A Story of Two Popes

This Sunday we have so much going in the Church.  We have the celebration of the 2^nd Sunday of Easter, we also celebrate Divine Mercy Sunday and this year the Church has added a third celebration, the canonization of Pope John XXIII and Pope John Paul II.  What a blessing for those of us who get to experience this day.  Some of us remember John XXIII and many of us remember John Paul II, both men were the kind of people who are not simply just a part of history, rather they were the kind of people who make and shape history.

Pope John XXIII also known as Papa Giovanni or Papa Bouno (the Good Pope) was elected as an elderly man, at the age of 78.  Since Pius XII had a long reign the College of Cardinals were looking for a transitional pope, one who would not change too many things.  Upon being elected and shortly after the “Good Pope” decided that he would change things and change them quite a bit so that the Church would be “with the times.”  He officially opened the 2^nd Vatican Council, one of the most attended, publicized, and influential councils in the Church since Trent or even as far back as Ephesus or Nicea.  Beyond the changes in the Church, the Good Pope was known for his smile, having fun, and having that grandfatherly image, one in which people felt very comfortable when in his presence, feeling his sense of holiness and genuine goodness.

Pope John Paul the Great was elected much younger than was Pope John XXIII.  Pope John Paul II was elected on April 16, 1978.  As a bishop he was at the second Vatican Council, along with Pope Benedict XVI.  Pope John XXIII and Pope Paul VI both had a great influence on JP II, hence continuing the name of John Paul.  JP II was the first non-Italian pope in over five centuries and he was a Slavic Pope, a son of Poland.  I remember many things about JP II and he had great influence in my life, I choose my confirmation name, Paul so that my full name would be John Paul since I never had a middle name.  More importantly than that however is that this man truly was great, like Leo the Great or Gregory the Great.  World leaders upon meeting him would say that the rest of us were small compared to this man of great stature and goodness.  We know much about JP II but there are some things we may never know officially, such as the great influence he had with President Regan in bringing down communism in Poland, Germany, and Russia without ever firing one bullet.  The two men were good friends and shared a lot in common.  The most endearing thing I will remember from JP II was when he visited NYC and he had a cane at the time.  When the crowd began to cheer his name he started twirling his cane.  I thought to myself, “what a cool pope!”

As we reflect on these two saints, their lives, their work, how they affected us and the world, let us try to emulate their faith and to continue to ask them to watch over our family here at Holy Family.  Pope Saint John XXIII, pray for us, Pope Saint John Paul II, pray for us.

Pope Francis: A Teacher of the Gospel

When it comes to figuring people out some are easier to figure, others less so.  All of us measure people up and all of us try to figure others out.  We do this for clarity, understanding, and to basically know the person we are engaging with.  I would imagine that all of us both individually and collectively have been trying to figure out Pope Francis.  Some Catholics are having difficulty with him, others embrace him, and still others are putting words in his mouth.

I happen to like the Holy Father quite a bit, just as I like Pope Emeritus Benedict, and John Paul II before him.  Actually JP II is my favorite for many reasons, but that’s another reflection.  We have heard many snippets from Pope Francis.  He is an off the cuff kind of guy, half the times not having a written homily in front of him, just speaking right from the heart.  He is also very open in his interviews and not afraid to speak his mind.

Once such interview in which the Holy Father was quite open and frank was when an interviewer asked him about people with homosexual orientations.  The Pope responded, “Who am I to judge them.”  With this simple statement people went off the deep end.  Some automatically assumed that the Pope will now allow same sex marriages and that homosexual acts are no longer sinful.  The Catechism of the Catholic Church is clear, to have a homosexual orientation is not a sin, but to engage in those acts is, no different than when heterosexuals engage in premarital sex or when people commit adultery.  As moral persons we can judge an act objectively, decide between good and evil, but we are to never judge the state of a person’s relationship with God, i.e. their eternal salvation or state of grace.  We don’t have that kind of insight nor should we since we would judge incorrectly and this is the kind of judgment the Pope speaks of.  If we do judge in that manner we are committing a grave sin, because only Christ can judge us eternally.

Pope Francis is also for the poor, not that other Popes have not been, except that his thrust and concern if you will is for the unfairness in society that the rich get richer and the poor get poorer.  In our country we blame the poor for being poor, it’s their fault.  We then justify not helping them because if they don’t work then my money will not go to help them.  Pope Francis is asking us not to place those kinds of conditions in our hearts but to be generous and giving.  If a poor person pulls a fast one on us then so be it, better to err on the side of compassion then miserliness.   Folks have even gone so far to label Pope Francis a socialist or Marxist.  I will say this, no one political-economical system is perfect and all of them have some truth and goodness.  Labeling people is dangerous.  People labeled Jesus, “breaker of the law,” “blasphemer,” “demon,” etc.

We don’t listen enough but as a society we are very reactionary, we have to respond right away.  So, if the Pope makes a statement instead of listening and taking it to prayer we make rash judgments without proper reflection.  We have to slow down and absorb what the Holy Father is saying and also to read him in context.  I have realized that even as priest when I say things that some will hear exactly what they want to hear and not allow the Holy Spirit to work.  The justification for our own position is usually made up of the following, i.e. that’s not what the book says, what the Church says, the way I would say it or the way that I would do it.  People who have judged the pope have already made up their minds, they have not accepted or better put interpreted correctly what he did say.  He has his own personality and approach, some don’t like it, but he is not here to make friends, he is here to preach the Gospel.  He also will never please everyone; it’s just the nature of the game.  He can’t get everyone to “like” him, but that’s not his job, his job is to teach and preach as is the job of all priests.

I think he is an amazing man and an extraordinary Pope.  During the last conclave some wonderful things happened during his election and I want to share them with you soon.  Some of things you may have heard, but even so it would be good to hear them again, they speak to the amazing faith this man has and his tremendous humility.  Please pray for Pope Francis may the Good Lord bless him with strength, hope, and courage as he leads us forward in our lives of faith and as good sons and daughters of the Church.  FJ

PARISH MISSION at HOLY FAMILY

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

This weekend and running through Wednesday we will have Fr. Lee Havey, C.P., giving us our annual mission talk.  I encourage you to come out each day if you can as Fr. Lee’s talks will center on, “Awareness of God’s Presence,” “Lord, I Want to See,” “Personal Call to Holiness,” and finally ending with a Reconciliation Service.

All of us need that reaffirmation that God is with us, that we can sense Him, feel Him, and know in our hearts that we are loved.  Being aware of God’s presence in us, in others and all around us should give us great hope and a great desire to love God and neighbor.

The blind man told Jesus, “I want to see.”  He asked for his physical sight.  You cannot blame the man for such a request.  However, even those of us who can see (physically) ask Jesus, “I want to see.”  It is a statement of faith.

The personal call to holiness is nothing new; it has been our mantra since Adam and Eve.  The personal call to holiness is to build up virtue, especially the virtues of faith, hope and charity.

We will close with a Reconciliation Service; I cannot stress enough the importance of Confession.  As Pope Francis recently tweeted, “Do not be afraid of confession.”  It is that place and moment when we do become aware of God’s presence, when we can see Him clearly and it is a means of building up holiness.

I will leave the rest to Fr. Lee.  Looking forward to seeing you all

over the next few days and I pray we will all be blessed with many

graces as we journey along in our Parish Mission. 

  

     God bless you,

   Father John

The Woman at the Well

The Gospel of John is my favorite Gospel, if not my favorite work of the entire New Testament.  It is a very well written Gospel and it is much different than the other three, Matthew, Mark and Luke.  In the Gospel of John the victory is the Cross and not so much the Resurrection. John uses a lot of imagery, allegory and metaphors to describe a story or character, especially Jesus, i.e. He is the gate, the Shepherd, the light, etc.  He also will show us levels of faith, those who don’t get it, those who are in the-in-between, and finally those who understand and are faithful.

Today’s Gospel with the woman at the well is someone who is in the-in-between, a person who has some faith but is still thinking in an earthly way.  People with no faith are always viewed as being in the dark or of the night, for instance, Judas leaves the last Supper early because he does not have faith, and when he leaves he leaves into the night.  When the Pharisees, Sadducees or Scribes test Jesus they are often referred to as being in the dark, stubborn, or of little faith.  When Nicodemus comes to Jesus he comes in the night because he does not believe yet, but as he continues his conversation he begins to leave the darkness entering twilight and eventually entering the light when he comes to believe.  Our Blessed Mother when mentioned in chapter two is an example of full faith as she shares a beautiful conversation with Jesus and those present at the Wedding Feast of Cana.  The Samaritan woman at the well is a person who is in the-in-between of faith.

The conversation Jesus had with her is quite amazing indeed.  First of all a Jew is never supposed to talk to a Samaritan, and she was also a woman, which would have been enough for Him not to talk to her.  But Jesus could think outside of the box, thank God and He continued His conversation with her.  Anyway, the conversation is not simply a conversation with her, but with all of us.  Jesus is the Savior, the one who can give life giving water; we are the woman who has lived in continual sin.

For a moment let us return to the conversation she had with Jesus.  Jesus asks for a drink of water.  She replies that He should not be talking to her.  Jesus continues and they go into the whole conversation about rightful worship and Jesus concludes that “God is Spirit” not a human being or a place or a thing, like a mountain for instance.  Jesus takes it a little higher by letting her know He can give her life giving water, Jesus is speaking spiritually and this can only be understood if someone has full faith.  She responds in an earthly way and in a way of partial faith, “Sir, you do not even have a bucket how will you draw the water from the well?”  Jesus is not talking about the water in the well.  He remains patient with her.  If you recall Nicodemus made this same mistake when Jesus said, “You must be born again.”  Nicodemus asks, “How can a person enter his mother’s womb a second time?”  He was thinking earthly and not spiritually, that being born again means baptism not entering your mother’s womb.

The Samaritan woman goes further, “give me this water so I don’t have to keep coming back to fill my bucket.”  She still doesn’t get it fully, but she is getting closer.  Jesus then goes into how many husbands she has had and the man she is with now is not her husband, so adultery after adultery and now fornication and yet Jesus does not give up on this woman, He doesn’t give up on us even when we keep going back to the earthly, the twilight, and the darkness.

Finally she understands and calls Him a great prophet and eventually the Messiah.  She ran back into town and evangelized bringing others to Jesus.  What are the points of the story for us?  I think the first is that Jesus does not give up on us.  When He spoke to that woman He was speaking to me, He was speaking to you.  How often like the woman at the well do we continue in the same sins and yet God loves us and calls us to repentance.  Sometimes we respond like the woman in earthly ways, in ways that are mixed with darkness and night, not understanding, because we get caught up into the darkness and actually like it, it is comfortable and pleasurable, my own bliss.  For the Samaritan woman it was having five husbands and living with a man who was not her husband, what is it for us.  Are we willing to let it go, the sin that binds us and keeps us searching for water in a well that only satisfies for a moment when we have access to the Lord of glory Who will offer us life giving water that never dries up or runs out?  AMEN.  FJ

The Strength to Follow God's Will

The beginning of faith is listening to what God has to tell us.  Abraham one of my favorite characters in the Bible is such a great example of faith, known to us as “the father of faith.”  He was not the first to ever believe in the One God, Yahweh, but He was definitely one of the first and one of the very few who listened to God and acted on God’s will no matter what God asked.  We are called to do the same during our lives and especially so during Lent.

When we read the story of Abraham we realize that here is a man who is pretty well set up living with his family in a fruitful land.  The family is rich and well off, life is comfortable.  Yet, when God calls and tells Abraham to pick up his things and leave his father’s house he does just that, but he does so without getting any directions.  He has no idea where he is to go; he is simply told, “Leave your father’s house.”  I wonder if I would have been able to do that.

The season of Lent is that time to practice our faith, to make it stronger, to become holy.  Holy does not simply mean to be pious, but to listen to the will of God and then to do it.  This is not always easy.  Even though the Scriptures tell us a story of Abraham who packed his things and left without question may not be the full story.  I do not want to place words into the story or make Abraham someone he was not, but I think (this is my opinion) he probably wondered, “wow I wonder where I am going, I know this voice and recognize it as God, but this is all quite amazing, what about all the people I will be leading, they will be following me, what if something goes wrong, someone gets sick, we meet up with marauders.”  Abraham was a human being and even though he was and is the father of faith, I believe he still thought things out in his mind, but even so he packed his things and left, a leap of faith.

God asks us throughout our lives to follow His will.  Half the times we follow it right away, the other half we follow our own will.  Lent is that Season when we try to follow God’s will 100% of the time.  One may ask, “Where will I ever get the strength to do that?”  That strength comes from Jesus.  The Apostles, all except Judas, were saints and yet they too struggled with following God’s will, especially the night Jesus was arrested.  Knowing this Jesus gave them strength before hand and that strength came in the form of the Transfiguration.

This same strength is given to us to face any and all of life’s challenges.  For some that challenge may come in the form of changing jobs or careers and to do so is very difficult.  Like Abraham, our Lord may be guiding you in a different direction.  There is a sense of being uncomfortable in that; there is the whole thing of the unknown and the pressure of taking a risk.  For young people it comes in the form of choosing a school, especially in making a decision on college.  They feel great pressure since the pressure comes from all angles, their counselors, their parents, their friends, their teachers, and even from their very selves.  Those are just two examples of trying to follow God’s will and there are many others.

What do we learn from Abraham and the Apostles?  That when we are making tough decisions we understand God’s will for us and that while we are making that choice like Abraham to walk out that door even though we don’t have all the answers, we do so with faith.  It all comes down to trust and sometimes that is hard to do.  I will leave you with one thing to reflect on.  No matter how difficult it may seem to follow God’s will and if we lack the trust that it will all workout all we need to do is remind ourselves of the Cross.  If we have a God that loves us that much that He would be willing to spread His arms on the Cross for us does He not have the power and love to make things work out in our lives.  Abraham believed and trusted in God’s love, no matter what God asked, it’s what gave him the strength to take that first step out of his door when he left his father’s house.  I pray that we too realize and believe that God does the same for us.  He transfigures for us every Sunday, which will happen soon as we celebrate the Eucharist, Christ transfigured for us.  It’s all we need to take that first step out of the door.  Amen.

FJ

1st Sunday of Lent: Good vs. evil

All sin is based on a lie.  In today’s first reading from Genesis chapters two and three, this lie is quite evident as it rolls off the lips of the servant, “But the serpent said to the woman: “You certainly will not die!  No, God knows well that the moment you eat of it your eyes will be opened and you will be like gods who know what is good and what is evil.”  The lie is that they can be gods on their own, that they are gods.  They will know good and evil apart from God, the focus is on themselves and not on the Creator.

We often wonder how Adam and Eve fell for Satan’s trick; the truth is all of us would have, because in our own lives we have fallen for the lies.  As I said all sin is based on a lie.  We can see this with any sin.

Sometimes people will drink too much and become drunk.  Before a person becomes drunk they will usually justify to themselves that they deserve the feeling, that they have earned it, that it makes them feel good, that there is really nothing wrong with it, there are worse things than getting drunk.  Sometimes people will steal things from their workplace, usually small, little things, like pens, paper, etc., and it is justified, the company is rich, what is one pen, etc.  The lie also works with grave sin as well, for example, my body is my own, no one can tell me what to do with my body, hence we even justify abortion through lies.

However, Jesus is the Truth so if we examine the lies through Jesus we will see that the lies fall apart.  The Truth tells us to be drunk is a vice because we lose our reason and put ourselves in harm, the Truth tells us that stealing is wrong even if it is just a pencil because the pencil is not mine, and finally to believe I have this radical freedom over my own body is lie since, “Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies. (1 Cor. 6:19-20)  The Lord owns our very bodies and our decisions over them must be made with the Lord in mind.

Make no mistake about it, sin is serious because it moves us further away from the Truth, the truth about who we are and also who God is.  Lent is that season when we face Truth and ask Him to enter into us so that we may defeat sin and to live in the Truth.

The Gospel shows that sin can be defeated, but it is not easy, because to do so means that we enter into the desert and we battle not only our own weaknesses but the temptations of the devil.  Yet, we should take courage because Jesus never lets us enter the desert alone.  He is there with us, that is why He entered it alone so that we never would have to.

Lent is not just about giving up candies that is a great start for children, rather it is about a serious reflection on self and coming face to face with the Truth so that we may become holy and perfect as our heavenly Father is perfect.  We can become so; it takes hard work, brutal honesty, and perseverance.  Alone it is impossible, but if we help each other during the Lenten journey and rely on our Lord Jesus we will come to that place of happiness which is filled with Truth and Goodness.  God bless you, FJ

Picture is from "The Passion of the Christ" fighting off the devil's temptation in the Garden, overcoming where Adam and Eve failed.

The House of Charity Begins in My Heart

In this week’s Gospel from Matthew Jesus tells us, “Do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink, or about your body, what you will wear.  Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?”  However, it is easy for us to get caught up in things, desiring and wanting that which we perceive to be better, so we move from one cell phone to the next, from one moderate vehicle to our dream vehicle, from a two bedroom house with the picket fence to the 5 bedroom, 3 full baths, and a stone wall for a fence with an automatic gate opener.  And yet, it’s never enough.  Happiness never rested in things, but right here in the human heart.  Jesus didn’t have a thing nor did He desire things.  The only thing He desired is us. 

When Jesus was speaking these words He was speaking them not to the poor but to those who have.  There is another reality for those who are poor even though they try to accept the words of Jesus they do worry about their lives, where their next meal will come from because they have not eaten in days and the clothes they wear is torn and ragged.  This is a reality, one that is hidden from us because it is always somewhere else, somewhere over there. 

We are asked by the Lord Himself to let go of the things we want and to be simply satisfied in Him, but we are also asked to provide for those in need and we as a Parish, the Church of the Holy Family have been doing so for a long time.  I want to thank you and commend you for giving to the House of Charity and doing so with great vigor even when we were down (economical downturn of 2008 and following).  When you gave to the House of Charity it wasn’t simply to Bishop Sullivan or a particular group but to those in need, be they poor children who need shelter, protection, school assistance, be it poor schools who cannot afford books for the children, for our elderly priests living in community, or our seminarians who rely solely on our good charity, for those who visit Catholic Charities for food, clothing, employment, and the list can go on and on.

I feel awkward and a little embarrassed that I am here only month and I am asking you for money and money that is not even for us but for others.  I pray that you will be generous with your brothers and sisters who are in need as you have done so many times before.  All of us give, even we priests and deacons, we give because we know the noble cause that it serves.  For remember, “The least you did for one of the least of my brothers and sisters you have done unto me.”

I want to thank each and every one of you for kindness and generosity in supporting the House of Charity.  Even if you cannot give for whatever circumstances please help us with your prayers.  God bless you all, Fr. John