- Joseph was probably the first person Jesus Christ called “Abba.”
- As a carpenter, Joseph created things by his mind and hand, imaging God the Father, Creator of the universe.
- Joseph never gave a stone, a snake, or a scorpion to Jesus when asked for a loaf of bread, a fish, or an egg.
- Like God the Father, Joseph can seem quiet, but he never ceases in his love and action.
- As God loved ancient Israel purely, so Joseph loved Mary—the icon of perfected Israel.
- Joseph was the protector and provider in the household of the Son of God. Now he is the patron of the universal Church.
Reflections on St. Joseph — March 19 — St. Joseph
March 19, 2014Servants, Students, & Sons — Tuesday, 2nd Week of Lent
March 19, 2014Gospel: Matthew 23:1-12
As for you, do not be called ‘Rabbi.’ You have but one teacher, and you are all brothers.
Call no one on earth your father; you have but one Father in heaven.
Do not be called ‘Master’; you have but one master, the Christ.
Christ is our master and we must conform our lives to his will. Our flesh resists as if it were slavery, but in God’s will we find our greatest freedom and fulfillment.
The Lord is our teacher and we must learn from him. Unlike the scribes and the Pharisees, whose words we should heed but whose example we should ignore, all of Jesus Christ’s words and deeds are fit for our emulation.
Many people interpret “call no man on earth your father” as if it were about not addressing clergy as “Father.” Yet these persons call their dads their fathers, their teachers “teacher,” and forget that St. Paul wrote “I became your father in Christ Jesus through the gospel,” and “I urge you on behalf of my child Onesimus, whose father I have become in my imprisonment,” and often referred to “Father Abraham” (1 Corinthians 4:15, Philemon 10, Romans 4:16-17) However, Jesus is actually pointing to the importance of loving God as our good and loving Father. It is good for us to love the pope, but if we feel more fondness for our Holy Father than for God the Father then we very much need to develop and deepen our devotion to our Father in Heaven.
Measures of Mercy — Monday, 2nd Week of Lent
March 17, 2014Gospel: Luke 6:36-38
Last year, a teenage posted a photo on the internet of an unrolled tape measure along side the 11-inch “footlong” sandwich he had bought. The corporate response was not one of the great moments in public relations history; they said that “footlong” was a trademark term, rather than a measurement of length. The negative consumer backlash to this went viral and the corporation pledged that every foot-long would henceforth be 12-inches.
In 12th century England, there were strict laws to punish bakers who sold undersized loaves. In response, the bakers would throw in an additional loaf with every dozen to safeguard their liberty. The baker’s dozen (of 13) was born and their customers were happy. It is wiser to error on the side of generosity with others, in both the world of business and the realm mercy.
Commerce has been linked to mercy by the Lord in both Testaments. In Old Testament Israel, merchants would use cups and weights to measure out their products to customers. Sometimes, to increase their profits, unscrupulous sellers would manipulate these measures to their advantage, as the Lord describes through the prophet Amos:
“When will the new moon be over,” you ask, “that we may sell our grain, And the sabbath, that we may open the grain-bins? We will diminish the ephah, add to the shekel, and fix our scales for cheating! We will buy the destitute for silver, and the poor for a pair of sandals; even the worthless grain we will sell!”
Such cheating was especially abhorrent to the Lord because it most exploited the poor and vulnerable. Today, Jesus tells his disciples that they should be generous with their measurements of mercy if they do not wish to be condemned:
“Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful. Stop judging and you will not be judged. Stop condemning and you will not be condemned. Forgive and you will be forgiven. Give and gifts will be given to you; a good measure, packed together, shaken down, and overflowing, will be poured into your lap. For the measure with which you measure will in return be measured out to you.”
Without rejecting the truth, or declaring evil to be good, we need to be patient and forgiving with others if we wish to be shown mercy. As St. James says, “judgment is merciless to one who has not shown mercy; [but] mercy triumphs over judgment.”
Converting Sinners — Friday, 1st Week of Lent
March 14, 2014Readings: Ezekiel 18:21-28, Matthew 5:20-26
Do I indeed derive any pleasure from the death of the wicked? says the Lord GOD. Do I not rather rejoice when he turns from his evil way that he may live?
Jesus said to his disciples: “I tell you, unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter into the Kingdom of heaven.
The scribes and Pharisees wrote off the tax collectors and prostitutes as having no hope of salvation, yet Jesus pursued and prayed for these sinners. In the first century, one of the Church’s greatest persecutors became one of its greatest apostles, Saul of Tarsus, also known as St. Paul. In the last century, Dr. Bernard Nathanson, who killed thousands as an abortionist and helped to mislead millions as a co-founder of NARAL, went on to become a powerful pro-life advocate. God still rejoices in sinners turning from their evil way, and for us today, part of surpassing the scribes and Pharisees in righteousness means praying for and pursuing the conversion of sinners.
Esther & Our Father — Thursday, 1st Week of Lent
March 13, 2014Readings: Esther C, Matthew 7:7-12
Esther was an exceedingly beautiful, orphaned, young Jewish woman who was drafted by the king of Persia into becoming one of his wives. When the wicked government minister, Haman, manipulated the king into legalizing the killing of all Jews in the empire, Esther gathered her courage to intercede with the king. She feared not only because she was secretly Jewish, but because the potential punishment for appearing before the king (the “lion” as she calls him) without having been summoned was death. However, when Esther came before the king he extended his scepter for her to touch, sparing her, and invited her to ask for whatever she wished.
In today’s Gospel, Jesus likewise reveals to us that we should not be afraid to ask God, our loving and almighty Father, to provide good things for ourselves and others:
If you then, who are wicked, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give good things to those who ask him.
Ninevites & Israelites — Wednesday, 1st Week of Lent
March 12, 2014Readings: Jonah 3:1-10, Luke 11:29-32
Jonah did not care much for the Ninevites. He preached the simple message God had given him, “Forty days more and Nineveh shall be destroyed,” but his heart was not really in it. Yet by the end of the first day of Jonah’s three walk through the city, his words had spread through the city like the rumor of a fire. Everyone, from the king to the cattle, repented and were saved. Jesus Christ, on the other hand, loved his people profoundly and spent three years preaching throughout Israel with a wisdom greater than Solomon’s, yet many Israelites disregarded him.
Are we being converted like the Ninevites Jonah preached to, or remaining unconverted like the Israelites Jesus criticized? The grace of conversion is indeed a grace, but we can ask God for this grace and be open to it. We are now in the midst of our forty days; let us heed and respond to Christ’s words.
God’s Words — Tuesday, 1st Week of Lent
March 11, 2014Readings: Isaiah 55:10-11, Matthew 6:7-13
[My word] shall not return to me void, but shall do my will, achieving the end for which I sent it.
Jesus said to his disciples: “This is how you are to pray: Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name…”
God’s word is an effective word. What God says, is. In the beginning, God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. Jesus told the leper, “Be made clean,” and the paralytic, “Your sins are forgiven,” and so they were. At the Last Supper, Jesus said, “This is my body,” and it became so.
When we pray the Our Father we are asking for what the Father already desires for us using the very words of Jesus. Therefore, let us pray the Our Father with confidence, knowing we are praying the Father’s loving will and the Son’s effective word.
Three Temptation Tactics — 1st Sunday in Lent—Year A
March 8, 2014Readings: Genesis 2:1-7, Matthew 4:1-11,
1. Observe the focus of the devil’s first temptation against Jesus:
He fasted for forty days and forty nights, and afterwards he was hungry. The tempter approached and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command that these stones become loaves of bread.”
The devil attacks Jesus where he perceives him to be the most vulnerable. The tempter behaves as St. Ignatius of Loyola describes in his Rules for Discernment:
[The enemy of our souls] behaves as a chief bent on conquering and robbing what he desires: for, as a captain and chief of the army, pitching his camp, and looking at the forces or defenses of a stronghold, attacks it on the weakest side, in like manner the enemy of human nature, roaming about, looks in turn at all our virtues, theological, cardinal and moral; and where he finds us weakest and most in need for our eternal salvation, there he attacks us and aims at taking us.
Imagine your king has made you the captain in charge of your walled-city’s defenses. Having lived there your whole life and having witnessed many previous sieges against the city, you should know its vulnerabilities well. Before the next hostile siege (which will surely come) would it not be wise to petition the king to reinforce wherever the walls are weak and to send the troops he can provide, and for you yourself to be an especially vigilant watchmen at the place where the next attack is most likely to come?
So it is for us. We have a lifetime of experience to know where we are weakest. Therefore, we should pray to the Lord to provide his strengthening grace where we are weak and to send his angels to help defend us, and to be especially vigilant at where the next temptation is most likely to come.
2. Imagine if Eve had said, “What you say, Serpent, is very different from what the Lord told us. My husband and I will discuss this with him the next time he visits us.” That would have entirely derailed the serpent’s wicked plans. Again, St. Ignatius:
[The enemy of our souls] acts as a licentious lover in wanting to be secret and not revealed. For, as the licentious man who, speaking for an evil purpose, solicits a daughter of a good father or a wife of a good husband, wants his words and persuasions to be secret, and the contrary displeases him much, when the daughter reveals to her father or the wife to her husband his licentious words and depraved intention, because he easily gathers that he will not be able to succeed with the undertaking begun: in the same way, when the enemy of human nature brings his wiles and persuasions to the just soul, he wants and desires that they be received and kept in secret; but when one reveals them to his good Confessor or to another spiritual person that knows his deceits and evil ends, it is very grievous to him, because he gathers, from his manifest deceits being discovered, that he will not be able to succeed with his wickedness begun.
Therefore, we should bring our secret, hidden temptations out of the festering darkness and into the disinfectant light with a spiritual person we can confide in.
3. Observe how Eve responds the serpent’s sinful suggestion:
The woman saw that the tree was good for food, pleasing to the eyes, and desirable for gaining wisdom. So she took some of its fruit and ate it…
The more Eve entertained the serpent’s temptation the more inevitable her fall to sin became. Contrast this with Jesus’ unyielding responses to the devil, including:
“Get away, Satan! It is written: The Lord, your God, shall you worship and him alone shall you serve” Then the devil left him and, behold, angels came and ministered to him.
As St. Ignatius says:
The enemy acts like [an unvirtuous] woman, in being weak against vigor and strong of will. Because, as it is the way of the woman when she is quarrelling with some man to lose heart, taking flight when the man shows her much courage: and on the contrary, if the man, losing heart, begins to fly, the wrath, revenge, and ferocity of the woman is very great, and so without bounds; in the same manner, it is the way of the enemy to weaken and lose heart, his temptations taking flight, when the person who is exercising himself in spiritual things opposes a bold front against the temptations of the enemy, doing diametrically the opposite. And on the contrary, if the person who is exercising himself commences to have fear and lose heart in suffering the temptations, there is no beast so wild on the face of the earth as the enemy of human nature in following out his damnable intention with so great malice.
Therefore, let us be firm and uncompromising against temptation from the start, giving it no opportunity grow on us. Instead, let us focus on doing that vice’s opposing virtue. In the face of such firmness, the temptation will depart.
Tempting the Messiah — 1st Sunday in Lent—Year A
March 7, 2014Gospel: Matthew 4:1-11
The devil suggests Jesus should change stones into bread. He wants Jesus to be a materialistic Messiah who will focus on nourishing bodies to the neglect saving souls. Jesus replies that “one does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes forth from the mouth of God.” Christ shall change bread into himself at the Last Supper “for the life of the world.” (John 6:51)
The devil takes Jesus to a precipice atop the temple in Jerusalem and challenges him to throw himself down. He wants Jesus to be a Messiah who will hope to never suffer. Jesus responds that “you shall not put the Lord, your God, to the test” by trying to force him into doing our will. Christ shall be tested and condemned by the Sanhedrin in Jerusalem and be made a suffering Savior according to God’s plan. (Isaiah 53)
The devil takes Jesus up to a very high mountain, shows him all the kingdoms of the world, and promises to bestow them all if Jesus would simply prostrate himself and worship him. He wants Jesus to be a compromised Messiah who will pursue good by doing (or serving) evil. Jesus replies that “Lord, your God, shall you worship and him alone shall you serve.” By unwavering obedience to his heavenly Father, Christ shall become the king of all nations, enthroned high upon a cross on Mount Calvary. (Matthew 20:21)
The Seven Deadly Sins & Seven Lively Virtues
March 6, 2014Pride is lowered by Humility
Envy is opposed by Admiration
Wrath is tamed by Forgiveness
Sloth is stopped by Zeal
Greed is relinquished by Generosity
Gluttony is moderated by Asceticism
Lust is controlled by Chastity
Which lively virtue will you focus on growing?
The Meaning of Ashes — Ash Wednesday
March 6, 2014Both the atheist and the Christian will agree on this: we came from dust and to dust we shall return. Apart from God we have no hope, for we are dust and ashes.
The ashes on our forehead are not a beauty mark. They point to the ugliness of the sins within us. Yet they are also an appeal to God that he would wash us clean.
Fire, like sin, consumes all it touches. Our ashes are a sign of all we have lost or harmed by sin. However, Old Testament sacrifices were also offered up to God by fire. Our ashes are also a sign of our desire to sacrifice ourselves entirely to him.
We receive ashes on our forehead in the shape of a cross; ashes because we are sinners, and a cross because we are Christ’s.
One Is Enough — Tuesday, 8th Week of Ordinary Time—Year II
March 4, 2014Gospel: Mark 10:28-31
Jesus said, “Amen, I say to you, there is no one who has given up house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands for my sake and for the sake of the Gospel who will not receive a hundred times more now in this present age: houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and eternal life in the age to come.
Jesus lists seven things people give up for him and his Gospel but only six things that we will receive a one hundred-fold more in this present age. A person might give up an earthly father for the Kingdom of God, but he or she receives in return the singular, infinite fullness of God the Father.
Questions & Answers for Lent
March 1, 2014What Are the Lenten Fasts and Who Keeps Them?
Catholics who have celebrated their 14th birthday are to abstain from meat on Ash Wednesday, the Fridays in Lent, and Good Friday. In addition to not eating meat, Catholics who have celebrated their 18th birthday are to fast on both Ash Wednesday and Good Friday until at least their 59th birthday. Here, fasting is defined as eating just one full meal. Two smaller meals are also allowed if necessary to maintain one’s strength, but eating solid foods between meals is not permitted. (The physically, mentally, or chronically ill, as well as pregnant or nursing women, are also excused from fasting and abstinence.)
Why the Ages 18 to 59?
Two reasons: because of the nutritional needs of the young and elderly, and because the number forty symbolizes penance and purification in the Bible.
Why Isn’t Fish Considered “Meat” on Meatless Fridays?
In times past, fish was considered a food of the poor. It took multiple pounds of grain to raise one pound of livestock, but fish were simply caught from the water. Eating fish conserved grain for others and was an act in solidarity with the poor. Today, Catholics are only obliged to abstain from (land-based) meats on certain days of Lent. However, Catholics remain obliged to offer penance on Fridays throughout the whole year; be it through fasting, abstinence, pious devotions, or loving service. Every Friday is to be a little remembrance of Good Friday.
Why is Lent Longer Than Forty Days?
There are actually 46 days from Ash Wednesday to Easter. However, every Sunday is a “little Easter” and, like all solemnities, Sundays are not considered days of penance. As Jesus said, “Can you make the wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them?” (Matthew 9:15) All are free to keep Lenten penances on these days, but enjoying these respites can increase one’s devotion and joy in the Lord. Subtract the six Sundays in Lent from the total and you are left with forty days.
Prophetic Perseverance — Friday, 7th Week of Ordinary Time—Year II
February 28, 2014Readings: James 5:9-12, Mark 10:1-12
Do not complain, brothers and sisters, about one another, that you may not be judged. Behold, the Judge is standing before the gates. Take as an example of hardship and patience, brothers and sisters, the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. Indeed we call blessed those who have persevered.
St. James recalls that the prophets endured the complaints, criticisms, and condemnation of their brothers and sisters. The Hebrews repeatedly complained against the prophet Moses in the desert, displeasing God and earning his serious chastisements. Perhaps Moses realized the ‘hardness of their hearts’ would incite them to reject any mandate of God’s original intention for marriage as an unbreakable lifelong union, thereby incurring severe condemnation. Yet, “blessed [are] those who have persevered” in keeping their marriage vows—blessed by God’s granting of needed graces and blessed by accepting these graces—those whose spousal “Yes” means “Yes.” What a prophetic witness their faithful love is to the world!
Cut It Out — Thursday, 7th Week of Ordinary Time—Year II
February 28, 2014Gospel: Mark 9:41-50
Jesus said to his disciples: “Anyone who gives you a cup of water to drink because you belong to Christ, amen, I say to you, will surely not lose his reward.”
“Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him if a great millstone were put around his neck and he were thrown into the sea.”
In establishing his first covenant with Abraham, the Lord said, “I will bless those who bless you and curse those who curse you.” (Genesis 12:3) Likewise, Jesus declares that whoever does the least kindness to those in his covenant will be rewarded, while whoever leads one his own into sin faces dire consequences. Sin is a serious thing.
“If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off.”
“And if your foot causes you to sin, cut if off.”
“And if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out.”
Of course, Jesus does not want us to mutilate ourselves because our bodily organs are not the real cause of our sins. But let us consider: what actions or material possessions do I take in hand, to what places do I go by foot, what sights do I perceive with my eyes, that are near occasions of sin for me? Let us firmly resolve with the help of God’s grace to cut these things out of our lives, so that we may be a blessing to all and a scandal to none, the salt of the earth and never cast out.
Parishable Items 