Homily: 4th Sunday of Easter - Year B

Readings: Acts 4:8-12; Ps 118; 1 Jn 3:1-2; Jn 10:11-18

I’m going to tell you a story; and it’s a true story.

Back when I was flying off aircraft carriers, we pilots tended to hang out with each other when off duty. We’d talk about aviation, working on improving our skills -- you know, stayin’ alive. But we’d also talk about other stuff, especially over meals. We'd always been told that officers shouldn’t talk religion or politics in the wardroom. In truth, though, we often talked about these things; but we knew each other well and forgave our differences.

One of our squadron pilots, a friend named Bill, talked a lot about religion. I thought that was strange since at best he was agnostic. Anyway, it really bothered him that so many of us were believers, especially Christians. One evening, before one of those tiring night missions, several of us were probably on our fifth cup of coffee, when Bill started on his favorite rant.

“Just look at the universe,” he said. “It’s just too big to imagine with its billions of galaxies. Then we have earth, this tiny planet of ours, so infinitesimally insignificant, stuck in some little cosmic corner.

“Is there a God who made all this? Maybe so. I don't know. 

“But you Christians believe that this God who created everything, and maintains it all, that He decided to come down here to our nothing little planet, become one of us, tell us how to live, and then let us kill Him by nailing Him to a Cross.”

Then he said, “I’m sorry, but this is just beyond…as you would say, beyond belief.” Yes, indeed, Bill thought Christians were idiots. 

Now, I was just another pilot, but felt I had to say something in defense of our faith, so I just said, “Bill, do you love your wife?”

Well, that surprised him. “What do you mean?”

“Just what I said. Do you love Marie?”

“Of course I do.”

“Yes, I’ve seen you together. I can tell you love her.  And you’d do anything for her, wouldn’t you?”

“Yeah, I would.”

“Would you give your life for her?”

“Of course I would. Heck, I’d even give my life for you guys, though you don’t deserve it.”

“Yeah, we know that. You see, Bill, the God who created that great universe you described, also created you and me, and created us in His image and likeness. 

“He created us out of love and created us to love. And because of His love, you can love Marie.”

All Bill said was, “Well…maybe.” I guess I wasn't very convincing.

A few years later I received word that Bill had taken his own life. When we first heard the news one of my more fundamentalist friends said, “How sad that he’s now in hell.”

Well, that made me angry, and for a moment, I just stared at him in disbelief. Finally, I said, “You really think you’re God, don’t you? That you can decide who's saved or who or isn’t. But salvation is God’s business, not ours. All we can do is what Paul told the Philippians:

“…work out your salvation with fear and trembling” [Phil 2:12].

"Only God knows what Bill struggled with, what fears claimed him. Only God knows what was in his heart. All I know is God will look on Bill with love and mercy, for 'His mercy endures forever.'  Because that’s who our God is. And I know nothing else, nothing else for certain.”

I just walked away angry, which was stupid. I’d like to think I’d handle both situations differently today. 

Sisters and brothers, today on Good Shepherd Sunday, we celebrate God’s great love for us, and we do it despite the skepticism and disbelief of so many in the world, people like my friend Bill.

In John’s Gospel we hear Jesus clearly revealing who He is and how important we are to him.

“I am the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd lays down his life for his sheep.”

Jesus doesn’t abandon us in the face of danger; no, He sacrifices Himself.

Just consider what it means for God to sacrifice His life for us. This divine sacrificial act has led some to ask: Is God of the Christians insane? Is He crazy? I suppose Bill thought that too.

But our Gid isn't crazy; no, our God is Love. His is a love, not simply beyond our capability, but it’s beyond our understanding. In St. Paul’s words, “He emptied himself” and became one of us to offer His life to save ours. And He did this solely out of love. Do you see the kind of God we have, this Good Shepherd who cares so much for us?

Then, to ensure we get the point, Jesus turns to us and tells us to love others as he has loved us, to be willing to give our lives for them, even for those the world says just aren’t worth it. Our love for God, Jesus tells us, must be mirrored in our love for others.

Remember that wonderful scene described in John’s Gospel when, on the shore of the Sea of Galilee, the risen Jesus asks Peter three times:

“Simon, son of John, do you love me?”

…and each time Peter responds,

“Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.”

To the first yes, Jesus said “Feed my lambs”; to the second, “Tend my sheep”; and to the third, “Feed my sheep.” Your love for me, Jesus is telling Peter, will be evidenced by how well you tend my sheep, my people, those for whom I sacrificed my life to save.

But Jesus didn’t stop with Peter. He turns to all of us, all of us in the Body of Christ. He doesn’t say, “love me as I have loved you.” No, instead He commands, "love one another as I have loved you." 

In our first reading, we learned that our love for others must manifest God’s love, and the good that we do must be done in Jesus’ name. As Peter proclaimed:

“There is no salvation through anyone else, nor is there any other name under heaven given to the human race by which we are to be saved."

It’s all Jesus Christ, in Jesus Christ, through Jesus Christ, and only Jesus Christ.

John presents this a bit differently in our 2^nd reading:

“See what love the Father has bestowed on us that we may be called the children of God. Yet so we are.”

Children of God… you and me… all of us:

• the poor in need of a meal or a place to sleep...they're God's children
• the Alzheimer’s patient in memory care...is a child of God
• the lonely, the depressed, whom nobody visits...a child of God
• the neighbor undergoing radiation and chemo-therapy...she's a child of God
• the prisoner locked away in his cell...yes, he too is a child of God
• the single mother struggling to make ends meet...a child of God

And, yes, many of us may be suffering as well, but that doesn’t mean we stop loving. 

For all of us, children of God, are brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ. We’re not strangers; for children of the same loving Father can’t be strangers. Brothers and sisters of our Lord, Jesus Christ, can’t be strangers.

Jesus calls us not simply to love others, but to see and hear Him in them, to realize that what we do for and to each other, we do to Him.

“I say to you, whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me.’

I suppose at judgment we will judge ourselves by our response to this calling as children of God.

Years ago, Diane and I attended a papal audience in Rome, and heard Pope Benedict say:

“As a community, the Church must practice love…The Church cannot neglect the service of love any more than she can neglect the Sacraments and the Word.”

At every level, then — the universal Church, the diocese, the parish, the home – we must love. This is how the Church shows who she really is.

Outside a Catholic church in Syracuse, NY there’s a statue of a man seated on the sidewalk. I think there's a similar statue at Ave Maria University here in Florida. It’s a statue, a sculpture, of a beggar, wearing a hood, his face covered. His hand is stretched out toward those who walk by, much like the hand of the beggar reaching out to Peter in our reading from Acts. 

But if you look closely, you’ll notice a nail hole in that hand. Yes, it’s Our Lord, the risen Jesus bearing the wounds of His love; it’s the Jesus who humbled Himself to became like a slave, a beggar.

For those who pass by it’s a constant reminder to look beyond appearances and see Jesus in all who reach out to them.

And for you and me it’s a reminder that Christ has His hand stretched out to us right now.

God love you.

And please…pray for my friend, Bill, and for all those veterans who found their lives to hard to live.

German Bishops: Paganism and Schism

Did you hear the latest out of Germany? A Synod of German bishops and lay leaders of the Catholic Church, perhaps predictably, voted overwhelmingly (168 to 28) to approve the blessing by Catholic clergy of what the synod calls “same-sex partnerships.” This vote was in response to a Vatican decree that explicitly prohibited such blessings. Of the 196 who voted at the synod, I don’t know how many were bishops. I believe there are 27 German dioceses, but there are certainly a greater number of bishops. But even so, this vote is a definite step toward schism. I find it especially troubling that the synod apparently believes, unlike Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, that truth is determined by majority vote. I certainly cannot confirm my suspicions, but I wonder how many of the voters are active homosexuals. 

To read a more detailed discussion of the synod’s vote, see the coverage by CATHOLICVOTE.ORG. There you will also learn that the synod went even further on related issues:

Friday’s statement included not only the approval of blessings for homosexual couples, but also advocacy for “more tolerance for contraception and masturbation,” Rocca reported. The statement amounts to “an appeal to the pope, acknowledging that many of its proposals ‘essentially fall within the teaching competence of the Bishop of Rome and can therefore not be undertaken by the Church in Germany.’”

The vote, of course, is openly heretical, since it contradicts 2,000 years of Church teaching. In a very real sense it returns us to the pagan world faced by the apostles as they fulfilled Jesus’ command to preach the Gospel throughout the Roman Empire and beyond. In those days homosexuality and the sexual abuse of women and slaves was for many a way of life, especially among the upper classes. But St. Paul didn’t hesitate to challenge the zeitgeist by preaching the Gospel teaching that marriage between a man and a woman is a sacramental and sacred bond and that sexual activity outside of marriage is sinful. The difference today is that members of the Church in Germany are siding and sinning with the pagans while denying the truth of the Gospel. 

Where this will lead, I cannot say. But one hopes the Holy Father will be firm in repudiating the conclusions of the German synod. We shall see. I find myself thinking again of the words that a German theologian, Joseph Ratzinger, wrote in 1970, long before he became Pope Benedict XVI:

"From the crisis of today, the Church of tomorrow will emerge. She will become small and will have to start afresh more or less from the beginning. She will no longer be able to inhabit many of the edifices she built in prosperity. As the number of her adherents diminishes, so will she lose many of her social privileges…she will be seen more as a voluntary society, entered only by free decision…Undoubtedly she will discover new forms of ministry and will ordain to the priesthood approved Christians who pursue some profession…Alongside this, the full-time ministerial priesthood will be indispensable as formerly. But…the Church will find her essence afresh and with full conviction in that which was always at her center: faith in the triune God, in Jesus Chris, the Son of God made man, in the presence of the Spirit until the end of the world…

"The Church will be a more spiritual Church, not presuming upon a political mandate, flirting as little with the Left as with the Right. It will be hard going for the Church, for the process of crystallization and clarification will cost her much valuable energy. It will make her poor and cause her to be the Church of the meek. The process will be all the more arduous, for sectarian narrow-mindedness and well as pompous self-will will have to be shed…But when the trial of this sifting is past, a great power will flow from a more spiritualized and simplified Church. Men in a totally planned world will find themselves unspeakably lonely. If they have completely lost sight of God, they will feel the whole horror of their poverty. Then they will discover the little flock of believers as something wholly new. They will discover it as a hope that is meant for them, an answer for which they have always been searching in secret."

Pope  Benedict’s view of the future Church is probably close to what we can expect in the years to come. Prepare your children and your grandchildren because they will have to live through it.

Homily: 27th Sunday in Ordinary Time - Year A

Readings: Is 5:1-7; Ps 80; Phil 4:6-9; Mt 21: 33-43

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About 30 years ago, after the United States Navy once again transferred me from one coast to the other, Diane and I bought a home in a quiet neighborhood of a then-rural suburb of San Diego. It was the perfect home for our growing family, and beyond the back fence we were blessed with nothing but empty hills. Among its selling points were several mature navel orange trees. It also offered a small corral in the event one wished to own a horse. Why anyone would want to do such a thing has always escaped me.

Anyway, on the fence that circled the corral grew a grapevine. Now this vine intrigued me because it actually had a few bunches of grapes hanging from it. As I examined it on that first day I heard the voice of my neighbor who was peering over the fence.

“Don’t bother,” he said. “Grape vines demand too much attention, lots of pruning and care. And those grapes aren’t very good anyway. But your orange trees are healthy. Just make sure you water them.”

As it turned out, these few words from my nosy neighbor formed the foundation of my future agricultural efforts. Afterwards I often looked at that vine, but since I didn’t prune or water it, or really do anything for it, it produced little, just a few sour grapes. But its mere presence sometimes got me thinking about what Scripture had to say about vines.

Indeed, today we heard a lot of words about vines and vineyards, about good grapes and bad, and about violence and responsibility and love. It all began with the words of our psalm in which we see how God’s chosen ones had long seen themselves as a cherished vine planted by God:

“A vine from Egypt you transplanted; you drove away the nations and planted it” [Ps 80:9].

Yes, I will make it a ruin: it shall not be pruned or hoed - Is 5:6

Then in our 1st reading, as Isaiah begins his prophetic ministry, he speaks poetically to God’s People. We heard an inspired Isaiah agreeing with the psalmist, telling the people they are the vine in God’s vineyard, a vineyard he nurtured with care. But Isaiah’s poem is wrapped in a warning because the people had rejected God’s loving care for them. They were unjust and lawless, and so Isaiah prophesies the destruction of the vineyard. Israel will be no more; its people sent into exile.

If only they had been more attentive to God’s will for them…

If only they had been just…

Yes, if only…they would then have been fruitful.

As St. Paul instructed the people of Philippi in our 2nd reading: “…whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious… think about these things” [Phil 4:8].

This, friends, is how we are called to live. Not as the Israelites did. Not in fear and anxiety. Not in violence and hatred. Not in anger and revenge. Such things should have no place in our hearts. And once we allow God to prune us, once we allow Him to remove those unproductive branches, then, as Paul reminds us, “…the peace of God that surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus” [Phil 4:7].

And then, in our Gospel passage from Matthew, Jesus takes Isaiah’s image of the vineyard and vine, and applies it to the chief priests and those who exercise their authority over the people.

In His parable, Jesus describes a vineyard owner whose servants are sent in advance to remind the tenants of all they owe the owner. But the servants are beaten and killed. And believe me; those listening to Jesus knew what He was saying, for that’s exactly what happened to the prophets.

Jesus goes on to predict His own death; for in their willfulness, their lust for power, the tenants commit the horrendous act of killing the owner’s son. Our Lord then asks His audience of chief priests and elders, “What will the owner do to those tenants…?” [Mt 21:40] Prophetically they reply that the owner will punish them and bring in new tenants to replace those motivated by violence and greed. And with that, Jesus turns their own words, their own prophecy, against them: “…the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people that will produce its fruit” [Mt 21:43].

And so, it’s through the sacrifice of the Son that the Father makes a relationship with new tenants. He does so by establishing a New Covenant. The Father, you see, doesn’t give up on the vineyard into which he had invested so much. No, the vineyard will endure, but it will be tended by others, tended by a Church that will appreciate all that the Father has done for His people.

Incidentally, I've actually heard Christians use this parable as justification for condemning the Jews. Such thinking goes against all that the Church teaches. As Pope Benedict told a delegation of Jews, the Catholic Church is “called to respect the Covenant established by God with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. She also places herself… in the eternal Covenant of the Almighty, who does not repent of his plan and respects the children of the Promise, children of the Covenant, as her beloved brothers in the faith.” In the words of Pope Pius XII, “To be anti-Semitic is to be anti-Christian.”

The kingdom of God will be given to a people that will produce its fruit - Mt 21:43

This parable, then, isn’t a story about winning or losing. To think so is to misunderstand it. No, it’s about how we must tend the vineyard God has given us. For as the vineyard’s new tenants, we are called to care for it as we wait for the harvest. Unlike me, who did nothing to tend my California grapevine, we are called to be waterers and weeders, pruners and feeders.

Interestingly, brothers and sisters, when we tend the vine and make it fruitful, we do the same to ourselves. You see, my neighbor’s words about my unproductive backyard vine brought to mind the words Jesus spoke to the apostles the night before He died. Remember those words?

“I am the vine, you are the branches” [Jn 15:5].

Well, looking at that backyard grapevine of mine, one thing was obvious. The vine wasn’t at all like one of my orange trees with its trunk and the branches growing from it. No, as I looked at the grapevine I could see that the branches and the vine were one. Indeed, the branches are the vine! You can’t separate them.

Just consider what this means. Through the Incarnation, Jesus became more than just one of us. He became us! That’s right He became you and He became me! This is how He can say so emphatically: “Whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me” [Mt 25:40].

Just think of that! You and I and Jesus are one. And so to exclude another from your life is to exclude Jesus. To exclude another, to exclude Jesus, is to exclude yourself.

The good news? Jesus works right alongside us as we labor in the Father’s vineyard to usher in the Kingdom. Yes, in doing the work of the Father, Jesus does all the heavy lifting. We need only do as He asks.

And, brothers and sisters, the Kingdom bears fruit because the Church – and that’s you and I – is called to be merciful and just, as the Father is merciful and just. The Kingdom bears fruit because, as Jesus promised us, “I am with you always until the end of the age” [Mt 28:20]

And that day is still to come.

Truth and Lies

We live in a world in which encounters with the truth have become increasingly rare. I suppose it's all a symptom of what Pope Benedict XVI called a "dictatorship of relativism" in which everyone can decide on his own truth. In his homily to the Cardinals shortly before the 2005 conclave in which he was elected Vicar of Christ, the then Cardinal Ratzinger said:

"We are building a dictatorship of relativism that does not recognize anything as definitive and whose ultimate goal consists solely of one’s own ego and desires."

Agreeing with his predecessor, Pope Francis, speaking to members of the diplomatic corps, stressed the consequences of this sort of misguided thinking:

"But there is no true peace without truth! There cannot be true peace if everyone is his own criterion, if everyone can always claim exclusively his own rights, without at the same time caring for the good of others, of everyone, on the basis of the nature that unites every human being on this earth."

I'm reminded of Pilate's impudent question when, shortly before he sentenced Jesus to death, he asked Him, "What is truth?" [Jn 18:38] Jesus, of course, didn't respond but allowed Pilate to continue in his confusion and ignorance and follow the path that would lead to the fulfillment of the Father's plan. Pilate, no doubt a typical functionary of the Roman Empire, would probably have been quite at home in our 21st-century world.

Some years ago, not long before the beginning of this century, I heard a commencement speaker inform his audience of new college graduates that, "The purpose of education is to find yourself, to learn to believe in yourself, to seek out and capitalize on your strengths, to show the world who you are, to lay the foundation for future success." I may have a word or two wrong, but that's pretty much what he said. It so surprised me that I've never forgotten his comment.

For years I had naively believed that education, indeed, life itself, involved the search for truth. But now I was told that my education had actually been all about me. I just didn't know it. Of course, this revelation came too late for one who, at the time, was only a few years from retirement. But all those young people in the audience that day lapped up every word and no doubt began the lifelong process of creating and polishing a personal brand that would separate them from all the other personal brands out there. As Pope Benedict astutely observed, relativism's "ultimate goal consists solely of one’s own ego and desires."

Unlike those young people -- and I knew a number of them, so I speak from personal experience -- who collected their degrees while bursting with self-esteem, I recall my own spotty education as a remarkably humbling experience. Paradoxically, the more I learned, the more I realized I didn't know. As the knowns grew, the unknowns expanded even more. Ultimately, I came to realize that God's creation was far greater and more complex than anything we could ever imagine. An understanding of just the material universe would always be far beyond us. As for the spiritual universe -- the eternal habitat of angelic beings, the realm of God Himself -- we know virtually nothing. Yes, it's all very humbling.

But I digress. I had intended to write about other things when I began this post; and so I will get to it.

Watching the world go by I am constantly amazed by so many inexplicable things that people say and do. I realize that I, too, am not always rational, and that I can shade the truth with the best of them, but the things I do are unlikely to make the headlines. Anyway, it's much more fun to question the words and deeds of others. For example...

Salvation. The other day, at the Soup Kitchen, I was asked by one of our guests, who attends a very fundamentalist church, whether I was saved. I'm always a bit surprised when asked this question, something that happens rather often, and I usually respond with, "Yes, I certainly hope so, and I continue to work on it, trusting in God's mercy." For some reason this response tends to confuse those who ask the question since they are so sure of their salvation and I suppose expect me to be equally convinced of mine. This time, however, I turned to Scripture [Phil 2:12] and said, "Like St. Paul I'm working out my salvation in fear and trembling. I suggest all Christians do the same." She said nothing more to me.

Abraham's Ratio. A few months ago, while chatting with a parishioner before our weekly Bible Study, he rattled off a litany of woes plaguing our nation and then added, "I'm afraid the USA is doomed." The truth is, he's not alone in his belief. Have you ever felt helpless in the face of evil? Surrounded by all the strangeness in our world today, it's easy to understand how individuals, good people, can feel powerless. The culture of death seems to be burrowing more deeply into our society. Our government, a government that once protected the religious freedom of citizens, is now suppressing that right in the name of a lie called political correctness. In much of the world Christians are being persecuted and martyred in numbers that exceed anything experienced in 2,000 years of history. The woes go on and on.

Whenever I detect these signs of despair in my own heart, whenever I begin to fear for the future of our country and our world, I turn to Genesis 18 to remind myself of Abraham's Ratio, and the power of intercessory prayer. It's in this wonderful passage that we discover the extent of God's mercy. He would spare the sinful city of Sodom if only ten righteous and holy people could be found among the population. And so God not only teaches that a few holy people can make a very big difference, but He also reminds us that, like the prayer of Abraham, our prayer, too, has an impact [Gen 18:16-33].

Veterans, Bureaucrats and Politicians. The problems within the Veterans Administration are not that fault of the current director, or any of the past directors, since none of these men could really have much of an impact on the functioning of such a huge bureaucracy. The problems all result from the simple fact that the VA is a perfect example of socialized medicine at work. If you want to see how a single-payer healthcare system will function, simply look at the VA. For decades politicians of every stripe have done what they do best and simply thrown money at the VA with little to show for it, except the creation of more federal bureaucrats who will support them at the polls.

In truth, the VA is really a quasi-Marxist organization, one that places crucial, life and death decision-making in the hands of bureaucrats who are protected from the consequences of their own incompetence. I have no doubt that there are many good and competent people working at the VA, but it takes only a small percentage of incompetent or unethical managers and supervisors to create a largely dysfunctional organization. And when upper management is driven by a set of metrics that replaces human beings with numbers, the result will be anything but healthcare. For example, one of our soup kitchen guests, a low-income Vietnam-era veteran who is almost blind because of cataracts, has finally been scheduled for the rather simple procedure to correct the problem. It took the VA only four years to approve it.

As for Congress and the executive branch, neither really cares much about veterans. They might talk about us a lot, but they've never really done anything about these problems and likely never will. After all, how long has the VA been dysfunctional? (Answer: since it was created back in 1930.) You see, deep down, the vast majority of politicians neither understands nor likes the military. Indeed, many see the military as a threat, as a weapon that might be turned against them. They project these motives because if it were in their power, they would politicize the military and use it against their own internal political opponents, much as they have done with other federal organizations like the IRS and FBI.

It's a sad situation, but just a symptom of what happens when a significant percentage of the citizens of a representative republic slouch into laziness and realize politicians will do just about anything for their votes.
Memorial Day. For many today is no more than a convenient holiday, a day to kick-off the summer, a day for barbecues and beer, a day for sales at the mall or a deal on a new car. I would hope, though, that most Americans recognize today as a day of remembrance, a day when we offer thanks for those who sacrificed their lives so you and I can enjoy the freedoms guaranteed by the Constitution these men swore to preserve and protect. It's on this day that I especially recall those men whom I knew and with whom I served, forever-young men who made the ultimate sacrifice. Today I remember Henry Wright and my eight other Naval Academy classmates who died in Vietnam. I remember Ron Zinn, my brother's West Point roommate who gave his life in that same conflict. Yes, I remember them and many others, too many to name here, who will never be forgotten as long as we celebrate their lives every Memorial Day.

If you've never visited one of our 131 National Cemeteries, take some time to do so today. As a deacon who lives in Sumter County, Florida, the home of the National Cemetery at Bushnell, I have the privilege of conducting occasional committal services at that cemetery. I never tire of these visits. I never tire of hearing those haunting 24 notes of Taps. I never tire of the crack of the rifles that salute the fallen. I never tire of gazing on row after row of white headstones. And when you visit, take a child with you so the memory of these heroes will live on.

Homily: Wednesday, 5th Week of Lent

Readings: Dan 3:14-20, 91-92, 95; Dan 3:52-56; John 8:31-42
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Torture at the Hanoi Hilton

A US Navy pilot who’d been shot down over North Vietnam was once more dragged from his prison cell, interrogated, beaten and tortured, and then interrogated again. The first thing his interrogator asked him was, “Wouldn’t you like to go home? Wouldn’t you like to be free?”

Barely able to stand, the American looked down at him and said, “I don’t understand your question. I am free.”

“Free? You call this free? Are you a fool? Do you understand nothing? Don’t you realize you are under our total control?”

“Well,” the young officer replied, “you do have control over my body, and my surroundings, but nothing more.”

“There is nothing more.”

“Ah, spoken like a true communist. Sadly for you, you’re wrong. There is so much more. There is the Good News of Jesus Christ, the truth of the Gospel. Because I believe in that truth, I am free. But because you don’t believe, you remain a slave.”

His interrogator shouted at him, “You dare to call me a slave. You’re the one in chains.”

“Yes, and I thank you for the leg irons. They remind me of how much Jesus suffered for us all…for you too. Maybe that’s why I’m here: to help you find him.” And with that the session ended. He was again beaten and dragged back to his cell where he spent the next five years.

And so now we fast-forward forty years or so and find ourselves worried about all sorts of things, earthly things, imagining the worst, and forgetting the truth. Too many people today are like that interrogator in Hanoi. They look around them and they see nothing more. Like Pontius Pilate they can look at the Son of God and sneer, “What is truth?”

Pope Francis: "Pray for me..."

Yes, so many folks today deny the very existence of truth. Pope Benedict aptly called it, the “dictatorship of relativism,” a kind of radical political correctness that forces itself on the world and screams, “How dare you claim to have the truth.”

It has infected even the Church. Christians want to take the Gospel, rewrite it to fit their own personal wants, and get rid of that pesky Cross. Pope Francis, in the very first homily of his papacy, a homily preached to the cardinals who elected him, stated:

“When we walk without the Cross, when we build without the Cross, and when we profess Christ without the Cross, we are not disciples of the Lord. We are worldly; we are bishops, priests, cardinals, Popes, but not disciples of the Lord.”

Yes, the truth, the Cross of Jesus Christ, can be very inconvenient; for if we really accept it, we must come face to face with our own lives, our own sinfulness, our own slavery. But to accept the truth of the Gospel is to change. To accept the truth is to become a disciple. That’s why Jesus could say,

“If you remain in my word, you will truly be my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” [Jn 8:31-32].

The truth not only sets us free, but we are free only in truth. It’s common for people to think freedom means the right to choose good or evil. But that’s not what Jesus tells us. True freedom is only the freedom to choose what is good – for once we choose evil, we cease being free. Instead we become slaves, slaves to that evil, slaves to sin.

King Nebuchadnezzar's Fiery Furnace

Brothers and sisters, our lives are marked by thousands of everyday decisions and actions, but at crucial moments in our lives we are expected to be heroic. Like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the furnace, like that young pilot in Hanoi, if we want to be truly free, we have no other choice. It’s then, when we act in true freedom, that our true selves emerge most fully, most courageously, most divinely.

Do you believe that? Really believe it? I hope so because it’s the truth. And the truth – the truth of that deep divine life we are all called to share -- will set us free.

God's peace.

Atheist Defends the Church...Against a "Catholic"?

This brief video is truly remarkable. In it Piers Morgan, a nominal Catholic who disagrees with pretty much everything the Catholic Church teaches, turns to well-known atheist, Penn Jillette, apparently expecting to encounter someone who agrees with him. Instead, Jillette defends the Church and, in effect, asks Morgan why he doesn't just leave the Church since he can't seem to accept any of its teachings. Good question. Of course, Morgan, as usual, asks questions and then constantly interrupts, not allowing his guest to answer. Fortunately, Jillette perseveres and manages to make his case.

Pope Benedict XVI & the Future of the Church

I couldn't help but notice some of the less than gracious comments in the media about Pope Benedict in the wake of his announcement in which he renounced the office of the papacy. As one might expect these days, the most hateful of these comments came from within the Church and appeared in their medium of choice, The New York Times.

For example, in a letter to the editor on February 11, Daniel Maguire, a professor of theology at Marquette University, wrote the following:

The resignation of Pope Benedict XVI may be the most influential act of his papacy. It opens a window of opportunity for serious reform, starting with the papacy, in a church roiled in multiple crises. If the scandal of the papacy as one of the last absolute monarchies in a democratizing world is not addressed, all other reforms will falter. Catholic scholarship is clear. There is no evidence that a papal monarchy was Jesus’ idea.

Of course, if you accept that Peter was the first pope, there would be lessons. Peter was married. A happily married pope with a strong spouse and children could think more clearly on sexual and reproductive issues and not let the church get mired in obsessions that obscure the message of justice and peace that Jesus preached.

Of course, no change will occur if the Catholic laity act like sheep awaiting word from their all-male shepherds.

This ex-priest, who thinks the best thing about Pope Benedict's reign is his resignation, also believes and teaches that abortion and same-sex marriage are morally permissible. But he's not alone in his attitude toward Pope Benedict. On February 28, Paul Elie, of Georgetown University's Berkley Center for Religion, Peace and World Affairs, penned an op-ed piece in the Times, in which he said, among other things:

American Catholics should consider resigning too...if the pope can resign, we can, too. We should give up Catholicism en masse, if only for a time...

In traditional parlance, Benedict’s resignation leaves the Chair of St. Peter “vacant.” So I propose that American Catholics vacate the pews this weekend...

We should seize this opportunity to ask what is true in our faith, what it costs us in obfuscation and moral compromise, and what its telos, or end purpose, really is. And we should explore other religious traditions, which we understand poorly...

For the Catholic Church, it has been “all bad news, all the time” since Benedict took office in 2005: a papal insult to Muslims; a papal embrace of a Holocaust denier; molesting by priests and cover-ups by their superiors...

A temporary resignation would be a fitting Lenten observance. It would help believers to purify and deepen our faith in the light of our neighbors'... It would let us begin to figure out what in Catholicism we can take and what we can and ought to leave. It might even get the attention of the cardinals who will meet behind the locked doors of the Sistine Chapel and elect a pope in circumstances that one hopes would augur a time of change.

When I read comments like those of Maguire and Elie I always find myself wondering why such people remain in a Church they obviously despise.

Perhaps the least gracious of commentators, however, was Elizabeth Drescher, a lecturer at Santa Clara University which, like Georgetown and Marquette, is also a Jesuit university.  Writing in Religion Dispatches, a daily online magazine that apparently prides itself on its lack of reverence ("respectful but not reverent"), Drescher shares her thoughts on Pope Benedict's "painful legacy" with respect to every disaffected group residing "on the margins of the Catholic Church":

...the legacy Benedict began shaping in 1980 as Cardinal Ratzinger...and which he solidified during a mere eight years as Bishop of Rome is seen as something far more complex and troubling.

UC Riverside professor Jennifer Scheper Hughes, who has studied Benedict’s reaction to liberation theology in Latin America both before and during his papacy, suggests that he leaves a painful legacy for Roman Catholics in the region. [Quoting Hughes] "His legacy in Latin America is precisely this: the systematic dismantling of the infrastructure of liberation theology..."

"It’s hard to identify a figure who has been more oppressive to LGBT people in the religious world than Pope Benedict," says DignityUSA Executive Director Marianne Duddy-Burke.

From the labeling of homosexuality as "objectively disordered" and “intrinsically evil” in magisterial documents he developed as a cardinal, to condemnations of transgendered people as mentally ill, to more recent attacks on marriage equality as a deterrent to world peace, says Duddy-Burke, the current pope has actively worked to undermine the full equality of LGBT people and denigrated their human dignity...

Joelle Casteix, Western Region Director for SNAP, which advocates on behalf of some 20,000 survivors and allies of those abused by Roman Catholic priests...says Pope Benedict “offered empty promises and apologies” about the abuse scandal “as a PR move” while at the same time “portraying victims as enemies of the Church.” This, she says, has continued to “ensure the marginalization of abuse victims within the Church...”

...between the smackdown on nuns and the excommunication and silencing of priests supporting the ordination of women and opposing the Church’s position on birth control, it would be hard not to conclude that Benedict’s papacy has been difficult for women throughout the Church. LGBT advocate Sister Jeannine Gramick, SL, herself no stranger to Vatican disciplinary silencing, argues that “women in the Church have as difficult a time as lesbian and gay individuals. Both are treated as second-class citizens.” She notes that the rebuke of LCWR had much to do with the solidarity many women religious, and women in general, have felt with LGBT people who have been marginalized within the Church and are often alienated from it...

Outside the Catholic Church, Benedict managed to provoke Muslims, Jews, and Anglicans variously in the course of his papacy, sharply distinguishing “God’s Rottweiler,” as he was famously nicknamed, from his far more genial, if no less conservative predecessor, John Paul II.

After reading these and other commentaries on Pope Benedict and his impact on the Church, I couldn't help but recall something he wrote in a book published way back in 1970. I first read it in an English translation published by Franciscan Herald Press (1971). It has since been republished by Ignatius Press (2006) under the title, Faith and Future. Speaking of the Church of the future, the then-Cardinal Ratzinger wrote (p.116-118):

From the crisis of today, the Church of tomorrow will emerge. She will become small and will have to start afresh more or less from the beginning. She will no longer be able to inhabit many of the edifices she built in prosperity. As the number of her adherents diminishes, so will she lose many of her social privileges...she will be seen more as a voluntary society, entered only by free decision...Undoubtedly she will discover new forms of ministry and will ordain to the priesthood approved Christians who pursue some profession...Alongside this, the full-time ministerial priesthood will be indispensable as formerly. But...the Church will find her essence afresh and with full conviction in that which was always at her center: faith in the triune God, in Jesus Christ, the Son of God made man, in the presence of the Spirit until the end of the world...

The Church will be a more spiritual Church, not presuming upon a political mandate, flirting as little with the Left as with the Right. It will be hard going for the Church, for the process of crystalization and clarification will cost her much valuable energy. It will make her poor and cause her to be the Church of the meek. The process will be all the more arduous, for sectarian narrow-mindedness and well as pompous self-will will have to be shed...But when the trial of this sifting is past, a great power will flow from a more spiritualized and simplified Church. Men in a totally planned world will find themselves unspeakably lonely. If they have completely lost sight of God, they will feel the whole horror of their poverty. Then they will discover the little flock of believers as something wholly new. They will discover it as a hope that is meant for them, and answer for which they have always been searching in secret.

When I first read this, perhaps 30 years ago, I wondered how this German theologian could possibly come to such a seemingly pessimistic conclusion. The intervening years have since convinced me that his vision of the Church's future is not only a likely future, but also a truly optimistic one. Yes, the Church may once again have to enter a period of suffering and cleansing. Like the people of Israel and Judah, it may have to experience an exile from the world in which it had grown all too comfortable, a world to which many of its members too easily conformed. Once released from this exile, it will present to that broken world a far smaller Church, but a purified, restored and holy Church, a Church that will present a beacon of true hope to a world in search of meaning. I believe we are privileged to be living during this time of renewal and hope.

A Clerihew for Pope Benedict XVI

Another Clerihew...this one for our latest Pope:

Kind, holy Joseph Ratzinger,
Who is quite fond of hats and fur,
Came to Rome first as peritus,
And is now Pope Emeritus.




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Homily: Wednesday, 3rd Week of Lent

Readings: Dt 4:1, 5-9; Ps 147; Mt 5:17-19

I remember the first time one of my children openly disagreed with me. Trust me, it came as a shock.

It was our elder daughter, and I think she was probably 11 or 12 at the time, perhaps even younger. I had pontificated about something at the dinner table, not expecting anything but full agreement, when she said, “No, Dad, I think you’re wrong about that.” The shock was so great I can’t even recall the subject of our disagreement. I remember thinking only, “Our family life is about to undergo a radical change. These children of ours are more than little clones. They’re actually beginning to think for themselves.”

Of course, the four of them had no doubt been thinking for themselves and disagreeing with me for years, but had wisely chosen to remain silent. I also realized that in the future I’d have to give a little thought to what I intended to say or I’d end up having to defend my every utterance.

Naturally, I didn’t change at all. I still pontificated at the dinner table, saying whatever entered my mind. In truth I expected agreement and obedience without having to teach. And as you might expect, our children grew ever bolder in challenging me. This all came to mind thanks to today’s readings.

In Deuteronomy Moses tells God’s People:

“…take care and be earnestly on your guard not to forget the things which your own eyes have seen, nor let them slip from your memory as long as you live, but teach them to your children and to your children’s children” [Dt 4:9].

Then we hear Jesus in the Gospel:

“…whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do so will be called least in the Kingdom of heaven. But whoever obeys and teaches these commandments will be called greatest in the Kingdom of heaven” [Mt 5:19]

In Moses and Jesus, the Old and New Testaments come together, one pointing to the other, one fulfilling the other – and yet both offering the same Word of God.

Moses pleads with us: Don’t forget. Teach them to your children and your children’s children.

And Jesus demands of us: Obey and teach these commandments.

I’m sure you noticed one of the themes common to both: the call to teach. Yes, both call us to teach, and I wonder to myself…

How well did I teach my children? Did I simply tell them what to think, what to believe, how to act…? Or did I really teach? Did I let them question and probe? Did I help guide them to the truth? Or did I simply tell them and expect unquestioning obedience?

To teach well is hard work because it demands that we place another, the one being taught, above ourselves. It demands humility. And when it comes to teaching the Word of God, the best teacher is the one who lives the Word of God.

This leads us to the second common theme found in our two readings. Both Moses and Jesus also call us to obey. But notice they don’t tell us to extract obedience from others. They don’t tell us to force our children to obey the commandments. No, Moses and Jesus both tell us, the teachers, to do the obeying. For we teach best by how we live. We teach best by our own obedience.

To teach another well, to teach as Jesus taught, means taking the commandments to heart. It means loving our God with all that we have and are, and loving our neighbor as ourselves. Benedict XVI, preaching on the parable of the Good Samaritan, once said:

“Struck in his soul by the lightning flash of mercy, he himself now becomes a neighbor, heedless of any question or danger. The burden of the question thus shifts here. The issue is no longer which other person is a neighbor to me or not. The question is about me. I have to become the neighbor, and when I do, the other person counts for me ‘as myself.’”

Here, too, we encounter the attitude of the true Christian teacher.

Here we find the attitude of the good parent and grandparent.

Here we find the one who is able to love the other as he loves himself

Here we find the one who can lift the other, the one who can bring the other closer to God.

Who will elect the new Pope?

Who's Who in the Sistine Chapel. 115 of the Church's Cardinals are expected to take part in the conclave that will elect our next Holy Father. Over the next few weeks, these men will be at the center of the news out of Rome. As the preparations for the conclave continue, we will learn about a few of these men -- specifically, the papabili, or those whom the "experts" believe to be the most likely candidates. I suspect, however, that most Catholics can name only a few of them. But if you click on this link -- Who's Who of the New Pope's Electors -- you will find a nice overview that lists each Cardinal by name, assignment, religious order if applicable, and nationality. It also includes his year of birth and the pope who made him a Cardinal.

Cardinals gather in the Sistine Chapel

Did you know, for example, that of the 115 electors, more than half -- 60 to be exact -- are Europeans? Of the others, 11 come from the United States, 19 from Latin America, three from Canada, 11 from Africa, 10 from Asia, and one from Australia. Of the total 67 were made Cardinals by Pope Benedict XVI and 48 by Pope John Paul II. All very interesting

By the way, should you want to dig a little deeper, you can check out this in-depth website which explores the hierarchy of the Catholic Church, past and present: Catholic Hierarchy.

Cardinal Oswald Gracias (Mumbai)

Adopt a Cardinal. I would hope, however, that your interest in the upcoming proceedings in the Vatican stems less from mere curiosity and more from a desire that these 115 men will be moved by the Holy Spirit to accept God's holy will and act accordingly. And the best way for the faithful to take an active part in this process is through our prayers. To encourage this, one website calls on each of us to adopt a Cardinal to "support through your prayer and intercession during the coming weeks before and during the conclave and for three days following the election" of our next Pope. What a terrific idea! At the time I write this, 265,961 people have already chosen to adopt a Cardinal who is assigned randomly to you when you go to the website and click on the "adopt" button. Check it out here: Adopt a Cardinal.

My Cardinal (I've already become very possessive) is Oswald Gracias of Bombay (Mumbai) India. Interestingly, we are the same age (I'm actually 3 months older than His Eminence who was born on Christmas Eve.), but he's much better looking. I've included his photo above.

I hope all my readers -- all ten of you -- will go to this site and adopt a Cardinal of your own.

Pray for our One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church.

What Does One Call a Former Pope?

Pope St. Celestine V

There is apparently some disagreement over how many popes have left office during the 2,000-year history of the Church, but pretty much everyone agrees that there were at least two. Perhaps the most interesting was Pope St. Celestine V who resigned in December 1294 after serving only five months as pope. Indeed, the cardinals who assembled in Perugia to elect the new pope, met for over two years before deciding on this holy man who lived a life of asceticism and penitence. A monk and hermit who founded the Celestines, he at first refused the papacy. He was finally persuaded to accept by a deputation of cardinals and European royalty. His brief papacy was not without lasting value, however, since it included two long-standing decrees: that cardinal electors should be locked in conclave when choosing a pope; and that a pope should be permitted to resign. Sadly, this holy man who wanted only to return to his life of seclusion, was imprisoned after leaving office. He died in prison under more than mysterious circumstance.

Pope Gregory XII

The last pope to resign was Pope Gregory XII, who resigned in 1415 after nine years as pope. His resignation was the result of a series of rather complex negotiations aimed at ending the Western Schism. It was finally resolved by the Council of Constance at which the pope's resignation was announced, the antipope was set aside, and the papal seat declared vacant. Eventually Pope Martin V was elected as Gregory's successor.

Today the current Code of Canon Law allows for a papal resignation:

Canon 332, Paragraph 2 says: “Should it happen that the Roman Pontiff resigns from his office, it is to be required for validity that the resignation be freely made and properly manifested, but it is not necessary that it be accepted by anyone.”

I especially like the final clause of this canon. Who indeed would have the authority to accept a pope's resignation?

Until now, because this canon has never been exercised, we are left with some questions. What, for example, should a living former pope be called? The Church, of course, has an answer. And it was provided by Father Federico Lombardi of the Vatican's press office during a meeting with the press on 26 February. Speaking of Pope Benedict, Fr. Lombardi said, “He will still be called His Holiness Benedict XVI, but he will also be called Pope Emeritus or Roman Pontiff Emeritus.”

Interestingly, Fr. Lombardi also stated that, once Benedict XVI ceases being pope, the Swiss Guards will leave their stations and no longer protect him. That job will be taken on by the Vatican police.

And while all this is very interesting, I think very few people will have the opportunity to address the former pope by his new titles. Since the Pope Emeritus intends to spend his remaining days in seclusion at the Mater Ecclesiae Monastery inside the Vatican walls, I suspect we will see or hear very little of him in the future. One hopes he will, however, continue writing for publication.

The following brief video describes the Pope Emeritus' future retirement plans:

Our Next Pope

The cardinals of the Church have gathered in Rome, and yesterday they began a series of meetings in advance of the conclave that will take place sometime later this month in the world's most spectacular and beautiful meeting room, the Vatican's Sistine Chapel. And as the world watches and the faithful pray and wait for a puff of white smoke, the self-appointed "experts" will question, and speculate, and suggest, and dare even to instruct.

The other day during a TV interview one wag suggested that, "After decades of the authoritarian rule of the last two popes, the cardinals will no doubt turn to someone more pastoral in his approach." I almost fell out of my chair! More pastoral? During the past century no popes have been more pastoral than John Paul II and Benedict XVI. None of their recent predecessors has reached out more lovingly and hopefully to men and women of good will. Yes, these two men were uncompromisingly faithful to the Church's magisterial teaching on faith and morality, but is this not what God wants from His vicar on earth and what the faithful expect? But if the Church is to carry out its overriding mission of evangelization, it must be more than a defensive bulwark against the ever-changing zeitgeist. It must also enter into a dialogue with the world, teaching and listening and learning. As Blessed John Henry Cardinal Newman put it, "It is as absurd to argue men, as to torture them, into believing."

Sharing the Cross: Benedict and John Paul

These two men, then, these two intellectual and spiritual giants, whose pontificates can almost be viewed as conjoined, worked tirelessly to teach and to demonstrate to the world that faith and reason are not in conflict and, indeed, are essential companions on our life's journey. The Church and the world have been blessed by their presence and selfless leadership.

I suspect that what this "expert" really wants is a pope who will go along with whatever moral deviations or liturgical innovations the faithless place in front of him. This, of course, will not happen. Of one thing we can be certain: the next pope, whoever he may be, will continue to defend the Church's unalterable teachings on the sanctity of human life created in the very image of God. The deposit of faith will remain secure. I believe, too, that the College of Cardinals will also elect a pope who is just as committed to the Church's mission of evangelization as were his two predecessors.

We must always remember that it is the Holy Spirit, working alongside these successors to the apostles, who guides the Church through this time of uncertainty and change. He was promised by our Lord and was with the universal Church from its very beginnings on that first Pentecost. He was with the early Church, too, as it confronted its first challenges at the Council of Jerusalem. Recall the words of that encyclical letter sent by the apostles to the universal Church: "For it has seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us..." [Acts 15:28] And because God keeps His promises, the Holy Spirit will remain with His Church, the Bark of Peter, as it navigates today's troubled waters.

Pay little or no attention to what the secular media has to say about these momentous events now unfolding in the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church. They inevitably get it wrong because they view the Church through worldly lenses and not through the eyes of faith. They see this selection of a new Vicar of Christ on earth as if it were simply another political event, another election to be covered and probed and dissected, and as fodder for their "insightful" commentaries. Listen instead to the Church and join together in prayer as we await the decision of the Spirit.

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Take the Pope Benedict Quiz

Joseph Ratzinger at 38

How well do you know Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI?

Here's a link to a brief ten-question quiz: Benedict Quiz.

I actually got nine out of ten correct, but (grumble, grumble...) I'll argue for the answer I supposedly got wrong.


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Pope Benedict Departs (and so do his tweets)

Today, after the resignation of Pope Benedict XVI became official and left the Chair of Peter vacant, the Vatican closed the Pope's Twitter account. It also deleted his tweets, every last one of them. Indeed, if you visit the Pope's Twitter page, it has been changed to "Sede Vacante" (the seat being vacant). The deletion of all these tweets took me by surprise, but I suppose the idea is to mark a definitive end to Benedict XVI's papacy and ensure that whoever succeeds him will not have these unofficial communications lingering in cyberspace. Cyberspace, however, is not so easily cleansed of the unwanted. In this instance, I had saved them, simply because I enjoyed reading them and thought them worth rereading. I suspect many others have done the same. I believe I saved them all, but if a reader knows of one I missed, please pass it along via a comment.

If you are unfamiliar with Twitter, a tweet (a Twitter communication) cannot exceed 140 characters, a limitation that should encourage both brevity and clarity. Twitter enforces the brevity, but for many users clarity is elusive. The Pope had no problem with either. For someone who has written many books, some of them quite long, the Holy Father adapted well to this unique medium. Many of his tweets are simple words of encouragement to us all; others are brief statements reminding us of religious truths; some are pleas to pray for a particular intention; and some pose questions designed to help us live the Christian life. They are all worth reading.

I have listed these tweets in the order in which they appeared, from the first on 12 December to Pope Benedict's final tweet today. I hope you enjoy them.
_________________

12 December 2012: "Dear friends, I am pleased to get in touch with you through Twitter. Thank you for your generous response. I bless all of you from my heart."

12 December 2012: "How can we celebrate the Year of Faith better in our daily lives?"

12 December 2012: "By speaking with Jesus in prayer, listening to what he tells you in the Gospel and looking for him in those in need."

12 December 2012: "How can faith in Jesus be lived in a world without hope?"

12 December 2012: "We can be certain that a believer is never alone. God is the solid rock upon which we build our lives and his love is always faithful."

12 December 2012: "Any suggestions on how to be more prayerful when we are so busy with the demands of work, families and the world?"

12 December 2012: "Offer everything you do to the Lord, ask his help in all the circumstances of daily life and remember that he is always beside you."

19 December 2012: "Everyone’s life of faith has times of light, but also times of darkness. If you want to walk in the light, let the word of God be your guide."

19 December 2012: "Mary is filled with joy on learning that she is to be the mother of Jesus, God’s Son made man.True joy comes from union with God."

21 December 2012: "When you deny God, you deny human dignity. Whoever defends God is defending the human person."

21 December 2012: "We do not possess the truth, the truth possesses us. Christ, who is the truth, takes us by the hand."

21 December 2012: "At the end of the year, we pray that the Church, despite her shortcomings, may be increasingly recognizable as Christ’s dwelling place."

24 December 2012: "What family Christmas tradition from your childhood do you still remember?"

24 December 2012: "The cribs that we built in our home gave me much pleasure. We added figures each year and used moss for decoration."

1 January 2013: "May Our Lord bless you and watch over you in the new year."

2 January 2013: "When we entrust ourselves to the Lord completely, everything changes. We are children of a Father who loves us, and never leaves us."

6 January 2013: "The Wise Men followed the star and reached Jesus, the great light that illuminates all of humanity."

7 January 2013: "Please join me in praying for Syria, so that constructive dialogue will replace the horrendous violence."

7 January 2013: "Nigerians have a special place in my heart, as so many have been victims of senseless violence in recent months."

7 January 2013: "May we defend the right of conscientious objection of individuals and institutions, promoting freedom and respect for all."

9 January 2013: "Following Christ’s example, we have to learn to give ourselves completely. Anything else is not enough."

13 January 2013: "In this Year of Faith, may every Christian rediscover the beauty of being reborn in the love of God and living as his true children."

13 January 2013: "What happens in Baptism? We become united forever with Jesus, to be born again to a new life."

16 January 2013: "If we have love for our neighbor, we will find the face of Christ in the poor, the weak, the sick and the suffering."

20 January 2013: "What does the Lord ask of us as we work for Christian unity? To pray constantly, do justice, love goodness, and walk humbly with Him."

23 January 2013: "Many false idols are held up today. For Christians to be faithful, they can’t be afraid to go against the current."

25 January 2013: I join all those marching for life from afar, and pray that political leaders will protect the unborn and promote a culture of life."

27 January 2013: "What does Sunday, the day of the Lord, mean for us? It is a day for rest and for family, but first of all a day for Him."

30 January 2013: "Every human being is loved by God the Father. No one need feel forgotten, for every name is written in the Lord's loving Heart."

2 February 2013: "Today I have a special thought for every religious: may they always follow Christ faithfully in poverty, chastity and obedience."

3 February 2013: "Let us imitate the Virgin Mary in welcoming and guarding the word of Jesus, in order to recognize him as Lord in our lives"

6 February 2013: "Everything is a gift from God: it is only by recognizing this crucial dependence on the Creator that we will find freedom and peace."

10 February 2013: “We must trust in the mighty power of God’s mercy. We are all sinners, but His grace transforms us and makes us new.”

13 February 2013: "During the season of Lent which begins today, we renew our commitment to the path of conversion, making more room for God in our lives."

17 February 2013: "Lent is a favorable time in which to rediscover faith in God as the foundation of our lives and of the Church’s life."

24 February 2013: "In these momentous days, I ask you to pray for me and for the Church, trusting as always in divine Providence."

27 February 2013: "If only everyone could experience the joy of being Christian, being loved by God who gave his Son for us!"

28 February 2013: "Thank you for your love and support. May you always experience the joy that comes from putting Christ at the centre of your lives".
___________

Please keep Pope Emeritus Benedict in your prayers, and pray too for the College of Cardinals as they soon come together in conclave to elect our new Holy Father.

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Blogging Again

It's been almost two weeks since my last post and I've received more than a few emails from friends (and others) asking whether I've given up this little hobby of mine. I suspect some were hoping for a "yes" answer, but unhappily for them I can say definitively that Being Is Good will continue to appear, although  not perhaps so regularly as before.

I've just been busy, and despite my best intentions am not always able or willing to spend time sharing these unworthy thoughts of mine. I had naively believed that retirement, even retirement as a still ministering deacon, would mean more free time to do that which I enjoy. Silly boy! I'm afraid a form of Parkinson's Law begins to govern the lives of permanent deacons as soon as they retire from their civilian occupations. It's probably best stated as: Ministries multiply to the point where they fill all the available waking hours of the deacon and his wife.

Now, I'm not complaining...really I'm not. I truly enjoy every ministry in which I am involved. That, in itself, is an undeserved blessing for which I am exceedingly grateful to God. My teaching and preaching ministries are a joy, and I can't imagine not being able to facilitate, or at least be an active part of, the parish's two weekly Scripture Study sessions. And for nine years now the Wildwood Soup Kitchen, our fellow volunteers, and the wonderful people of God we serve have been a major part of our lives. No doubt there will come a time when Dear Diane and I can no longer do the work, but I prefer not to think about that possibility.

There are more, and among them is a new ministry -- new at least to us -- and one that we have come to enjoy immensely. Since the beginning of the year Dear Diane and I have been working several days each month as volunteer on-call chaplains at our local hospital. It's really not all that demanding. On our assigned days we're on call for a 24-hour period and also spend perhaps four hours or so at the hospital visiting new arrivals and others who need to be reminded of God's presence and love in their lives. It's a very ecumenical ministry. We visit everyone who doesn't specifically state they want to see no chaplain: Catholics, Protestants of every denomination, Jews, unbelievers....everyone. So far, I'm convinced we have received far more from the patients we visit (and their families) than they could possibly have received from us. What a wonderfully rewarding ministry. It's never the same, never routine, always a blessing...and the hospital gives us a free lunch! As Mr. Levi, one of our favorite soup kitchen patrons, would put it, "God is good, Mr. Dana. God is truly good." Amen!

Dear Diane and I returned just a few hours ago from our annual deacon couples retreat. About 50 couples attended. It was one of those Friday evening through Sunday noon weekend retreats at which the retreat master tried to accomplish far too much. At least that's the way it seemed to me. I believe a two-day retreat should focus only on one aspect of our spiritual and ministerial lives and delve into that aspect at some depth. Doing so offers the possibility of real change and spiritual advancement, as opposed to a wide-ranging approach that skims the surface of many different aspects of our spiritual lives. In the latter instance one comes away thinking, "Wow, that's a lot to absorb into my life, a lot of changes to make, but I really have no idea where or how to start." I would rather, for example, spend a weekend on a retreat that focused on the shared prayer life of a deacon and his wife, and enter into that one subject at far greater depth. But this is a topic for another post, after I've had more time to absorb all that I experienced this weekend.

Five deacons' wives (Diane center)

During the retreat Dear Diane and four other deacons' wives (see the photo above) were asked to give reflections on various aspects of Mary's life as described in the Gospels of Luke, Matthew and John. Each of these five women did a marvelous job.

Our Bishop Emeritus here in Orlando, Bishop Norbert Dorsey, C. P., died Thursday evening at the age of 83. His passing added a note of sorrow to our retreat. A Passionist priest, Bishop Dorsey was the Bishop of Orlando when I arrived here from Massachusetts in early 2004. Shortly thereafter he retired to be succeeded by Bishop Thomas Wenski, now Archbishop of Miami, who was replaced in turn by our current Bishop John Noonan. I met Bishop Dorsey only a few times but was impressed by his gentle and kind nature and his infectious smile. I will join several of our parish's deacons as we attend his funeral in Orlando this coming Thursday.

Finally, I haven't had time to sort out all my thoughts on Pope Benedict's resignation and impending departure from the Papacy. I love the man dearly and certainly understand his reasons. Humility has always been his most evident virtue and his decision highlights this fact. But I will miss him terribly and am convinced that much of what he has done as Pope will only bear fruit long after he has gone. Pray for him.