ordained Priesthood.
We are a people who believe in a God who has a plan,
So why is it so strange that in hindsight we see his plan unfold before our eyes.
Why must we look at the world and at history with the skepticism of post-modern Man?
Is it only possible to believe that God is at work when an overt miracle occurs?
In today’s Gospel Jesus chides two towns, which had seen great works done in their midst, but despite the things they had seen, they did not believe in Jesus.
This is a recurring theme in the history of salvation. Throughout the scriptures we see God’s great signs and miracles, However, despite these great signs after a short period of terror people almost always return to their old, sinful, ways of life.
Think of a few more recent examples of Miracles:
1) the miracle of the Sun in Fatima, witness by 20 thousand in Portugal;
2) the Eucharistic miracle of Orvieto, which cause the conversion of the strongly anti-Christian atheist doctor
who investigated the miracle;
3) or the healings at Lourdes and other Marian Shrines, attested to by thousands of crutches and mementos of cures that hang on the shrine walls.
The list could go on.
Even just recently I read about a miraculous cure in Boston
attributed to the intercession of John Henry Cardinal Newman.
Panels of doctors and scientists attest regularly that these and other miracles like them are scientifically unexplainable
and yet despite these great miracles people still do not believe.
I believe that every day God is active in the world, that every day we are surrounded by miracles, great and small, which many people call coincidences. In today’s reading from Exodus, the child Moses just happen to be found by pharaoh’s daughter, who just happened to be well disposed toward him, is this a coincidence or is this a miracle and act of God’s providence in history. The believer would answer this is a miracle, this is God’s will.
You see, great signs do not cause faith, rather what causes faith is God, that is Jesus who walks with us connecting the dots of our lives, to show us how all his actions in our lives point to his plan, and his great love, for us.
As Christian’s we must evaluate reality based on our faith in God’s love for us. Not looking for great miracles, which occasionally may come, but rather attempting to see with the eyes of faith.
Finally, and most importantly, we must help others see the reality that we see, to help others open up their sacramental imagination, to see with the eyes of faith.
When we look at the world in this way, with faith, we are not delusional, we are just Christians.
Remember what Jesus said to Thomas,
who touched the wounds of Christ:
Blessed are they who have not seen and still believed
I don’t like to tell it, however; not because I am ashamed of it or out of some false humility, but rather because in telling it my story seems to become so much less mysterious, less awesome, less miraculous, than it is to me. To me it is a miracle that I am where I am today.
You see, my vocation story, like the vocation stories of so many others is not like that of Peter and Paul, who saw great signs and miracles, but rather more like the vocation of the disciples on the road to Emmaus.
Walking along the road to Emmaus, Jesus appeared to them, though they did not recognize Him, and began to explain to them how all the things they had experienced
over the past years, as they traveled with Jesus, pointed to the Passion and Resurrection of Jesus, and pointed them toward their own personal vocations.
Jesus set their hearts on fire, pointing out God’s plan for them by showing them how seemingly unimportant encounters really had great significance in light of the Paschal Mystery and in light of their Vocation.
It was this way for me, as well—when I tell my vocation story it sounds like a long string of events and coincidences none of which justify my vocation.
However, taken together in the light of faith, all these little
encounters and experiences, many of which are very normal everyday events, led me to listen to and heed the calling of Jesus Christ, which called me to his Ordained Priesthood.
We are a people who believe in a God who has a plan,
So why is it so strange that in hindsight we see his plan unfold before our eyes.
Why must we look at the world and at history with the skepticism of post-modern Man?
Is it only possible to believe that God is at work when an overt miracle occurs?
In today’s Gospel Jesus chides two towns, which had seen great works done in their midst, but despite the things they had seen, they did not believe in Jesus.
This is a recurring theme in the history of salvation. Throughout the scriptures we see God’s great signs and miracles, However, despite these great signs after a short period of terror people almost always return to their old, sinful, ways of life.
Think of a few more recent examples of Miracles:
1) the miracle of the Sun in Fatima, witness by 20 thousand in Portugal;
2) the Eucharistic miracle of Orvieto, which cause the conversion of the strongly anti-Christian atheist doctor
who investigated the miracle;
3) or the healings at Lourdes and other Marian Shrines, attested to by thousands of crutches and mementos of cures that hang on the shrine walls.
The list could go on.
Even just recently I read about a miraculous cure in Boston
attributed to the intercession of John Henry Cardinal Newman.
Panels of doctors and scientists attest regularly that these and other miracles like them are scientifically unexplainable
and yet despite these great miracles people still do not believe.
I believe that every day God is active in the world, that every day we are surrounded by miracles, great and small, which many people call coincidences. In today’s reading from Exodus, the child Moses just happen to be found by pharaoh’s daughter, who just happened to be well disposed toward him, is this a coincidence or is this a miracle and act of God’s providence in history. The believer would answer this is a miracle, this is God’s will.
You see, great signs do not cause faith, rather what causes faith is God, that is Jesus who walks with us connecting the dots of our lives, to show us how all his actions in our lives point to his plan, and his great love, for us.
As Christian’s we must evaluate reality based on our faith in God’s love for us. Not looking for great miracles, which occasionally may come, but rather attempting to see with the eyes of faith.
Finally, and most importantly, we must help others see the reality that we see, to help others open up their sacramental imagination, to see with the eyes of faith.
When we look at the world in this way, with faith, we are not delusional, we are just Christians.
Remember what Jesus said to Thomas,
who touched the wounds of Christ:
Blessed are they who have not seen and still believed
Monday, July 16, 2007
Why I want to be a priest
I love being in a parish, because with all the problems and difficulties unique to each parish, every parish I have been in affirms my vocation to the priesthood. The other day as I prepared for the Saturday vigil Mass in Vineyard Haven I was reminded why I want to be a priest. Almost immediately upon arriving at the Church, an hour early, I found people rattling the doors looking for the Sacrament of Confession. The visiting priest hadn't yet arrived, and so all I could do was ask them to wait. A number of them knelt down before the Blessed Sacrament to pray while they waited. Then after Mass, speaking with a few families, and seeing how they were trying to live the faith, and to bring up their kids in the faith. I was impressed by the fact that they were taking time out of their vacation, on a beautiful Saturday, to come to Church. What really impressed me was the fact that after Mass a number of people had waited for Father to greet everyone as they left Church, so that they could go to confession. One young woman in particular struck me as she gazed intently on our Lord Jesus Christ in the Blessed Sacrament.
People want to see Jesus, they want to receive pardon for their sins from him, and they want to receive him into their heart. This experience, time and again, makes me long for the day that Jesus can touch their hearts and minds through my ministry.
People want to see Jesus, they want to receive pardon for their sins from him, and they want to receive him into their heart. This experience, time and again, makes me long for the day that Jesus can touch their hearts and minds through my ministry.
The Ocean
My Classmates in Rome will attest that I am a fish. (More like a whale, actually) I love the water, and so being here on the Vineyard is a great privilege for me. Yesterday after the morning Masses were over I pack a few essential and went to the beach. It was colder than I expected but I braved the elements anyhow.
Looking out at the natural beauty of this Island, and of the Ocean that surrounds it, I wonder how people can deny God the Glory dues his name?
What attracts me most to water is it is it is essential to life on Earth and yet probably the most powerful (destructive) natural force on Earth. The way it can be so calm and peaceful and yet so quickly become turbulent, makes you respect your own limitedness. Man is not the master of the bodies of water on Earth the way he claims dominion over the Earth, and that in my opinion is a good reality check for us. When you go swimming you are enveloped in it, you are completely in its power. In a way water is like the hand of God, each of us are in it and completely enveloped by it. Sustained by God, we are always dependant upon him, of course God doesn't change the way that water does, one moment calm and the next murderous.
I think modern man has so insulated himself from reality with his technology that he forgets that each second of his existence is a gift from God. I had a reaffirmation of this the other day when as I was returning from a cook-out on the mainland my brakes went out. Driving in this precarious situation, I new that I was in his hands. Thankfully he got me to Woods Hole safely.
What an affirmationthat God is out there watching out for us (and me in particular), as if the fact that I haven't killed myself with the way I drive wasn't proof enough.
Looking out at the natural beauty of this Island, and of the Ocean that surrounds it, I wonder how people can deny God the Glory dues his name?
What attracts me most to water is it is it is essential to life on Earth and yet probably the most powerful (destructive) natural force on Earth. The way it can be so calm and peaceful and yet so quickly become turbulent, makes you respect your own limitedness. Man is not the master of the bodies of water on Earth the way he claims dominion over the Earth, and that in my opinion is a good reality check for us. When you go swimming you are enveloped in it, you are completely in its power. In a way water is like the hand of God, each of us are in it and completely enveloped by it. Sustained by God, we are always dependant upon him, of course God doesn't change the way that water does, one moment calm and the next murderous.
I think modern man has so insulated himself from reality with his technology that he forgets that each second of his existence is a gift from God. I had a reaffirmation of this the other day when as I was returning from a cook-out on the mainland my brakes went out. Driving in this precarious situation, I new that I was in his hands. Thankfully he got me to Woods Hole safely.
What an affirmationthat God is out there watching out for us (and me in particular), as if the fact that I haven't killed myself with the way I drive wasn't proof enough.
Thursday, July 12, 2007
The Gospel of Jesus Christ
This morning we held Eucharistic Adoration at St. Elizabeth's Church in Edgartown. A good number of people attended. During my meditation I was captivated by the love and forgiveness of Joseph to his brothers.
I gave a reflection after Mass on our response to the Good News of Jesus Christ. Here are the notes for the reflection, may they aid you on your path to Jesus Christ.
By: Ronnie P. Floyd
The word Gospel means good news, but often we approach it as anything but good news
Jesus instructs us in Matthew’s Gospel: Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, drive out demons.
This seems like a lot of work and
To this litany we might add:
Feed and cloth the poor and destitute,
Visit the sick and dying
Love your neighbor
Attend Sunday Mass
Go to confession
Observe Holy Days of Obligation
Support the work of the Church
People will often tell you that being a Catholic is HARD
In fact, a couple once related to me how a protestant minister told them, as they were preparing for marriage, “the Catholics have a room full of rules, we only have three or four.”
AND IT IS TRUE, BEING A CATHOLIC IS HARD
Because being truly in Love is Hard
IN FACT: if it wasn’t for the Grace of God and the gifts of His Spirit
We couldn’t do it.
Jesus recognizes in today’s Gospel that people often don’t want to hear
the proclamation of the Gospel, because it is too difficult, because it appears a burden to them
What they fail to realize though is that it is truly GOOD NEWS.
Like a vaccination, an instant of pain, leads to years of health—or in the case of our Faith
an Eternity of Happiness.
Jesus instructs his Disciples in today’s Gospel to go out into all the world and proclaim the good news that the Kingdom of God is at hand.
What is this good news?
The good news is that doing what Jesus asks of us, following the “rules” of Christian life, as some call them, proclaiming and imitating Christ’s way of life is the WAY to true happiness
Moreover: Jesus has given us the ability, the power, to do all the things he asks of us.
At the beginning of the tenth chapter of St. Matthew’s Gospel
Jesus gives his twelve Apostles the power to Cast out demons and cure the sick, before sending them out,
As St. Paul insists, God never tests us beyond our means because when he tests us his grace is always sufficient
God gives us, in the Sacraments and most especially through this Eucharist
the power, the ability to live our vocations to holiness.
JESUS HAS GIVEN US HIS PEACE AND LOVE which come, always, from the Altar
From the sacrifice, from his Body and Blood, broken and Shed for us, which bears in it
The seed of everlasting life.
This is the peace that we are asked to solemnly share during the Mass at the Kiss of Peace: not our own peace, but the Peace of Christ.
In the first reading from the book of Exodus, Joseph is so overcome by this Peace and Love, that he wept aloud in joy, forgiving his brothers the horrible sin that they had committed against him in selling him into slavery.
He is able to do this, because he knows that God used their evil act to achieve a greater good.
Jesus desires us all to have this gift of peace, so that we can truly love.
You see it is only when we realize that God achieves good even in spite of evil when we realize that he always triumphs and when we trust in His Providence that we are truly able to love to open ourselves up to others.
Love always involves work and personal risk, it always involves becoming weak before our neighbor who is always able to reject us, to reject our love.
BUT, God shows us in the Cross and in the mystery of the Eucharist, which we have Just celebrated that even in spite of great evil and great loss in spite of the risk of rejection
LOVE WILL PREVAIL
The mystery of the Cross is the source of the Grace of peace and love that he has given us
And when we truly allow this Grace to transform our lives, we cannot help but cry out in Joy.
The Peace of Jesus Christ that comes into our heart is our happiness, and consumed by this happiness we must share it with others.
All the DUTIES of being a Catholic melt away in this joy and our DUTIES become our natural DESIRE to serve God.
“Without cost you have received; without cost you are to give,” Matthew instructs us.
EACH OF US IN HIS OR HER OWN VOCATION and state in life must remember the great gift that has been given to them
We must not let the joy of that gift grow cold!
Because it is the source of our happiness, and the source of hope for the whole world.
Jesus’ Evangelical Mission belongs to all of us who are filled with his Peace and Love at the Sacrifice of the Mass
Each of us have receive and now each of us is called to give freely, to share with others the source of our hope.
All of us are called to preach the Gospel, but as Francis of Assisi insisted: We must preach the gospel always, and use words only when necessary.
I gave a reflection after Mass on our response to the Good News of Jesus Christ. Here are the notes for the reflection, may they aid you on your path to Jesus Christ.
By: Ronnie P. Floyd
The word Gospel means good news, but often we approach it as anything but good news
Jesus instructs us in Matthew’s Gospel: Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, drive out demons.
This seems like a lot of work and
To this litany we might add:
Feed and cloth the poor and destitute,
Visit the sick and dying
Love your neighbor
Attend Sunday Mass
Go to confession
Observe Holy Days of Obligation
Support the work of the Church
People will often tell you that being a Catholic is HARD
In fact, a couple once related to me how a protestant minister told them, as they were preparing for marriage, “the Catholics have a room full of rules, we only have three or four.”
AND IT IS TRUE, BEING A CATHOLIC IS HARD
Because being truly in Love is Hard
IN FACT: if it wasn’t for the Grace of God and the gifts of His Spirit
We couldn’t do it.
Jesus recognizes in today’s Gospel that people often don’t want to hear
the proclamation of the Gospel, because it is too difficult, because it appears a burden to them
What they fail to realize though is that it is truly GOOD NEWS.
Like a vaccination, an instant of pain, leads to years of health—or in the case of our Faith
an Eternity of Happiness.
Jesus instructs his Disciples in today’s Gospel to go out into all the world and proclaim the good news that the Kingdom of God is at hand.
What is this good news?
The good news is that doing what Jesus asks of us, following the “rules” of Christian life, as some call them, proclaiming and imitating Christ’s way of life is the WAY to true happiness
Moreover: Jesus has given us the ability, the power, to do all the things he asks of us.
At the beginning of the tenth chapter of St. Matthew’s Gospel
Jesus gives his twelve Apostles the power to Cast out demons and cure the sick, before sending them out,
As St. Paul insists, God never tests us beyond our means because when he tests us his grace is always sufficient
God gives us, in the Sacraments and most especially through this Eucharist
the power, the ability to live our vocations to holiness.
JESUS HAS GIVEN US HIS PEACE AND LOVE which come, always, from the Altar
From the sacrifice, from his Body and Blood, broken and Shed for us, which bears in it
The seed of everlasting life.
This is the peace that we are asked to solemnly share during the Mass at the Kiss of Peace: not our own peace, but the Peace of Christ.
In the first reading from the book of Exodus, Joseph is so overcome by this Peace and Love, that he wept aloud in joy, forgiving his brothers the horrible sin that they had committed against him in selling him into slavery.
He is able to do this, because he knows that God used their evil act to achieve a greater good.
Jesus desires us all to have this gift of peace, so that we can truly love.
You see it is only when we realize that God achieves good even in spite of evil when we realize that he always triumphs and when we trust in His Providence that we are truly able to love to open ourselves up to others.
Love always involves work and personal risk, it always involves becoming weak before our neighbor who is always able to reject us, to reject our love.
BUT, God shows us in the Cross and in the mystery of the Eucharist, which we have Just celebrated that even in spite of great evil and great loss in spite of the risk of rejection
LOVE WILL PREVAIL
The mystery of the Cross is the source of the Grace of peace and love that he has given us
And when we truly allow this Grace to transform our lives, we cannot help but cry out in Joy.
The Peace of Jesus Christ that comes into our heart is our happiness, and consumed by this happiness we must share it with others.
All the DUTIES of being a Catholic melt away in this joy and our DUTIES become our natural DESIRE to serve God.
“Without cost you have received; without cost you are to give,” Matthew instructs us.
EACH OF US IN HIS OR HER OWN VOCATION and state in life must remember the great gift that has been given to them
We must not let the joy of that gift grow cold!
Because it is the source of our happiness, and the source of hope for the whole world.
Jesus’ Evangelical Mission belongs to all of us who are filled with his Peace and Love at the Sacrifice of the Mass
Each of us have receive and now each of us is called to give freely, to share with others the source of our hope.
All of us are called to preach the Gospel, but as Francis of Assisi insisted: We must preach the gospel always, and use words only when necessary.
Driving around the Island to find my toy
Yesterday my new cell phone arrived. I needed a phone that would do everything: keep my schedule, download my email, and work both here and in Europe. So I got the cool new HTC Touch, it is the Windows Mobile 6 competitor with the IPHONE. Anyhow, I was excited to get it so when I found out that UPS had it here on the Island I decided to go to them to pick it up rather than waiting for it to be delivered. CONFESSION: I like gizmos and gadgets...
So after my daily walk along Beach Road and my "I'm not so sure it will be" daily leap from the Beach Rd bridge into the cold water, I got in Fr. Nagle's old jeep to try to find the UPS depot. I have been driving around the Island with Father Michael since I got here and so I thought it would be a good chance to learn the Island a little bit. Eventually, with the help of Google Maps and a couple of wrong turns I ended up on Carrol Way and at the UPS Depot.
Despite the fact that I got a little lost it was nice because I got to see the Island and build a mental map in my head. Praise be Jesus Christ, this is a beautiful Island. My prayer is that those who come to this Island remember its creator and are not caught up only in its beauty and the little pleasures it offers us.
Speaking of distractions, when I got home I played with my new toy, which is pretty cool, for a couple of hours before realizing how late it was getting. After, going down to the Church to say the Divine Office, I went straight to bed.
The moral of the story is: material things can be nice, good, and useful, but the can also get in the way of our work, our relationships, and our God.
So after my daily walk along Beach Road and my "I'm not so sure it will be" daily leap from the Beach Rd bridge into the cold water, I got in Fr. Nagle's old jeep to try to find the UPS depot. I have been driving around the Island with Father Michael since I got here and so I thought it would be a good chance to learn the Island a little bit. Eventually, with the help of Google Maps and a couple of wrong turns I ended up on Carrol Way and at the UPS Depot.
Despite the fact that I got a little lost it was nice because I got to see the Island and build a mental map in my head. Praise be Jesus Christ, this is a beautiful Island. My prayer is that those who come to this Island remember its creator and are not caught up only in its beauty and the little pleasures it offers us.
Speaking of distractions, when I got home I played with my new toy, which is pretty cool, for a couple of hours before realizing how late it was getting. After, going down to the Church to say the Divine Office, I went straight to bed.
The moral of the story is: material things can be nice, good, and useful, but the can also get in the way of our work, our relationships, and our God.
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
Taking the plunge
My first full day on the Island:
So I met with Father Nagel and Michele Roberts to talk about my Apostolate this summer.
They suggested that I give mediations after Mass on Monday and Thursday, which sounded great to me. Also we are looking at possibilities for doing some work with the port Apostolate program. I suggested that it might be nice to have Eucharistic Adoration daily, which both agreed to.
I am also thinking about a couple of possible courses which I could run: possibly one on the Psalms?? I am talking suggestions from parishioners about other topics.
Other than that I prayed a little, started a (hopefully) daily practice of going to the beach for a walk and I jumped in to Vineyard Life (Literally) feet first... the kids seemed to be having so much fun jumping off the Beach Rd bridge every day when I passed that I decided to try it too. Now I am afraid of heights so it was a little bit of a challenge for me to let go, but once I did it was great fun. I did it three times in honor of the most Blessed Trinity, and then thanked God that I had survived. I am sure all my readers at the Seminary and my friends around the country will enjoy a picture so I will try to get one.
The day ended well with dinner out with a priest visiting from Arizona and with Compline.
So I met with Father Nagel and Michele Roberts to talk about my Apostolate this summer.
They suggested that I give mediations after Mass on Monday and Thursday, which sounded great to me. Also we are looking at possibilities for doing some work with the port Apostolate program. I suggested that it might be nice to have Eucharistic Adoration daily, which both agreed to.
I am also thinking about a couple of possible courses which I could run: possibly one on the Psalms?? I am talking suggestions from parishioners about other topics.
Other than that I prayed a little, started a (hopefully) daily practice of going to the beach for a walk and I jumped in to Vineyard Life (Literally) feet first... the kids seemed to be having so much fun jumping off the Beach Rd bridge every day when I passed that I decided to try it too. Now I am afraid of heights so it was a little bit of a challenge for me to let go, but once I did it was great fun. I did it three times in honor of the most Blessed Trinity, and then thanked God that I had survived. I am sure all my readers at the Seminary and my friends around the country will enjoy a picture so I will try to get one.
The day ended well with dinner out with a priest visiting from Arizona and with Compline.
Tuesday, July 10, 2007
The Crossing
On Monday of this week, I left home for New Bedford. After attending Mass at Our Lady of Guadalupe at St. James Church, where I was stationed last summer, and after saying hello to some old friends there, I went down to the Marina and boarded the fast ferry to Martha's Vineyard. Leaving southern New Bedford, with its poverty and crime, but also with so many big hearts that I had grown to love last summer, I set out for a different world--the Island. As we left New Beford Harbor I prayed a Rosary for all those who travelled by sea most especially for the Fishermen of New Bedford who continue to do one of the most dangerous job's around.
I love the sea, its power and beauty remind me always that we are weak creatures in the hands of God. Water, is a sign of life and of death, of rebirth and of the Chaos from which the world was created, and so I have always found water a powerful focal point for prayer.
As we passed Fort Tabor, the boat leaped forward at full speed and the wind, from which we had been protected in the harbor, started to whip across the deck. The moderate seas with waves about three feet high rocked the boat gently.
I felt anxious and at the same time excited by the trip, by the adventure of it all, not just the cruise across the Vineyard Sound, but by the sense of the unknown, and by the opportunities this summer would offer. I wondered as I made the passage if this was how St. Paul or St. Peter felt as they made their passage to the four corners of the ancient world and eventually to Rome. Coming to a new parish, a new town and community, is always a precarious occasion in the life of a seminarian or priest, because each parish is so different and unique from each other. We desire to bring Christ to our new parishes, and to help the image of Christ inscribed in each of our hearts at Baptism grow, but will I be effective, will I be accepted.
It is our love for our friend and master Jesus Christ that compels each of us to live our vocation, to go out to all the world and proclaim the Gospel, but in the face of all the obstacles of the world this task can be daunting. Thus, each new Parish assignment is like the sea, it is chaotic and a mystery, a moment for great growth for the Church and at the same time a occasion for shipwreck. This is the great burden of the priesthood, the responsibility to spread the message of Jesus in a world that so often doesn't want it.
As I caught glimpse of the Island, I prayed in my heart that my ministry and the ministry of the Church on the Island be fruitful, because I know that without God I will surely fail.
Ave Maria, Stella Maris, Ora Pro Nobis.
Ut Digni Efficiamur Promissionibus Christi.
I love the sea, its power and beauty remind me always that we are weak creatures in the hands of God. Water, is a sign of life and of death, of rebirth and of the Chaos from which the world was created, and so I have always found water a powerful focal point for prayer.
As we passed Fort Tabor, the boat leaped forward at full speed and the wind, from which we had been protected in the harbor, started to whip across the deck. The moderate seas with waves about three feet high rocked the boat gently.
I felt anxious and at the same time excited by the trip, by the adventure of it all, not just the cruise across the Vineyard Sound, but by the sense of the unknown, and by the opportunities this summer would offer. I wondered as I made the passage if this was how St. Paul or St. Peter felt as they made their passage to the four corners of the ancient world and eventually to Rome. Coming to a new parish, a new town and community, is always a precarious occasion in the life of a seminarian or priest, because each parish is so different and unique from each other. We desire to bring Christ to our new parishes, and to help the image of Christ inscribed in each of our hearts at Baptism grow, but will I be effective, will I be accepted.
It is our love for our friend and master Jesus Christ that compels each of us to live our vocation, to go out to all the world and proclaim the Gospel, but in the face of all the obstacles of the world this task can be daunting. Thus, each new Parish assignment is like the sea, it is chaotic and a mystery, a moment for great growth for the Church and at the same time a occasion for shipwreck. This is the great burden of the priesthood, the responsibility to spread the message of Jesus in a world that so often doesn't want it.
As I caught glimpse of the Island, I prayed in my heart that my ministry and the ministry of the Church on the Island be fruitful, because I know that without God I will surely fail.
Ave Maria, Stella Maris, Ora Pro Nobis.
Ut Digni Efficiamur Promissionibus Christi.
Getting started
Its funny where God will send you when you are open to being sent.
It wasn't too long ago that I was working in Washington, DC, behind a desk in an office, but since discerning God's call to his ordained Priesthood I have been everywhere and almost anywhere you can imagine. I have been to the Capitals of Europe and also to the refugee camps outside the capitals of Europe, to religious shrines and also to some of the most irreligious places in the world. Being a seminarian on The Way to Priesthood is about being available to go anywhere in the Vineyard of the Lord, but I never expect to be sent here.
For the next eight weeks my Bishop has sent me out into the Vineyard, literally. I am assigned to Martha's Vineyard to Good Shepherd's parish. This blog is a journal of my experiences on the island, as well as a collection of meditations I prepared while here, photo's, and thoughts about my approaching ordination to the Diaconate on October 4th, 2007, and to the Priesthood of Jesus Christ, God willing, sometime in June of 2008.
I hope you enjoy this blog. Please pray for my two classmates and me who will be ordained Priests for the Diocese of Fall River next June, pray for Vocations, and pray for our Bishop George and Benedict our Pope.
In Prayer we are One in Christ Jesus,
Ron Floyd
It wasn't too long ago that I was working in Washington, DC, behind a desk in an office, but since discerning God's call to his ordained Priesthood I have been everywhere and almost anywhere you can imagine. I have been to the Capitals of Europe and also to the refugee camps outside the capitals of Europe, to religious shrines and also to some of the most irreligious places in the world. Being a seminarian on The Way to Priesthood is about being available to go anywhere in the Vineyard of the Lord, but I never expect to be sent here.
For the next eight weeks my Bishop has sent me out into the Vineyard, literally. I am assigned to Martha's Vineyard to Good Shepherd's parish. This blog is a journal of my experiences on the island, as well as a collection of meditations I prepared while here, photo's, and thoughts about my approaching ordination to the Diaconate on October 4th, 2007, and to the Priesthood of Jesus Christ, God willing, sometime in June of 2008.
I hope you enjoy this blog. Please pray for my two classmates and me who will be ordained Priests for the Diocese of Fall River next June, pray for Vocations, and pray for our Bishop George and Benedict our Pope.
In Prayer we are One in Christ Jesus,
Ron Floyd
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)