Even Through Storms, There Is Faith

Despite the threat of a tropical storm, we planned on celebrating every single one of our eight scheduled Masses this weekend.  We had no idea how bad the storm would be, but if someone showed up to pray, Mass would be celebrated.  Every Mass was indeed celebrated.  They were simple and brief yet solemn.  There was no music yet the sounds of nature outside the church provided a moving soundtrack.  More importantly, every Mass was celebrated with great faith by the people who came, which is what today’s readings, were all about:

“We have come to believe and are convinced that you are the Holy One of God.”  (John 6:69)

You have no idea how moving it is for me as a priest to see all of you at Mass today.  Last night when I went to bed, I thought I would be celebrating Mass for the statues because I really had no idea how bad the storm was going to be.  Your very presence here despite the wind and the rain is a great act of faith.  You made a decision this morning that in spite of whatever obstacles nature threw your way, you were determined to come to Mass to thank the Lord for his goodness.  He has spared us from this storm and we gather to give thanks.  Besides, as St. Peter says at the end of today’s gospel, “To Whom shall we go?”  It is awesome to see nature on display particularly during a storm, but it is only here that we hear the words of eternal life and consume the bread of eternal life.

Yes, today you made a decision of faith just like Peter did in the gospel and Joshua made in the first reading.  Joshua gathered the people of Israel whom he now lead after Moses had died and basically told them that it was time for them to decide if they truly wanted to serve the Lord or not.  Many of the Israelites, despite having seen God’s power first hand after being freed from Egypt, were still opting for false gods which caused Joshua to draw a line in the sand and basically tell them “who are you going to follow?”  This prompts Joshua to utter one of my mother’s favorite bible quotes: “As for me and my household, we will serve the Lord (Joshua 24:15).”  My mother had this verse on a magnet on our fridge when I was a kid.  The people of Israel had reached a crossroads in their faith journey just as the disciple did at the end of today’s gospel.  Jesus sees many of his followers leave because they found his teachings too harsh, so the Lord turns to the twelve and asks them if they were also going to leave.  Peter speaks for all of them when he basically surrenders to Jesus and says “To Whom shall we go?”  But he takes it a step further when he says, “We have come to believe and are convinced that you are the Holy One of God.”  That word “convinced” is what really floors me.  The twelve see no other path in their lives but a path with the Lord.  Their conviction is what is exemplary.  It is the same conviction that each of you demonstrated by braving the elements and making your way to Mass this day.  May we always have the conviction of Joshua and Peter to always opt for the Lord for only He has the words of eternal life.

Prayer to Avert Storms and Hurricanes

Father,
All the elements of nature obey Your command. 
Calm the storms and hurricanes that threaten us,
and turn our fear of Your power into praise of Your goodness.
Grant this through our Lord, Jesus Christ, Your Son,
who lives and reigns with You
and the Holy Spirit,
one God, forever and ever. Amen.

Do You Understand the Mass?

"I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world.” (John 6:51)

 

About a year ago, I took Father Eliseus to a professional football game.  Now since Father Eliseus is from Nigeria where football is actually soccer, he did not know a single thing about our version of football.  During the game I kept explaining what was going on.  I explained to him that the team with the ball had four chances or "downs" to get ten yards in order to get another four chances to continue to advance the ball down the field.  We take these rules and the details of the game for granted until we have to explain them to someone who has no idea what is taking place in front of them.  I would imagine that the same thing would happen to me if I ever attended a Cricket match.  Slowly but surely, Father began to pick up the nuances of the game both on offense and defense.  He would start to react wildly with the rest of us whenever our team did something positive (yes, we were watching the Miami Dolphins) and shake his head with me when the team did something negative (we were playing Tom Brady and the Patriots on Monday Night Football so there was a lot of head shaking).  Father Eliseus came to enjoy the game more and more as he started to grasp the details and intricacies of it.  It became something exciting for him as he learned more and more.  We can apply the same logic to our understanding of the Mass.  We cannot enjoy and cherish what we do not understand.  So many people complain that Mass is boring or that they "get nothing out of it," but I guarantee you that if you understood the details of the Mass and why we do the things we do up here on the altar and frame them within a historical perspective and within God's plan of salvation then you will begin to enjoy and cherish this blessed event even more.

 

Every single gesture and prayer that is done up here has a meaning and a story.  Every week we encounter the Lord in a new way through the different Scripture readings that we hear.  Every week we get to partake in this heavenly bread that in today's gospel Jesus calls his "flesh for the life of the world."  Stop and think about the magnitude of Jesus' words today:  "whoever eats this bread will live forever."  He gives us life through this Eucharist.  He remains in us and we remain in him.  If we truly understood these words, if we truly understood the Mass, we would be hungering for this divine food every single day.  What is going up here is a divine exchange between God and his people.  Jesus gives us his very flesh to eat so that we may be glorified and become like him!  Notice that I used the word "flesh" instead of "body."  St. John does the same thing in today's gospel.  Instead of using the Greek word "soma" which means "body," which St. Paul used to refer to the Eucharist, John uses the Greek word "sarx" which mean "flesh" which has a negative connotation in the Greek as it does in the English language.  When we think of "the flesh," we normally think of sins against the 6th commandment.  But St. John uses this word in order to dispel any notions that were prevailing at the time that the flesh was weak.  His uses the word "sarx" in the first chapter when he writes that the Word became flesh to dwell among us.  Now he uses it again to describe the Eucharist and the bread that we eat to emphasize that if we eat of this flesh we will live forever.  The flesh is no longer considered something negative or sinful, but now the flesh has been glorified by Jesus himself.  It's little things like this that help us understand the Mass better and allow us to enter more fully into the divine mysteries that we celebrate here every Sunday because it is at this altar that we encounter and touch God himself by receiving the Eucharist.  If we truly grasped this reality along with everything else that transpires during this divine exchange, then our experience of the Mass will never be the same.

Bread of Angels

“Blessed the [one] who takes refuge in [the Lord]." (Psalm 34:9)

She is around my mother’s age.  She had just been brought to a rehab center and she wanted to see a priest and receive communion on Sunday, the Lord’s Day.  I walked into her room and found her confined to a wheelchair carefully making rosaries.  The tray above her chair had rosary beads, string, and two prayer books.  I sat down at the edge of the bed next to her chair and gave her the sacraments.  While I was doing this, she informed me that she had bone cancer and there was really not much more the doctors could do.  She could go no further.  Immediately I thought of today’s first reading.  I read it to her and explained to her how Elijah felt in the wilderness when he thought he could not go no further and how angels brought him food to strengthen him on his journey.  I told her that the same thing had happened today because she received something much greater than the bread Elijah received.  She received what Saint Ignatius of Antioch called “the bread of angels, bread from heaven, medicine of immortality.”  She smiled and told me that all she wanted was a happy death.  She had accepted her reality.  In our time together, she told me of her worries for priests, for the souls of purgatory, for the souls of dearly departed priest.  She told me to tell people to pray for these things (done), but of all her worries, she was not worried about death.  I told her not to fear death because she had received this heavenly bread which if we listen to Jesus in today’s gospel, guarantees us eternal life.  Like Elijah, she had now been fed bread of angels and was on her way not to Mount Horeb but to Mount Zion, the heavenly Jerusalem. It’s amazing how much peace can emanate from someone who is dying.  When you’re at peace with the Lord, what is there to fear?

When we think we can’t go any further, God somehow pushes us across the finish line.  Elijah was fleeing for his life because he had defeated and killed false prophets which angered his enemies.  He stood up for God and now his life was in danger.  Now as he journeys through the wilderness he asks for death because he cannot go any further.  Angels comes to minister to him and bring him bread to nourish him.  This bread of angels will be given again by Christ for he is the bread of life come down from heaven.  This bread will strengthen us as it did Elijah who finished his journey to Mount Horeb which is also known as Mount Sinai where Moses received the Ten Commandments and the Mosaic covenant was formed.  The Eucharist is the sign of the new covenant that is ratified by the blood of Jesus.  He promises to feed us on our journey home towards the Father.  This food helps makes us imitators of God as the second reading implores us to be.  But more importantly it brings us the peace that this woman felt in that rehab center this afternoon.  Her Lord and Savior had come to be one with her as I brought her the bread of angels that we will receive later at this Mass.  Now, I’m no angel, nor do I aspire to be.  What I aspire to be is what this woman told me as I took my leave of her.  I kissed her on the forehead, and she said, “Thank you, Father.  You will be in my prayers so that you can be always be a holy priest.” 

Looking For Jesus

“…[they] came to Capernaum looking for Jesus.”  (John 6:24)

Over the last week, many of us have been awed by the athletic achievements we have seen at the Olympics.  As a country we have fallen in love with Gabby Douglas’ smile, Missy Franklin’s exuberance, and Katie Ledecky’s youth.  All three of these teenagers have witnessed to the presence of God in some way after winning their gold medals.  Gabby told the sideline reporter on national television minutes after winning gold: “I give all the glory to God…the glory goes up to him and his blessings fall down on me.”  Katie Ledecky is the youngest member of the entire U.S. Olympic team since she just turned 15 in March.  She is a student at Stone Ridge High School of the Sacred Heart in Bethesda, Maryland.  Her godfather is a Jesuit priest, and she says that she prays a Hail Mary before every race.  Missy Franklin also attends a Catholic high school though she is not Catholic, yet.  Missy lives in Aurora, Colorado and dedicated these games to the victims of the tragic shooting.  I say she is not Catholic yet because although her family is Protestant, Missy has been quoted as saying she is thinking about becoming a Catholic because of the incredible spiritual experience of going to Catholic high school retreats and going to Mass.  She is looking for the same thing that the people in today’s gospel are looking for.  Something we can only find here on the altar.  Yesterday, a parishioner sent me an article that said that Olympic athletes were flocking to daily Mass.  Of all the religious services taking place in the athlete’s village, Mass is the most attended particularly since they are celebrating the Eucharist three times a day.  Even in competition, these athletes, like the crowds, like us on this Sunday, are looking for Jesus.

But the crowds come looking for a sign from Jesus.  They aren’t aware yet that what Jesus has to offer is life-giving bread.  They come hungering for the physical and perishable not the spiritual.  At times we are very much like the crowds in today’s gospel.  We look for signs from above and fail to recognize the real presence of Christ in our midst.  Jesus gives himself totally to us in the Eucharist.  He prepares for us this heavenly meal that causes the crowd to tell him “give us this bread always!”  Unfortunately many of us take this meal in bits and pieces.  Imagine a buffet spread before you and you pick at all the food but don’t sit down to savor what you are eating, to digest, and to enjoy.  We cannot take Jesus in bits and pieces.  We have to take him all!  That is what communion is all about.  A part time spiritual life, like the manna in the desert, will perish.  The Eucharist creates a permanent bond that calls us to a deeper relationship with our Lord that does not perish.  And how do we strengthen this relationship with Christ?  On our knees before the Blessed Sacrament!  It is only there face to face with our Lord and God that we get to know the Master and that we hunger for him even more.  He is there every day in the tabernacle waiting for you, longing for you, and yes, hungering for you.  Our young Olympians are seeking out Christ every day before they compete and proclaiming his glory to the entire word.  How much more do we need our Lord to be able to take his presence and proclaim his glory to a world hungering for the divine?

My Brother in South Sudan

“…one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all…” (Ephesians 4:5-6a)

After being away for some weeks of rest, I returned to the parish on Saturday to greet a missionary priest who was visiting us from South Sudan.  He was going to speak at all our Masses to appeal for the people of a war-ravaged nation.  Father Abraham was sent by his bishop to the United States to ask for monetary help and prayers.  I prided myself back in middle school on being a geography buff but since I had forgotten that Sudan is a country located south of Egypt and west of Ethiopia where the Nile River flows down from the Mediterranean.  It is a country that has been in and out of war since ceasing to be a British colony in 1956 and went through a long and bitter war between the 1980s and the 2000s that killed roughly 2.2 million people.  Early last year, the people of South Sudan voted overwhelmingly to secede from Sudan and form their own country mainly because the north is dominated by Arabs and Muslims and the south is populated by animists and Christians.  Yet, as Father Abraham, reminded us, the Christians are under constant attack by Muslim Extremists.  There is very little infrastructure in his country, the drought that has been plaguing Ethiopia and the horn of Africa have affected them as well, and in light of all this suffering and violence, they continue to preach the Good News of Jesus Christ.  Whenever a brother priest comes from anywhere in the world to plea for his people, I welcome him with open arms.  We share the same priesthood, we celebrate the same Eucharist, but the people we minister to are so different and are suffering though things that we will hopefully never experience in this country.  Many in his flock not only have to worry about what they are going to eat, but they sometimes fear for their lives when they gather around the altar of the Lord to worship.  If poverty and war isn’t enough, Father Abraham told us that over 70% of his people were infected with the HIV virus.  Yet, there he was this morning, in this beautiful air-conditioned church, bringing the Good News of the Lord and celebrating the same Mass that his people were celebrating back home.  After all, we share “one faith, one baptism” as St. Paul tells us.  This is why we must constantly be reminded that we belong to a universal Church that confronts so many challenges around the world.

After Mass last night, I took Father Abraham and Father Eliseus, the Nigerian priest that is helping us this summer, out to dinner.  They sat across from me and I heard them compare stories about how the people in both their countries are being threatened because of their faith.  People are fearful in Nigeria and South Sudan and countless other countries when they go to Mass to worship the Lord, and yet we complain here when the air conditioner isn’t working correctly.  In Nigeria last Christmas, many Christians were killed in their churches simply for being Christian.  Buses are stopped randomly and people are gunned down simply for being Christian.  Imagine going to church, the safest and most sacred place you can possibly think of, and worrying if you’re going to make it home alive.  This is the reality that this good priest came to share with us today.  Despite the darkness that surrounds his people, they still believe in a God who loves them to no end and feeds them at this altar.  In today’s gospel, people ate in peace with the Lord who fed them in the same way that he will feed in a few moments.  Pray for my brother priest Father Abraham and pray that our brothers and sisters in South Sudan may be able to gather around the table of the Lord to be fed and to worship their God in peace.

To read more about South Sudan, click on this recent and illuminating article from the New York Times:

http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/international/countriesandterritories/south-sudan/index.html

To donate to Catholic Relief Services mission in South Sudan, click here:  http://crs.org/countries/south-sudan (Be sure your donation is for South Sudan.)

Speaking Truth to Power

“He will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah to turn the hearts of fathers toward children and the disobedient to the understanding of the righteous, to prepare a people fit for the Lord.” (Luke 1:17)

The prophet is called to always point out and proclaim the truth…even when it is unpopular.  That is what John the Baptist did.  That is why we celebrate his birth and his life on this day.  John was set apart in his mother’s womb to the prophet of the Most High, to prepare the way for the Lord, and to preach repentance.  He was such a great prophet that even Jesus himself said this about his cousin:  “I say to you, among those born of women there is no one greater than John (Luke 7:28).”  As the Scriptures tell us, preaching the truth came at a high price for John.  He was not afraid to preach truth to power that is why he denounced King Herod for marrying his brother’s wife.  Speaking such a bold truth to the maximum authority ultimately cost John his head.  Yet he was not afraid of death as so many martyrs of the Church through our 2000 year history.  John was faithful to God and was faithful to the truth that he was called upon to preach from his mother’s womb.

All of us are called to be prophets because we are members of a Church that is called to prophetic.  We are called to speak out for those who have no voice:  the poor, the marginalized, the unborn, the immigrant, and the outcast.  We are called to speak the truth and denounce injustice.  Just last week, our pastor got up at the end of Mass to explain the “Fortnight for Freedom” that the U.S. bishops have started.  This is a two week period that started last Thursday and runs up to Independence Day where we have been asked by our shepherds to spend time in prayer, fasting and in catechesis as we seek to become better informed about the current attack on our religious liberties and to pray that these liberties be protected.  There were people that did not like what our pastor was saying.  There were people that walked out of Mass with scowls on their faces as if the pastor had just preached some unspeakable heresy.  One parishioner even went so far as to argue with our pastor for five minutes after Mass about how wrong he was even though he was basically preaching Church teaching.  So now our own people don’t want their priests to preach the truth from the pulpit?  I guess we prefer a “feel good” Sunday experience where we aren’t challenged to do what we were baptized to do.  Well, the priests of this parish are committed to preach the truth, committed to denounce this current attack on our religious liberties, committed to protect the unborn, committed to protect the plight of the poor and the immigrant, committed to protect the conscience of each and every one of you that have been entrusted to our care.  As priests, we cannot and will not remain silent.  And neither should you.  Because you were baptized into the prophetic office of Christ, you are also called to proclaim the truth in the public square.  How else are people going to know that the first freedom, the freedom of religion, is currently under attack by our own government?

I preached on this back in January, but as Catholics, we need to develop a backbone and start calling out the things that are wrong with society just as John the Baptist did.  Yes, Jesus accepted everyone, but he did not accept their sin because when sinners turned to Jesus, they left their sins in the past.  We must be courageous enough to tell people that we stand with our Bishops in their fight to protect our religious freedoms because if we don’t then our Catholic schools, our Catholic hospitals, and our Catholic soup kitchens and social services may be in serious danger.  If we don’t speak the truth in the public square, how are we going to turn the tide on a culture that day by day keeps turning its back on God and keeps doing “what feels good”.  Sometimes speaking truth truly is unpopular but it must be done.  Who else is going to tell the world that while we love and are compassionate towards homosexuals, marriage is defined as the union between one man and one woman?  Who is going to tell young couples that it is not ok to live together before marriage?  Who is going to tell couples that have been married that it is not ok to marry someone who has been divorced and then come and receive communion?  These are the truths that we don’t like to talk about or point out because we do not want to offend.  Let me echo what I said back in January:  if the truth offends so be it.  The truth of Jesus Christ is the same today as it was 2000 years ago when he preached to the multitudes.  We must be a bold and courageous Church modeled after the great prophet John the Baptist.  We must point out and proclaim the truth at all times even when it is unpopular precisely because we belong to a prophetic church that is called to stand up for the truth and bring Christ into the lives of our brothers and sisters.  WARNING:  Speaking the truth may cost you friends and it may cost you many restless nights, but that it is far better than being silent and having that cost you your eternal soul. 

St. John the Baptist, pray for us.

More Than A Father

More than a Father

“Therefore, we aspire to please him, whether we are at home or away.”  (2 Corinthians 5:9)

Jesus Christ had only one will:  the will of his Heavenly Father.  Jesus came to show us the loving and merciful face of the Father.  It is an image that we contemplate on this Father’s Day.  The Father loved us so much that he gave us his only Son, and his only Son loved his Father so much that he accomplished His will perfectly.  Today the readings speak to us of majestic and sturdy trees where we can find shelter and refuge.  What a great image to illustrate fatherhood.  A father is supposed to be strong like the large trees that rise up from the small mustard seed.  A father brings us security and provides shelter.  One needs only to think of the great example of Saint Joseph whom God the Father chose to raise and protect his only Son.  Joseph took on the great responsibility of fatherhood and protected Jesus and Mary which is why we ask for his intercession on this special day.

As a priest, I will never get to experience the joys of biological fatherhood, but I experience the joys of spiritual father on a daily basis.  Here are two examples of how I have experienced fatherhood both as a spiritual father and as a son:

Very early on in my priesthood, I “got” what spiritual fatherhood really was.  One of my students told me to pray for his grandmother who was very sick back in his home country.  She was so sick that his father had travelled to be by her side.  Now this student of mine was a tough kid with a big heart.  He was always smiling, always the life of any party (still is), but underneath I could tell he was worried about his grandmother.  One afternoon, I was sitting in the priests’ residence across the street from the school when the rarely used doorbell rang.  It was my student and he had just found out that his grandmother had passed away.  He didn’t say a word.  I just knew by the look on his face.  This big kid started sobbing in my arms.  Right there, I “got” what it meant to be a spiritual father thanks to that young man.  His father was at his grandmother’s side, but he still needed refuge and shelter.  He needed the embrace of a father to reassure him that things were going to be ok.  So many times, we look up to the heavens, as Jesus did during the agony in the garden, seeking out our Father’s help in times of trial.  All we want is that sense of feeling safe and being loved that a father provides.

Last Tuesday, I said farewell to the good and holy priest that baptized me.  He was always so proud of the fact that he had baptized a future priest.  Whenever we were together he would proudly tell whoever was around that he had baptized me.  He was a priest for 60 years when he was called home by our Father.  I have a great picture from my ordination day with him and my father.  One man gave me the gift of life.  The other man gave me the gift of eternal life through baptism.  So when I approached his casket last Tuesday before his funeral Mass, I leaned over and kissed the sacred hands that welcomed me into the Church and claimed me for Christ my savior.  This holy priest and my own father remind me that fathers and priests are called to be more than fathers to their children.  We’re called to be counselors, consolers, mentors, coaches, cheerleaders, patient listeners, healers, and oh so much more.  We’re called to be as sturdy and strong as the most majestic tree  and to be a source of shelter and strength for our children.

This past week I came across this poem that really sums up all that is needed to be a father:

God took the strength of a mountain, The majesty of a tree,

The warmth of a summer sun, The calm of a quiet sea,

The generous soul of nature, The comforting arm of night,

The wisdom of the ages, The power of the eagle's flight,

The joy of a morning in spring, The faith of a mustard seed,

The patience of eternity, The depth of a family need,

Then God combined these qualities, When there was nothing more to add,

He knew His masterpiece was complete,

And so, He called it ... Dad

~Author Unknown~

St. Joseph, patron of all fathers, pray for us. 

Happy Fathers Day.