Fr. JC Maximilian

[A mural in the basilica at Conception Abbey in Conception, MO; sorry, I do not know who the artist is]

HAPPY PENTECOST!

OK, a little survey.  At how many of your parishes did you have one (or more) of Mass readings in a foreign language, that is in a language other than the dominant language of most of the parishioners?  What languages did you hear?

I had all four of the Masses at the Our Lady of Sorrows campus, and the second reading was done in Polish, Phillipino, Spanish and Hungarian.  Of course the vast majority of the parishioners speak English.  The Gloria was sung in a mixture of English, Spanish, and we signed (American Sign Language) part of it.  Also this was done to “re-create the experience of the first Pentecost.”

What’s wrong with this?  Well, first it fails to recognize that the celebration of Pentecost (fifty days after Passover) started over a thousand years before Jesus Christ.  Pentecost was, and is, one of the top three holiest days for the Jewish people, and time for given thanks for the first fruits of the land.  It was a pilgrimage feast, meaning that all the men of Israel were suppose to offer a thanksgiving sacrifice in the Temple.  That is why there were Jews from all over the Meditterean there.

The reason why the Apostles were given the gift of speaking in foreign tongues was so that the Gospel, the Good News of Jesus the Savior, could be understood by all those gathered around them.  This is what we mean by a charism of the Holy Spirit; they are not give necessarily for the recipient’s  benefit, but rather for the building up of the Church.  The focus really should not be on the speaking in tongues, but on the universality of Christ’s message of salvation.  I wonder how many people really understood that when they sat there (hopefully reading the second reading in the missalette) as they heard the Word of God proclaimed in a language they did not understand.  I fear that instead of “re-creating” the experience of Pentecost, that we were actually “re-creating” the experience from the book of Genesis, namely the Tower of Babel.  Of course the lesson we are suppose to get from the story of the Tower of Babel is the effect of human pride and arrogance, thinking that we can reach God all on our own effort.  Instead of promoting universality it created division.

The funny thing is that as Catholics of the Roman Rite we do have a language that is meant to be used to promote our unity and the universality of the Gospel — Latin.  How many of you heard any of the readings, any of the Mass for that matter, proclaimed in Latin?  Probably not many, yet every Pope since the Second Vatican Council has reaffirmed the teaching of that Council’s Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy (Sacrosanctum Concilium, see #36 and 54).  In fact, Pope Benedict XVI, in his recent Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation, Sacramentum Caritatis, again encouraged the use of Latin in the Mass, particularly at international gatherings.

What is Pentecost for the Christian?  It is the birth of the Church, and what is the Church?  The Church is a life.  The Church is nothing more and nothing less than the Life of Jesus Christ, remaining incarnate throughout history in all places.  Msgr. Luigi Guissani, in his book, Why the Church? (McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2001), says this about the Church, “What the Church is for all men is Jesus Christ’s self-communication to the world” (p. 86).  Giussani then goes on to quote from another important theologian of the 20th century, Romano Guardini, “What does the event of Pentecost mean for the Christian life?  Before it happened, Christ presented himself — in person — ‘to the eyes’ of men; there was an abyss between them and Him.  They did not understand Him; He did not come to be something of ‘theirs.’ … Pentecost makes Christ, his Person, his Life and his redeeming action part of ‘their’ reality . … Pentecost is the hour the Christian faith was born, the moment of being in Christ; not because of a mere ‘religious experience,’ but by the hand of the Holy Spirit” (Romano Guardini, Vom Wesen des Christentums, Wurzburg:  Werkbund Verlag, 1938, pp. 41-42).

As we celebrant the third holiest day for us Christians, let us make that Life become the most vibrant part of us.  Let it enliven every aspect of us, so that like St. Paul we can cry out, that it is no longer I who live but Christ who lives in me.  We must avoid the heresy of dualism, where we put our Catholic Faith in one box and the rest of our life in another box.  Our Catholic Faith must BE our life; in our parish church and community, in our family and homes, at our work-place, in the marketplace, and in the public square.  Vivo Christus!

[Pope Gregory VII excommunicates Emperor Henry IV]

One of the three saints who we can honor in Mass today is St. Gregory VII, Pope.  He was born in Tuscany, in 1028 and was named Hildebrand.  He went to Rome for study, and there entered a monastery.  His keen intellect and holiness of life brought him to the attention of several popes, who used him on several occasions to be an emissary.  Finally he was elected to the seat of St. Peter.  He died in exile in 1085.

Given some of the controversies concerning Catholic politicians today, we would do well to learn from St. Gregory VII, ask him for his prayers, and model his courage and holiness.  As Pope, Gregory spoke out strongly condemning simony, clerical marriage, and lay investiture.  The latter was a movement, which pops up from time to time, which called for the members of the laity in a given area to elect their own bishops and pastors.  The Emperor at the time, Henry IV, directly challenged Pope Gregory VII’s authority to teach in matters of faith and morals, and Pope Gregory excommunicated him for his disobedience.  The painting above (sorry, I do not know who painted it) shows Emperor Henry IV doing penance before Pope Gregory VII, so to be received back into the full communion.  Unfortunately Henry’s repentance was short lived; he later sent Pope Gregory into exile, where he died.

When politicians think that the Pope should not speak out against grave injustice and immorality, because it has “political” implications, they are making themselves just like Henry IV.  We need courageous bishops, and a Pope, who will tell them that they must live their Catholic faith at all times and in all circumstances.  You can NOT be “personally opposed to abortion, but still vote for it.”  To cooperate in grave moral evil, directly and willingly, means that you have separated yourself from communion with the Church, and thus you are not to receive Holy Communion.  When the then Archbishop of New Orleans excommunicated a Catholic politician who opposed civil rights, and supported segregation, back in the 1950s, the Archbishop was rightly hailed for his courage.

Today, if Catholic politicians who support abortion-rights, embryonic stem cell research, and homosexual “marriage” will not on their own recognize the grave separation between them and the Church’s moral teaching, and exclude themselves from the reception of Holy Communion, then bishops need to take the painful, strong action of excommunicating them.  This will be a witness to courageous truth — the truth of Jesus Christ.

[Pieter Paul Rubens. The Martyrdom of St. Stephen. Musée des Beaux-Arts, Valenciennes.]

One of the books that had a significant impact on me, particularly when I was studying psychology, is the book by Dr. Viktor Frankl, Man’s Search for Meaning.  Viktor Frankl was a protege of Sigmund Freud.  Then World War II broke out, and like most of the other Viennese Jews at the time, Frankl found himself rounded up by the Nazis and shipped to a concentration camp.  The first half of Man’s Search for Meaning, is Frankl’s account of life in the concentration camp – it really is something that I highly recommend that you read.

At first Frankl was intrigued by the apparent randomness of inmate survival.  He started to ask why some prisoners just seemed to shrivel up and die, while others, under the same cruel and inhuman conditions, somehow seemed to survive.  Naturally, at first he thought it had to do with the prisoner’s physical fitness and health, but he soon noticed that often the most physically fit prisoners would die quickly under the horrible conditions of the camp, while those who seem weak, elderly, and/or unaccustomed to hard labor would survive the longest.  Frankl decided to occupy his mind with a psychological analysis of life in the concentration camp in order to try to unravel this mystery.  Based on his observations and professional reflections Frankl became convinced that the key to survival was meaning.  In other words, those prisoners who found a reason to survive survived, and those who did not find a reason to survive, did not survive.  I still remember his account of an older man who had been a watchmaker, and how he designed in his head, and on any scraps of paper he could find, a most beautiful clock that he wanted to make to replace the one in his home village’s clock tower which was destroyed in the war.  For Frankl himself, his reason to survive was to rewrite the book, based on years of psychological research, that he had written and the Nazis destroyed before his eyes.  All of us, deep down, strive to find meaning in our lives, and that meaning, that reason to survive, is what keeps us going.

As we come to the end of the Easter season, the Mass readings that the Church gives us directs our gaze upward.  In our first reading today, from the Acts of the Apostles, we hear about the martyrdom of St. Stephen, and we hear that he “looked up intently to heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God.”  St. John, in concluding the Book of Revelation, the last book of the Bible, invites us to look up at Christ who is the morning star and pray, “Come, Lord Jesus.”  And in today’s Gospel reading, as he finishes the Last Supper, Jesus begins his prayer by “lifting his eyes to heaven.”

As we look up to heaven, what do we see?

“We see an embrace, a clasp of deepest friendship, a union of hearts and minds greater than the most satisfying earthly relationship could ever be” (“Homily Packs:  Seventh Sunday of Easter (C)” found at www.epriests.com, a service of Regnum Christi, 2007).  As St. Stephen breathes his dying breath, seeing Christ in his glory, whispers, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit,” and like his Divine master forgives those who are unjustly killing him.  In the Book of Revelation, “The Spirit and the bride say, ‘Come.’”  Jesus, in the Gospel, prays that we will all share his glory, “so that they may all be one, as you, Father, are in me and I in you, that they also may be in us.”

The message that God has for us as we come to the end of the Easter Season is the message of death – of Christian death.  The Church is reminding us that for a faithful Christian, one who actively lives their Faith in words and deeds, death is not the end but the beginning.  We are called to keep in mind that our real home, our ultimate destiny is heaven, not life on earth.  All of our prayers really should be, “Come, Lord Jesus,” let the fullness of your reign come now.

This is why as faithful Christians we should never be afraid to think about death.  In fact, the tendency to avoid thinking about death, to try to avoid facing that death is an unavoidable reality, is unchristian.  This does not mean that we should become obsessed about death, because the gift of life, which God has given us should also be celebrated.

How can we find a balance?  How can we learn to keep looking up, so that we do not lose sight of our ultimate goal, our destiny, while not becoming morbid?

It is enough to keep doing the small, normal things that the Church has always taught us to do.  It is enough to visit the cemetery and put flowers on the graves of our relatives and to pray for them.  This would be particularly fitting given that next weekend our country celebrates Memorial Day.  Now that the Mass Intention books are open for next year, we can have a Mass said for our deceased loved ones.  It is enough to follow the rhythm of the Church’s liturgy, which reminds us gently but firmly that this brief life on earth is not all there is, that our true home is heaven.  It is enough to care for the sick, elderly, and dying instead of ignoring them.

If we do these things now, then later, when we find our own death knocking at the door, we will not be afraid to look up and pray, “Come, Lord Jesus.”  We will have no regrets, only smiles, both for the beauty we have left behind, and for the Beauty still in store.

“Today, as Christ come to us under the mysterious veil of Holy Communion, let’s thank him for revealing the meaning of death, and like St. Stephen let’s look up and pray, ‘Come, Lord Jesus!’” (“Homily Packs:  Seventh Sunday of Easter (C)” found at www.epriests.com, a service of Regnum Christi, 2007).

“Even after sharing their lives with Jesus for such a long time, after the disaster of Calvary and the mystery of Easter, after all that, the apostles understood little of Him.  Only a few hours before His ascent into Heaven, they still asked Him when he would establish the Kingdom of Israel, such as everyone conceived it at that time:  a kingdom of earthly and political power” (Luigi Giussani, The Journey to Truth is an Experience, Montreal & Kingston:  McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2006, p. 53).

Clearly the Apostles did not understand Jesus, so why did they follow Him?  St. Luke apparently wanted to make sure that people understood that Jesus really ascended into Heaven, because he records that event twice; first at the end of his Gospel, which was just proclaimed, and at the beginning of his second work, the Acts of the Apostles, which we heard in our first reading.  Do we get it any better than the Apostles?  So, why do we follow Jesus?

Hopefully we follow Jesus, even in our lack of understanding, for the same reason that the Apostles did, because Jesus has become the focus of our affections.  Hopefully, in the midst of the darkness and confusion around us, as it proclaimed during the Easter Vigil, “Christ is our Life!  Thanks be to God!”  For the Apostles Christ Jesus enlightened them; He “was the only one in whose words they felt their whole human experience understood and their needs taken seriously, clarified” (Luigi Giussani, The Journey to Truth is an Experience, Montreal & Kingston:  McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2006, p. 53).

So why did Jesus Ascend into Heaven?  Jesus wanted to come even closer to us, to be even more intimate with us.  If He had stayed on earth He would have remained limited in time and space.  Now that He has ascended into Heaven, by the sending of the Holy Spirit, Jesus dwells within our hearts.

More importantly, the Ascension is the establishment of Jesus’ Kingdom on absolutely unshakable ground.  Earthly kings and emperors, which the Apostles were still looking for, always remain vulnerable because even if their enemies do not usurp their power, death surely will.  However Christ’s reign will never come to an end; He is no longer vulnerable.  Because He has ascended into Heaven, God made Christ the everlasting King, and His kingdom is firm; His Church will never be destroyed.  If we stay faithful to Christ the King, our victory over sin, evil, and injustice is assured, and this will bring us everlasting happiness.  Christ’s ascension should fill us with joy, as it did His Apostles, because now we know for certain that the Christian cause is unassailable, and that Jesus’ lordship is unconquerable.

The fact – that Jesus Christ, true God and true man – by His Ascension has become the everlasting bridge between Heaven and earth posses a challenge to what Pope Benedict XVI calls the “tyranny of relativism” which threatens to enslave the world today.  Too often we are afraid of offending people who do not share our beliefs.  We are so very concerned about being tolerant.  There is a goodness in that tolerance because every human being does deserve our respect because everyone is made in the image and likeness of God, and Jesus came to save everyone.  However such respect and tolerance should never turn into indifference.  Indifference is easy and often more comfortable than actually defending and spreading the Truth.  Yes, I said Truth – a singular – and not “truths” a plural.  There is only one Truth, and Jesus tells us that He is “the Way, the Truth, and the Life” (John 14:6).  Only Jesus Christ ascended to the throne of heaven, and He alone is the Savior.  True, God is gracious and His mercy is not limited in any way, but He has made His mercy known by sending His only-begotten Son, Jesus Christ.  Finally, God desires to extend His mercy to every person through the spreading of the Good News of Jesus Christ.  This is why it is our mission, as His Church, to preach “repentance for the forgiveness of sins in his name to all the nations.”

As we receive the Eucharist today, the food that nourishes us, let us ask that we have the strength never to be ashamed of the truth of Jesus Christ, the only Truth that will truly set us free.

["The Virgin Mother and Child, with St Dominic and St. Thomas Aquinas" by Fra Angelico]

What more need be said?  A blessing to all our mothers, especially for the gift of life and for sharing the Faith in Jesus Christ with us.

[Painting by Fra Angelico, I am not sure of the title, it is something like "Christ the Judge." In case you have not noticed, from the banner on this blog which is part of Fra Angelico's "The Saints," I am a fan of this Florentine, Dominican artist]

First of all, before I forget and get myself into trouble, let me extend my most sincere thankful prayers to all of our mothers here today. As the Blessed Virgin Mary served as the Ark of the Covenant and the Tabernacle of our Lord Jesus during the nine months of her pregnancy, so our mothers are often the first source of our faith, continuing the life of the Church.

I am reminded of a story about a Roman soldier sometime during the first 200 years of Christianity. He had to set off on a long military campaign, leaving behind his wife who was pregnant with their first child. With her husband away, some local women took it upon themselves to help this soon-to-be mother. These women were Christians, and they had an inner joy that was very attractive. The soldier’s wife found herself wanting to know more about the secret of their joy, so they started tell her about Jesus. Soon her child was born – a healthy son. Not long after giving birth she asked her new friends if she and her son could become Christians, and they were baptized into the faith.

Meanwhile the soldier also had met some Christians during his travel. He too was attracted to their inner joy and strength; often enduring great pain and hardship all for the name of Christ Jesus. He listened to the stories about Jesus and explanations about this new Faith. However, he was not able to receive baptism before the campaign ended.

When he returned home, his wife was naturally overjoyed to see him home safe and sound. Yet she was nervous about how he would react to the news that she and their son were baptized into the Christian Faith. She decided to break the news to him gradually. First she showed him their son. As he held his son the soldier expressed his sorrow at not being there to help her during her need, but she said that she had made some new friends who had been a big help, and that they were Christians. Then in an offhanded way she mentioned that their son had in fact been baptized as a Christian. Her husband looked shocked and became very quiet. He looked at his son again very thoughtfully. Then he knelt besides the crib, bowed his head, closed his eyes, and silently began to pray. His wife was puzzled by her husband’s behavior, and knelt next to him and asked what he was doing. He looked at her and said, “I am praying to the one, true God, for if our son has been baptized, he has himself become a holy place. Christ the Lord, his Father the Creator of all, and the living Holy Spirit have made their home in his heart, so we can pray to God there.” [“Homily Packs: Sixth Sunday of Easter (C)” found at www.epriests.com, a service of Regnum Christi, 2007].

Today’s Gospel reading are some of Jesus’ words during the Last Supper, and they are mysterious and glorious. In today’s passage Jesus reveals one of the great secrets of Christian life; that when we are baptized, God himself – Father, Son and Holy Spirit – actually come into our souls and take up residence there. As Jesus says in today’s Gospel, “We will come to him and make our dwelling with him.”

This week we will celebrate the Ascension of the Lord on Thursday; check the bulletin for the Mass times for this Holy Day of Obligation. Have you ever wondered why Jesus ascended back into heaven? Why didn’t he just stick around? By his ascension, Jesus is able to be closer to us; he is able to dwell deep within our hearts, beyond any earthly limits. If Jesus had not “gone to the Father,” he would have remained limited by time and space, as he was during his earthly life. Now that he dwells body and soul in heaven, Jesus can be present to each one of us at all times, through the Holy Spirit.

This is the gift Christ has given us. The prize Jesus won for us by his Passion, Death and Resurrection is the transforming, renewing, life-giving presence of the Holy Spirit within us. How many of you can tell me on what day you were born? What about on what day you were baptized? We all remember and celebrate our birthdays, yet how much more greater is the day we are baptized and made a child of God and given the gift of the Divine life within us!

Unfortunately too often most of us forget about this priceless gift for which Jesus paid such a great price. We often live as if our Christianity is like a membership in a club, like it is something outside of us. This forgetfulness handcuffs God’s power in our lives. The Holy Spirit is polite, and respects our freedom. The Spirit chooses to be a guest within our hearts, not a dictator. The Spirit sits in the living room of our soul, eagerly waiting for us to put our cell phones away, turn off the computer and/or TV, and pay attention to him for a few minutes. The Spirit wants us to ask him for guidance and strength. Whenever we do turn to the Holy Spirit for strength and guidance, the Spirit is able to increase what is good in us, and cleanse us from what is bad.

So why don’t we pay attention to the Holy Spirit dwelling within our hearts more often? The main reason is that we are surrounded by so many other voices, which because of their boastful pride are often louder than the Spirit’s gentle whisper. At other times we get so tangled up in our problems and responsibilities that we are not sure what God wants us to do, or how to do what we think he wants us to do.

God knows this, and he has given us tools to help discern his voice. One of these tools is the sacrament of Reconciliation, often better known as Confession. While the primary function of the sacrament of Reconciliation is to be a clear and undeniable way to receive the grace of forgiveness for our sins, it has a secondary function of helping us to grow in holiness. It gives us the grace of strength and light.

A priest is ordained to be God’s instrument; the advice and direction that he gives within the sacred space of this sacrament is of special value. Regular use of this sacrament quiets down the many other voices that are trying to drown out the Holy Spirit’s voice. The sacrament of Reconciliation makes God’s voice within us clear and stronger, and it gives us the strength to heed that voice.

Today, as Christ renews his commitment to dwell within us, let us renew our commitment to be his worth Temples. And let us thank our mothers who not only gave us the gift of life on earth, but through their faith and by their bringing us to baptism, shared with us the gift of eternal life won for us by Christ Jesus.
[Based on “Homily Packs: Sixth Sunday of Easter (C)” found at www.epriests.com, a service of Regnum Christi, 2007].

It is not my intention for this blog to become a polemical site. I have tried to stick to just sharing things of a more spiritual nature; my homilies, and other spiritual reflections — with a few amusing stories of my family. However, sometimes one needs to just speak up against an injustice.

As I am sure that most of the readers of this blog knows, shortly after arriving in Brazil, Pope Benedict, in answering a questions asked him, stated that politicians who vote to support abortion have excommunicated themselves, and therefore should not receive Holy Communion. Really this is nothing new; it states that in the Code of Canon Law, and it has been taught in moral theology for a very long time. It all has to do with what the Church teaches about the sanctity of human life, and the moral theology principle of cooperation in a moral evil. It is ALWAYS — meaning in EVERY TIME, EVERY PLACE, and EVERY SITUATION — an absolute moral evil to kill an innocent human life, and human life begins at conception. There is a difference between an ABSOLUTE moral evil and a non-absolute moral evil. The death penalty and “just war” are examples of non-absolute moral evils because there are circumstances when they can be morally acceptable.

I read the following from Senator Patrick Leahy, D-Vt, as he responded to the Pope’s comments in Brazil concerning politicians who support abortion having excommunicated themselves:

“I’ve always thought also that those bishops and archbishops who for decades hid pederasts and are now being protected by the Vatican should be indicted,” he said.

I am not a philosophy major, nor a logician, but I am pretty certain that such a counter-argument is called something like a “red-herring.” The priest sexual abuse scandal has nothing to do with abortion, and the moral formal cooperation with the evil of abortion that voting for abortion rights. Senator Leahy is being diabolical (from the Greek meaning “to throw apart”). Satan always tries to cause division by using lies and half truths. This is what Senator Leahy is doing. He is trying to avoid acknowledging his own objectively evil actions (he is a big time supporter of abortion rights, there is not a situation when he things it is bad to kill a baby in the womb). He is being deliberately dishonest.

The priest sexual abuse scandal was horrible. Obviously the abusive priests did great evil, but many bishops did not respond as a shepherd should. For a long time the Vatican has been saying that bishops are suppose to be shepherds and not CEOs, and in this situation they too often acted to like a CEO trying to limit their liability. Yet we also must be fair to the bishops. Many of these cases of abuse happened when not much was known medically/psychologically about pedophilia and ebophilia. As a psychologist, I can tell you that up until the early 1980s it was thought that people with these conditions could be cured, so the bishops followed the best professional advice and sent them for treatment. We know better now.

Having said all this, I would like Senator Leahy to give evidence as to how the Vatican is protecting bishops who have covered up these crimes. I assume he is referring to Cardinal Law, formerly of Boston. As I understand it, Cardinal Law was interviewed by the legal authorities there in Boston, and they did not press any charges against him. That being the case he is free to leave the USA. He has a very minor, mostly ceremonial position in Rome (which the American press has overblown in importance). As far as I know there has been no further requests from the police or prosecutors in Boston to have Cardinal Law return to Boston for further investigation or even prosecution. The Vatican has not fought any extradition requests. So how are they protecting him or any other bishops?

The Vatican called for obedience to the Church’s teaching, which calls such sexual conduct sinful and criminal. It was the “liberal” priests in America who so often disobeyed the Vatican in so many matters, from the liturgy to sexual morality, who created the terrible situation. The fault does not lie with the Vatican, but with those who did not obey.

Yet all this has nothing to do with what Pope Benedict said about politicians who support abortion rights (well, I guess it does since he says that they need to obey the Church’s teaching). Shame on you Senator Leahy! Own up to your own evil actions and do not try to distract us from them by waving your red herring.

Sts. Paul and Barnabas sure do cover a lot of ground.  In our first reading today, from the Acts of the Apostles, eight different cities are mentioned where they “proclaimed the good news,” and that is not counting the unnamed city from which they started the leg of their missionary journey that we heard today.  So a total of nine cities where they not only “proclaimed the good news” but also “made a considerable number of disciples.”

The Acts of the Apostles gives us a type of snapshot of the early Church, and it is marked with a lot of dynamism.  It is active and growing.  In fact, the Church has the very life of Christ Jesus, Himself.  Yet something else is needed, in addition to dynamism, and we start to see that something else in the early Church in today’s reading.

Dynamism without structure is like a firecracker – a lot of noise, but no lasting results.  However, if you add some structure to that dynamism then the energy can be channeled and directed.  The combination of structure and dynamism assures stability, growth, and fruitfulness.  Since the Church was founded to endure, grow, and bear fruit until the end of time, it needed a structure, and we call that structure the hierarchy.

The Church’s hierarchy has been part of God’s plan right from the beginning.  It is not a later human invention.  In fact we can see this hierarchy having its roots in the words of Jesus to St. Peter, after he made his profession of faith in Jesus as the Christ, the Son of God.  Jesus calls Simon, Peter which is a play on the Greek word “petros” which means “rock.”  Jesus goes on to say that upon this “Rock” He will build His Church.

We should recall that originally the Hebrews were nomadic desert-dwellers.  As such, they “were particularly sensitive to the point of reference provided by great rock formations, fixed as they are, compared with sand and dust which can be blown away and scattered by the wind” (Luigi Giussani, Why the Church?, Montreal & Kingston:  McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2001, p. 78).  The word “rock” or “crag” is one of the most frequently used metaphors for truth and safety in the Bible.  In Psalms we hear, “Though my flesh and my heart fail, God is the rock of my heart, my portion forever” (Ps 73: 26), and “God alone is my rock and salvation, my secure height; I shall never fall” (Ps 62: 3), and one last example, “Let the words of my mouth meet with your favor, keep the thoughts of my heart before you, LORD, my rock and my redeemer” (Ps 19: 15).  In saying that He was going to build His Church on the Rock that is St. Peter, Jesus was saying that the papacy would be the visible sign of unity, stability and truth for His Church.

Of course this foundation was added to.  In today’s passage from the Acts of the Apostles we hear that Paul and Barnabas “appointed elders for them in each church and, with prayer and fasting, commended them to the Lord.”  Sts. Paul and Barnabas were not starting their own churches, for they knew that there is only one Church, the one started by Christ Jesus and entrusted by Him to the Apostles, with St. Peter as their head.  Those ordained by Paul and Barnabas were local church leaders who were entrusted to care for the local Christian communities, and to continue the mission of spreading the Good News.  Right from the start we see the hierarchy of the Church being established  — a Pope, bishops, and priests.

For us Americans the idea of the Church’s hierarchy can be difficult to accept.  We have a democratic mindset:  we vote for everything, from the President and Members of Congress, to laws, to local school boards.  We even vote for the captains of our teams.  While the democratic mindset can be very effective for organizations that are of strictly human origin, the Church is NOT of strictly human origin.  The Church is divine in its origin; it is a LIFE!  It is the Life of Jesus Christ.  The Church is the prolongation of the Incarnation, the Word Made Flesh, through time and space.

The Church is also like a family.  Children do not have the right to vote on what they will eat or when their bed-time will be.  They need their parents to teach and guide them into mature, responsible, generous, and virtuous adults.  Likewise, by our baptism we became the children of God.  Only God’s grace and revelation can enable us to grow into the saints we are meant to be.  We do not have the right to vote on how God should send us His grace, or about what path should lead to moral and spiritual maturity.  God is the one who has to nourish, guide, and teach us.  That is why we call Him FATHER!  He does this through His ministers in the Church, with whom He shares His authority.  As Jesus says in St. John’s Gospel, “As the Father has sent me, so I send you” (John 20: 21).

We may not always like God’s choice of human ministers, because since they are human they have flaws.  To make up for these human foibles and flaws, God has guaranteed that through the bishops in union with the Pope we will always have access to His grace, which strengthens us, and to the dependable truth about what we should believe (Faith) and how we should act (Morals) in order to grow up in the faith and reach the lasting happiness of Heaven.

Ponder these words from Msgr. Luigi Giussani, the founder of Communion and Liberation, “The authority of the Pope and bishops, therefore, is the ultimate guide on the pilgrimage towards a genuine sharing of our lives, towards a true civilization….  Where that authority is not vital and vigilant, or where it is under attack, the human pathway becomes complicated, ambiguous, and unstable; it veers towards disaster, even when on the exterior it seems powerful, flourishing, and astute, as is the case today.  Where that authority is active and respected, the historic pilgrimage is confidently renewed with serenity; it is deep, genuinely human, even when the expressive methods and dynamics of sharing lives are roughshod and difficult” (The Journey to Truth is an Experience, Montreal & Kingston:  McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2006, p. 74).

As Catholics we are called to “pray and obey.”  At each Mass we pray for the hierarchy of the Church, and in our private prayers we should also pray for the Pope, and all the bishops and priests.  We need to pray that these ministers of God can overcome their flaws and foibles, so that everyone that they meet can encounter the loving presence of Christ Jesus.  Likewise we are all called to practice that most difficult yet most important of virtues – obedience.  God has guaranteed that despite all their imperfections, His ministers will not be able to obstruct the flow of His truth and grace through the Church’s ministry.  In its official teaching about faith (what we should believe) and morals (how we should live), God has promised that His Church will not lead us astray.  Obedience to Christ’s Church – whether in basic things like the Ten Commandments and coming to Mass on Sundays, or in more difficult and counter-cultural things like divorce, contraception, abortion, and embryonic stem-cell research – shows that we trust Chris, the one who established and guides His Church.  As Christ renews His commitment to us by giving us His Body and Blood at this Mass, let us renew our trust in Him, and ask Him to increase our desire to follow Him through the practice of the virtue of obedience.

[Much of this homily was inspired, and parts were taken from, “Homily Packs:  Fifth Sunday of Easter (C)” found at www.epriests.com, a service of Regnum Christi, 2007].