Humility and Poverty

Sunday within the Octave of the Nativity

    In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.  One of the foci (plural of focus) of St. Francis of Assisi (or, as the Dominicans call him, our Holy Father St. Francis), and the Franciscan Orders, is the humility and poverty of God.  This shouldn’t surprise us much, as Giovanni di Pietro di Bernardone (as he was baptized) gave up his family’s wealth and prestige to become a begging or mendicant friar and took the name Francis.  He literally (and I use that word properly) stripped off his family’s wealthy clothes and put on a rough, brown habit, and relied on the generosity of others to survive.  And through this poverty, and with the assistance of our Holy Father St. Dominic, they did much to rebuild the Church, which had so greatly fallen into disrepair.
    But poverty and humility don’t only regard physical possessions or wealth.  Our Lord shows us great humility and poverty in His Incarnation.  And yes, the Gospels are clear that the Blessed Mother and St. Joseph did not have much wealth (they had to present the poor family’s offering of two turtledoves or pigeons to redeem their firstborn son).  But the poverty of Christ comes from recognizing how much He gave up to take our human nature onto Himself.  As pure spirit, before the Incarnation, Christ had no limits, experienced no lack, and existed in pure actuality.  After the Incarnation, Christ could be seen in only one place, few the pangs of hunger and thirst, and would grow from potentiality to actuality throughout His life.  The King of the Universe could be mocked by his neighbors.  He could get splinters and feel pain while working with St. Joseph in his workshop.  
    But beyond that, Christ subjected Himself to the Law of Moses.  Our Lord gave the Law to Moses, and knew its deeper meaning, as He would preach in the Sermon on the Mount.  But, as one like us in all things but sin, He subjected Himself to a Law to which He, as Lawgiver, should never have had to follow.  The Law was for children as a tutor.  He needed no such tutor.  And yet, He did not consider it beneath Himself to obey the law in all its commands.  He received circumcision on the eighth day (as we will hear on Wednesday); His parents redeemed Him in the Temple 40 days after His birth (as we will celebrate on Candlemas), which is the earlier passage of today’s Gospel; He went to the Temple for Passover and the Feast of Booths and the Day of Atonement.  He who would declare all animals clean to St. Peter in a vision, obeyed kosher laws.  He would pay the temple tax, though He was the Lord of the temple and the object of its worship.  
    And He did all this so that He could redeem those under the law, so that we might not simply be servants or slaves (though St. Paul will still use these words from time to time), but sons and daughters in the Son of God, so that we could have the same access to the Father that He has.  What great humility for the one who did not sin, which the Law was meant to guard against, to live according to the Law!  What great poverty that He would live under the same rule as slaves, though He is Son.
    So how do we demonstrate this humility and poverty?  Or are we too important to humble ourselves and live under the rules of others, even when they seem not to apply to us (as long as they don’t go against our conscience)?  Kids will often confess disobedience to their parents in one way or another.  I know I disobeyed my parents when I was a child (shocking, I know!).  I will often remind them that our Lord, when He was a child, obeyed Mary and Joseph, even though Christ made and redeemed Mary and Joseph.  Christ, strictly speaking, owed no obedience to anyone; He is God.  And yet, if Joseph told Him to wash His face, or help His mother with dinner, or join in in the workshop, Jesus would yes, “Yes, Abba.”  If the Lord of all Creation can obey human parents, then we, who are not divine, can certainly give our best attempts to obey our parents and what they say.
    How about when Holy Mother Church asks us to do something: how do we respond then?  Some laws are man-made.  They are rooted in what we believe, but they are not directly from God.  Do we take time to obey them, or do we figure that we know better and don’t need to be shackled by such limiting regulations?  When the Church asks us to do penance to unite ourselves to Christ on the cross on Fridays, do we do that, in one way or another?  When the Church asks for some support in prayer, can we add a little prayer time to our daily habits, or do we complain that we pray enough, and are too busy to add another devotion?  Certainly devotions are not necessary, but they can sometimes help.  
    It is so easy to think that we know best, and we shouldn’t have to do something because it doesn’t apply to us, or won’t have an effect on us.  But Christ, through. His Incarnation and Nativity, shows us how to humble ourselves, and how to live in poverty, maybe not of possessions or money, but in poverty of spirit.  May the humble Christ Child, whom St. Francis, il Poverello, the little poor one, loved so much and imitated, help us all to be a bit more humble, a bit more poor, so that we can be more like our Lord Jesus Christ, who with the Father and the Holy Spirit is God, for ever and ever.  Amen.

Becoming a Holy Family

Feast of the Holy Family

    In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.  As we celebrate the Feast of the Holy Family, perhaps some of us think that holiness as a family is always just beyond our reach.  What can be difficult is that God is the ultimate judge of holiness.  He knows the inner working of our hearts, our motivations, how praiseworthy or culpable we truly are for our actions, etc.  While there are objective norms for being holy, our participation in those norms, and how close we come to them, is always an act of faith.  But today I wanted to outline a few important points, first in general and then directed at fathers, mothers, and children.
    First of all, from our Gospel today, we learn that holiness does not mean that we never make mistakes.  We know the story well, that our Blessed Mother and St. Joseph accidentally leave behind our adolescent Lord in Jerusalem, figuring that He’s with other family members.  It’s not until after a day of traveling that they realize they left Him behind in Jerusalem.  We know that Mary never sinned, and the Gospel doesn’t really put blame on St. Joseph either.  So holiness includes doing our best but sometimes not quite getting everything right.  I’m sure that both the Blessed Virgin Mary and St. Joseph felt awful about leaving Christ behind in Jerusalem, and they likely experienced the panic that any parent has when he or she can’t find a child.  But they were not at fault.
    Secondly, holiness can, of itself, seem beyond our grasp, like a goal that we can never reach on this side of heaven.  But holiness is, more often than not, continuing to do our best, even if there are falls from time to time.  An Orthodox monk by the name of Elder Thaddeus put it this way:
 

The Holy Fathers and the Saints always tell us, “It is important to get up immediately after a fall and to keep on walking toward God.”  Even if we fall a hundred times a day, it does not matter; we must get up and go on walking toward God without looking back.  What has happened has happened–it is in the past.  Just keep on going, all the while asking for help from God.

Repentance is a sign that you are seeking holiness.  It is only when we give up, when we stop trying to be as God created us to be, that we fail.  Even if you don’t think you’re holy yet, and I know I’m still working on it, keep striving for holiness.  God is the only true judge of whether or not we are being the saints that He called us to be in Holy Baptism.
    For each member of the family, there are particular attributes that help us know that we are truly trying to be a holy family.  And I want to mention just a few today.  Certainly these admonitions are not exhaustive; there are many more that help us to be saints.  But hopefully these will help you to be a holy family, like the model Holy Family of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph.
    Fathers: your witness of living the faith is of the utmost importance.  Recent studies have shown that when the father of the family takes the faith seriously, his children are much more likely to continue practicing their faith after they leave the home.  Your love for your wife (first) and your children, a love which you often demonstrate by sacrifice, pays dividends.  By the way you treat your wife, you show your sons how a man should treat a woman, and you show your daughters what level of respect they can demand from young men when they start to date and seek a husband. 
    The words you use (and don’t use) are important; even more so the actions that prove which words you truly value.  We are in need of masculine witnesses of faith in our times when masculinity in general is under attack.  Do not be a chauvinist, but do not be afraid of being a man, willing to sacrifice for a greater good.  Make sure your family makes it to Mass each Sunday and Holyday, and that confession is a regular part of your family life, too, with your wife and kids able to see you enter the confessional, proving that you, too, have your faults that require God’s forgiveness, even as your seek to imitate the love of God the Father in your family home.  Bless your wife and children.  Entrust them to the care of their guardian angels daily.  In this way, you will be holy fathers of a holy family.
    Mothers: faith and trust so often come easier for you, which is why so many women are active in the life of faith and of the parish.  You help your husbands to continue the process of changing from a boy to a man.  A boy thinks only of himself; a man thinks of the other; a husband has been trained to value you and your children more than himself.  Your husband wants to do what is best, and you can help him see things, not only from his perspective, but also from yours.  You help him to value and support what is tender in him, especially when it comes for caring for you and your children.
    Your connection with your children is always different than your husbands, since you bore each child for nine months before their father even got a chance to connect with them.  They often look to you first for guidance, and especially for that maternal love which is gentle when comforting a husband who has the “man flu” or a child who is sick or hurt, but which love is ferocious when defending a child under attack from the outside.  Like Mary, your heart is often pierced with many sorrows, but you demonstrate how to suffer them patiently, with trust that God will make all things right in the end. 
    Your witness to the faith is also so important, and imitates the witness of the Blessed Mother who was attentive to God’s will, and pondered the working of God in her heart.  You help your husband and your children learn quiet meditation and how to listen for the voice of God in the silence.  We need holy women in today’s society, which do not seek to be the same as men, but which seek to compliment authentic masculinity with the feminine genius.  Pray for your husband and children daily.  Entrust them to the care of their guardian angels daily.  In this way, you will be holy mothers of a holy family.
    Children: you, more than your father and mother, are constantly in a state of becoming.  Your life as a child always develops, from a small life in the womb, to a baby, to a toddler, to a child, to an adolescent, to a teenager, to an adult.  You are constantly bumping into rules and limits as you discover who God made you to be.  There are so many influences in your life: first family, then friends, then a boyfriend or girlfriend.  Amid all these changes in your lives, seek God first.  Seek His guidance first.  Your parents will be good, but not perfect, examples of what God wills for you.  Learn to emulate what they do well; learn to avoid what you observe of their struggles.  Both are helpful for your growth in holiness.
    Be patient with your parents.  Just as you don’t know how to become the person God wants you to be perfectly, so they don’t know perfectly how to raise you to be that person.  You didn’t come with an instruction manual.  You will make mistakes, and so will they.  But be respectful of them and, until you’re an adult, obedient to them.  Look to them to understand when love needs to be tough, and when love needs to be gentle.  Pray for them each day of your lives, as you are not always easy to raise.  Commend your parents to St. Joseph and the Blessed Virgin Mary each day.  In this way, you will be holy children of a holy family.
    You can each be a holy family.  I can be a holy family.  It does take discipline and sacrifice.  Holy families always seek God’s will, and do their best to follow it when known.  Persevere in trying each day to be holy, as all you have is each day.  If you do your best to cooperate with God’s will, He will complete the good work He has begun in you, through Christ Jesus the Lord, who with the Father and the Holy Spirit live and reign for ever and ever.  Amen.

The Gift of Adoption

 Feast of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph
    I enjoy giving gifts.  I try really hard to give good gifts, but I don’t always succeed in finding gifts that others truly want.  But there’s something about giving people something that makes me happy, especially for my close friends and family.  Sometimes people will say, “You shouldn’t have!” as a way of expressing their thanks for the gift.  Other times, they’re not the biggest fan of the gift, and mean, “You really shouldn’t have gotten me a gift!”  
    While I like providing for people, especially things that they really want but wouldn’t get for themselves, even things that they need, there’s always the danger that, in giving a gift, it’s really a quid pro quo, a this for that.  I know that sometimes friends have wondered if I get them gifts as a way to try to bribe them to stay my friends, as if giving the gift would earn their friendship.
    I thought about this when reading over the second reading from the epistle of St. John.  John writes, “See what love the Father has bestowed on us that we may be called the children of God.  And so we are.”  God has given us a great gift: to be called and truly to be His children, sons and daughters in the Son of God.  That is a gift that we truly need, even if sometimes we don’t recognize that we need it.  But it is a gift; it cannot be earned.
    Still, sometimes I, and perhaps you, as well, try to earn that gift.  We think that if we just did enough good things, or avoided particular sins, or lived in this heroic way, that God would be happy with us and would make us His children based upon the gifts that we have given Him.  As Catholics, it’s very easy to fall into this trap that God only loves us if we do what He wants, that our adoption as His children is somehow based upon what we do.  
    But that is a lie that the enemy tells us, a lie which distracts us from the true love of the Father.  That love of the Father is not based upon what we do, but is based upon the fact that we are His creation, and His creation has been raised to a new dignity, not based upon what we have done, but what Christ has done for us.  In baptism, we become little christs, little anointed ones, and God sees the imprint of His Son, Jesus, in us.  That has nothing to do with how holy we are, because, at the time just before we are baptized, we are not holy; we are at enmity with God.  It has everything to do with God being Love, and the love that God has for His Son, and all those who are joined to His Son through baptism.  
    How much do we try to earn the love of the Father through trying to be perfect, and then get frustrated when it doesn’t work out, when we’re not perfect, or even as holy as we desire to be!  But it’s putting the cart in front of the horse.  Living the commandments is only possible through the love that we receive from the Father.  Keeping the commandments is important; our life is supposed to reflect the love of the Father that has been poured into our hearts.  But is the result, not the pre-requisite, of the love of God.

    And as we celebrate the Holy Family, and try to be holy families ourselves, we are called to model that same love and that same approach to love with our families that we have with our heavenly Father.  We love the members of our family, not because of something they have done for us, but simply because they are ours.  We hope that they live a good life, and we try to support each other in being holy, in following the commandments to love God and neighbor as Christ and the Church teaches us.  We want them to be good representatives of our name and our family.  But that comes as a result of our love for them, not as the pre-requisite of our love for them.  
    We see this especially with babies.  Babies don’t really do anything for the family; they pretty much just take from the family.  They cry whenever they need something; they demand food whenever they want it; they poop and spit-up on a regular basis; they never seem to sleep when you want (or need) them to.  And yet, how much love is showered upon babies, even before they’re born!  You can’t help but love a baby.  And that is how much God loves us, and infinitely more!  
    We are, no matter how old we are, the babies of the Holy Family.  God the Father loves us infinitely, even though we cry a lot, and demand a lot, and often soil our souls on a regular basis.  We really do nothing for God in the grand scheme of things.  But God the Father loves us.  And because we are loved by God the Father, we are also loved by God the Son and God the Holy Spirit.  And because Mary is the Mother of God, she loves what He loves, and so she loves us with her motherly love.  And because St. Joseph cares for Mary and her child, Jesus, he also cares for us, who are her children, too, given to Mary at the foot of the cross by Jesus.  Again, it is not based upon what we can do for Mary and Joseph, and even more so is not based upon what we can do for the Holy Trinity.  But the love is there, and is given freely as a gift.
    “Beloved: See what love the Father has bestowed upon us that we may be called the children of God.”  Not because of what we give God.  Not because we could ever earn His love.  Simply because, in Christ, as a gift freely given, we are adopted sons and daughters of God.  “And so we are.”

Year of St. Joseph

 Feast of the Holy Family

     On Tuesday, 8 December, to the surprise of many (there wasn’t any Catholic gossip that this was going to happen of which I was aware), Pope Francis proclaimed a special Year of St. Joseph, on the 150th Anniversary of Pope Bl. Pius IX naming St. Joseph as Patron of the Universal Church.  As St. Joseph is part of the Holy Family, I thought it would be good to preach about him today, as we begin this special year dedicated to the Spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary and Foster-Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.  While the entire homily won’t be directed only at men, ladies, I would ask your forbearance for those parts that address only the males.
    I had seen a post on Facebook that jokingly challenged everyone to memorize every word that St. Joseph said in the Gospels by the time the holy year ends on 8 December 2021.  The joke is that St. Joseph, while mentioned numerous times in the Gospel, never has a recorded word spoken in the gospel accounts.  This lack of talking may make him, in the view of many wives, the perfect example of a husband: always silent.
    What can we learn from a man who never had a word that he said recorded?  There is much we can learn from this saint, and I’ll highlight one in particular.
    St. Joseph was a man who had a deep relationship with God.  Before even Jesus was born, Joseph was attune to God speaking to him in dreams.  Joseph took Jesus and Mary to the temple 40 days after the birth of Jesus in accord with the Law of Moses.  And the Holy Family traveled to the temple for the pilgrim festivals of the Jewish faith, like Passover and the Feast of Booths.  While we have no direct evidence, Jesus seemed very familiar with the synagogue and how the services were conducted, so Joseph must have taken Jesus to synagogue throughout Jesus’ life.  
    Fathers: in many ways, we fathers have lived up to our call to help our families have a relationship with God.  This is certainly true of certain spiritual fathers, priests who preyed on the vulnerable and led them away from God.  But it’s also true of biological fathers.  How many children consider religion to be a things that mostly girls do?  How many times is it the mother who is making sure that the kids go to Mass, while the father makes excuses about golf, watching sports or sleeping in?  
    I encourage you, fathers, to make sure that your families (including you!) are going to Mass every Sunday and Holyday, except in case of illness (or a pandemic).  Why don’t kids practice the faith after they leave the house?  Because, in so many cases, the faith clearly wasn’t that important when they were living at home.  It certainly isn’t the only part of being Catholic and developing a relationship with Jesus, but it’s an important part.  Most people who attend Mass will tell me that they never had a choice when they were growing up about attending Mass; it was non-negotiable, even on vacation.  I dare say that most people, at some point in their lives, do not want to go to church.  But that habit of going is so important.  Because when life gets rough, as it always does, without faith, it’s so much harder to get through and to know where to turn, than it is with a practice of going to Mass.  
    Another part of our faith is daily prayer.  The Mass is necessary for our relationship with God, but so is daily prayer.  Sometimes that prayer can be formal prayers that we learned, like the Our Father, Hail Mary, and/or Glory Be.  Maybe during this year of St. Joseph we can learn the Memorare of St. Joseph.  But prayer isn’t always formal.  Yes, in the Mass, we use special, elevated language to communicate with God.  But in our daily prayer we are encouraged to use everyday language to share with the Lord our hopes and fears, our desires, our struggles, our needs, and everything that is a part of our life.  If you can talk with a friend, you can talk with God.  And, like with our friends, we also need to learn how to listen, so that we can hear God’s voice.  Fathers: teach your children (or grandchildren) to pray.  Teach them to be able to speak to Jesus and to listen to Jesus.  
    There are so many other ways that St. Joseph is a great model for all Catholics, especially, but not only, for men.  He is a great intercessor for chastity, for work, for the importance of fathers in a family, as well as the patron of a happy death, which is not something to be neurotic about, but something for which we should always be prepared by living the best life that we can, centered around God.  I’ll close today with a prayer to St. Joseph, which closed the Apostolic Letter, Patris corde, with which Pope Francis inaugurated the Holy Year of St. Joseph:


Hail, Guardian of the Redeemer,
Spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
To you God entrusted his only Son;
in you Mary placed her trust;
with you Christ became man.

Blessed Joseph, to us too,
show yourself a father
and guide us in the path of life.
Obtain for us grace, mercy and courage,
and defend us from every evil.  Amen.

St. Joseph: Our Model

Fourth Sunday of Advent

    In my nine years as a priest I have come to have a deeper devotion to St. Joseph.  While he’s quite popular with those selling houses, and certainly I knew about him while I was growing up, he was not on my original list of top saints.  The Blessed Mother was always a focus, as was St. Anthony (for obvious reasons), but St. Joseph always seemed to fade into the background, and was never very noticeable.
    The Scriptures do not record any words from St. Joseph (perhaps wives would suggest this silence to their husbands!), but he does play an important role in caring for the Blessed Virgin Mary and the child Jesus.  We hear about St. Joseph for the first time today in the Gospel according to St. Matthew: Joseph is a righteous man, and is visited by angels.  He, like Joseph in the Old Testament, is given the gift of powerful dreams, by which God directs St. Joseph. 
    But I think it’s important to look, once more, or perhaps for some of us, for the first time, at St. Joseph and his circumstances.  St. Joseph is engaged (betrothed) to the Blessed Virgin Mary.  He is planning on marrying her.  And then he finds out (I would guess Mary told him) that his fiancée is with child.  Can you imagine, gentleman, your fiancée sitting you down, and maybe the conversation goes something like this: “Honey, we need to talk” (never a good phrase to hear if you’re in a relationship).  “Dear, I need to let you know that I’m pregnant.  But don’t worry!  I wasn’t unfaithful to you.  An angel appeared to me and told me that I am going to be God’s Mother, that the Holy Spirit will make me conceive and the child will fulfill the promises made to our father David so many years ago.”  Can you imagine how you would have felt in such a circumstance?
    Understandably, Joseph is a bit shaken up, and decides to divorce Mary, but, knowing that if she is found to be with child without being married, she could be stoned to death for being an adulteress, he decides that things are going to be done quietly so as not to shame her.  This is part of the evidence of the fact that he was a righteous man.  He must have cared for Mary, but couldn’t see past this new situation in her life. 
    And then, to make matters even more confusing, an angel appears to him in a dream, and tells him to take Mary as his wife, because the child truly was conceived by the Holy Spirit.  And furthermore, Joseph is to name the child Jesus, Yeshua, which means in Hebrew, “God saves,” because Jesus will save the people from their sins.  After this dream, Joseph obeys God, and we know the rest of the story.
    It would have been easy for St. Joseph to walk away.  In modern terms, we could say that all that happened was “too much.”  Fiancées aren’t supposed to get pregnant before marriage.  Children aren’t supposed to be conceived by the Holy Spirit.  And most people don’t get dreams that come directly from God.  And yet St. Joseph doesn’t walk away.  He is obedient to God even in very difficult circumstances, which will become even more difficult, as Joseph and Mary have to leave Nazareth for Bethlehem, and then within two years they need to flee to Egypt, and then return to Bethlehem, and then Jesus stays behind on the family annual pilgrimage to Jerusalem. 
    Following God is not always easy.  There can be times where you want to walk away because things are not going the way we want them to go.  But St. Joseph is our model, for men and women, to follow the will of God. 
    Of course, just because the will of God is difficult, does not mean that it’s self-contradictory.  Sometimes people think that they are doing the will of God, when they’re really only following their own will or desires.  How do we know if it’s our will or our desire or the will of God?  Look to the Scriptures.  In the first reading, the Prophet Isaiah spoke for the Lord, saying that “the virgin shall conceive, and bear a son.”  So when Mary conceived without having relations with Joseph, it wasn’t the normal way to conceive, but it also wasn’t contrary to the will of God, since God himself had foretold it through Isaiah. 
    But, if what we think God is asking us is in accord with the Scriptures and the teachings of the Church, then God will help us through, no matter how difficult things can be.  It can even be that way with the Church.  Over the past few years we have had some difficult times: new scandals, including even a former cardinal; misuse of donations by some bishops; even some bishops and priests teaching contrary to the teachings of the Church.  We might be tempted to walk away, but St. Joseph encourages us to seek God’s will even in the midst of difficulties. 
    As we finish out these last days of Advent, may St. Joseph guide us to be faithful to God, no matter how difficult or how confusing.  And may we, like St. Joseph, have the courage to care for Jesus in our daily lives by being obedient to God’s will.

Unexpected Pastures

Fourth Sunday of Easter

This Sunday of Easter is called Good Shepherd Sunday, and it’s not hard to understand why: our Gospel today comes from the Gospel according to John where Jesus refers to Himself as the Good Shepherd.  I think that we all see the necessity of Jesus leading us, like a shepherd, and, in fact, probably the most popular Psalm in the Bible is Psalm 23, which usually is remembered for it’s first line, “The Lord is my shepherd.”  

A shepherd is someone who leads us, and sometimes we don’t want to be led.  Often we want to lead ourselves, to determine our own direction and our own destinies.  But we proclaim this weekend that God is the one who is supposed to lead us.  Without God we would be lost and in danger, like sheep without a shepherd.  There are many other hirelings who tell us that they will lead us to good places, but Jesus reminds us today that they run away when danger comes, and they often do not lead us where we truly want to go.

I know in my own life Jesus, the Good Shepherd, has led me places I never imagined I would go.  If I simply think about my assignments as a priest, when I was meeting with Bishop Boyea to be approved for ordination to be a priest, I was wondering where he would send me.  The parishes I thought would be open for a newly-ordained priest would be Queen of the Miraculous Medal in Jackson (where I had interned as a seminarian), St. Gerard in Lansing (where I had lived for a summer in college), St. Thomas Aquinas/St. John Church & Student Center in East Lansing (where I went to middle school and where I had spent a couple of summers in college), and St. John the Evangelist in Fenton, where I was then serving as a deacon.  In my heart, I wanted to stay at St. John the Evangelist in Fenton, as I had grown to love that community, and knew how things operated with Fr. Harvey.  But Jesus, the Good Shepherd, through Bishop Boyea, sent me to St. Thomas Aquinas in East Lansing.  Even though it wasn’t my first choice, I had a great four years in East Lansing, made some lifelong friends, and learned a lot about parish ministry.

Then, when my first four years were coming to a close, I thought I might become an administrator in a new parish.  There were a number of parishes that were open, but none of them really jumped out at me as a place for which I should apply.  Jesus, the Good Shepherd, through Bishop Boyea, sent me to St. Joseph in Adrian, on the outskirts of the Diocese of Lansing.  I had never even really visited Adrian before.  And yet, the people of St. Joseph became near and dear to my heart and it was a good, two-year assignment which helped me learn how to be a pastor.

In my second year in Adrian, Jesus, the Good Shepherd, through Bishop Boyea, again led me somewhere I never imagined to go: Flint.  I was very happy in Adrian, but Bishop Boyea said that, because of other moves, he needed me to go to St. Pius X.  I told him that if that’s where God wanted me, then that’s where I would go.  We have certainly had our struggles here at St. Pius X since I arrived, but I love it here, and I love you, my parish family.

In each of my moves, the Good Shepherd has taken me to pastures I never expected.  And in each move, I have found blessings more than I ever would have expected at places that maybe I thought I would do well.  And that extends even beyond my parish assignments: Jesus, the Good Shepherd, continues to guide my formation as a priest.  That is greatly impacted by Bishop Boyea, my immediate shepherd, who, I know, loves me (as he does all his priests), but also challenges me (as he does with all his priests) to grow.

The People of God, the laity, are also called to grow in ways, sometimes that they never expected, and Jesus, the Good Shepherd, exercises his role as Shepherd through His priests.  This is also World Day of Prayer for Vocations.  Each vocation is a gift from God, and whether a person receives the Sacrament of Matrimony, makes vows in consecrated life, or receives the Sacrament of Holy Order, each is called to build up the Church, along with those perhaps not in one of those vocations temporarily or permanently.  But priests in a special way help make the Church.  Without priests, we do not have the ordinary way that God forgives our sins in the Sacrament of Penance, and without priests, we are not strengthened to live our universal vocation to be saints through the Most Blessed Sacrament of the Eucharist.  

And yet, some parents, or other family members, discourage their sons, grandsons, nephews, etc., to answer God’s call to become a priest.  As far as I know, no son of St. Pius X has ever been ordained a priest, or has even entered the seminary.  That is a very sad statistic.  Priesthood is not always easy; it is a sacrifice; and it requires a real man to step up and give his life away for the good of the People of God.  But it is also rewarding beyond any measure that I ever expected.  And I cannot imagine my life doing anything else (yes, that even includes being a police officer).  

So what can we do?  If you have a son or multiple sons, encourage them to think and pray about becoming a priest.  Always include it as an option for a future.  The same goes for if you have grandsons or nephews.  If you don’t, or can’t think of anyone who would be a good priest, then pray for the Holy Spirit to call one of the sons of St. Pius X to consider this vocation, maybe even if it’s simply trying out the seminary.  And pray for that man to be open to the Holy Spirit’s voice.  Another great way to promote the priesthood is to live married life faithful to the call in Holy Matrimony: a life of prayer, sacrifice for the other, and holiness.  Good priests come from good families.  

Jesus is our Good Shepherd, who sends us places sometimes we never expect.  He also sends us shepherds who care for us and help us to follow Him.  Pray for more men to respond to the call of priesthood: to a life of sacrifice, yes,  but also a life of great joy spent in imitation of the Good Shepherd, who calls us all to be saints, and leads us to green pastures.

Seeing with the Eyes of our Souls

Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

The home that I grew up in was in the country, north of Williamston.  We had a two-story log cabin that my parents had someone build, with 5 acres of land.  Some of the land was developed, some was undeveloped and allowed to go wild.  My parents didn’t like the idea of video games, and, believe it or not, very few people had cell phones at that time (right now some of you who are kids are wondering how that is even possible and how we survived).  So my sisters and I were forced to use our imaginations, and we often played outside (I think that was partially because mom wanted time to herself in the house).  We imagined being super heroes, riding our bikes in our driveway as our super hero cars, or sometimes pretended that we were living in the wild, making forts and shelters from some of the trees that naturally grew in the undeveloped parts of the property.  Our imagination allowed us to see things that were not there.

Faith is not imagination.  Faith is not making something up that will never happen.  I am not Captain America (well, maybe I’m Captain America before he was strong).  I don’t have a super hero car (though I do love my Chevy Malibu).  But faith does allow us to see things that are not there.  

We hear about faith in all three readings, but especially in our first and second readings.  The sacred author of the Book of Wisdom talks about how the Jews had faith that God would deliver them from their bondage in Egypt, and would even the score against Israel’s oppressors.  And the sacred author of the Letter to the Hebrews speaks especially about the faith that Abraham, our father in faith, had when he left Ur for Palestine, when he trusted that Sarah would conceive Isaac, and when God asked Abraham to offer up that same son, Isaac, though God had promised descendants through Isaac.  Abraham had faith and saw a future for himself with God, though it was not the one he originally had planned for, or even seemed contrary to the future that God had promised.

Faith allows us to see, not only with the eyes in our head, but also with the eyes of our soul.  Faith invites us to change a part of our life that we think we need, trusting that God will supply for whatever we think we will lack.  Faith allows us to know things that are not apparent to our senses.  In some older holy cards that depict the Mass, it shows the priest, elevating the host and the chalice, with the angels and saints coming down from heaven in adoration.  That is not simply a pious image; that happens at every Mass, as we participate in a halfway point between heaven and earth.  Faith in God led the Sisters of Loretto in Santa Fe, New Mexico, to ask God to send the someone to complete their chapel, which lacked a staircase to the choir loft.  Sadly, there was little room for a regular staircase, and they had very little money.  After praying a novena to St. Joseph for nine days, a man came who promised to build the staircase for the sisters, but they had to give him total privacy.  He locked himself inside for three months, and only had primitive tools.  He disappeared as soon as the staircase was finished, without accolades or payment.  Experts still don’t know how it was done.  The sisters knew it was St. Joseph himself who had built it for them.

Faith leads us to do what we think is impossible, because we are not the main agents of the impossible, but God is.  We are so often limited by our vision, that we fail to see things with the vision of God.  After all, the Jews were looking for an earthly king like King David to be their Messiah.  God sent them Jesus, who was not whom the Jews expected, but freed them in a more powerful way than an earthly ruler ever could have–He saved them from sin and death.

What do we think is impossible?  What are those things that our eyes in our head tell us can never happen?  Jesus tells us in the Gospel not to grow complacent.  He reminds us that He will return, but it will be on His time.  If we lose our vision with the eyes of our souls, and only live with the eyes in our head, then we will forget about the Master who will return and will reward or punish us according to our service.  But, if we keep watch with the eyes of our souls, trusting that God can accomplish what is impossible–even the salvation and restoration of this fallen world–then God will reward us, making Himself our servant.  

We don’t simply have to imagine a world that is better than the one we have now: a world without violence, without hatred, without racism, without drugs, without war, without greed, without the fallen realities that continue to plague us.  God can make that world a reality.  Do we have faith to see how God wants to use us to help make the world that the eyes of the soul see the world that the eyes in our head see?

Rebuild God's Church!

Solemnity of the Dedication of St. Joseph Church

            There is, perhaps, no more famous saint in the Church (after the Blessed Mother) than St. Francis of Assisi (though I would say that St. Anthony is a close third!), whose feast we celebrated last week.  Even non-Catholics often have a statue of St. Francis, surrounded with birds and animals, in their yard.  This saint is often misrepresented–domesticated, we might say.  As a priest I know once preached, if we started talking to animals and calling the sun our brother and the moon our sister, it wouldn’t be a man in white from the Vatican coming for us, but men in white coats to take us to a psychiatric ward.  Still, even amid the confusing stories that often get warped over time, there is one I want to focus on today, reported by St. Bonaventure, himself a spiritual son of St. Francis:

One day when Francis went out to meditate in the fields he was passing by the church of San Damiano which was threatening to collapse because of extreme age.  Inspired by the Spirit, he went inside to pray.

Kneeling before an image of the Crucified…he heard with his bodily ears a voice coming from the cross, telling him three times: “Francis, go and repair my house which, as you see, is falling into ruin.”

[…] He began zealously to repair the church materially, although the principle intention of the words referred to that Church which Christ purchased with his own blood, as the Holy Spirit afterward made him realize….

            When we think about the dedication of the church, we may think that what we are primarily celebrating is the physical structure that was consecrated by the Bishop of Detroit, Most Rev. Casper Borgess on 13 October 1878.  That is what our eyes see, just as St. Francis’ eyes saw the dilapidation of the church of San Damiano.  But, this church building itself is a symbol, a visible sign of an invisible reality, which is meant to remind us what St. Paul told us in the second reading: “in [Christ] you are also being built together into a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.”  We are the living stones and decorations of the temple of God, and God is making us into the heavenly temple of the new Jerusalem, “built upon the foundation of the Apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the capstone.” 

            The call that St. Francis heard in 1204 to rebuild the Church of God is still the call that echoes all these centuries later.  God is asking us to rebuild his church.  And he is not asking us to raise money to add on to the building.  God is asking us to be shaped into the living temple of God.  The call to rebuild the church of God is the call I am communicating to you today in the name of God!!  God’s church is in need of repairs, and we are the ones to repair it!!

            Since my arrival here in July, I have listened carefully to what people have told me about the parish.  So many people have used phrases like, “we used to…”, “years ago…”, “when Adrian was bigger…”.  My sense is that there is a great longing for the glory days of this parish, to return to activity, and joy, and a full church.  And I stand with you on that goal!!  There is no reason why this parish cannot be one of the greatest parishes in the Diocese of Lansing.  There is no reason why our parish cannot have glory days once more!!  We will do it, not for our own glory, but for the glory of God, and for the salvation of souls!!  But my excitement to do this is often rained upon by others when they remind me, as we all know too well, that the city of Adrian and its surrounding areas is in the midst of an economic downturn.  Money is not readily available.  And to that I say: that doesn’t matter!!  I’m not here to ask you for money.  I’m here to ask you to give your life to Jesus Christ!  Not just part of it, not just one hour on Sunday, but all of it!!  Because we are the temple of God.  Because we are, all of us, integral members of the Church of God.  And when we band together to support each other, there is nothing we cannot do if God wills it! 

            About a month ago, I saw the PBS special on the Roosevelts.  What came to my mind is that during the Great Depression, people didn’t have more than we have now.  In many cases they had less.  And yet, they were still able to do great things.  Not just because the government provided programs like the TVA, but because people wanted to be active and work for something greater than themselves.  As a Catholic family, here is our chance.  Right now we can band together to proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ and become greater together than we are individually.  We are still important as individual members, but we become something greater when we band together, just as the individual bricks and stones of a building are important individually, but when put together in a particular way, builds this beautiful building in which we worship God. 

            But a thriving parish will only happen if we all band together.  A few of us cannot bear the entire burden.  We have volunteers, probably about 10% of the parish, who volunteer for about 90% of the work.  That is how burnout happens, and why people stop volunteering.   And that is when parishes start to die.  I’m not asking you to do it all.  I’m asking all of us to do a little and to use our gifts and talents to make this parish a place where we come to know and love the Living Lord, Jesus Christ, and to share that faith with others.  That is how we worship in spirit and truth.  That is how we build up the church of God.  Parishioners of St. Joseph: go and rebuild the church of God!!

"A Tale of Two Sons of David" by Fr. Anthony Strouse

Fourth Sunday of Advent

            “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.”  You don’t have to be a Jeopardy contestant to recognize that this quote comes from A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens.  It follows a number of different characters in London and Paris (the two cities to which the title refers) before the French Revolution.

            Our first reading and our Gospel today could be called A Tale of Two Sons of David (granted it doesn’t have the same ring).  In the first reading we have King Ahaz, the king of the Southern Kingdom of Judah.  Now, if we just skim over the reading, we may wonder why Isaiah the prophet is so hard on him.  After all, we often hear that we shouldn’t need to ask for signs from God; we should just have faith.

            But in this case, upon closer examination, we realize that God told Ahaz to ask for a sign.  Rather than being obedient to the Lord, likely speaking through Isaiah the prophet, Ahaz has a false piety which makes him think that God is trying to trip him up in telling Ahaz to ask for a sign, and so he declines the offer for a sign: “‘I will not ask!  I will not tempt the LORD.’”

            But God promises a sign to him anyway, a sign which is fulfilled in Jesus: “the virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall name him Emmanuel.”  And Emmanuel means God-with-us.  Jesus is the manifestation of the Father’s love, the Father’s very presence on earth.  He loves to be with us and just spend time with us, as a loving parent loves simply spending time with their children.

            Now the other son of David, St. Joseph, was almost the exact opposite.  He did not fake piety, but, as the Gospel relates, “was a righteous man.”  When he found out that Mary was pregnant, he assumed it was by some other man.  But, not wishing to bring shame to Mary, and really, if he wanted to, he could have had Mary killed, he decided to quietly divorce her.  Rather than taking full advantage of the Law that God had given through Moses, St. Joseph, because he was righteous, decides to extend mercy to Mary. 

            And because of his righteousness, and close attention to following the spirit of the Law, God gives St. Joseph a sign, a dream, without St. Joseph even asking for it, to confirm that the child in Mary’s womb was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit, and which will fulfill the prophecy made to the first son of David, King Ahaz.  But, whereas the earlier son of David, Ahaz, doubted the Lord, the later son of David, Joseph, “did as the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took his wife into his home.” 

            As we round out this Advent Season and prepare for Christmas on Saturday, we have those two examples that we can follow: Ahaz and Joseph.  If we take Ahaz as our example, then the way we enter into Christmas is just to be very passive, and not really enter into the season.  We let the busyness of this last week of Christmas preparation: buying presents, sending cards, Christmas parties, etc., take over.  The problem is not the activity itself, but whether or not that is taking center stage in our lives.

            If we take Joseph as our example, then we make this last week of Advent a time of faith and mercy.  We still celebrate, and still prepare for the secular celebration, but we also try to take simple steps to trust more in the Holy Spirit and less in ourselves.  We seek mercy more than justice.  We spend time in silence thanking God for how much He really does want to be with us, to be Emmanuel.  

            And for us to be like Joseph doesn’t mean we need to have powerful dreams with God speaking to us as He did to Joseph.  Having faith in God means maybe saying a quick prayer before we go shopping for presents that God will guide us in making the right choices, not just that we get the gift that the person wants, but that reflects good stewardship of the gifts God has given to us, and that will build up the other person in holiness, even if that is done simply by allowing the person to relax and recreate in a new way.  Having faith in God means preparing to cook that Christmas dinner, or the part that we were given, but to trust God that it will turn out alright and provide nourishment for those who partake of it.  Having faith means celebrating with friends and family with all the usual Christmas songs that we hear and love, but making sure that our minds and hearts are focused on the real reason for Christmas: Jesus Christ our Lord and God.

            And just like Joseph, who was not well known, and is never recorded as saying a word in the Gospels, when we are faithful and grow in faith it will often not be in ways that many others notice, and that we might not even notice at first, but growing in faith will allow us to be more open to recognizing Christ in unexpected situations and providing for Him, just as St. Joseph protected Jesus by protecting and caring for the Blessed Mother, through our caring for family, friends, the poor, and the outcast.  Our Lord is coming and will not delay.  Blessed are those faithful servants whom the Master finds ready to welcome Him on His arrival.