A while back as I was walking into church on an afternoon to say my prayers I was greeted by a couple coming out of the church. I stopped and said hello. They then handed me an envelope and asked me to accept this gift of thanksgiving for the parish. I thanked them and asked two simple questions, “What were they thankful for? How could I pray for them?” They both looked at each other and then the husband said that today they were finally debt free. I congratulated them but he continue to share about how early in their marriage they had made many wrong and foolish choices with borrowing and spending and how this had caused great stress on the family to the point of almost destroying their relationship. When I asked what had changed they simply said, “They chose each other over money, objects and lifestyle.” At that point they were both crying in joy and we said a quick prayer and I shared a blessing of thanksgiving over them as a couple.
The gift I received that day was not the gift of the envelope (it contained one hundred dollars) but the gift of witnessing to a love that is greater than the desires, lusts and greed of the world. In choosing to seek a relationship of love over and above the worldly desires is a great example of Christian virtue. I have been thinking and praying about this young couple for several weeks remembering their short but powerful story because it is important to us to understand how the grace and blessing of God is necessary in all parts of our lives…including our money. Too many times we have been told to keep our faith lives separated from the things of the world when it is only our faith in a loving and gracious God which allows us to live at peace in the world.
The trouble with money can often consume us in a very difficult and destructive way.
Bert Ghezzi in his book “Getting Free: How to Overcome Persistent Personal Problems” where he talks about surrendering our problems to the Holy Spirit. He writes, “We sometimes have difficulty surrendering a problem to the power and authority of the Holy Spirit because we don’t understand how to do it very well. We don’t have much experience in yielding areas of our life to Him.” (p 69) He reminds us of three important steps: first we cannot do it by ourselves. Second we need to trust God and allow Jesus into the problem. And third we must have resolve to carry our cross and work through the difficulties.
What does this look like for us on a practical level, especially when it comes to money and how it effects our life each and every day of our lives? Just as Jesus sends out his disciples two by two, we are called to share the burdens of our brothers and sisters, to seek and support one another in the ministry of life. If we look at the couple above they could have not done their journey of coming to financial peace if they did not chose to act together as a team choosing to love and honor each other too seek the better and the goodness for the other in the best of hope and love.
Trust in Jesus, in a loving God, in the Holy Spirit seems impossible but when we confront the cross together we see the face of Jesus in the other then our trust in God becomes a tangible act. We choose to sacrifice out of love and know we are giving our of blessing and letting go of our selfish needs. We touch the face of God in choosing trust in the blessing God sends to us in the other in my life.
Resolve is hard. Just look at the many failures in dieting, exercise and other resolutions that fall away so quickly as we make them…but when we walk with another, allow God’s grace to fill us, then our resolve becomes courageous love that is able to conquer all things. The couple above allowed their resolve to be strengthened by the other knowing the other was with them in choosing to give rather than to take in their relationship.
Let us all offer a time of prayer and gratitude to the blessings that surround us and seek to be servants of God’s love and healing the hurts and growing in hope in serving God and one another.
God bless
Fr. Mark

The Feast of St. Nicholas (December 6) is for me a great day of blessing. St. Nicholas of Myra was a Bishop in modern day Turkey during the 4th Century and a great example of faithfulness, trust and generosity in God as he served the people entrusted to him. You can read and learn a lot more about St. Nicholas but the real reason I have his name in my heart is that he is my Confirmation saint and for this he holds a special place in the saints I ask to pray for and with me daily.
Saints are important. They are important not just because they are saints or because we should look up to them as examples of faith, those are both valid reasons, but saints are important because they are companions on the journey to heaven with us as we walk with them and Jesus. I chose St. Nicholas as my patron for one very simple reason: the virtue of generosity. I remember in my Confirmation class when choosing our saint name to not just look to a saint you knew or liked but for a virtue in a saints life that you wished to grow…and I chose generosity and thus St. Nicholas.
It may seem fairly natural to think during this Advent Season as we are preparing for Christmas to narrow generosity into the simple act of giving something too someone. We hear a lot of people talking about the stress of finding the right gift and the time spent either at the mall or online looking and searching for the best deal. This, as you might guess, is selling generosity way short in the eyes of God, a life of faith and the gift of holiness we are called to become as God’s children.
“You will be enriched in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God.” (2 Cor. 9:11).
St. Paul reminds us of what St. Nicholas lived; recognizing how we are “enriched in every way” in our relationships with God and each other. The hectic race and the stress of the commercial aspects of Advent leading to Christmas often narrow the gift and blind us to the way we are enriched and how we are able to enrich others in ‘every way.’
One piece of advice I received many years ago was in reflecting on the day I was asked to pray through three simple steps. 1. How was I blessed by others today? 2. How did I bless others today? 3. What did I do that needs to be forgiven? As I recall these steps and give thanks to God in gratitude this time inspires the generosity of spirit in every way within my life.
What these three simple steps help me do is to remove the material and begin to focus on the relational gifts of generosity that I seek to give and receive daily in my journey of faith. St. Nicholas’ greatest legacy isn’t the gifts he shared with the children rather it is his unwavering faith in the goodness of God and thereby the goodness of God’s holy people. Generosity springs forth from the soul naturally when we focus first on blessings and most especially on how I bless others with who I am as a child of God. We can then begin to live with a grateful heart flowing over with joyful love.
Don’t get me wrong, I love a good Christmas gift but the greatest gifts I receive are those words of affirmation, those small notes of thanksgiving and most of all, the sharing of my gifts with others without counting the costs.
Keep up the Advent preparation by using formed.org and their Advent series…it has been a great blessing for me.
God bless,
Fr. Mark

St. Nicholas resources…

Advent can be busy…and it isn’t even Advent yet…but I am already busy…yikes! I guess one of the biggest challenges we face each December/Advent is how to make space for prayer, contemplation and being with Jesus. I can’t say that I am always the best example to follow because this time of preparation (Advent) is a time of many liturgical and Church things that must be done and cannot wait for when I am in a ”better place” to deal with them.
How do we make space? The easiest and truest answer is…we simply make the space. It is an act of the will and an act of discipline in our lives to take time and make the space for listening to the presence of God in our movement towards Christmas Day. It begins with the will and the choice of doing something or anything for that matter. I would suggest that the “thing” must stretch you spiritually. If it doesn’t do this then there is really little point to the practice because we are being called into a deeper conversation and conversion with God…therefore we must dig deeper than we feel comfortable with. Second, don’t be discouraged. Advent is only 23 days this year, December 2nd until the 24th…it isn’t that long. Third, we need to take the dive in to the prayer with someone as a spiritual companion. The easiest person is a spouse, a child, a parent or a sibling…the second easiest would be a friend or even someone who sits close to you at Church…it all works but the spiritual friend reminds us and encourages us to stick through the 23 days.
Three easy but challenging steps…1. Choose 2. Persevere 3. Seek help and give help. Okay, now go and do it.
First we choose…there a literally hundreds of Advent helps we can use. My suggestion is the prayer time be at the minimum 10 minutes. Doesn’t sound like a lot but it can be if we fill it with the voice of God. You might choose an online daily message (see below for suggestions) that may only take two or three minutes to watch or read. Then we slow down and take the time to reflect and maybe write a few thoughts down. We may choose to write a daily challenge or promise to help us remember the message of the day. Don’t short change yourself by watching or reading and then running back to life without taking time to talk with God. You may also find a print version/a booklet that has daily guides for helping us through Advent. Or we may use the daily Gospel or other reading from the Mass to pray with our Lord Jesus as we hear him speak to us in the quiet of our heart.
Second we persevere…we will miss a day or cut short our time or something else will get in the way…we can deal with this…because tomorrow will come. The biggest and greatest hurdle we can often face is our expectations and how we respond when we fail to live up to our own high expectations. Believe me, each Advent or Lent I enter into these seasons with this firm conviction: I will not miss one day or cut short one hour of my quiet time with God…and then things go sideways. It can be disheartening but we need to take up our prayers and once more follow him. Sometimes my most fruitful time of prayer comes after I have missed a day or gave God less than I should have because of my selfishness.
Third and most important seek help and give help…there is a reason Jesus sent out his disciples two by two…it is because we all need encouragement and help. A few years ago I began asking for help during Advent and Lent. I have a priest friend from another state and we email each other our brief thoughts each day. It isn’t hard and it keeps us both focused on the daily blessings of our time with the Lord. It is also beneficial because of the insights we share deepen our reflection and open our eyes to things we may not have heard because of our own hurts and sins.
We are a people called to holiness and prayer is the road of holy love of God and neighbor. Please take time to pray and seek others and invite others to pray with you.
God Bless
Fr. Mark

online resources.

Daily Gospel usccb.org/bible/readings

Dynamic Catholic https://dynamiccatholic.com/best-advent-ever

Busted Halo Advent Calendar https://advent.bustedhalo.com/

Word on Fire with Bishop Robert Barron https://adventreflections.com/

For St. Lucy Parish Parishioners

formed.org daily reflection and a weekly study you can join and It’s FREE and has both adult and children daily reflections.

In this week of Thanksgiving, I would like to begin with the last paragraphs of Ned Coletti’s book “The Big Chair” where he writes, “The lovers of baseball and sports have also earned a tip of the cap—a standing ovation. Without fans there are no games for pay, no sports careers to work toward, no fun and games in the toy department of life… I look back on in awe while I look forward to the chapters of life to come. None of it is possible without the unfailing grace and majestic blessings from God. With respect, immense gratitude, and deep love.” (p 422-423)
I offer you this short quote because it focuses us on what is most important.
We must have love…for baseball, for life, for one another. It is important to give thanks for this love. Our passions and loves direct us toward a greater good and a joy-filled life where we learn to share these passions with others. I remember sitting in the stands of the Savanah Braves stadium as a young Marine with Rick cheering on the game. Neither of us interested in the Atlanta Braves or their farm system but both of us sharing a love of the game. Or as a young man watching the Seattle Mariners with Carl in the Kingdome, one of the worst places to enjoy a game to be played outside. Often with only a few thousand people echoing about the huge expanses, but sharing a beer and stories of life and baseball.
We must be thankful to others for what we share…without others (the fans) baseball while still fun becomes less than it could be but with others it becomes a life-giving moment in time where we see a future and hopefulness in the next player, the next child, the next relationship of grace. To be thankful of life around us, the small moments of joy for the “next” moments of encounter in life.
We must have awe…I think in our technological society we are in awe of what things can do but seldom in awe of the person who helps and serves our growth into the person God is calling us to be in life. We become thankful for the little miracles that begin to surround us and share these miracles in awe because they unite us with God in so many different aspects of life. Awe draws us closer to greatness and draws from us the joyous truth of being created for the better, the greater the more holy in life.
We must take time….acknowledging our past, present and future as the shapers of our lives where the experiences we share form the hopes of what will be in the world. It is the disappointments of the fall darkness transformed into the bright hope of spring time and a new season. It is honoring and loving the grandeur and disappointments of the past and at the same time letting go to embrace the unknown and hopes of a future where dreams are born into the reality of goodness.
We must live in gratefulness…God’s unfailing grace surrounds us and supports us even in the difficult autumns of life. Gratefulness and gratitude remind us of the fragility of life and love and how we are invited to daily take up that love (the cross) and follow him who is our God. It is in gratitude sharing the gifts we have, whether it is a 98 mile-per-hour fastball or simple works of mercy, each gift brings blessings to those who share in the awe-inspiring joy and love of life. The call to be grateful is one of stewardship of time, the most precious gift we can share, for we do not know the hour or the time, but we trust in the eternal gift of life that will be offered if we simply love.
My prayers for each of your at this time of Thanksgiving is to share life in joyful abundance and to offer a word and gift of love to all you encounter in life.
God Bless
Fr. Mark

The attack has begun again. They will go on full offensive mode next Friday, November 23, 2018. What is the attack? Why November 23rd? Well, the attack is the Christmas shopping season and Black Friday is its largest attack on the spiritual welfare of our finances. As a people called to live a life of stewardship of God’s gifts of time, talent and treasure we are often afraid of bringing our “treasure” into the spiritual conversation with God because we are often fooled into thinking that money falls outside of the spiritual life….it doesn’t. In truth it is a very import part of our spiritual life and growth.
This was brought clearly to my mind this week with the terrible and disastrous fires that consumed Paradise CA and endanger so many people as-well-as the fires to the southern part of the California around Malibu. Almost immediately on facebook was a “friend” who posted a fundraiser for their “friend” to help by a small camper trailer for use because their house had been destroyed. Then a request from another “friend” to help a crisis pregnancy center that had been destroyed and needed help to rebuild and continue to help the expectant mothers during this devastating time. And then I began to think about the many other “asks” we are going to receive in the next few weeks leading up to Christmas…yes even asks from the local parish…to help support the many worthy causes. On top of all of these “asks” there will be the stresses of the Christmas shopping and how we share gifts with family and friends. If all this seems overwhelming, it is to me, then we truly need to place God in the center to help us figure this all out.
First and foremost…there are many good causes who ask us to help them but we also understand the care we are called to have in stewarding our financial resources. What are we to do? It all begins with a conversation about love: love of God, love of family, love of stranger. Why is this conversation important? It places our values into a perspective of generosity. Love is an act of generosity that stretches us to see the goodness of God in all we do in the world, including the stewardship of our treasure.
Let’s begin with this dream Kerry Alys Robinson shares in the introduction to her book “Imagining Abundance” where she writes, “Picture yourself as an agent of change for your faith community bringing to full fruition what most think is impossible… What would you need to have such an impact? Many in the world see limitation, scarcity, insurmountable obstacles, and inability, while yearning for the opposite. There is no magic wand, no secret formula, no set of perfect preconditions for profound positive impact. Yet everyone can be an agent of transformation.” (p. 1) If we have started with a conversation of love, then all obstacles begin to be transformed as we see the possibility of goodness in each blessing and challenge placed in front of us.
Ultimately, I am writing this to begin a conversation during this season when so much is asked of us around our treasure and how we are called to use this gift. The conversation of love is recognizing our call to holiness and the vocation of holiness is one of community united together. Frank J. Hanna reminds us of this when he writes, “If we fail in this vocation to be holy, then, it seems to me, it doesn’t matter how great our wealth may be, or crippling our poverty: we’ve failed our fundamental vocation and failed at the most important task that was given us.” (P 129 from “What Our Money Means”)
As family we are called to share in these discussions of love as we look toward how we are called to be good stewards of our time, talent and treasure. We allow our whole family is invited into a conversation of generous love. When we begin to recognize what is most important we begin to choose abundance over scarcity and realize sharing what we have with others will help us to see God’s work in the little moments of life. I invite you to enter into prayerful conversations of discernment with God and family as we enter this joyful season of anticipation.
God Bless
Fr. Mark

I would invite you to study and pray more on this subject with one or more of the books below.

I will be giving a talk to parents of children preparing for First Holy Communion tomorrow about the Sacrament of Reconciliation and why we are Christian. It’s a wonderful talk to share with these parents and it is something we should all be thinking about and pondering on a daily basis. Because it is not about doubting or trying to prove our faith in Jesus Christ isn’t false but rather it is looking deeply into the mystery of life and discovering our purpose and the truth of who we are.
We might look at it form the angle of these two books: Fr. Timothy Radcliffe OP “What is the Point of Being a Christian?” and The book by Trent Horn, “Why We’re Catholic: Our Reasons for Faith, Hope and Love.” The two titles always remind me of our search for truth in faith and reason and how we always seek the answer coming from different directions.
We can begin our discussion from the positive standpoint as to “Why We’re Catholic” in this way we “tackle” the hard questions about our faith and look with reason into the why’s, the how’s and the where’s of what we believe. This approach is very important in many ways but never fully answers some of the deeper questions we have from our human experience because in some way it assumes we can be reasonable about faith.
If we look at our faith with the question, “What’s the point?” then we are not so much faced with the reason side of faith, rather we are faced with the belief side of faith which is trickier and much harder to grasp at times. I think the lived experience of being a Christian in the modern world and our witness to the faith helps us to understand the question but the harder part is how do we talk to others, witness to others and bring others into a relationship with Jesus Christ…what’s the point?
This is where the two angles, the two different approaches must be joined. We cannot live and witness to Jesus Christ unless we know, in faith and reason, the harder, deeper and often difficult questions of our faith. You may notice I didn’t say answers. An answer is surely part of knowing the question but, as a former school teacher, it is often better to thoroughly know the question: what is it asking, before we delve into trying to answer. Anyone can quote scripture, but to know Sacred Scripture, to know the Word of God which is the great question is the true goal, to know the person as we seek the answers is the greatest question we can pose and ponder as disciples of Jesus Christ.
To look for “the answer” we must first know the question and honestly ask the question. This of course means opening our heart to change and conversion where we hear Jesus cry out “repent and believe in the Gospel.” (Mk 1:15) To many times we ask question where our prejudice closes our heart to hear the good news of God’s desire that we be converted and saved. We must be honest in desiring the truth, the truth of Jesus Christ because if we don’t ask the questions, or do so only with a closed mind and heart then there is no point, there is no answer that will satisfy.
I have always intellectually known why Jesus ends the beatitudes with the promise of persecution. But as our society deserts truth more and more often, to speak God’s truth of repentance and forgiveness becomes the cross we all must learn to bear.

Fr. Radcliffe ends his work with this paragraph of challenge and hope where we respond with the yes or no of faith, “We must give each other courage and renounce collusion with the powers of silence, the powers of the tomb. We can refuse that auto censorship, which is always fearful about what other people might think if one were to say the truth.’ Let not your hearts be troubled; believe in God, believe also in me’ (John 14.1). We can enjoy moments of Sabbath together, sharing even now in God’s own rest.”(p 212)

God Bless
Fr. Mark

This weekend the Diocese of San Jose will celebrate the ordination into the transitional diaconate of two men: Victor Trinidad and John Hoang. At their ordination Victor and John will be asked to commit themselves to a life of service and love, a life of service and love that will be strengthened through their relationships with the people of God. In my work in Worldwide Marriage Encounter we recognize how the Sacraments of Holy Orders and those of Holy Matrimony mirror one another as Sacraments of relationship.
While the below promises are but a small part of the ordination rite I would ask you to reflect on how God calls us all into a relationship of love in the proper vocation we are called to live.
Are you willing to live a chaste celibate life? This is the promise that so many people focus on because it seems so counter to our culture…but this has always been the case. It is a call to chaste celibate love were the relationships of the ordained are found in the friendships and bounds of intimacy that our outside of sexual activity. The call to celibacy must always be first found in chastity were we form our hearts and minds to seeing the beauty of God’s creation as faithful witnesses to true and holy love. In a similar way the husband and wife promise to be faithful in a chaste intimate love where they form their hearts and minds to see the beauty of the other and exercise the beauty of their sexual love in an intimacy exclusive of all others. While not as counter cultural, think about how many people today decry marriage and pooh-pooh the idea of chaste faithful love.

Are you willing to be ordained? This same question is echoed in the question to the husband and wife in asking them if they have come to the altar freely and without coercion. This is a question when answered freely and with love informs the next two questions to be asked. It reminds both the man to be ordained and the woman and man to be married they are offering themselves to something greater and something that goes beyond their individual self and is joined in a mysterious way to the other.

Are you willing to dutifully fulfill the ministry? I often think when people look at what priests and deacons do in their ministry they look too often at the outside and not the inside of the life. Just as husband and wife must choose to interiorly conform themselves to the other the deacon and priest must do the same. We can look at the duties of husband and wife in the same way we look at the duties of priest and deacon and miss the mark completely. The willingness to fulfill the ministry is not a willingness to exchange one thing for another but the desire to give and share all that you are with the other. For the husband and wife this is a sharing of one to the other in a profound intimacy, for the priest and deacon is too is a sharing of oneself with God through the community of the Church in a blessing of love.

Are you willing to live the life? As the sacramental union of husband and wife is an eternal gift, “until death do us part,” so the desire to live the life as a priest and deacon is a choice to know we are bound in a sacramental bond to God and His holy Catholic Church. The formation of a man to be ordained a deacon and then priest take more than five years where he is asked the difficult question about sacrifice and suffering in the name of Jesus Christ. It is the desire and hope of the Church that when the man steps forward he is at peace with the choice of following God’s call to serve. I remember talking with a friend as we shared experiences of our sacramental days where he said when he saw his wife enter the church on their wedding day his heart both exploded with excitement and joy at the same time a deep peace grew as he knew his bride was his Sacrament.

Are you willing to pray for the Church? This should be easy enough…if you are unwilling to pray daily for and with your beloved you should rethink your decision to enter into marriage and certainly as marriage grows the prayer of both husband and wife as individuals and a couple should grow deeper and stronger…same with the priest and deacon.

Are you willing to obey your Bishop and Church? Last but not least…obedience. To obey in love is perhaps the hardest question to ascent to because it requires a total gift at times that hurts deeply. In this we recognize what St. Paul meant when he called for both obedience and sacrifice even unto death to self in the gift of love. Obedience in love requires that we trust our beloved that all they will ask of us will bring us closer to God and enrich and strengthen our Sacrament. If we place that much trust in God through our Bishop or our spouse then obedience becomes a joyful gift we offer and receive daily in our life.

Please pray for Victor Trinidad and John Hoang in thanksgiving for their yes. Please continue to pray for the sanctification, purification and healing of Our Catholic Church.

God Bless
Fr. Mark

“How do we love our Church?” That is a question being asked by many people and one posed at a Confirmation session for sponsors of our teens. It is a good question and one that is needed to be asked.
How do we love our Church in a time of crisis? Scandal? Bad news? What ever phrase we wish to add after “a time of” is a probing and searching need to discover a depth of truth and faith behind the question. It is good to ask these questions because when we don’t then we have slipped into indifference about our faith and our Church which is the first step out the door and towards a life without a constructive and hopeful experience of the reality of God in our lives.
I believe the answer lies within the question and trust me when I say this question has been on my mind and I have asked it of friends in my continued search for the why’s and how’s of the scandal within our beloved Church.
“Our” This simple word is so very important because it isn’t “the” “a” but “our Church.” This is the first trap set and one we can easily fall into. The temptation of separating ourselves from the Body of Christ by reducing our role in the stewardship of “our Catholic Church” is a true temptation. The “our” part comes with a cost…the time, talent and treasure of being involved. It is hard to be an owner of our faith, and our Church when we are absent from the day to day prayer, the weekly gathering and the eternal hope of life offered and given. The cost is the sacrificial offering of self to Jesus Christ who lives at the center of our call to relationship.
“Relationship” “Much will be required of the person entrusted with much, and still more will be demanded of the person entrusted with more.” (Lk 21:48) I put this quote forward because it is a reminder of this cost of relationship. As a priest in the Worldwide Marriage Encounter movement I continue discover how we are called into and entrusted with a relationship of love. Our vocation is to love and be loved and this is a big deal. Our spousal relationships call us to work for another and to help the other become the holy and loved person God has created him/her to be. We also know the faults and failures of our own lives and those of the other. And this is the work…to draw the best out of the other and to seek to become more Christlike in our relationships…because “more will be demanded of the person entrusted with more.”
“A search” The search is not minimize or dismiss the sin but to seek a greater good. As the Catechism of the Catholic Church reminds us, sin is present in the members of the Church but though the sacramental grace we are able to resist and overcome the hurt of sin. “The Church is therefore holy, though having sinners in her midst, because she herself has no other life but the life of grace. If they live her life, her members are sanctified; if they move away from her life, they fall into sins and disorders that prevent the radiation of her sanctity. This is why she suffers and does penance for those offenses, of which she has the power to free her children through the blood of Christ and the gift of the Holy Spirit.” (CCC #827) In the choice to love we search out the presence of Jesus Christ in even the most troubling moments of our life. We may see the sin blotting out much good but we are called to search for the light of truth, faith and hope knowing the love of God is found even in the darkness.
“Carry our cross” Each day when we read the newspaper and articles in magazines and on the internet, when we find ourselves in conversations that are challenging to our faith and accusatory in their words, when we hear about another problem we can despair and even say, “enough is enough.” But Jesus reminds us “And calling the crowd to him with his disciples, he said to them, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.” (Mk 8:34) Once more this isn’t to minimize or dismiss the horrific sins of abuse and coverup by bishops and priests but if we understand the reality of “our Church” where we are in “relationship” with the person of Jesus Christ in and through our brothers and sisters in faith where we are invited to search for the good, the beautiful and the holy even in midst of darkness, then we choose the cross in love and embrace the crucified Jesus in love.
I have talked about this dozens of times over the past months and will continue to remind myself and others. There is no easy answer or set of rules that will ever fully protect and safeguard everyone but when we choose to live a life of holiness in union with Jesus Christ then we will call out the sin in our midst and “…Just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do.” (1 Pt 1:15)
Please pray for the sanctification, purification and healing of our Catholic Church.

God bless
Fr. Mark

We are often fascinated by celebrity and the big things of this world to the detriment of our experiencing the fullness of life. Sometimes it can be because we are too busy or occupied to notice the small details and at other times we rush by because the small details can cause complications and worries in life we do not wish to tackle at the moment. But if God knows the very smallest details of who we are, “Indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.” (Lk 12:7) then maybe it is a hint to us to slow down and look at the details of life because perhaps, just perhaps, we will discover the greater blessings in life.
Why do I ask this question today? Because of St. Pope Paul VI and St. Oscar Romero…that’s why. And oh yeah…the other five men and women who were canonized as Saints in the Catholic Church the same day. Who are these other five? That’s a good question. As a priest I try to keep up with the news and was very excited when it was announced the two above mentioned men would be canonized. And in truth in everything I read until the final days I had know idea there were others saints being called forth. In fact I was a bit shocked when I read a headline “7 to be Canonized” on one of the Catholic news websites. Even more amazing was throughout the days prior and the day of the Mass 99% of the images where of either both St. Paul VI or St. Oscar Romero if not of one or the other but not the other five.
Who were the other five….St. Vincent Romano (+1881), St. Francesco Spinelli (+1913), St. Nunzio Suprizio (+1836), St. Nazaria Ignacio March Mesa (+1943) and St. Maria Katharina Kasper (+1898). You can read about these holy men and women on the link provided below. But once more going back to the above thought, we can often focus on the big and ignore the little to the detriment of our life of holiness and our life of grace. In reality these “lesser known” saints are vitally important and for their community, their local church and to us they are examples of grace and courage in the faith.
But why is this so important? I believe it is because when we seek holiness we discover it in the small encounters and the local relationships, (in the lesser) more readily and with greater impact then the large and greater in the long run.
One example we might use is this. A while back I was asked to go and celebrate an Anointing of the Sick at a local facility. When I got in the room, the person to be anointed was with her daughter and granddaughter. The room was filled with joy and love that was remarkable. In conversation, the daughter stated, “Her mom was the very best in the whole world.” I immediately thought about my mom; who is the very best mom in the whole world! With all joking aside, it was a moment when we can all remember how God blesses us through the small “saintly” relationship we have with one another. It is how the heroic virtue of a life of holiness shines through when we allow ourselves to see God in the other. To this family, their mom was their saint, flaws and all, because she showed them the face of Christ. And while their mom will never be loved universally like our Blessed Mother or many of the famous saints, she will be always loved by her family just as I and my family will always love our mom. We love them because we know them, flaws and all.
This is really the point: to know our family of saints who live around us and are in the great communion of saints in heaven. Our challenge is always to know the other: to know God and all the people He has given us to love. Perhaps we could take time to read about the saint of the day and to visit, call or pray for a relative and friend each day. In doing so we might get to know and love our sisters/brothers and friends like Maria Katharina Kasper and the many other saints in heaven.

God bless
Fr. Mark

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/the-seven-saints-pope-francis-will-canonize-on-sunday-73292

Sunday’s other new saints show holiness isn’t just for celebrities

ABSENCE
I visited the place where we last met.
Nothing was changed, the gardens were well-tended,
The fountains sprayed their usual steady jet;
There was no sign that anything had ended
And nothing to instruct me to forget.

The thoughtless birds that shook out of the trees,
Singing an ecstasy I could not share,
Played cunning in my thoughts. Surely in these
Pleasures there could not be a pain to bear
Or any discord shake the level breeze.

It was because the place was just the same
That major absence seem a savage force,
For under all the gentleness there came
An earthquake tremor: fountains, birds and grass
Were shaken by my thinking of your name.
By: Elizabeth Jennings

“Father, everything is so different but it’s just the same,” were the words that came tumbling out of the mouth of a man who had just confessed (not in sacramental confession) that this was the first time in over 25 years that he had entered a Catholic Church.
“I visited the place where we last met.” We had a brief conversation where I invited him to a deeper talk about faith and how we could help him “rediscover” his Catholic faith. The poem above, by Elizabeth Jennings, expresses the beauty of an unfailing truth of God’s love…He never changes…He waits through my absence…He invites me to be with him where I am shaken “by my thinking of your name.” The timelessness of God’s love is ever new in the hearts of all people because we believe God sees and proclaims the goodness of creation through his son, Jesus Christ.
The above conversation and the poem both reminded me of the journey of truth and faith we walk as disciples of Jesus Christ. We all have the experience of walking into a house, a room or a place and the flood of memories overwhelm us. These memories can be good or bad but they bring a moment of time back with such clarity where nothing seems to have changed. Our journey of faith and truth calls us to re-remember the moments of grace where the presence of God overwhelmed us and feel the earthquake of faith rattle us awake again.
Two of these places in my life are very different but the same. The first is the parish church of St. Anthony in Greencreek Idaho. This is the parish of my Baptism, First Communion and Confirmation and while during my high school years I went to the other local parishes, depending on my family and time of Mass, St. Anthony’s always brings back a deepness of God’s presence differently than any other church. It is not anything specific and certainly things have changed and yet there is also a presence of faith, memory and truth the cry out as the grace filled moments roll over in the soul. It is a place where faith and family reside as the hours of prayer and play intertwined as parents and adults chatted and children ran free. It may be a romanticized memory but a memory none-the-less of God’s goodness in love.
The second place is the ocean…I know that’s a big place…but maybe more specifically the coast where the waves meet the land. To hear and see the sound and power of the ocean, whether it be the storms of the Washington state coast or the Santa Cruz beaches each time I sit and watch the power and hear the roar the life of the savage force under a gentle glass of the ocean spread across the horizon moves my soul to the greatness of God’s creation.
I think Elizabeth Jennings’ gets it right in the words of “Absence” where she reminds us of the power of love and how memory draws us back into a place of love. And while we often fall out of love with God through willful sin we are invited back through the gift of these same memories. The gentlemen above who confessed his absence talked about how the hurts of his life: the death of family and friends, the loss of work and home, the wandering in sin, was always tempered by his knowing a memory of love dwelling deep within his soul, a memory he was never able to forget. We may not wander far or loose deep love but we all know loss it is in these moments we are called to remember and seek to find true healing and joy to fill the absence with God’s name.

Please pray for the continued sanctification, purification and healing of our Catholic Church.
And may the two newest saints, this Saturday October 13 be always examples of true love of God. St. Pope Paul VI…pray for us. St. Oscar Romero…pray for us.

God bless,
Fr. Mark