Advent: Preparation and Comings

In today’s first reading from Isaiah we heard, “Come, let us climb the LORD’s mountain, to the house of the God of Jacob, that He may instruct us in His ways, and we may walk in His paths.”  And from the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus finishes by saying, “So too, you must be prepared, for at a time you do not expect, the Son of Man will come.”

There are two themes at work here and the Church puts these readings together nicely for the 1^st of Sunday Advent.  The two themes are, “The Coming of the Lord,” and “preparing oneself.”

When we speak of the Coming of the Lord we can be referring to a number of, “Comings of the Lord. The Lord’s first coming was being born into this world as one who is fully human and full divine, i.e. the birth of Jesus the Christ.  In Scripture we often hear two terms, “The Day of the Lord and the Lord’s Day.”  The Lord’s Day is Sunday, which we celebrate every Sunday, in particular the Resurrection.  But, when we refer to, “The Day of the Lord,” it means His Second Coming.  So there are two major comings of the Lord, one when He was born, Christmas, and two when He returns at the end of time.  But, there is also a third coming, for most of us will die, or at least the odds are we won’t be alive for the 2^nd Coming, but then again, you never know.  Anyway, odds are the Lord will come to us when we pass from this life and judgment is immediate, but like last week we pray as did James that mercy triumphs over judgment.

So you just got a mouthful of Eschatology, the theological study of the Last Things.  But, it is the second theme which I believe is just as important, if not more so, and we must prepare for any and all comings of the Lord.  Advent is that season when we do remember all of these comings of the Lord, especially the birth of Jesus in a manger, but also His birth in our hearts.

As human beings all we do is prepare for things all our lives and anything worth its weight in salt will mean that we prepare for a long time and that we prepare well.  We begin preparing right from childhood as grade school becomes this place that teaches us what it means to “practice” and to work hard.  If you want an “A” you got to work.  If you want a 4.0 GPA you have to work.  Many hours are spent reading and rereading, writing, looking up resources, especially in college.  Think of how hard one works for a Ph.D. 

It is not just school where one works hard in preparation, but also in our jobs.  Think of how hard and long one prepares to become a carpenter or electrical journeyman, anywhere from 4 to 5 years of apprenticeship while working.  This is done so that once the person becomes a journeyman he or she is ready to face all scenarios at work, but also to do their job well.  Think of the soldier, especially Navy seals or green berets who train both body and mind to do dangerous work and to be calm and collected while bullets fly overhead.  I recommend the move Captain Phillips; you will be amazed and left in wonder at what our Navy Seals can do, all through exhausting preparation, precision, and unbelievable dedication.  You can’t just show up at Navy headquarters and say, “look here I am, I am Navy seal.”  That won't work nor does that work anywhere, be it for a carpenter, a navy seal, a doctor, or even an RCIA Candidate looking to become Catholic.

Jesus understood that great faith, a holy faith comes with preparation, diligent preparation in fact.  The season of Advent reminds us that just as we prepare for everything in life so too must we prepare for our lives of faith in God.  You may ask, “What must I do to prepare?”  That’s easy; pray, fast, and work.  Prayer keeps our relationship with Jesus active and intimate.  Fasting clears the mind and reminds us that we clearly rely on God as we feel each pang of hunger and working means to visit the sick, help the poor, bury the dead, visit the prisoner, and give people time when they need us.  There are no complicated methods or practices involved in our preparing ourselves during Advent.  Christianity is very simple; it is we who complicate it with one law after another.

Christmas cannot just be about trees, lights, gifts, excess food, and jingle bells, that’s all nice, but it has to be about us walking every step with Mary and Joseph to Bethlehem as we go into our four weeks of Advent.  Mary and Joseph prepared themselves well for the coming of the Lord, they were people of great faith, spending much good quality time in prayer and doing good for others, we too are called to do the same during Advent.  Let’s begin our preparation right here and right now, Bethlehem is not close but if we walk it with fasting, prayer, and works of charity when we arrive there on the 25^th it will truly feel like Christmas.  God bless you, FJ

Jesus The KING!

A good king is a king that is righteous, one that judges the scales perfectly – delivering justice and mercy, he shows no partiality between the rich and poor, he loves his subjects even with his very life.  This kind of king we would lift on a high throne, we would honor him, pay tribute to him, and we would be his loyal subjects – because of his goodness.  We love to have these kinds of qualities in our leaders.  When we think of the great ones throughout history, Kind David, King Solomon, Caesar Augustus, Charlemagne, George Washington, and there are others, there is this natural longing in our hearts that we be led by virtuous and great leaders.  The problem here is twofold, the first is that God did not want us to have demi-god type of leaders but rather that decisions be distributed equitably, i.e. judges.  The second problem, which is unavoidable is that leaders always fall short.  Lets take a look at the first problem, God reminding us that He alone is our King.

In his old age Samuel appointed his sons judges over Israel. His sons did not follow his example, but looked to their own gain, accepting bribes and perverting justice. Therefore all the elders of Israel assembled and went to Samuel at Ramah and said to him, “Now that you are old, and your sons do not follow your example, appoint a king over us, like all the nations, to rule us.”   Samuel was displeased when they said, “Give us a king to rule us.” But he prayed to the LORD. The LORD said: Listen to whatever the people say. You are not the one they are rejecting. They are rejecting me as their king. They are acting toward you just as they have acted from the day I brought them up from Egypt to this very day, deserting me to serve other gods. Now listen to them; but at the same time, give them a solemn warning and inform them of the rights of the king who will rule them. Samuel delivered the message of the LORD in full to those who were asking him for a king. He told them: “The governance of the king who will rule you will be as follows: He will take your sons and assign them to his chariots and horses, and they will run before his chariot. He will appoint from among them his commanders of thousands and of hundreds. He will make them do his plowing and harvesting and produce his weapons of war and chariotry. He will use your daughters as perfumers, cooks, and bakers. He will take your best fields, vineyards, and olive groves, and give them to his servants. He will tithe your crops and grape harvests to give to his officials and his servants. He will take your male and female slaves, as well as your best oxen and donkeys, and use them to do his work. He will also tithe your flocks. As for you, you will become his slaves. On that day you will cry out because of the king whom you have chosen, but the LORD will not answer you on that day.” The people, however, refused to listen to Samuel’s warning and said, “No! There must be a king over us. We too must be like all the nations, with a king to rule us, lead us in warfare, and fight our battles.” Samuel listened to all the concerns of the people and then repeated them to the LORD. The LORD said: Listen to them! Appoint a king to rule over them. Then Samuel said to the people of Israel, “Return, each one of you, to your own city.” (1 Samuel 8:1-22)

This warning was given to us by God because He never wanted us to forget who the real King was, He is the King of kings, and yet we did not listen then nor do we take heed now.  God knew that we would replace Him with a human being (king).  If you don’t believe it, let me ask you this, “who gets more air time in today’s media, both by those who deliver it and those who receive it, Jesus or the human leader, king, or president?

The Lord relented and gave in to the people of Israel and gave them their king, now we live with the consequences.  I don’t want to paint a dire picture, for we do have good and great leaders from time to time, but even the best of them fall short, they are sinners – as is everyone.  God desired that people share responsibility in smaller groups making up the whole; it makes things more equitable, both in economic terms but also in shared responsibility for all of society.  God did not want us to become indebted to one person, as we are when we appoint a king over us.

The second issue is this, man is imperfect, therefore no matter who is king we will not be satisfied.  Even King David, and even the saintly Abraham Lincoln had strong detractors, people who wanted them dead.  King David’s life was threatened numerous times and we know that Abraham Lincoln was indeed assassinated.  As sinners ourselves we denounce all our kings, even today we still do this.  No matter who is president we are never happy, we always complain, complain, and complain.   We put so much trust in our leaders and we back our party, right or wrong with a fierce determination and then we crucify the other party and eventually our own when the king does not live up to expectations.  We will find fault with everyone and no system of government will ever be perfect.  This has been going on since the very first appointment of a king in this world and it won’t stop until the King of kings returns.

The Good News today is that there is one we can put all our faith in as our leader, as our King.  God reminds us, “I AM your King.”  We can put that faith in Him because He is without flaw, prejudice, favor, or even any vice.  He judges perfectly, keeping justice and mercy in perfect balance.  He leads by example being a servant King - loving His own subjects so much so that He gave His own life for them, even though He had the power and right to wipe them from existence for their treason.   This is whom we should put our trust in; He will not fail us nor will be disappointed, for Jesus Christ is true King, a King of Kings, one whom we can follow without disappointment.  So yes, we are to be obedient to who God has appointed as our rulers, but they are not to become king in our hearts, for that belongs to Jesus alone.  All the rest will fall short and disappoint us but Jesus Christ the King of the universe will never fail us.  Praise be to Jesus King of the Universe.  Peace, FJ

Life in Heaven: Resurrection and Relationships

There are three ideas or questions that come to mind from today’s Gospel from St. Luke.  Is there a resurrection and what is it?  And are people still married in heaven?  Lets deal with the last question \ idea first.

Before answering whether people are still married in heaven, we have to understand, “what is marriage.”  Marriage is the sacramental bond between that of one man and one woman, which takes place when both exchange vows in the Church and afterwards when the two become one flesh in the act of consummation.  I leave that to the parents to explain to their young children.  Marriage is a holy bond often depicted analogously with Jesus’ love for his bride, the Church, with whom He is one with (c.f. John chapter 17).  Nothing can separate this bond – union, unless the marriage had been unlawful from its beginning or death.  When one spouse dies the sacrament no longer exists, the widow or widower is free to enter into another sacramental marriage.

The Sadducees, who did not believe in the resurrection, wanted to know whose wife she would be since she had seven husbands.  She would not be wife to any of them in heaven, she is no longer married.  This does not mean spouses do not recognize one another or have forgotten that they were married, it’s simply that the sacrament is no longer binding, “since there is no longer any marriage or giving into marriage in heaven.”  This sounds disappointing, but in reality spouses will love each other even more deeply in heaven as all love will now be clearer and face to face with Christ.  If marriage still existed in heaven this poor woman be wife to seven men all of whom are brothers, according to the story.  The primary goal of heaven is to be with God, not my parents, not siblings, not my children, not even my spouse, as much as we love them and we are to love them greatly, we are to love God more.  This is hard for us to hear and you may be thinking Fr. John has not brought us Good News today.  Listen to Jesus’ words, not mine, “If any one comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple.” (Lk. 14:26)  Jesus is trying to make a point; everything you have is from Me anyway.  Whom do you love more, the gift or the Gift-giver?

Finally, is there a resurrection and what is it?  We know there is a resurrection from two points in Scripture.  The first Jesus made in today’s Gospel, that God is the God of the living and not the dead, for God is the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.  If Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were dead and they no longer existed the sacred authors would not have used those terms.  We also know there is a resurrection because Jesus rose first.  Here is another question, “Why do you believe that Jesus rose from the dead?  What proof do you have?  The proof rests in the testimony of the Apostles.  But, how we would know they didn’t make it up?  They could have easily made it up in order to keep the movement going.  We do not believe that because the Apostles’ testimony is not just based on their written word, but is also based on their blood – their very lives.  My friends, all the Apostles accepted death rather than renounce what they believed.  In order to do that they must have seen something and we believe they actually saw Jesus after He had died, they saw Him resurrected.  Remember my friends, it is rare or unfortunate circumstances in which a person would die for a lie, but eleven Apostles and the great multitude that followed all gave their lives for the Truth, sounds pretty credible to me.

We know that there is a resurrection, but what is it like?  Well, I can’t answer that fully because I am still here with you.  When I thought about how to answer this I figured why not use one of the men who died for Jesus and his belief in the resurrection to explain it to us.  I close with the words of a great Apostle.

This I declare, brothers: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does corruption inherit incorruption.  Behold, I tell you a mystery. We shall not all fall asleep, but we will all be changed, in an instant, in the blink of an eye, at the last trumpet.  For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.  For that which is corruptible must clothe itself with incorruptibility, and that which is mortal must clothe itself with immortality.  And when this which is corruptible clothes itself with incorruptibility and this which is mortal clothes itself with immortality, then the word that is written shall come about:

“Death is swallowed up in victory.

Where, O death, is your victory?

Where, O death, is your sting?”  (1 Cor. 15:50-55)  AMEN, FJ

Priesthood: God's Gracious Call

     

       This weekend begins “Vocation Awareness Week” in the Church.  Our bishop, Dennis Sullivan, has asked us to specifically preach on “Diocesan Priesthood.”  There are many needs in the Church for all types of vocations, from religious to diaconate, but it is the diocesan priesthood in particular that is in “crisis mode,” according to Bishop Sullivan.  I for one agree with him, especially since it will be about two years from now when we ordain the next priest for our Diocese.

So, part of what I will be doing today is in some ways turning into a type of college athletic recruiter, recruiting young men to the priesthood, but also sharing some of my priesthood with you as well.

Before I begin a little education is in order because with the priesthood things can get confusing or there may be questions of what does it actually take to become a priest.  Often times we will hear about religious priests and or diocesan priests.  They are all priests, all ordained, except one group (religious priests) belong to a communit such as the Franciscans, Jesuits, Dominicans, etc.  They are men living in community which have their own structures, i.e. superiors.  Diocesan priests belong to the Diocesan community and do not take any promises or vows to a community, except for the vows we make to Christ in the person of the Bishop, the vow of celibacy and obedience.  Diocesan priests do not make a formal vow of poverty but should live with that spirit.  Diocesan priests are under the direction of their local Bishop and work within those Diocesan boundaries.  Our diocese consists of the six southern most counties in N.J. 

In regards to what it takes to become a priest, well, in one word that would be, “grace.”  As in all things it is God who calls us, we do not call Him.  This is not just for the priesthood, but for the vocation of marriage or religious life and even the single life.  Beyond that, the actual work involved includes about eight years of college.  This includes a Bachelor’s Degree with a minor in Philosophy + an additional 2 courses totaling 24 credits.  That may have gone up since I was in school.  Traditional Seminaries require two years of pre-theology after a Bachelor’s Degree and then a Masters in Theology which could be a Masters of Divinity Degree or something similar which takes about four years to complete.  I did not do pre-theology since my Bachelors Degree was in Religious Education.  As you can see there are quite a bit of educational requirements.  Training does not only consist of education, in our Diocese, the seminarians do a pastoral year after their second year of master’s work.  They work in a parish setting for one year in order to gain experience but to also begin their hands on training.  Every year in the summer they also have some type of ministry - parish experience.

My own experience of priesthood has been a wonderful experience.  This does not mean it has not had its difficulties.  The difference between an athletic recruiter and recruiting vocations is that we have to be honest.  I can only go by personal experience.  Some of the difficult moments for me was even before I was ordained.  As you remember the pedophilia scandal broke in the early 2,000's.  As seminarians we followed it closely.  It was a very disappointing time and some of the fellas left.  Many persevered because we realized we had a calling, a calling to serve even when times may be rough.

When I left religious life and joined Diocesan life I experienced both anger and joy.  The anger was at what sometimes becomes a very bureaucratic - hierarchical - medieval Church, and it did so in my case, I saw and experienced the worst about priesthood, but I also experienced the best of the priesthood and I found that in my brother priests here in the Diocese of Camden.  I found commitment, loyalty, dedication, and most of all genuine friendship and fraternity. 

So yes, there are tough moments, there are also joyous moments.  These moments come from all sides.  But there are moments about priesthood I have not yet mentioned and these are the most powerful, affirming, and amazing moments, the moments when Jesus speaks right to your heart and you see Him at work in His priesthood through you, in this case me.  I will finish with one of those moments in which that happened to me and I ask all those considering priesthood to reflect and focus on these types of moments as they are the moments in which priesthood is truly practiced.

I remember the very first anointing of the sick that I was called to.  It was my first week working in the parish at St. Joe’s Woodstown.  It was a call to a nursing home in Carney’s Point.  When I arrived the man’s wife met me outside in the hallway.  She explained to me that her husband has had dementia for over ten years and that for the last two years he was completely unresponsive, he basically sat in his chair.  His health was also failing and failing fast.  I asked her, “will he know who I am, that a priest is here?”  She replied, “father he doesn’t even know how I am.”  That was very sad to hear.  As I was entering the room I felt in my heart, “o.k. I’m the priest I will bring them all God’s grace.”  When I approached him and said who I was he remained unresponsive.  His sister was also in the room sitting with his wife.  I began to take out the oils and holy water, I got my book ready.  As soon as I began with, “In the Name of the Father . . .” Martin’s head went up and he traced himself with the sign of the cross.  I was left confused since his wife told me he was completely unresponsive.  I could hear both his wife and sister gasp out loud.  I said, “Martin, I am Fr. John I am here to anoint you.”  He looked me in the eyes and said, “thank you Father, please do so.”  At this point his wife almost fainted and his sister was crying very loudly.  I could feel God’s presence in the room and trust me I felt nervous since it was my first anointing, but then quickly a spirit of calm came over me.  I continued with the sacrament of the sick and Martin responded throughout and thanked me when I was finished.  As soon as I ended the rite, Martin went right back into his catatonic state.

The wife and sister followed me out into the hallway, both were crying, but they were tears of joy, my eyes were also swelling up with tears.  I couldn’t believe what just happened, but more importantly the presence of God, it was clearly felt by all of us.  After I said my goodbyes and as I was driving home, my hands were shaking on the steering wheel, not because I was afraid but I realized how unworthy I was and that it was the Lord working through me.  As soon as I thanked Jesus for allowing me to experience His grace, I could hear in my heart, “The miracle you witnessed was not for Martin, but for his wife and his sister, and also for you that you always remember it is my priesthood that you bring to others and not your own.”  I cried the whole way home.  I thanked God for calling me, his unworthy servant to do His work.  

Jesus gives us these moments as priests to remind us of His work in our world, but most of all His love, for those to whom we minister but also to reward us a hundred-fold in this life for the work we do in His name.  Priesthood is not easy and not everyone is called, but if you think you are remember these moments, like I had with Martin you too will experience, and I can think of nothing greater in this life than to minister to God’s people, I pray you feel the same.  

FJ