A Homily for the 6th Sunday of Easter (2008)
Posted by frjcmaximilian on Apr 27th, 2008
St. Peter tells us, in our second reading today, to “Always be ready to give an explanation to anyone who asks you for a reason for your hope….” How many of us are truly ready to do just that? A good starting point for answering this question is looking at what do we, as Christians, mean when we use the word “hope.” Fortunately for us, Pope Benedict XVI recently wrote a beautiful encyclical that is all about hope; in fact it is entitled, Spe Salvi, which is translated “Saved in Hope.”
For many people hope is little more than a wish for a better future. It tends to be rather abstract and “pie-in-the-sky.” Hope is not seen as something that has anything to do with present reality. As Christians, we have more solid understanding of the virtue of hope.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church describes hope as, “the theological virtue by which we desire the kingdom of heaven and eternal life as our happiness, placing our trust in Christ’s promises and relying not on our own strength, but on the help of the grace of the Holy Spirit” (CCC #1817). A quick reading of this definition of the virtue of hope might lead some of us to conclude that it is just a fancier way of saying that it is a wish for a better future. There is no denying that there is an element of looking to the future in Christian Hope, but there is much more to it. Hope is the desire for the kingdom of heaven and eternal life as our happiness. This is not just a desire for something only in the future, but a desire for something NOW. While the kingdom of heaven will not be complete until the end of time, it is the desire of every person who takes serious their Christian faith to desire the building up of the kingdom of heaven now.
This is one of the reasons why in Scripture the words faith and hope are often used almost interchangeably. Faith and hope is not just about the “not yet.” Rather they draw the future into the present, so as to change the way we live in the present. Our faith in Jesus gives life a new basis; He reveals to us what life is really all about. One of the first images of Christ to appear on Christian tombs had Jesus carrying a philosopher staff. For the people of that time, a philosopher was someone who teaches the art of being authentically human, both in living and in dying. Christian faith and hope is lived because Christ Jesus has communicated the substance of what true life is. As He says in the Gospel, “I have come that you might have life, life to the full.”
In his encyclical, Pope Benedict uses the sacrament of Baptism as an example for learning about hope. The sacrament of Baptism actually begins outside the church; the parents and the child should be met at the door of the church as a sign that the child is not yet a member of the Church. After asking the parents what name do they give their child, they are asked “What do you ask of God’s Church for your child?” Now there are several acceptable answers to this question such as “baptism,” “entrance into the Church,” etc., but one of the better answers is “Faith.” In the old rite of baptism the priest would then ask, “What does faith give you?” and the parents would answer, “Eternal Life.” Right in that simple exchange we see the connection between faith and hope; Faith in the Lord Jesus points to Eternal Life. It also points to the nature of this faith and hope. The child is obviously not able to understand a bunch of doctrines and dogmas; in fact the parents and godparents have to say the Creed for the child. So faith is not primarily about knowing a group of facts. Faith, and hope, is about having an encounter with God, and encounter with Jesus Christ who loves us and has saved us. It is Jesus, through His Passion, Death and Resurrection, who has redeemed us so that we can share in eternal life. While their parents, and hopefully their godparents, will teach the newly baptized child their prayers and the basic “facts” or doctrines of the faith, their real responsibility is to witness a living, loving relationship with Christ Jesus in their own lives so that their child will also desire a living, loving relationship with Christ Jesus.
So what is this hope that we should always be ready to give an explanation of? St. Paul, in writing to the Ephesians says that they were without hope because they were without God in the world. As Pope Benedict says in his encyclical, hope for the Christian is to come to know God. Hope is a relationship with God who is Beauty, who is Truth, who is Love. Hope is a relationship with God who is the source of life. The unconditional love of God is what gives us the certainty that we need in life. As St. Paul says in the Letter to the Romans, “For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor present things, nor future things, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom. 8:38-39). How do we give an explanation to anyone who asks us for a reason for our hope? By witnessing in our lives our relationship of love with Christ Jesus which calls us to love our brothers and sisters with His love.
A Homily for the 3rd Sunday in Ordinary Time (2008-A)
Posted by frjcmaximilian on Jan 26th, 2008
[A picture I took in St. Paul’s Outside the Walls, in Rome, 2007]
The readings from today’s Mass gives us a lesson in ancient Israelite history and geography. As you may remember from the Book of Exodus, when the Israelites entered into the Promise Land, after their 40 years in the desert, each tribe was given a particular section of the land to be their own. The tribes of Zebulun and Naphtali lived in the northern part of the Kingdom, by the sea.
Eight hundred years before Jesus, the Assyrians attacked the part of the Kingdom of Israel where the tribes of Zebulun and Naphtali lived, and they were taken into captivity. That Assyrian attack marked the beginning of the end of the Kingdom of Israel. Two hundred years latter, the Babylonians would seize Jerusalem, and the rest of the tribes of Israel would be driven into exile.
In today’s first reading, the Prophet Isaiah assures the Israelites that God will never abandon them, and will save them from their captivity. Isaiah prophesied that since Zebulun and Naphtali were the first to be degraded, they would be the first to see the light of God’s salvation. In today’s Gospel reading, St. Matthew makes it clear that Jesus fulfills the prophecy of Isaiah; “Land of Zebulun and land of Naphtali, the way to the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles, the people who sit in darkness have seen a great light….” The message of salvation that Jesus preached was, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
Pope Benedict XVI, in his book Jesus of Nazareth, declares what all serious scripture scholars say, that “The core content of the Gospel is this: The Kingdom of God is at hand” (p. 47). The basic statistics bare this out; the phrase “Kingdom of God” or “Kingdom of heaven” is mentioned 122 times in the New Testament, 99 times in just the Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke, and 90 of these 99 times the phrase is spoke by Jesus Himself. Clearly a key to living an active, authentic Christian life is understanding and entering into the Kingdom of God. So what does this phrase mean?
The Catholic modernist heretic, Alfred Loisy, in noticing that the axis of Jesus’ preaching before Easter was the Kingdom of God, and that after Easter the preaching of the apostles became centered on the person of Jesus, sarcastically remarked that Jesus preached the Kingdom of God, and what came was the Church. His comments suggests that we have gotten away from the real preaching of Jesus. But have we?
In the fourth chapter of his book, Jesus of Nazareth, Pope Benedict does a marvelous job in examining the different ways that theologians have tried to understand the phrase “the Kingdom of God,” and he notes that many of these different hypotheses are lacking or even does violence to the Scriptures. While I cannot cover all the points that the Holy Father makes in his book in one homily, it is important to hear his conclusion.
The Kingdom of God is not a thing or a place or merely an interior attitude. Rather, “Jesus himself is the Kingdom. . . . By the way in which he speaks of the Kingdom of God, Jesus leads men to realize the overwhelming fact that in him God himself is present among them, that he is God’s presence” (Joseph Ratzinger [Pope Benedict XVI], Jesus of Nazareth, New York: Doubleday, 2007, p. 49). The Pope continues, “When Jesus speaks of the Kingdom of God, he is quite simply proclaiming God, and proclaiming him to be the living God, who is able to act concretely in the world and in history and is even now so acting” (p. 55).
What does all this mean for us, today? Through His parables, Jesus repeatedly invites people to enter into the Kingdom of God. Since He, Himself, is the Kingdom of God to enter into the Kingdom means that we need to enter into a relationship with Christ Jesus. Entering into the Kingdom of God demands a change in the way of life for those who believe in Jesus. When Jesus calls people to “Repent” He is not calling people merely to feel sorrow and remorse for doing wrong, for their sins. He is inviting people to radically rethink their life orientation; to turn away from the slavery of sin which leads to death, and towards Him, the Kingdom of God, which is the “great light” that leads to everlasting life.
Today’s Gospel reading then shows us examples of those who did hear Jesus’ call to repentance and left their old lives to follow Him. Peter, Andrew, James, and John left their boats and their previous way of life to become “fishers of men.” Do you honestly think that Peter, Andrew, James and John understood what it meant to be “fishers of men”? I don’t think they had a clue at the time Jesus first called them, but something so attracted them to Jesus that they knew that they wanted to follow Him and be His companions. They placed their faith in Jesus, and knew that He would not let them down; He would give them new Life, life to the full.
What attracts you to Jesus? Is entering into the Kingdom of God, the communion of the saints, the primary orientation of your life? The Scriptures make it clear that God is a jealous God who will not accept other gods in our lives. We need to ask ourselves, “Am I addicted to alcohol, drugs, gambling, sex or pornography? Am I a workaholic who fails to live up to my commitments to my family? Do I love and honor my spouse every day? Do I spend time with my children, and give them the time and good example they need? Do I seek justice in my professional and political life? Do I respect the dignity of all people, including the poor, the unemployed, the sick, and the elderly? Do I place Christ first in my life, and make a joyful gift of my time, talent and treasure to His Church, His Mystical Body, as made present in my parish?” If some of these questions leave you scratching your head, or feeling a bit guilty, then listen to the words of Jesus, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
This and That, again
Posted by frjcmaximilian on Dec 8th, 2007
I know that it has been a while since I posted anything. Things have been busy. On Thanksgiving morning I received a call from the nursing home that my Uncle Bob was having some problems and they were sending him to the ER. So I headed over to the ER and spent over 5 hours with him. He has COPD, a lung disease, and his carbon dioxide levels had gotten very high. He was admitted to ICU for a few days, but is now back at home in the nursing home.
Back in September I planned to take my last week of vacation the week after Thanksgiving. I did not go any place exciting — Shawnee-on-the-Delaware. It was a lazy vacation: sleeping in late, read two sci-fi novels, watched the first two seasons of Smallville on DVD. I just needed the peace and quiet. The only “work” I did was prepare a talk I gave to the Philadelphia Communion and Liberation group for their Advent Retreat. I will post that talk today or tomorrow, after I fix some typos.
Apparently I took a good week to be off for we were inundated with funerals. So far we have had 15 or 16 since Thanksgiving. When not doing funerals or the hospital, I have been working on another talk, this time for the local Divine Mercy Prayer Group monthly day of inspiration. I just gave that today, and will also post it once I fix the typos.
Two amusing stories to share, both involving people shouting out during Mass. Of course I do not generally encourage such behavior, but when they involve innocents you have to smile.
Last Sunday I had the 7:30 a.m. Mass, and there is a family that I have gotten to know who usually attend that Mass. They have two little girls (2 and 4). As I was saying the Eucharistic Prayer, as I elevated the host after saying the words of consecration and the Altar Server rang the bells, the 2-year-old shout out “Ring, now its Jesus!” Isn’t that wonderful? I mean, when some polls indicate that over 50% of American Catholics do not believe in the Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist, this family is doing such a fantastic job of teaching their daughters that their 2-year-old knew that now what looks like bread is no longer bread but Jesus. Certainly she could not explain the theology, but that is not what is important. What is important is encountering the Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist. Yes, Ring, it IS Jesus!
The next day I had Mass in one of the area nursing homes. You never know what you are going to find at these Masses. As I was saying the Prayer of the Faithful, and started to pray for the staff one resident shouted out, “God Help Us.” At first I thought she was making a commentary about the staff, but I realized that she was shouting that throughout the Mass. Again as I elevated the host after pronouncing the words of consecration this old woman shouted out “Thank you.” How very appropriate since that is the meaning of the word Eucharist — “thanksgiving.” We truly should give thanks for the great blessing that God has given us in the Eucharist.
A Homily for the Solemnity of Christ the King, 2007
Posted by frjcmaximilian on Nov 25th, 2007
“This is the King of the Jews.” So read the sign that hung above the head of Jesus as he hung on the cross. Obviously it was meant in a sarcastic way; the Romans wanted to make clear to the Jews that THEY were in charge of Judea. So why do we use this passage from St. Luke’s Gospel for our celebration of the Solemnity of Christ the King?
The idea of kingship is an interesting one in the Bible. In the eighth chapter of the 1st Book of Samuel, as Samuel who has served as prophet and judge in Israel reaches old age, and after his sons did not follow his example of obedience to God and service to the People, the elders of Israel asked Samuel to “appoint a king over us, as other nations have, to judge us” (1 Samuel 8:5). Samuel was very displeased with this request because he knew that Israel, the Chosen People, only had one king — the Lord God! In answer to his prayers, God tells Samuel to grant the people’s request for “It is not you they reject, they are rejecting me as their king” (1 Samuel 8:7). Samuel does warn the people about the rights that a king would have, but they insist so Samuel is lead by God to appoint Saul as the first king.
And throughout the long history of Israel the people suffer when they have a bad king who thinks first about his own welfare and following his own will, and they prosper when they have a king who is obedient to the Lord. Yet, instead of being the “people set apart,” they become more and more like the other nations.
Then comes Jesus, the only begotten Son of God. He is not like any of the earthly kings. He is meek and humble, yet He speaks with authority. While caring towards the needs of the people in this life, He points them to their true home in Heaven. He is innocent, yet they condemn Him to death, death on the Cross. As He hangs on the cross they mock Him, both the Jewish leaders and the Roman soldiers, telling Him that if He is the King of the Jews He should save Himself. They do not even realize that they are asking Him to behave like the bad kings of their past who thought about their own needs and wants first and not those of the people. Then one of the criminals who is hanging next to Jesus joins in the reviling of Jesus by asking Jesus to “save yourself and us.”
Yet Jesus’ mission has not failed. It has gotten through to some people. We see that as the other criminal who is hanging next to Jesus, whom the Church has honored as St. Dismas, rebukes those who mock Jesus and asks, “Have you no fear of God?” St. Dismas knows from the Old Testament that “the beginning of wisdom is the fear of the Lord.” He recognizes in Jesus, not only the qualities of the good kings in Israel’s history, but that Jesus is Himself the true and one and only king of Israel. St. Dismas recognizes that Jesus is God. St. Dismas knows that God is just, and that he deserves the punishment that he is receiving, yet he knows that God is also merciful so he asks Jesus to remember him when He comes into His kingdom. And Jesus promises him Paradise.
What about us? I think that for us Americans we have a hard time understanding kingship. After all we were the rebells who rejected the kings of Europe to start the great American Experiment — a democracy, a government of the people, by the people, for the people. Democracy certainly has proven to provide many benefits, especially in championing human rights. Yet in rejecting human kings for democracy, have we also rejected our Divine King? More and more it seems as if we have. At the very least we think that our Divine King should take the back seat to democracy. We hear so often that we should keep our religious faith out of politics. Many spend more time each week listening to the news and reading the paper about the political issues we are facing each day — both domestic and international — then they do in reading Sacred Scripture and praying for Divine Wisdom.
Twenty-Five years ago, when I was graduating from the U.S. Capitol Page School, my class had the honor of meeting with the President in the Rose Garden. All of us — whether we were Republicans or Democrats — were shocked when one of our classmates showed up to meet the President of the United States wearing shorts and a tee shirt. We ended up hiding him in the back. I would dare say that all of us here would probably still believe that he was wrong in not showing the proper respect for the office.
Should we not esteem Christ the King even more than the President of the United States? Each of us should now take a moment to look at how we are dressed? Why do we wear clothes to church that we would not wear to meet the President? Would we enter the Oval Office and start chit chatting with those around us without even acknowledging the presence of the President or when he was trying to say something? Yet how often do we enter the church without respectfully acknowledging Jesus in the tabernacle? Or we talk at Mass?
Christ is our King! We should proclaim that every moment of our lives. We should seek His counsel above all others. We should honor Him, rejoice in Him, and be humble before Him. We should put nothing ahead of Him. Yes, this means we must be Christians even before Americans. We are called to live in this world but not be of this world. We are called to be a People set Apart, a Light set on a Hill. “Let us go rejoicing to the house of the Lord,” let us rejoice in Christ our King!
A Homily for the 30th Sunday in Ordinary Time (C) 2007
Posted by frjcmaximilian on Oct 27th, 2007
[One of the domed ceilings in the Cathedral at Orvieto, Italy showing the Beggar of Assisi. I took this August 2007.]
What is the great sin of our society? I am sure we all could nominate a few: abortion, materialism, culture of death, attacking the traditional family, etc. While these are certainly prevalent evils in our modern society, I think we suffer from something more fundamental. I think that the greatest sin of our modern society is presumption.
Some may even ask what exactly presumption? Presumption is one of the two sins against the virtue of hope (the other is despair), so maybe we should first recall what we mean by the virtue of hope. The Catechism of the Catholic Church says that “hope is the confident expectation of divine blessing and the beatific vision of God; it is also the fear of offending God’s love and of incurring punishment” (#2090).
The Catechism describes two different kinds of presumption. In the one, a person presumes upon their own capacities. Basically in this type of presumption we think that we can save ourselves without divine grace by just doing good works. In the second kind of presumption we presume upon God’s power and mercy, thinking we can be forgiven without conversion, or participate in God’s glory without merit. This is the type of presumption in which the person thinks that it does not matter how they live their life, that it is OK to sin – at least the “little” sins – because Jesus is their friend. In both forms of the sin of presumption the person fails to give God the honor and respect that is due to Him. They fail to fear God.
The Pharisee in today’s Gospel reading is presumptuous. He probably did the good things that he said that he does; the extra fasting, the giving to the poor. In a strictly superficial level he was virtuous. However, he robbed his virtue of any value by his way of approaching God. In pointing our all that he had done for God so to claim his reward, he was comparing himself with others instead of comparing himself with the standards of God’s law. God’s standards are always higher than our best achievements. We always have shortcomings, and can do better. The Pharisee placed his trust in his own achievement instead of trusting in God.
The tax collector in the parable, on the other hand, was very much aware that he was a sinner. During that time, the Roman officials would contract out the collecting of taxes. The way that these private tax collectors made their money was by adding a commission on the tax that each person owed. There was no rules governing how much of a commission could be added, so tax collectors were often prone to corruption; extorting money from people. The tax collector in today’s parable knew he was a sinner. He probably could tell God each person that he took an unfair commission from. He probably could tell God the so-called reasons he used to justify his sinful behavior – for example, he needed to take more money from some people because there would always be those few people who always seemed to slip away without paying their taxes, so he needed the collect extra from those he caught to make sure that both the Romans and he got his “fair share.” He knew that this was a lie he told himself to cover his greed.
Something moved this tax collector to compunction. He came to recognize his sinfulness and he knew that he could not do anything on his own to make it right. He recognized that he needed God’s grace to forgive him and to strengthen him so that he would act more justly in the future. His recognition of his own sinfulness could have led him to the other sin against the virtue of hope, namely despair. However, his experience of his own limitations and failure has led him not to despair, but to depend on God. He has remembered that there is something beyond every evil threat and the Lord will rescue him.
Dependency is not something that we tend to view as something good. We think that we should all be independent, that we should all be able to take care of ourselves on our own. Underlining such an attitude is pride. We are utterly dependent on God. The Lord has created us, and He gives us every beat of our heart and every breath we take. God gives us life, and He saves us from damnation. But in creating us He has given us a free will. We need to choose to accept the grace that He offers us. We need to have the humility to acknowledge our own limitations and sinfulness. We need to have the humility to acknowledge that we need to be forgiven, we need to be saved. Then we need to depend on God, our loving Father, by following His will.
Throughout the Old Testament we hear, as we hear in today’s first reading, that the Lord hears the cry of the oppressed, particularly the orphan, the widow, and the resident alien. In that time and culture, those were the three most vulnerable groups of people because they had no one to care for them. They relied completely on God, and to their cry “the Lord is not deaf.” They knew what it meant to depend on God.
Likewise in today’s second reading, St. Paul tells Timothy that in his trial and imprisonment he too learnt that he could only depend on God. That when no one appeared on his behalf at his defense, he realized that “The Lord will rescue me from every evil threat and will bring me safe to his heavenly kingdom.”
We need to turn away from presumption, and develop an attitude of utter dependence on God. Jesus has taught us that the real hero in history is not the person who is self-sufficient, rather it is the beggar: “Christ begging for the heart of man, and the heart of man begging for Christ” (L. Giussani, S. Alberto, & J. Prades, Generare tracce nella storia del mondo [Generating Traces in the History of the World]. Milan, Italy: Rizzoli, 1998, p. vii).
SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT!!!!
Posted by frjcmaximilian on Oct 13th, 2007
I have posted links to the last couple of episodes of “That Catholic Show,” a wonderful video podcast by Greg and Jennifer Willits. These brief videos are not only amusing, but they are excellent apologetics, or explanations of our Faith and Church. In the near future I will pass on information when the DVD of the first season of “That Catholic Show” is available.
However, Greg and Jennifer’s main apostolate (after being a Catholic family) is Rosary Army, a ministry for promoting the Rosary. As their motto puts it, “Make them, Pray them, and give them away.” I encourage you to visit their website, www.rosaryarmy.com, and even listen to their twice a week audio podcast.
Greg is going to be giving a talk on the Rosary, and how to make them, at the Catholic Community on Macguire Air Force Base in New Jersey on October 21st, from 2:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. Since it is on a military base, anyone interested in attending need to get their names on a pass list, by calling the sponsor/organizer for the event Angie Leonelli, email is 5leos@comcast.net and her phone number is 609-723-6979. Now, you must get your name on the event registration by TUESDAY, OCTOBER 16!!! She will give you all the details.
Unfortunately I cannot attend, as I will be participating in a discernment meeting for the Diocese (my pastor and I are hosting it), but it should be an excellent event.
“Leaving on a jet plane….”
Posted by frjcmaximilian on Aug 19th, 2007
That’s right my friends, I am leaving on a jet plane tonight, and will not be back for about two weeks. It’s called R&R. I am heading to Rome for a couple of days, and then next Friday I will board the SS. Galaxy for a 10-day cruise of the Mediterranean. I am actually “working” the cruise as the chaplain. I have to put that in quotes because it is not usually all that strenuous duty; I say Mass everyday, on Sunday in addition to Mass I lead a prayer service for the non-Catholic Christians, say Mass for the crew, visit any one who might end up in the sickbay. Largely I get to relax, catch up on some reading, and go sight-seeing. We have stops at Messina, Mykonos, Ephesus, Santorini, Rhodes, Athens, Naples, and back to Rome. I am bringing my mother along, and plan to take lots of pictures. I’ll tell you about the trip when I get back. God Bless.
A Homily for the 17th Sunday in Ordinary Time (C)
Posted by frjcmaximilian on Jul 28th, 2007
[Picture of the Frankfurt Cathedral, built in the 15th Century, properly known as Dom St. Bartholomaus in whose chapels the emperors of the Holy Roman Empire were elected and crowned for nearly 300 years. The church is also known as the Kaiserdom (Imperial Cathedral). ]
On August 9th, the Church celebrates the memorial of St. Teresa Benedicta a Croce, better known as Edith Stein, the well-known Jewish philosopher who converted to Catholicism, became a Carmelite nun, and then was killed in a concentration camp during the 2nd World War. Edith Stein often spoke about an incident that occurred in her life, years before she became a Catholic. For some reason, unknown to her, she had gone into the cathedral in Frankfurt, and as she was admiring the artwork and architecture, she noticed a simple woman come in from the marketplace, kneel down, and pray.
It does not seem to be a particularly unusual incident, but “according to Edith Stein’s own testimony, the impression that this scene made upon her was a decisive moment along her path to faith: a simple person kneeling and praying in the cathedral” (Christoph Schönborn, Living the Catechism of the Catholic Church, Volume 4: Paths of Prayer, San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2003, p. 13). In this very simple, common action Edith Stein recognized an inexpressible mystery – an intimacy with the invisible God. This was not some profound introverted form of contemplation or meditation. Rather it was a quiet resting that draws you to the mysterious Other. The sight of this simple woman at prayer became for Edith Stein a certainty: that God exists, and in prayer we turn to Him. Edith Stein did draw closer to God, eventually entering a life of contemplative prayer as Sr. Teresa Benedicta a Croce, and because she lived out her religious name, “Teresa Blessed by the Cross,” fully in her martyrdom we now celebrate her as a saint.
What an impression it must have made on the Apostles to see Jesus praying quietly for hours, sometimes throughout the night, in such intimacy with His Heavenly Father. “Jesus was praying in a certain place, and when he had finished, one of his disciples said to him, ‘Lord, teach us to pray….’” (Luke 11:1). Do we really think that the Apostles did not know how to pray? Of course not; the Apostles surely knew how to pray; in fact they probably had many of the Psalms memorized. What they wanted was to pray the way that Jesus did; to experience the intimacy, union and confidence that Jesus experiences when He prays. “’Teach us to pray.’ This expresses the yearning to enter into the realm of this quiet intimacy, this watchful reaching out toward the invisible Presence” (Christoph Schönborn, Living the Catechism of the Catholic Church, Volume 4: Paths of Prayer, San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2003, pp. 13-14).
In responding to His disciple’s request, Jesus takes him, and us, to prayer school. First, Jesus knows that because we are human beings, we tend to fall into routine. Jesus gives us the perfect words to use in prayer. How many of us do not know, by heart, the Our Father? How often do we just mindlessly rattle off the 55 words of the Our Father? Jesus teaches us two important attitudes that should form the background of our life of prayer, that if we keep them fresh will make sure that our prayer is always alive and powerful, and not empty and boring.
First, we must be persistent. We cannot allow prayer to become something we do just every now and then. “If we are persistent in prayer, as the friend was persistent in the parable, we give God more freedom to act in our lives, because our desires get more in synch with God’s” (“Your Homily for the Seventeenth Sunday of Ordinary Time (C),” www.ePriest.com, 2007).
The second attitude we must have in prayer is confidence. We live in a fallen world, and often we project our own imperfections onto God. Sometimes we hesitate to open our hearts to God in prayer because we think that He is selfish, resentful, and easily angered like we too often are. Jesus tears down these misconceptions. He tells us that God is our Father, and He is a better father than even the very best earthly fathers. Therefore, if earthly fathers know how to be kind, generous and wise with their children, we can be certain that our Heavenly Father is much more like that with us.
Something else struck me about the incident that was so vivid for Edith Stein; it occurred in a cathedral. Contrary to what some people might say, environment has a lot to do with prayer. A few years ago the U.S. Bishops published a document which says, “Church buildings and the religious artworks that beautify them are forms of worship themselves and both inspire and reflect the prayer of the community as well as the inner life of grace” (Built of Living Stones: Art, Architecture, and Worship, United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, Inc., 2000, § 18). In fact, the medieval cathedrals, like the one in Frankfurt, embody all the characteristics of Christian prayer that we have been talking about in their very stones.
First we spoke about persistence. Some of the medieval cathedrals took almost 200 years to complete. Three generations of the same family often worked on them for their entire lives. The local people, despite their poverty, would make sacrifices just so they could contribute their few coins, year after year, to build their local House of God. That’s persistence!
These magnificent buildings also symbolize the confidence that Christ asks us to have in prayer. These cathedrals surround us with images of the saints, with scenes from the Bible depicted in stained glass and sculpture, and with relics in elaborate reliquaries. Nothing was too good for beautifying God’s house, so that it could reflect God who is Beauty itself. The cathedrals are visual symphonies of evidence that prayer is fruitful, that God has always been and will always be interested and involved in our lives.
Finally, the art and architecture of the medieval cathedrals embody the fruit of prayer – intimacy with God. Jesus taught us to call God our Father, to pray with the intimacy of children. The immensity of the medieval cathedrals reveals this intimacy; it seems to lift us up closer to heaven. It is as if God Himself is beckoning to us through the beauty of the building, taking the initiative to lead us closer to Him instead of staying far away.
So, how is your prayer life? Is it persistent, confident and intimate, or is it hit-or-miss, superficial and empty? Do we show God’s house the proper respect and reverence that it deserves? Sometimes I have to wonder. It might surprise you to see how dirty the church is left after the weekend Masses. We find used tissues, cereal, pages torn from the missalettes and hymnals – once we even found a dirty diaper – left in the pews. This is not respect and reverence for God’s house. Are we, who often are much better off financially than our medieval ancestors, as willing to make sacrifices so that nothing is too good for beautifying God’s house, so that we can be lifted up in prayer?
When we begin to understand what Christian prayer is, and give it its proper place in our lives, we become more stable, joyful, and energetic people. As we respond today to Christ’s reminder about the nature of prayer, let us renew our commitment to taking time to be alone with God every day, so that our lives can run more smoothly, according to God, our loving Father’s will.
This and That
Posted by frjcmaximilian on Jun 22nd, 2007
(Donival Brown, RIP)
The gentleman pictured above is Mr. Donival Brown. Donival has been the Music Director at Our Lady of Sorrows for 20 years (well, 18 yrs at OLS, and then 2 at OLS-St. Anthony after the merger). Donival truly had a gifted voice and a gentle disposition. I am not sure when he was first diagnosed with cancer, but it was before I got to the parish, 18 months ago. You could tell he was sick because he got very thin and frail looking, but he always had a pleasant disposition. Donival died about two weeks ago, and we had a memorial Mass for him last night. The church was packed, which was a loving tribute to the man. His family had taken his body back to Georgia, where most of them live. He was baptized a Baptist, and his parents became Jehovah Witnesses, so the fact that Donival came into full Communion with the Catholic Church this past Easter was something of a secret, but since it was talked about so openly last night, which several of his family there, I guess they know about it now. I had the privilege of being his sponsor for Confirmation.
I mentioned in a previous post that I needed to have surgery last week. Things turned out fine, so thanks for the prayers. Some of you know that 2.5 years ago I was diagnosed with cancer (thyroid). It was easily treated, but it means that my doctors (and me) are cautious when something new and unexplained shows up. About 6 months ago I developed swelling and soreness in one breast. While steroids made it go away, once I came off the steroids the swelling and soreness came back. To be safe my doctor decided to perform a mastectomy (yes, men can have them). The pathology report indicated that all that they cut out was benign, so I require no more treatment. YEAH! Thanks again for your prayers.
