“Do not reflect too much on the affairs of life. Do not worry about anything. Cast your burdens upon the Lord, and He shall sustain you.” (Saint Kyrillos VI) The sacramental life of the Catholic Church is the lifeblood of our relationship to God in the Most Holy Trinity and His holy people. It is where we are able to let go of our fears, doubts and hurts to be healed and where we are able to lift our voices in praise, hope and thanksgiving in sharing the gratitude of generosity God showers into our lives. We know and believe God is with us and we hear this clearly in the beautiful poetic word from “Footprints in the Sand” He whispered, “My precious child, I love you and will never leave you Never, ever, during your trials and testings. When you saw only one set of footprints, It was then that I carried you.”
In this Lenten season we are reminded through the words of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton of the gift we are given, “Truly it is a great mystery how souls for whom he has done such incomprehensible things should shut themselves out by incredulity from his best of all gifts, this divine sacrifice and holy Eucharist, refusing to believe in the spiritual and heavenly order of things, that word which spoke and created the whole natural order. With what grateful and unspeakable joy and reverence I adore the daily renewed virtue of that word by which we possess here in our blessed Mass and Communion.” (St. Elizabeth Ann Seton) One of he greatest gifts we share as Catholics is the Eucharist and we know the heartbreak that occurs when people we know and love absent themselves intentionally from this grace of salvation. We understand, through our love of them, the many and varied “reasons” they give for this absence and yet we also know the sorrow it causes the Body of Christ. It is a conversation that I have too often with parents and grandparents, brothers and sisters and the adult children of people who have “left the faith.” What are we to do? Taking the St. Elizabeth Ann Seaton’s advice we are called to be “renewed in virtue” daily. That is, to become the Eucharistic person, the person of faith, hope and joy proclaiming the Communion we share in the life of grace. It is the trusting of the mystery and not falling for the temptation of despair and fear. Forgiveness and mercy are movements of inspiration and life. St. Teresa of Avila shares with us, “Here, in approaching the sacraments, it has the living faith to see the power that God has placed in them; it praises you because you have left such a medicine and ointment for our wounds and because this medicine not only covers these wounds but takes them away completely. It is amazed by all this. And who, Lord of my soul, wouldn’t be amazed by so much mercy and a favor so large…? I don’t know why my heart doesn’t break as I write this!”(St. Teresa of Avila) Or faith must be alive, vibrant and open to conversion. God desires we live in communion of heart and mind. Practicing forgiveness and mercy within our families grows into the living faith of our relationship with each and every person. One of the reasons our parish is using the “A Parent Who Prays” is to see how living the virtues and praying for the help of these virtues and gifts of grace through God changes lives and grows holiness. Seeking and receiving the grace of forgiveness are active movements towards another…it is never a solitary endeavor. The “breaking of heart” St. Teresa speaks of is the shattering the hardness of heart that separates us from one another. The Sacrament of Reconciliation is the grace received. Each moment of life is a moment of conversion and moment of transformation, to become Christlike in our relationships. “This transformation of a person into Christ includes not only the loving adoration of the Father with Christ and in Christ, but also the participation in the sacrifice of Christ and in the uttering of the “Word” the only true praise and glorification, address by Christ to his heavenly Father.”(Dietrich von Hildebrand) How does this occur? “The participation in the sacrifice” is the only possible path. We are invited by Love to enter into a sacrifice that is filled with generosity and abundance where the sufferings of the world are transformed into the redemptive mercy where rather than being divided we become united in God’s presence, healing and love. Invite someone to Mass, Reconciliation and in prayers. God Bless Fr. Mark
We will be held accountable to the Lord for all the things we have done. Man is often not aware, but the Creator is an honest witness, remaining faithful in heaven and observing all that happens. The stains of sin remain in the body. Just as a bodily wound leaves a scar even after it is healed, so do sins wound the soul and body, and the scarred signs remain in everyone.(St. Cyril of Jerusalem)
Last week on retreat I imagined writing something totally different. Listening to God’s word, taking time in prayer in front of the Blessed Sacrament daily and writing and reflecting on what the Holy Spirit was whispering in my heart. This time was fruitful and a blessing beyond measure. And then Friday came.
It began with a word from our Spiritual Director that Masses throughout the Diocese of San Jose were to be held in private, without congregations, and this would begin Saturday morning. It was followed by a text from Fr. Steve telling me a little bit more but the message was all the same. As I said at last Sunday’s private Mass, my heart broke. I went to Jesus and began to question all that was going on and how much sorrow and suffering there would be within the Body of Christ. And so we are here, one week later and a lot has changed.
Yes, we are still holding the sacrifice of the Holy Mass in private. Yes, our office is empty of people, our parish is empty of people and our school is empty of the joyous voices of it’s students and the children who come for catechism each day. Each time I walk around the campus; my heart breaks.
The gift of my retreat was time listening for the gifts of the Holy Spirit. As good Catholics you know there are seven gifts. We receive the fullness of these gifts in the Sacrament of Confirmation, but the need for specific gifts comes and goes as our life moves along the road of salvation. We also know that from these gifts certain fruits flowed. This past year I have been having long conversations with the Holy Spirit, praying a year long “novena” asking for the blessings of the fruits. The gift given was “Fear of the Lord” which is being in awe of the presence of God in my life. It is not a scary fear, but one that places you in wonder of the greatness of Love. Then I prayed for the fruits of the gift and it became clear immediately “joy” was the first fruit followed by the second “gentleness.” As I ended my retreat on this heartbreaking news about Mass it took every grain of strength in my soul not to laugh at the absurdity of this gift and the fruits flowing from it.
But this is where God is better at giving gifts I need and not the ones I think I should have. Why? Well, I had to step back and realize once more how God is in charge. I mean, this certainly wasn’t in my planning to have a shut down of the Bay Area, California and many other parts of the United States (as well as much of the world) for this period of time. It clearly wasn’t how I envisioned serving God’s people. And yet, here we are one week into what is turning out to be a long road and what I truly need is “joy” and “gentleness” in moving to discover how God is calling me to be a priest during this time of trouble and suffer.
Joy has given me the purpose to not be anxious, afraid or discouraged. It is hard, the stories of people loosing work, health and families being pulled apart is heartbreaking. In this the joy of the Gospel must be my rock. It doesn’t deny suffering, it allows me to be present during suffering with a heart open to listening.
Gentleness (or mildness) also is a gift necessary during this time. It is where I must learn to listen and share with a firmer conviction of how Jesus wants me to be his image to others. To leave behind the cutting words of anger, fear and frustration and see a future of greater blessings.
Take some time and ask the Holy Spirit what gift you most need to seek and practice during this time and which of the 12 fruits spring from this gift. Take time in quiet and silence listening for the gifts and suits to be given.
Anyways…that is that.
“Happiness is a state of being, not having, and still today, as it always did, it depends on strong and stable personal relationships and a sense of meaning and purpose in life.” (p 202 The Great Partnership by Rabbi Jonathan Sacks)
Perhaps one of the greatest misconceptions about Lent is the search for happiness. We often get the idea of Lent being a season of sadness, mourning and suffering, all of this which are outwards signs of Lent, but ultimately the goal of our Lenten discipline is greater unity with God that is the happiness of joyous love.
Our Lenten sacrifices help to open our hearts to the longing for something greater where we are invited to replace the transitory of this world with the Divine love of God. We know from experience how “things” bring us happiness for a short term and we know the search for stability of relationship offers us a passion that will endure the heartaches of life. And when these relationships have as their foundation the joyous love of God at their center then the truth of each love grows ever greater.
I remember before I entered seminary I took a small bike ride with a good friend. We rode down the coast from San Francisco to Los Angeles in late August. There was much suffering along the way as we made our way down the road. What was remarkable about the trip wasn’t the number of miles we went but the experiences we shared along the way: the fixing of different mechanical problems, the meals made, the people encountered, the vistas and beauty of nature that was absorbed, these were made greater by the companionship, the relationship of gratitude and joy.
Rabbi Sacks reminds us, “Happiness in the Bible is not something we find in self-gratification…Hence the significance of the word “simchah” I translated it earlier as ‘joy’, but really it has no precise translation into English, since all our emotions words refer to states of mind we can experience alone. “Simchah” is something we cannot experience alone. “Simchah” is joy shared.” (p 203-204 “The Great Partnership” by Rabbi Jonathan Sacks)
Joy shared is the responsibility of reaching out to the other and not holding back. If we only seek to make our selves “happy” then we will ultimately fail. This why the works of Lent are so vitally important; the Prayer, Fasting and Almsgiving are acts of reaching out to another, to share in life and love. Like the bike ride our daily prayer should be an encounter with others, a shared experience of the Holy Mass and the petitions of care we are called to offer for others. It is sometimes arduous and painful but the joy shared brings us into a relationship of joyous love. Our fasting should help us to be open to the simple meals prepared on the road; the filling or our souls as we empty them and shed the attachments to come together for the Eucharistic feast the gift of God’s presence which is truly the food that satisfies the longing hunger to be love. It is the almsgiving of the encounter with the other on the road; the sharing of stories and memories and the words of encouragement spurring the other along and replenishing the flagging spirit with true gifts of charity founded in the mutual joy of God’s presence within the community, whether it is the bicyclist or the parishioner next to you in worship.
Pope Benedict XVI described this love beautifully, “Love of God and love of neighbor are thus inseparable, they form a single commandment. But both live from the love of God who has loved us first. No longer is it a question, then, of a “commandment” imposed from without and calling for the impossible, but rather of a freely-bestowed experience of love from within, a love which by its very nature must then be shared with others. Love grows through love. Love is “divine” because it comes from God and unites us to God; through this unifying process it makes us a “we” which transcends our divisions and makes us one, until in the end God is “all in all” (1 Cor 15:28)” (#18 Deus Caritas Est, Benedict XVI)
Have a blessed and holy Lent
Fr. Mark
This week in Katie Warner’s book “A Parent Who Prays” we have been looking at the virtue of trust in our lives and fortuitously it came as we begin our Lenten season where trust in God’s mercy and love must be embraced. It is very hard to trust completely, to throw ourselves into the arms of God, but it is what we are asked to do daily.
May I share with you some examples from this week? First, there was a recalculation of when the lighting project in the parish church would be finished. Second, I had a visit from a young husband whose wife is gravely ill and is in need of a miracle. Third, the stress of celebrating Ash Wednesday services when our church was not available and the space in the gym was not sufficient. Fourth, a Thursday with appointments and meetings from 8:00 a.m until 7:00 p.m. without more than a half hour break during the day. Fifth, It is not even Friday… In truth, trust was hard and I failed too often. I called out to heaven many times and my prayer with Jesus was often filled with complaining and an attitude of poor me against the world. I knew I wasn’t trusting…I knew that God was with me…but I was also sure if I just prayed harder, if I just worried more, if I just put my nose to the grindstone then I would figure it all out and could go to God with my perfect solution. “Christ does not force our will. He takes only what we give him. But he does not give himself entirely until he sees that we yield ourselves entirely to him.” (St. Teresa of Avila) Those crazy saints, what do they know? A lot more than me that is for sure. This is why I love God so much…he is patient with my faults even when they are the same faults again and again and again and again and again……… He waited for me as he waits for all of us to be ready, to throw our full heart into his hands…it took until Thursday afternoon during our Holy Hour for Vocations that peace, presence and purpose began to seem real again. All I had to do was ask for help. I texted Fr. Joseph asking if he could cover one of my commitments and I received a joyous “yes” quicker than I had imagined.
All I had to do was let it go. Yes, the chaos of Ash Wednesday happened and not all the services went smoothly as we would hope, but God was present in his people and I did not hear one single complaint about the space and the crowding in our temporary space. All I had to do was share my sadness. During our offering of prayers during the Holy Hour one of our parishioners spoke her name, asking for the miracle of healing. All I had to do was release my “perfect” plan. Construction is frustrating but knowing it will be done right and will enhance our worship when we return is always the ultimate goal. (But I still do wish it was already finished) “God loves each of us as if there were only one of us.” (St. Augustine of Hippo) Allowing God to gaze into failings, our hurts, our silliness and the many other parts of our life we wish to hide allows us to hear and see the true perfect plan, the true loving embrace of suffering, the true blessing of the living stones of our Catholic faith, and yes, the true wonder of God’s love in those who ministry we share. God bless you all. Fr. Mark.
We will be using Fr. Joseph Sica’s booklet “Lenten Blessings Await”
Sunday March 7….Practicing virtue is exercising the muscle of the soul. I often remind people in the Sacrament of Reconciliation of how we need to strengthen the muscle of our soul and not allow Satan to weaken in by temptation and our falling into sin.
Praying for the virtue of courage when temptation comes is an important grace to receive. It may be we are caught in the cycle of lying. This weakens us. It would be like a Marathon runner who day in and day out cut just a little bit of their training out. Ran a few less miles, cheated on their speed timing, bent the rules on their nutrition and then when the test of the race came complained about how they cramped up and couldn’t finish the race.
We practice virtue so that we may finish the race of life in the presence of God.
God bless
Saturday March 6…Who is the person who irritates you most in life. Pray for them. Fr. Sica notes that:
Difficult people are everywhere
You can change them
These two truths are part of our everyday life. We know from our own experiences that only we can change ourselves but we can invite others to begin the change in their hearts through works of mercy, love and especially prayer.
Jesus reminds us through the Beatitudes of how through our actions we see the face of God and recognize who God’s grace continually flows into our lives.
One of my favorite Bible verses comes from St. Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians 15:10 where he writes “But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me did not prove vain; but I labored even more than all of them, yet not I, but the grace of God with me.”
St. Paul reminds us when we are open to God’s grace then we are transformed faults and all into a blessing to others. Pray for the openness of heart for the person who most irritates you. God bless
Friday March 5…Words have the power of life and death. That sounds very dramatic but we all know this is a truth often hidden. Both words spoken and unspoken can liberate and heal us from isolation or condemn us to a solitary prison of fear and woundedness.
Fr. Sica is reminding us that we need to take care with our words and especially choose words that bring light and hope. Now this does not mean we can use words that critical, corrective or forceful at times but these words must always be said in charity seeking to correct and allow the person to be freed from the errors. It is the hope that these words allow the person to grow into the child of God they were created to be.
But we also know too often we use words that push the buttons of the loved ones, carelessly throwing around words of anger and fear.
An antidote to this may be to ask the Holy Spirit for the gift of Counsel and Understanding. Seeking to think, feel and open our heart before we open our mouth. A prayer that is said at the beginning of the Divine Office simply goes…”Lord open my lips, so that I may declare your praise.” Is a prayer we may want to put into our quiver of prayer arrows.
God Bless
Thursday March 4….I am this person too many times. People will often ask what I want to eat and my response is “I don’t know” or “What ever you want to eat.” And many decisions I can often let roll around hoping someone else will make the choice and lift it off my plate.
But, on the other hand, I am a person who when the question is big and the issue is serious will go directly to God and beg for the wisdom of the Holy Spirit to fill my decision making progress. This has been one of the greater blessings these past few years, my relationship with the Holy Spirit, the wonderful third person of the Most Holy Trinity.
A few years ago I began asking the Holy Spirit to help me use the very specific gifts given to each Catholic at Confirmation and certainly reinforced through subsequent Sacraments, like Holy Orders or Holy Matrimony. I began seeking the fruits of the Holy Spirit in the ministry I share with God’s holy people.
Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful and enkindle in them the fire of your love…God bless you
Wednesday March 4…..”Hugs are the best medicine for what is ailing us.” (p 9)
We all know this to be true. Just watch what little children do when they are afraid, hurt, feeling alone….when they are happy, joyous and full of love….they share a hug, even if is just for a second, to in someway be reassured of the gentle and powerful love that surrounds them.
Fr. Sica reminds us to not wait for the hug be to actively go forth and be the initiator of the hug. This metaphor is a wonderful way to understand the missionary spirit and activity of the Christian faith. We are all called to become healers who call back those who are lost. We are called to become guest at the wedding feast who celebrate and give praise for the goodness of the Lord that fills our lives. We are called to be disciples.
Jesus makes it very clear that healing and celebrating are essential actions in being one with God who is Father, Son and Holy Spirit. So the question becomes how do we do this? We should always start with the Sacraments whose grace helps and sustains us in the ministry of healing and celebrating. You might think of some one who needs the hug of coming to Mass.
God bless you
Fr. Mark
Tuesday March 3…St. Katharine Drexel certainly did not suffer from DMS (doormat syndrome) I have attached a short video of her life to this reflection. Seeing our dignity before God is vital to our growth in love and self-respect. And the foundation of this is found in how we see others and treat others. If we cannot see the face of Jesus in others how then do we see His face in the mirror each day.
St. Katharine Drexel is a wonderful example of this gift in her call to serve the poorest of the poor and most especially the indigenous people and African Americans by found a religious order (Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament) whose focus was the education and even in the founding of a Catholic University to serve African Americans (Xavier University in New Orleans).
Like St. Katharine we are called to serve others in joy by seeing our gifts and talents as blessings and seeing ourselves as worthy of God’s love and blessing. We can always suffer from low self confidence and a little DMS, as Fr. Sica points out, but the solution is looking into the eyes of our Lord and see the our self as God sees us, then we can do the works of charity and become the saint God created us to be.
Monday March 2…Pain and suffering in life is real. We should always remind ourselves of those situation, but when we allow these moments to be connectors to those around us instead of moments of isolation we become part of God’s healing presence.
As a parish priest I am asked to visit the sick and comfort those at the moment of death, in this my own experience of my heart attack and the death of both my father and younger brother have helped me to listen more attentively and to use words of blessing more gently with others. But I can only do this because I had the experience of others who prayed with me, sat with me and walked with me through the intense fear and grief of the moment.
Fr. Sica challenges us to seek to help someone and lift the small burdens from their shoulders in Christian charity so that we may be prepared for the larger challenges of life…God bless you
“His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful slave. You were faithful with a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.’ (Mt 25:23)
Sunday March 1…..I have this wonderful image of Jesus standing at the front door with arm raised to knock. I love looking at this image because it reminds me of the part of the Eucharist celebration where we note our unworthiness and invite the Word of God into our souls to heal us and bring us to new life. Fr. Sica reminds us that many people and things will knock on the door to our souls seeking entrance but if it is not of and from God then the door should remain closed no matter how loud and forceful the knocking becomes. We are never oblivious to how sin seeks to enter into our lives but we know we can recognize and avoid sin when we answer the door and look into the loving eyes of our savior Jesus Christ. Our Sunday readings remind us of how evil seeks to “sweet talk” its way into our lives. I would invite you to take time and reflect on Psalm 51 from Sunday Mass listening for the gentle knocks of love. God Bless you.
Saturday February 29 2020….you may have noticed I made a small error in yesterday’s post. I wrote about today’s reflection instead of the Friday reflection…so please memorize the small phrase “Speaking the truth in love.” both in mind and heart and live the Word of God in gentleness. So, what should we have reflected on yesterday? ESP? not Extra-sensory-perception but rather Encourage, Support and Praise…What every good parent, coach, teacher and friend knows naturally and yet we often forget to follow. Recognizing when someone is trying to make a change for the positive is important and we should be walking with them in this important journey of change. And isn’t this what our Lenten resolution should be…making a holy, that is positive, change in our lives and allowing our family, friends and Church to walk with us in the ESP of grace? And if we think back to childhood this is what our guardian angel does for us each moment of life. Look outward and see who around you is in need of this gift of accompanying and share a prayer of blessing with them, invite them to pray with you (or come to Mass) let them know God is with them in this journey.
Friday February 28…. “Speaking the truth in love.” (Ephesians 4:15) Fr. Sica asks us, as homework, (yes, other priests besides Fr. Steve give homework) to memorize this little phrase from Sacred Scripture. How the littlest ripple can change our lives. This goes wonderfully with our first reading from Holy Mass this morning where the Prophet Isaiah reminds us how God wishes us to fast from evil, to fast from harmful words and actions, to fast from throwing away the other in hatred and forgiveness. This is a tall order. We are reminded how small hurts and small sins can grow rapidly and spread quickly seemingly destroying every thing in their path and yet, as Isaiah reminds us this morning, God’s mercy, love and forgiveness does heal all when we choose to place our lives in his hand in converting our hearts to be like the Most Sacred Heart of His Son Jesus Christ. Memorize this little phrase from St. Paul’s letter but more importantly, do not simply hold it in our head but place it in the memory of our heart and soul by living the Word of God…”Speaking the truth with love.” God Bless Fr. Mark
Thursday February 27 Do you believe that you are uniquely created by God? do you believe God made you in his likeness, in his goodness, in his holiness? Fr. Sica talks about labels and how we can label others and ourselves often lessening the gifts God has given us and God calls us to share. Our invitation to vocation is accepting how God has made us uniquely in his image. Our Lenten prayer should be to empty our soul of doubts and fears then embrace the grace of God’s mission in our lives. It may seem small but the small ripples of holiness touch countless lives with God’s love and mercy. Here is some advice for St. Gregory of Nazianzus..”We are not made for ourselves alone, we are made for the good of all our fellow creatures.” Let us choose to serve rather than be served in using our gifts.
Ash Wednesday 26 February Why wait? Quit making excuses. These two short sentences help us to understand the immediacy of life and what happens when we choose allow time, opportunity and experience slip through our lives. We can always find a reason not to do something. We can always find a better time to work on the problem. But god calls us to serve now…Jesus’ commands whether it is to the first apostles to follow him, the sick to healed or the possessed to be freed…Jesus’ command wasn’t for tomorrow it is for today. How can I love my family today? How can I help my friend today? When will I find time to pray and talk to God today? “And He said to them, “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.”” (Mt 4:19)
Nine years ago, our brother Mitch went home to guard the streets of Heaven with his brother Marines. Just remembering the short reflection I shared shortly after his death. Still miss you brother
From 26 February 2011
“Our brother has died.” Those four words have been on my lips, in my heart and driven into my soul these past few days. My younger brother Mitch has died. They were the words that my Mother spoke to me late Sunday night. They were the words that I had to say to my brothers and sisters that they have had to say to each other, over and over again for the past several days. They are words that we will speak the rest of our lives: our brother has died.
My brother of 46 years now stands fully before our Creator as now he is absent from our lives. Did I tell him that I loved him the last time we spoke? When was the last time we spoke? My brother had gone in for knee replacement surgery and was at the home of his beloved friend recovering when he stopped breathing, when everything seemed to stop in our world. I screamed to God, I screamed at God for the last few days and I imagine that I will continue to do so for weeks to come. I do not understand?I have heard the voices of my brothers and sisters, of my Mom, of his friends quieted, saddened and filled with tears, as my voice has been. I don’t know why he died; it is not a question but a statement. I don’t know why my brother Mitch has died.
Was this God’s plan? I don’t know how to answer that question, but I do know this…it was God’s plan to place this man, my brother into the world, my brother Mitch was called into being by a loving God who gave to us, a son, a brother, a Marine, a man of grace and blessing, a man who chose to serve others and to generously give his life for others and a man of incredible faith who continually placed himself into God’s loving hands, trusting with confidence in his mercy and love. And I know that I stand in good company because just as those first disciples, those whom He called brothers and sisters, whom He called friends mourned at the death of our Lord, I with them will one day be able to rejoice because I know in faith that our brother Mitch lives in the embrace of God. And may his soul, and the souls of all the faithfully departed through the mercy of God rest in peace…Amen.
The Last Friday post before Lent begins and the First Friday post after pitchers and catchers have reported. Two of my favorite things in the world, both are great blessings from God and both are spiritually enriching and worth pondering in many different ways. If you didn’t know by now, I am a life-long Los Angeles Dodgers fan…both in the good times and the bad times I bleed Dodger blue. Coming into my sports fandom in the late 60’s and early 70’s I was blessed to see the young infield of Steve Garvey, Davey Lopes, Ron Cey and Bill Russell form the nucleus of a decade of Dodger glory. Of the four, my favorite was always Bill Russell at shortstop. He wasn’t the glamorous iron-man that Steve Garvey was at first base, he didn’t have a funny nickname, the waddle, and the power of Ron Cey (The Penguin) at third, nor did he have the speed, the flair and the outward fire of Davey Lopes at second. In truth he always seemed the forgotten guy who was a good solid major league shortstop (3 time all-star) who was never a great hitter (.286 was his best season), a very good and dependable fielder, he does not seem remarkable and yet from these tools he lived out an 18 year major league career. Now the God part…Lent is a journey where we are challenged to seek a deeper relationship with God, to grow in the practice of the faith and to live out our call to discipleship in following the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Living out this journey is often challenging and at sometimes frustrating. We can often look around, see the example of the great saints of the Church and even the saints that live within our communities and often think how little are our gifts and how small our relationship with God seems to be. Often times in our faith life we can look around and see the glamorous iron-man of prayer, the funny and quirky power hitter of service or the speedy and fiery minister who seems to be everywhere and has limitless energy and can think our gifts are not good enough or are too limited to make a difference to God. Yet, we know that God desires our gifts, even when they are small and seem insignificant in our own eyes.
And I think this is where the career and the gifts Bill Russell brought to baseball and his team can be helpful for our understanding of the spiritual journey. He seemingly had none of those flashy, powerful or glamorous gifts his infield teammates possessed and yet he used the baseball gifts that he had to remain the center of that remarkable foursome. If he had tried to be the power guy, the speed guy, the everyday guy his career would have soon been over because those weren’t the gifts he was given to lead others with, to share with others and to play with others joyfully. And certainly he wouldn’t have been my favorite Dodger from that era of history. As we look forward to our Lenten journey, let’s remember that we are called to share our gifts; our time, talent and treasure for the blessing of our team, our community, our Catholic Church trusting, if we use these gifts as God calls us to do, then we participate in the will of God and the salvation of all people. Looking at the three disciplines of fasting, prayer and almsgiving, how are you called to give and share the blessings of God’s presence with others? Take time this weekend to pray and prepare to renew our life with God and share the life given with joy. Go Dodgers I mean God Bless
“When you make your spouse’s sanctity your primary concern and view your mission through that lens, life has a way of shaking out into a right order on its own.” (p 22 “Getting More Out of Marriage” by Mark and Melanie Hart)
While the above quote is talking directly about the reality of sacramental marriage the truth of the quote can and does flow into the myriad of relationships and the intention God has for all of us in life. We are reminded that we are made for holiness (to become a saint) and each person we know, love or maybe even not like too much, is also made for holiness and the goal, according to Jesus, is to help one another become the reality of who god created us to be. In other words, we are called to focus on the sanctity of the other and help them to live a holy and saintly life.
As a Catholic priest my spouse is the Church. My main concern must be the sanctity of my bride the Church. When I allow myself to be distracted from this search for sanctity then I begin to expect less of my bride and in turn expect less of myself. And this is the true failing of lowering the hope of holiness into the mundane of just getting along in life.
Luckily there is a remedy to this and it is called grace. And more specifically sacramental grace. The Catholic Dictionary reminds us in the gift of sacramental grace, the “actual grace is given by all the sacraments, either actually at the time of reception or also by title as a person needs divine help.” In other words, God pours grace upon each of us in both the receiving of the Sacrament and then by living within the Sacrament received.
Can we deny the sacramental grace? Yes, it is called sin but then there is another Sacrament we receive which helps us open the door to the grace given, it’s called Reconciliation. To get back to the quote above, when we fall of the grace wagon God in his mercy and love invites to once more get up and get back on the road of holiness. If we believe God is this merciful, this loving and this generous then we, too, are obligated to do the same to our spouse and all people. This is the gift of the Great Commandment, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’” (Mt 22:37-39)
Then we get to the second part of the quotes, the “shaking out into a right order.” This doesn’t mean everything will become perfect and without problems. What it does mean is we begin to live towards hope knowing God’s plan is effective and full of life. This is the gift of the life of grace, knowing there is more. An abundance of more which is readily poured upon us in love. A graciousness of gratitude flowing through our lives even in the troubles and sufferings that seemingly inundate all part of our world today. When we search for love, we discover love. When we discover love, we enter the arms of our beloved because sanctity and love are never apart.
And a quick Valentine’s Day note…God loves you…share this love abundantly in seeking the sanctity of your beloved.
God Bless
Fr. Mark
I first saw Hermana Virginia before I ever met her. I first knew there was something special about her before I ever spoke with her. This week I will celebrate a Memorial Mass for Hermana Virginia Herrera MESST with her community and friends. It will be a time to reflect and remember a remarkable woman who served our Catholic Church for many years as a member of the Eucharistic Missionaries of the Most Holy Trinity (MESST) When I was teaching at St. Lawerence the Martyr School I would often, during vacation time, attend daily Mass at St. Martin of Tours parish in San Jose. It was there I first saw Hermana Virginia. She and her sisters would often attend daily Mass in the small chapel at St. Martin and I would watch them as they filed in finding their seats. They spoke mostly Spanish to each other which made her and her sisters strangely exotic and a curiosity. It was only after I was ordained and assigned to St. Martin that I began my time truly getting to know her and the congregation as women of deep faith and service to the Church.
I also knew there was something special about Hermana Virginia, something I wanted but something that seemed elusive and remote, in her focus and prayer. I remember how when she knelt in prayer before Mass began how there would be this deep peace and tranquility that would descend upon her, unlike how I experienced my prayer as fraught with doubts, intrusions and tumbling from one thought to the next without this peace or tranquility I saw in her. “Let’s be reminded that a Eucharistic Missionary of the Most Holy Trinity should look for souls in the tabernacle before the Blessed Sacrament, in their prayers and communication with God…The better Missionaries will be those who are prayerful souls. I’ll be watching over you with the strength of the Eucharistic sacrifice so that all you need is given to you.” (Venerable Pablo Maria Guzman, MSpS founder) The words above, written by the congregations founder, are a beautiful way to understand the tranquility and peace I was witnessing. When I was assigned to St. Martin of Tours as my first assignment the sisters invited me to come and celebrate Mass with them in their convent once a week, something that I have continued for the last 15 years. It has been a great blessing getting to know, both Hermana Virginia and the other sisters throughout this time. Their commitment to spending time in prayer and service of seeing others in and through the Eucharist in the missionary activity they are called to live. It is a lesson I have continued to re-learn, my true peace and happiness is found in seeing others as a tabernacle of the Lord and this is what I was first able to see and understand in watching her in prayer. “Religious should remember that the example of their own lives is the best commendation of their institutes and is an invitation to others to take on the religious life.” (#24 Perfectae Caritatis: Decree on the Renewal of Religious Life from Vatican II) Living a life of holiness and peace is Jesus’ command to all his disciples from the Pope down to the newest baptized baby. This call draws others and allows them to know who the person of Jesus is as our Savior. (Jn 13:15) Hermana Virginia served in many parishes both in her native Mexico but also in San Jose and Orange CA. Her life and hopefulness in the trials and tribulations of life was an example of Christian virtue and mercy. She had a gentleness undergirded by a firm resolve to follow the Cross of Jesus Christ in all circumstances of life. For me, as a priest, it was the constant reminder of how our call to service, those in the consecrated life, those in the priesthood and the lay faithful both married and in the single state, is a invitation to a fuller life of love and blessing with the community of the holy Catholic Church.
“We are affected more deeply toward God by a ten-minute visit with a saintly person than we are in ten years spent with a mediocre individual. If the consecrated woman is to do great things for God in apostolic involvement, she will have to be interiorly rich in her person. She will have to be a woman of prayer before she is anything else.” (p 121-122 “And You Are Christ’s” by Fr. Thomas Dubay, SM) Lastly, I was blessed to spend much more than ten minutes with Hermana Virginia. When she was assigned to our Diocese of San Jose the weekly Masses, Spanish lessons over breakfast and the conversation of life made my life more “interiorly rich” and deepened by prayer life and a brother in Christ. It was a true blessing to serve with and know her, a true gentle woman of God. Rest in peace Hermana and Dios lo bendiga God Bless Fr. Mark
Today, as we end January, we celebrate the Memorial of St. John Bosco a 19th Century Catholic priest and founder of the Salesian Order in our Church. St. John Bosco had a great love of the faith, in teaching children the faith and helping them to grow as productive members of society living their Christian values and fulfilling their roles as holy men and women. (some links are given below) This week we have been celebrating Catholic Schools Week as a parish, diocese and Church throughout the United States. As many of you may already know, I taught in Catholic Schools for 8 years before entering the seminary to study: 2 years at Blessed (now Saint) Kateri Tekakwitha Academy in Thoreau New Mexico and then for 6 years at St. Lawrence the Martyr School in Santa Clara. These experiences helped to form me as a man and certainly prepared me for God calling me to the vocation as a priest. One of my greatest lesson, from the years of teaching is this: while the education in a Catholic School is wonderful, helpful and forms the student in a positive way, the first and foremost teachers of the faith remain the parents. This is one of the major reasons why we shared the book “A Parent Who Prays” with our families last September and why we continue to encourage all families to spend time daily in prayer for the growth of holiness and faithfulness in the lives of our families. Pope St. John Paul II shared these thoughts from Familiaris Consortio (The Role of the Christian Family in the Modern World), “Family prayer has its own characteristic qualities. It is prayer offered in common, husband and wife together, parents and children together…by reason of their dignity and mission, Christian parents have the specific responsibility of educating their children in prayer, introducing them to gradual discovery of the mystery of God and to personal dialogue with Him…”(#59-60). How does this “gradual discovery of the mystery of God” take place? In the Aleteia article on St. John Bosco the first key they pointed out was to“Transform children into “honest citizens and good Christians.” This is a good starting point. A couple of weeks ago our virtue for “A Parent Who Prays” was “to keep holy the Sabbath.” With Super Bowl Sunday here we might ask that question of ourselves and of our family: are we keeping Super Bowl Sunday holy? It is a reminder to us all how the teaching of the faith doesn’t just occur in church, in school and/or catechism, in our moments of prayer throughout the day, but it occurs most fully in the normal activities of life. How can we keep Super Bowl Sunday and every Sunday, for that matter, a day of holiness? Gratitude: Talking to our children about our gratitude for the blessings that are received and that we are called to share helps to open their eyes (and ours too) to the reality of all that surrounds us comes from God. Do we bless the food we will be eating as we watch the game? Do we thank God for those who come to share this moment (or those whose house we visit)? Or, if we don’t watch the game, do we give thanks that the store is a little less crowded or the hiking path a little more secluded? Showing gratitude is part of the school of love. Life lessons: What are the life lessons sports can teach us? The value of practice, hard work, perseverance, camaraderie, teamwork, sharing the burdens, support, fair play and words of encouragement…in both winning and losing are life lessons which help us be better men and women and yes better disciples of Jesus Christ. Talking about these values doesn’t have to be a religion lesson but a reminder of God’s call to community. Acts of service and love: What we do and how we treat those around us is a sign of our Christian life…how do we value those around us? Making sure we use words of grace and thankfulness to family, especially our spouse, during the day shows the importance of relationship over events…saying please and thank you in the heat of the battle grows the love of family. As Pope Francis writes, “The Lord’s presence dwells in real and concrete families, with all their daily troubles and struggles, joys and hopes. Living in a family makes it hard for us to feign or lie; we cannot hide behind a mask. If that authenticity is inspired by love, then the Lord reigns there, with his joy and his peace. The spirituality of family love is made up of thousands of small but real gestures. In that variety of gifts and encounters which deepen communion, God has his dwelling place. This mutual concern “brings together the human and the divine”, for it is filled with the love of God. In the end, marital spirituality is a spirituality of the bond, in which divine love dwells. (#315 Amoris laetitia) God Bless Fr. Mark
