Saints Peter and Paul

 

Today is a great Solemnity in the Catholic Church.  The two pillars of the Church, Saint Peter and Paul. 

 

We hear in today’s first reading about Saint Peter being thrown in Jail during the Passover in Jerusalem, exactly one year after the Crucifixion of Jesus.  And God sends an angel to free Saint Peter because God still has plans for Saint Peter for the next 40 to 50 years before Saint Peter is killed in Rome.

 

The second reading talks about Saint Paul being in prison at the end of his life, 40 – 50 years after our First Reading.   Paul, after his initial conversion, spent another 40-50 years preaching.  We see him also in jail in our 2^nd reading, but Saint Paul now knows that it is the end.  He writes this letter to Timothy from a jail cell, perhaps sharing that cell with Saint Peter.  Tradition says that Saint Peter and Saint Paul were martyred on the same day.

 

Saint Paul, in his letter to Timothy, knows now that it is the end.  He says “the time of my departure is at hand.  I have competed well; I have finished the race; I have kept the faith.  From now on the crown of righteousness awaits me.”

 

Saint Paul is NOT presuming his entrance into Heaven in our 2^nd reading, but rather must have had some special vision from God, right near the end, where God in some way assured Saint Paul that he would go to Heaven.

One of the takeaways from these two readings is that some of us are at the beginning of our mission like the young Saint Peter in our first reading.  Others of us may be nearing the end of our mission, like the Jailed Saint Paul at the end of his life.  Whether we are at the beginning or the end of our ministry, all of us, just like Saints Peter and Paul, are given the opportunity to cooperate with God’s grace to become saints.  Let us open our hearts to what God is desiring to do through each of us today, so that we can one day join Saint Peter and Saint Paul in the eternal bliss of Heaven!

13th Sunday in Ordinary Time, 2022

 

Homily for the 13^th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C, 2022

 

Saint Paul warns the Galatians in today’s 2^nd reading “if you go on biting and devouring one another, beware that you are not consumed by one another.”

One of the main ways that we bite and devour one another is through gossip.

 

And gossip is everywhere in our country today.  We have entire channels on our televisions dedicated 24 hours a day 7 days a week to gossip.  We have an entire genre of gossip magazines.  Our newspapers have gossip columns.  The number of websites completely dedicated to Gossip are uncountable because there are so many.

 

And yet Saints Paul, James and John all warn, in the New Testament, that Gossip is mortally sinful.

Just a few examples.  Saint Paul warns the Ephesians in chapter 4 verse 29 Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.

 

Saint James says in Chapter 4 verse 11 “Brothers and sisters, do not slander one another. Anyone who speaks against a brother or sister or judges them speaks against the law.”

 

Saint Paul warns the Romans in Chapter 1 verses 29 and 30 “They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, and slanderers”

And Pope Francis recently said that gossip is worse than Covid.

I have recently committed to never speaking about a person who is not present, unless my speak praises the person not present.  The only exception to this is when I am asked to evaluate a person, either by the Archdiocese or some other relevant organization, in which case I give an honest assessment of that person even though they are not present.

 

Let us commit to using our words to build up others, and not risk Hell in spreading gossip about others.

Corpus Christi 2022

 

Corpus Christi 2022

 

We normally have a public procession this weekend, but the Archdiocese is having a massive Corpus Christi procession on Sunday, June 19^th that starts at 4:15 at the Cathedral in Indianapolis https://eucharisticrevivalindy.org/procession

Today’s procession is the start of a 3 year process called for by the USCCB.  This Eucharistic revival starts with today’s Eucharistic procession downtown and the events that follow at Saint John’s and ends 3 years from now with a Eucharistic congress that should see about 100,000 visitors to Indianapolis.

But what can we do in our small parishes day in and day out over these next three years and beyond?  I have an idea that I could think be really powerful.

A Holy Hour is an hour spent in prayer in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament, either exposed in a monstrance, or simply in the tabernacle.  The Holy Hour comes out of Jesus’ question to his apostles the night before he died as he was praying in the garden of Gethsemane “could you not watch one hour with me?”

I believe that 99.9% of people, whether they are Catholic or not, appreciate knowing that they have been prayed for.  And so what our parishes will start doing is having holy hour cards that you can fill out and send to a person who you offer up your holy hour for, whether that holy hour is done at one of our parishes, or any other Catholic Church that has the Blessed Sacrament reserved.

It doesn’t take much to offer up your holy hour for a person.  You can just start that hour with a quick prayer “I offer this holy hour up for ____ and their intentions” and then you can just move on with some silent Scripture reading, a silent rosary, some other spiritual reading and perhaps some contemplative silence at the end.

We have pre-printed cards and envelopes that you can use which will be set out on a table in the front of our Church, but you can also just create your own card or letter. 

Certainly you can also send people cards and notes that you prayed for them in nature or in your house, and those notes also, I am sure, would be very well received.  However, the Catechism, in paragraph 1374, says “Christ's presence [in the Eucharist] is unique. It raises the Eucharist above all the sacraments…"This presence is called 'real' because it is presence in the fullest sense

And so I know that this effort of offering up our holy hours for people and their intentions will have a deep impact on both us who pray these holy hours, and also on those whom we let know were the intention of our holy hours.  May this effort have some small part to play in leading to a reawakening of an awareness of Christ’s true presence in the Eucharist.

My Trip to Lourdes

In case anyone is interested in a more detailed description of my trip to Lourdes, I am providing this summary.  Feel free, as well, to pass this on to anyone who is interested.  I write this because I will not have the chance to speak with each of you in depth.

 

Let me begin by saying the best way that I can think of to summarize my trip is that I know that God’s hands were all over this trip.  Because I did not have much time to prepare for it, I entrusted my entire trip to God’s Providence.  And so, about 1 week before I left, a very generous donor upgraded my tickets to first class.  So on Monday, June 6^th, I flew out of Indianapolis and landed in Newark, NJ with about a 5 hour layover.  I walked to my gate for my departure to Paris, and right near my gate to Paris was a glass door saying “United Polaris Lounge”.  I went in to the lounge to see what it was all about, and they asked me to scan my ticket, and so I did.  Long story short, I did not even know such a place existed in an airport.  This lounge had showers, a free food buffet, a free bar, office spaces, its own special wifi, lots of comfortable spaces to sit down…in short, these lounges ended up being an even better blessing than the first class seating on the plane!

 

On Tuesday morning, June 7^th, I landed in Paris and followed the signs to the train station.  I went to the train station and purchased a trip to Lourdes which was about 8 hours.  I had reached out to the shrine of our Lady of Lourdes about two weeks prior to my arrival, and they had sent me the name and place for me to stay for 5 nights, but because I had been locked out of my protonmail account, I could not access my reservation.  Also, as my train was pulling into Lourdes, I could see the shrine, and the town was a little bit bigger than I had imagined but I figured I could walk there pretty quickly.  When I got off the train, however, I walked around the town of Lourdes for about 2 hours and was still not able to find the shrine.  I started to panic a little bit, getting that same feeling I had when I first landed in Rome almost 20 years prior when I had a taxi driver take me to the North American College, and, when I arrived the gates were locked and, after waiting several hours, ended up climbing the gate and pulling my bags up and then lowering them down the other side.  I had that same fear of spending the night outside starting to creep in.  But I finally circled back to the train station and found a taxi and asked him to take me to Lourdes and he did.  A special shout out to my sister Laura who had been to Lourdes several times and was able to guide me, through some text messages, at key moments that night!

 

When I arrived in Lourdes, though, I still did not know where I was staying.  I walked around and found some pilgrims who spoke English and they stuck with me until I got a room at a pretty simple place connected to the shrine itself which was only 18 euros a night and pretty close to the shrine.  I finally got to my room at about 11 pm, feeling very blessed to have a place to stay!

 

On Wednesday, June 8^th, I went back to the shrine, and went to the crypt Church and did a holy hour.  So Lourdes is 3 churches stacked on top of each other.  There is the lowest level Church where there are some stunning mosaics of the 15 decades of the rosary.  Then the next level is the crypt Church and then the Church at the very top is the Church of the Immaculate Conception.  Anyways, in the crypt Church they had altars off to the side where priests could have private Masses, and so I had my first of 4 private Masses there at a side altar off to the side.  The sacristans in the crypt Church did not speak English but were so kind and helpful.  I then walked around the grounds the rest of the day and just sort of oriented myself.

 

On Thursday, June 9^th, it was my day to go into the baths.  People have rightly asked what it was like, but I had to confess that I didn’t really have time to properly prepare for two reasons.  The first reason was when I walked down to the place where pilgrims go into the baths around 4 pm, there was a sign that said the baths close at 4:45, and I had told everyone I would be going in at 5.  The other thing that threw me off was I realized that masks were required.  So I had to walk back to the place where I was staying about 10 minutes away and grab my mask and then head back to the baths.  Thankfully, I was able to get in line before they closed up.  When I got back to the baths, because of Covid precautions, they were pouring water into your hands three times, the first time, I was able to figure out from the 2 ladies helping me who did not speak English that I was supposed to wash my hands with the water.  The second pour from the pitcher I was supposed to drink, and the third pour from the pitcher I was supposed to rub it on my face and head.  I did all of that, and trust that if God wants to work a miracle, then He certainly can with that.  All this just to say, though, that because all of the surprises of that hour, I did not really have time to prepare properly, and so when people ask me if I felt anything miraculous, I have said “I am not sure if I did or not.” 

 

Thursday night, June 9^th, I was able to participate in the nightly candle light procession at the shrine that starts every evening at 9 pm and lasts about 1 hour.  Everyone purchases a candle that has a paper cup with it with some prayers, and you end up processing around with your candle and paper cup with all the other pilgrims who want to participate in it.  It is probably easier to just say that some clips from Bishop Robert Barron’s Catholicism trailer are from the night time procession at Lourdes if you would like to watch that.

 

Friday, June 10^th, after Mass and prayers and so forth, I decided to walk back to the Lourdes train station, just to make sure I knew the way.  When I arrived at the train station, though, I found out that all the trains departing for Paris on Sunday, June 12^th were already full.  I panicked because I had planned to leave Lourdes on Sunday, June 12^th, but a very kind employee at the train station was able to help me find a train that left for Paris on Saturday, June 11^th.  I was able to email the hotel in Paris and book an extra night, so that again was God’s Providence at work!

 

Saturday, June 11^th, I woke up, had Mass in the crypt one last time, and then walked to the train station at Lourdes and departed for Paris.

 

Sunday, June 12^th was a day of providential adventure as well.  Canon Law says a pastor is required to have one Sunday (or Saturday anticipation Mass) for all the people under his pastoral care.  My hotel was right near Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris, which is about a 30 minute metro ride from downtown Paris.  I looked up the night before “English Masses in Paris” and there was a parish that had 4 Sunday Masses all in English, and the parish was located very near the “Arch de Triumph”.  I took an hour metro ride down to the Arch, but when I arrived, I remembered I did not know the exact name nor the exact address of the parish Church.  So I headed the hour metro trip back to the hotel to find the name and exact address of the parish.  I then took the hour metro back to the Arch, found the parish, but now the 12:30 Mass was ending.  I asked the parish priest if I could have a private Mass in English, and he said that unfortunately they were having a catechetical event for the young people of the parish, and were shutting the doors to the public until the 6:30 pm Mass.  I then took the metro up to the Basilica of Sacre Ceur, (Basilica of the Sacred Heart) which I had read an awesome book in the seminary on, and wanted to see it and also see if I could have a private Mass there.  When I got off at the metro stop for the basilica, though, I was not prepared for the size of the crowd.  It was unlike anything else I have experienced other than maybe a World Youth Day.  I made my way up this massive hill of steps literally with people EVERYWHERE and eventually made it to the top.  At the top was the entrance to the Basilica, but then the wait to get in was about 50 minutes in the sun, and so I bailed and went back to the hotel.  But I resolved to have Mass for my people, and made a 5^th and 6^th trip back to the Arch and was standing in the sacristy fully vested at 6:05 for a 6:30 Mass.  The Mass ended up being awesome because I got to meet some Americans who came up and said hello after the Mass, and I got back to the hotel and started to pack for the flight back to the US the next morning.

 

Monday, June 13^th was my flight home. 

 

In summary, I feel very blessed to have been able to go on the trip, and I know, whether I am healed or not, it was a blessing to get to travel to Paris and Lourdes.  Thanks for any prayers you offered up for me during my trip!

Gradualness of the Law??? No.

"What is known as 'the law of gradualness' or step-by-step advance cannot be identified with 'gradualness of the law' as if there were different degrees or forms of precept in God's law for different individuals and situations."

- Saint Pope John Paul II, Familiaris Consortio, paragraph 34

Pentecost Homily 2022

 

Pentecost Sunday 2022

 

Pentecost was already a feast day in the Jewish Calendar for about 1500 years when the events of our first reading today from Acts chapter 2 play themselves out.

The Jewish celebration of Pentecost was a celebration of the 2^nd harvest of the year

 

So that is why so many devout Jews are in town in our first reading.  They all speak different languages because by this time, Jewish people had been scattered throughout many different nations, but still made a pilgrimage back to Jerusalem for major holidays, including Pentecost.

 

 

And so the Jewish celebration of Pentecost receives in today’s first reading its fulfillment in the coming down of the Holy Spirit.

 

And so as well the celebration of the 2^nd harvest now is transformed into our call to go out and bring other persons to Christ…to draw them to Christ now that we too have been given the Holy Spirit.

 

On Pentecost, The Holy Spirit transformed pretty cowardly men into master harvesters full of zeal and joy who were able to start the conversion of the world to Christ

 

That mission is the same for us today.  We have been given the fullness of the Holy Spirit through our baptism and confirmation; may we cooperate with the Holy Spirit as the Apostles did…may we too become people who, by our lives and our preaching and our teaching, win human persons for Jesus Christ

Father Michael Clawson's First Mass Homily

 

Father Michael Clawson’s First Mass Homily - Vigil of Pentecost

 

Father. Michael. Clawson.  Before diving into this homily, I just wanted to address anyone here who wonders why Catholics call priests Father.  The question might be put this way – “Don’t you know that Jesus says in Matthew 23:9 that we should call no man Father”?

And so here I think it is important to note just 4 instances in the New Testament, where we find Jesus, Saint Paul and Saint Stephen using the word “father” to refer to someone other than God the Father.

1) in the Gospel of Mark, chapter 7 verses 9-13, Jesus criticizes the Pharisees for not honoring their "fathers."

2) in Acts chapter 7, verse 2, Saint Stephen refers to “our father Abraham,”

3) in Romans chapter 9, verse 10, Saint Paul speaks of “our father Isaac.”

4) in 1 Corinthians chapter 4, verses 14-15, Saint Paul says “I became your father in Christ Jesus through the Gospel”

 

I would just like to spend the rest of my time reflecting on what most of us were blessed to witness early today at the Cathedral.  The Holy Spirit came down upon Deacon Michael Clawson, and placed upon him an unchangeable spiritual character which can never be undone.  And, at that moment, he became Father Michael Clawson.

 

And so now I say to you, Father Michael Clawson, most of the people that you will minister to as a priest, particularly the younger people, will not have a relationship with their earthly Father.  Some of their earthly fathers may have been killed, some of the people have been abandoned by their earthly father, and so your experience of losing your own earthly Father will give you a way to connect with all the people you minister to for the rest of your priesthood who have no earthly Father in their life. 

You will be able to walk alongside them, and become a father to so many who have lost their Father through death, or through drug use, or estrangement, and you can say “I lost my earthly father as well…and it is hard…but I have, through it all, found solace in keeping my focus on my Father in Heaven and Jesus and the Holy Spirit…and I encourage you to do the same.”  As Saint Pope Paul VI put it, people no longer listen to teachers, but they do listen to witnesses.  You will be an awesome witness to all, and in particular, again, to all those in your path who no longer have a relationship with their earthly father.

 

Our 1^st reading this evening from the prophet Ezekiel sees the Prophet Ezekiel told by God to preach to dry bones, and as the prophet does, the bones slowly turn back into human persons.   Father Michael Clawson, I believe that you are being sent to speak life back into the lives of all those who are metaphorically dead because of a lack of a fatherly presence in their life.  And in so doing, you will find healing for your own soul as well.  Henry Nouwen described every priest as “a wounded healer” – do not run from the death of your earthly father, pray Masses for him, ask daily for your earthly father’s prayers, but also use your experience to bring healing to others as well. 

Monsignor Schaedel said this a few weeks ago at his Mass commemorating his 40^th anniversary of ordination, and I have preached on this as well…if you had asked me, while I was still in the seminary, to write down the best 50 things that I hoped would happen in my priesthood, looking back on my life as a priest, the actual 50 best things of my priesthood are all better than anything on my list as a seminarian.

I think this lengthy quote from St. John Vianney also sums up what and who you have just become this morning: “O how great is the priest! If he realized what he is he would die… God obeys him: he utters a few words and the Lord descends from Heaven at his voice, to be contained within a small host. Without the Sacrament of Holy Orders, we would not have the Lord. Who put him there in the tabernacle? The priest. Who welcomed your soul at the beginning of life? The priest. Who feeds your soul and gives it strength for the journey? The priest. Who will prepare it to appear before God, bathing it one last time in the blood of Jesus Christ? The priest—always the priest. And if the soul should happen to die (as a result of sin) who will raise it up, who will restore its calm and peace? Again the priest. After God, the priest is everything. Only in heaven will he fully realize what he is.”

 

May God bless you every day of your new life as a priest and as a father!  Amen.

I Give You a New Commandment - Homily for the 5th Sunday of Easter

 

Jesus says in our Gospel today: “I give you a new commandment: love one another. As I have loved you, so you also should love one another.”

 

The first half of Jesus’ teaching is already found in the third book of the Old Testament.  Leviticus 19:18 already says “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” This is the Golden Rule, found in lots of different religious traditions.

 So what makes Jesus’ command new?  It is new because Jesus has come and illustrated exactly what love is.  So Jesus adds to the end of the Golden Rule this 2^nd piece of His teaching: “As I have loved you, so you also should love one another.”

In the Old Testament, God asked us to love our neighbor as ourself.  But Jesus, by becoming a human being and laying down His life for us, shows us that love actually involves a willingness to in some ways love our neighbor more than ourself…no longer putting our neighbors needs on the same level as our needs as Leviticus asks, but Jesus now calls us to actually put our neighbors needs ABOVE our needs.  To put our own desires last!  And that is why Jesus says “I give you a new commandment.”

 

Let us put our needs last, let us cooperate with the Grace God is pouring out on us to Love our neighbors, and to actually put our neighbors needs over our own needs, wants and desires.

Abortion and Sorcery - homily for the 5th Sunday of Easter

In the Criterion, the newspaper for the Archdiocese, there is an awesome story this week about our new St. Vincent De Paul food pantry.  There was also a great write up about it in the Brazil Times.  There was also a story this week in the Brazil Times about a new store in downtown Brazil opening up that traffics in the demonic, crystals, raiki, tarot cards etc…all that Saint Paul and Moses and the Catholic Church describe as gateways to the demonic.

 

And this weekend as well national abortion groups are calling for protests in Catholic Churches around the USA.

 

All of this goes to show, academically, that there are really only 2 sides and no middle ground for people who just want to sit on the sidelines.  It, at the end of the day, comes down to the Catholic Church doing battle with literal demons who have possessed human persons.

 

There is no sideline from which you can watch this battle unfold.  You have to make a choice about which side you will fight on.

 

God, all the way back in the book of Exodus, tells Moses there are two reasons that God is going to allow the Israelites to take over the Promised Land

1) Because the current inhabitants literally sacrificed their children to false gods

2) and they practiced witchcraft and sorcery

 

Abortion and sorcery comprise the priesthood and the sacrifice of the anti-church. 

Let me also be clear, no matter how far away from the Church you have fallen, and no matter what you have done in your past, whether it is abortions, murder, witchcraft, apostasy, and on and on…no matter what sins are in your past, Christ welcomes you back with one confession.  Peter betrayed our Lord 3 times, after swearing an oath just a couple of hours prior that he would never do that , but Saint Peter had the sense to repent. 

 

One of the ways you can tell the Catholic Church from the anti-church, the anti Church will always talk about care for the poor ONLY in big terms, while the Catholic Church talks about working with the poor individually – treating and reminding the poor of their dignity, which is what the St. Vincent DePaul Society is all about.  The Catholic Church also supports programs that care for the poor on a larger scale in some instances, but always also encourages, and frankly demands, that all Catholics encounter the poor individually as well.

 

The villain in one of the greatest novels of all time says “I love humanity…it is individual people I can’t stand.”  Some of our global planners talk that way.  They love humanity…and I would encourage every Catholic and every person of Good Will to run as far and as fast as possible from anyone who offers a plan to save humanity which does not involve Jesus Christ and His Bride the Catholic Church.

 

Christ, the Good Shepherd, chose to live in poverty and is calling us to follow Him back to the poor.  Let us heed the calling of the Good Shepherd.

What Heaven is Like - Homily for the 3rd Sunday of Easter, 2022

 

We hear in our second reading from the book of Revelation today “I heard every creature in heaven and everything in the universe, cry out:  “To the one who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor, glory and might, forever and ever.”  and the elders fell down and worshiped.”

 

This excerpt from the book of Revelation describes what is in store for us in Heaven.  Heaven is infinite bliss every moment for all eternity.  

 

When I was young, I used to think that there was down time in Heaven, maybe go for a jog or relax around the pool.

 

But I now know, through the teachings of the Catholic Church, including through the Sacred Scriptures, that Heaven is infinite bliss, every moment for all eternity.

Infinite bliss

Every moment

For all eternity

 

At this and every Mass, Heaven and Earth literally overlap

Saint Paul says that we see now as through a dark piece of glass, but one day, when we get to Heaven,  we will see fully.  Saint Paul means that we can only see shadows most of the time, if that, but rest assured that this Mass today is the opening up of Heaven to all of us, we have an actual Lamb of God on an actual altar and all of us are here singing praise to the Lamb of God, and the angels are really here with us singing praise to the lamb of God.  It is what is happening, even if we do not see all of it happening with our physical eyes, we believe and see it through the eyes of Faith.

 

I want to be in Heaven someday, and I hope you do too.  Infinite bliss, every moment for all eternity.  Lord help me and all here present today to live our lives in such a way that, when we die or when you return, we may pass straight in to the eternal bliss of Heaven.  Amen!

Divine Mercy 2022

 

Jesus says in our Gospel blessed are those who have not seen, and believed. 

One of the things that this line from Christ implies is that even though He promises to be present in every Sacrament of the Church, we should not expect to ever SEE Him, rather He says that we are blessed if we still believe in Him without actually seeing Him.

 

Saint Paul puts it this way to the Romans in chapter 8 verses 24 and 25: “hope that sees for itself is not hope. For who hopes for what one sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait with endurance”

 

It is also Divine Mercy today and at the bottom of the Divine Mercy image is 5 words, “Jesus I trust in you.”  Trust and hope go hand in hand.  One can only trust if they have not been let down by the other person.  The moment the person asking for trust lets us down, it is hard to reestablish that Trust.  But Jesus always and everywhere keeps his promises, so when Jesus asks us to trust Him, it makes sense for us to trust Him.

 

There are over 100 Eucharistic Miracles that have been approved by the Catholic Church, usually because of a doubt in the priest’s mind, where the bread at the consecration did actually turn into physical flesh or the wine, at the consecration, became physical blood.  But I have always thought that God, in His Mercy, does not reveal Himself that way 99.9999% of the time SO THAT WE CAN STILL EAT and receive him into our body and souls.  Sometimes we think it might be nice to see a Eucharistic Miracle like that, but would anyone want to actually eat Jesus’ skin?

 

So let us put our trust in Christ when He says to us “Blessed are those who have not seen and still believe”

Easter 2022

 

If then you were raised with Christ, seek what is above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God…not of what is on earth.

 

This encouragement from Saint Paul to the Colossians is an encouragement that is still applicable to us today, to seek what is above, not of what is on earth.

 

Seeking implies a striving for…saint Paul elsewhere uses the image of athletes denying themselves all sorts of things so that they can win…the same analogy applies to scholarly study…scholars deny themselves sleep because they are striving to master a subject…and good students sacrifice the prize of basking in the now to strive forward on their pursuit of a degree

 

Let us STRIVE for what is above…Jesus’ Resurrection opens for us the possible of living with Him forever in Eternal bliss.  This world is not corrupt, God made it, but this world is not our HOME.  Let us strive with one another to get to our Heavenly home.

 

A friend said a good way to find holy and good friends is to run toward Heaven and then look and see who is running in the same direction.  May we do that… may we run for Heaven and also look and see who is running in that same direction and encourage each other with the unbelievable if it were not true, the message that Jesus Christ has risen from the dead and opened up for us a way if we follow his teaching, his example, let us be nourished by the Sacraments, by the food for the journey, and let us win Heaven through Christ’s victory.  Amen!

A Video from a Few Years Ago that I Love

 

Holy Thursday 2022

 

When I first moved out to the Terre Haute Deanery for my first ever stint as a pastor, I was tasked with having to finish off the closing of Holy Rosary parish in Seelyville.  

The North Star is located almost directly on the line the Earth spins around and so it always is in the same place in the sky and was used by sailors and others as a reliable way to orient themselves.

 

In my final homily at Holy Rosary in Seelyville before the parish was merged into Annunciation, I encouraged the parishioners of Holy Rosary in Seelyville to keep their eyes fixed on the only True North Star, Jesus in the Eucharist, and if they did that, they would be able to weather whatever storms came their way, including the closing of their parish.

 

I have tried to follow my own advice as much as possible.  Jesus’ Real Presence in the Eucharist has been a North Star, a fixed point that I know is true, and I have kept my eyes fixed on Jesus throughout my time in seminary and the priesthood.  There has been a lot that has happened in my priesthood, a lot of the things from my priesthood have been good beyond my wildest dreams, and some of it has been difficult, but all of the things that have happened have been a blessing to me.

 

Tonight, the Church asks that the homily reflect on 3 related topics, the priesthood, the Eucharist and service to the poor and our friends. 

 

Right after the homily, I will wash the feet of 12 parishioners as a reminder of what Jesus did before the First Mass.  At that First Mass he also instituted the priesthood and also, for the first time turned bread and wine into Himself.

 

It is pretty easy to see how these three themes of the priesthood, the Eucharist and service are related.  In the priesthood, we are called to die to ourselves.  This “death to self” is actually sometimes easier in big ways than it is in small ways that no one will ever see.  In both arenas, the public and the private, the priest is called to die to self, and so is every person who is baptized.

 

Dying to our own desires and wants; dying to how we want to spend our free time; all those ways of dying, like Jesus’ death, bears fruit in other people’s lives because when we lay our wants to the side, we more easily recognize the ways we can serve others.  And Jesus says when we serve others, we also serve Him.

 

May Jesus in the Eucharist be a North Star for all of us, a point that we fix our eyes and hearts on, and, in walking toward Jesus, also imitate His laying down His life, so we may share in His Resurrection

If God Made Judas Betray Jesus...

 

There is an idea that has been around for a while and that idea could be summarized by the question “Didn’t Judas HAVE to hand Jesus over?” 

But the Gospels of course discredit this

Jesus: “woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed.  It would be better for that man if he had never been born.”

If we believe, wrongly, that God made Judas betray Jesus, there are TWO huge implications of this error

It is first of all important to know that God never has someone do evil.  Here’s the problem with thinking God DOES make someone do evil – if God can have people do evil acts for good outcomes, then we can start doing evil things because of the good outcomes that we think will happen

It becomes okay to destroy embryos for the good perceived outcome of curing diabetes

It becomes okay to use contraception in my marriage for the good perceived outcome of making my marriage happier

It becomes okay to experiment on human beings for the perceived good outcome of medical science

It becomes okay to torture people for the perceived good outcome of saving soldiers lives

It becomes okay to make money illegally for the perceived good outcome of feeding my family

LITERALLY ALL HELL BREAKS LOOSE THE MOMENT A PERCEIVED FUTURE CONSEQUENCE CAN BE USED TO JUSITFY AN ACTION

Even worse…it starts to be the case that if God wills evil or causes evil, then I can do evil too.

Unfortunately in some Catholic circles it has become fashionable to say that obviously sinful acts might not actually BE evil, as the circumstances or intentions of an act might make an evil act actually good.  But paragraph 1759 of the Catechism quotes St. Thomas Aquinas as saying "An evil action cannot be justified by reference to a good intention"

Also, to anyone who would appeal to their conscience, paragraph 1761 says “ There are concrete acts that it is always wrong to choose, because their choice entails a disorder of the will”

Jesus’ words about Judas need to be with us always – Woe to that man by whom the son of man is betrayed.  It would be better for that man if he had never been born

The Joy of Being Forgiven

 

Homily for April 2^nd and 3^rd – Go and sin no more

Father Vince Lampert, the exorcist for our Archdiocese, came to Saint Paul’s on Thursday night and gave an AWESOME talk about exorcisms.  I encourage anyone who missed it to go to Saint Paul’s Facebook page and watch all of it.  (click here or watch below)

Fr. Vince talked a lot about confession and noted “When we recommit ourselves to God, God does not care about the past, God cares about where we are.  When people live in the past, they live in a world of guilt, and when you live in a world of guilt, your best friend is going to be the Devil…the Devil is described in the book of Revelation as an accuser.”

 

We see this encouragement to go to confession and then move forward knowing that we start anew in all three readings from today. 

Our first reading from the Prophet Isaiah says, speaking on behalf of God “Remember not the events of the past, see, I am doing something new!”

Saint Paul tells the Philippians in our 2^nd reading today: “forgetting what lies behind but straining forward to what lies ahead, I continue my pursuit toward the goal”

And in our Gospel we hear Jesus say to the woman caught in adultery “Neither do I condemn you…go, and from now on do not sin any more.”

 

In the Mass and in the Confessional, most of the prayers and words of the priest are offered on behalf of himself and the people.  But when the crucial words of consecration at Mass and absolution in the confessional are said, it switches to the first person…”I absolve you” “This is my Body”

The Church says that in that moment, Christ is literally saying those words through the priest

 

And so the sacrament of reconciliation is just that, an opportunity to reconcile with God himself, to not just start over, not just to have our sins forgiven, but also to receive new grace from God moving forward.

 

The average confession lasts three minutes.  The confessional and the Mass are the last place the Devil wants you to be.  But when we leave the confessional, I promise you will sing with the Psalmist “The Lord has done great things for us, we are filled with joy”

The Older Son is Blind to All His Blessings

 

Homily for the 4^th Sunday of Lent, 2022

 

There is a line in our Gospel today that I would like to preach on, and it is this: “He said to his father in reply, ‘Look, all these years I served you and not once did I disobey your orders; yet you never gave me even a young goat to feast on with my friends.”

 

The main problem with the older son is his blindness to all the blessings that have come to him precisely because of his Father.  The oldest son has food at every meal thanks to his father, he has wealth built up by his father, he has servants because of his father, and on and on…and yet he sees none of these blessings but only what he lacks.

 

And we also tend to be blind to the gifts given us by our Heavenly Father.  Our food, our shelter, our heat and air conditioning, medicine, water, electricity, our clothing, our schooling…we have so many blessings from our Heavenly Father…and yet do we thank Him… or do we complain about what our Heavenly Father is NOT doing for us?

 

Paragraph 1360 of the Catechism instructs us that every Mass is “a sacrifice of thanksgiving to the Father, a blessing by which the Church expresses her gratitude to God for all his benefits”.  Indeed the very word “Eucharist” means “Thanksgiving”…so all of us who are here are participating in the best way possible to thank our Heavenly Father for all that He has done for us.

 

Let us ask God that we might have our eyes opened to all the blessings He is freely pouring out on us, including our sufferings.  Let us not be blind to all the good things our Heavenly Father is doing in our life, but instead let us recommit to thanking God unceasingly!

 

Lord Jesus Christ, help us to be freed from the blindness of the older son in your parable of the prodigal son.  May we see all of the blessings you are pouring out on us, and be grateful for all of them.  Amen.

The Gift of Smallness...a homily on the Annunciation, 2022

 

Annunciation 2022

 

Several years ago, if anyone had asked me a question about the state of our country or ways to improve the Catholic Church, I would have had answers to those questions.

 

But today, I do not have any answers.  I have realized that I am very limited, indeed very very limited in what I can do to change our country or improve the Church. 

 

In stepping away from social media, I have made a commitment to be as present as possible to the people of my parishes, and trust in God that God will take care of the bigger picture, and I am at peace now that I do NOT think I need to understand it all.

 

Mary is the same way in the Annunciation story from today’s Gospel.  It is clear she struggles to fathom God’s plan when She asks the angel, “How can this be?”  But Mary immediately understands that she can put all her trust in God’s plan…she does not need to know anything about God’s plan beyond an obscure reference by Simeon, when Mary brings the baby Jesus to the Temple, that a sword will pierce Her heart.  She trusts in God even when she watches Her Son Jesus tortured to death.

 

Let us focus on our local community, and make that our priority.  Let us take care of one another as Catholics, and let us be a light that attracts others in our community to come here.  Let us leave the big things for God, and let us be content to be small, as Mary was.

"Their god is their stomach"

 

“For many conduct themselves as enemies of the cross of Christ.  Their God is their stomach”

Saint Paul warns the Philippians that many among them treat their stomach as their god.  This is a hard teaching, but I think all of us Americans need to look at ourselves very closely on this one.  And it is a particularly timely topic for us this Lent.  Gluttony is one of the seven deadly sins.

Before diving into the sin of gluttony, I want to acknowledge here in the beginning that some people also struggle with eating disorders…mostly young women…and so it is important for anyone tempted to binge and then force yourself to vomit, or to starve yourself because of athletics or to try and make yourself look like any other person, please see me or any other person you trust, and that person or I can help connect you with a counselor to treat that condition.  My sister Laura, when she was in high school, suffered from multiple eating disorders, and she was not aware it for multiple years.  She shared her story on my blog (click here to visit her post), and she recommended a website with lots of resources called madeinhisimage.org

Most of us, however, struggle with eating too much.  Gluttony can be defined as eating or drinking in excess, or eating in such a way as to damage one’s health or mental capacity.

Food is pleasurable, and God created pleasure as a way to incline us to take care of ourselves, but provided that we do not make pleasure our aim.  Some pleasurable things are nonetheless sinful, and some pleasurable things require moderation.  Food is a pleasurable thing that requires moderation.

Alcoholic beverages, in moderation, are also okay because, as St. Thomas says, they can make conversation easier, but it is a deadly sin to fall into drunkenness.

Recreational Marijuana and all other illicit drugs are mortal sins because, unlike alcohol which can be enjoyed in moderation, all illicit drugs can rewire and alter a personality after using it just once.  Even medical marijuana has a sketchy foundation, at best.  The Mayo clinic found: “One of the most common reasons cited for medical marijuana is glaucoma. Data for this, though, is extremely weak; any positive effect is short term.”  The Mayo Clinic also found more broadly that there is “substantial evidence for an association between Marijuana smoking and respiratory disease, motor vehicle collisions (MVCs), lower birth weight offspring, schizophrenia and other psychoses”

Another reason that people cite for gluttony is stress, and at the beginning of 2022, a survey found that 80% of Americans report being stressed.  3 or 4 years ago, before my brain tumor, when I was watching TV, had a smartphone and a social media presence, I would stress eat.  If we find ourselves stress eating, let us examine what we are doing to avoid stress.  Are there things we can cut from our life to still work in the world but avoid stress?

Also, during this Season of Lent, as we think about potentially fasting from some foods, let us approach that fasting in a healthy way, seeing that most of us typically have more than enough to eat, and, when we cut back, we have more time and a clearer head so that we can enter more deeply into our prayer life as well.  Gluttony, as with all sins, can only ultimately be defeated in each of us cooperating with Jesus Christ each moment.  Do you have a relationship with Jesus?  Let us make Jesus the Lord of our hearts, as opposed to making a god out of our stomachs.

The War in Ukraine and Our Lady of Fatima

 

“The war in Ukraine, and Fatima” - Homily for March 5^th and 6^th

 

At the beginning of our Eucharistic Prayer, we will once again say blessing the bread and wine “which we offer you firstly for your holy catholic Church.  Be pleased to grant her peace, to guard, unite and govern her throughout the whole world”

 

As we have watched the events in Ukraine unfold these past 2 weeks, I can’t help but think of Our Lady of Fatima.  Fatima is a Marian Apparition that has been recognized by the Church, and it was a series of 6 visits by Mary to 3 shepherd children in Portugal.  The final apparition on October 13^th, 1917 was accompanied by a miracle of the sun dancing in the sky, which was witnessed by approximately 70,000 people.

There were also three visions given to the children, and in the second vision, our Blessed Mother asked that the Holy Father, in union with all the bishops of the world, consecrate Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.  Our Lady cautioned that if Her requests were not granted, “Russia will spread its errors throughout the world, raising up wars and persecutions of the Church. The good will be martyred, the Holy Father will have much to suffer and various nations will be annihilated.”

 

Russia was never consecrated the way Our Lady of Fatima had requested, and so the error of Russia, which is Communism, has spread literally from 1917 onward, now being present in China, North Korea, Laos, Vietnam and Cuba, but also a stunning number of Americans and Europeans also have a favorable view of Communism – 30% of young adult Americans report being supportive of Communism…clearly Russia’s error has spread not just to countries to where Communism is the official government of the land.

 

In a stunning move on Ash Wednesday, the Bishops of Ukraine asked Pope Francis to consecrate Russia as Our Lady of Fatima requested. I cannot see anything that the Pope has to lose in consecrating Russia and asking all the bishops of the world to join him.  Let us unite our prayer, fasting and almsgiving to this effort as well.

 

Let us pray for the Holy Father, and for the ongoing war in Ukraine, and the Catholic Church around the world, that God “be pleased to grant her peace, to guard, unite and govern her throughout the whole world!”