Fr. JC Maximilian

Today we hold in our hands palm branches.  Why?  What is the significance of palm branches?  In the ancient world, palm branches were the symbol of victory.  The elegance, strength and simplicity of this tree became a symbol for the Israelites in the Old Testament of the just person, the one in whom God’s law triumphed.  Palm branches also symbolized victory for the Romans.  Palm trees were not native to Italy, and so, when the Romans started conquering nations in the Mediterranean, the generals brought palm trees back to Rome as souvenirs of their victories.

The crowds waving palm branches as Jesus entered Jerusalem, which we heard in today’s first Gospel reading, were declaring His victory – and we join in their celebration.  But what victory did Jesus win, and how did He win it?

Jesus’ victory is over sin, particularly original sin.  What is original sin?  To understand it, we must look at the first few chapters in the Book of Genesis.  After creating the first human beings, Adam and Eve, made in His Divine Image, God placed them in His garden “to till it and to care for it” (Genesis 2:15).  God provided everything for Adam and Eve for them to live a life of perfect happiness.  However, God did place limitations on them.  Of the many trees in the garden, God said that they could eat from any of them except one; the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.  God wanted to give that knowledge as a gift to Adam and Eve, at His good time.   However our first parents rebelled against the limitations that God placed on them.  They chose to believe the devil’s lie, so that they could be “like gods” (Genesis 3:5).  Original sin was mankind’s disobedience to God and obedience to the devil, and it  shattered our relationship with God, let loose the scourge of evil, and gave the devil a certain power over earthly society.

We too find it difficult to accept our human limitations.  We long to be masters of our lives, in full control of our destiny.  When we say that we want to be beautiful, strong and successful, we are really saying that we want to be “like gods.”  Yet nothing we do can satisfy the deepest longings of our heart.  Only God, who is infinite, perfect Love, Beauty, Truth, and Justice can fulfill our deepest longings.

Through His passion, death and resurrection, Jesus reversed the disobedience of original sin by obeying His Father’s will in spite of all the devil’s attempts to thwart Him.  In that beautiful hymn that St. Paul gives us in today’s second reading, we hear how Jesus wins His victory for us, “Though he was in the form of God, he did not regard equality with God…Rather, he emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, coming in human likeness” (Philippians 2:6-7).  In other words, Jesus accepted the human condition with all its limitations.  Because of His perfect obedience, even “to the point of death, even death on a cross, … God greatly exalted him and bestowed on him the name which is above every name…” (Philippians 2:8-9).

The German theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote, “The figure of the Crucified invalidates all thought which takes success for its standard.”  By His obedience Jesus establishes a beachhead in this world that is under the devil’s sway.  Jesus’ passion is D-Day for the devil, and liberation for us.  This is the victory we celebrate.

This victory is too wonderful to keep to ourselves.  In addition to giving thanks to God for the great things He has done, we need to bear witness to this victory in the world for there are still people who do not know about it.  They do not know Christ Jesus, or maybe they are afraid to follow Him.  They need to be liberated by Him.  They need to learn that by uniting their sufferings in this fallen world to Christ’s sufferings they can become meaningful and fruitful.

There are two ways that each one of us can make this Holy Week truly holy, not only for ourselves, but for those around us – by our words and our deeds.  We should not be afraid to speak of Christ and the meaning of His passion.  We are His messengers so that others can encounter Jesus Christ risen from the dead.  The Holy Spirit can work through us; we just need to be ready and willing to answer the call.  We can also image Christ’s Passion this week by doing what He did, by sharing our neighbors’ burdens, by taking upon ourselves the crosses of others.  It can be as simple as a phone call to someone feeling lonely, or inviting someone to come and participate in the Holy Week liturgies.

So wave those palm branches.  Celebrate Christ’s victory of love; not only here in church but everywhere we go – even to the ends of the earth.

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Today is a double birthday celebration in my family. First, today would have been my father’s 70th birthday. My youngest sister, Mary, was born on my Dad’s 32nd birthday, which led Dad to say he was “32+Mary”. The picture is the last one I have of Mary and my Dad. The younger girl is my niece Sydney, Mary’s daughter, then Mary, and Mom standing behind the chair. It is not a good picture of Dad; I don’t remember why he was making a face. It was taken around Thanksgiving, 2005. Dad died a few weeks later of cancer.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD AND MARY! I love you.

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The deacons of the parish will be preaching this week, so I will not be posting a homily nor a podcast this week.  It some ways it is a bit of a relief because it has been a very busy week.

I think it was a record week for funerals, at least since I have been assigned here.  We had seven funerals this week.  Now, the pastor and I joke about the one effect of the merger has been an increase number of funerals, that “people are dying to get out of here.”  We averaged three funerals per week the first year of the merger, and I think we are going to beat that this year.  But seven in one week is really a lot.

The priest who is in residence at the parish, who is a big help with Masses, is away on business (some kind of Canon Law conference), so it is just the pastor and me.  Yesterday I had three Masses in a row:  the regular 8 a.m. Mass, then the 9:30 a.m. funeral (very sad, the woman was only 44, married with children), and then the 11 a.m. funeral.  I then went from the cemetery to our school to lead the children in the Stations of the Cross.  I am very impressed with how our school has really tried to instill some of the traditional devotions in the students.   After that morning and early afternoon I was tired.

I capped off the night with dinner at a friend’s house with his family.  I think I met this family my first week in the parish where I was first a deacon.  Their three children were much smaller then.  That is one of the joys of priesthood, seeing families grow, seeing the children reach the different milestones, especially the sacraments.  This is a very good family, raising the children with a deep love for Christ and the Church.  I have gotten to know Russ even better the last year, as he is the executive director of the Diocesan charity, the Mount Carmel Guild, that I serve of the Board of Directors.  Like most non-profits, we are always looking for funding.  The Mount Carmel Guild does two basic programs:  an emergency assistance program (food, some prescription help), and a home nursing program.  The home nursing program is really our main identity program.  After the acute care runs out, we help most elderly clients be able to stay in their homes.  Our nursing aides will help bath them, our nurses check their medications, help them with the managing of that, help with wound care, etc.  We are the only agency in the county that provides that kind of service.  Unfortunately, even though all kinds of county needs assessments say that this is the type of services that are most needed, no one seems to want to fund them.  Lots of people and other funding sources are available for things like transitional house because you can give them tangible results:  we moved X number of people from transitional housing to more permanent housing.  But it harder to help people see the value of services like helping elderly and disabled people stay in their homes, and not need to go to nursing homes.  Combined with the fact that the nursing program requires more skilled personnel, it is more expensive (and we DO NOT overpay any of our nurses; they truly are dedicated women who do this work as an apostolate, they do it for Jesus, even though it means they need to take a second job).  If anyone reading this blog knows of any possible funding sources, especially for our nursing program, please let me know.  We will ask anyone, as long as they would not be contrary to our Catholic mission.

Today I had the morning Mass, then spoke to the parents of the children making First Holy Communion.  I will be leaving soon to say a prayer at a luncheon for another wonderful non-profit (their appreciation luncheon for their volunteers), then I have Confessions, and the 4:30 p.m. Mass.  Tomorrow I have three Masses, and baptisms.  Plus it would have been my father’s 70th birthday, so I want to go to the cemetery, and it is my sister’s birthday.  Busy, busy, busy.  Life is good.

One amusing story.  Yesterday, after the morning Mass I wanted to run to Wawa for coffee before the first of the two funerals.  As I was walking to my car I met one of the sisters who live in the convent.  She was talking with one of our daily Mass ladies, so I went over and chatted with them.  Sr. Marie was my drafting teacher in HS, more than 25 years ago; she is in her 90’s.  After chatting with them for awhile I excused myself to go get coffee.  Well yesterday afternoon, a bit after 4 p.m., Sr. Marie called me.  She said that it had been bothering her all day, that she had not invited me into the convent for coffee (the parish has 2 churches in which we celebrate Mass, and the convent is at the one that is several miles from the campus where the rectory is), so she was calling to apologize.  I told her that no apology was necessary, and she should not fret one more second about it.  She is such a pious woman of God.

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One of Jesus’ most well-known parables is the one we heard in today’s Gospel reading; the Prodigal Son. However, this name, “The Prodigal Son,” is really something of a misnomer, for the focus of the parable really is not suppose to be on the ne’er-do-well son. Rather the real centerpiece of this beautiful parable of our Lord is on the father, who by his love and forgiveness towers over both of his uncomprehending sons. Maybe a better name for this parable would be “The Merciful Father and His Two Lost Sons.” While so well know, there is always so much we can learn from a closer reflection on this lesson from Jesus.

Let us first look at the Younger Son. He is bore and rebellious. He thinks he understands the world so much better than his father. He is sure that if only he had the freedom to do whatever he wants he would be truly happy. Of course he needs something from his father, namely money, to really be “free” to pursue his happiness, and once he gets the money, his inheritance, he abandons his father to go to a distant country to do his own thing. At first all seems to be proving the younger son right; he is doing his own thing and having a blast. However, soon he has spent all his money, and the hard times really begin. He is starving. Even when he comes to the “light,” his contrition is hardly perfect. His motivation to return to his father seems to come more from seeking his own welfare, and not from sorrow for wounding his father’s love.

The younger son represents one of the most common errors; a false understanding of what freedom is. All sin starts from the idea that MY desires are the most important thing in the world. While it is true that the deepest desires that will bring true and everlasting happiness are found written in our hearts, we must have the humility to recognize that they are not written in our hearts by us or any other human being. Rather they are written in our hearts by God, who made us in His image and likeness. Too often we are like this younger son and think that God is interfering with our freedom with all His “moral rules.” Like the younger son we move from the atmosphere of Love, which is living in God’s grace, to live in a distant country, namely sin. Like the younger son, at first things seem to go well, but in the end, if we are really honest, we realize that none of the material things nor merely human relationships make us truly, eternally happy. We recognize that we are in the pigs’ mire. Like the younger son, our contrition is often far from perfect; motivated more out of fear of going to hell, or just fulfilling a duty to go to Confession at least once a year. Perfect contrition, however, proceeds from the motive of perfect love for God. As the Baltimore Catechism defines it, “Perfect contrition is that which fills us with sorrow and hatred for sin, because it offends God, who is infinitely good in Himself and worthy of all love” (Baltimore Catechism: Volume 3, Lesson 18, answer to question #765).

Now let us turn to the father in the parable. The father is deeply grieved by his younger son’s absence. He daily looks for his son to return to him. When he sees that his younger son is returning to him, the father does not wait for the son to get all the way home. Rather the father RUNS to him with a renewed strength and joy. He gives his son no reproach; in fact he does not even bother to listen to the younger son’s rehearsed speech. The father embraces his younger son with his love, and calls for a celebration.

Too often we look at God as being a stern judge who we must appease with prayers, sacrifices and good works. But God is our loving Father; He is easy to satisfy. St. John Chrysostom, in commenting on this parable, said, “All that God looks for from us is the slightest opening and he forgives a multitude of sins” (On Repentance, Homily 1, 3-4). The parable offers us a beautiful image of God’s grace; to be lovingly embraced by God. Grace is a free gift from God; we do not earn it. In fact we never could earn it. While free, God’s grace of redemption did not come cheaply. St. Paul tells us in today’s second reading, from his second letter to the Corinthians, just how costly the grace of redemption was, “For our sake he made him to be sin who did not know sin, so that we might become the righteousness of God in him” (2 Cor. 5:21).

Finally we should turn our attention to the older son. He is filled with indignation, resentment, envy and anger. Why? Because his father is being so generous and forgiving in celebrating the younger son’s return. Notice that the older son does not even want to acknowledge the younger son as his own brother. He refers to his brother as “your son” when expressing his indignation to his father. He points out all his good conduct, and implies that he is owed something. The older son never seems to have noticed his father’s sadness when his younger brother was absent. In a very real way the older son is just as “lost” as his younger brother. While never leaving home, he was also living in a “distant country,” far from his father’s free and generous love.

The older son represents the Scribes and Pharisees to whom Jesus is addressing this parable. Remember that the Gospel today started with the Pharisees and scribes complaining because Jesus “welcomes sinners and eats with them.” Remember in the Jewish culture at that time, pigs were considered one of the most unclean of all animals, so someone who worked in a pig sty would be among the scum of the earth. It would make them indignant to think that God loves the scum of the earth. While they want God to be forgiving, they did not want His forgiving love to be too free, that way they could keep it just for themselves. They were self-righteous in a most literal sense, thinking that it was by their sacrifices of animals and extremely careful following of the Law – not just the Law that God gave them, that which is inscribed in the human heart, but all the laws that they and their ancestors had made – that they would make themselves righteous before God. The problem is that God’s grace of redemption is a totally free gift given by God because there is NOTHING that we mere human beings could do to earn our redemption. God’s love is completely and utterly gratuitous.

Are we sometimes like the older son? Do we sometimes become indignant with people who have been great sinners, who now seem to get good things and are being welcomed into the Church? How often do we sometimes say to ourselves, “Well, I am holier than so-and-so.” When we do that, we are living in a distant country, far from God’s free and generous love, even as we sit in church each weekend.

The parable ends with the father again coming to meet his son, this time the older one, and pleading with him to join in the celebration and to rejoice. We do not know if the older son is persuaded by his father’s loving plea to rejoice and lovingly embrace his brother. Jesus wants us to supply the ending.

Do we just fulfill the obligations and duties of religion, or do we enthusiastically live as a new creation in Christ? Is Mass a celebration of joy each week, or is it a burdensome weekly obligation that we try to finish and get out of as quickly as possible? I urge you to “taste and see the goodness of the Lord,” and “be reconciled to God” so that as ambassadors of Christ, God will appeal through us to all of our prodigal brothers and sisters.

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I was away this week for some training. My diocese has decided to participate in the “Good Leaders, Good Shepherds” program.  This is a leadership training program, developed by the Catholic Leadership Institute, specifically for priests.  It is only about a year old, but it is very evident that they placed a great deal of time in developing the program.  It is actually a two-year curriculum.  It is based on a model which they call SOTOR (which, allowing for a misspelling, is the Greek word for Savior) that stands for:  Self, One-to-One, Team, Organization, and Relationships.  Most of those components are pretty self-evident; Relationships means “strategic relationships,” that is relationships between your organization (the parish) and other organizations (e.g., other parishes, the diocese, other churches, charitable organizations, etc.).

This week was actually called “Preparing to Lead,” and stemmed from the premise that an effective leader must know himself.  So we looked at our basic dispositions (called DISCpositions, because it uses the DISC personality inventory), values, and our persona.  As a psychologist I have been through a lot of these professional development workshops, and many of them are poorly organized.  This was the best one I have ever attend.  Very well organized, and excellent pedagogue.  Instead of just one lecture after another, they talked for a few minutes, and then there was some type of interactive exercise which got us to apply what they were discussing.  Also, it really was specifically geared to priests and challenges that they might face in a parish.  It was also good to be with some of my fellow priests.  I am looking forward to applying some of the insights I gained about myself this week, to more effectively work with my parishioners.

Now that I am back, there was the pile of mail to go through, voicemail messages, and email.  The desk is finally cleared, and the phone calls have been returned.

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Here is the file you asked me to upload Mr. Anderson.  I hope it works.  Please do not make this podcast available until next Saturday, March 17.

For my other readers, I will be away this week attending some training that the Diocese of Trenton is providing.  It is called “Good Leaders, Good Shepherds,” and was developed by the Catholic Leadership Institute in Philadelphia.

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About a year ago, I was introduced to the ecclesial movement Communion and Liberation (CL).  CL was started by Msgr. Luigi Giussani in 1954, while he was teaching in a high school in Milan.  The purpose of CL is to educate its members to Christian maturity so that they can more fully and fruitfully collaborate in the mission of the Church in all the spheres of contemporary life.  Central to the charism of CL is announcing that God became man, and this man, Jesus of Nazareth, is still a present event in history through His Mystical Body, the Church, and only through and in Jesus can we be more truly human.  I know, that’s a mouthful.

I am still a novice in CL, but I am learning so much.  A few months ago I started to meet monthly with a group of priests who are involved with CL.  We have been studying, in prayer, a work by Msgr. Giussani entitled, Si puo vivere cosi? (”Can You Really Live Like That?”).  In the first chapter, Msgr. Giussani presents a very interesting point, namely that faith is a form, or method, of reasoning.  He defines faith as “reason mediated by a witness,” and points out that it is a very natural, form of reasoning.  In fact in is the form of reasoning and knowledge that underpins all of culture.  How do I know that the Declaration of Independence was signed on July 4, 1776 in Philadelphia, PA?  I was not there.  I did not personally witness it or experienced it.  I know it through a witness, someone whom I have judged knows something about the matter and has no intention of deceiving me.  When I go to a restaurant, do I have to test the food to make sure it is really food and not poison?  No, I have faith in the cook.

I think that this is a very important point.  It seems that in modern, Western society too often Faith is placed as being opposed to Reason.  Some might accept that we can only know some things by Faith, but unspoken is the assumption that this is unReasonable.  What Msgr. Giussani is pointing out, and think this has been the major message that Pope Benedict XVI has been preach the past year, is that Faith is Reason, at least one form (and he argues the most completely human form) of Reason.

I know that I am only scratching the surface of what Msgr. Giussani is saying.  Of course, religious Faith is through the witness of Jesus Christ and His disciples, for it is through His Mystical Body, the Church, that Jesus Christ remains incarnate, the Word-Made-Flesh (interesting, the Greek word used in the Gospel for “Word” is “Logos” which means “Reason”).  One of the things about CL is that we read what we are studying very slowly, very deliberately, so there will be more reflections on this work in the future, but I think it is an interesting beginning.

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Of course during this Holy Season of Lent we “downgrade” the liturgical celebrations of the saints to commemorations, but I would like to mention a little about these two noble women. They both lived in Carthage (northern Africa) at the end of the second and beginning of the third centuries. They were martyred on March 7, 202 and St. Perpetua wrote a wonderful description of the horrors of their imprisonment, “The Passion of Perpetua,” to which is generally appended a description of their martyrdom by a witness (some think it was Tertullian, the great early Christian writer). Here is a bit of my reflection on these two women which I shared at Mass this morning.

Lent is a time for us to identify the idols in our lives — those things to which we place more importance on than our relationship with Christ. Idols are distractions, counterfeits, things that we think will satisfy the deepest longings of our hearts and bring us true and everlasting happiness. Of course idols cannot truly satisfy, they cannot make us everlastingly happy. Only God can. He made us to be in communion with Him, to share His divine life. That is the destiny written on our hearts, for which we yearn. That is why St. Augustine said, “My heart is restless until it rests in You, Lord.” So what are we unwilling to give up for Jesus Christ?

St. Perpetua was a young mother, and St. Felicity actually gave birth while imprisoned for her faith in Christ. Both of them were urged to renounce their faith in Christ so that they could raise their children. In her “Passion” St. Perpetua expresses her anxiety for her son, and Felicity’s daughter, but she knew that to deny Christ would be to deny her destiny; the deepest yearning of her heart. Undoubtedly she remembered the words of Jesus, that anyone who was not willing to leave mother, or father, or family for Him was not worthy of Him. Perpetua, Felicity and their fellow martyrs placed all their trust in Christ Jesus, and they offered up their lives for their destiny, and as a witness to all of us.

What are our idols? Let us ask the Lord to give us the grace and strength to give up our idols, to truly live for Him first.

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[Click here to go to a podcast of this homily]

Today’s Gospel reading reminded me of something that happened to me when I was a novice for the Dominicans, more than a dozen years ago. Our novitiate was in Denver, and early in the year, kind of a way to get to know each other, we went hiking in the Rocky Mountains — yes, I was younger and in better shape then. It was beautiful, and pretty amazing to see snow on the ground in August.

As we hiked together, we were chatting and joking on the way; probably not unlike Jesus, Peter, James and John in today’s Gospel. Near the top we sat down and admired the view, took in the fresh air. And of course after the exertion of the climb, we were tired, so I can understand Peter, James and John getting sleepy while they were at the top of the mountain.

In today’s Gospel reading, as Peter, James and John slept, Jesus started to pray, and while doing so He is “transfigured” and upon waking, Peter and his companions see Jesus speaking with Moses and the Prophet Elijah. Only in St. Luke’s account of the Transfiguration do we hear what Jesus, Moses and Elijah were discussing – Jesus’ exodus. The Greek word “exodus” means “departure.”

The background for all the Mass readings this month is Israel’s Exodus from slavery in Egypt. The Exodus was the central event in Israel’s religious history. It was that event which convinced them that they were indeed God’s Chosen People, for what other people could claim that God had personally delivered them in their time of trial? As the Israelites settled into their land inheritance, they also fell into sin. The prophets proclaimed to them that it was their sins that led them into the real captivity, the real slavery. The prophets predicted further that God would again personally intervene on their behalf, and that a Messiah would lead them in a “new Exodus,” sealed with a “New Covenant” (i.e., Jer. 23:7-8; 31:31-33).

St. Paul, in today’s second reading, reminds the Philippians, and us, that “our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we also await a savior, the Lord Jesus Christ” (Phil. 3:20). However, like some of the Philippians, too often our “minds are occupied with earthly things” (Phil. 3:19). The deepest yearning of the human heart is everlasting happiness, and such happiness depends on living in a close relationship with God. Like a plant that never gets sunshine, separated from God the human heart withers.

After Adam and Eve’s Fall in the Garden, staying close to God became impossible. Original Sin causes a loss of grace, and God is too bright for graceless, sin-damaged eyes to see. For souls weakened by sin, God is too far away to find. We would all live in hopeless frustration, unable to embrace God, the only person who can make us truly happy, if it was not for Christ Jesus. He shades the brightness of God, and crosses the distance.

The symbolism of today’s readings reminds us of this dilemma. In the first reading, God makes a covenant with Abram to seal His promise of salvation. By making the covenant God shows that He wants to be close to us, but in fact is still distant. God uses a burning torch and a smoking pot to represent His walking through the sacrificial animals. The smoke of the pot symbolizes God’s mystery. We cannot see God clearly, just as we cannot see through smoke. God’s spiritual purity and brightness are symbolized by the fire. It is too painful to look at directly, and anyone who comes too close will be incinerated.

These two symbols appears in the Gospel’s account of Jesus’ Transfiguration, which is a precursor of the New Covenant He will establish by His sacrifice on the Cross. This time the brightness shines out of Jesus Himself, indicating that God’s spiritual purity is one with Jesus, for Jesus is God. A cloud covers Jesus and a voice from the cloud reveals the mystery of God – in Christ Jesus the distant, mysterious God of the Old Covenant has come to walk with us. It is through and in Jesus that the age of frustration has come to an end. Once again, friendship and closeness with God are made possible.

What should be our response be to this marvelous presence of God in Christ Jesus? We should thank Him for His goodness to us by following His example. By giving us His friendship in Christ, God has bridged the distance between Himself and us in a gentle way. Likewise we should reach out gently to those around us.

Jesus comes down to our level in order to lead us up to His level. He is very patient with us. He even puts up with our tantrums.

Do we treat those around us in such a way? Are we patient with them, even when, especially when, they are throwing tantrums? Do we try to meet people at the level they are at, or do we wait for them to come to our level?

Jesus stills wants to teach the world – the whole world – about God’s goodness and just how much He loves us. Jesus wants to bring every man, woman and child close to God, because He knows that only God can make them truly, eternally happy. While Jesus is the bridge that bridges the gap between God and humankind, we are the stones of that bridge.

I am sure that all of us can think of someone in our lives who we can treat in a more Christ-like way. Maybe they need to hear the Good News. As we receive Holy Communion today, let us ask God to give us the strength to treat that person in a more Christian manner or to share the Gospel with that person who is still living in the darkness and slavery of sin. After we ask for that strength, let us promise to do our best to shine with Christ’s gentle light, bringing happiness to everyone around us [see www.epriest.com, Homily Pack, “Mar 4, 2007, Second Sunday in Lent (C)”].

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Shortly after moving my blog to St. Blog’s, the St. Blog’s administrator asked me if I would be interested in recording my homilies, and making them available as a podcast.  I told him that while I would be interested, I did not know how to make a podcast.

Thank goodness for Mac and iLife.  I opened that free program that came with my iBook called GarageBand, and in very little time I had figured out how to make a podcast.  Last night, after finishing my homily for this coming weekend, sat down and recorded my very first podcast.  I even added a little music to the intro.  I am sure it is not the most polished, but I think I will improve as I do more.  In any case, I sent my podcast to the St. Blog’s administrator and he is going to post it this weekend.  You will note on the sidebar of this blog a new section called “My Podcasts.”  You can click on it now, but you will not find my homily podcast there yet.  You will only find the homilies for a Fr. Augustine in St. Louis.  Mine will be added this weekend.

It was fun making my first podcast.  I hope to start another podcast called “School of Community” that will share my thoughts on what I am reading in my Communion and Liberation group.  Right now we are studying Msgr. Luigi Giussani’s recently translated book, The Journey to Truth is an Experience.  Of course pastoral duties will have to take precedent.

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