Fr. JC Maximilian

​

I went to graduate school in Champaign, IL, the home of Olympic speed-skater Bonnie Blair. I make no claims of knowing her; in fact I have never seen her, except on TV. Yet during the 1988 Winter Olympics, like everyone else in Champaign, I caught “Bonnie fever.” In some strange way, in each Gold Medal that she won during those games, it felt as if the whole town won.

Winning an Olympic gold medal is certainly a great achievement, but today we celebrate people who have achieved so much more that even an Olympic gold medal. Today as a whole Church we are called to turn our gaze to the glory of heaven. We are invited to call to mind our older brothers and sisters who not only persevered in their faith while they lived on earth, but actually lived their lives in such a way that they built up Christ’s Kingdom in the world. They not only resisted the onslaughts of evil, but they conquered territory for good. Now they are enjoying their reward, and that should give us joy too.

Yes, we should be experiencing JOY as we celebrate All Saints Day. Our joy does not come from the saints achievements taking away all the problems that we face here on earth – clearly they do not. Today’s joy doesn’t come from a false gospel that you sometimes hear preached on TV these days: the gospel of “prosperity,” which promises heaven on earth.
That’s not Christian joy. Jesus never promised heaven on earth – in fact, he promised that following him mean carrying crosses and facing persecution.

So, where does Christian joy come from? First it comes from sharing in the victory of the saints. Like the people in Champaign, IL in 1988 who shared in Bonnie Blair’s victories, we should rejoice in the victory of the saints in spreading the Kingdom of God – the Good News – by their lives of virtue. Yet our joy in not only vicarious. It also comes from being reminded that God has given us the tools we need to follow in the saints’ footsteps – to win the gold medal ourselves and make it to heaven.

The first tool for following in the saints’ footsteps is to know where our destination is. Today’s first reading reminds us that we know where we are going in life! We know what comes after death! In his vision, recorded in the Book of Revelation, St. John sees the angels of destruction waiting at the corners of the earth, waiting for the orders from God to put an end to human history, that sorry story of sin, greed, injustice, and destruction. Yes, God will not tolerate sin and death and injustice forever. The world will come to an end, and God will put all things right. However, before letting loose the angels of destruction God says, “Do not damage the land or the sea or the trees until we put the seal on the foreheads of the servants of our God.” What is this seal that is put on the foreheads of the servants of God? It is the sign of the cross that the bishop makes with the sacred chrism when he anoints us at the moment of our confirmation. It marks us as followers of Christ. And all of human history from the time of Christ’s first coming has one purpose: for every human being to have an opportunity to receive that mark, to become Christ’s follower. Those who do will be clothed in the white robe of grace and enter into eternal life, which starts here on earth and lasts forever in heaven. This is where we are going, and we know it!

The second tool for following in the footsteps of the saints is knowing who we are. We need to know our place in the universe – neither minimizing it, nor exaggerating it. Again we have St. John making clear, this time in today’s second reading, just who we are – the children of God. We are not just some nameless speck in the universe, nor are we the masters of the universe. We are members of God’s family and He loves us profoundly, and He wants us to love each other and Him with all our hearts.

Most of us, who have received the sacrament of Confirmation, probably took a Confirmation name, the name of a saint who has especially inspired us, with whom we can identify in a personal way. Do you remember yours? Mine is Peter. Today we should renew our choice. It is a symbolic way to recommit to our true identity as children of God, and that identity is the second tool God gives us to help us follow in the saints’ footsteps, so we can share in their joy.

It is not enough, however, just to know who we are and where we are going. We also need to know how to get there; and that is the third tool for following in the footsteps of the saints. In today’s Gospel reading, Jesus teaches us the “how” of being His followers so that we can get to Heaven. The Beatitudes are the steps to happiness; and not the kind that comes and goes, but the eternal happiness of heaven. The Beatitudes are the attitudes of Christ, and the basic attitudes that help us live as Christians. St. Matthew places his account of Jesus giving us the Beatitudes at the beginning of His Sermon on the Mount. Here they serve as the summary of everything that Jesus will teach His followers throughout the Gospel. They also summarize everything that Jesus Himself lived out during His time on earth. The Beatitudes take the Ten Commandments to their fulfillment.

Since we are children of God, sons and daughters in the Son, we should act like Christ.
Christ himself is the way to our destination. Christ loved the Father by fulfilling His will even to the point of dying on a cross. He loved His neighbor by leaving behind the glory of heaven and coming to earth to teach, heal, and forgive our sins. Loving God and neighbor – this is the core of all the Beatitudes: an attitude of the heart that focuses more on God and others than on self.

Often times at Mass we are so preoccupied with the difficulties of life on earth, here in the Church Militant, that we forget to pay attention to the Church Triumphant. Yet at every Mass our prayers are joined with those of all the angels and saints, in both thanking God and asking for His grace. In the Eucharist, Christ lays the bridge between heaven and earth. As He does so at this Mass, let us lift our eyes to the Triumph of the saints, and allow our hearts to rejoice.

​
[Jesus healing the blind man, by Eustache Le Sueur, 1625-1650.]

I have never been to Lourdes, in France, so I do know this from first hand experience, but Cardinal Basil Hume, the late archbishop of Westminster, wrote about this in his book, The Mystery of Love. The Cardinal writes that the first thing you see on the path that leads to the grotto is a statue of the blind Bartimaeus. It is clear from the statue’s expression, as it looks over the grotto, that Bartimaeus sees nothing, for he is still blind. Why this statue at a place where there has been so many miraculous healings? Cardinal Hume wondered the same thing until he heard the story behind the statue. Apparently an Italian woman, who was blind, had gone to Lourdes hoping to be cured of her blindness. Although she left Lourdes still unable to see, her time there allowed her to rediscover her faith, and she realized that her newfound spiritual acuity was more valuable than being able to see with her eyes.

One of the common misperceptions about people who are blind is that their other senses are super-sensitive. This really isn’t true. The reason it may appear that a blind person has more sensitive hearing, smell or touch, is that they pay closer attention to the senses that they have. It isn’t that the blind person can hear things that the person who has their sight cannot hear. Rather, because they cannot see, the blind person pays closer attention to what they can hear so that they can know better about the world around them. However, the person who can see could also hear what the blind person hears, if only they pay closer attention.

Faith is a kind of “spiritual” sense. It allows us to recognize the presence and action of God in our lives. Too often we have the tendency to make God “small.” We try to put into a nice little box within our lives. Often we only recognize the presence of God the hour we are at Mass on Sundays. Perhaps our spiritual sense is a bit more sensitive, and we recognize His presence in our lives when everything is going well or we get something that we really wanted. During those times perhaps we quickly thank God for His special blessings. Too often, however, our spiritual sense is too limited – we only have faith in those very small, limited boxes.

But what about in difficult times? What about during times of suffering? Too often we are very blind, spiritually – especially when everything is not going as we expect things to go.

Jesus calls us to have better spiritual sight than that. He actually wants us to have perfect, 20/20, vision. He wants us to recognize the love and goodness of God in every moment of our lives.

We have been on “the way” – which is what we call this section of St. Mark’s Gospel – for nearly two months now. It started with Jesus healing another blind man, and now, as this journey of Jesus and His disciples to Jerusalem is nearing its end, Jesus heals another blind man. The bracketing of this section of the “journey on the way” with accounts of Jesus healing two blind men is meant to highlight for us that Jesus came to heal our spiritual blindness. It is by following Him, listening to His words, obeying His commandments, and most importantly placing our trust in Him, that we will gain real vision – to see the glory of God. We do not know the name of the blind man at the beginning of this “journey on the way” and that man does not really recognize who Jesus is. Here, at the end of the journey on “the way,” we know that the man’s name is Bartimaeus. More importantly, while Bartimaeus may have been physically blind, he demonstrate real faith – real spiritual sight – because he is the only person who is healed in Mark’s Gospel who uses Jesus’ name, and he calls Him one of the ancient titles of the Messiah; “Son of David.” Bartimaeus shows his trust and faith in Jesus by “spring up” and running to Jesus, despite his physical blindness. In his spiritual sight, Bartimaeus recognized in Jesus the person who could give him what his heart truly longed for, that which was the deepest desire of his heart, namely salvation. The Greek word that is used in this passage for the verb “to heal” also means “to save.” Jesus tells Bartimaeus to go on his way, for his faith had saved him, and St. Mark immediately tells us that Bartimaeus “followed him on the way.” Bartimaeus truly wants, and is given, eternal salvation.

The disciples of Jesus, like us too often, have been more blind to the reality of who Jesus is. Too often they, like us, had their own ideas, their own expectations, of what the Messiah is suppose to be like; they try to fit Jesus into their own box, but their box is too small. “Although Jesus has been teaching them all along ‘the way,’ at this point their vision is still only partial; they do not yet grasp who Jesus is and what it means to follow him. Only after the resurrection will their eyes be fully open” (Healy, The Gospel of Mark, Catholic Commentary on Sacred Scripture).

Jesus continues to ask us the same question that He asked Bartimaeus; “What do you want me to do for you?” Will we allow Him to heal our spiritual blindness – to save us – as He healed and saved that blind Italian woman who commissioned the statue of Bartimaeus that stands in Lourdes? She left Lourdes still unable to see with her eyes, but her real blindness – her lack of faith – was healed. She left Lourdes, like Bartimaeus, with profound spiritual vision, following Jesus on “the way.”

I leave you with the following prayer from Origen (185-253), one of the first great theologians of the Church:

A Prayer for Sight
May the Lord Jesus touch our eyes,
As he did those of the blind.
Then we shall begin to see in visible things
Those which are invisible.
May He open our eyes to gaze not on present realities,
But on the blessings to come.
May he open the eyes of our heart to contemplate God in Spirit,
Through Jesus Christ the Lord,
To whom belong power and glory through all eternity. Amen.

OK, I had to post this because for those who know me, I have a bird named Max. I got him in June with the money my mother gave me for my 5th anniversary as a priest. OK, my bird is a parakeet and not a blue rock-thrush, but my Max is also blue (and green and yellow and black), and I am teaching him to say, “God is Love” which was, of course the title of Pope Benedict’s first encyclical. I think I know what some bird is getting for Christmas….shh, don’t tell my Max.

New from Ignatius Press:

Max and Benedict
   
by Jeanne Perego
Illustrated by Donata Dal Molin Casagrande

This lovely illustrated book for children (of all ages!) is a sequel to Joseph and Chico, the international best-seller

that told the story of the life of Pope Benedict XVI from his youth through his election as the Pope. With the same award-winning author and illustrator, this lavishly illustrated book is aimed at children but in a way that even adults will enjoy. It takes up the story of Benedict’s XVIs new life as the Pope.

The narrator of this book is a blue rock-thrush that spends most of his time on the dome of Saint Peter’s Basilica and in the Vatican gardens. (The scientific name of this kind of bird is Monticola Solitarius, and it really lives in Rome.) This particular bird’s name is Max, and from his solitary perch, he observes everything in the vicinity. He is fascinated by one human in particular: the Pope. Max tells readers what the Pope does on a typical day, as well as about special moments in his life, such as his vacations and apostolic trips. The book provides a delicate portrait of the Holy Fathers many responsibilities, and it helps us understand the Pope Benedict’s important obligations that he always strives to carry out with love, faith and dedication.

Max talks about the Pope’s private and public audiences, his meetings with heads of state and with children, important liturgical moments, and the Angelus. He also describes more curious events, such as the blessing of the lambs and of a fire truck. He tells us about the moments that the Pope devotes to writing and to prayer. Max flies to see the Pope at his summer home, Castel Gandolfo, and is sorry he cannot accompany him on his important apostolic trips, but is happy each time the Pope returns to the Vatican. Max is also delighted when he sees the Pope relax a bit, playing the piano or strolling through the Vatican gardens. Max loves music, too, as do many of his friends, who live in the Vatican gardens.

Through this wonderful story, the author presents some of the fundamental ideas of Pope Benedict XVI and the important daily life and activities of the successor of St. Peter, told in simple words that young readers can understand and enjoy. The lavish watercolor illustrations make a wonderful gift book and a cherished keepsake for all ages.

Jeanne Pergeo, an Italian journalist who lives in Bavaria, is the author of the best-selling Joseph and Chico, as well as of Benedict XVI’s Bavaria.

Sample images from the book:

In this chapter of the encyclical the Holy Father starts to identify how the Church’s teaching on human development speaks to some of the most prevalent issues facing us today. He notes that Pope Paul VI’s understanding of human development set the goal of rescuing people from hunger, deprivation, disease, and illiteracy first and foremost, and that these are still concerns for human development today.

The Holy Father wants to make clear that there is nothing wrong with profit if it is used to serves as a means towards an end that provides a sense both of how to produce it and how to make good use of it. Profit becomes problematic when it is produced by improper means and it does not have the common good as its ultimate end. When profit becomes the end in itself, it starts to destroy wealth and create poverty. This is evidenced by the fact that the world’s wealth is growing in absolute terms, while the gap between the rich and poor is increasing. A major cause of this problem is the greed and corruption among those in leadership positions — both political and economic — in both the wealthy countries and in poor ones.

At the time in which Pope Paul VI wrote Populorum Progressio, we could already speak of social issues in global terms. However, in the past 40 years there has been an integration of nations and economies to an unprecedented level. 40 years ago, individual States still had a large degree of ability to determine the priorities for their economy and govern the instruments at their disposal. This is why Pope Paul VI assigned a central role to what he called “public authorities.” Today, however, individual States have to address the limitations to their own sovereignty with international trade and banking has placed on them. Economies are much more integrated together today, thus it is not realistic to look solely at the State’s public authorities for solutions. These public authorities need to re-evaluate their role and power in engaging the economic problems of today.

Whereas in the past, competition in the marketplace was often confined to within national boundaries, today the competition crosses the globe. In order to attach new industry countries too often relax the social networks that safeguarded the welfare of workers. In doing so, the focus becomes on profit as an end in itself, and not a means for fostering human development. The Holy Father reminds us, that in an authentic concern for human development, “the primary capital to be safeguarded and valued is man, the human person in his or her integrity” (#25).

Another factor of importance to human development today is on the cultural plane. There is a much greater possibility of cultural interaction today. This can be a positive force in human development if two dangers, that the commercialization of cultural exchange can increase, are avoided. First there is the danger of “cultural eclecticism” where cultures are placed uncritically along side each other and viewed as being substantially equivalent and interchangeable. This leads to cultural relativism, which actually results in keeping the various cultural groups separated, since they are seen as being substantially the same. This actually closes down intercultural dialogue. The other danger is “cultural leveling” which loses sight of the profound significance of the culture of different nations. Both of these dangers separates culture from human nature, which reduces the human person.

The Pope notes another issue for our time is “food security.” Feeding the poor has been a central concern of the Church’s social justice ministry right from the beginning. Today the concern in not so much with there not being enough food to feed everyone, but rather inadequate structures to ensure that everyone receives adequate food and water. Food and access to water is an universal right of all human beings, without distinction or discrimination (#27).

One of the issues that struck me the most in this chapter is the Holy Father’s clear statement that we cannot detach respect for life from all other matters of social justice and human development. I have been in parishes where the “Social Concerns” committee refused to support any Respect Life initiative, and vice versa. The Holy Father points out in many nations, in an attempt to address poverty, there are government and non-governmental efforts to control population growth through contraception, sterilization and even forced abortion; sometimes without even informing the women concerned. “Openness to life is at the center of true development. When a society moves towards the denial or suppression of life, it ends up no longer finding the necessary motivation and energy to strive for man’s true good. . . . The acceptance of life strengthens moral fiber and makes people capable of mutual help. By cultivating openness to life, wealthy peoples can better understand the needs of poor ones, they can avoid employing huge economic and intellectual resources to satisfy the selfish desires of their own citizens” (#28).

A final concern connected to human develop noted in the encyclical is the denial of the right to religious freedom. Problems in this area includes religious fanaticism, violence against religious belief, and even religious indifference and practical atheism. We must keep in mind that God is the guarantor of man’s true happiness. When there are obstacles to people fulfilling their supernatural desires, there is a reduction of their humanity.

To address these concerns so to foster human development, the Holy Father states that there must be a commitment to foster the interaction of the different levels of human knowledge. Again, he emphasizes that Charity does not exclude knowledge. “Deeds without knowledge are blind, and knowledge without love is sterile” (#30). Given the complexity of the phenomena before us, charity in truth requires that we know and understand, acknowledging and respecting the specific competence of every level of knowledge. This does not exclude charity, either. “Human knowledge is insufficient, and the conclusions of science cannot indicate by themselves the path towards integral human development” (#30). “Love is rich in intelligence, and intelligence is full of love” (#30).

In other words, moral evaluation and scientific research must go hand in hand. A good example of this is the debate over the use of embryonic stem cells and cloning. Often the proponents of no or little restrictions in this type of research parade out potential promises of this research in curing diseases, without any reflections on the morality of the research. Often the mainstream media paints the Church as being against stem cell research, when in fact the Church has supported most research using stem cells, just not those studies that wish to destroy human embryos to obtain the stem cells; in other words destroys one human life in order to do research to help others. Too much science is done today with the rejection of metaphysics and rejection of theology as another form of knowledge. The Holy Father warns, “Without the guidance of charity in truth, this global force could cause unprecedented damage and create new divisions within the human family” (#33).

​

[“St. Thérèse of Lisieux” by Leonard Porter; please support this fine artist by buying a print of this painting at eBay]

If you bring a missal or something with the Mass Readings in it, you might be wondering what is going on, since none of our readings where from the 27th Sunday in Ordinary Time. Bishop Smith gave us permission to transfer the feast of St. Theresa this year, which is normally on October 1, to this weekend since she is our parish patron saint. He knew that we are having our parish picnic this afternoon, and breaking ground on our Faith Formation Center, so he wanted us to be able to make it an even more solemn celebration.

In our Gospel reading, Jesus calls us the “light of the world” and tells us not to keep our light under a bushel basket (Matthew 5:13 -16). In her autobiography, St. Theresa recalls how she asked the Lord how she could be the light of the world. Essentially, what she was asking the Lord was how to live her life as Vocation.

I am sure that all of us have heard that the word “vocation” comes from the Latin word that means “call.” We all have a calling. We just have to look at our “state of life”: whether we are singled, married, or ordained/vowed religious. Yet even in each of those general, “state of life,” vocations we are all called to a more specific vocation. St. Theresa was called to the “state of life” vocation of being a Carmelite nun who lived in strict cloister, yet she wanted to know how specifically God was calling her to live this life. Despite her youth of years, she lived a profound maturity of faith.

There are three elements of the maturity of faith that we call living life as a Vocation. First and foremost, we must be aware of belonging to an Other. After all, we can’t call ourselves. We must be called by someone other than ourselves. At the same time, this Other must know us better than we know ourselves, for how else could they call us to what will truly make us happy. For St. Theresa, she never had any doubt about who the Other was that called her. She had a deep relationship with Christ Jesus. She recognized in the Church the Mystical Body of Jesus whom she loved above all else. That is why she always drew close to the Church, for she knew that in doing so she was drawing close to the Other who called her.

The second element of living life as Vocation, is the energy of the “yes”, the “fiat” like Mary our Mother. It is the simplicity of freedom. We live as conscious human beings, aware of our feelings, thoughts, desires, actions. We live as an integral “I” so that in our “yes” nothing becomes an objection to our choice. It is all “yes”; without any of the “buts” or “howevers”. Again, we see in our patroness, St. Theresa this simplicity of freedom, this energy of the “yes.” Her “little way” was the making of her life a total gift to the Other who called her and loved her. Again, from her autobiography, even when they told her that she was too young to enter the convent, she did not let that become an obstacle – she went to the Pope to get permission.

Lastly, life as Vocation is a life of faithfulness. It is the energy to continue to follow the Other, no matter what difficulties we encounter along the way. In good times and bad, we remain in the Lord, in His Church. You may not know this, but for most of the last year of her life, St. Theresa suffered from a severe dryness in her spiritual life. All the wonderful spiritual consolations that she enjoyed most of her life were taken from her. There may have been times when her intellect wanted to doubt in God, but her heart would never permit it. She followed her Beloved in His Passion, His agony in the garden, so that she could say like He did, “not my will, but your will be done.” It was in living her life as Vocation that St. Theresa found her true place in the Church, to be love.

Since she is the patron of our parish, St. Theresa should be a special model for our lives. We too should live our lives as Vocation as she did. This past week, on the Memorial of St. Theresa, Pope Benedict reminded the world of this call to live as Vocation; “To our society, often permeated by a rationalist culture and widespread materialism, St. Therese of Lisieux shows, as a response to the great questions of life, the ‘little way’ which looks to the essence of things. It is the humble path of love, capable of enveloping and giving meaning and value to all human affairs”

I think that this message is especially appropriate as the Church in the United States also celebrates Respect Life Sunday. If we were going to point to one thing that most represents the evil that materialism and rationalist culture produces it would be the Culture of Death mentality so pervasive in our society, especially in the horror of abortion. In the Culture of Death we see the opposite of living life as Vocation. First there is no recognition of the Other – not the presence of Christ Jesus in the presence of that unborn life. Instead of an energetic “yes” to the Other that comes from freedom, there is the “no” that comes from fear. Instead of focusing on the joy of remaining in the Lord, there is a focusing on the difficulties on the road to be eliminated.

St. Theresa said that she wanted to spend her heaven showering down roses of Divine grace upon the earth. It is fitting that the symbol of the Respect Life movement is the “rose of life.” It is a symbol of the vocation of love that St. Theresa lived on earth and continues to live in heaven; a love that promotes life by the recognition of the Other who is Life itself, and gives us hope.

St. Theresa of the Child Jesus, pray for us!