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.
What Recompense can I give to the Lord?
Ordination to the Diaconate
Friday, August 31, 2007
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!
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