Role Models

We all need role models for our lives. Yesterday we celebrated the birth of Jesus, and today, on the Feast of St. Stephen, we see how we can live a life of devotion to him. Let me share with you a snippet of a homily by St. Fulgentius of Ruspe that explains what I mean:

And so the love that brought Christ from heaven to earth raised Stephen from earth to heaven; shown first in the king, it later shone forth in his soldier. Love was Stephen’s weapon by which he gained every battle, and so won the crown signified by his name. His love of God kept him from yielding to the ferocious mob; his love for his neighbor made him pray for those who were stoning him. Love inspired him to reprove those who erred, to make them amend; love led him to pray for those who stoned him, to save them from punishment. Strengthened by the power of his love, he overcame the raging cruelty of Saul and won his persecutor on earth as his companion in heaven. In his holy and tireless love he longed to gain by prayer those whom he could not convert by admonition.
Now at last, Paul rejoices with Stephen, with Stephen he delights in the glory of Christ, with Stephen he exalts, with Stephen he reigns. Stephen went first, slain by the stones thrown by Paul, but Paul followed after, helped by the prayer of Stephen. This, surely, is the true life, my brothers, a life in which Paul feels no shame because of Stephen’s death, and Stephen delights in Paul’s companionship, for love fills them both with joy. It was Stephen’s love that prevailed over the cruelty of the mob, and it was Paul’s love that covered the multitude of his sins; it was love that won for both of them the kingdom of heaven.

Love, indeed, is the source of all good things; it is an impregnable defence, and the way that leads to heaven. He who walks in love can neither go astray nor be afraid: love guides him, protects him, and brings him to his journey’s end. 

My brothers, Christ made love the stairway that would enable all Christians to climb to heaven. Hold fast to it, therefore, in all sincerity, give one another practical proof of it, and by your progress in it, make your ascent together.

I couldn't have said it better myself.  Merry Christmas, and Happy Feast of St. Stephen!

"Unite in rendering unto Him our sincere and humble thanks"

I know I just posted about gratitude yesterday, but ... as they say ... 'tis the season. I found this address from President George Washington announcing the first official Thanksgiving celebration as the United States, and I thought it bore sharing.

Whereas it is the duty of all Nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey his will, to be grateful for his benefits, and humbly to implore his protection and favor, and whereas both Houses of Congress have by their joint Committee requested me "to recommend to the People of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many signal favors of Almighty God especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness."

Now therefore I do recommend and assign Thursday the 26th day of November next to be devoted by the People of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being, who is the beneficent Author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be. That we may then all unite in rendering unto him our sincere and humble thanks, for his kind care and protection of the People of this Country previous to their becoming a Nation, for the signal and manifold mercies, and the favorable interpositions of his providence, which we experienced in the course and conclusion of the late war, for the great degree of tranquility, union, and plenty, which we have since enjoyed, for the peaceable and rational manner, in which we have been enabled to establish constitutions of government for our safety and happiness, and particularly the national One now lately instituted, for the civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed; and the means we have of acquiring and diffusing useful knowledge; and in general for all the great and various favors which he hath been pleased to confer upon us.

And also that we may then unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations and beseech him to pardon our national and other transgressions, to enable us all, whether in public or private stations, to perform our several and relative duties properly and punctually, to render our national government a blessing to all the people, by constantly being a Government of wise, just, and constitutional laws, discreetly and faithfully executed and obeyed, to protect and guide all Sovereigns and Nations (especially such as have shown kindness unto us) and to bless them with good government, peace, and concord. To promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and virtue, and the encrease of science among them and Us, and generally to grant unto all Mankind such a degree of temporal prosperity as he alone knows to be best.

October 3, 1789

Dear Lord, grant us forgiveness for our national transgressions and increase in us Your peace and Your blessings! Amen!

Just a reminder: Thanksgiving Day Mass is at 9:30 (English) and 11:30 (Spanish)!

"Give Thanks for God's Blessings ..."

One of those great Thanksgiving hymns reminds us,

"Sent forth by God's blessings,
the True Faith confessing,
the people of God from His dwelling take leave.
The sacrifice ended, O now be extended
the fruits of this Mass in all hearts which believe!"

 As we wrap up the liturgical year during this 34th week of Ordinary Time and prepare to begin anew on the First Sunday of Advent, we have the chance to take stock of the year past and give thanks for the tremendous gifts God has given us.  Certainly for me, one of those great blessings was being ordained a Priest and sent to St. Michael's!

But each of us also has a tremendous opportunity this week to remember what fuels this gratitude and what supports our growth in holiness during the New [Church] Year: the Eucharist.  The very name means, "thanksgiving," and our participation in the Mass -- the Celebration of the Eucharist -- reminds us every time of how much we have for which to give thanks to God!

As we prepare to sit around turkeys and stuffing, cranberries and pies of all sorts this Thursday, let's take the opportunity also to be present to the Lord's Banquet and to give thanks there for all the ways He has blessed us this year ... so that we can enter more fully into that spirit of gratitude in the New [Church] Year which is about to come upon us!

Thanksgiving Day Mass is at 9:30 (English) and 11:30 (Spanish)!

American Holiness

Maybe you've heard people say, "There will never be an American pope" ... "The American Church is out of line with the rest of the world" ... "What do Americans know about true sacrifice?"

Well, today we hear from the Church that holiness is possible, even for an American. We celebrate the Memorial of St. Frances Xavier Cabrini, a wonderful woman who came over from Italy to work with Italian immigrants in New York City and later in Chicago. They were looked down upon by the culture at large as "different" and "less than us."  Yet through this work -- in which she herself was looked down upon -- St. Frances Xavier Cabrini was the first American citizen to be canonized, in 1946.

She was so inspired by the love of the Sacred Heart of Jesus that she formed a religious order (The Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart) to help her to do what she was doing: care for the sick and poor in America. The love He has for us is supposed to flow out through us to the world around us, and St. Frances Xavier Cabrini recognized that.

Even though most of us are not part of a religious order, and not many of us are Italian, we are all baptized and thus beloved children of God, sharing in the love of that Sacred Heart of Jesus.  How can we reach out in love to those around us, especially the forgotten and those who are looked down upon as "less than us"? How can we show through our own actions that holiness is very possible, even in Cary, North Carolina, USA?

Gathering as God's Family

In the readings for the High Holy Days of the 32nd Sunday in Ordinary Time, we hear about our identity as God's family. St. Paul begins the second reading for this Sunday:

Brothers and sisters:
May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father,
who has loved us and given us everlasting encouragement
and good hope through his grace,
encourage your hearts and strengthen them in every good deed and word.

-2 Thess. 2:16-17

 We have the opportunity each Sunday to gather as God's family -- to celebrate what He has done for us! The Sunday Mass is one of the most important times we have to set time aside for "family dinner," to hear what is happening in the life of our spiritual family, to receive encouragement from the Word of God, and ... most importantly ... to receive the Body and Blood of the Lord!

This was really brought home to me a couple of weeks ago as I was doing some errands:

So many things compete for our attention on a weekend and try to distract us from who we are at the core of our being -- sports, TV, homework, yard work, house work, travel, exercise, and a thousand other activities.  They even try to take over our Sunday morning, Saturday evening, and the prime-time 6 PM Life Teen Mass hour on Sunday night. Yet none of these activities can substitute for a weekly reminder of who we are: we are part of God's family, responding to His call to be holy in the midst of the world.  

Let's commit to taking our Sunday opportunity to be encouraged for the week, so that we can share that encouragement of God's love with our brothers and sisters.

The Sacrament of the Present Moment

"A Sacrament is an outward sign, instituted by Christ to give grace."
- The Baltimore Catechism

As we march through the numbered Sundays of Ordinary Time, I can't help but think of one of the lectures we had in Seminary ... the "sacramentality of creation."  I had great professors, so I can tell you that they didn't mean that the whole world is "the 8th Sacrament." What they were saying is that the world shows the presence of God and can lead us to experience God in a more full and beautiful way.  That's the whole structure of a sacrament, after all -- something from this world (bread, wine, water, oil, man, woman) and used to bring the presence of God into the world.

One of these things is time.  Yep, that thing I spend, use wisely, pass, and waste.  Even time itself can be one of those parts of God's creation that bring us into His presence -- if we use it!

SO: How did I use my time this weekend?  Did I rush home from Mass and put The Game on TV?  Did I run out and go shopping?  Did I do housework or schoolwork?  Or did I take the time to be with God, even outside of Mass?  Did I read a spiritual book or take time to be quiet with God?  Or did that sacramental time of Sunday just "pass me by"?

The Church herself even offers up her time to God in a prayer called the Liturgy of the Hours -- prayer offered up at specific times of day, so that "the purpose of the liturgy of the hours is to sanctify the day and the whole range of human activity" (General Instruction to the Liturgy of the Hours, n.11).  If you've never heard of it, let the folks at Divine Office pray it with you!

"We are Unprofitable Servants"?

The Gospel from this past Sunday included the startling words:

"Is [the master] grateful to that servant because he did what was commanded?
So should it be with you.
When you have done all you have been commanded,
say, 'We are unprofitable servants;
we have done what we were obliged to do.'"  (Luke 17:9-10)

It sounds at first glance like a raw deal for the servant: he's been working all day, and only gets another job to do when he comes back to his master. But we all know people like this (maybe it's even US on a bad day): they do what they're told, but they don't have the vision to be able to anticipate the master's next desire. They just see the long list of tasks to be accomplished. The problem with this situation -- seeing only the list -- is that it's exhausting and boring to just keep cranking out results ... to keep accomplishing tasks without seeing the overarching reason why we do them.

Sometimes this even affects (gasp!) our faith life. "Go to Mass ... AGAIN?! I just went last week!" Or perhaps, "Prayer?! Jesus already heard from me, like, last month!"  ...  We only see the looooong list of things that we "have to do", and it gets harder and harder to give ourselves over to doing God's work and His will as the list never ends.

 This is where that old word comes up again ... holiness. By our Baptism we received the gift of faith (along with good old hope and love). We are oriented, at the deepest part of our being, toward seeing that vision that God our Father has for the world.  (That's what faith is: seeing as God sees. ... But you knew that already if you heard my homily on Sunday.)  So holiness is the progression and gradual perfection of that gift of faith.  We come to see, more and more, every day, the way that the world is supposed to be, and the way are supposed to live in it. If we do it right, our every action responds to God's desire and His vision that everything be the way He intends it to be, to make this world a better place and prepare us for Heaven.

Isn't that better than just seeing a to-do list?


Image credit: This icon of the Baptism of the Lord -- the model for what it is to see God the Father's holy will and perspective on life -- is from The Icon Reader's Guide, http://iconreader.wordpress.com/2011/01/06/baptism-of-christ-the-theophany-icon .

Our First Life Teen Mass

We started a new initiative at St. Michael's this week ... the Life Teen youth ministry program. I celebrated the first 6 PM Life Teen Mass in something like six or seven years.

 

We had a LOT of support for this idea, from many of you around the parish. Many, MANY people said this was the greatest faith experience they had ever had and it made them want to go to Mass. They fondly remember a joyful, excited, involved, and dedicated congregation at the Life Teen Mass. And that's awesome!

We certainly had a good crowd for Mass tonight (to which you're all invited ... every Sunday, at 6 PM, at St. Michael's). And that makes my Priestly heart jump for joy.

But, folks, let's not take our eye off the prize here -- the whole purpose of the Life Teen program, or of any ministry at a parish, is to help us be holy. It looks like this is going to be an awesome tool to help us develop our parish life, but no program is an end in itself. Let's commit to following the Lord's call to us -- no matter what tools we use to do it -- or, to use His own words, "Be holy, for I am holy" (Leviticus 20:26, 1 Peter 1:15-16).

In the Beginning ...

"In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep, and the Spirit of God was moving over the face of the waters" (Genesis 1:1-2).

Even from the first words of the Bible, we can see that any true work begins with the presence and action of the Holy Spirit. Certainly, as I begin to share my humble thoughts and meditations with the wider world, I recognize the need to dedicate every word that is said here to the power of the Holy Spirit, Who perfects all of our actions and Who presents our humble offerings as acceptable to God.

Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of Thy faithful,

and enkindle in them the fire of Thy divine love.

Send forth Thy Word, and they shall be created,

and Thou shalt renew the face of the earth.

Let us pray --

O God, who instructed the hearts of the faithful

by the light of the Holy Spirit,

grant us in the same spirit to be truly wise,

and ever to rejoice in His consolation,

through Christ our Lord.

Amen.