It is You who open heart and mind to the Divine call

On Saturday I had the great joy of attending the Ordination Mass for the two new priests of the Diocese of Columbus.  It was truly an awesome experience to witness these two young men promise to serve God in the priestly capacity for the rest of their lives – to see them lie prostrate on the floor of the cathedral during the litany of saints, to see the Bishop lay his hands on their heads, and anoint their hands with Holy Chrism.  What sacrifice, what courage it takes to say yes to God.

One of my favorite parts of attending ordinations is the processional and recessional, when all of the seminarians, deacons, and priests of the diocese process in and recess out of the cathedral.  It never fails to lift my spirits, seeing all of those men present at one Mass.  So often we only think of and see examples of the negative things going on in the Church, but being at an ordination and seeing the absolute joy of the men being ordained and all of those in attendance is something that everyone should experience.

On Sunday, I was able to attend the first Mass of Thanksgiving of Father Ty Tomson, one of the two men ordained on Saturday.  I have known Father Ty for many years, and to see the fruition of his path to the priesthood was amazing.  At the end of Mass, when Father Ty presented to his father the stole he wore to hear his first confession, and then the manutergium, the purificator used to wipe the Chrism from his hands at ordination, to his mother, I was truly moved to see the love expressed by a son to his parents.  The parents of every priest are presented these gifts by their son, and then upon their deaths they are buried with them, so that at the second coming of Christ when they are called forward and asked by Christ what they did for His Church, they will be able to present the stole and manutergium to Him and state that they gave their son as a priest.  If that isn’t a powerful statement, I’m not sure what is.

What have we given for Christ’s one true Church?  What will we be able to report to Christ on that day of our final judgment?

The Catechism tells us that: “No one has a right to receive the sacrament of Holy Orders. Indeed no one claims this office for himself; he is called to it by God. Anyone who thinks he recognizes the signs of God’s call to the ordained ministry must humbly submit his desire to the authority of the Church, who has the responsibility and right to call someone to receive orders. Like every grace this sacrament can be received only as an unmerited gift.”  (CCC 1578)

These men are truly called by God, and possess the courage and wisdom, given to them by God, to persevere through the many challenges that confront them on the path to the priesthood.  These challenges definitely do not stop at ordination.  

I believe that the prayers of the faithful are so very crucial for ours priests and future priests.  We must always support these men with our prayers, for it is no small thing that they do.  Without priests, we have no Eucharist – which is a thought almost too scary to consider.  But we must consider it, and confront the question head on. 

To us men out there – have we truly listened for God’s call in our life?  Have we taken the time to pray quietly, having the courage to ask God what he wants from our lives?  Have we humbly submitted ourselves to the will of God?    

To the women and parents – have you encouraged your sons, brothers, nephews and friends to listen to God’s call?  Have you actively encouraged them to consider becoming a priest? 

Each year, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) conducts a survey of the men being ordained to the priesthood that year.  You can see this year’s report here.  On page 22 of the report, it shows that nine in ten ordinands (89%) reported being encouraged to consider the priesthood by someone in their life. Of those responding ordinands who reported that they were encouraged to consider the priesthood 66% say they were encouraged by a parish priest, 44% by a friend, 42% by their mother, 38% by a parishioner, 27% by their father, 22% by a teacher or catechist, 20% by another relative, and so on.  It is absolutely vital that we take the time to encourage the men around us to consider this vocation.

Please join with me today in this prayer for vocations from Blessed Pope John Paul II:

Come Holy Spirit...
It is You who open the heart and mind to the Divine call;
it is You who make effective every impetus
towards good, towards truth, towards charity...
Open the hearts and minds of men,
so that the new flowering of vocations may spring forth
the fidelity of your love, and all may know Christ,
the true light come into the world,
to offer every human being the sure hope of eternal life.
Amen.

Blessed are those servants whom the Master finds vigilant on His arrival

Well, Judgment Day didn’t happen on Saturday – neither Skynet nor the Antichrist took over – and none of the 30 people I was with at 6:00 p.m. disappeared.  These End Times predictions are just so silly that it is hard for me to believe that so many people always seem to take them seriously – I mean, this guy had already tried once before and was just as wrong.  If it had happened though, I couldn’t have asked for a better spot to be at – taking part in the celebration of Mass while at my Parish’s high school retreat with 30 high school participants and other adult chaperones.  
I don’t want to get too heavy into the theology of the End Times, much smarter Catholics than I have done so.  Check out Paragraphs 668-682 of the Catechism and this short article for more on what Catholics believe.  

Suffice it to say that, as Catholics, we do not believe that there will be a pre-tribulation “rapture” where Christ will take the faithful to heaven before the real suffering starts.  Putting Biblical points aside, and thinking about it logically, the “rapture” view makes no sense.  When did Christ ever tell his followers that things would be easy for them, or that they would get let off the hook?  Peter Parker’s (Spiderman) Uncle Ben always told Peter “With great power comes great responsibility.”  I think Uncle Ben was probably familiar with Luke 12:48, “Much will be required of the person entrusted with much, and still more will be demanded of the person entrusted with more. “  

Christ tells us over and over and over again that things are not going to be easy.  I think that when the End Times do arrive, we will witness the greatest Saints and Martyrs the Church has ever seen, standing up for Christ and dying for him.  Think about the great Martyrs in Church history – Ignatius of Antioch, Thomas More, Cecilia, Maximilian Kolbe, Maria Goretti, etc. – none of them took the easy way out, even though they could have.  

I don’t mean to make fun of the views of others regarding this issue, but it just seems ludicrous that an 89-year-old radio preacher could pin down a date certain.  God the Father is outside of time.  We are not to know the day or the hour when we will be called upon to answer for our lives.  “But of that day and hour no one knows, neither the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone.”  Matthew 24:36

It is not for us to know, just like it wasn’t for the Apostles to know either, when they questioned Jesus on the matter.  It is only up to us to make sure we are ready:

"Gird your loins and light your lamps and be like servants who await their master's return from a wedding, ready to open immediately when he comes and knocks. Blessed are those servants whom the master finds vigilant on his arrival. Amen, I say to you, he will gird himself, have them recline at table, and proceed to wait on them. And should he come in the second or third watch and find them prepared in this way, blessed are those servants. Be sure of this: if the master of the house had known the hour when the thief was coming, he would not have let his house be broken into. You also must be prepared, for at an hour you do not expect, the Son of Man will come." Luke 12:35-40

If Christ had come on Saturday, would we have been ready for him?  Do we act as the servants who are always ready for their master’s return?  I think the answer to that is a definite “no”.  We let the world distract us.  We worry about when we will be taken up into Heaven, not if we will be, not if we have done what is required to be able to meet God face-to-face.  We spend so much time worrying about all of the crap, that we forget all of Christ’s examples, we forget the path that we are supposed to be taking.

We must always look for Christ’s return, but not only look for it – live each day as if that day will be the day.  We do not fear death and suffering, we were created for God, not for this world.  We anxiously await the Second Coming, yes, but we don’t fret over it, we are to live our lives so that we are always ready to go forth when we are called by the Lord.

Being on our retreat this weekend reminded me once again that it is not just me against the world and its distractions, rather God and our community of believers are always there to help me along the journey, to provide example and witness, so that when the day and hour do arrive I will be ready to immediately open the door when He knocks.  

Let us pray that from this day forward we will live our lives so that the Master may find us vigilant at His arrival, and that we will then be invited to recline at table with Him who has saved us.

Good Shepherd or Hired Man?

In today’s Gospel, John 10:11-18, we hear those great verses that most of us are probably familiar with: “I am the good shepherd, and I know mine and mine know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I will lay down my life for the sheep.”   While this is, I think, one of the most famous lines in Scripture, this one sentence doesn’t tell us the whole story that Jesus is trying to communicate to us.

Yes, this passage is an awesome illustration of God’s love for each of us, but it also serves as a great challenge.  Christ says that “A hired man, who is not a shepherd and whose sheep are not his own, sees a wolf coming and leaves the sheep and runs away, and the wolf catches and scatters them. This is because he works for pay and has no concern for the sheep.”  But, “A good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.”

Which one are we – a good shepherd, or a hired man?

In this passage, I believe that Jesus is telling us how we are all supposed to act, by showing us his perfect example, as he does in countless ways throughout the Gospels.  Are we Christians acting as shepherds to the flocks of sheep throughout the world?  All too often, when the wolf comes, when things get tough, we cut and run.  Sure, we come back to assess the damage, hoping that the flock was just briefly scattered, that no sheep was seriously wounded or killed, and that we can pick up where we left off, but we fall far short of Christ’s direction to lay down our lives for the sheep.

Who are the sheep about which Jesus is speaking?  Christ says “I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold. These also I must lead, and they will hear my voice, and there will be one flock, one shepherd.”  St. Peter confronts this very issue in the first reading today when he causes quite a scandal by eating with Gentiles.  (Acts 11:1-18).  These Gentiles had accepted the word of God – they believed what was being taught by Peter and the other Apostles.  However, the Jewish-Christians of the day still followed all of the Mosaic laws, and could not believe that Peter would break the dietary laws by eating in an “unclean” fashion.  Peter’s vision makes it clear to him that “What God has made clean, you are not to call profane” and as Peter spoke with these Gentiles, the Holy Spirit fell upon them as it had upon the Apostles.  Peter tells the Jewish-Christians “If then God gave them the same gift he gave to us when we came to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I to be able to hinder God?”

Every single one of us, every human being, is the sheep that Christ is speaking about.  Not just those of us who have been fortunate enough to hear the Word, but all people.  Christ is the one true Good Shepherd of all people, but we Christians are likewise called to act as good shepherds to all of God’s people.   

Thankfully, I don’t think that many of us will ever be asked to make the ultimate sacrifice, to die to protect the sheep as Christ did, and as the thousands of martyrs have done.  That doesn’t mean, though, that we don’t lay down our lives to protect the sheep in different ways.  Standing up for our Christian faith and being a true example of it in the face of criticism, scorn, and ridicule in our daily lives can be so, so tough, but that is a huge way each of us can act as a good shepherd for God’s flock.

Think about your day today, or maybe the last few days or weeks.  Think about the people you interacted with.  Were you afraid to speak the name of Jesus – to defend what is good, true, and holy?  I know that I fail at this every single day.  Every day I fall short of Jesus’ example – I miss some opportunity to act as Christ did.  Every day, even though it might seem like a small thing, I know that I choose to run away.   But, I know that I also have victories each day as well, times when I stand my ground, choosing to face the wolf.  Every day, even through the smallest and briefest examples, I can reflect the unceasing love of Christ for all.  These times when I choose to act as shepherd instead of hired man, serve as an even greater reminder to me of what we each can do in the service of Christ when we actually follow His example. 

We must continually strive to follow Christ’s example.   We must follow the example of St. Peter to go where our fellow Christians dare not enter – to spread the Word of God even in the face of our own death.

I pray that tomorrow, neither I, nor you, will run, but that we will stand our ground against every wolf, proclaiming Jesus Christ loudly and triumphantly, so that one day, all of His sheep will know Him fully.

Were not our hearts burning within us?

“That very day, the first day of the week, two of Jesus’ disciples were going to a village seven miles from Jerusalem called Emmaus, and they were conversing about all the things that had occurred. And it happened that while they were conversing and debating, Jesus himself drew near and walked with them, but their eyes were prevented from recognizing him.”  Luke 24:13-16

These, of course, are the opening verses to the very familiar Gospel story of the Road to Emmaus, which was the Gospel reading this past Sunday.  I wanted this second blog post of mine to touch a little on why I have decided to write, and why I chose the name “You Shattered My Darkness” for this blog, and standing at Mass this past Sunday, listening to the Deacon proclaim those words from Luke, I realized why I am where I am right now.  You see, I realized that we are all very much like those two disciples who were traveling on the road that day – we are not really looking for Christ, even though we may talk about him all of the time, but Jesus himself draws near to us, and actively seeks us out on the roads that we travel.

We Christians do not believe in a passive god that just sits back and waits to see if we stumble to him on our own.  No, our God is constantly seeking us out, presenting Himself to us in the many situations of our lives, just as He did when He appeared to those two disciples that day after the Resurrection.  The two disciples in the story conversed with the Lord during their entire journey that day, but even though Christ was teaching them, exactly as He had done during His life, they did not recognize Him, until he celebrated the Eucharistic meal, the breaking of the bread, with them.

“With that their eyes were opened and they recognized him, but he vanished from their sight. Then they said to each other, ‘Were not our hearts burning within us while he spoke to us on the way and opened the Scriptures to us?’”  Luke 24:31-32

How familiar do the words of these disciples sound to us?  How often, upon reflection, have we felt our hearts burning for something greater, but have failed to recognize what it meant in our lives or where it was coming from.  Christ, on that day, shattered the darkness of those two disciples.  They had just been in Jerusalem, and had witnessed, perhaps first hand, the Passion of their Lord.  Yet, they seem to be leaving Jerusalem, perhaps thinking that the magic had passed with Jesus’ death, that they would never again hear or witness his teaching.  Like the Apostles who confined themselves to the upper room, these disciples were likely afraid of what might have happened to followers of Jesus in Jerusalem in the days after his death.  They seem to be unsure of their faith, maybe feeling like it had all been just a very vivid illusion, and not real after all.

But Jesus Christ, their Lord and Savior, sought them out that day, and broke through to them.  After Jesus vanished from their midst, we are told that the disciples immediately rushed back to Jerusalem to share their experience of the Risen Christ with the Apostles. 

I am a cradle Catholic, and my parents did a great job of raising me in the faith.  We went to Mass every Sunday, I attended religious education classes, we prayed and talked about religion at home, and I was an active participant and leader in our youth ministry program as a high school student.  That is all to say that even though I have been an active Catholic my whole life, like the disciples on the road to Emmaus, I didn’t always really get it, or even realize that I wasn’t getting it.  I was a passive participant, just walking along the road, even though I was actively there in the pew every Sunday, I wasn’t truly engaged, but I don’t think that I even realized it. 

Similarly to the disciples, I finally recognized Christ in the breaking of the bread one Sunday, the summer after graduating from law school.  It just seemed to really resonate that Sunday, although I cannot recall the exact date, the readings, homily, or anything to distinguish that Mass from the previous countless Sundays I had been there.  Yet, I know that Jesus purposefully drew near to me that day, and somehow I was able to actually recognize Him that day.  Christ, that day, absolutely shattered my darkness – the darkness that I had been living in, without even really knowing it. 

Of course, even though that day was definitely transformative, I am still walking the road, constantly struggling to live a life in better imitation of Christ.  But I know now that I want to do everything in my earthly power to remain in the light of Christ, and not return to the darkness, and so I try to walk the road constantly seeking the presence of God.  “You shattered my darkness” is actually a line from the song “Alive Again” by Matt Maher which is one of my favorites (check it out here if you’ve never heard it).

Christ actively seeks each and every person.  He purposefully draws near to us on our own roads.  He never forces us to accept his invitation, but greatly rejoices when we do.

One of the greatest Scriptural examples of this that comes to my mind is the story of the Prodigal Son (Luke 15: 11-32).  I’m sure that almost everyone is familiar with this story.  When the younger son finally recognizes that life as one of his father’s servants would be better than the horrible conditions he was living in, and returns home, this is what we hear about the situation: “While he was still a long way off, his father caught sight of him, and was filled with compassion. He ran to his son, embraced him and kissed him.” Luke 15:20

Here the father, representing God the Father, did not wait for his son to return, he was actively looking for him – how else would he have known to be looking at that moment, if he wasn’t looking, searching, and longing for his son’s return – and then, when he does catch sight of his son, he doesn’t wait for him, he runs towards him and embraces him.  God is actively searching and longing for each one of us – and through his Son, Jesus Christ, seeks to shatter our darkness and to bring us into His light.

As we continue this Easter season, let us pray that we can recognize the burning in our hearts that is the presence of Christ in our lives, and that one day our eyes are never again prevented from recognizing Him.

Pray for those who persecute you...

I have to say that upon waking up to the news this morning that Osama bin Laden was killed by U.S. Special Forces I didn’t quite know what to think.  This was obviously a man who has caused much tragedy and heartache in our country and throughout the world for many, many years.  This was a man who had been hunted by the United States of America for nearly 10 years.  I myself traveled to New York in November of 2001, I saw the devastation that was left by the two planes that flew into the World Trade Center.  I did not suffer the loss of anyone that I knew personally, but like most Americans who watched on TV, and then saw the aftermath in person, I was both saddened and outraged at the atrocity that was committed.

However, after hearing the initial news this morning, I logged onto Facebook, and saw the comments of many of my friends who were absolutely jubilant in their rejoicing that this man had been killed.  Not only was this attitude of celebration evident in these Facebook posts, but on almost every news website across cyberspace.  One of my friends, who posted that he found it sad that people were celebrating, took some abuse by subsequent commenters. 

Upon much reflection throughout the day, I can wholeheartedly state that I find this level of celebration in the killing of a human being to be disturbing and wholly contrary to my Christian faith.

Father Federico Lombardi, the Vatican spokesman, in his brief statement today had this to say: "In the face of a man's death, a Christian never rejoices, but reflects on the serious responsibilities of each person before God and before men, and hopes and works so that every event may be the occasion for the further growth of peace and not of hatred.” (See the Catholic News Service story here). 

Forgiveness is at the very heart and essence of Christianity.  I think that Fr. Lombardi put it very well that a Christian must reflect on the serious responsibility of each person before God and before men.  We are all great sinners, every one of us.  No, we haven’t ordered planes to be flown into tall buildings, but we all sin, both against God and against our fellow man. 

We see plainly the teaching of Jesus Christ on anger: “You have heard that it was said to your ancestors, 'You shall not kill; and whoever kills will be liable to judgment.'  But I say to you, whoever is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment, and whoever says to his brother, 'Raqa,' will be answerable to the Sanhedrin, and whoever says, 'You fool,' will be liable to fiery Gehenna.” Matthew 5:21-22. 

And also: "You have heard that it was said, 'An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.' But I say to you, offer no resistance to one who is evil. When someone strikes you on (your) right cheek, turn the other one to him as well. If anyone wants to go to law with you over your tunic, hand him your cloak as well. Should anyone press you into service for one mile, go with him for two miles. Give to the one who asks of you, and do not turn your back on one who wants to borrow. "You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I say to you, love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your heavenly Father, for he makes his sun rise on the bad and the good, and causes rain to fall on the just and the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what recompense will you have? Do not the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet your brothers only, what is unusual about that? Do not the pagans do the same? So be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect.” Matthew 5:38-48.

These are hard words that Christ preaches during the Sermon on the Mount.  To be sure, we fall short of his commands all the time, but to think that we, as those who claim to be Christians, would so easily cast these crucial teachings aside to celebrate today, scares me just as much as the terrible things that Osama bin Laden did while he was alive.  If Christians cannot bravely follow Christ, and be an example of His love to the rest of the world, then evil will never be defeated.  We are called to be a light to the world, not to be in the same darkness as the rest of the world.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church tells us that “By recalling the commandment, ‘You shall not kill,’ our Lord asked for peace of heart and denounced murderous anger and hatred as immoral. “  (CCC 2302).  Are we truly seeking “peace of heart” when we celebrate the killing of another human being?  What does our hatred gain us?  Further, we are told that anger is a desire for revenge, and as St. Thomas Aquinas puts it “to desire vengeance in order to do evil to some who should be punished is illicit”.  (CCC 2302).  Bin Laden certainly deserved punishment for his actions, but Christ commands us to put away our anger.  The Catechism continues, telling us that “if anger reaches the point of a deliberate desire to kill or seriously wound a neighbor, it is gravely against charity; it is a mortal sin” and that “hatred of the neighbor is a sin when one deliberately wishes him evil”. (CCC 2302-2303).

We must continually strive to follow Christ’s personal example.  We Christians just celebrated Easter last weekend, and in the story of the Passion, we see Christ’s great forgiveness clearly demonstrated.  We see Jesus, in the Garden of Gethsemane, when he is about to be arrested command Peter: “Put your sword back into its sheath, for all who take the sword will perish by the sword.”  Matthew 26: 52.  Upon the cross Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, they know not what they do.”  Luke 23:34.  Finally, Jesus shows us that while we still have breath within us, it is never too late to be forgiven, when he granted forgiveness to the good thief who hung on the cross next to him.  (See Luke 23:39-43).

Yesterday,  May 1, 2011, we celebrated both Divine Mercy Sunday and the beatification of now Blessed Pope John Paul II, truly two things worthy of celebration.  So today, can we not strive to act, in word and thought, as Christ did when it came to mercy and forgiveness?  I pray that we can find the strength to follow Fr. Lombardi’s words: that we may each hope and work so that every event in our lives may be the occasion for the further growth of peace and not of hatred.  God Bless.