Month: September 2015

An Excerpt from my Homily for the Seminarians at Serra House today: I think many of us wrestle with what seems to be Jesus denying His family as we hear it proclaimed in today’s Gospel. But today’s Gospel takes me to the Cross where Jesus “gives” His Mother to us all; where He says to John and to the whole Church, “Behold, Your Mother”. And then in His selfless generosity as He prepares to depart from this world, He gives the woman He loves to us, holding nothing back. In love, Jesus does not want His Mother to be alone, just as He wants none of us whom He loves to be alone either. When we love others we share everything with them, and as Christians we are called to love in a complete and perfect way. In doing this we do the Will of the Father. And here we all are, more than 2,000 years later, disciples in succession from those very first days and we look to Mary as Our Mother. Of course we know that she is Jesus’ Mother, the Mother of God but when we turn to her and ask for her help, her intercession we call out to Our Mother. And so she is. As Christians we give and receive love; it’s important that we do. We are family. We understand family in a different way, a radically different way. Not only do we refer to one another as brothers and sisters in Christ, we mean it, or we must seek to integrate this into our own life. Brothers, I’ve experienced this in my life. I certainly loved my own family, but my best friend’s family were like my own. From the time I was a boy I experienced love from another family and in turn throughout the years my love and the bond with them grew stronger and stronger. I learned and accepted many different things, and in fact faith was introduced to me by my best friend’s sister when I was in my 20’s. My capacity for loving others and giving and receiving love from many people drew me into a deeper relationship with God and I give thanks for that gift in my life. I can’t say that even throughout my life as a Christian I always put this together with today’s Gospel, but I am coming to see how generous Jesus is in sharing His life and family with others, and although His Words today may not speak the entire story, we know that He did not in fact deny His family, but simply indicated that His family was much larger than the nuclear family He had been given by birth and blood. Our capacity for love grows as we grow in Christian virtue and practice; and so our houses should not contain all that we can give. We too are call to push past borders and boundaries to embrace more than just our close-knit group we were blessed to be given. It does not diminish those relationships but brings greater love to a world that very much needs it. My brothers & sisters in Christ, let us consider who we have embraced as family, and in living our lives as dedicated Christians may that family grow today and every day, as it did for our Lord Himself. May God bless you.

It really wouldn’t and doesn’t take too much for any of us to be the Pharisees in today’s Gospel, even if there seems to be an innate Christian instinct within us to be repulsed by the behaviour of the Pharisees in this or any Gospel encounter.  If any of us were ever to think that the Pharisees are to be isolated out and we are not like them; if any of us were to think we are going to be the true and devoted followers of our Lord and Saviour, we will have missed a very key and important dimension of the oral and written tradition of our faith; we will miss why we have Sacred Scripture in the first place.

We can be judgmental, negative and pessimistic about the world we live in and the people we live with, the Church we minister within.  We remember today St. Matthew, whom many felt was by far so unworthy of becoming a disciple then Apostle of our Lord Jesus Christ that they were repulsed by Jesus’ invitation to Him.  In fact, their repulsion caused them to question Jesus Himself.  It was as if in their own paradigm of thinking, Jesus calling notorious sinners made Jesus lower in their eyes.

Isn’t it possible for us to do the same?

Isn’t it possible for us to question our bishops and teachers when they present us with something that goes against our own paradigms of thinking about the Church?  About how Catholics and Christians should live, and when we begin to see the wounds, the blemishes, the shortcomings of our brothers and sisters.

As a Vocation Director, I look for broken men (and I know them well being one myself).  Broken men who can accept their brokenness and yet at the same time see that they are a gift from God to the world and to others; they make the best priests: and if that’s you, give me a call.

We heard yesterday and we will hear again this week of the disciples focussing their thoughts on who among them is the greatest.  We must see ourselves as a gift but not with blinders on; we must see each other as the amazing gift and blessing to the world and to each other as God sees us all.  I mention this too because to feel the weight of our sinfulness is not to focus on it.  If we focus on our sinfulness, we will never be doing God’s work.  Priests are men of the Eucharist, but should also be men of Confession, knowing and seeking God’s mercy.

We are not worthy of this call to be a Priest of God, but none of us are, not me, no priest, no Cardinal or even the Pope – none of us are.  We are sinners, get over it, with God’s grace and some effort on your part (but much more God’s grace) we will get better; and God chose to build a Church and through His Son bring each of us the opportunity for salvation through sinners, often very notorious sinners!

If that’s hard to believe, look at St. Paul, and remember His words: in dialogue with Jesus in 1^st Corinthians: Jesus says “my grace is sufficient, it’s enough for you: power is made perfect in weakness”.  St. Paul tells us that he has come to “boast of his own weakness, because he comes to see strength in it”.  The more we have been forgiven for, the more we are aware of how much we have needed God for that, how much we have to be thankful for.

How much is God and how little is us!  We must simply know we can’t live without Jesus Christ and my brothers in Christ, as we prepare for this Year of Mercy; let us consider what has been given to each one of us, so that we can extend that mercy and forgiveness to others; may we all remember that though we are sinners – we are loved sinners, loved back from any weakness or darkness into the light of Christ. May God bless you.

What kind of evangelizer do you want to be? Our Gospel today, and the essence of our Gospel calls each of us to think about this; I start with myself. The easy part is to “proclaim” the Word of God, the harder part is to live it – the two MUST go together, otherwise those who hear will know the words to be empty words. We celebrate today Our Lady’s Saturday, so it’s a most apt opportunity to reflect upon today’s Gospel and consider how Mary lives the Gospel out well; she embodies it perfectly. Jesus calls us to be sowers of good seed, to spread well the Word of God. Our Lord went to temple and spent time with the learned men of Galilee and Jerusalem, but we ought to never overlook the example and learning given to Him by His Holy Parents. They may not have had the “learned” understanding of the Sacred Scriptures, but we not from every mention of them in the Gospels they lived it well.

We hear throughout the Gospel of the many times Jesus’ mother “pondered (the many profound encounters with God through their Son) these things in her heart”. What a tremendous example she was, and what a great point of departure to continue “spreading seeds” as a devout Christian as she was. How many of us full of zeal and ready for action become less committed in our discipleship because we lose sight of how the Lord is working through us. Mary surely must have had days of confusion, days where clarity was lacking, days where it seemed like nothing was going right, and then something happens and Mary is deepened in her faith, a depth that carried her through her trials in life that led her to charity; giving generously and selflessly when she easily could have taken time for self-pity or to withdraw. Did Mary teach her own Divine Son to give beyond what was normal, what was the norm?

Certainly we could make the argument that she had “perfect faith”, but this makes her less than human. Her faith is strong because Mary held on to the great moments of grace given to her and allowed those moments to transform her, and the transformation was manifested in giving always to others; to her Son, but to others like Elizabeth, like the Apostles, to the Church after her Son gave her to us all.

And those moments which might have made her weak otherwise give Mary what she needs to be strong for others. To be a rock of faith for others. She is a model for us all, and she is most definitely a model for me. As I celebrate Our Lady’s Saturday today, I am asking Mary to be rock and model of faith for me, but also for us all.

 We Adore You O Christ and we praise You, because by Your Holy Cross You have redeemed the world!

Today we celebrate in the Church the Exaltation of the Holy Cross of Christ and truly for each one of us as Christians, we exalt the Cross when we freely take it up. I am strengthened in my faith when I meet people (and I have met many) who joyfully embrace the crosses in their life. Surely it’s easy to rationalize this kind of attitude and disposition as the “power of positive thinking”. Positive thinking may help us in the short term, but what I am talking about is actually so much deeper and very life-giving. Fr. Paschal, my mentor and very close friend was certainly a joyful priest and a great model and guide for me. He was joyful in life as he told stories and jokes, and reflected in a positive manner on his many years of service to the Church (40 as a religious brother, 26 as a priest…most of those years spent as a Vocation Director). The Lord gave me the grace to be with my friend near the very end of his life. Fr. Paschal never lost his joy in the midst of his sufferings and even on that very last day as we sat and had a most pleasant and joy-filled conversations, I asked Fr. Paschal if he was okay and needed anything, I remember his words: “I’m going to miss our chats, but I’m really excited to meet the Lord”. When I had a chance later to reflect, I also remember Fr. Paschal telling me he wasn’t afraid of death, the crown of our faith comes after that. And then in his last moment of earthly consciousness, barely able to speak and unable to do it for himself, Fr. Paschal asked me to help him make the sign of the cross. He stepped out of this world having embraced his cross and was joy-filled to meet the Lord at His.

This story I share with you is one of a multitude of stories of very beautiful experiences which may not seem so in the moment, but when we take time to reflect upon them after the storm we see the beauty and powerful witness they provide us with afterwards, and they help us. Although, if I am going to be honest, I am not looking forward to my own sufferings and ‘crosses’, when I see the strength of faith in those who do and how they draw ever so much closer to the Lord in the midst of these experiences – it gives me some peace. We know that Jesus’ own suffering on the cross was so horrible, graphic, brutal and unimaginable that very few remained with them. We know for many it was a weak moment of their faith, but thanks be to God we had the two Marys and John there to offer us something to ponder, because when these strong Christian witnesses share their experience (just as our brothers and sisters who suffer too do) we are made ever stronger in how we are commit to exalt the Cross in our own lives. May God bless you.

Men and women who discern a religious vocation often have one thing in common: they feel a sense of unworthiness that slows them down or stops them in their tracks of vocational discernment when the thought occurs to them that they might be called to priesthood or religious life. I remember I felt very much this way; aware of all that I had done in my life not to warrant the Lord calling me to the priesthood, as people were telling me they thought I might be. I was beginning (in my mind) to dismiss this, rationalizing that these people who thought this: “really don’t know who I am”. I went on a discernment retreat and the retreat master said right away, “Some of you are sitting here right now, thinking ‘I’m not worthy’ and to you I have good news, you’re not! Get over it, none of us are. And to the others who thought you were, you’re not either. And it concerns me right now you think you’re worthy!” I have always been drawn into today’s Gospel, where Peter feels so unworthy, He wants the Lord to forget about Him and move on. But Jesus does quite the opposite. He doesn’t condemn, He doesn’t say “darn right!” He tells Peter that He has great things in store for Him. And He does for each one of us. This is an amazing Gospel for us sinners! Jesus calls us despite ourselves, which tells me of His majesty and power that He can take what is weak and deficient in us and make it good. He can take our sinfulness and make it strength. Many (sinners) are called but only a few will answer.

As a Vocation Director, it is very hard when a man walks away from what seems to me to be an authentic calling because he struggles with sin, and he can’t reconcile that the Lord could be calling him to Holy Priesthood while still being a sinner. Now obviously, he needs to try to work on his own sinfulness – we all do, and his sins can’t be ongoing, public and scandalous, but if any of us waits for perfection – we’ll never truly follow the Lord. If any of us waits “until we’re better”, we’re not likely to follow the Lord. We must allow ourselves to become more and more aware that we are sinners, but loved sinners. The best remedy for holiness and a deeper sense of calling for us is through the Sacrament of Confession, and each man who meets with me is encouraged to make confession a regular practice in their lives. Most priests know that they are only as good at giving Christ’s mercy and love as confessors, as they are regular penitents themselves.

Let’s today take time to think about our own unworthiness, and remember now and always that the Lord is really the one who will worthy us (and He will), we don’t do it on our own. May God bless you.

Job shadowing is a very effective tool in most jobs or careers we have available to our young people out there; and although it’s not a “job”, I believe a tool which may be effective in developing a deepening sense of vocation awareness in our young people today. I think of “a day in the life” of a priest. In my year and a half of parish ministry the thought occurred to me that if young men knew what we did all day, this life would be far more attractive than it seems, because many young people I talked with at the schools were shocked that priests’ lives are very full, very rewarding and very demanding. There is a current of thought that we must present only the best of what we do to young people, not the hard or mentally and emotionally demanding portions, and they should not grasp that we have very demanding schedules. On the contrary, I do believe that young people look forward to a challenging and rewarding life. I believe that more young men will consider priesthood when they realize that this is a very purposeful, meaningful life; demanding, yes but also very, very rewarding. This thought occurred to me today in light of the Gospel; where we find Jesus Himself healing St. Peter’s mother-in-law, then going on to exorcizing demons, and working hard as He faces the demands placed upon Him. A day in the life of Jesus included preaching, bringing people together, touching their hearts and souls, freeing them from sin, being there for them in their own personal needs – when I think about all of this, it strengthens me as a priest to know that many of the daily demands of Jesus are similarly the demands placed upon our priests on a daily basis. To those who are unaware, and think we rest from Sunday to Sunday; today’s Gospel ought to offer a clearer picture of what the day in the life of a priest, through Jesus Christ is like. May God bless you.