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God Was With Them

August 30, 2025

22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time
By Fr. Victor Feltes

Wednesday’s awful attack at Annunciation Catholic School in Minneapolis is terrible and heart-aching. Such an evil occurring in our region of the country, to a place of Catholic faith and learning like our own, hits extra close to home. And whatever prudent proposals should follow, we are moved to pray fervently for these victims and everyone impacted. This week we witnessed some combination of mental illness, demonic influence, and chosen evil at work. If demons had no role in this atrocity, then their bad fruits are indiscernible in this world. St. Paul wrote to the Ephesians that our true adversaries are not flesh and blood—fixation on the hatred of other humans is a snare for the soul. Our struggle is with “the evil spirits in the heavens” who prowl about the world seeking the ruin of souls.

The tactics of demons are various but perhaps their foremost temptation is a repetition of history’s first temptation. The lie behind Satan’s suggestion to Adam and Eve that they eat from the forbidden tree to become like gods was: “You can’t trust God because he doesn’t really love you.” This is the point I wish to speak to, for this week I saw reactions to the attack on these innocents like this one online: “They were literally praying when they got shot. Praying doesn’t work.” The shooting at the Annunciation School Mass reportedly began during the Responsorial Psalm, which (if they were reading the same psalm we were at our parish that morning) included these lines: “Where can I go from your spirit? From your presence where can I flee? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I sink to the nether world, you are present there.” Does their suffering such evil mean that the Lord was not with them and for them at that church?

On Wednesday, my thoughts went to chapter two of the Book of Wisdom. You might not be familiar with its passages, since this Old Testament book is found in Catholic and Orthodox canons of Scripture but not included in most Protestant bibles. I encourage you to read the entire second chapter yourself, but I will excerpt from the text here. It begins by observing how the Wicked, “not thinking rightly, said among themselves: ‘Brief and troubled is our lifetime; there is no remedy for our dying, nor is anyone known to have come back from the underworld. For by mere chance were we born, and hereafter we shall be as though we had not been…”

The Book of Wisdom says the Wicked who think life is pointlessness and hopeless resolve to enjoy pleasures to the fullest and to exploit whomever they wish. They say, “Come, therefore, let us enjoy the good things that are here, and make use of creation with youthful zest. Let us oppress the righteous poor; let us neither spare the widow nor revere the aged for hair grown white with time. But let our strength be our norm of righteousness; for weakness proves itself useless.” Then from here the text goes on, at much more length than I am sharing, describing the Wicked’s hatred towards a holy person:

“‘Let us lie in wait for the righteous one, because he is annoying to us; he opposes our actions, reproaches us for transgressions of the law… He professes to have knowledge of God and styles himself a child of God. Let us see whether his words be true… For if the righteous one is the son of God, God will help him and deliver him from the hand of his foes. With violence and torture let us put him to the test… Let us condemn him to a shameful death; for according to his own words, God will take care of him.’ These were their thoughts, but they erred; for their wickedness blinded them, and they did not know the hidden counsels of God; neither did they count on a recompense for holiness nor discern the innocent souls’ reward.”

This Old Testament prophecy clearly applies to Jesus, but not merely to him but his martyrs as well. I cannot tell you what specific goods will come from Almighty God permitting particular evils to occur but we know, in the words of St. Paul to the Romans, “God works all things together for the good of those who love him.” On Good Friday, the murder of the Messiah was incomprehensible to his disciples and friends, but just forty hours later, with the resurrection of Jesus, they began to better understand that mystery at the center of our Christian Faith. Like in today’s Gospel parable, Jesus went to the lowest place, but the Lord of Hosts saw and said to him “My friend, move up to a higher position,” and now he enjoys a most-honored seat in heaven and the esteem of all his companions around the Eucharistic table.

Our waiting to behold God’s full reversal of this world’s evils will likely last much longer than just three days, but we will endure in faith, hope, and love, praying and working and worshipping and journeying with Jesus Christ. We approach God’s Kingdom and we will press on to join the countless angels in festal gathering; and God the judge of all; and the spirits of the Just, the saints made perfect; and Jesus, the mediator of our new covenant; and the sprinkled blood that speaks more eloquently than that of history’s first martyr, Abel. God was with them and he will be with us too.

Posted in Homily, Parables, Redemptive Suffering, Sunday Homilies | Leave a Comment »

The Smallest Psalm

August 24, 2025

21st Sunday in Ordinary Time
By Fr. Victor Feltes

In the 1993 comedy drama “Groundhog Day,” Bill Murray plays a cynical Pittsburg weatherman assigned to cover the Groundhog Day festivities held in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania. There he becomes trapped inside a mysterious time loop, reliving the same day over and over. At first he indulges in sensible pleasures, then he darkly despairs, but eventually he starts growing in wisdom and virtue until he becomes a man worthy of his good and beautiful TV producer, played by Andie MacDowell. Each day was the same, but over time they began to change him for the better. The same thing can be true with the formal prayers we say.

Though it is a very good thing for us to speak to our heavenly friends in our own words, offering traditional memorized or pre-written prayers is valuable as well. How do we know? Because God inspired and gave his to people an entire collection of such prayers known as The Book of Psalms. He knew these 150 prayers would be prayed over and over, in both the Old Covenant and the New Covenant, teaching us and transforming us in our relationship with him. And it is important that we strive to learn and grow, so that we may enter through the narrow gate of Jesus Christ and be saved. Daily prayer and weekly Mass are among the God-given disciplines which yield (in the words of the Letter to the Hebrews) “the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who are trained by [them].”

Now imagine if you were Almighty God and you wished to compose a tiny psalm for the human race. What would you write about? Whom would you feature and what themes would you highlight? In the responsorial psalm for today’s Holy Mass we see how God answered. Short prayers can be great prayers. Psalm 117 is just two verses, only four lines long, the shortest psalm in the Bible:

Praise the Lord, all you nations;
glorify him, all you peoples!
For steadfast is his kindness toward us,
and the fidelity of the Lord endures forever. Hallelujah!

In this psalm’s original context, God’s chosen people are calling out to the Gentiles, the nations beyond Israel, urging them to praise the Lord. The psalm begins and ends with appeals to praise the Lord for Hallelujah (or Alleluia) are Hebrew for “Praise the Lord!” Why should the God of Israel be praised, honored, celebrated, and loved? The psalm’s second half provides an answer: “For steadfast is his kindness toward us, and the fidelity of the Lord endures forever.” And God’s goodness, his real and steadfast love, endures for us in this age of the Church. As St. John writes in his first New Testament letter: “We have come to know and to believe in the love God has for us. … We love because he first loved us.”

And here’s a final lesson from this small psalm: Psalm 117 is evangelistic. It calls all everyone from everywhere to enter into full communion with God’s people and himself. Has anyone outside of your household become Catholic through your influence? It helps if we try. If we are called to produce a harvest “a hundred or sixty or thirtyfold,” then we could expect to have at least a handful of such people in our lifetime. Catholics sometimes feel intimidated at making invitations, thinking they lack the right words. But Psalm 117 show that the message can be simple: “You should to worship with us here, because Christ’s mercy and blessings in his Catholic Church have changed my life.” The Sunday morning classes for becoming Catholic called OCIA (formerly known as RCIA) are starting soon. Who could you invite to come along with you? Please help them enter Christ’s house through the narrow gate.

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

True Christianity Cleaves

August 16, 2025

20th Sunday in Ordinary Time
By Fr. Victor Feltes

Jesus asked his disciples, “Do you think that I have come to establish peace on the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division.” Why does he say this? Is he not the one whom Isaiah called the “Prince of Peace”? The Prophet Zechariah foretold: “Behold: your king is coming to you… humble and riding on a donkey… He shall banish the chariot from Ephraim, and the warhorse from Jerusalem; the warrior’s bow will be banished, and he will proclaim peace to the nations.” But this Kingdom of unending worldwide peace has not yet fully come and will not arrive until Christ’s Second Coming.

Jesus told his apostles, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you,” but he added, “because you do not belong to the world… the world hates you. … In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.” Jesus wished to dispel his followers’ presumptions about immediate peace on earth and warned them of future conflicts. He said, “You will hear of wars and reports of wars; see that you are not alarmed, for these things must happen, but it will not yet be the end.” Jesus also warned his disciples of future religious persecutions because not everyone, even amongst his own people, would accept him as the Christ. “From now on,” Jesus said, “a household of five will be divided, three against two and two against three.” “Brother will hand over brother to death, and the father his child; children will rise up against parents and have them put to death.” “You will be hated by all because of my name,” Jesus said, “but whoever endures to the end will be saved.”

You have probably heard both ancient and modern stories about people who suffered and sacrificed a great deal in order to be a Christian or to join his Catholic Church. We are surrounded by great a cloud of such witnesses: like St. Paul the Apostle, St. Edmund Campion St. Kateri Tekakwitha, St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, St. John Henry Newman, and many other saints. When we hear of a household divided—three against two or two against three—on account of Christ, we might imagine a family at odds due to some accepting Jesus and his Church while others remain atheists, pagans, Muslims, Jews, or non-Catholic Christians. This sometimes happens, yet Jesus absolutely insists that we love him most of all and follow him no matter what. He says, “Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; and whoever does not take up his cross and follow after me is not worthy of me.” If you have been considering becoming a Catholic Christian, I urge you to take the next step and learn more this fall by enrolling in parish OCIA classes (formerly known as RCIA).

Though we typically imagine persecution coming from people outside our faith, resistance can come from our co-religionists as well. The Prophet Jeremiah and those who were persecuting him in today’s first reading were all Old Testament Jews professing to follow the same God and same faith. Yet those who mistreated Jeremiah were opposing God’s will. This can happen inside of a Catholic household as well. What if some family members understand the necessity of worshipping and thanking God every Sunday at Mass while others in the family are unwilling to prioritize him? What if one spouse wants to live in accord with God’s will about the marital embrace, virtue, love, and human life, but the other spouse wants to contracept? What if children want to explore possible priestly or religious vocations but their parents resist what may be God’s will saying, “We want grandchildren”? What if some family members treat our religion like merely “fire insurance,” hoping the Lord won’t mind us doing whatever we prefer, while other members are on fire for the Lord?

Jesus said, “I have come to set the earth on fire, and how I wish it were already blazing!” He wants us to be on fire for him, aflame with the Holy Spirit, shining light with a warm inner peace which this troubled world cannot take away. If that uniquely describes you in your household, pray for your family members, love them, and keep modeling and advocating for what is right and good. If that does not describe you, then pray for a more fervent heart and obey the voice of Christ challenging your conscience. Realize you cannot clear a six foot charism using only three foot hops.

Posted in Homily, Marriage and Family, Sunday Homilies, Unity | Leave a Comment »

Greet Him At His House

August 9, 2025

19th Sunday in Ordinary Time
By Fr. Victor Feltes

Today’s Gospel is first and foremost about the Second Coming of Christ and our judgment on the Last Day. Jesus Christ, who called himself the Son of Man, said that in the End Times “the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming upon the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.” The Book of Revelation agrees: “Behold, [Jesus Christ] is coming amid the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him… ‘Behold, I am coming soon. I bring with me the recompense I will give to each according to his deeds.’” “But of [the timing of] that day and hour,” Jesus says, “no one knows, neither the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone.” (The Son of God is divine and therefore knows everything, but in his humanity Jesus apparently did not know the date or was not supposed to reveal it.) Could Jesus Christ return during our lifetime? Of course. But even if Christ returns a thousand years from now we should still heed his warning to be prepared today, for we do not know the day and hour of our deaths when he will judge our souls and deeds.

Jesus’ parable about the returning master and his servants suggests another secondary interpretation. Consider the story’s details. The master has come from a wedding. He comes to his own house. He wants his servants to be there, ready to greet him. And in response he will “have the servants recline at table and proceed to wait on them.” And “should he come in the second or third watch” (when it is darkest and most inconvenient) and find them present, attentive, and well-prepared, those servants will be greatly blessed. So where is the Lord Jesus’ house to which he returns? Where does he want his servants to be present and pleased to see him? Where would he have his faithful servants rest, partake in a meal served by him, and receive his blessed rewards? This church is his house. We are his servants. And Jesus wants us to meet him here for a meal. Our Lord arrives here joyfully from a wedding. He wedded the Church to himself two thousand years ago. And the Holy Mass extends that mystery throughout time and space to here and now. Indeed, ‘blessed are those called to the wedding supper of the Lamb’ and who are here and ready to greet him.

Yet, for too many people, the precious time of Sunday Mass is an hour when they do not expect the Son of Man to come. Despite our many scheduled weekend Masses, they still do not attend. Others show up out of obligation or custom or habit, but fail to be attentive. Perhaps they do not yet believe—despite Scripture, ancient teaching, and centuries of miracles—that Jesus Christ is truly present in the Holy Eucharist. Or perhaps they do not yet realize that they are not mere spectators at Holy Mass but offering a sacrifice with the priest and the whole community, the eternal offering of the Son to the Father, through which everything united to Christ is raised up to heaven and grace and blessings are poured down to earth in return.

Be present and be vigilant. Distractions will come to anyone who is committed to regular Massgoing and daily prayer, but do not be discouraged by the times your thoughts accidentally wander. Every decision to turn your attention back to the Lord is another act of love and devotion. Sometimes those so-called distractions are actually things the Lord wants you to pray about or offer up to him. Ask the Holy Spirit and he will help you to pray as you ought, to gird your loins with reverence and light your lamps with faith and be like servants who are glad and blessed upon their master’s return from a wedding.

Posted in Homily, Jesus Christ, Last Things, Mass, Parables, Second Coming, Sunday Homilies, Unwatchful Servant | 1 Comment »

Can One Man Save A City?

July 27, 2025

17th Sunday in Ordinary Time
By Fr. Victor Feltes

This morning, I believe I should preach to you about the City of Sodom and the City of God, about the importance of Christ and the importance of Confession. In today’s first reading, Abraham intercedes with the Lord concerning the possible destruction of Sodom. Abraham asks: ‘Will you sweep away the innocent with the guilty? Suppose there were fifty innocent people in the city; would you wipe out the place, rather than spare it for the sake of the fifty innocent people within it? What if there are five less than fifty innocent people? Will you destroy the whole city because of those five? What if only thirty are found there? What if there are no more than twenty? What if there are at least ten there?’ The Lord replies that if there are fifty, or forty-five, or thirty, or twenty, or even ten innocent people in the city of Sodom, for their sake “I will not destroy it.” But the city of Sodom was destroyed, and God does not lie, so we know that there was not ten innocent people in that city when it was destroyed. Abraham stopped at ten, but suppose if he had pressed on further? Imagine if Abraham had asked the Lord, ‘What if one innocent person is found there? Will you spare the city?’ Could one righteous man have saved the city?

In the fifth century A.D., St. Augustine wrote of two cities: the City of Man and the City of God. These cities exist side by side extending throughout the earth with every human person belonging to one city or the other. The City of Man embraces sin, with pride, ambition, greed, lust, hated and immorality reigning. But the City of God is led by the Lord, with Christian love and virtues lived in an alliance with Jesus Christ. To which city do we belong?

St. Paul told the Christians in Ephesus, “You are fellow citizens with the holy ones and members of the household of God.” This citizenship was bestowed to us through baptism, as St. Paul teaches in our second reading: “You were buried with [Christ] in baptism, in which you were also raised with him…. And even when you were dead in transgressions… he brought you to life along with him, having forgiven us all our transgressions….” In Jesus Christ, an innocent man is found among us at last. The Son of God became one of us so that on his account our city may be spared. Yet to benefit from his righteousness, we must continue living close to him.

Baptism forgave our past sins, but Jesus teaches us to seek that our new sins be forgiven. He told his disciples, “When you pray, say… Give us each day our daily bread and forgive us our sins…” Realize that all wrongdoing is sin but not all sin is mortal (or spiritually fatal) and know that forgiveness can require more than just a prayer. As St. John writes in his First Epistle: “If anyone sees his brother sinning, if the sin is not deadly, he should pray to God and he will give him life. This is only for those whose sin is not deadly. There is such a thing as deadly sin, about which I do not say that you should pray. All wrongdoing is sin, but there is sin that is not deadly.” If you have sinned, you should pray to God for mercy and grace. But if you have sinned gravely, you should also seek out Confession. This is a sacrament Jesus Christ has given us for the forgiveness of grave sins after baptism.

Your priests care deeply about this sacrament and we are at your service, at both announced times and upon request. Considering how many people are in our parishes, it concerns me that we are not busier with confessions than we are. You bathe every day. You probably take out garbage every week. The practice of monthly confession, even absent grave sins, is good spiritual hygiene for your soul and helps you live closer to Christ. If you wander away from the City of God into the City of Man, come to Confession for a rapid to return home. Please allow our Lord to show you his mercy.

Posted in Christian Perfection, Confession, Homily, Mercy, Sunday Homilies | Leave a Comment »

Catholic Diversity In Unity

July 3, 2025

Solemnity of Saints Peter & Paul
By Fr. Victor Feltes

Today, I wish to speak to you about Saints Peter and Paul, vocations, the Catholic Church and the Churches in her, and two aspects of the Holy Mass. This homily will be a bit longer than usual, but each of its parts are interesting. Saints Peter and Paul shared many similarities but manifested in different ways:

🔸 Both were personally called by Christ to become apostles; Peter quite early during Jesus’ public ministry, but Paul rather late, after Jesus’ Ascension.

🔸 Both beheld Jesus in his transfigured glory; making his friend Peter feel ecstatic, but making his persecutor Paul go temporarily blind.

🔸 Both preached the Gospel; Peter primarily to the Jews, but Paul particularly to the Gentiles.

🔸 Both taught the Faith; Paul the Pharisee was highly-educated, but Peter the uneducated fisherman was not.

🔸 Both experienced weakness; Peter in conquering his passions, but Paul by enduring “a thorn in the flesh.”

🔸 Both were martyred by the Roman Empire in Rome; Peter was crucified upside-down, but Paul the Roman citizen was beheaded.

That Saints Peter and Paul whom we celebrate this Sunday shared one Faith, one Lord, and one calling, and yet manifested these differently in their faithful lives. We also see this in the Catholic Church today. Peter and Paul were called to be apostles. Today, some are called to be bishops, priests, or deacons. Others are called to be consecrated male or female religious. Many more are called to the vocation of holy marriage. Others live out their baptismal mission and call as single persons or consecrated virgins. Which of these ways is the greatest way to live a Christian life? The greatest, most glorious, most fruitful path for you is the one Christ has called or is calling you to. Your life may look differently than others’, even amongst people living out the same vocation, but you can still be living a faithful, fruitful Christian life.

We belong to Christ’s Catholic Church. The word “Catholic” comes from Greek, meaning “universal, worldwide, (or) all-inclusive.” The Catholic Church, established by God for all people and places in this present age, unites humanity in our diversity, but even within our unity we see legitimate variety. Did you know that the one Catholic Church contains 24 Churches with apostolic roots and varying liturgical traditions practiced in full communion with the pope? The largest of these Catholic Churches is the Roman Catholic Church, to which we belong along with more than 98% of the world’s 1.3 billion Catholics. About 18 million other Catholics are in Churches in full communion with Rome; the three largest being the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church (mainly in Western Ukraine), the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church (mainly in India), and the Maronite Church (mainly in Lebanon). Our one Faith differently celebrated. (Other Churches called the Orthodox Churches have nearly 300 million members put together, with valid priests and bishops and all seven sacraments like us, yet they are not in communion with the pope. Pray for our reunion. The gap between us is less than any Protestant group.) There is even legitimate variation within the Holy Mass of our Roman Catholic Church. I wish to highlight two examples: one in how one receives the Eucharist and another in how the Eucharist is celebrated.

The early Church Fathers mention the Eucharist being placed upon communicants’ hands. Other Communion customs also existed but Communion in the hand was explicitly described. For instance, St. Cyril in Jerusalem and St. Theodore in Turkey instructed the faithful to lay one hand over the other to create a throne (for both saints declare one is about to receive a King) cupping one’s palm to receive “The Body of Christ” and answering “Amen.” St. John Chrysostom observes how a communicant’s hands “hold [the Eucharistic Sacrifice] but for a time.” He writes, “Oh! What a marvel! What love of God to man! He who sits on high with the Father is at that hour held in the hands of all…” And St. Basil the Great records “in the church, when the priest gives the portion, the recipient takes it with complete power over it, and so lifts it to his lips with his own hand.” These and the writings of other Church Fathers show that receiving Communion in the hand existed in the Early Church.

However, though Communion in the hand is allowed today, the many-centuries-long tradition of receiving Communion on one’s tongue is also permitted, either standing or kneeling. Some find receiving our Lord on the tongue strengthens their reverence and devotion; acknowledging the glory of their Great Guest, extending the red carpet of one’s tongue for him to enter under one’s roof through the doors of one’s lips, humbly receiving this priceless Gift of pure grace. After next summer’s church renovation, once there is more space in front of these steps to our sanctuary, I plan to place a kneeler in the center-front as an option, as you may have seen offered already at churches in Chippewa Falls. How you receive our Lord, standing or kneeling, on your hand or on your tongue, is for you to personally discern, since they each option is permitted for you by the present liturgical rules of the Church.

The next legitimate Mass option I would like to explain pertains to the celebrant leading the congregation. Since the Second Vatican Council, the most common way priests have celebrated Mass is versus populum, or “towards the people.” Yet the much-longer-practiced custom has been for the priest and the people to face (literally or symbolically) towards the east together, or “ad orientem.” Like the Jews used to pray towards the Holy Temple in Jerusalem, the writings of the Church Fathers show the early Christians prayed toward the east. St. Clement of Alexandria writes “prayers are made looking towards the sunrise in the east.” And Origen notes: “…Of all the quarters of the heavens, the east is the only direction we turn to when we pour out prayer…” Tertullian records that Christians facing east to pray caused some non-Christians to mistakenly believe we worshiped the sun. But the Christians praying toward the sunrise saw a symbol of Christ rising from the dead and of his promised return to earth in radiant glory one day. Throughout the centuries, even in churches which were not built to face east like our St. Paul’s Church, the priest and the people faced the same direction (or “liturgical east”) together. However, since the 1970’s the prevailing custom has been for the priest to face the congregation.

The Catholic Church approves both versus populum and ad orientem as valid options, and these two ways of celebrating the Mass emphasize different truths. Celebrating versus populum, toward the people, emphasizes the horizontal aspect, the communal meal. And the Holy Mass is indeed a meal, a memorial of the Last Supper, where Jesus Christ and his disciples gather at his table. Celebrating ad orientem, toward the east, emphasizes the vertical aspect, the sacrificial offering. And the Holy Mass is indeed a sacrifice, a memorial of the Cross, where Jesus Christ is offered up for us from his altar.

I experienced my first ad orientem Mass when I was still in seminary. The celebrant was a visiting alumnus and priest of our diocese, Fr. Derek Sakowski. I remember fearing that I would hate the Mass being said that way because I often dislike changes. (For instance, our seminary once changed the toaster in the dining hall and—even though I almost never used the old familiar toaster—I was annoyed when they had replaced it with a new one.) Fr. Sakowski said the same English prayers as at other Masses but watching him celebrate that Mass ad orientem, facing us when speaking to us and facing God when praying to God, I found it surprisingly beautiful and it made a lot of sense. When weekday Massgoers at St. John the Baptist Parish first experienced Mass ad orientem more than five years ago, the attendees reported positive experiences similar to mine.

I mention all this because I would like our weekday Massgoers to experience ad orientem in at least a few Masses this July and hear their feedback. After Vatican II, when Mass facing the people became the prevailing custom in the Church, pastors often introduced that liturgical change abruptly, without consultation, and without adequate explanation. It was jarring, and many lay people were bewildered and hurt. I do not wish to repeat such mistakes going in the opposite direction. Nothing will change without thorough consultation and consensus support. At the end of such a dialogue at St. John the Baptist’s Parish, one weekend Mass changed and the other stayed the same and today everyone seems happy or content with that. Our Faith, our calling, and our Lord are one, even as our faithful lives will manifest them differently. We are Catholic. So in essential things, unity. In non-essential things, liberty. And in all things, charity—that is, love.

Posted in Catholic Church, Feast Day Homilies, Homily, Mass, St. Paul, St. Peter, Sunday Homilies | Leave a Comment »

Feeding the Multitude

June 24, 2025

Solemnity of Corpus Christi
By Fr. Victor Feltes

All four Gospels recount the miracle of Jesus multiplying the loaves and the fishes. He receives five loaves and two fish and successfully feeds (in the words of St. Matthew) “about five thousand men, not counting women and children,” with twelve wicker baskets full of fragments leftover. Now this event cannot be reduced to a so-called “miracle of sharing.” That would be a deed less impressive than what Elijah the great miracle-working prophet did in 2nd Kings: feeding one hundred people with twenty barley loaves and having some leftover. Merely persuading people to share food for one meal would not cause a crowd to declare somebody “the prophet who is to come into the world” and make them want to carry him off to make him king, as St. John records. This miracle was a true miracle, and it foreshadows the Last Supper and the miracle of the Eucharist.

St. John mentions ‘the Passover, the feast of the Jews, was at hand.’ This Passover was at least one year before the Passover of Holy Week, yet John mentions it all the same. And then there is the way the Gospel writers describe what Jesus does with the food for the meal: “Taking the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, he said the blessing…, broke them, and gave them to the disciples to set before the crowd.” These phrases should sound familiar. They closely resemble what Jesus does at the Last Supper and what his priests celebrate at every Holy Mass.

Without Jesus, the apostles felt powerless to provide for such a great number of people. But Jesus commanded his apostles to “have them sit down in groups of about fifty,” in more than one hundred clusters on the green grass. The flock obeys the apostles as they are obeying Christ, and Jesus proceeds to feed them all through his ministers. The miracle at every Mass is greater than the one Jesus performed with the loaves and fishes. There, he made the food he was offered far greater in quantity. Now, he transforms the food we give him into something far greater, not in number but kind.

At Mass, we are figuratively fed by the Inspired Word, by both the Old Testament and the New Testament, drawn like two fish from the stream of salvation history. And at Mass we behold the Incarnate Word, the Body and Blood of Christ, which suffered the five famous wounds of his Passion. But greatest of all, at Mass we can be invited to truly partake of the Eternal Word, the Son of God, Jesus Christ, receiving his living Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity in the Eucharist. In the Gospel we heard “They all ate and were satisfied. And when the leftover fragments were picked up, they filled twelve wicker baskets.” So rejoice in these holy gifts as your precious treasure. Tell others about them and invite them to join us here, for Jesus Christ desires this great feast to nourish everyone.

Posted in Feast Day Homilies, Homily, Mass, Real Presence, Sunday Homilies | Leave a Comment »

A Leader Like Us

May 31, 2025

Solemnity of the Ascension
By Fr. Victor Feltes

As a child in CCD class, I remember being told that a pope from the United States would never happen in our lifetimes. The common view was that having the earthly leader of the Catholic Church come from the world’s strongest superpower was something most cardinals would want to avoid. So it was quite surprising when the 69-year-old, Chicago-born Cardinal Robert Prevost was introduced to the world as Pope Leo XIV. But that concern about coming off as “America’s Pope” is probably why he only spoke Italian, Spanish, and Latin during his first public appearance.

If you’re like me, it’s surreal having so much in common with the pope. Like all of us here, he’s a Midwesterner. He speaks English without a foreign accent. He has consumed our movies, TV shows, and music and been active on social media. He has enjoyed American sports, like when he attended a White Sox World Series game. He has voted in our U.S. elections and attended the March for Life in Washington, D.C. He ministered in Peru for many years but we have something in common there too. Our diocese has supported Servant of God Fr. Joe Walijewski’s Casa Hogar orphanage in Lima for several decades. Like me, the new pope has a mathematics degree. My parents and relatives come from the Chicagoland area too. And we both picked the name “Leo XIV” — this new pope was literally named after my 12-year-old cat. He has a friendly smile and a sense of humor, he’s easygoing but takes Catholic teaching and worship seriously, he sings well, and writes out homilies to help him preach clearly. You probably have personal connections to our new pope yourself, like belonging to the same American Baby Boom generation.

Of course, the pontificate of Pope Leo XIV is still very young and its substantial fruits have yet to unfold. In the first week following his election, a reporter shook Pope Leo’s hand as he passed by and asked, “Holy Father… any message for the United States?” The pope smiled, lifted his hands, and replied, “Many! May God bless you all!” It’s exciting to have a pope who probably understands us, our country and our culture, both the good and the bad, better than any pope before him. So what does any of this have to do with the Solemnity of the Ascension we celebrate today? Much! And it relates to our June celebration of the Sacred Heart as well.

The Ascension marks the definitive entrance of Jesus Christ’s human nature into heaven. His humanity enters everlasting divine glory, symbolized by the cloud and sky. And from heaven, seated at God’s right hand, he constantly intercedes for us before the Father. Jesus Christ, being true God and true man, has a human intellect and will perfectly attuned to his divine intellect and will, knowing us and loving us all with a human heart. As Pope Francis wrote about the Sacred Heart last year, “The eternal Son of God, in his utter transcendence, chose to love each of us with a human heart.” Jesus possesses “genuine human emotions and feelings like ourselves, albeit fully transformed by his divine love. … Entering into the heart of Christ, we feel loved by a human heart filled with affections and emotions like our own.” Divine knowledge and love are eternal and we have had popes before. But the Ascension and Sacred Heart of Jesus are significant. Like a pope who intimately understands us, because he is one of us, we can rejoice that we now have a Lord in heaven, Jesus Christ, who knows us and loves us with a human heart like ours.

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How Is Christ’s Peace Different Than The World’s?

May 24, 2025

6th Sunday of Easter
By Fr. Victor Feltes

Jesus tells his disciples at the Last Supper, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give it to you. Do not let your hearts be troubled or afraid.” If through his Gospel Jesus is speaking these words not only to his apostles but to us today, then we can conclude several things: Jesus would give us his peace. This gift of peace is different from how the world offers “peace.” And it should grant us calm consolation and courage. So how is peace from Jesus different from this world’s peace? How have previous popes and great saints answered this question?

Three years ago, Pope Francis said one difference is in the manner which Christ brings about his peace: “This is how Christ brings peace into the world: through meekness and mildness, symbolized by that tethered colt, on which no-one had ever sat. No-one, because God’s way of doing things is different to that of the world. … The peace Jesus gives to us at Easter is not the peace that follows the strategies of the world, which believes it can obtain it through force, by conquest and with various forms of imposition. That peace, in reality, is only an interval between wars…. The peace of the Lord follows the way of meekness and mildness: it is taking responsibility for others. Indeed, Christ took on himself our evil, sin and our death. He took all of this upon himself. In this way he freed us. He paid for us. His peace is not the fruit of some compromise, but rather is born of self-giving.”

St. Pope John Paul the Great shared similar reflections in 2004: “The world is longing for peace and needs peace, today as in the past, but often seeks it by inappropriate means, sometimes even with recourse to force or by balancing opposing powers. In these situations, people live with the distress of fear and uncertainty in their hearts. Christ’s peace, instead, reconciles souls, purifies hearts, and converts minds.”

St. Thomas Aquinas highlighted this internal/external distinction about peace in the 13th century, saying “the peace of the world is a pretended peace since it is only on the outside: ‘The wicked… speak of peace with their neighbors while malice is in their hearts.’ But the peace of Christ is true, because it is both on the outside and inside. …The peace of Christ brings tranquility both within and without.”

Aquinas also noted that worldly peace “is directed to the quiet and calm enjoyment of passing things, with the result that it sometimes helps a person to sin: ‘They live in strife due to ignorance and they call such great evils peace.’ But the peace of the saints is directed to eternal goods. … The world gives peace so that external goods can be possessed undisturbed; but [Christ gives] peace so that you can obtain eternal things.”

St. Augustine of Hippo said likewise in the 5th century: “For [the worldly,] their aim in giving themselves peace is so that, exempt from the annoyance of lawsuits and wars, they may find enjoyment—not in God, but in the friendship of the world. And although they sometimes give the righteous peace in ceasing to persecute them, there can be no true peace where there is no real harmony because their hearts are at variance.”

It is the alignment of our hearts with Jesus Christ’s heart which gives us harmony and true unity with one another and the Lord. As Jesus says, “Come to me … and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart; and you will find rest for yourselves. … My peace I give to you. … Do not let your hearts be troubled or afraid.” Go to Jesus and learn from him. Align your heart with his and rest.

As St. Augustine once concluded, “Let us, therefore, beloved, with whom Christ leaves peace and to whom he gives his own peace, not after the world’s way but in a way worthy of Him by whom the world was made, that we should be of one heart with himself, having our hearts run as one, that this one heart set on that which is above may escape the corruption of the earth.”

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Love Like Christ

May 19, 2025

5th Sunday of Easter
By Fr. Victor Feltes

“The Lord is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and of great kindness. The Lord is good to all and compassionate toward all his works.” In times past, God spoke in partial and various ways through prophets (like in the previous psalm) validating his words with saving miracles. But at the beginning of this present age he spoke to us through his Son, through whom he has worked the greatest miracles of salvation.

We bow before the wonder of the Incarnation, that the Divine Person through whom all things were made would become man in the womb of the Virgin Mary and be born among his creatures. We are blessed that Jesus has revealed to us his way of Christian living, not only through the wisdom he preached but through his lived example. And greatest of all, we have access to peace, hope, and joy because of his willingness to suffer, die, and rise for us. Pause to consider where you would be if not for Christ’s love for you.

Now, Jesus gives us a new commandment: “Love one another. As I have loved you, so you also should love one another. This is how all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” Now this love we are called to is not mere emotion. Oftentimes love is a warm, fuzzy, pleasure, but love will not always feel good. And this love we are called to is more than intellectual. The demons know that Jesus is Lord, but that does not save them, because they do not love him. We are called to love as Jesus has loved us.

This means we are called to love everyone like he does, the good and the wicked, our friends and foes. What this looks like will vary in life’s various circumstances, but we must will the good for everyone. And willing the good for others must lead to action. We are finite beings and cannot do everything for everyone all the time, but as St. James taught in his New Testament letter: “Faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.” And these loving works we are called to will not always feel good, but as Saints Paul and Barnabas preached: “It is necessary for us to undergo many hardships to enter the Kingdom of God.” Jesus entered his Kingdom’s glory through painful trials, and so must we.

“For the sake of the joy that lay before him, [Jesus] endured the cross, despising its shame, and has taken his seat at the right of the throne of God.” Supreme happiness also awaits Christ’s faithful followers as well. In his Revelation, St. John sees a New Heaven and a New Earth and a New Jerusalem coming down out of Heaven from God. “Behold,” John writes, “God will dwell with the human race… and will always be with them as their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there shall be no more death or mourning, wailing or pain, for the old order has passed away.”

Jesus Christ loves us. He offers us his peace and joy and has placed his hope before us. And Christ calls us to love like him by loving him and remaining close to him, for apart from him we can do nothing. Our Christian life begins with Baptism, but must continue with daily prayer, Sunday Mass, regular Confession, a life of true discipleship. You must remain close to—or return to—his grace to enter the Kingdom of God. Remember Christ’s love for you, hold onto his hope, peace, and joy, and love everyone as he has loved you.

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The Church Reveals His Beauty

May 11, 2025

4th Sunday of Easter
By Fr. Victor Feltes

Churches should be marked by great beauty. Beauty attracts and delights. God, among his other perfections, is capital “B” Beauty, so a beautiful church glorifies God among us and helps draw people to him. One of the most famous and beautiful churches in the world is St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome. St. Peter’s Basilica is actually a shrine for the burial site of St. Peter the Apostle. He was crucified upside-down on Vatican Hill by the Romans and buried in a nearby cemetery. And in the early 1940s, archeological excavations below the main altar discovered what are most likely his bones. Jesus gave Peter his name, which means “Rock,” and said, “Upon this Rock, I will build my Church.” And today we see the largest and most renowned Christian Church in the world is built above that Rock.

It is wonderful for churches to be beautiful, but it is also important for our church architecture and decorations and to be meaningful—reflecting truths of our faith. For instance, St. Peter’s Basilica is capped by a dome designed by Michelangelo which is the world’s tallest. And two colonnades designed by Bernini, extend out in front of the basilica on both sides around St. Peter’s Square. The effect of this dome and these colonnades together present an image of God the Father. As one approaches St. Peter’s Square, the dome is like his head, the church is like his chest, and the colonnades are like his arms. God the Father is reaching out to beckon, welcome, receive, and embrace all people of the world. When St. Peter’s Square is filled with pilgrims as we saw last week it is like St. John’s vision in today’s second reading, “a great multitude… from every nation, race, people, and tongue,” joyfully standing before God the Father and the Lamb of God. The Kingdom of Heaven begins for us now in his Church on earth.

Once you enter inside St. Peter’s Basilica the architecture there also conveys spiritual truth. The dimensions are huge. The distance from the floor to ceiling—not under dome but in the nave of the basilica—is 152 feet. That’s about twelve stories high; and yet because of architectural tricks of perspective you do not feel tiny. For instance, there are two tiers of statues in alcoves along the sides—lower and higher—but the statues on the higher level are actually bigger than the lower statues so that when you look up at those saints they do not seem so distant. The scale of the arches, doors, and windows make you feel like you are inside of, not a hollow skyscraper, but a great, beautiful mansion. It is an image of the Father’s house, where there is room enough for a countless multitude but where no one is made to feel small or unimportant. In heaven, everyone is valued and has a place with God.

Last Thursday, from the exterior balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica called the Loggia of the Blessings, Pope Leo XIV was introduced to the world. It was quite a surprise and a moment we will remember the rest of our lives. In this Sunday’s Gospel, Jesus says his sheep have been given into his hand by the Father. Our Lord has now entrusted us into Pope Leo’s hands as well. I did not know much about him before the conclave, but I am excited by what I have seen and heard since.

Some people have predicted and hoped for a quiet papacy where very little will happen. But I do not want a quiet pope when so many people need Jesus, his Gospel, and his Church. Pope Leo has spoken insightfully—both years before and following his election—about evangelization in our time, and I look forward to him being a “Lion” for the Gospel. I do not expect our American pope to show the United States special favoritism, nor should he, but I believe this pope will be a great blessing for the Church in our country. When you freeze or boil water, nothing happens before the temperature reaches a threshold. But with the addition or subtraction of just a few more degrees the liquid transforms into a solid or gas. I believe this new American pope will trigger many fruitful responses in those whom God is already calling. There is a new openness and hunger in our culture and I believe great things will happen.

Yet do not just sit back and wait for the pope and priests to draw people closer to Christ. By your sacrificial love, by your Christian joy, by your growing devotion, by your deepening holiness, by your Catholic witness, by your unashamed invitations, the Lord wants you to help bring others—people you know—to a fuller relationship with him and his Church. The papal motto of Pope Leo XIV is the same as he chose when he became a bishop. It comes from a homily of St. Augustine: “In the One, we are one.” (That is, “In Christ, we are one.”) In Christ we are called to all be truly one, and each of us in these years of Pope Leo ahead have important parts to play.

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Upon This Rock Christ Built His Church

May 4, 2025

3rd Sunday of Easter
By Fr. Victor Feltes

Jesus changed Simon the Apostle’s name to Peter or “Rock” and said, “Upon this rock I will build my Church, and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it.” Jesus told him, “I will give you the keys to the Kingdom of Heaven,” and declared “Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” This promise assures us that Peter would not bind the Church to error, for binding the Church on earth to lies would bind heaven to the same. What is the purpose of this awesome authority to teach and lead? Jesus tells him and us in today’s Gospel: it is to ‘Feed his lambs, tend his sheep, and feed his sheep.’

Jesus had specifically told Simon at the Last Supper, “Behold, Satan has demanded to sift all of you like wheat, but I have prayed that your own faith may not fail; and once you have turned back, you must strengthen your brothers.” In the Gospels, Simon Peter’s name is always first among his fellow apostles in any listing where he appears, while Judas Iscariot’s name is always placed last. All of this reflects the God-given preeminence of St. Peter as the servant-leader of Christ’s Church on earth. Jesus remains the invisible Head of his One, Holy, Catholic Church, but he knew that without providing clear and visible apostolic shepherds to give us clarity and unity his flock would surely scatter.

This was true in the 1st century with St. Peter as 1st bishop of Rome, and Peter’s office has continued in his successors, the popes, as recognized by Christians throughout the first millennium. Jesus had told the apostles “whoever hears you hears me” and promised the Holy Spirit would guide them “into all the truth.” The New Testament also proclaims the Church to be “the pillar and foundation of truth.” Was only the first century to be graced with such divine gifts and assurances? No. Jesus is the wise man who built his house on Rock so that even when the rains fell, the floods came, and winds blew and buffeted his Church it would not collapse into heresy.

Indeed, when a pope (or a Church council together with him) definitively defines a doctrine of faith or morals to be held by the whole Church, the Holy Spirit protects their teaching from error. This is called infallibility. Through divine inspiration, the Holy Spirit previously utilized imperfect men to pen precisely what he wished to be written as Holy Scripture; so simply protecting Holy Church from officially teaching errors is an important but lesser miracle. Though popes can teach infallibly and possess full authority as chief shepherds, they are not flawless people. Simon Peter, even after denying, repenting, and returning to Christ, sometimes still slipped up.

Through St. Paul’s Letter to the Galatians we learn that St. Peter was accustomed to eating with Gentile Christians who did not keep the Old Covenant’s rules about ritually clean and unclean foods, as Christ’s New Covenant allowed. That was all well and good, but once when some Jewish Christians arrived in town who cared about keeping all those dietary laws, Peter began to withdraw from his previous table companions. Peter probably wished to avoid causing offense and division, but this action caused confusing scandal by implying that keeping all the Old Laws of Moses was necessary for salvation.

St. Paul writes, “I opposed him to his face because he clearly was wrong.” Paul corrected Peter in front everyone, saying, “If you, though a Jew, are living like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you compel the Gentiles to live like Jews?” St. Peter had not denied the Gospel but his personal example in this case caused harm and he received a fraternal correction from St. Paul. In the Church’s two-millennium-long history there have been some very bad and scandalous popes, but by God’s grace none of them bound the Church to heresy, and that’s a priceless blessing.

Having mourned and prayed for Pope Francis, the cardinals will gather this Wednesday inside the Sistine Chapel at the Vatican for the important task of electing a new pope. Some 133 cardinals, appointed by previous popes from places around the world, will sequester themselves away until they elect a Holy Father. After any failed rounds of voting, they will burn the ballots to make black smoke. But once a pope has been elected by a two-thirds of the vote they will burn the ballots to make white smoke accompanied by the ringing of St. Peter’s Basilica’s bells. Then our new pope will be introduced to the world and impart his papal blessing. All the conclaves in recent decades have been short, concluding within three days, but do not be alarmed even if this conclave takes more than a week. We will have a pope again soon.

People sometimes wonder, “Does the Holy Spirit choose who will be the pope?” Before he became Pope Benedict XVI in 2005, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger was asked about this in a 1997 interview. He replied, “I would not say so, in the sense that the Holy Spirit picks out the Pope…. [“There are too many contrary instances of popes the Holy Spirit obviously would not have picked!”] I would say that the Spirit does not exactly take control of the affair but rather like a good educator, as it were, leaves us much space, much freedom, without entirely abandoning us. Thus the Spirit’s role should be understood in a much more elastic sense, not that he dictates the candidate for whom one must vote. Probably the only assurance He offers is that the thing cannot be totally ruined….”

When I was younger, I would have imagined there was just one cardinal in any conclave who could be the right pope; but now I suspect the Holy Spirit perhaps beholds dozens of cardinals with whom he could accomplish comparable good fruits. God works with what we give him. So pray that the cardinals will be receptive to the Holy Spirit’s guidance, but do not be anxious or afraid. Whatever happens, we already know that Christ and his Church will endure and triumph in the end, for “the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it.” Pray this week that the Church of Christ on earth may soon be led by another great pope who will feed his lambs, tend his sheep, and feed his sheep.

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Half-Measures Or Full Devotion?

April 18, 2025

Easter Sunday
By Fr. Victor Feltes

St. Peter the Apostle proclaimed: “We are witnesses of all that [Jesus] did… They put him to death by hanging him on a tree. This man God raised on the third day and granted that he be visible…to us, who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead.” Jesus went to his Passion and Cross after the Last Supper, and from death and his tomb to the Resurrection. His apostles witnessed these events and were willing to die to testify to them, and nobody ever dies for what he knows to be a lie. The first Christians had full devotion because Christ did not go halfway in his saving mission.

But what if our Lord, instead of enduring pain and death, had chosen to spare and save himself? Jesus had told the apostles he “must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and after three days rise again.” He said he had come “to give his life as a ransom for many,” shedding his blood “for the forgiveness of sins.” How could we ever find forgiveness of our sins in Christian faith and the sacraments, like Baptism and Confession, if Jesus never suffered and died?

Or imagine if Jesus had just gone halfway with the Last Supper, which was the first Holy Mass. What if he had taken the bread and given it to his disciples saying, “This is like my Body. Do this with a thought of me”? Jesus said, “Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day. … Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him.” What would become of us if we could not receive Jesus in the Eucharist?

Or what if instead of Easter, Jesus Christ had merely suffered and died and never rose again? St. Paul’s answer is emphatic: “If Christ has not been raised, your faith is vain; you are still in your sins. Then those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If for this life only we have hoped in Christ,” Paul says “we are the most pitiable people of all!” Therefore, if Jesus had stopped at half-measures in his mission, we would not be saved!

At the beginning of Easter Sunday Mass we sang “Jesus Christ is risen today!” We celebrate him risen not like some celebrate the Easter Bunny hiding eggs or Santa Claus bringing gifts for Christmas. A savior of merely “once upon a time” cannot save us. We celebrate Jesus Christ who was truly risen on Easter morning in 33 AD, but who is also risen, living and active, in our world today. And in the face of sin of death, he is our only hope.

“This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad!” Embrace today’s good news, the joy of the Gospel, firmly resolved to go forward in such a way that you may be saved. Realize that you cannot safely clear a six-foot chasm by only taking three-foot hops. Half-measures are not enough.

In his suffering, in his sacraments, in his dying and his rising, Jesus shows us how far he goes in love to reach and save us. So in your daily prayers and weekly worship, in virtue and noble service, in Christian faith and fellowship, by your gratitude and love, walk with our Lord Jesus Christ with your full measure of devotion.

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Consolations In The Passion

April 12, 2025

Palm Sunday
By Fr. Victor Feltes

We rightly recall Christ’s sufferings during his Passion but have you ever meditated upon his consolations?

When Jesus went out to pray and await his betrayal at the Mount of Olives, his disciples followed him. Their flesh was weak but their spirits were willing, and in that dark hour he was glad not to be alone. Jesus also had constant recourse to his Father. Though not all of his prayers were immediately granted, he knew his Father always heard him.

When Pilate condemned Jesus, they led him away but made Simon of Cyrene help carry his Cross. That was a welcome relief in his weakened condition. A large crowd followed Jesus, including many women who mourned and cried for him. Those women felt powerless, but their expressions of devotion strengthened him.

Once they had crucified Jesus, one of the condemned men mocked him but the other honored Christ, expressing saving faith in him. Jesus could behold his sacrifice already bearing fruit. Standing by his Cross were his mother and his beloved disciple, and “all his acquaintances stood at a distance, including the women who had followed him from Galilee” witnessing these events. And he saw them there for love of him, and it consoled him.

Therefore, if Jesus during his greatest suffering received some consolations, then in our trials we should not be ashamed to ask for help and comforts too. Jesus’ disciples were not perfect and they sometimes let him down, but the presence and support of his friends helped him to press on. So pray to God for consolation, invest in your personal relationships, and stay close to your Christian community. If you are going to pick up your cross daily and follow Christ in his sufferings you must also share in his consolations.

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The Deaths of Lazarus

April 6, 2025

5th Sunday of Lent
By Fr. Victor Feltes

God does not do bad things, for “God is not subject to temptation to evil” and “what he hates he does not do.” However, God is all-knowing and all-powerful. There is nothing knowable that God does not know, and nothing good and doable that he cannot do. Therefore, when a bad thing happens, God has allowed that to happen. Yet we also “know that God causes all things to work together for the good of those who love him.” We see these truths reflected in today’s Gospel reading.

God clearly permitted Lazarus to fall ill. And when Jesus received the urgent message from Martha and Mary that their brother was sick, he remained in the place where he was and allowed Lazarus to die. “Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus.” So why did Jesus not come earlier, when he was told “the one you love is ill.” Or why did Jesus not heal his friend Lazarus’ sickness from a distance, like he cured the centurion’s servant or the royal official’s son? Jesus says the dying and rising of Lazarus was “for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified through it,” and “that you may believe.”

Earlier in his public ministry, Jesus had raised Jairus’ daughter from the dead, having told mourners that the little girl was “asleep.” But that resurrection miracle was performed privately, shortly after death, and with strict orders to its witnesses that no one should know of it. By publicly raising Lazarus from the tomb in the presence of a crowd, Jesus manifests his power not only to heal the sick but to restore the dead to life.

Picture this: One moment, Lazarus was ailing and fading out of consciousness on his deathbed. The next thing he knows, he wakes up wrapped in bandages inside of a cave, and comes out toward the light at the sound of his friend Jesus’ call. His sisters would have filled him in on what he missed when he was dead.

The Gospels tell us Lazarus later attended a dinner with Jesus the day before Palm Sunday at the house of Simon the Leper. Martha served the meal while Mary took costly perfumed oil and poured it on Jesus’ head as he reclining at table. “A large crowd of the Jews found out that he was there and came, not only because of Jesus, but also to see Lazarus… And the chief priests plotted to kill Lazarus too, because many of the Jews were turning away and believing in Jesus because of him.” After Holy Week, the New Testament tells us no more of what happened to Lazarus. But we can imagine what it was like, years after Easter Sunday, when Lazarus died again.

Knowing that Jesus died and was risen, and having personally experienced death and resurrection himself, must have given Lazarus great peace even during his final passion. Consider Martha or Mary watching their brother die once more; having to burying him again. There would naturally still be sadness and ache in that parting, but I imagine the sisters would feel different this time: ‘We know he will rise in the Resurrection on the Last Day. Jesus Christ is the resurrection and the life who has come into the world, and whoever believes in him, even if they die, will live.’ Our brother Jesus died and has risen from the dead “for the glory of God” and “that you may believe.” Knowing and embracing this reality changes our life and how we face death. Do you believe this?

Last week, April 2nd, marked the twentieth anniversary of the passing of Pope St. John Paul the Great. And if you are like me, having witnessed how he lived and died, is inspiring. Pope John Paul’s famous motto was “Be not afraid!” In this, of course, he was quoting Christ who frequently said, “Be not afraid!” “Be not afraid,” Jesus tells us, “If you believe you will see the glory of God.”

Posted in Courage, Homily, Hope, Jesus Christ, Last Things, Resurrection, Salvation History, Sts. Martha and Mary, Sunday Homilies | Leave a Comment »

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