Fr. JC Maximilian

“A father asked his son to break a bundle of sticks, tied together with twine. A little while later he found a frustrated boy still at the task. The child had lifted the bundle up and smashed it on his knee, but the result was only a bruised knee. He had also propped the bundle up against the garage wall and stomped on it hard with his foot, but to no effect except a sore ankle.

“The father took the bundle from his son and untied it. The sticks scattered in a mess at his feet. Then he easily began to pick up each stick and break them – one at a time.

“This is a wonderful image for the Church. When united, we are strong. When divided, we easily fail or can be broken” (Michael Francis Pennock, This is Our Faith: A Catholic Catechism for Adults, p. 113).

Unity, it seems to have been the central concern for Jesus in what is known as His Priestly Prayer found in chapter 17 of St. John’s Gospel, from which we proclaimed a section today. Jesus prays for the Church, saying, “Holy Father, keep them in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one just as we are one” (John 17: 11b).

Unity, also know as the Church’s oneness, is one of what has traditionally been known as the marks of the Church. These “marks” or signs of the Church are the essential qualities of the Church’s nature: that it is one, holy, catholic and apostolic. It is through these marks that both Catholics are strengthened in their faith, and nonbelievers can be attracted to the Church.

There is, however, something of a paradox in the nature of these marks of the Church, because they refer to both a reality, and a challenge. The Church, as the Mystical Body of Christ, contains a divine element, and as Jesus and the Father are one, so the Church, as the Bride of Christ, is one with Her Bridegroom, Jesus. As we read in the Book of Genesis, “and the two shall become one flesh,” so through His Incarnation, Jesus has become flesh and taken our human nature. However, the Church is made up of human members who too often betray the very marks of the Church that should point to the Lord. We do not need to look far to see how divided the Christianity is; just look at all the various religious denominations. With this apparent division, how can we say that the Church is One?

First, we have to look at its roots. God is a community of three distinct persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. However, despite the distinction of their personhood, there is ONE God. It is in this unity of the Triune God that is the basis of the unity of the Church. In the Book of Genesis we learn, “God created Man in His image; in the divine image He created him; male and female he created them” (Genesis 1:27). Note that as God is a unitary community of Divine Persons, so the one God creates us human beings, made in His image and likeness, as a community of persons. As God is a unity, so He desires humanity to be a unity. However, we cannot accomplish this on our own, especially as we are wounded by Original Sin. We needed a Savior.

“Yes, God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him may not die but may have eternal life” (John 3:16). Jesus came into the world to heal the woundedness of sin, and to infuse into humanity His Divine Life. Of course one of the essential characteristics of the Trinity is its unity, so when Jesus united our human nature to His Divine Person, He enabled us to accept the gift of Unity, and He continued to pray, “that they may be one just as we are one.” It is the gift of the Holy Spirit, which we will celebrate next weekend, which animates the Church so that it can be one.

The Holy Spirit is that perfect love, that total gift of self in love, by which the Father loves the Son, and the Son loves the Father. So too, the love that is the Holy Spirit is the “spiritual glue” that binds the Church in its oneness. There are three other, visible, bonds of communion, which means “with oneness,” that the Church shares: profession of one faith traceable to the apostles, common celebration of divine worship (especially the sacraments), and the succession of the bishops from the apostles through the sacrament of Holy Orders.

We hear about this latter visible bond of communion in today’s first reading, from the Acts of the Apostles. The Apostles are the witnesses par excellence of Jesus’ public life. It is the task of the Apostles, not merely as individuals but as an Apostolic College under the leadership of St. Peter, to witness to the fact that Jesus of Nazareth, after being crucified, rose from the dead as a sign that He is the Messiah and Savior of the world.

However in the scene that we hear about in today’s first reading, right after the Lord’s Ascension, that Apostolic College is incomplete because Judas Iscariot had abandoned the ministry entrusted to him and had betrayed the Lord. Before the Church can be ready to receive the gift of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, which we will celebrate next Sunday, the Apostolic College must be complete again. The number twelve is important, at the beginning of the Church, because God had chosen the 12 Tribes of Israel to be His special people through whom His salvation would come, so the 12 Apostles represented those 12 tribes. We see in this passage from the Acts of the Apostles that St. Peter takes charge in filling the hole in the governance of the Church by stating the qualifications that a person must have to fill Judas’ place. However, he does not act on his own, rather St. Peter prays, “You, Lord, who know the hearts of all, show which one of these two you have chosen to take the place in this apostolic ministry from which Judas turned away to go to his own place” (Acts 1:24-25).

Through the power of the Holy Spirit we still have this gift of Apostolic ministry. Jesus organized His Church along hierarchical lines to ensure the carrying on of His ministry. The Holy Spirit, working through the Pope, bishops, priests and deacons, helps the Church to authentically recognize and hand on what is essential to the Christian life. “The teaching of the church, its ongoing life and its worship as they have been handed on from the time of the apostles to our own day – all these make up the Tradition of the church” (Michael Francis Pennock, This is Our Faith: A Catholic Catechism for Adults, p. 115).

The two main benefits of the Church’s hierarchical leadership is the preservation of the authentic Tradition of the Church, and the insurance that the true gospel will be spread as Christ mandated. The hierarchy of the Church maintains the unity of the Church, for which Jesus prayed so ardently.

The unity of the Church is a reality, at its very core, making it the light shining in the darkness that draws all things to Christ Jesus. However, when human willfulness blocks the movement of the Holy Spirit, the image of this unity of the Church is damaged. The division of Christ’s Church is a terrible sin, however instead of just dwelling in the sin let us acknowledge our need for the Holy Spirit, take up the challenge of working for unity, and pray with Jesus that we may all be one, as He and the Father are one.

Since it is Memorial Day weekend, allow me to end with a quote from that great American patriot, Benjamin Franklin, who said as he signed the Declaration of Independence, “We must all hang together, or assuredly we shall all hang separately.” What applied to the founding of our great Nation, applies even more so for our great Church.

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Where is your heart?

Jesus tells us in one of the Gospels that where our heart is, there also is our treasure, and He repeatedly urges us to “change your hearts.”

In today’s parlance, the heart is often seen as the seat of the emotions, and having to do with our feelings. We give hearts to those we love on Valentine’s Day. However, at the time that Jesus was speaking to the disciples, there in the Middle East, the heart was seen as much more than just a person’s feelings. The heart was seen as that which unified all the different aspects of the person, so in a way the heart was the whole of the person — their senses, their emotions, their mind, their will, and their spirit. So when Jesus urged His followers to change their hearts He was calling them to become new creations, and this is what happens to us in our baptism. In baptism we become reborn as a child of God.

Of course Jesus wants our hearts to be with Him. As Jesus remains present with us, most especially in the Blessed Eucharist, even after ascending into Heaven, Jesus wants us to give Him our hearts so that while we continue to live on earth, our hearts will rest with Him in Heaven. This is what the virtue of hope is; a deep yearning for Heaven, so that all of us can be where our hearts lie.

Only when our hearts are with Jesus can they be filled up with His love, empowering us to do what He commands in today’s Gospel reading, “Go into the whole world and proclaim the gospel to every creature.” It is to this that St. Peter refers, in his letter, when he says, “Always be ready to give an explanation for your hope.” The proclamation of the Good News is not just the job of priests, deacons and religious brothers and sisters. It is the mission of all the baptized. All are called to show others where their hearts lie.

So, where is your heart?

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Today, Bishop John M. Smith ordained three men priests for the diocese of Trenton. I have been close to all three of the guys, so it was an exciting day to see friends ordained priests.

The youngest guy is Fr. Brian Woodrow. He and I started the formation program the same year, 1998, but he was right out of high school so he had college to complete; first two years at Franciscan University at Steubenville, and the last two years at Seton Hall University, where he stayed for Theology as well (Immaculate Conception). Brian was always a fun-loving, well, goof-ball. I don’t think I have ever seen him without a smile on his face and joy in his heart. Always ready to be a friend to someone in need, Fr. Brian is also a very skilled kick boxer (if he didn’t study to be a priest, he had a promising career as an Ultimate Fighter). The only way that he has ever disappointed me is that he promised to take me for a ride on his JetSki, but then he sold it (LOL). Fr. Brian will be assigned to St. Rose Church in Belmar; that’s like a mile from the ocean.

Next is the new priest that I have spent the least amount of time with, but I feel as if we have become friends. Fr. Michael McClane is a Renaissance man. He is from North Jersey, actually the Archdiocese of Newark. He was a start QB on his HS football team, leading them to the State championship, and, something I just learnt today, he is an accomplished musician and singer. Where I think we have much in common is that he is a scholar. He attended Princeton University, a history major, and was an A student. A generous, kind man, I first met him when we were both at St. Charles Borromeo Seminary, in Philadelphia. I did all my studies there, but Mike was only there for a year. Then he was sent to the Pontifical North American College in Rome (OK, I was a little jealous, but it was undoubtedly for the best since I am not very good at learning languages so the Italian would have been hard). I always thought it would be hard to be the only seminarian from our diocese in Rome, and not able to come home much, so I tried to keep him informed about the diocese via email. I don’t know if he ever thought it was strange, but he is too good a man to ever be anything but appreciative, and it was through email that we became friends. I had the honor of going to Rome last October to concelebrate the Mass at which he was ordained a deacon. Fr. Michael will be serving at Our Lady of Good Counsel in Moorestown, NJ which is not very far from me, so I hope we stay in touch.

Finally I get to Fr. Joseph Jakub. I must admit that I am closest to him. We were several years in the seminary together at St. Charles. We seemed to develop good “timing,” when one of us was getting a bit too stressed out at the seminary, the other would be on a good streak and help the other out. An intelligent, articulate man, Joe has a good sense of humor and a deep faith in Jesus. He must get it from his family (as I am sure both Frs. Brian and Michael do); his one brother is a priest of the diocese, his mother runs the Catholic Center at Monmouth University, and his father went back to get his masters in Theology and now teaches, as a second career, at a Catholic HS. Fr. Joe will be assigned to St. Aloysius in Jackson (think Six Flags’ Great Adventure), also close.

Thank you Heavenly Father for these fine men. Bless them and give them the Gifts of the Holy Spirit so that they can through word and deed bring people to Jesus, Your Son and our Savior.

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Have you ever known someone who has gone through a profoundly life changing experience that has made them seem like a whole new person? Maybe you have gone through one yourself, and at first people just cannot believe that you are the same person. Sometimes the change is one that gets people excited about the change, while at other times people might be very suspicious about whether the change is real, or if it is just a matter of time before the person turns back into their “old self.”

When I was in the seminary, one guy I knew went away for a year and quite literally came back half the man he was – he lost over 150 pounds. Of course we were all very happy for him, and some of use a little jealous, wishing that we could do the same. Probably if we were very honest, some of us, deep down, doubted that he would be able to keep the weight off. As a substance abuse counselor, I saw a similar reaction when a client first became “clean & sober” — many of their family and friends thought it would be only a matter a time before they went back to drinking. For many people, it is hard to believe that people really can change, and change for the better.

This is the situation that we find in today’s first reading: the disciples in Jerusalem cannot believe that Saul has really changed. Remember, Saul had been one of the leaders of those who persecuted the Church. I am sure there were still disciples in Jerusalem who remembered seeing people laying their cloaks at the feet of Saul as he looked on approvingly as they stoned St. Stephen to death. Now they were suppose to believe that he was one of them, a disciple of Jesus? However, when they saw Saul, whom we now call St. Paul, speaking out so boldly in the name of Jesus, so much so that he risked death, probably by the hands of many of his old friends, they came to see just how good God really is. They remembered just how much an encounter with Jesus really can change a person’s life; in fact giving them new life. In fact, several years later, St. Paul would write about how he had “put off the old man” and had “put on the new man, Christ the Lord.” St. Paul saw his transformation in Christ Jesus as being so profound that he exclaimed, “Christ lives in me” (Gal. 2:20).

Remember when I asked you at the started of my homily if you have ever known someone who has gone through a profoundly life changing experience that has made them seem like a whole new person? Well, it was kind of a trick question, because all of us have known just such a person – just look to your left, your right, in front of you, and behind you. In fact you yourself have had such an experience. It was called your baptism.

In baptism, each of us died and was reborn. We died to sin, and were reborn into the life of the Trinity, into a life of grace. At our baptism we were joined to Christ Jesus by the power of the Holy Spirit, becoming part of His Mystical Body. Using the image of the branch that is grafted to the vine, that we heard in today’s Gospel reading, we have been grafted to Jesus so that our souls are to draw life from Him, to be nourished by His word and the Eucharist. Separated from Him, the eternal life within us will just dry up and we will die. Sin separates us from Christ, the True Vine, and as we hear in today’s Gospel passage, branches that do not abide with the vine wither and will be gathered up and thrown into a fire and burned. We call that eternal fire Hell, and in case you have forgotten, Hell is real and it is a very bad place to spend eternity.

Of course as followers of Christ we are called to abide in Him, and if we do so Jesus promises that we will bear much fruit. That fruitfulness is not just blessing for ourselves, but a sharing of the grace of Jesus Christ with all those around us. While often this fruitfulness is pleasurable, Jesus cautions us in the Gospel “that if we are bearing fruit, we can expect that God will also “prune” us. A gardener trims and cuts back a plant so that it will grow stronger and bear even more fruit….We need to see our struggles as pruning, by which we are being disciplined and trained so that we can grow in holiness and bear fruits of righteousness” (Breaking the Bread, May 2006, www.salvationhistory.com).

How are we supposed to live, now that we have been transformed by Christ? St. John gives us the answer in today’s second reading, “Children, let us love not in word or speech but in deed and truth” (1 John 3:18). Now, St. John is NOT saying that we should not talk about Jesus and our Faith. Rather, just as Jesus is the Living Word of God, our word and speech must be alive with our faith. Some people just pay lip service to being Christian. Their faith in Jesus is just fitted into a neat little box of time and circumstances. Too many Christians do not really live their faith, they do not in truth and humility seek guidance from the Church, with is the visible expression of Christ the true vine. All that we do and say should be done in, with, and through Jesus – that is what it means to have Christ live in you. Do we even let our Faith guide us in deciding what we watch on TV or in the movies?

This coming week the movie, The Da Vinci Code opens in theaters. I am sure that many of you have read the novel, and that many of you are planning to see the movie. How many of you know that the Vatican has called on all Catholics to boycott the movie? I am sure that many will say, “why all the fuss? After all, it is just a piece of fiction.” The simple answer is because it is a piece of blasphemous rubbish. Yes, you heard me right, The Da Vinci Code is blasphemy; it is a violation of Second Commandment because it says that Jesus was not Divine, not the Son of God.

If I wrote a novel, a piece of fiction, which denied the Holocaust ever happened I would rightly be called an anti-Semite. Why do Christians think it is OK to have the central teaching of our Faith denied, in hardly a respectful way, and not find it anti-Christian?

A homily is not the place to go into all the ways that The Da Vinci Code is in serious error; that is why we will be hosting a discussion night on it this Thursday at 7 pm in the Lower Church. However, just to be clear: Jesus is Divine, He is the Son of God, He died for our sins and rose from the dead. The Bible is the Word of God and it speaks truthfully about Divine things. The Holy Spirit, as the principal author of Sacred Scripture, gave us four Gospels. The other so-called gospels are merely the misguided works of human beings and not divinely inspired.

The Church is asking people not to go to the movie, however we are called to do much more. While we should be clear to people that we find both the book and the movie, no matter how entertaining they might be, offensive and anti-Christian, as followers of Christ Jesus we are called to in charity witness to the truth about Jesus Christ. The love of Christ must urge us on, to share the joy of our faith. We are called to introduce people to Jesus.

Finally, this weekend we pay a special tribute to a person who most likely was one of the first to introduce us to Jesus. While she has a different name for each of us, we all call her “Mom”! To all the mothers here today I wish you a very happy Mothers’ Day, and I thank you for saying “yes” to that precious vocation to which God called you when He invited you to be a mother.

I would also like to share with you a little bit of our Catholic tradition. It is pretty common to see, when a Catholic dies, a Rosary wrapped around the hands of the person who died. There is, however, an old custom of something different for the mother of a priest. As you may know, when a priest is ordained the bishop anoints his hands with Sacred Chrism. In the old rite of ordination, the bishop would then wrap the hands of the new priest in a cloth called a maniturgium, which is Latin for “hand cloth.” The new priest then use that cloth wipe the oil off his hands, and the custom was to give his mother the maniturgium. Then, when his mother died, instead of wrapping her hands with the Rosary, her hands would be wrapped in her son’s maniturgium as a sign that she had given her son to the priesthood.

Although the maniturgium is no longer a formal part of the Rite of Ordination, my hands were still anointed with Sacred Chrism when I was ordained a priest, and I still needed to wipe the oil off, so I did give my mother my maniturgium. And I just want to say to her, “Thank you Mom for introducing me to Jesus Christ.”

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I really do not know why I am being so sporadic in blogging. My previous assignment was a bigger parish and kept me very busy. However, I think between the two worship sites, settling into a new assignment, and, frankly, dealing with the grief after my father’s death, it seems as if my days are just as busy here.

I do want to dig out my digital camera and take some pictures of the two church buildings in this parish, just so folks who are not familiar with them can see them. Architecturally, they are very different. St. Anthony’s (which, I admit, I have a personal bias for, since it is where I was baptized) is a huge, Romanesque church that seats about a 1000 on the floor, and 200 more in the choir loft. The walls are a pinkish marble, about six feet up the walls. It has mosaics for the Stations, and a beautiful sanctuary. St. Anthony’s is basically a city parish (OK, technical the city of Trenton is across the street, and the church is in the township), and it was built at a time when most people in the neighborhood were Catholic and would walk to church. In other words, it has a small parking lot. If we knocked down the school building we could have more parking, but we value the rental income from the school building (the Diocese of Trenton, due to falling enrollment, closed all the parish schools in the city of Trenton, and opened a regional school, run by the diocese, called Trenton Catholic Academy; the regional HS is also part of the academy).

Our Lady of Sorrows church started as basically a mission for the farmers in the Mercerville area of Hamilton Township. I am not an architect, but I would call its style English/Tudor gothic; with very noble wooden arches (I think they would be called trusses). The stain-glass windows are of an English style, representing the sorrows of Our Lady. I am not sure when, but I think in the 60s, the population of Mercerville grew rapidly, with many of the farmers selling their property for housing developments. The Catholic population grew, and the church became to small, so wings were added to the building; creating roughly a Tau-cross in design. I am told that a simple definition of architecture is “form and function.” For whatever reason (IMHO) the wings emphasized function over form. The ceilings of the wings are very low compared to the nave of the church, and they are to the side of the altar. In saying Mass a good percentage of the congregation is not in my sight, unless I turn to the right and left, and even then it feels as if I am looking down a tunnel. Even many long time parishioners of OLS have commented that they wished that there was something to do to “fix” the architecture of the wings. My boss, is looking into this, and we have gotten preliminary drawings from an architect, and they are resplendant. The architect impressed me because he respected, what he called the “good bones,” of the church and wants to work with those “good bones.” IMHO, too often people just want to tear down and build something new (and not just with churches), instead of respecting the heritage of what was.

In other ramblings; I made a trip to St. Louis with my mother to celebrate my niece’s First Holy Communion. Brigit (my niece and goddaughter) was so excited about receiving Jesus for the first time in the Eucharist. She has what she calls her “holy collection” — made up of prayer cards and statues. The drive out and back was something of a retreat for my mother and I for we listened to a WONDERFUL series of conferences by Fr. Philip Bochanski, a priest of the Oratory in Philadelphia, entitled “Deadly Sins, Living Virtue.” I encourage all to download and listen to these wonderful talks.

OK, I need to prepare a homily, and a discussion on what’s wrong with the Da Vinci Code. More later.

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