Vain repetition??

This is one phrase from the gospel's that I always struggled with. Jesus said this in reference to the religious on the street corner praying for everyone to see...to see just how holy they were. What is vain repetition? Are they the prayers that we say over and over again like the prayers we memorized as kids? I think vain repetition is a matter of conscience that only the prayer needs to discern.

How is our prayer life individually? I think one can say it is vain repetition when you have done all these prayers and you have no idea that you just prayed. Our memorized prayers are vain repetition when they no longer have anything to do with heart-felt worship, but have become boredom and going through the motions because we think it is our duty. When we reflect on the time we just spent in prayer and you realize that all that came to mind was tonight's dinner plans and the upcoming weekend. It is so easy to pray a litany of prayer and realize I did not have but a few thoughts directed towards God.

This week at the kids mass, the reading came up on Jesus' teaching of the Lord's Prayer from Luke's gospel. One thing I mentioned to the kids about the prayer that it was short. We can do the Lord's prayer in 15 seconds. Jesus taught us to pray and this is what he gave us. With the tradition of the Church and the many devotional prayers we have...this is wonderful for reflection us as we meditate on God. For our personal prayer, take the advice Jesus gave us when He said "pray like this." Jesus gave glory and praise to God, Jesus prayed for God's will and not His, He made a petition for a daily need, He petitioned that we forgive like God forgives us...which is a mandate of our Christianity, and Jesus prayed for protection from the evil one. That is a short and marvelous prayer.

One of the greatest thing about making our own perfect prayer, instead of using the same one all the time, is that it forces us to think and be present to God. God wants His child (you) to be present while talking. We ask God to help us make our own perfect prayer many times a day praying like Jesus did and perhaps not always using Jesus' word's, but the words of our own hearts. That is the step to a strong relationship. See you in a couple weeks.

Job moments

This week, the daily readings are taking us on a quick tour of the book of Job. It is a nice opportunity to reflect on how easy we have it as Americans in a way. Job always stayed loyal to God in his trials, but God still needed to break down his pride. Job wanted his friends to have some pity on him because he was not the cause of his own suffering. They were not buying his pity party, but God was using them to expose some character flaws in Job. Job knew God was the source of his blessings, but he wanted his friends to acknowledge that he was special also. Pride is a hard thing to give up, especially in this world. We want the praise and thanks of the world when we should only be caring about three persons opinions...that of the three persons of the Trinity.

It is so easy to feel sorry for ourselves at times. Last week at the parish was as busy a week for me since I have been here, and it was laced with some illness and aches. The temptation is to go "woes me" to everyone who asks. I did succumb to that temptation a few times, but I also took delight in leaning on God to keep me focused and give me the strength to continue. To give me the words that I needed to be of help to others. It was one of the more prayerful weeks and peace filled weeks I've had in a great while.

The Job moments in our lives help us to recapture that feeling of who my strength is and who it is that will deliver me from my anxious moments successfully. Is it God or will it be myself? To wake up tired, sick, and hurting with a confident prayer to God and knowing everything will turn out ok becasue God "has our backs" is a great way to go through life. Find that rest in God in the Job moments of your life. It is what faith is all about.

What is the Good News??

The daily mass readings are taking us through the Apostle Paul's first letter to the Corinthians for the past few weeks. In today's (Thurs, 9/16) reading from the 15th chapter, Paul defines what the good news of the gospel is. We hear the term good news all the time but have we ever stopped to think what it means. The good news of the gospel is not everything contained in Mark, Matthew, Luke, and John. Paul is very specific about what the good news is. He calls it the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. The four gospels contain the life and teaching of Jesus by four different witnesses. John does not contain the Eucharist and while distinct, all four highlight a different aspect of Jesus. What all four gospel's do contain are the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus...the good news. The good news is about what Jesus has done for us...not His teaching. The good news is about Jesus' saving act.

Paul focuses on the resurrection as that is the highlight of the good news. That first Good Friday and Holy Saturday left all the disciples of Christ dejected. It was not until the good news of the resurrection surfaced however, that the Church would take form. All the teachings of Jesus would have been for nought without the resurrection. Would anyone have cared about Jesus and His message had he not been raised from the dead? Perhaps the most zealous, but the disciple's would have returned fishing. The resurrection inspired and transformed the disciple's into the incredible professes of the life of Jesus because the hope of something better came when Jesus overcame the grave.

We the Church find our hope in the resurrection. It inspires us to become followers of Jesus and livers of His message and everything He stood for. When Jesus conquered death however, it gave the Apostle's and all of us a reason to profess the message contained in the whole of the Bible. With joy, we share the news that as humans, we do not have to live for the moment only, but for something better than what we experience on earth. The resurrection tells us we do not have to live in despair at the death of our most cherished relationships. That is the good news. Jesus Himself is the good news and that he died for us, was buried, and rose from the dead.

New martyrs??

Pastor Terry Jones and his Church have decided it to be a worthy stand for God by burning copies of the Koran on Saturday in Florida. Political, military, and religious leaders around the country have denounced this plan as one that will bring possible retaliation against our military and possibly citizens, along with the fact that Islamic extremists will use this as a recruiting tool to foster more violence. Jones states that we have to take a stand. Who knows what he means by this, but it looks like he is willing to make some martyrs.

I guess it is much easier to make a stand in the confines of your own community as long as trouble stays on either side of the ocean. Other innocents will be put in harms way for this stance. Terrorism is not going away anytime soon, but do we need to pour gas on the fire. It is easy to become a martyr with Christian extremism. Go to an Islamic country and burn a Koran...you can probably be martyred quickly. If we look at the history of martyrs, they were all standing up for Christ and Christ's ways in hostile or unknown territory promoting the Gospel. I cannot think of any martyrs who stayed home and denounced another religions beliefs with a challenge and stated they were in danger also and could possibly be harmed. They were in harms way seeking to spread the name of Jesus only.

A martyr stands for Christ and does not seek martyrdom. It is a gift from God to be chosen for that honor. We don't seek martyrdom and we do not offer other people for the task. Christianity does not need to pick fights...Jesus states to turn the other cheek. This pastor has hundreds of Scriptural references to back down gracefully on his position and hopefully, he finds the wisdom to do that.

Are you smarter than a ??

The daily Mass readings will be taking us through Paul's 1st letter to the Corinthians for the next few weeks. Aside from Paul's letter to the Roman's, there is probably no better teaching of theology in Scripture. It is Thursday Sept 2nd and we are in the third chapter where Paul is teaching about the wisdom of God and the wisdom of humanity. Paul does not have a high opinion of human wisdom. In fact, He states that the wisdom of the world is foolishness to God. He is not the only one to say such things. Isaiah and the Psalmist's are but a few that come to mind stating the foolishness of human wisdom.

There is no doubt that the human mind is capable of great thought and incredible inventions. Where science is taking computer capabilities is astounding. That does not mean that it is the right thing to do or the smart thing to do. Paul states in Verse 18 that we should become fools. In a real way, we are God's fools, but it is better than being the world's fool or even worse, a fool for the devil. God invites us to reconsider our own counsel and wisdom. We may be smart, eloquent, a great debater, have many degree's. To be the most eloquent does not mean that one is right. "Book smarts" does not mean wisdom and it does not guarantee a good decision making process. I would state that most priests are pretty "book smart," but one of the jokes we constantly heard at Seminary as we prepared events that had many priest participants, was that it was easier to "herd cats together" than to get priests to their places and do the same thing even liturgically. Many people can do the hard things in life, but struggle with what others would call easy.

Look at the revelation of God's wisdom to us and contrast that to what we see as human wisdom. God's wisdom sent His Son to die at the hands of the very people He was trying to save. God's wisdom allowed so many of His followers be martyred. God's wisdom allows us to suffer as innocents. God's wisdom allowed Saints to lead lives of deprivation and suffering to inspire us. God's wisdom chose sinners as His best friends and disciples. It was God's wisdom who chose the weak to show His power. It is God's wisdom to humble us so that we rely on a power greater than ourselves. Human wisdom relies on its own power and there is the folly of what Paul is getting at. It is not bad to have wisdom, as long as it humbles itself before perfect wisdom.

Lemons into lemonade

My classmate Fr. Luke Strand was recently rewarded with a cease and desist order from the corporate lawyers of Best Buy for trademark infringement for his use of a decal on his car which uses the term "God Squad," which happens to resemble Best Buy's well known "Geek Squad " trademark. After publication in the Milwaukee Journal/Sentinel, it seemed this issue went "viral." USA Today, many west coast papers, WTMJ talk radio, and even a four minute interview with national cable Fox News network were but a few of his interview requests. What seemed to be a negative for his ministry, came a backlash of negativity to Best Buy and people actually defending God and the message of the Gospel.

I know Luke did not want to harm Best Buy, but through all the press he has been given and interviews, He was able to proclaim the good news of Christ and the love of God to a national audience. That is what He has always been about...praising God and God rewarded him with that opportunity to do it on a large scale for a brief time. It was nice to hear Catholics coming to his defense and the general public for that matter in a society that so often wants to shut down the merest mention of God. The Church looked good in this matter and even the press seemed to respond positively.

It is God who blesses the work and produces fruitful opportunities for all of us as long as we do things with the motive of glorifying God and not ourselves. As Fr. Luke would say to anyone "Praise the Lord and God Bless you."

Lost another good one

Congratulations to the La Crosse Archdiocese for their new Archbishop that once again will take its toll on Milwaukee. Losing Archbishop Dolan was hard but he was a great hope for New York. In the same way, La Crosse is receiving a good and Holy man. I did not know the new Archbishop Callahan until he was announced as an Auxiliary Bishop for Milwaukee. He lived at the Seminary for his entire stay as a bishop of Milwaukee. Often, he looked "dog-tired" at the end of the day when he came home but if you met him in the hallway, he wanted to say high and encourage us even when we recognized every bone in his body screaming to go to bed.

I do not know how many Masses or times I heard him preach, but the totality of these and his witness to us about Jesus gave us all an opinion of great holiness. I was fortunate to be in a class that became the first he ever ordained as a new bishop. In April 2008, he ordained me and four others to the diaconate. Five minutes before ordination began, he called us into a private room for a prayer and he began weeping at the privilege God gave him to be there. He stated that he began praying for the unknown men he would ordain that very day he was asked to be a new bishop. A few weeks later, he found himself in the hospital and our entire class went to visit him. He wept as we gave him communion and blessed him together. He never took for granted the blessings of God.

Again, he ordained my class to the Presbyterate the next year. Our class had the good fortune of saying goodbye privately as we took him to dinner last week. On this feast of St. Clare, (Aug 11) we say goodbye to him and wish him good luck. He will not need good luck though as Christ is the beacon he follows in this life along with that Franciscan model of life that Francis and Clare exhibited. Luck is something for the superstitious...with Christ it is a certainty.

Transfigured

Friday is the feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord. God the Father gave a taste to come of the glory Christ would have. Jesus' day was not here yet however so the transfiguration came and went without fanfare because Jesus swore secrecy to Peter, James, and John who had been the only earthly witnesses.

We all know that the real story of the book of Revelation is that Jesus wins. We are all waiting for that final victory and it seems like it will never come, especially with what we all witness in the world. I remember a 1993 football playoff game between the Buffalo Bills and the Houston Oilers. Houston took a 35-3 lead into halftime with them. Buffalo had lost their starting quarterback, linebacker, and the star running back was not 100%. It was not a recipe for victory. Miracle of miracles...Buffalo wins that game 41-38 in overtime.

We could go back and watch that game now...I'm sure it is some place on the Internet. We could watch it and know the final outcome just like we know our final outcome as Christians...Jesus will win. I think this game is also a metaphor for our Christian lives. We watch life and sometimes the brutality of it and the feeling in our stomachs that we can't possibly believe this will turn out right. We are down 35- 3 with little time remaining. God gave the early Christians a pep talk with the story and actuality of the Transfiguration at halftime. It is our faith that gives us hope that Jesus will win and everything will be alright. The Transfiguration and the Resurrection are our certain hope of Christ's final victory. We will get slapped around in life because we dug a deep hole for ourselves. We may be losing, but we are coming back, and it God who will provide victory and Christ who will lead the way. We are down but the outcome has no doubt. We lift ourselves up with this hope and continue to play hard.

Pray in my name and...

Last Sunday Jesus talked about prayer and persistence. Jesus also says in the Gospels that pray for anything in my name and it will be granted to you. Obviously this is not to be taken literally.
Prayers answered need to be in the will of God. The will of God in our lives will include a relationship with God that is continually being deepened and strengthened. A request in Jesus' name for millions of dollars will not be answered because most likely, that will harm our relationship with God. Having every desire we wish will not keep us on our knees but learning dependence and trust in the great things of creation and not the creator.

Another thing in the will of God is that all people be saved. Persistence in prayer is a theme of last Sunday's Gospel. Anyone can pray for something once or twice, and then perhaps that petition fades on us. The prayer goes seemingly unanswered and we think God does not care. Thank God that Monica never ceased praying for her son Augustine or we may never have had this doctor of the Church. Since God does not infringe on free will, God's timetable is just a bit different in answering prayers for people.

I wonder why God waited more than 20+ years to bring me to the priesthood. Obviously the way I was living, my free will said no and God respected that no. Thankfully people did not cease praying for me and twenty years later, I had a disposition that when asked, I was open to the possibility and said yes...free will and all. We all know people that are not in or have left the sheepfold. It is God's will they be saved. It will take much persistence in our prayer life and it will take time for God to break the hearts of stone and prepare them for a change in life and attitude. We make our prayer today for the hearts that have hardened to God...that through grace, God find a crack in the stone to pry open and be invited in.

R&R

What does rest and relaxation mean. For many, the grind of work makes them feel they are being cheated out of life so R&R means go like crazy on the weekends and whenever the opportunity affords them. Often, vacation and weekends can weaken us more so that we feel exhausted. Keep Holy the Sabbath is a commandment from God. Not for God's sake but for our sake. It was such an important commandment in 1st century Judaism, (and even today for that matter) that in Mark's Gospel, healing on the Sabbath was the incident that the religious began their plot to put Jesus to death.

For years, I played softball a couple nights a week and on most weekends. The weekends could get crazy and we would play many games. We would travel back and forth from home to the park, or after the games, there would be a social aspect of weekend tournaments in these rural communities with the firefighter picnics and going to the wee hours sometimes. There was always something happening, but in retrospect, this schedule kept me drifting farther and farther from God. It may have seemed like rest but it wasn't, and it certainly was not holy. The relationship with God dwindled and this busyness of life results in many souls even unwittingly severing ties with God. Is it a wonder that there is a crisis of faith if we do not keep the Sabbath Holy or encourage some rest with younger generations.

God commanded us to take time and relax because God knows what our body and mind can handle far better than we do. We may know our limits physically, but mentally and spiritually, our limits are exceeded far to often with bad consequences. Many people work on Sunday, but you could take another Sabbath, or a time to recharge. The Sabbath was made for worship and rest. To remain spiritual people, a day set aside for resting the mind and contemplating God is crucial. I often think why it is that the last couple of generations have drifted from God when the previous generations held it together. We live in a world where there is far more free time and far more activities and gadgets that take our minds from God and we need to be consumed with all the fun. That takes us from God and the natural progression will be to take us from any faith life and keep us immersed in ourselves and our world.

Piece of cake??

Christianity is so easy...just a plain piece of cake. That is until we get readings like the Good Samaritan on Sunday. I heard of a deacon who began his homily on Sunday announcing a second collection for the orphans and widows of Taliban and Al Qaeda fighters. He was joking, but what a question to chew on when Jesus asks us who our neighbor is in explaining the mission of the Good Samaritan. This is where the rubber meets the road in Christianity. This is where Christianity ceases being a piece of cake and actually becomes a little difficult.

To top it off, today's weekday Gospel has Jesus telling us He came not to bring peace, but the sword. Division will be rampant...why...because wherever free will is present, there will be division. It is free will though that allows genuine and authentic love of neighbor and love of God. Free will also can choose evil and we all know that happens. In the Good Samaritan and this deacons point about our enemies, lies a truth to wrestle with that makes us uncomfortable. That is really what Jesus does quite often...His teachings make us uncomfortable. It made the first century religious uncomfortable and He was put to death.

The bottom line, as followers of Jesus...if we cannot follow the hard teachings of Jesus and love enemies and minister to them, who will? Jesus tells us that anyone can love those who do good to them...that is not hard...but who can do good to those that harm them? Jesus did...He wants us to also. To follow Christ is picking up a cross in His hard teachings. If we as Christians cannot show mercy, then there is no hope for anyone...no one will learn that there is an alternative. For society and its ills, a dose of civility and mercy can stop so many examples of cyclical cycles of evil. We pray for the courage to love.

Revelation or speculation

There are so many interpretations of world events as they pertain to the Book of Revelation and that of the prophetic writings. Some Evangelicals have made their entire ministry to the world the preaching, writing, and interpretation of the events in the world in which we live and then interpret the writings of Sacred Scripture to shed light on how the end of times will unfold. I bring this up because I heard yesterday how the gulf oil spill resembles one of the seven seals of revelation. (Truthfully, I was wondering when I would hear that this oil spill was linked to the end of the world and God's judgment.) I have heard hurricane Katrina, the Tsunami, any earthquake, and a host of any event being tied to God's judgment on humanity. I guess I find all of this kind of dangerous to be laying on God.

Are any or all of these events caused by God? Maybe, but I don't know that it's true and I certainly do not know if it's for the purpose of judging sinful humanity. It is a dangerous thing to offer God as a cause and then tell us why God had to do it. All of God's revelation is already in the Sacred Scripture and no more revelation is expected before Christ returns. Why do people insist on speculating as to the motive of God's purposes for anything that happens in the world? Certainly it is our faith that God is in control. If God does not cause, then God permits things to happen. Could God stop calamity...sure, but God set a world in motion and usually does not interfere.

Jesus clearly warns us in the Gospel that we are not to worry about the end of times. No one knows when Christ's return occurs. Jesus wants us busy with more important things like witnessing God's love to the world and to show that light to those in darkness. I don't believe we need to be judging and condemning the world when tragedy occurs and it certainly is counterproductive to engaging the world.

The prophets...maybe profits

Are the prophets of the Old Testament still relevant? Can they teach us anything in our day and age? Unfortunately, I think they are as relevant today as they were in the time of ancient Israel. Why would I say unfortunately?? It is because they delivered the news of God's impending judgement to a people who were not interested in hearing about how they have not lived up to the covenant. A prophet was a person called by God who had the gift to reflect on the past and understand how God worked in the world in the past, and then to provide guidance in their present reality. In Israel, history seemed to repeat itself over, over, and over again. God used those people who understood that breaking the covenant with God would bring God's judgement. The prophet would warn the King and people, they would have time to repent, but repentance rarely came and the judgement of God would fall on the people.

Why are they relevant? As people, we are all responsible for the the period of history we are born into. A response is demanded of each generation. We are responsible for the political climate, wealth, social justice, caring for the most vulnerable in society... and idolatry is rampant in many forms in this modern world. Many of the things that are in disarray in our own society, are the things that God severely judged Israel for. We live under the New Covenant, but does that give us protection from the judgment of God? In this country, is there any doubt that we have been blessed beyond all nations on earth? With that will come responsibility. Morally, this country has lost its way, God is quickly becoming an afterthought. A small minority of atheists are trying to eliminate God from all aspects of public life and are succeeding. We sit back as Christians and get steamrolled. With blessing comes responsibility.

Are we to ask God to bless us for the multitude of sins, social ills, and indifference there is in this world (like Israel's ancient days) or are we to repent and ask mercy. If one of these ancient prophets walked our streets announcing God's impending judgement...even Christians would laugh them off because we feel to secure...after all we are covenant people and we're God's favorites. That's what Israel thought. With our present course in this country, it will not be long before we are bankrupt, profits or prophets will not matter, and we could experience a way of life foreign to all of us. God's favorite Israel was sent to captivity. Are we immune from it? Only God can save us from impending disaster...no politician or army. A response is needed from every generation. The prophets told us to turn our hearts back to God...it happens one person at a time.

Laodicea made Jesus sick?

In the book of Revelation, Jesus tells the Church at Laodicea that they are neither cold nor hot...but He prefers they were. The problem was that He said they were lukewarm in which case He would vomit them out His mouth. What does this mean? If the people were hot, they would love Him, if they were cold they would hate Him. Even hating Jesus was preferable to being lukewarm. If you are lukewarm, you do not care one way or the other, which seems to make Jesus ill. Jesus can work with someone who hates Him because at least they have passion and care. To the person who gives no care for the things of God, there is nothing Jesus can do.

I did a funeral Mass recently for a person who really struggled with their faith in the last quarter of their life. When their spouse died early, their faith became unhinged in many ways. There was a struggle with God and most likely a notion that God had abandoned them. This person stopped going to Mass and really wrestled with faith. Talking to the family, I found out that they knew they secretly watched Mass on TV and would lock the door and pray a lot. They knew of prayer books this person had. This person was struggling and wrestling with God...which I found very endearing. There is no play book for the perfect Christian faith and understanding of God...God is just to immense to contain in our human understanding.

As Jesus states in Revelation though, Jesus does not condemn for a lack of wisdom or understanding. Jesus condemns Laodicea because they do not care at all. They don't care about their relationship with God enough to even try. I think back to this particular person who struggled with God all those years...they cared and they cared a lot to keep praying and struggling with their faith. It was a beautiful thing, and then to be reconciled at the end of their life in the sacraments of the Church. God's grace and love is amazing, no matter how we feel at any particular time in our life.

Humility comes in many forms

We can be humble in many ways but there are still lessons to be learned all the time in this department. One of the hardest things for me to accept when I went to seminary in 2003 was the fact that I now was at the mercy of others for everything. As a forty something adult who had been employed since college and making my way in the world just fine, I now was studying for priesthood with expenses and no job to speak of. I was the one who wrote checks to church and organizations who needed help and that's the way I liked it. I felt good to be able to help and thought no more of it. It wasn't until I was on the other end of the giving that it became hard to accept and that was a lesson in humility from God that I was never expecting. The underlying feeling was that when I had the checkbook, I had power. I did not use that power for bad, but it was better than not having power and that is what I experienced at seminary. God used humility and these life experiences to help me feel what so many marginalized brothers and sisters feel and that is a lack of control and the lack of power.

I write this because of my recent experience with the muscular dystrophy association. I was asked by the association to be one of their "jailbirds" and asked to raise bail money. I was charged to raise $1600. I knew this would be a test for me...actually I thought this kind of testing from God was over after seminary. As a priest, I guess we always are raising money for the parish we are in. When I took the assignment, my only wish is that I did not want to completely embarrass myself in fundraising ineptness. It did take a lot of inner strength to begin putting the word out that I was searching for funds to make this bail happen. As always, the people of God responded generously and I am nearly at my goal and this lesson is over tomorrow.

I remember overhearing our old Archbishop Dolan lament the fact that his priesthood had changed since becoming a bishop. Instead of doing more pastoral activities, he had to go "pick the pockets" of donors to keep the diocese afloat. Obviously, I share the same feelings of asking for money as he did. In the end, I know it is a lesson of humility for me from God. Until we learn real good, the lessons generally continue. We pray for those today who have to humble themselves to go to a food pantry or ask for assistance in so many various forms. For many of those people, it is a very painful ordeal to seek assistance...for some it has become a way of life and the pain is now only numbness. Let us take a walk in the shoes of someone else..

A nation divided

This week at our school Mass, we honored the 8th graders on their graduation. The Gospel reading that day was from Mark and it was the "golden rule" of loving your neighbor as yourself. Sure, that's an easy message to deliver and make relevant, but I really agonized about what to tell these kids. I know...you know...and they know what kind of world is being left for them by these past few generations. It's only natural that we want to protect everything we have worked for our entire lives and that we all would like some semblance of an easy retirement. The reality is, that it will not happen unless these 8th graders are willing to pay for it. A two party government has always been a good thing for checks and balances in our past and from keeping one party's philosophy from dominating. Unfortunately, these philosophies have mutated into extreme views and neither party can seem to even remotely accept the possibility that either party has something to offer this world. Independents and tea-party alternatives are attacked as irrelevant and civility is a thing of the past.

When I thought about this and the repercussions it would have with these kids, I could only think of Jesus' words that a house divided cannot stand. The way this country is divided, and the world for that matter, will eventually lead to its collapse. We are not that far from it and just because we are the good old USA, doesn't mean it cannot happen. My only message to these kids that day was to take their education seriously and to please save us.

Love your neighbor as yourself is the solution that Jesus gives us to these problems. I asked that they take their studies and mesh them to God's Words and to be the solution to the problems of divisions because it does not look like our generations are going to get it done. The Bible truly is the blueprint for a Utopian society if we follow the directions. Unfortunately, love has become a four letter word and like Israel in the Old Testament, we as humans think we have better ways than God. That's a recipe for disaster.

This weekend we have the feast of the Holy Trinity to celebrate. It is a celebration of relationship, of union, and love. The Trinity reveals a way of life that God wants us to enjoy. Throughout time, people's understanding of God has shaped how one lives in society and how one interacts with other people. If we have an understanding that revolves largely on the Old Testament, we will most likely see God as a taskmaster. He may be a God that enjoys punishing whoever does not live up to some lofty standards. To live in fear, spills over into our worldly relationships.

The Ku Klux Klan, whose understanding of God would be that of a white European male, would think their God is indifferent to anyone not of their race. The clan is Christian and even in the midst of lynchings, they were still in the pews on Sunday worshiping like nothing was wrong. When our understanding of God is so flawed, we cannot possibly be in harmony with the concept of relationship and what God had in mind at creation. Faulty understandings of God will usually lead to imperfect love. This weekend we celebrate the perfect.

The Trinity is perfect love and perfect relationship and is the model for human relationships desired by God. We can be thankful for this model. It took a long time for the Church to realize this and if we look at our own history, that perfect love does not need to convert souls at the sword or go to war in the name of Christ. Perfect love does not say that there are things worth killing for...only dying for. It is a good weekend to thank God for love...because the lack of it has taken the lives of so many service men and women who never were able live until a natural death.

Happy Birthday

This Sunday we celebrate the birthday of the Church, Pentecost. The best scholarly estimates put us somewhere around the age of 1,980 years old, give or take a few years but who's counting when you you've made it this far. We should be proud though as believers of every generation have sustained the Church in spite of persecution and even threats from within. From the time of the Apostles, believers have listened to and obeyed the voice of God to bring us to this point in time, when we have been asked to sustain the Church for the next generation.

Through all the human weakness, God has delivered the voice of Christ to succeeding generations. We owe a great debt to all who have gone before us. Untold numbers of martyrs who willingly died like Christ to spread the faith. We have untold numbers of saints who witnessed a life of sacrifice, penance and prayer and who have drawn untold numbers to Christ and the Church through this witness. We even have to thank the heretics in a way, as they're errors brought forth the courage of so many to stand and fight for the truth as we now know it. Much of our doctrine and dogma has been strengthened or established by those God raised up to fight a particular heresy.

We never know the tribulations that the Church will face. The Church still suffers many martyrs every year. We in this country have not been asked to do so. Perhaps someday God will again ask the Church, even here, to be martyrs and be courageous for the faith. At the very least, God continues to call all of us to sainthood by modeling the lives and stories of those who have gone before us. A wonderful happy birthday to all of us.

I'm outta here

This weekend in Milwaukee we celebrate the Ascension of the Lord. Why on earth is this a good thing that Jesus left us (let alone we celebrate it)? Logically, it would most likely be a good thing that Jesus stayed for a while and moderated at the very least, the early Church. But even Jesus said it would be better if I left. It was Jesus' desire to send the comforter or Holy Spirit. We will celebrate that feast next weekend at Pentecost. With all the disunity in the Church, the disunity between Christians, and conflicting opinions, it seems that Jesus' presence in the world a bit longer might have been good for us as perhaps many more questions would have been settled.

Perhaps, but the gift of the Holy Spirit would not have happened for the Apostle's if Jesus had stayed. It was the gift of the Holy Spirit that enabled the Apostle's the courage and wisdom to begin and spread the Church to the corners of the world. It is the same gift of the Holy Spirit that enables us to do the same thing in the physical absence of Jesus. Jesus tells us in John 5:31 that if I bear witness of myself, my witness is not true. It is the witnesses of Jesus' life, words, and deeds that need to form and nurture the Church. The testimony of the Apostle's, and the testimony of Christians everywhere as to what Jesus has done in their life speaks volumes.

Changed lives and lives that reflect a change in direction witness to Jesus living inside the believer. Repentance does not mean "sorry" but to "change your mind." It is only from the fact that Jesus left us on earth to be self-determining, that we were gifted back with Jesus in the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. Jesus knew He could work in every single believer in time and do His work through them, not just as a teacher and preacher on earth giving words that can be forgotten. Jesus leaving assured Himself that He will have ears, hands, feet, eyes, and mouths in every generation. It was Jesus' departure that insured His presence for us today and until He returns.

memory lane

I cannot believe it has almost been a year since I have been ordained to the presbyterate of Milwaukee. Tomorrow morning I go to the Seminary and celebrate Mass for the first time since last May. When I return, I will see the faces of four deacons awaiting their own ordination and ready to go to their new assignments. I will see the faces of four new deacons ordained to the diaconate last Saturday at St Mathias. It is the last day of school tomorrow for all the students (barring a few exams next week) and excitement is high. Ordination season at Seminary was and always is a time of great hope for the Church.

We are moving through the Acts of the Apostles in our daily lectionary this Easter Season and the reading for this Thursday was Paul's first major sermon on his first missionary journey. When Paul evangelized, he gave a recounting of the salvation history of the Jewish people and then introduced Jesus as the fulfillment of this history. If you remember Peter's Pentecost sermon, it was much the same. The Apostles recounted history to show the people that God was always at work, and is still at work. We see the lives of the saints throughout Church history and see God working in them in their time also.

When we are in time though, it is harder to recognize God's presence. I doubt Francis of Assisi believed he would have had a large Basilica nor a following that converts souls to this day when he walked the earth. John Paul II or Mother Teresa probably did not think that they would have an effect 200 years from now on Christians. It is easier to look back in time and see God's work, than to look in our own time and see it. We can be assured though, that God is at work and does not skip generations, and works in ours despite the turbulence of scandal in our Church or any other problems that plague humanity. We continue to rely on God to feed us with fresh vocations who crave to make an impact on a wounded Church and bring hope to the people of God.

Calling all disciples

This weeks readings in the lectionary have really focused on the post Pentecost Church in Jerusalem and a marvelous transition has taken place with the disciple's. The weak and often unstable men have grown into bold and courageous witnesses of Christ. Most Gospel passages would certainly focus their attention to all the admirers that Jesus had, including the disciple's for that matter. Even when the disciple's learned of the cost of discipleship, which is the cross, they scattered into the wind. The true followers at the cross were Mary, John, and a few more of the women.

As the Church grew in the early days in Jerusalem, the Apostle's grew in grace by the Spirit and begin to proclaim the resurrected Christ at the risk of persecution, flogging, arrest and potentially death. What a transformation we see when God works in them. They are ready to be at the cross on a moments notice and willingly accept this mission. Their mission is our mission and the same question is asked of us. Are we willing to answer the door when the cross comes knocking or will we politely tell God that I think I'll sit over here and watch what happens. Are we willing to be speak on touchy issues or defend the vulnerable or will it cause waves that will be a hard cross to carry? Even the disciple's could not measure up to that responsibility when Jesus was here on earth. Now that Jesus indwells them and us, God invites us always to pick up our cross and follow Jesus...just like He asked in the Gospel.

I am on retreat next week and will be back the week of April 26th. God bless you this Easter Season.

A Resurrection for all

As our Easter season continues, I cannot help but think of a witness testimony I heard from a gentleman who is a team member for a Catholics Coming Home evangelization effort at a local cluster of parishes. I was blessed to hear this witness story a few nights ago and it is just one more story of so many where one can see God continuing to bless this world with resurrection.

This was a young man who was expecting twins with his wife. One of the babies died at childbirth. At the age of one, the surviving twin was in a fight for life with cancer and soon lost the battle. This young man began a battle with God that lasted three intense years. He hated God and the thought of God. He remarked to me that had he seen a collar on the street, he would have let me know his displeasure with God also. His wife somehow got him into a Church one Sunday and he had an intimate encounter with Christ...so much so that he had to leave in uncontrollable tears. He repented as God asks us all to do, and is now a leader in bringing people back to God.

The Easter season is a reminder of the resurrections in our lives...they are not just for the end time but for the here and now. We can witness and experience the resurrection so many times in our lives. God is at work calling many new people everyday to new life where they were once dead. God does this saving work despite the daily reminders we see in the media about the sin of the clergy and hierarchy. Jesus always said we would face persecution and negativity...even from those close to us who do not share a need for God. Through this all, we continue to seek new life for ourselves and others in this season of the resurrection.

To confess, or not to confess...

Often, there are statements we hear that stay with us a long time. One of those for me is from my moral theology professor at the Seminary. He said "never underestimate the ability of God's people to screw up there lives." It was not a joke, but more a commentary on who we are as sinners struggling to cope in this world and where we more often show the inability to resist temptation. I also like the title of a priest friends talk that he titled "confession - its not just for the elderly." While the sacrament is largely ignored due to a more protestant view that my confession is between me and my God, it does have many of the young giving it a chance.

Some of the most profound confessions I have heard are from the high school age students and I could not help but think back to what my seminary professor had said as I watch it being fulfilled. I hear and see some battered and bruised sinners in tears looking for reconciliation from the God that is there to restore. Many young adults also bring battered and broken lives to the sacrament and seek us to show them God's love. Reconciliation is one of the most rewarding aspects of the priest's life. It is an uncomfortable thought to share a persons failings with another, but the sacrament asks a demonstration of what Jesus asks and showed Himself, which is the ability to humble ourselves. Most priests go to confession at least once a month to remind themselves of what it is the Church asks of all of us a minimum of once a year.

It is our conscience that we have lied to and ignored when we make excuses and list numerous justifications to ourselves for not making use of reconciliation. If we are truthful with ourselves, (and the conscience will tell you in the depth of your heart) it is not because we don't believe in reconciliation as a discipline, but we do not want to subject ourselves to a perceived humiliation or embarrassment. As a priest, I think one of the graces of ordination is to see sin and sinner with the eyes of Jesus. To be able to see through sin and see the human being as God sees us in Christ. After all, as human beings, we all seek reconciliation with God...we as priests are no different. If the priest is not as gentle as a lamb in the confessional, he has strayed to far from what he was taught.

Need proof?

Aristotle, Aquinas, and philosophers throughout history have tried to rationalize through their writings that the existence of God can be proved not from a source of divine writings alone, but from our very existence itself. Most people cannot or do not want to think past their everyday lives. It has been the philosophers throughout history that could not leave the hows and whys of what is seen to chance and had to explore the possibilities.

Last week I talked about the conscience. To me, the conscience is a proof of God. How does a conscience evolve into a mechanism that can know right from wrong, or bring a response of remorse? The animal and insect world is focused on a fight for survival. Human beings are also, but we are rational beings purposed to go far beyond the realm of just surviving. Civilizations generally had laws that upheld the Law given to Moses before God ever revealed the Commandments to Israel. I think the Apostle Paul sheds some light on this in his letter to the Romans (2:14-15) Paul tells us that even the Gentiles do by nature what is in the Law even though they do not know the Law. Paul tells us that God has written His law in our hearts and the conscience bears witness to it. God's Law is in our hearts when we are born.

Our conscience can be trained to be silent and we can ignore it entirely given the right attitudes and behaviors. It can be shut off as a tool in our moral behavior when our emotions drown out the voice of our conscience. The new enlightenment in society is called moral relativism. A worldview where one believes that anything goes. What I judge to be moral is good and you have the same right, even if we conflict. The good part is, we will not confront because we respect the other person and their opinion. Moral relativism is a way of life on college campuses and denies that there is an eternal law from God. If you question a person about this belief, especially if they believe that anything goes, you can ask if they believe murder is acceptable if someone wants it to be a part of their lifestyle. The answer is most likely well...no...in which case you can accuse them of being a moral absolutist. Either God's Law is 100% accurate or none of it is. There is no pick and choosing of God's Law. More next week.

Let your conscience be your guide

Let your conscience be your guide...NOT!! Hold the phone here. It is a good line and a nice rule, but that assumes our conscience has been properly formed. In the filth of the world, it is entirely possible that the conscience has been contaminated and is feeding you wrong information. We continue to educate ourselves our whole lives with Scripture and Magisterial teachings of the Church to help us make the best decisions possible. We read the Word of God so we get to know the God of the Word.

Our conscience has most likely been infiltrated with the values and norms of our culture, which often run opposite to the Word of God. Pick your poison...abortion, the death penalty, stem cells, euthanasia, drug legalization, legalizing prostitution, illegal aliens, etc...the list is endless. All of these issues have strong secular support and a strong voice against them. Perhaps we favor some and not others. Perhaps we have just heard too much about them and we just don't care anymore. Has society beaten you down to the point that you are apathetic to the causes and we do not even want to form an opinion.

If we are weary from the world, we must pull ourselves up because God wants a decision from us on where we stand and will our voice be heard. In my first few posts from last year, I defined where the Church makes decisions on such issues and how it rules. First and foremost, the Church asks
1) Will an action promote, protect, and defend the dignity of a human being based on the fact that we are created in God's image.
2) Will an action glorify Christ, who became a human being...one of us created in God's image.

We can allow our conscience to be our guide if those two principles are a part of our being. If we don't see the human person like that, we need to continue to form our conscience with the Word of God. We must continue to learn from the Master and become like Him if we truly want to be guided by our conscience.

Let your conscience be your guide

Pick up your cross and follow me. How hard can that be, right?! The Christian journey can be a difficult road because if we do it right, we plow head-long into a culture that defies the truths of Christianity at its core, even though most profess Christianity as their primary belief system. This weekends Gospel reading found Jesus on the mountain of transfiguration. Jesus was being affirmed by the Father and we experience a slight bit of the glory to come. However, Jesus was sent back down the mountain without the brilliance and radiance accompanying Him and He was sent on His journey to Jerusalem...to be led up a different hill, Golgotha.

Lent is about following Jesus to Golgotha in many ways for us. It is to experience what it truly means to be a Christian. Jesus doesn't ask us yet to be martyrs in this country as of today, but Jesus does not want us making bee-lines around Jerusalem and coming out the other side of glory with Him without us making the same trip to Jerusalem He did. Making a trip to Jerusalem can mean so many different things for so many different people. Deep in all of our hearts, is a knowledge about our wrongs that we justify to ourselves as being o.k. so often. The TV we watch, our sexuality, our spending habits, the time we spend on entertainment, any of our vices, etc. can lead us off the road to Jerusalem.

Lent is the time of year where we must come face to face with our interior and spiritual lives. We can at any time, but as a Church, we focus on it these six weeks to do it as a people. The road to Jerusalem is a personal journey, but it is nice to have fellow travelers on that road with you. We pray for the grace to discover those crosses Jesus wants us to consider partaking of in our own particular lives.

Who are you???

It is so easy to forget who we are at the core of our being sometimes. I noticed this while I enjoyed vacation in the cool of Florida this past week. The days were filled with activities and being a priest, yet alone my Christian identity was hard to grasp at times. We have begun our forty day journey that comes to fulfillment at our Easter Vigil's with a renewal of our Christian identity...baptism.

I am preaching about this on Sunday...we have to remember who we are in God's eyes. We are sons and daughters. At Jesus' baptism, He was revealed as the beloved Son in whom God was well pleased. In our baptisms, we are revealed as God's sons and daughters. Jesus knew His identity as Son and was successful in his defense of the devil's temptations this week.

How do we defend ourselves against temptation? I just had twelve weeks of writing on sin but how do we defend against it? Step one, is really knowing who we are as the baptized. When is the last time you identified yourself as a beloved son or daughter of God. I don't mean to the world here, but even to yourself. Is it ingrained in your being that you are a beloved son or daughter? Jesus defended Himself with His identity and confidence that the Son does the will of the Father. When we look at our identity as God's beloved son or daughter as second nature, and not secondary, we as Jesus did, begin to put aside the nonsense of temptation. One cannot beat temptation without knowing who we are as baptized Christians...beloved sons and daughters.

Riddle me this...

Jesus used parables to establish His teachings and one of those is the parable of the unforgiving servant. This parable is about sin and forgiveness. It is not about God's supernatural debt relief program as I heard explained in a talk titled "Debt free in 2003" by a TV evangelist. It is nice to try and offer hope, but it was using Scripture to teach what people want to hear. This parable in Matthew's Gospel (18:23-35) teaches us what God thinks our debt of sin truly is...for all of us.

In this parable there are three main characters. The King is God, we are the servant, and the other fellow servant is our neighbor. God is calling in our debt, which is our sin. We owe such a sum that it can never be paid...not in our wildest dreams. All the servant (ourselves) can do is beg for forgiveness...there is no other option as the debt is not payable. The King states that there is only one thing that He can do...forgive the debt. God, forgiving our debt, watches us go out into the world and interact with our fellow neighbors. At once, we demand a paltry sum from our neighbor who has wronged us. We are unforgiving and make life for them miserable. In the parable, God asks us...you want my forgiveness for the sins you have committed before me, yet you hold grudges for paltry matters with others??? Then God warns us...forgive others like I forgive you, or risk having your debt called in where you won't be released from debtor's prison until every bit is repaid...and that is logically never.

Understanding that God is infinite and we owe an infinite debt, and recognizing that we are finite and have limited ability to pay, would say that through all eternity, we will never come close to paying God what we owe. The King chose to pay our debt because that is the only way any of us can be reconciled to God. Jesus teaches here that our sin is so great that not one of us will ever be able to pay back any debt. Jesus also uses this parable to teach that we are duty bound to forgive others. No one has the right to withhold forgiveness if we want to be forgiven ourselves.

What this means for our practical every day lives can determine our quality of life on this earth. I will explain this next time.

Time to change your mind...

We celebrated the conversion of St. Paul this week and it gives us a chance to engage the notion of sin. Jesus always asks us to repent...which means to change our mind. We have been given the Law by God and we all know right from wrong to some degree. Repentance is us telling God that You are right and I am wrong when it comes to what I believe and how I act. The Apostle Paul came to repentance and conversion in a matter of a few seconds when He saw the light of Christ on the road to Damascus. We know that God does not coerce us to serve nor love Him. How did Paul change his mind so quickly?

My thought is that like so many conversions that happen quickly, God has been working behind the scenes for many, many years in the hearts of a person. Paul participated in the martyrdom of Stephen and ravaged the Church. God probably had Paul reflecting quite hard on his behavior for years in the silence of his heart. Is this how a committed person of God acts towards their fellow human being? At the right moment in time, God asked Paul to change his mind and he did. God opened Paul's mind and Paul changed it. Paul changed Paul's mind...not God. God's grace allowed Paul to contemplate, probably for years, his vision of God and he came to the conclusion that I am wrong and need a change.

We go to Mass weekly because we know we need God's mercy and forgiveness. We go to Mass to worship the God of patience who watches us sin. We go to Mass because we are the creature, not the creator. We go to Mass because it is our obligation to worship. Obligation is not always bad. We as humans do not always feel warm and fuzzy spiritually and can easily say to God no thanks this weekend. We have an obligation to pay our bills even though we would like to skip that occasionally. A sense of obligation can bring you into the door of Church and often, God takes it from there. As a priest, if I get a call to the hospital at night when I am resting comfortably at home, sometimes I go with a heart that is not so charitable to God for this untimely call. Out of obligation I go and I have never been disappointed yet with the blessing I receive for doing God's work. When we get involved with the worship and with the others who came, God blesses us with the notion that this is the place to be and I'm glad I came.

You Didn't?!

We have just traveled through the Law which God gave to Moses for the past ten weeks. Many of the sins can fall under the category of sins of commission or the sins we commit. We can also be held accountable for the things we fail to do. We fail to worship God, we fail to see the humanness of another individual...etc. There is a lot of forgiveness from Jesus for our failings and human weakness. Our sexuality for instance is a part of how we were created and Jesus readily forgives the woman caught in Adultery. He says ..."neither do I judge you...now go and sin no more."

If we read Scripture closely, like Matthew and the judgement of the nations (25:31-46) or the story of Lazarus and the rich man in Luke (16: 19-31) we find Jesus giving condemnation for our sins of omission or the things we fail to do. You failed to feed the hungry, or give drink to the thirsty, or clothe the naked or visit the sick and lonely. Our sins of omission have little to do with the pull of human nature towards sin so there is a condemnation from Jesus. It does not go against human nature to feed someone who is starving or aid a person who has the same human dignity afforded each of us.

Sins of omission are high on Jesus' radar and just as important as the Law given to Moses. Failing to act out our Christian vocation is a sin as much as breaking any of the commandments. Failing to see another persons dignity as created in the image of God is failing to see God. Our common baptism gives us a lot to answer for and hopefully the awareness that we also have a great need to stay on our knees asking the forgiveness of God. We all have sins we cannot recall, that we are ignorant of, and many instances of failing to hear the voice of God. Thankfully, we also have the words of the Apostle Paul from Romans 5:20..."where sin abounds, grace abounds more." God increased sin on us so God could show us oceans of mercy.

You do not deserve that...

The tenth commandment finishes the thought of the ninth commandment. The commandment looks at our heart condition of watching a neighbor bask in the glow of something we have decided we are entitled to or could make better use of. At the heart of this commandment is envy. We are sad or angry to see another with property, relationships, and perhaps even spiritual gifts from God that we would like to have. We begrudge a person their fortunate circumstances and spend time and energy scheming or even to go so far as to act on these desires and commit the sin of theft.

These last commandments remind us of our thought life and why Jesus told us in the Gospel that if you even look on a woman with desire, you have committed adultery. Our human minds can be so dangerous when we let the desires of our hearts fuel them. Jesus understood what the human being is capable of. Sin is born in the heart when our eyes capture something. Sin is brought forth when the mind has decided that it needs something that used to only be a desire. Desires can be dismissed, but a desire that is not dismissed will eventually lead to an actual sin.

Covetousness has led to the majority of human suffering. War begins by coveting more land and resources...families break up when a spouse covets another...stealing is from the desires of the heart. Jesus summed up the ten commandments in the Luke's Gospel with two commands. Love God with all your heart, soul, strength, and mind...and love one another as yourself. If you follow these two commands, you cannot sin. Sometimes we do not think highly or love ourselves...but even in these moments, we always find a way to take care of #1. If everyone were as high of a priority as we are to ourselves, we are close to that beatific vision.

The grass is greener by you...

The ninth commandment is against covetousness. We shall not covet any of our neighbors "things" that we believe should be ours. This is in principle a repeat of thou shall not commit adultery as we do not covet thy neighbors wife and thou shall not steal. To covet is the fostering of the thought life that can lead to the breaking of several commandments.

At the heart of this commandment, is the premise that we are unhappy with the gifts that God has provided for us. We become jealous of the fact that God has blessed someone else with bigger and better gifts. Cain killed Abel because He coveted God's attention and was angry Abel had the better gift to offer.

The ninth commandment is a call to eliminate all lusts of the heart and take command of our thought life. Actual sin manifests itself when the hearts desires can no longer be controlled. Jesus brought this commandment to a higher light when He told us that everyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery. As Christians, we are to be content with whatever it is that God blesses us with and not to show a lack of appreciation by coveting others gifts. Besides loving God with all our heart, mind and soul, I can think of no other commandment from God that is so difficult. It is a battle for the heart and it is where we truly can determine our love for God. Can we put away the temptations of the heart and be content. After all, we all might wish riches, but have you ever coveted the position of those suffering from famine and poverty. If we cannot covet the bad, we should not covet the good.