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Valuable Lessons for Life — The Craig & Debbie Zwiefelhofer Wedding

June 22, 2021

Ring Heart Shadow on Bible

Craig and Debbie, today you are here in this beautiful church to freely give yourselves to each other in marriage. Christ’s Church has discerned and affirms that you are both free to marry, and we gather together to celebrate this day with you. The excellent Scripture readings that you selected, and which we all just heard, contain valuable lessons for life. May their inspired insights bless your marriage and every household which takes them to heart.

In our first reading, on their wedding night, Tobiah arises from bed and says to his wife, “Sister, get up. Let’s pray…” Sarah gets up and they start to pray, praising and thanking God, and asking for his help and blessings. And they conclude, saying together, “Amen, amen.” There are couples who have shared a bed for decades who have never shared their prayers like this. They may go to church on Sunday or pray before meals—and that’s great—but sharing prayer as a couple like this is a greater intimacy. You do not need to be eloquent. You can even pray together silently. On a regular basis, offer two or three personal things for your spouse to pray about for you, and ask your spouse to share two or three things you can pray about to God for them. You can pray silently for each other for even just a minute or two and simply wrap up with an Our Father and Hail Mary.

A couple that prays together, and for each other, will be more perfectly one. A life of prayer is also a cure for our anxieties and fears. St. Paul reminds us in our second reading, “The Lord is near.” Therefore, he writes:

“Have no anxiety at all, but in everything,
  by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving,
  make your requests known to God.
  Then the peace of God
  that surpasses all understanding
  will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.”

The world and my problems may be bigger than me, but God is bigger than them both. Pray often and God’s peace, even without your fully understanding what he is doing, will secure and calm your hearts and minds. St. Paul then goes on to teach the Philippians and us another lesson:

“[B]rothers and sisters,
  whatever is true, whatever is honorable,
  whatever is just, whatever is pure,
  whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious,
  if there is any excellence
  and if there is anything worthy of praise,
  think about these things.”

If you ask someone, “How you doing?” and they say, “I can’t complain,” they don’t mean it literally. Everybody can complain. Things to complain about are all around us. Even good things can be complained about for not being better. Anybody can complain because complaining is easy. But to focus on what is lovely, excellent, and praiseworthy is a choice. Highlighting the good in your everyday life will nurture peace within you, peace between you, and peace around you. Finally, we come to Jesus’ words in our Gospel. Jesus tells his disciples:

“This is my commandment:
  love one another as I love you.
  No one has greater love than this,
  to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.”

Ahead of you are good times and trials, both joys and sufferings, Mount Tabors and Mount Calvarys. Choose to love through them all and your Good Fridays will lead to Easter Sundays. In conclusion, pray together, focus on what is good, and choose to love like Jesus loves you and you will be blessed.

Posted in Christian Perfection, Devotions, Gratitude, Homily, Marriage and Family, Prayer, Sacrifice, Tobiah and Sarah, Wedding Homilies | 1 Comment »

Jesus Rested

June 19, 2021

12th Sunday in Ordinary Time

The Storm on the Sea of Galilee by Rembrandt, 1633.In today’s Gospel, we see Jesus commanding the wind and sea during a storm. He rebukes the wind and tells the sea, “Quiet! Be still!” and a great calm settles. His disciples in the boat, in awe at what they’ve witnessed, say to one another, “Who then is this whom even wind and sea obey?” It’s a stunning moment for them, but there’s another striking detail contained in this Gospel – a detail which Jesus’ disciples found completely unremarkable before the storm: Jesus was resting in the boat, he was asleep on a cushion in the stern. Christ wielding divine power is an important sign, but the fact that Jesus took naps also contains lessons for us that I’ll discuss a bit later.

The Book of Exodus records how the Lord had previously commanded winds and waters to save his people when he parted the Red Sea: “The Lord drove back the sea with a strong east wind all night long and turned the sea into dry ground. The waters were split, so that the Israelites entered into the midst of the sea on dry land.” God commanded the waters as with his words from the Book of Job: “Thus far shall you come but no farther, and here shall your proud waves be stilled!” Even though God brought the Hebrews safely through the Red Sea to Mount Sinai, delivering them from their Egyptian slavemasters, they were not yet free. God had gotten his people out of Egypt, but he needed to get Egypt out of his people.

Habits and attitudes from their years of bondage had to be unlearned. To do this, God’s Mosaic covenant commanded them, for example, to sacrifice animals which the Egyptians associated with their pagan deities, such as bulls and rams. To slay and offer up these creatures to the Lord undermined the cults of the false gods. Likewise, when you desire to turn away from old sinful habits, absolutely pray for God’s help and go to Confession, but also after that do more than just passively hoping that things will change. Take positive steps in the right direction. Make an act of your will to renounce your sins. Literally say: “I renounce the sin of (such-and-so),” and then actively avoid the patterns which you know lead you into sin. Like those bulls and rams sacrificed on God’s altar, kill and burn your idols.

Another way in which the Lord sought to train the Hebrews out of the old mindset and routines of their prior slavery was through giving them a weekly vacation day. God commanded his people:

“Remember to keep holy the sabbath day.
Six days you may labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord, your God.
No work may be done then either by you, or your son or daughter, or your male or female servant, or your beast, or by the alien who lives with you.”

As slaves in Egypt, the Hebrews worked long days for long stretches of days. It was grueling labor, fueled by fear of painful consequences. But the Lord did not wish for them to carry with them this slave mentality toward work. So he gave them a special day, every week, for worship, rest, and joy. God desires the Lord’s Day, Sunday, to be such a day for us.

When I was an undergrad at college, my studies were my daily grind. I looked forward to my college breaks, but those could be weeks or months away, and were always on the other side of due dates and exams. Although I faithfully attended Mass I had never observed Sunday as a special day of rest. The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches:

“On Sundays and other holy days of obligation, the faithful are to refrain from engaging in work or activities that hinder the worship owed to God, (that hinder) the joy proper to the Lord’s Day, (that hinder) the performance of the works of mercy, (or that hinder) the appropriate relaxation of mind and body.” Then it notes, “Family needs or important social service can legitimately excuse from the obligation of Sunday rest. (However,) the faithful should see to it that legitimate excuses do not lead to habits prejudicial to religion, family life, and health.”

So I resolved in those days of college to abstain from doing homework or studying on Sundays. I had some very late Saturday nights, but I held faithfully to this rule. And over time, I noticed two surprising things. First, my Sunday resting never burned me academically. I can’t recall ever bombing a test, failing to meet a deadline, or doing worse on my assignments because I didn’t work on Sunday. My second great surprise was that I began looking forward to every Sunday as a one-day vacation. In addition to going to Mass, Sunday was a day for me to take a nap, see a movie, play a game, hang out with friends, or do anything delightful. I sacrificed a gift of myself to the Lord and he gave me an even greater gift in return. So I urge you to be courageous and intentional about keeping and celebrating the Lord’s day of rest yourself.

Let’s return to Jesus sleeping in the boat. What lessons does this teach us? First, the fact that he sleeps means he is a real human being who can personally relate to our own lived experience. Jesus knows firsthand what it’s like to be one of us, and he compassionately understands us.

Second, his sleep shows us that human fatigue is not a sin. Sometimes in confession I hear older people accuse themselves of laziness because they aren’t as productive as they were when they were decades younger. I encourage these persons to be easier on themselves. The Stations of the Cross recount Christ falling down three times. Jesus’ holy, loving spirit was willing, but his flesh was weakened, and none of his physical limitations, missteps, or stumbles were sins. Our own bodily limitations are not sins either.

A third lesson from Jesus napping is that caring for your body is an ordinary part of doing God’s will. While taking his nap, Christ isn’t preaching to the crowds, healing the sick, or performing mighty miracles, but he is exactly doing his Father’s will. And this rest prepares Jesus to do the Father’s works after. When I hear a parent in confession say they blew up unusually at their children, lost their temper and yelled at their kids, I ask that person whether they’re tired. Their answer is almost always yes. That’s not surprising, since everything is harder when you’re tired. Rather than disregarding your body, realize that sleeping well, eating right, and trying to be physically active can be important in enabling you to do God’s will.

St. John writes in his 1st New Testament epistle: “This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God.” Jesus Christ, God’s divine Son, took rest and enjoyed rest as a human being like us. Let us learn from his holy example.

Posted in Christian Perfection, Culture, Exodus, Homily, Jesus Christ, Renewal, Sunday Homilies | 1 Comment »

Hearts Like His — The Nathan & Cassandra Hagenbrock Wedding

June 12, 2021

Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus

Sacred Heart of JesusNathan and Cassie’s wedding day lands upon this, the third Friday after the Feast of Pentecost, the eleventh day of June. God’s providence has arranged it that they be married on this special day – a feast day, the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, during a month especially dedicated to Jesus’ Sacred Heart. You can see depictions of the Sacred Heart inside this church. There is the statue of Jesus behind me, here in the sanctuary, and presently another statue in our devotional corner in the back. In artistic depictions, you may see Jesus’ Sacred Heart resting upon his chest, or maybe he holds it in his hand offering it to you, and sometimes his heart is depicted by all itself. In every depiction it is a human heart, crowned with thorns, pierced on the side, with flames and a cross emerging from the top. What is the meaning of these things? What do they reveal about Jesus? And what do they mean for Nathan and Cassie and us?

The heart is the organ within every human being which is most associated symbolically with emotion, devotion, and love. Since becoming man through his Incarnation two thousand years ago, the Eternal Son of God, Jesus Christ, has possessed a literal human heart in himself. And Jesus has personally experienced human feelings as well. But Jesus and his heart are not merely human, but divine. This reality is symbolized by the flames. As at the burning bush in Exodus, these flames do not consume his heart, but coexist with it and glorify it. Jesus feels and loves with a divine intensity, and this love leads him to sacrifice for love. This love gives rise to the Cross, upon which he suffered for us. This love occasions the crown of thorns, which he wore for us. And this love led to Jesus’ heart being pierced, the event we hear about in today’s Gospel. Jesus’ Sacred Heart is human and compassionate, divine and loving, long-suffering and glorious. And it is the will of Jesus, meek and humble of heart, to make our hearts like unto his, that you may endure suffering, be loving, and be made glorious.

You can see that this world is broken. Other people are broken. And you know, Nathan and Cassie, that though there is a great deal to like about you both, neither of you is yet perfect. Know that in your marriage, you will inevitably encounter suffering; sufferings caused by the world, sufferings caused by other people, and sometimes sufferings caused by each other. But when these thorns and small cuts come, do not let the fire of your love go out. Choose to keep loving, willing the good of each other. This is how Jesus loves us, and how he calls us to love.

This persistent decision to love is essential, but it is not enough. To love beyond human strength requires God’s strength; divine fire burning in your heart. You must love with Jesus’ love by connecting with him; praying daily, worshipping weekly, and communing with him constantly (spiritually or sacramentally) as you are able. Love each other by the love with which he loves you.

Choosing to love with the love of Christ in marriage is now your calling. This vocation together is to be for your joy, fruitfulness, and glory in the likeness of Christ. May Jesus Christ make your our hearts like unto his Sacred Heart, so that you may endure suffering, be loving, and be made glorious, like Jesus Christ himself.

Posted in Christian Perfection, Feast Day Homilies, Homily, Jesus Christ, Love, Marriage and Family, Passion, Wedding Homilies | Leave a Comment »

We Become Like Our Friends — Funeral Homily for Marcella “Marcy” Pecha, 97

May 13, 2021

Who does Jesus say is blessed? Jesus tells us in the Beatitudes. He says:

“Blessed are the poor in spirit…
those who mourn…
the meek…
those who hunger and thirst for righteousness…
the merciful…
the clean of heart…
the peacemakers…
those who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness.”

When you think about it, all these traits are present in Jesus Christ. Jesus is gentle, merciful, and pure. He cares about others and is moved by their sufferings. He’s the servant of God, of peace and righteousness, and for all this he endures trials. The Beatitudes describe Jesus Christ himself, but they also describe his friends as well, because Jesus’ friends come to resemble him.

Marcella (Marcy) PechaI know Marcy from celebrating Masses at Dove nursing home. I was blessed to give her the Last Rites (consisting of Holy Anointing, the Apostolic Pardon, and her final Holy Communion – which is called Viaticum) two days before she passed. Today, her own St. John the Baptist Parish is honored to offer our greatest prayer, the Holy Mass, for her soul. I found her to be a faithful and pleasant person, as did the staff and residents at Dove, who I am told cherished her as a sweet and motherly lady. Her family has told me a number of interesting stories about her and I would like to share some of these various stories with you.

Before coming to live in a series of nursing homes herself, she volunteered at nursing homes in Bloomer and Chippewa for some three decades. Being a social person, she loved being with the residents. She helped transport people to-and-fro in their wheel chairs. She danced with the residents – Marcy loved to dance. And she would sit with those with Alzheimer’s, chatting about old memories, so they would not feel alone.

Marcy had many memories to share. Being born in 1924, she grew up as a child of The Great Depression. And because of this, she had an understandable personality quirk: Marcy hated wasting food. Her children were always expected to finish their plates at meals, and wherever she went—sometimes to a fault—Marcy tried to save whatever food would otherwise go into the trash.

When Marcy was pregnant with each of her three children (Betty, John, and Barb) she appears to have taken on the spirit of the personalities each of them would have. While carrying Betty, Marcy’s natural timidity disappeared and she wasn’t afraid of anything. While carrying John, she always wanted to be outdoors. And while carrying Barb, she became especially empathic and tenderhearted.

Though not highly educated, Marcy also displayed a supernatural intuition. Once, her oldest adult daughter Betty was leaning over a car engine, attempting to change the oil while it was still running. Betty’s braided hair got caught, apparently pulled by a belt, violently injuring her scalp and requiring 125 stitches at the hospital. The next day, she called her mother, but before Betty could share her story Marcy asked, “What’s wrong with your head? What happened to your head?” When Betty told the story of her accident, Marcy said, “I knew it! I knew it!”

Though Marcy could experience anxiety attacks she was not afraid to die. At times she would remark, even years ago, “Why won’t God take me? I what to go home.” (And by home, of course, she meant heaven.) On one occasion decades ago, Marcy nearly died and a defibrillator was used to get her heart back into rhythm. When they revived her, Marcy was very upset with the nurses saying that the previous moments on the cusp of the next life had been the most peaceful experience of her lifetime.

Pretty much all these things, I think, her special love and care for the elderly and infirm, her supernatural intuitions, her eagerness for heaven, were rooted in her deep Christian Faith in Jesus Christ. Marcy was frequently praying, attending Mass, or watching the Holy Sacrifice on television. On the Saturday evening of her death, Marcy’s family members offered to pray the Rosary with her and for her at her bedside, and they could see this gave her great consolation.

Does not Jesus have a special concern for the infirm and forgotten? Did he not volunteer to spend three decades physically dwelling among us? Jesus possesses a profound empathy and supernatural insight into others, with which he understands and loves us profoundly. Like Marcy with those precious food leftovers, Christ the Good Shepherd goes to seemingly unreasonable lengths in hopes that not one lost sheep would go to waste. And Jesus and Marcy were not unwilling to die, they trusted their Heavenly Father, were comforted by family, and were aided by the prayers of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

As I said before, the Beatitudes describe Jesus Christ himself, but also they describe his friends as well, because Jesus’ friends come to resemble him. If you love Marcy, and I do not doubt you do, then renew today your love for the One whom Marcy loves most. Jesus Christ, our Savior, Lord, and God, is the one who makes all his friends great and glorious by making them more and more like himself.

Posted in Christian Perfection, Funeral Homilies, Homily, Jesus Christ | Leave a Comment »

“As the Father Loves Me, so I Also Love You”

May 8, 2021

6th Sunday of Easter

Who was the first person on earth to know you in your lifetime? Upon reflection, you realize it was your mother. Your mother knew you long before you knew her. And I would wager that she loved you as herself, even willing perhaps to lay down her life for you with the greatest love.

An unborn baby’s understanding of things, of its mother and of itself, is limited. But the mother surrounds the baby. She is responsible for and behind the child’s entire universe. The little one is totally dependent upon her, and experiences everything in the midst of mom. Though the sound is quiet and somewhat muffled with distracting noises, the listening little child can hear the mother’s voice and feel her pulse. Imagine an unborn baby doubting and asking, “Does Mom really exist? Is there really a mother at all?”

It is right that we love our mothers, though we ought not to make them into idols. When Cornelius met St. Peter, the Roman centurion fell at his feet to do him homage, but Peter raised him back to his feet, saying, “Get up. I myself am also a human being.” Only one mother in human history has been perfect, but our parents present us with our first living image and icon of God.

The Holy TrinityAs much as a baby receives from his or her mother, the Son of God receives still more so from his Father. How does God the Father give life to his Son? The Son is eternally begotten of the Father; “God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God.” The Father gives his whole being to the Son, and his Son, so loved, receives everything with joy. In today’s Gospel, Jesus says, “As the Father loves me, so I also love you.” How does God love you and me like the Father loves the Son?

For starters, God loves us first. The Father and Son are coeternal, but the self-gifting of the Father is the source of the Son, who then loves the Father, self-gifting himself in return. Likewise, God loves us and gives himself to us first, before inviting us to do the same. “In this is love,” St. John writes in our second reading, “not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as expiation for our sins.” And St. Paul tells the Romans, “God proves his love for us in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us.”

Another way we are loved like the Father loves the Son is in how we receive every good thing from God. Like an unborn child receives from its mother, and the eternal Son receives from the Father, you receive everything from God through Jesus Christ. St. Paul speaks of the importance of the Son to the Colossians: “In him everything in heaven and on earth was created, things visible and invisible… all things were created through him… He is before all things, and in him everything continues in being.” For us, Jesus Christ is the one through whom all good things come.

Now would it make any sense for an unborn child, who is cherished by its mother, to see his or her mommy as an enemy? Or could God the Father and God the Son ever be rivals? Of course not! And yet we are guarded against Jesus. We hesitate to share our time with him, we hesitate to give our money for him, we hesitate to forsake our habitual sins for him. So I challenge you, I dare you, to trust more in him who loves you.

When Jesus says, “Remain in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love,” he is not threatening to stop loving us. No—we must keep Christ’s commandments, doing his loving will, to fully receive everything he wants to give us. Jesus, who is first loved by God, who receives everything from God, who does God’s will, who rejoices and remains in God, who loves God and self-gifts himself fruitfully in return to God, desires you and me to experience the same blessedness. “If you keep my commandments,” he says, “you will remain in my love just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and your joy might be complete. … It was not you who chose me, but I who chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit that will remain.”

This Sunday, let us love, honor, and pray for the mothers from whom we were born on earth; while we love, honor, and trust all the more the eternal Son through whom we are born again from above.

Posted in Christian Perfection, Holy Trinity, Homily, Jesus Christ, Motherhood, Sunday Homilies, Trust | Leave a Comment »

HABITS Produce Much Fruit

May 1, 2021

5th Sunday of Easter
By Deacon Dick Kostner

Descending VineyardOur Gospel from John has Jesus telling his disciples, telling us, how we can survive and be happy not only in this life but gain for us everlasting life if we but realize our dependence for success and life depends on our acceptance of the fact that we cannot succeed without help from the “Vine,” without Jesus. In preparing for this homily, I went to Formed to get their take on today’s gospel. The minister who reflected upon the Gospel said that we need “HABITS” to allow us to produce fruits from the vine of God, who is Jesus, in order to deal with the challenges that we will face if we wish to be followers of Christ and find peace and experience a successful life as we journey to the Father’s house.

“H” stands for Holy Time. We need to commit and schedule within our busy life “time” to communicate with Jesus. Many refer to this communication as prayer. I like to think of it as conversation with Jesus about challenges that we are facing as we journey as well as pleasures and great happiness gifts that we appreciate and recognize as being given to us by God, the “dog treats” God graces us with for being fruitful branches of His divine vine. The minister suggested starting with a commitment of ten minutes a day to communicate with Jesus and letting it grow from there.

“A” stands for Accountability. The minister said this stands for us having at least one close friend that we can confide in and request guidance, when we need help and direction. I would suggest that this be a person who has already established a close relationship with Jesus and who is a healthy branch of the vine of Jesus. I can remember when shortly after I was ordained I met with our new priest, Fr. Norm Boneck, and asked him if I could develop a per-baptism class at St. Paul’s as we had no program at that time and he responded by saying, “NO! I want you to start an RCIA program for the parish!” Panic hit me. I had absolutely no experience or knowledge of how that could happen. I thought to myself, “Man, you picked the wrong dude to tackle that job.” Barb remembered that one of my deacon friends had mentioned that he and his wife had done a program at their parish, and she suggested I call him and yell “help!” I did that and he invited us to go to Wisconsin Rapids and met with him for some advice. The first thing he said to me is to not worry and that he had experienced the same panic and that the Holy Spirit would not let be get into too deep of water so as to drown. With His help and guidance St. Paul’s began an RCIA program which has produced much fruit from this Branch.

“B” stands for Bible. We need to get to know Jesus as a person and that can best be accomplished by reading about him and living a life based on the Gospel messages. Through Scripture we learn that Jesus was given to us to shepherd his followers. We discover that there does exist an evil one who uses the tools of confusion, deception, and fear to control us and lead us away from the protection of the Good Shepherd and his guard dog His Church. We have witnessed this first hand this last year where the world has become afraid and confused by the Covid. We see how evil has attacked our guardian the Church and the faith it teaches to leave us feeling helpless. All this helps separate us from truth and the protection our faith gives us to suppress and overcome the evil in this world.

“I” stands for Investing and supporting the parish we are assigned too. The message from Jesus is that we not only read his Word but also live his Word by example. Good fruit requires commitment in the form of financial support of our parish as well as a commitment of our time and talents to our parish so that it may remain healthy and fruitful. Our parish needs your commitment of time, talent, and treasures to be a successful and healthy branch of God that will produce much fruit. Statistics show that only about 30% of a parish membership support their church with their commitment. Only 30% of the people are helping to keep the branch of Christ active and healthy. That percentage needs to increase if we are to produce a good crop of fruit during our lives.

“T” stands for Tell Others. We need to share with others the benefits that we will be gifted with if we are productive branches of Christ. We need to share with others the “dog treats” the graces that God has bestowed upon us for being active followers of Jesus. Jesus tells us to spread the Good Word.

Finally, “S” stands for Sacraments. The Church of Jesus is one that is based on Sacrament. Sacrament bestows upon us graces which can and will produce super natural powers that will be gifted upon those who celebrate the Sacraments. These gifts from Jesus will provide us with energy and powers of accomplishment beyond human capabilities. Through the spiritual graces gifted us through participation in the Sacraments the Branches are fed nutrients from the Vine that will allow us to accomplish tasks that would otherwise be humanly impossible.

Bottom line is that we are all dependent upon the Vine for protection from the storms of life and production of fruit. Let us all form HABITS that will make us healthy branches that will produce much fruit from the vine for all who wish to enter the Kingdom of God.

Posted in Chrisitian Virtues, Christian Perfection, Homily, Sunday Homilies | Leave a Comment »

A Treasured & Entrusted Child — Funeral Homily for Adelaide Marie Borofka

April 26, 2021

The dominant culture in the days of Jesus’ public ministry oftentimes did not treasure children. A firstborn baby boy might have value to a Roman father, but a baby who was a girl, or malformed or disabled, or simply unwanted might be killed or abandoned in the woods, exposed to die. The early Christians, however, rejected infanticide and adopted foundlings, raising them as their own. This is reflected by a first century Christian text called The Didache (also known as “The Lord’s Teaching Through the Twelve Apostles to the Nations”) which commands: “You shall not procure an abortion, nor destroy a newborn child…” From where did the Christians get this countercultural concern for all children, born and unborn? From our Lord Jesus Christ, of course.

Adelaide Borofka feetThough children are small and weak, Jesus says, “See that you do not despise one of these little ones, for I say to you that their angels in heaven always look upon the face of my heavenly Father.” They have no wealth or worldly power, but Jesus says, “Unless you turn and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.” Jesus, calling a child over and putting his arms around it, says, “Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.” Jesus says that children are to be treasured and loved like himself: “Whoever receives one child such as this in my name receives me.” Jesus says, “Let the children come to me, and do not prevent them; for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.” In just the same way as a good shepherd hates to lose even one of his many sheep, Jesus says, “it is not the will of your heavenly Father that one of these little ones be lost.” Indeed, ‘Jesus loves the little children, all the little children of the world.’

So even when a child dies without baptism, we can entrust them to God’s mercy with great hope, that the love of God which has brought us into being will transform the painful mysteries of the Cross into a reunion of Easter joy. In the midst of any tragedy, we always have a general Christian hope that God will bring good out of what is bad. But in regards to little Adelaide it appears that God has granted us a special, particular consolation. This is Veronica’s story, which she has given me permission to tell you, and which she wants me to share for your benefit.

On Easter Sunday, Veronica began to feel severe abdominal pain. She was admitted to Sacred Heart Hospital in Eau Claire with a blood pressure so high that she was in grave danger of suffering a stroke, even dying. Then, through an ultrasound, it was discovered that the child within her, the child she lovingly carried for seven months, no longer had a heartbeat. Around 2 AM on Monday, April 5th, while she was in great physical and emotional pain, her husband Zach and their gathered family members were praying a Rosary with her. Veronica was praying along with them, off-and-on, as she could manage. And in the midst of all this painful suffering, as she paused with her eyes closed, she saw something. Even though Veronica is certain that she was awake at that moment, she beheld something remarkable. Before I describe Veronica’s experience and what she saw, I will speak briefly about private revelation.

As Catholics we believe that Jesus is not dead, but risen and living. We believe that his saints in heaven are all alive with him. We believe that Jesus and his saints and angels know us, that they care about us, and that they continue to lovingly help us here on earth. We believe visions, messages, and miracles still happen in our day. And sometimes instances of these phenomena are judged by the Church’s authority to be “worthy of belief.” However, unlike public revelation (which consists of Sacred Scripture and the apostolic teachings in the Deposit of Faith) private revelation, even when officially recognized by the Church, is not binding to be believed by all the faithful. I am not personally qualified to make any official judgment for the Church about private revelations, but I tell you: if I did not personally believe that what Veronica saw was of a heavenly origin, I would not be about to share it with you.

Veronica, with her eyes closed during that Rosary in the hospital, saw a woman standing before her bed. There were pretty, puffy, white clouds behind the woman and to each side of her. And rays of sunlight from the left peaked through gaps in the clouds. The woman wore a dazzling, bright white gown. The fabric of her beautiful, full-length dress looked like satin. It had a modest scoop neckline and sleeves that went down to her wrists. The woman also wore a blue, cathedral-length veil of traditional lace, which extended down to the floor. She was dressed similarly to a statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary from Germany which Veronica’s grandfather had given her years before; a statue Veronica used to play with as a girl.

The woman had long, curly, dark hair, snow white skin, and beautiful blue eyes which gazed at Veronica. The expression on the woman’s face was very pleasant, calming and peaceful, concerned for Veronica and reassuring. Veronica says “she looked absolutely beautiful and gorgeous,” such that “no model could compare.” The woman’s lips moved as she slowly spoke with a very feminine, light and calming, beautiful voice, which echoed with some reverberation. And this is what she said: “Veronica, do not be afraid. I will take care of this child as I have taken care of my Son, Jesus. Do not worry and do not cry.”

In this vision, Veronica held in her hands her swaddled baby, wrapped in the gray swaddling cloth she had bought for its birth. (Veronica did not yet know whether she had a girl or a boy, since Adelaide had not yet been delivered.) Hearing the Virgin Mary’s words gave Veronica great relief, for who could be better than the Blessed Mother to care for her lost child? Veronica raised up her arms in the vision, completely entrusting her child to Mary. Mysteriously, Mary remained where she stood but seemed to come closer. Veronica says, “I handed her my child and then she was gone.” The entire vision was very brief, perhaps just ten or fifteen seconds, about the length of one Hail Mary prayer.

Veronica was left with feelings of peace, calm, reassurance that everything was OK, and wonder that the Blessed Mother would make herself known to her. Veronica did not share her story right away—she was worried people might think she was crazy—but after this vision she began comforting those gathered around her bedside. When her mother began to cry, Veronica told her, “Don’t cry, you don’t have to cry.” As St. Paul told the Corinthians, “[God] encourages us in our every affliction, so that we may be able to encourage those who are in any affliction with the encouragement with which we ourselves are comforted by God.”

Veronica is saddened, of course, still grieving and mourning, but not crushed or depressed like one might expect. She always had faith in God and Jesus Christ, but this experience has reinforced it, and she desires the same growth in Christian faith for you. “There’s beauty in the suffering,” she told me, adding, “I just want everyone to know what I know and to feel the peace that I feel with God and his love.” This is the Lord Jesus Christ’s wish for you, too. Clouds may limit our vision in this world, preventing us from seeing all that God is up to, but even in the hardest times rays of light still shine through. This light comes from the Lord Jesus who loves us, who treasures little Adelaide and who also treasures you.

Posted in Blessed Virgin Mary, Childhood, Early Church, Faith, Funeral Homilies, Homily, Human Dignity, Jesus Psalms, Supernatural Phenomena | 1 Comment »

“You Have Nothing to be Ashamed of”

April 17, 2021

3rd Sunday of Easter

When I was 26 years old, in my second year of major seminary, I was bothered by a worrisome question or doubt. “Of course, God loves me,” I thought to myself. “He loves everyone – even those in hell. But does he like me? Even the eternally damned are loved by God though they don’t love him back. I know that God loves me, but is he pleased with me?” I was burdened by this question for several weeks until, I believe, God personally addressed my concern.

During the summer of 2007 near the end of an hour of prayer (which is called a “Holy Hour”) sitting in a chapel before Jesus in the tabernacle, I heard him say in my thoughts: “You have nothing to be ashamed of.” I replied that I would love for him to say that, but how could it possibly be true? I knew my sins, and he knew them far better than I. So he would have to convince me.

He asked me, again in my mind, “When you sin in a big way, you always try to get to Confession, right?”

“Yes,” I answered.

“And when you sin in a small way, once you realize you’re doing it, you try to stop, right?”

“Yes, that’s true.”

And then he said, “You’re for me.”

I recognized in this an echo of a verse from the Letter to the Romans: “If God is for us, who can be against us?” Jesus was telling me, “If you’re for me, how could I possibly be against you?” The nagging doubt I had carried for a couple of months he resolved in a couple of minutes by highlighting my concern over the very sins which had made me feel ashamed.

On Pentecost Sunday, fifty days after Easter, St. Peter preaches to the crowd in Jerusalem:

“[Jesus the Christ] you handed over and denied in Pilate’s presence when [the governor] had decided to release him. You denied the Holy and Righteous One and asked that a murderer be released to you. The Author of life you put to death, but God raised him from the dead; of this we are witnesses.”

Peter is charging them as accessories to deicide. He is declaring them guilty accomplices in the murder of God. And this crime is ours as well, because the sins of all humanity sent Jesus to the Cross. But Peter is preaching not to condemn the world to hopeless shame, but so that the world might be saved through Christ. “Repent, therefore, and be converted,” Peter proclaims, “that your sins may be wiped away.”

In our Gospel, Jesus shows his disciples the wounds in his hands and feet not as a bitter reproach but that they may share his joy. The greeting of the risen Lord is not “I condemn you,” but rather, “Peace be with you.”

As St. John writes in our second reading:

“My children, I am writing this to you
so that you may not commit sin.
But if anyone does sin,
we have an Advocate with the Father,
Jesus Christ the righteous one.
He is expiation for our sins,
and not for our sins only
but for those of the whole world.”

In conclusion, know and remember that guilt is different than shame. We should feel guilt for the sins we commit. When I sin, guilt says, “I have done foul, ugly, and unlovely things, and I must repent.” But shame says, “I am foul. I am ugly. I am unlovable. And I cannot be saved.” The feeling of guilt can be a gift from God, but the Evil One wants you to feel ashamed. Shame is unhealthy, causing us to despair and hide from God. Guilt, on the other hand, is useful when it spurs us to conversion, to spiritual health and our salvation.

Jesus loves you and he likes and is pleased by every good thing about you. Repent, therefore, and be converted that your sins may be wiped away and your love of God may be truly perfected in you.

Posted in Christian Perfection, Homily, Repentance, Sunday Homilies, Supernatural Phenomena | Leave a Comment »

The Meticulous Leveler — Funeral Homily for David Zwiefelhofer, Sr., 93

April 15, 2021

On behalf of St. John the Baptist Parish, I wish to express our sympathies to you at David’s passing. At 93 years old, he is among our parish’s longest, faithful members. Today, St. John’s is honored to offer our greatest prayer, the Holy Mass, to aid his eternal soul on his journey, and to aid your souls on the path ahead of you. If you are one of David’s siblings, children, nieces, nephews, grandchildren, or great grandchildren, you have known him your entire life. Perhaps it is hard for you to imagine life without him. I know I can’t tell you much more about David’s life than you already know well. And no funeral homily could capture the fullness of a person. But the facets of a faithful Christian’s life will the reflect mysteries of Christ.

One of the interesting things I learned about David is his being a skilled excavator. He had a reputation for being the best bulldozer operator around. Even in retirement, people called upon the Brahma Bull to bulldoze for their projects. David is a perfectionist, attentive to detail. He possessed the uncanny ability to know—without instruments—when a plowed surface was level. “That’s not level,” an onlooker might say. They couldn’t convince him, or course. And when the surface was measured, David would be proven right. I was also surprised to learn that his line of work once nearly killed him. While David was operating his machine through a deep trench, a dirt wall collapsed and sand flowed in around him from the side like water. His coworkers rushed in to keep the sand away from his head so he could breathe, and they dug him out, saving his life.

We can see some of Jesus Christ being reflected through David. Realize that Jesus is very meticulous, too. We are his handiwork, and he cares a great deal about his work. Jesus’ insistence on his teachings is not mere human stubbornness. Our Lord knows that he knows what he is talking about. Jesus is a skilled leveler, making our neighbors as important as ourselves, even declaring that any good or evil done to them will one day be judged as having been done to him. Jesus’ profession and work put his life on the line for us; he was buried but rose again from the earth. In life and death, we are called to follow Christ. We must follow him, that we may share in his victory.

In the words of the Old Testament prophet Isaiah, in accord with the New Testament proclamation of St. John the Baptist, our patron:

“Every valley shall be filled
and every mountain and hill shall be made low.
The winding roads shall be made straight,
and the rough ways made smooth,
and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.”

The ways of the just the Lord makes smooth, path of the just he makes level, if we would only hand him the keys, and allow him bulldoze and level in our lives whatever he must. Jesus’ current project in our world is great and beautiful: building “a new heaven and a new earth.” And he desires and invites you, his beloved, to be a part of it. By God’s grace, may David, you, and I inherit the Kingdom Christ has been preparing for his people from the foundation of the world.

Posted in Christian Perfection, Funeral Homilies, Homily, Jesus Christ | Leave a Comment »

Three Ways to Strengthen your Faith

April 12, 2021

Divine Mercy Sunday

St. Thomas the Apostle, a martyr for Jesus Christ, is famously nicknamed “Doubting Thomas.” He gets a lot of flack for being slow to believe because of today’s reading from the Gospel of John. One week after Easter Sunday, Jesus appears in the Upper Room once again. This time Thomas is there and Jesus says to him: “Put your finger here and see my hands, and bring your hand and put it into my side, and do not be unbelieving, but believe.” Yet the Gospels show that other disciples were slow to believe as well. The last chapter of St. Mark’s Gospel summarizes Jesus’ post-Resurrection appearances in this way:

“When he had risen, early on the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom he had driven seven demons. She went and told his companions who were mourning and weeping. When they heard that he was alive and had been seen by her, they did not believe. After this he appeared in another form to two of them walking along on their way to the country. They returned and told the others; but they did not believe them either. But later, as [the apostles] were at table, he appeared to them and rebuked them for their unbelief and hardness of heart because they had not believed those who saw him after he had been raised.”

St. Luke records how at that first appearance in the Upper Room, even after Jesus had shown them his wounded hands and his feet, the disciples were “still incredulous for joy.” And later, when the eleven apostles went back up north to Galilee, to a mountain to which Jesus had ordered them, St. Matthew notes, “when they saw him, they worshiped, but they doubted.” There Jesus gave them The Great Commission to make disciples of all nations, even though their faith was not yet perfect.

After everything that the apostles had witnessed Jesus do during his ministry; including multiplying loaves and fishes to feed thousands of people, walking on water, and bringing at least three persons back to life, they still felt doubt. Jesus had raised Jairus’ 12-year-old daughter from the dead. He raised the only son of a widow of the city of Nain from the dead. And Jesus raised Lazarus, the brother of Martha and Mary of Bethany, from the dead. Yet the apostles still doubted, despite evidence, that Jesus himself had resurrected from his tomb. This seems senseless, but I can’t be very hard on them.

When I was in school, our science teacher once attached a bowling ball to a rope and attached that rope to the ceiling. The challenge was to hold the ball up to your nose (so that the rope was without slack) and then to release it, allowing the bowling ball to swing away and swing back toward your face, without flinching. Now I knew that if I didn’t push the ball away when I released it, and if no one touched the ball while it was in motion, if the whole thing held together and if I stood in place, there was no way that bowling ball could possibly hit my face. But when I saw it coming toward my face, I still flinched and stepped back. What we feel doesn’t always match what we think.

It’s like when you fly on an airplane. You know its the safest form of travel. But maybe you still get a bit anxious as you’re boarding, or when the jet accelerates faster and faster down the runway, and climbs thousands of feet up with nothing but empty air between you and the ground. You’re a little alarmed when you hear the aircraft make its mechanical sounds, or when you’re descending to land and you see everything on the ground getting closer and closer, hurtling by. You feel nervous flying, even though your car trips to and from the airports put your life in greater danger than the flight. I think this is just a part of our present human condition; we can doubt even the things we know with certainty. So how can you nurture and deepen your faith? First, in Christian community. Second, by asking and seeking. And third, by being it into being.

Christian community, both here at Mass and outside of Church, helps sustain our faith and grow it. We Christians are like lit charcoals inside of a cookout grill. If you were to dump and scatter these coals across your driveway, they would cool off entirely, achieving nothing but a mess. But by gathering these lit coals together, they become hotter and remain hot by sharing one another’s warmth. As the Letter to the Hebrews says, “We must consider how to rouse one another to love and good works. We should not stay away from our assembly, as is the custom of some, but encourage one another.” When St. Thomas was not yet fully convinced that Jesus had arisen, he still remained within the Christian community. Inside the Upper Room, where the first Eucharist was celebrated, Thomas went on to become convinced of the wonderful truth about our Lord and our God. So do not neglect, but prioritize in your life, your Christian friendships and our community.

Another important way to nurture and deepen your faith is by asking good questions about it and seeking out the truth. The two disciples on the road to Emmaus were discussing and debating with one another about Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection. Then, though they did not fully recognize his presence, Jesus himself drew near and walked with them. He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures and set their hearts burning with new faith and joy. Jesus calls us to be childlike but he wants our faith to be mature. He invited Doubting Thomas to investigate and probe him. Jesus says, “Whoever asks receives, and whoever seeks finds.” So ask mature, challenging questions about our Faith, in conversation, in study, and in prayer. Ask good questions and you will find solid answers to strengthen your faith.

And a third way to deepen your faith is by being it into being. What are the true and beautiful things we believe that you tend to doubt? What are some Christian truths you profess but sometimes have a hard time feeling or living out? Maybe it’s the belief that you’re loved. Maybe it’s the belief that you’re forgiven, or that you could be reconciled to God. Maybe it’s believing that you’re never truly alone. Or maybe it’s believing that Jesus is alive and active today in your life and our world. Ask God to show you your half-accepted Christian beliefs and reflect on them. Ask God for grace to accept these more fully and then be them into being, by which I mean, act as you would if you accepted these truths completely. Then you will begin living more like Jesus wills for you.

On one occasion, the apostles pleaded with Jesus, “Increase our faith!” And the Lord replied, “If you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you would say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you.’” Here Jesus is saying that even if your present faith is tiny, know that your small, imperfect faith is already enough for you to begin doing and becoming everything that he desires for you.

Posted in Christian Perfection, Faith, Feast Day Homilies, Homily, Resurrection, Saintly People, St. Thomas the Apostle, Sunday Homilies, The Apostles | Leave a Comment »

“But Him They Did Not See”

April 5, 2021

Easter Sunday

Saint Peter and Saint John Running to the Sepulchre by James Tissot.

Holy Thursday Homily – The New Passover Lamb
Good Friday Homily – The New Adam
Easter Vigil Homily – The Beginning of the New Creation

It’s surprising and remarkable that the Church’s Gospel for this Mass, the Mass on Easter Sunday morning, does not feature even a brief cameo of Jesus. In this morning’s gospel, the risen Lord does not make any appearance. Mary of Magdala runs back from his tomb without having seen him. She goes to Peter and John and reports her fear that someone has stolen his body. So Peter and John run to the tomb. They arrive and investigate, but him they do not see. And then those two disciples return home.

Later that same day, in encounters recorded by the Gospels, they would see the Jesus alive in the flesh, and touch him, speak with him, and rejoice. As St. Peter announces in our first reading:

“This man God raised on the third day
and granted that he be visible,
not to all the people, but to us,
the witnesses chosen by God in advance,
who ate & drank with him after he rose from the dead.”

Jesus did not appear to everyone, but only some, mostly his friends and others open to receive him.

The Risen Lord did not appear to King Herod, whom he met briefly during his Passion. Herod was a man of vices and pleasures and was curious and excited to see this wonder worker. But when Jesus only answered him with silence, Herod was not entertained and, no longer interested, sent Jesus away.

The Risen Lord did not appear either to Governor Pontius Pilate, who presided over his Roman trial. Pilate thought Jesus had committed no capital crime, but this cynical man of the world (who had scoffed “What is truth?”) thought life would be easier with Jesus out of the way, and so he put him to death.

And the Risen Lord did not appear to the High Priest Caiaphas, who conspired against him. The High Priest was offended by Jesus’ calls to conversion and he envied his popularity and influence among the people. Caiaphas was too proud to learn from and follow Jesus, so he condemned the Christ and became his enemy.

The hedonism of Herod, the pragmatism of Pilate, and the conceitedness of Caiaphas kept them from accepting and following Jesus. Imagine if Jesus had appeared to Herod, Pilate, and Caiaphas after rising from the dead. Would they have loved him then? Seeing his power they might well have submitted to him, but that’s very different than devotion.

Jesus did, however, appear to his disciples, his friends, following his resurrection. For example, Jesus met Mary Magdalene at the tomb on Easter morning after Peter and John had left. On Easter evening, Peter, John, and other disciples were visited by Jesus within the Upper Room even though the doors were locked. And Jesus would go on to appear beside the Sea of Galilee, to reconcile and rehabilitate Simon Peter who had denied him. Each encounter with the Risen Lord was surprising, personal, and beautiful. But at the time of our gospel reading there was only Jesus’ Easter tomb, an open door paired with an inner emptiness, which pointed to something greater, something divine, something real but still unseen.

In 1937, when the Gallup polling organization first began asking the question, 73% of Americans said they were members of a church, synagogue, or mosque. That figure remained near 70% for the next six decades, until about twenty years ago when the number began steadily declining. This week, Gallup’s latest polling indicates for the first time, a majority of Americans (53%) report not belonging to a house of worship. It’s a discouraging trend.

This seems related to a different Gallup poll published in 2020. At the end of that very trying year, surveyed Americans’ self-assessed mental health was worse than it had been at any point in the last two decades. The percentage of those rating their mental health as “excellent” fell for almost every demographic compared to the year before. Every age group, men and women; the married and the unmarried; the wealthy, the poor, and the middle class; each of these groups polled eight to twelve points lower on this question. Only one group reported higher rates of excellent mental health than before, increasing by four points despite the trials of 2020. It was those who, at least once a week, attended religious services.

Like other churches around the country, our public liturgies were suspended for awhile, about three months last year, due to the pandemic. But we have been safely celebrating public Masses in my parishes since last June. I am very pleased that none of my parishioners who have been attending Church have died from Covid; which suggests our Masses here are quite safe. But next Sunday, the weekend after Easter, will all our Masses be filled again like this?

Jesus says, “To anyone who has, more will be given and he will grow rich; from anyone who has not, even what he has will be taken away.” Jesus here is not primarily speaking about earthly economics, but of spiritual wealth. Christian discipleship requires real investment to show a great return. Like the Easter Tomb, our church door is open. Like the Easter Tomb, perhaps you find an emptiness within you. These things point to something greater, something divine, something real but still unseen. I urge you to begin coming back to Mass again, because Jesus reveals himself in surprising, personal, and beautiful ways to his disciples and friends.

Posted in Christian Perfection, Culture, Homily, Mass, Resurrection, Sunday Homilies | Leave a Comment »

The Beginning of the New Creation

April 5, 2021

Easter Vigil

Empty Tomb Sunrise

On Holy Thursday, I spoke about Jesus as the New Passover Lamb who calls us to his feast. On Good Friday, I preached about Jesus as the New Adam who begins a marriage covenant with us, the Church, his bride. Tonight, we celebrate Jesus’ Resurrection from the dead, the beginning of the New Creation. In the beginning, when God created the heavens and the earth, he created everything from absolutely nothing and yet he created everything according to a logic, a reason, a Logos, a wisdom, a Word.

“The Word was with God,
and the Word was God.
He was in the beginning with God.
[And] all things came to be through him…”
according to a plan.

This divine plan was not merely to create a vast, material universe of stars, planets, moons and comets in reflection of God’s glory, but also to create (at least on one planet) many living things as well. Plants and trees were added to the dry land. Swimming creatures were added to the sea. Winged birds were added to the sky. and cattle, creeping things, and of all kinds wild animals were added across the earth. But God’s the ultimate living creation would be “the only creature on earth that God has willed for its own sake”:

God created man in his image;
in the image of God he created him;
male and female he created them.
And God blessed them, saying:
“Be fertile and multiply;
fill the earth and subdue it.”

“God looked at everything he had made, and he found it very good.” And then, the Book of Genesis says, “on the seventh day God was finished with the work he had been doing, [so] he rested on the seventh day from all the work he had undertaken.” But it would be a short rest. Because of human sins and the Fall of Creation, there would be much more work for God to do.

This work is the story of Salvation History reflected throughout tonight’s Old Testament readings: words and deeds across places and times to reconnect with our human race, to reclaim, redeem, and restore us. These many works of God culminated in Jesus Christ. “The Word became flesh, and dwelt among us.” He lives as the New Adam who passes the test. He dies as the New Passover Lamb who sets us free. Saturday was the Jewish Sabbath Day of Rest. And on Holy Saturday, the seventh day of the week, Jesus perfectly fulfills the law, his lifeless body resting in the tomb. When the Sabbath was over, on Easter Sunday (which is the first day of the week again, or what Early Christians called the eighth day) Jesus begins the New Creation in himself, by his Resurrection.

As proclaimed in our Easter Gospel, the tomb was emptied. “Do not be amazed!” an angel told the women there, “You seek Jesus of Nazareth, the crucified. He has been raised; he is not here. Behold the place where they laid him.” Not merely had Jesus’ spirit been raised, but his physical body too. Were it otherwise, when he appeared to his disciples on Easter, his dead body would still be in the tomb. The risen Jesus visits them in the Upper Room and says, “Look at my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Touch me and see, because a ghost does not have flesh and bones as you can see I have.” He shows them his hands, his feet, and his side because these still bear the wounds he suffered during his Passion. It seems his many other cuts and bruises are healed and gone, but Jesus retains these wounds without pain as trophies of his triumph.

“He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead.” He is the plan revealed, the pattern of what is to come, both for those in Christ and for our universe. For death is not the end of us and the Last Day is not the end of the world. The dead will live again and the universe will be glorified into “a new heavens and a new earth.” As St. Paul wrote:

“Creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the children of God […] in hope because creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and share in the glorious freedom of the children of God. We know that the whole creation has been groaning in travail together until now; and not only the creation, but we ourselves who have the first fruits of the Spirit groan inwardly as we wait for […] the redemption of our bodies.”

In our lives we now struggle against evil and sin. This broken world causes painful wounds in us. But the glorious wounds which remain in the risen Savior’s body reveal something beautiful: that with Christ all our trials and sufferings will be weaved into the tapestry, into the New Creation, he is now fashioning. “He will wipe every tear from [our] eyes, and there shall be no more death or mourning, wailing or pain, the old order [will have] passed away.” In light of Jesus, St. Paul can say, “I consider that the sufferings of this present time are as nothing compared with the glory to be revealed for us.” The beginnings of that glory are revealed to us tonight, in the Easter resurrection of our Lord. “Behold,” Christ says, “I make all things new.”

Posted in Feast Day Homilies, Homily, Jesus Christ, Redemptive Suffering, Resurrection, Sunday Homilies | Leave a Comment »

The Spirit’s Blessings Through God’s Church

March 20, 2021

5th Sunday of Lent

Right before ascending into heaven to sit at his Father’s right hand, Jesus gave his disciples these final instructions: “I am sending the promise of my Father upon you; but stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high. …You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you.” After seeing Jesus ascend, the disciples returned to Jerusalem rejoicing. There in the Upper Room, the apostles, the Blessed Virgin Mary, and other Christians (a group of about one hundred twenty persons) devoted themselves with one accord to prayer. After nine days of prayer—the first Christian novena—the Holy Spirit descended upon them on Pentecost.

The apostles had received this eternal, divine Person before. On Easter Sunday evening, Jesus appeared in the Upper Room and breathed upon them saying, “Receive the Holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained.” You and I first received the Holy Spirit at our baptisms, when we were “born again / born from above…of water and Spirit,” and made temples of the Holy Spirit. But just as the Spirit came down on Pentecost and filled the disciples in a new way, inspiring and empowering them to announce, make present, and spread Christ’s Church in the world, so we receive the Holy Spirit anew for mission in the Sacrament of Confirmation.

When God the Father sends his Word he also sends his Breath, and the mission of the Holy Spirit is united to the Son’s. Our faith in Jesus leads to our belief in the Spirit and in the good things which flow from both. These blessings are brought to completion through God’s Holy Catholic Church. As the Apostles’ Creed proclaims:

I believe in the Holy Spirit,
the Holy Catholic Church,
the communion of Saints,
the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body,
and life everlasting. Amen.

As Jesus Christ is the Church’s body, we being his members, so the Holy Spirit is the Church’s soul, our animating Spirit. The Holy Spirit inspires the Church’s Sacred Scriptures, he safeguards her Sacred Tradition and Magisterium from error, he is the Spirit of her liturgies, he empowers her sacraments, he intercedes in her prayers, he builds her up by charisms and ministries, and he manifests holiness in her by each vocation and every saint. As the early Church Fathers said, the Church is the place “where the Spirit flourishes.” The Holy Spirit gives his people gifts of wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety, and fear of the Lord; and his fruits of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control are seen in us. Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit form the Church and make her holy. At the Last Supper, Jesus prayed for the holy unity of his Church. He said, “Holy Father, I pray not only for [these apostles of mine,] but also for those who will believe in me through their word, so that they may all be one, as you, Father, are in me and I in you, that they also may be in us, that the world may believe that you sent me.” This loving unity is reflected in the communion of the Saints.

In today’s Gospel, some Greeks who had come to worship at the Passover Feast approach the Philip the Apostle and ask him, “Sir, we would like to see Jesus.” Philip goes and tells Andrew the Apostle; then Andrew and Philip go and tell Jesus. Jesus answers them, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.” Jesus’ salvific mission is catholic (that is, “universal”). He has come to unite every people and nation in himself. and he sees in this overture from the visiting Greeks a sign that his moment has come. Jesus says, “When I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw everyone to myself.” Jesus gathers them into communion with the one Church he founded, a hierarchical Church (with Christ its Head ordaining that apostles and priests to be her servant leaders) but a Church which is first and foremost interpersonal, communal. No one can baptize themselves; it requires another person. And not even a priest can absolve his own sins. Just so, we are not saved alone, but in communion with others. In the words of Pope St. Paul VI, “We believe in the communion of all the faithful of Christ, those who are pilgrims on earth, the dead who are being purified, and the blessed in heaven, all together forming one Church; and we believe that in this communion, the merciful love of God and his saints is always attentive to our prayer.” As Sts. Andrew and Philip helped those Greeks in reaching out to Jesus, so we lovingly aid one another, by our prayers, penances, and sacrifices, by sharing our material and spiritual goods, helping each other on the way to heaven. But entry into heaven is impossible without the forgiveness of sins.

We believe in the forgiveness of sins. Through Jesus Christ, God’s promises spoken through the Prophet Jeremiah in our first reading are fulfilled: “I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel… I will forgive their evildoing and remember their sin no more.” What was the Risen Christ’s first order of business for his Church when he appeared to his apostles in the Upper Room on Easter? After assuring them that it was really him and that he wished them peace, he gave his apostles the power and authority to forgive sins (as we noted before). Baptism into Christ washes away our past sins, but what if we grievously sin after baptism? We cannot be baptized twice. Since Christ has given his Church the power to forgive sins, then baptism cannot be her only means of forgiveness. The Sacrament of Penance is necessary for salvation for those who have fallen after Baptism, just as Baptism is necessary for salvation for those who have not yet been reborn in Christ.

There is no offense, however serious, that the Church cannot forgive. There is no one, however wicked or guilty, who may not confidently hope for forgiveness, provided their repentance is sincere. Christ, who died for all men, desires that the gates of forgiveness in his Church should be open to anyone who turns away from sin. If you could use a good Confession, mark your calendars to come here to St. Paul’s next Sunday, on Palm Sunday afternoon. Apart from making another appointment, it might be your last chance for a Lenten Reconciliation with God.

But what good would God’s forgiveness be if death were the end of us? We believe in the resurrection of the body. Jesus tells Philip and Andrew, “Amen, amen, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat; but if it dies, it produces much fruit.” Here, as elsewhere, Jesus foretells of his resurrection, for the buried seed which dies then rises from the earth. Jesus then goes on to say, “Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there also will my servant be.” This is not only a call to discipleship but a promise of resurrection: ‘Whoever serves me must follow after me, from the tomb of death to the resurrection of life, and where I am (whether in heaven or in the New Creation to come) there also will my servant be with me.’ Jesus says, “Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will preserve it for eternal life.”

We believe in life everlasting. And this new life doesn’t begin only once we die, or after God raises up our bodies “on the last day.” We can already taste eternal life now. From your worst sins you have had small glimpses of hell, and in Jesus Christ you have already experienced small glimpses of heaven. But our eyes have not seen, and our ears have not heard, and our hearts have not conceived the fullness of what God has prepared for those who love him. Scripture speaks of it in images: of life, light, peace, wine, a wedding feast, the Father’s house, the heavenly Jerusalem, paradise. God will wipe away every tear from our eyes and death will be no more, neither will there be any more mourning or crying or pain, for these things will have passed away. And when we enter this perfect, unending life with the Most Holy Trinity and all the saints, it will be the ultimate fulfillment of our deepest human longings; supreme and definitive happiness.

In conclusion, The Apostles’ Creed ends with the same final word as the last book of the Bible, the word at the end of the Church’s many prayers: “Amen.” In Hebrew, “amen” comes from the same root as the word “believe,” expressing solidity, trustworthiness, and faithfulness. In saying “Amen” we are professing both God’s faithfulness towards us and our trust in him. The Creed’s last word “Amen” repeats and confirms its first words, “I believe,” and everything in between. As St. Augustine preached, “May your Creed be for you as a mirror. Look at yourself in it, to see if you believe everything you say you believe, and rejoice in your faith each day.” This is our Faith. This is the Faith of the Church. We are proud to profess it in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen

Posted in Catholic Church, Christian Perfection, Creed, Holy Spirit, Holy Trinity, Homily, Jesus Christ, Pentecost, Sunday Homilies | Leave a Comment »

At the Father’s Right Hand

March 13, 2021

4th Sunday of Lent

Jesus tells Nicodemus, “Just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.” First, Jesus is raised up on the Cross. Next, he is raised up from the tomb. And finally, he is raised up to heaven. As this week’s section of The Apostles’ Creed proclaims:

He ascended into heaven,
and is seated at the right hand of God the Father Almighty
from there He will come to judge the living and the dead.

Jesus’ body was glorified at the moment of his Resurrection on Easter. Then he visited his disciples in his body over more than a month, appearing and vanishing, conversing and teaching, eating and drinking, and showing painless wounds in his hands, side, and feet. (Jesus keeps these wounds from his Passion as trophies of his victory.) And then, on the fortieth day, Jesus led his Apostles and disciples a short ways east out of Jerusalem, past the Garden of Gethsemane where he had agonized, and up the Mount of Olives which looks down over the Holy City. He raised his hands and blessed them, and as he blessed them he parted from them and was taken up to heaven. He was lifted up as they looked on and a cloud took him from their sight. They did him homage and returned to Jerusalem rejoicing. Of course, one cannot fly an airplane or ride a rocket to enter God’s presence (unless the flight ends very badly). Heaven is not a place here or there, but another dimension of reality, distinct from us but not far distant. Jesus ascends in his disciples’ sight to manifest the invisible, his entry into heaven in fulfillment of what King David had foretold about the Christ, one thousand years before, in the 110th Psalm:

The Lord [God] says to my Lord [the Christ]:
“Sit at my right hand until I put your enemies under your feet. Yours is princely power from the day of your birth. In holy splendor, before the daystar, like the dew, I have begotten you.” The Lord [God] has sworn an oath he will not change: “You are a priest forever…” At your right hand is [Christ] the Lord, who will crush kings on the day of his great wrath, who judges nations…

From ancient times the right hand has been considered the favored spot, the seat of honor for your right-hand man. Being at the right hand means closeness, allowing for intimacy and confidence. You and I have a great friend in high places who “always lives to make intercession” for “those who draw near to God through him.” Jesus, the high priest of the new and eternal Covenant, has “entered, not into a sanctuary made by human hands… but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf.” Jesus Christ is not only humanity’s priest and advocate in Heaven, before ‘his Father and our Father, his God and our God,‘ he also sits enthroned as our king. As the Prophet Daniel once foresaw concerning Christ in a vision:

“To him was given dominion and glory and kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed.”

Jesus Christ is King, the Lord of the cosmos and of history, who dwells in his Church where his Kingdom is now present in mystery. The Catholic Church is the seed and beginning of the Kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven. We now await Christ’s Second Coming in fully-unveiled glory, such that he can no longer be dismissed or ignored by anyone. Jesus will return as ruler of all and come to judge the living and the dead. “‘As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bend before me, and every tongue shall give praise to God.’ … Then each of us shall give an account of himself to God.” The conduct of each person and the secrets of every heart will be brought to light before his throne. Then the wicked “will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

It is very important that we take God and personal conversion seriously. Our first reading chronicles how God’s people had “added infidelity to infidelity, practicing all the abominations of the nations.” The Lord had sent them his messengers, early and often, for he had compassion on his people, “but they mocked the messengers of God, despised his warnings, and scoffed at his prophets.” God’s anger became so inflamed that he permitted them to be conquered by the Babylonian Empire six hundred years before Christ. Those who escaped the sword were carried off into Babylon captivity to be unhappily subjugated there. As today’s psalm recalls, “by the streams of Babylon we sat and wept.” Many never knew true freedom and peace for the rest of their days. But eventually, the Babylonians were conquered by the Persians, and the Lord inspired King Cyrus of Persia to issue a proclamation throughout his empire encouraging the Jews to return to Jerusalem, rebuild the Temple, and worship God there. Notice how the king made this possible but didn’t force anyone to go. They were free to choose; to either return home or stay far away. Wickedness has grave consequences, in this life and hereafter, yet we do not earn our salvation by doing good deeds. As St. Paul tells us, “by grace you have been saved — [God] raised us up with [Jesus] and seated us with him in the heavens… By grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not from you; it is the gift of God; it is not from works, so no one may boast.” Salvation comes from accepting God’s invitation to come home to him.

On the Last Day, Jesus will come again as our Judge, yet “God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him.” “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life.” In Christ “the light came into the world, but people preferred darkness to light, because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come toward the light, so that his works might not be exposed. But whoever lives the truth comes to the light, so that his works may be clearly seen as done in God.” A very powerful way to shed the darkness of sin and come into the light is through Jesus’ Sacrament of Reconciliation.

Here is another divine invitation to freedom and peace: I will be hearing Confessions in St. Paul’s Main Sacristy this Thursday, from 8 AM to 6 PM, at the start of every hour until all are heard. If those times won’t work let me know and we’ll set up something else. Maybe it’s been a long time since your last Confession? Maybe you’re nervous? You don’t need to be. I’ll help you through it. Know that when you come out you will feel absolutely wonderful. And Jesus Christ, seated at the right hand of our Father above, will look upon you and smile.

Posted in Catholic Church, Christian Perfection, Confession, Creed, Homily, Jesus Christ, Last Judgment, Last Things, O.T. Figures, Salvation History, Sunday Homilies | 3 Comments »

Christ Was Lifted Up

March 7, 2021

3rd Sunday of Lent

People would pilgrimage to the Temple in Jerusalem from across the known world to worship, often bringing money to purchase oxen, sheep, or doves for sacrifices to God. So vendors had set up shop in the Temple’s outermost court exchanging foreign currencies into Hebrew coins for a percentage fee and selling animals for a healthy profit. God, however, had designated that large, marble-paved court as the Court of the Gentiles where non-Jews (that is, the Gentiles) could come to worship him at his Temple. The Father willed his Temple to be “a house of prayer for all the nations,” but the moneychangers and animal sellers were making it a noisy, smelly “marketplace.” And by charging unlawful interest and demanding excessive prices even of the poor, they were also “making it a den of thieves.”

A place intended to be free for holy worship and communion with God had become unclean, profaned by sin. So Jesus personally comes to Jerusalem at the time of Passover and does something dramatic. He zealously cleanses the Temple, conquering evil, achieving justice, restoring relationship between God and man, drawing people to himself, and indeed sacrificing himself; for when the chief priests and scribes heard of this incident they began seeking a way to put him to death. Their plotting would lead to the Pascal Mystery at the heart of The Apostles’ Creed:

He suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, died and was buried,
he descended into hell,
on the third day he rose again from the dead,
he ascended into heaven,
and is seated at the right hand of God the Father Almighty.

Why does Jesus Christ do these things? Because sin had caused the human race to fall far from God and paradise. Suffering, dying, and being barred from Heaven were our human lot. We had become slaves to sin and the Evil One, held hostage against our will. Our offenses against the All-Holy One required an incalculable repayment. And our separation from God had made us doubtful of his goodness and love for us. It was a slavery we could not escape, a debt of justice we could not repay, and a broken relationship we could not heal. But God had a plan to save us. He would aid humanity with his divinity by fashioning a remedy for us out of our weakness and suffering and mortality, that from fallout of our downfall would come the means to our salvation. By his Incarnation, the Son of God enters our sinful world as one of us and by his Pascal Mystery sets us free, cleansing us, for holy worship and communion with God. First, Jesus assumes our nature, and then he offers a perfect sacrifice.

As the Letter to the Hebrews says, since we “share in blood and Flesh, Jesus likewise shared in them, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the Devil, and free those who through fear of death had been subject to slavery all their life.” Jesus said that he came “to give his life as a ransom for many.” And lest it be unclear, St. Paul proclaims that the Lord “gave himself as a ransom for all.” Christ’s death frees the slaves and ransoms the captives, and now saints and angels sing to Jesus, the Lamb of God, in Heaven: “Worthy are you… for you were slain and with your blood you purchased for God those from every tribe and tongue, people and nation.”

To some, the idea of Almighty God dying on a cross seems impossible, unbecoming foolishness. Yet Christ crucified is the power and wisdom of God. “The foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength.” This mysterious, hidden, wisdom, planned by God before the ages for our glory, was not understood by the devil and his demons; “for if they had known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.” In sinning God, Adam had handed himself and his descendants into the devil’s clutches, but in crucifying Christ (the sinless New Adam) the serpent overplays his hand and loses big. St. Augustine uses the image of a mousetrap in which Jesus is the bait. The devil takes this bait in putting Jesus on the Cross, but by shedding Christ’s innocent blood the devil is forced to release his claims on those who are joined to Christ. The trap snapped down and crushed the serpent.

Jesus’ sacrifice was also able to pay the incredible debt of human sins before God. All sin is wrong, but consider which sin is worse: to lie to a stranger or to betray a friend; to slap your enemy or to slap your mother? The greater the generous goodness and love that a person has shown us, the greater is the offense of our trespasses against them. So how great a crime then are our sins against God, whose love created us and from whom all good things come? How very great a debt of justice must then be satisfied? Our sins caused a debt no sinner could repay. God had commanded his Old Covenant people to offer animal sacrifices for their sins, the idea being that the creature was dying in the place of the sinner whose sins had merited death. However, as the Letter to the Hebrews says, “it is impossible that the blood of bulls and goats take away sins. For this reason, when [Jesus] came into the world, he said: ‘Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but a body you prepared for me; holocausts and sin offerings you took no delight in. Then I said, as is written of me in the scroll, “Behold, I come to do your will, O God.”’”

Jesus Christ, God become man, perfectly fulfills the Law, keeping the commandments and doing his Father’s will. He lives for God without sin, honoring his Father and mother, proclaiming the Kingdom of God without idolatry or blasphemy, without murder or adultery, without thievery or lying or coveting, but with abundant love. And in his death, Christ obediently offers the perfect, acceptable sacrifice we were incapable of on our own; a divinely-perfected offering of humanity to God. By his Incarnation, Jesus has in a certain way united himself with every human person, inviting them to become one with him. Through his sacraments, we are more perfectly joined to Jesus to share in his life and enjoy the benefits of what he has accomplished. Christ is the Victor over sin and death, over the tomb and the underworld, over the world and the devil, and he invites us to partake in his victory.

In the beginning, though the Holy Trinity did not desire humanity to sin and fall, our freely-chosen rebellion did not come as a surprise. Before Creation, the eternal, all-knowing Trinity foreknew what it would cost to save us. And God still said Yes, “Let there be light.” Jesus Christ was freely delivered up crucifixion by lawless men according to the set plan and foreknowledge of God, as foreshadowed by the Old Testament Scriptures. But could God, if he had wished, before Creation or in the course of time, have ordained a manner for the Son’s saving sacrifice other than dying upon a Roman Cross? If so, if there were other unchosen options, then the Cross of Christ was chosen as a most effective and compelling sign for us. A less painful, less ignoble, less public, less striking death — if such a death could have saved us — would not speak to us so clearly as a powerful sign of God’s love for us as this. Jesus makes himself so vulnerable and so lowly so as to awaken a response of love in our hearts. He extends his arms on the Cross in hopes that the whole world will be drawn to his embrace. As Jesus said, “When I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw all people to myself.”

After Jesus died, the Apostles’ Creed says, “he descended into hell.” What are we to make of this? Death is the separation of one’s soul from one’s body. On Holy Saturday, while Jesus’ dead body laid in his sealed tomb keeping a perfect Sabbath rest, Jesus’ soul visited the souls of those in the realm of the dead. Our creed translates this abode of the dead (called “Sheol” in Hebrew or “Hades” in Greek) as “hell” because all souls there, whether righteous or unrighteous, were deprived of the vision of God. But this does not mean that the situations of the Just and Unjust there were identical. Jesus’ Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus describes the afterlife before the gates of Heaven had opened, showing Lazarus comforted in the bosom of Father Abraham while the uncaring, anonymous rich man (whose name is not written in the Book of Life) suffers torment in the flames.

Jesus descends to hell as Savior, proclaiming the Good News to the souls imprisoned there. He does not descend into hell to deliver the damned, nor to destroy the hell of damnation, but to free the souls of the Just. Jesus had said, “Amen, amen, I say to you, the hour is coming and is now here when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live.” By proclaiming the Gospel in the underworld and inviting souls to Heaven, Jesus extends his saving victory to all the faithful people who had preceded him in death.

On the third day he rose again from the dead,
he ascended into heaven,
and is seated at the right hand of God the Father Almighty.

I do not have the time to speak much about these lines this Sunday, but in closing, note what St. Paul beautifully observes about Christ in his Letter to the Philippians:

Though he was in the form of God, Jesus did not deem equality with God something to be grasped at. Rather, he emptied himself and took the form of a slave, Being born in the likeness of men, …it was thus that he humbled himself, obediently accepting even death, death on a cross!

Because of this, God highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every other name, so that at Jesus’ name every knee must bend in the heavens, on the earth, and under the earth, and every tongue proclaim to the glory of God the Father: Jesus Christ is Lord!

Jesus empties himself in his Incarnation, humbles himself in his holy obedience, submits himself to his Passion and death, descends to the depths of the underworld, lower and lower and then Jesus is raised up from there, higher and higher, to life and rewards, glory and honor and power, enthroned at the favored righthand of God the Father. St. Paul says to “have among yourselves the same attitude” as this in your Christian life, for as Jesus teaches, “Whoever exalts himself will be humbled; but whoever humbles himself will be exalted.”

Posted in Adam and Eve, Christian Perfection, Creation, Creed, Hell, Holy Trinity, Homily, Jesus Christ, Justice, Passion, Rich Man & Lazarus, Sacrifice, Salvation History, St. Augustine, Sunday Homilies, Temple Cleansing | 1 Comment »

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