All Saints Day: Just Like You and Me

This Tuesday will be the feast day of “All Saints” in the Roman Catholic Church. This is a great feast day for us since we celebrate our name sakes as well as some of our favorite saints and local patrons. So, happy feast day to you all.

The Catholic Church celebrates and lifts up those persons who exemplified extraordinary virtue in their lives. They are persons the Church declares as immediately upon death entering into heaven, no further cleansing or purging as St. Paul puts it is necessary (c.f. 1 Cor. 3:15 and following).

Their lives bear the fruit of a holy life as can easily be observed, i.e. the Apostles, John the Baptist, Augustine, Aquinas, Therese, etc. They are our Hall of Fame Inductees.

This does not mean that we are not saints; anyone who believes is a saint, already being given God’s grace. The saints we mention now and celebrate are canonized saints (declared so by the Church). These declarations either come immediately, as is usually the case with martyrs, the people raising their voices to declare saints, and with final investigation, inquiry, and proclamation of the Church.

We too, like our Hall of Fame inductees are called to the same type of virtue and holy life. Sometimes as Catholics we tend to believe that the life of a saint is not for me, it’s something rather for priests, nuns, religious, old people, and real saints, I’m just a regular person. Nothing can be further from the Truth.
The first 12 Apostles were no different than you or I.

They were actually a rag-tag lot. Many of them were fishermen, one a tax collector, and another zealot. On one occasion James and John had their mommy go to Jesus to see if they could obtain places of honor when Jesus entered into his glory. Another time the apostles asked Jesus to rain down fire and thunder on a town which did not accept their message. Jesus once rebuked Peter, “Get behind me Satan, for you are not thinking as God thinks, but as man thinks.” Peter also denied Jesus after everything he witnessed and the rest ran with their tails between their legs when Jesus was arrested. These are our Hall of Fame Inductees.

Not to be too hard on these good folks, we are no different; we are made of the same stuff. We are also called like they were, by name and then sent to our vocation by God. What makes the Apostles extraordinary, holy, and canonized saints is the fact that they ran the race, they competed well, and they ran to win, as St. Paul eloquently tells us. Every time they fell they got up and when put to the ultimate test they witnessed with their blood. Their holiness is handed down to posterity. A bunch of fishermen, tax collectors, and zealots with their blood sanctified by Christ have helped Christianity spread to well over 1.5 billion followers and growing. Again no different than you or I, but the difference in their getting inducted is that they conformed their wills more and more towards God each and every day and the fruits of their labors are easily recognized. This goes for any canonized Saint, be it Saint Padre Pio, St. Thomas More, St. Catherine, or St. Vincent Pallotti.

What draws us to them is that we crave that same life, one that is close to Jesus, one that desires holiness and virtue above all else. We can become that; don’t sell yourself short for once you do you will only achieve 2nd best. Let us ask our own name sakes, our favorite saints to pray for us that we will grow closer to God, that we will live lives of compassion in order to be saints just like them, no different than let’s say a fisherman, tax collector, or a zealot.

Fr. John
picture taken from google search for all saints image

Tim Tebow: Hudzpah and Mojo Baby

There has been so much media frenzy and discussion over Tim Tebow that I cannot remember that ever being the case for any quarterback in his 1^st and 2^nd year in the NFL. Why is there so much attention, so much so that it has become ad nauseam, and here I’m adding to it? It is very likely that the Tim Tebow mania will not end any time soon. Some may believe this puts even further undo pressure on the young quarterback, but quite the contrary is true here. Anytime someone is talking about you means that you are relevant, once the talking stops you fall into obscurity and are on the way out of the league or already out. The greater question is, “Why all the talk?”

There are many reasons for all the talk surrounding Tim Tebow, one obviously being that he is one of the most decorated and successful college football players of all time. When you have that kind of resume coming out of high school and college people will naturally talk about you. Watching Tebow play at Florida regardless if one is a professional scout or just a fan one could easily see, here is a player with grit, determination, courage, natural athletic abilities, even though unorthodox in his mechanics as a prototypical quarterback. The scouts picked up on this unorthodoxy and quickly began to make predictions – projections about his future success or failure based simply on his mechanics and being a system quarterback, working solely out of the spread. The great majority of analysts did not see a future for Tim, or if he would have one it would take five years to get him ready or that he would have to move to another position. Well, none of that has happened, rather he is still at quarterback and is now playing.

So now the talk has taken on more life for the simple reason that the analysts are now drooling at the prospects of seeing him fail, not because he is Christian, not because he is a good kid, not because he was a great college quarterback, but simply because they do not want their original prediction to be wrong otherwise their assessments of Tebow could somehow discredit their abilities to project as an analysts. That’s it in a nutshell.

Some feel that all this talk brings undo pressure, I beg to differ. As I stated before Tebow is relevant. The analysts are actually helping his popularity. I guess Tebow is living out the Scripture passage, “be as gentle as doves, but as cunning as snakes.” His message continues to spread as the analysts continue to throw him under the bus. I also think Tebow as gentle as he is – is a smart kid.

The analysts who have thrown him under the bus are supposed experts in their field be it if they are former NFL stars themselves or radio \ tv personalities who have been in the business. They feel strongly that he will not succeed and if he does it will be a long time coming. They fail to take into account that he has what are Jewish brothers and sisters call chutzpah (hudzpah in the vernacular) or what Austin Powers called, “Mojo baby.” You could see that mojo working in the final five minutes. I don’t care if it was vs. Miami, I don’t care that other quarterbacks throw the ball better, or that Tebow played poorly for three quarters, he came through in the end. Does this mean he doesn’t need to improve? No, he still needs to improve, as does everyone in the league and Tebow still has much to learn and to tweak, but nevertheless the kid is a winner. Just because he doesn’t fit the mold of the analyst’s doesn’t necessarily mean he will fail. More times than not the analysts are closer to being right than wrong, but not in this case, they will be proven wrong. I am going out on a limb here, I am not a scout, I am not an analyst, I never played college or nfl ball, but he passes the eye ball test, not for mechanics (and by the way neither did Michael Spinks who won a light heavy weight title and heavy weight title in boxing and was extremely unorthodox) but for grit, determination, and spunk, and most of all for his infectious ability to win, which is priceless, just ask his high school teammates and college teammates who now have state championships and national titles. It’s only a matter of time before that happens in the NFL as well. Remember analysts, “Hudzpah and Mojo baby!”

Fr. John

A Love That Gives All

There is no trick to the Christian faith, nor is there some difficult assignment to figure out. Jesus will not give us a dogmatic exam prior to entering heaven. So be at ease, you will not be asked to explain homoousios, theosis, or transubstantiation vs. consubstantiation. We are simply judged on one thing and one thing only, Love!

Jesus reminds all of those listening that one must love God with his or her whole heart, soul, and mind, and to love one’s neighbor as oneself. That’s it, no real trick to it. Jesus has made it quite simple. And yet, it is so difficult. The difficulty arises out of expectations and our desire to move in our own direction.

All of us have expectations of God as well as our neighbor. We naturally expect God to take care of us and when something goes wrong or goes bad our expectations of God change, or at least we begin to ask questions, such as, “How can God let this happen, is God really good, why did he allow evil, etc.?” We feel as if God let us down. We also carry the same expectations of our neighbors. We feel that those around us, especially those we love will keep trust and faith with us. If it is broken then it becomes harder to love them. We also begin to have our own ideas, some of which are good and some of which are not. We begin to move in our own direction away from God through sin and we also move away from neighbor because we begin to think of ourselves, rather than the good. Some of this is just outright sin, while some of it is just honest journeying through life.

Jesus wants us to stay focused on what matters. What matters most is love. Jesus talks about love quite often. One place where he does that rather profoundly is in John chapter 15. “There is no greater love than this then to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” We must lay down our lives for the Lord and for one another. We must do so for everyone, not just my family and friends, but even the stranger, and even and more so the persons who have hurt us most in life. There is the real difficulty. Maybe we’d rather take that dogmatic test, a few hours of study and in we’ll be fine, because this love thing is quite difficult indeed. I’m afraid to say it, knowledge is wonderful, but love is greater.

Knowledge is wonderful and the Lord raises up people to plunge the depths of his wisdom, i.e. Paul, Luke, Augustine, Aquinas, etc. All of it for the Church’s benefit so that we may search the deep riches of God’s infinite person and wisdom. Yet none of it is worth anything without love, c.f. 1 Cor. Chapter 13. Even St. Thomas Aquinas when asked the value of his life’s work on the Summa Theologica responded, “It all seems as straw compared to what I have seen.” Thomas may very well have seen God in some sense and realized it is all about love.

I guess Lennon and McCartney were right after all, “All you need is love.” All kidding aside, it is true. Think for a moment if all people did everything they could to follow Jesus’ two simple commandments? The world would be a better place. It has to start somewhere, so why not right now? Pray with me that all of us will love God above all else and that we will truly love our neighbors as God desires, that our love will be a reflection of Jesus’ love, a love that gives everything, even our very lives. Amen!

Pay unto Caesar, Pay unto God!

I have consciously tried to avoid discussing politics in my homilies, bulletin reflections, and blogs. As a Christian and as a priest I understand that I am called to something beyond the body politic to that which is greater – the Kingdom of God. The Kingdom of God is made up of justice and charity. It is justice and charity that permeate throughout the Church, both triumphant and militant. Therefore our Church or Heavenly Society (our call) transcends beyond what we construct here, be it capitalism, socialism, communism, fascism or any other “ism.” Those systems are based on control.

In capitalism, the means of production, that which is produced is done so privately with the goal being profit. However, the control of this private sector is held by very few, for instance the wealthy control the market. You may ask, “Who are the wealthy?” The wealthy are the politicians, the bankers, and corporate big wigs.

In socialism a false premise exists, that the people have cooperatives into which they equally contribute and benefit from, they are self managed since they collectively contribute to the economy, but that is just a shadow as not everyone has the same access to the same resources, therefore they are not true or just cooperatives.

Communism is basically a more radical form of socialism in which there are no longer classes to society or any private ownership of property, all own everything, but the catch is that no one really owns anything especially those who are not high up in the food chain within the government. These major forms of government\economic systems are deficient, since they are not based on justice and charity as is the kingdom of God.

And yet, Jesus calls us not to abandon human form of government but to continue to meet our obligations for the common good, i.e. “Pay to Caesar what is Caesar’s and pay to God what is God’s.” I wonder if Jesus was taking into account a government that protects the rich at all costs and continues to assist them even when they fail, but does not assist the common man, who is the greatest contributor to society since the common man makes up the greatest majority of society. It is the common man that builds highways, byways, railroads, automobiles, farms, technological equipment, and any and everything which we use in our day to day lives. So why is it that large banks can be bailed out but not the restaurant entrepreneur or the owners of a mom and pop deli shop? Do they have less dignity, worth, or value than Wall Street, car manufacturers, or large banks? It is easy to see the flaw in capitalism as the wealthy continue to receive assistance at the greatest level while the common man continues to struggle and in the process a middle class that is shrinking. Still, there is Jesus demanding that we live honorably and continue to do our duty to country. I wonder if He meant even when a nation becomes unjust as was the case with Rome in its oppression of Israel. Something inside of me is saying, “Yes, even when a nation is unjust.” Does Jesus demand that we be good, docile, and almost seemingly lay down in front of injustice? When we respond as Christians we are preaching the Gospel and it effects people more than just by our words alone, our actions when grace filled move people, maybe not right away, but hopefully grace will begin to take hold and stir the human heart and move the good that is in everyone, even those who take, take, take.

God will, however, raise up men and women from time to time who challenge the body politic to be more just, but when doing so they themselves still remain charitable and act justly. We have seen these great folks in people like Dorothy Day who began the Catholic workers movement in NYC, Mother Teresa who made people take a good hard look at themselves in how they treated those who were the poorest of the poor, Pope John Paul the Great (JPII) who along with Ronald Regan brought down communism in Poland, Germany, and Russia without ever firing a single shot, and who can forget Oscar Romero who in the face of certain danger stood up to the oppression of a Salvadorian government which persecuted the Church and kept the poor down trodden, it cost him his life which he gave at the altar of Christ.

We too are called to have prophetic voices and challenge the body politic when it goes off kilter, but like our holy brothers and sisters to remain in grace and go about our business with a clear conscience. The problem in our day is that our American society, the body politic has been unjust and the injustice has nothing to do with being democratic, republican, or of the tea party persuasion since many of them have contributed to the machine of a select few rich who control the market, property, and even laws, they are all friends, since like attracts like. There is a vicious circle within government and it is made up of the select few. The rich contribute to the persons whom they want in office and since it was the rich who got them into office those who now occupy those offices must support their benefactors otherwise their time in office will be short, hence they are all friends. That is why they bailed out their friends, both republican and democrat alike.

I do not like the fact that I have become a pessimist when it comes to our government and our form of economy. The original idea was good, not perfect, but good and working, yet somewhere along the line we have gone astray. Jesus asks that we pay our dues both to society and God. He is right, we must, as did Dorothy Day, Oscar Romero, and all prophetic voices that stood up and pointed out injustice, yet still continued to live honorably and continued to pay their dues. Therefore, since I love this country I too will continue to pay my dues, to give to Caesar what belongs to him and to give to God what belongs to him. We must never stop being compassionate, just, good and obedient servants. I pray for our leaders and all those that seek office that they are blessed with wisdom, courage, and fortitude and I also pray that they remember us.

A great example of someone who protested injustice (in his case through silence) was St. Thomas More so I will leave you with his final words before his execution, words that have come to mean so much to me, they are the words of Jesus from today’s Gospel just said a little differently, “I have remained the King’s good servant, but God’s first!”

Fr. John Paul Picinic

Picture of St. Thomas More confronting Cardinal Wolsey on a matter of just law.

Crossing Over the Double Yellow Lines

A number of years ago I had the privilege of meeting John Ferraioli at the inception ceremony of David Brennan as a Luitenant in the Fairview Police force. Dave introduced me to John that evening. We had a great conversation. As they say you can know someone in 90 seconds or less. And in a short time I knew that the man in front of me was genuine, sincere, and plainly put – good.

I remember that his concern was for his cousin who was suffering from cancer. He asked me to pray for her, which I did. But it was in the way he talked about her that moved me. He was very concerned and it was easy to see that this man had a big heart. I was also surprised that as a cop and as a man that he would be that open in a first conversation. Usually as men, let alone police officers we have an image to maintain, one that society has imbedded in us, and yet John was free and caring about who he was as a Christian man and not embarrassed to show his love for his cousin. I remember praying that night and thinking about how many good people God has put in this world and John was one of them.

I would talk with John on occasion and he was always pleasant to talk with. Each and every time we spoke he always made prayer requests, mostly for his cousin, but also for all his family members, fellow friends, and his brother police officers. He never asked once for any prayers for himself. I thought this unusual, but I’ll get to that soon.

John and I had one funny run in. I was home visiting my parents for a few days. Every time I am home my mother puts me to work, lo and behold once a son always a son. My assignment that day was to take my mom to the Shop Rite in Palisades Park. It was about noon. I dropped her off and then went to grab some lunch at Donnas’ (still not better than Vincent’s in Cliffside Park J) I ordered two slices to go and then headed back to the Shop Rite parking lot. As I was pulling out I noticed no traffic on Broad Ave., so I did a no – no. I crossed over double yellows being too lazy to go to the intersection if front of me. I thought I was in the clear. Lo and behold as I made the right the lights went on. I was being pulled over. I thought, “Ok, I’m not wearing my collar, but I’ll say I know John Ferraioli, I’m his priest.” Well, the police officer made me wait quite a bit, I was getting nervous. I figured, let me get my paperwork ready, as I was doing that all of the sudden there was John with a big grin on his face and he said, “Father, you crossed over double yellows on Broad Ave.” I said, “Officer I know this great cop named John Ferraioli, he will vouch for me.” We both got a good laugh and I remember now not to cross over the double yellows, not yet anyway.

Even then on the side of the road, John was putting in prayer requests for all his family members. I could not refuse since he let me slide on the ticket, I would have said them anyway.

I know that only very few people know this, but on occasion John would send in significant donations to my parish, simply because the Church needed it. He asked for no recognition, except again, prayers for others. What an amazing man, always praying for someone else.

John soon after left this world and I am sure that in the end the one prayer that was always on his heart and lips, that of love itself, greeted him and rewarded him for his generosity. Jesus said, “Love the Lord your God . . . and your neighbor as yourself.” John lived this commandment because his concern never pointed inward, but outward.

I know that my friend John now prays for me, and how can God refuse the prayers of someone so caring, generous, and compassionate? I know John continues to pray for his family and friends and what an advocate you have! John my friend I miss you, but my faith tells me that the time you pulled me over in Pal Park will not be the last time we meet, but when it is my turn I hope to see the lights come on behind me and that it is you guiding me home, even if I have to cross over the double yellow lines.

Fr. John Picinic

28th Sunday in OT: Many are invited, but few are chosen.

In today’s Gospel from Matthew, Jesus says, “Many are invited, but few are chosen.” The story Jesus provides is one that helps us to reflect on many levels. One level is salvation itself. “The many” here refers to all of mankind, “the few” refers to those who are saved. We don’t like this passage because Jesus is holding us accountable, just as we did not like it when teachers, parents, coaches, mentors, the next door neighbor held us accountable. But can it be true that only a few will be saved? I say we leave that to the Lord to sort out and that we just continue to desire and pray that the all who are invited will also be the all that are chosen.

Another level this passage works on is not just in the grand scheme of who will or will not be saved, but also of opportunities that God invites us to all the time, each and every day, opportunities that are grace filled, that allow our relationship with him and others to grow. These opportunities come in many shapes and sizes, they can be direct opportunities in which we have spiritual fellowship with another person, i.e. prayer, reading and discussing Scripture. It can come for the student in a class room or parents with their children. God is constantly inviting us to accept the road in front of us, to work things out, with the many gifts he provides.

I wish to flesh out a couple of examples, everyday ones in which we can see God’s hand, sometimes acting on it, other times becoming the person who is invited but not chosen, or one in which I am invited to act Godly in a certain circumstance but do not.

Parents are always invited by God to raise their children in a Godly fashion, teaching them justice, mercy, prayer, and a love for the virtues. Often times parents will do the right thing, however, sometimes they will not. As a parent how would you deal with the following? You have a son who is on the debate club, the mentor or coach of this club is especially hard on your son, at least that is the perception you have from how your son describes his coach-mentor. You can do two things, one – intercede for your son by sitting down with the coach and interjecting your professional opinion on how the coach needs to tone it down, if not you will issue an ultimatum. Another way to approach it is to allow your son to talk with the coach himself, allowing your son to experience adversity, even loss so as to learn about life, to begin to grow while you yourself remain encouraging, supportive, and loving. God provides these difficult moments to help mold and shape us, but sometimes parents jump off the deep end in protecting their children. They will remove them from difficult situations in order to avoid pain, but sometimes pain is good. What will happen when they are 26 years old and are reamed out by their boss or he or she is making life very difficult for them. You can longer interject and they will still rely on you to get them out of trouble. Sometimes grace is given not to run away but to work through it. On rare occasions grace is given to walk away since all possible means of reconciliation between student – teacher, coach or for adults with a supervisor have been exhausted and it would be unhealthy to remain in that situation. You can clearly see how in each case God invites us to live Godly – to choose wisely.

As a priest I am often presented or in situations with other Christians who have various understandings of theology and Church. I hate to use these words, but some are more liberal than me, while others are more conservative than me. In my own selfishness I sometimes think that it is my way that is “the way,” of properly understanding the Church and theology. Often times the Good Lord will send people my way who differ in thought and understating than I do. A majority of the times, say 60%, I do remain open, listen, reflect, and learn. And about 40% of the time I dismiss others as too conservative or too liberal, because you see, me and God don’t agree with them. I guess it’s just the pride in me. I thank God that I recognize this, though I don’t always catch it. In these moments God is asking me to listen, but more importantly to continue to love others and remember that the boundaries in the Church are pretty wide. Sometimes we pigeonhole people into camps. I wonder what Jesus is thinking when he sees us doing this kind of thing.

Jesus was trying to get the people of his time and of all time to see God’s hand working in everyone and in every situation. God is constantly inviting us, not just to eternal life, but to every day circumstances that can be Godly. My friends we have been invited, therefore we must respond, because when we do we are not just invited, but chosen. AMEN

Fr. John

picture from http://spiritlessons.com/Documents/Jesus_Pictures/Jesus_Christ_Pictures.htm