This week, October 22^nd was the Memorial of St. John Paul II. It is wonderful day to remember and focus on the message of life and unity that were the core messages of his pontificate. As our Holy Father Francis and the members of the Synod on the Family conclude their meetings, I would like once more to reflect on Love is Our Mission: The Family Fully Alive.

“St. John Paul II exhorted, ‘Family, become what you are,’ and his words have lost nothing of their vibrancy; their urgency has only intensified in the face of the many challenges that families experience today.” (#197)

What are we, as family to become?

1. A family that chooses life. This is the primary vocation of all Christians; we give life. Jesus reminds us, “I am the way and the truth and the life.”(Jn 14:6)Jesus is the life of the world and if we follow Him we also live life fully. It is ever more important that the family become a place of life especially as we hear the grim news of abortion and the newly enacted euthanasia law in California. When the family becomes a fount of life society becomes life giving and the evil of the culture of death is exposed for the lie that it is.

2. A family that is a domestic Church. We are reminded that in baptism the parents and godparents accept the responsibility of sharing their faith with their children. This is a call to unity because we can never do it alone. The family extends and grows as we are united in the Body of Christ. Families in sharing their faith grow deeper in their faith because it becomes part of the everyday rhythm of life. To speak of God, to share the good news of Jesus Christ, to live in the breath of the Holy Spirit is a natural extension of our family conversations where prayer is our daily bread
3. A family that is a communion of love. The man and woman joined in sacramental grace are transformed into a community of love. This foundational love is the building blocks for holy and happy families. They, the wife and husband, must take time to share with each other the marital love that is sacrificial and obedient to one another. Their love, flowing into the family, help to establish the future holiness of the world that is reflected in the joy shared and given as they are invited into the greater unity of the Church.
4. A family that is a home. A home is more that a structure, rather it is a place of refuge from the emotional, spiritual and other battles that we fight in the world. The home becomes the resting place where we rest in the love of God that surrounds us in the family. It is an ideal that we should all strive to meet as sons and daughters of the living God.
5. A family that is a missionary witness. We are all called to be evangelist of the word of God, to witness to our faith in our daily lives. This was the challenge Pope Benedict XVI gave the Church: the missionary field is not in far off lands but in the family, in the traditional Christian lands needing to rediscover their faith in a God who is love and comes to save. This witness needs to be shared also within our family.

I know that the ideal of family expressed above is “an ideal” and that all families struggle to meet this ideal. But the call to holiness means that we must challenge ourselves and others to strive for greatness in our relationships and not mediocrity in living the life of Christian virtue. It is taking Jesus at his word, “Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” (Mt 5:48)

God Bless, Fr. Mark

One of the blessings of presiding at liturgy on Sundays and other times is the unique perspective that you get on life and the life of the church. As you look out towards the people you notice a lot of different actions going on throughout the Mass. It is true during the times of song when you see who are the singers and who aren’t and who does it with enthusiasm and joy. You are able to see the deepness of prayer and the interactions between the members of the congregation.

One of the things that bring great joy to my heart (and I think to all priests) is the families that come to celebrate. During this time of the Synod of the Family there is much focus on the nuclear family and how they are the foundation of the greater Church and the need to care for and lift up families in the life of the church. Last Sunday I will share three wonderful joys that young families brought to me during the Mass.

First was during the preparation of the gifts (the collection for everyone else) when a family with three children dropped their gift of treasure in the basket. Each of the children was given something to put in during this time. The three had been squirming and poking and distracting each other for the first part of the Mass but once the basket began to come down their pew there was a seriousness that settled over them as the dropped their donation, and watched their siblings do the same, into the basket and then each one looked towards their parents with such a look of happiness I almost laughed aloud. The lesson I gleaned was very simple: we must help our children be involved in the celebration even if it is something as small as dropping a dollar in the basket. The connection become life giving rather than the “hour I have to sit quietly.”

The second happened during the same time of Mass as a child chased down the ushers to hand them the family envelope. I don’t know the reason it wasn’t dropped in the basket as it passed them but down the aisle raced the child as he caught the usher, dropped the envelope in the basket and then skipped back up the aisle to his family. The joy of expressing the gift of the family is a joy we should all have as we share our time, talent and treasure. Pope Francis in his Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Gaudium (The Joy of the Gospel) gives us this wonderful sentence that reminds us that even in the difficulties of life if we allow ourselves to be negative we encounter not the joy of the Gospel but, “One of the more serious temptations which stifles boldness and zeal is a defeatism which turns us into querulous and disillusioned pessimists, “sourpusses”.” (#85) Yes, the Holy Father is telling us not to be sourpusses in our life of faith.

The third instance was in the last Mass I celebrated that Sunday. I was exhausted on many levels. We had celebrated the parish Fun Fest and there was much fun but also much work. During the opening song of the Mass as we processed down the aisle I looked over and a young boy of about six was dancing away to the music as he clapped and sang the words with unbridled joy. It was such a life-giving blessing. It certainly was not the “sourpuss” of defeatism but the joy lived fully and completely as his family surrounded him in the celebration of the Eucharist.

Short story told in very long verse…Jesus says we need to be more like little children in faith…he’s right.

God Bless

Fr. Mark

The following writing are nuggets of thought that were gleaned from my annual retreat at El Retiro (2015) reflecting on the writings and talks given by Pope Francis.

We have all heard Pope Francis say many times the simple declaration, “I am a sinner.” It is an act of humility that each Christian speaks and within the Sacrament of Reconciliation we as Catholic Christians seek healing grace from our God.

What type of sinner are we? This is a question that Jesus answers throughout his ministry and which Francis repeats clearly, “I am a loved sinner.” Before you read any further, please take some time to rest and ponder those words. “I am a loved sinner.”

In the Gospels, each time Jesus encounters a person, he looks at them and loves them. Each woman or man, rich or poor, sick or healthy, whatever the state of life, Jesus looks at them and loves them. Today, at this very moment, Jesus looks at you and loves you.

I do not know how many times I have heard someone tell me the sin the committed is unforgivable. Or that they have done so many bad things that God could never love or forgive them. Or how many times within the Sacrament of Reconciliation I have spoken the words “God loves you” and the person begins to cry understanding again how much God desires them, a loved sinner, to be with Him.

This isn’t a soft marshmallow anything goes love. Rather, it is a love that is merciful and desires the union of love. Jesus, when he encountered others did not wish them to remain in their sin. He called them to conversion where they began to walk with him in holiness. It is a call repeated again and again in invitation to his closest disciples who kept on getting it wrong but in love continued the journey knowing God’s love through their companionship with Jesus.

As a loved sinner we have hope in love. It is a hope that is founded in our shared experience of knowing Jesus and experiencing the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives.

As followers of Jesus Christ we are all loved sinners and in our life of faith we are called to express this gift of love through our actions of forgiveness, reconciliation and mercy in the world. It is possible but only when we begin to live, “forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us” in each moment of our lives. A loved sinner accepts the gift of mercy from our Heavenly Father and then generously passes it on to their neighbor the loved sinner.

God Bless

Fr. Mark

This past week 21 priests from the Diocese of San Jose, a priest from Chicago and two Jesuit priest were on retreat. (and this is not the start of some joke) It was my annual retreat to renew my spiritual life hearing the voice of God spoken and shared. During the retreat the two Jesuits led us in the writings and talks of Pope Francis and how his Ignatian spirituality (called this because the founder of the Jesuits is St. Ignatius of Loyola and his particular path to understand Jesus in our lives) informs his leadership as Bishop of Rome.

This long introduction is a way of getting at the headlines and proclamations that have come from many people in the United States prior to, during and following Pope Francis’ visit to our shores. We hear, “I am proud of my Church again.” “Francis is going to change the Church.” and even “I don’t ever want the Church to go back to where it was before Francis.” to paraphrase many of the comments.

I think that this misses the point of our faith and follows in the temptations that have been part of every journey of faith since God created human beings. What is this temptation? We make gods out of non-gods.

Please don’t get me wrong, I deeply love and respect our Holy Father and I am challenged and humbled to live my faith and my priesthood more deeply through his example but I am fearful that others want to see our faith through him rather than through Jesus. And this is the rub.

People, Catholics and non-Catholics, point out to me again and again how excited and joyous the Church is when Pope Francis visits. I point out that during the pontificate of Pope St. John Paul II you could see crowds just as enthusiastic. Watching the video of his return to Poland and how he met in joyous prayer and celebration with thousands of young people through the night as they sang, prayed and listened. Or how on the plains outside of Denver a million young people chanted, “JP II we love you.”

The point is that both St. John Paul II and Pope Francis remind us over and over that it is not they but Jesus to whom we should be looking too in love and adoration.

The hard truth is that the Church is made up of each one of us and Pope Francis and the 265 men who have sat in the Chair of Peter before him remind us throughout time we are called to the service of love through the Most Holy Trinity. Francis, repeating the message of Jesus, reminds us that we are called to go out and serve, not as social workers but as members of the Body of Christ bringing the joy and blessing of the Gospel message to all people through our works of mercy. We are invited to be, in Pope Francis’ words, a field hospital, to be bruised and broken so that we might come back to the Eucharist to be formed, fed and healed in and through the community of faith in the united in our Lord Jesus. If we follow Jesus and live a Eucharistic life of service, what would our Church be to you, to me and to the world?

God Bless

Fr. Mark

Through what lens do we view the world? I saw two pictures from Pope Francis visit to the United States this past week that brought this phrase back to my mind. The first was of an elderly woman watching the Holy Father motor by while all who surrounded her were snapping photos with their phones, ipads and other devices. The second was of the Papal Mass where some of the concelebrating priests were doing the same.

One of the challenges we have in our faith life is to see with the eyes of God. Jesus reminds us of this again and again. (Mt 13:16, Mk 8:18) It is not a challenge that has occurred only in the past few years but has been the struggle of men and women throughout salvation history. And it is not a problem of picture taking. I like pictures and I enjoy looking through old family and community photos learning and sharing our history. It only becomes a problem when we permit it to dissolve our focus on what is in front of us and when it distracts us from the actions of service and worship in our lives. And trust me, I am not immune to this sin and I also believe it is not a generational thing because I know many grandparents who are just as bad as their teen grandchildren in putting the photo in front of the interaction.

I believe that it is more the challenge of being childlike in our actions. (I think Jesus has one or two things to say about this) As children grow and learn in the world and in their faith they don’t use cameras or videos…they look in wonder with eyes wide open. I think about how easy it is to loose yourself in the gaze of a child as they look at you, or how lovers can stare endlessly into the eyes of their beloved. We learn to place the filters and distractions in front of us as we blur the beauty of God and miss the wonder of life limiting our vision to the three-inch screen in front of our eyes.

I remember looking through a friend’s photo album of a trip they had taken several years ago. It must have been 100 pages and as I went through the album I noticed that there were very few “photos” taken by my friend and his wife. There were postcards, maps, and other items of their journey with photos interspersed. I never asked them about it but I can imagine that they chose to “see” rather than “take” their journey with the eyes of life. They gazed with the eyes of a child and saw the beauty of God’s creation surrounding them.

Sin tempts us to take, grab hold and put away while love invites us to see, to embrace and let go as we travel and experience anew the grace, peace and blessing of our Father through Jesus’ presence and the gifts of the Holy Spirit.

God Bless

Fr. Mark

We are created for joy. “Catholic teaching about marriage and the family flows from the heart of our faith…Our God is not inaccessible and remote; we believe that God reveals himself in Jesus Christ. Jesus is the source for the hope, faith, love and joy that should animate Catholic family life. He is the reason we can trust the wisdom of Catholic belief.” (1)

The above quote comes from the opening chapter of Love is Our Mission: The Family Fully Alive, which is the text for catechesis for the World Meeting of Families offered to us from the Bishops of the United States.

I have used texts from this book several times over the past few months but now that the meeting is happening in Philadelphia it may be good to retrace a few steps and also ask a question.

In the final Mass that Pope Francis celebrated in Cuba he asked us this one question, “Do you believe that Christ can transform your life?” This is a question of faith. It is a question of trust. It is a question of hope in the world. We ask this question because for many people God is remote and inaccessible. God is distant from our daily lives and we stumble and fall in lost hope for the goodness in life. The question the Pope asked in Cuba is the center of the life of the family because if we do not believe that God transforms our lives then what’s the point.

If we do believe then we believe that the Sacrament of Marriage also transforms the husband and wife. In fact, if we look at it backwards, we know the marriage of a man and woman radically transforms them as they grow in love and children are born into the marriage, even if we take God out of the equation. Place God at the center, when we believe he transforms us, then let the miracles begin. God’s transformation of the family is the radical gift of mercy, love, compassion and forgiveness lived with joy. We are all sinners and in God’s transformative grace we are able to seek the mercy, the love, the compassion and the forgiveness of God through the beloved sharing, giving and receiving this wondrous grace transform us.

And yet, we come back to the question, “do I believe?” If we believe then we must live and practice what we believe. If we believe then we will be transformed and made new…even in our sinfulness.

As the U.S. Bishops quote in the opening chapter of Love is our Mission from Pope Francis’ Encyclical Letter Lumen Fidei, “To those who suffer, God does not provide arguments which explain everything; rather, his response is that of an accompanying presence, a history of goodness which touches every story of suffering and opens up a ray of light. In Christ, God himself wishes to share this path with us and to offer us his gaze so that we might see the light within it. Christ is the one who, having endured suffering, is the ‘pioneer and perfecter of our faith.’” (9) In relationship with our brothers and sisters we share in the accompanying presence of God. as we live and love always remembering that mercy, forgiveness and compassion fulfill love.

Let the Church say AMEN.

God Bless

Fr. Mark

The Pope is coming…the Pope is coming…the Pope is coming!!!!!!!!!!

In the remote possibility you have been sequestered in some deep dark cave for the past few weeks…the Pope is coming. There is much excitement in the awaiting the coming of the Holy Father, Pope Francis, for his visit to the United States. We may, in our excitement, forget why his is coming and the important work that is being done in preparation for his visit.

Why is Pope Francis coming to the United States? He is not coming to visit the President or speak before the United Nations or the Congress and he is not here to canonize Junipero Serra…although he will be doing all of those things and more…he is coming for the World Meeting of Families. If you haven’t had a chance to read Pope Francis’ comments and remarks on the family I would encourage you to take time and do a little reading. I would suggest the www.catholicnewsagency.com and search for articles on Pope Francis and the family.

I offer you the following quotes…

“The family is a school where prayer also reminds us that we are not isolated individuals; we are one and we have a neighbour close at hand: he or she is living under the same roof, is a part of our life, and is in need.”

Pope Francis is reminding us of the very basic catechesis of the family, that the parents are the first teachers in faith for their children. Through their words, actions and dreams they draw all to a closer relationship with God that does not isolate but rather gathers and grows the community of faith. Parents and families are seeds of goodness and joy in the community. This is good news where husbands and wives are living symbols of God’s love and mercy for one another, their children and the world.

“God calls men and women to be parents who believe in love, who believe in its beauty. I want to ask you, do you believe in the beauty of love? Do you believe in the greatness of love? Do you have faith in this? This is a daily faith.”                                                  

Marriage is founded on beauty and love. It is the faith filled moment of conversion to another in our lives. God, who is love and beauty, centers our relationships and centers our lives on the daily struggles to be living symbols of holiness (saints) in our world                                                                                                                              

“If these wounds are not healed in time, they worsen and turn into resentment and hostility, which (then) fall to the children,” he cautioned, adding that when the wounds are particularly deep, “they can even lead a spouse to search for understanding elsewhere, to the detriment of the family.”                                                                         

But we are also realistic: we are sinners and do sin. The hurt of sin needs the healing balm of mercy and forgiveness that comes from a relationship with God. This is why the daily acts of love and forgiveness lead us to the openness, to reconciliation and growth in love where our true calling to be beloved in the arms of God and our family becomes reality.

Please take time to pray for your family and all families and remember THE POPE IS COMING!!!!!!!!

God Bless

Fr. Mark

“To obey in faith is to submit freely to the word that has been heard, because its truth is guaranteed by God, who his Truth itself” (CCC 144)

Faith is not a means to something further. It is not what we do in order to get into heaven. Mutual perfect faith would be heaven! Faith is its own end. To have faith is already to have come alive. “your faith has saved you” (Lk 18:42) is the way Jesus put it to the blind man. (Richard Rohr, What the Mystics Know)

The two quotes above remind us that faith as an act a submission to something greater than we are but also a movement of joy where we are fulfilled in our desire to be loved. As we remember the anniversary of the September 11, 2001, we are challenged to look with the eyes of faith into the world. In submitting to the greater we choose to work and journey towards that which is beyond our ability to understand or to even dream, it allows us to begin to see and act in the mercy and love of God. Living in faith means that we move away from the debilitating fear that often separates us from the other and drives a wedge between compassion and goodness in the community of love.

To be alive in faith, as Fr. Richard Rohr points out, is to be in a mutual and loving relationship. Fear and hopelessness deadens the heart while faith and love enliven and grow the capacity to love and be loved by the other.

A few years ago a teen came and complained that her mother did not love her and etc…(I will let you fill in the blank)….We had a wonderful and long conversation. It was difficult and hard to hear the words of hurt and anger because they conveyed the fear of not being loved. As we closed our conversation I asked her to do three things, the first was to pray for her mother at least three times a day, simply asking God to bless her. The second was to share one word with her mother at least three times a day: thank you. The third was a simple examination of conscience each evening looking not just at her faults but especially for the blessings received that day.

A couple of months after this conversation when we had a chance to chat again, the young lady was much happier. The relationship was better…not perfect…but better. The most remarkable thing she conveyed was that it wasn’t just her mother that she saw differently but her whole family and even her friends and teachers. To become alive in faith changed her perspective on the world.

When we look beyond ourselves into the eyes of God’s love with faith our world will change because we begin to know the graciousness and generosity of God’s mercy and love. Seeking to enter into his desire that we be united and joined in the unity of his love in and through faith.

God Bless

Fr. Mark

“The proof of love is in the works. Where love exists, it works great things. But when it ceases to act, it ceases to exist.” — Pope Saint Gregory the Great

Earlier this week, this quote from Gregory the Great came across my twitter feed. (believe it or not, two years ago I could not have written this sentence) and it made me think about many things. What is love? Why are works of love so vital in our life? How are love and mercy linked together? All of these thoughts bounced together, with many others, as I considered my life and the world around us.

For me, love first and foremost is a work of obedience and sacrifice as we choose to serve something greater. When I was ordained a priest my act of love was in the vows that I chose to pray that morning before my bishop, family and the Church. It was in love that I entered into something greater than my priesthood and into the heart of the Most Holy Trinity where my choice to become less allowed the work of God to become more in my life and the life of the Church. Love is the surrender of my life to a greater love.

And this is where the works of love do great things. As St. Paul writes, “If I give away everything I own, and if I hand my body over so that I may boast but do not have love, I gain nothing“(1 Cor 13:3) or St. James “So also faith of itself, if it does not have works, is dead.” (Jms 2:17) or Jesus even had a few things to say about the work of love “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.“ (Jn 13:34)

The works of love, the small and the great, sustain and feed the spirit and grow the vineyard of blessing. In my priesthood I have discovered this in the obedience to prayer, the hearing and contemplating the Word of God in Sacred Scripture and in adoration. But the works come into the fullness of joy when I chose to serve others in both the corporal and spiritual works of mercy. It is our baptismal call to love and be loved by turning towards and serving Jesus present in our brothers and sisters. It is the choice to offer it up to God always and everywhere in the good, the bad, the joys and the sufferings.

Which brings us to mercy. The Year of Mercy is fast approaching and it would be hopeless to seek mercy if we do not have faith, hope and love in our hearts flowing through our works. I discovered the fullness of depth of God’s love in mercy on my last visit with Fr. Alex Affonso before his death. It was when he asked my forgiveness for the challenges and difficulties we had as brother priests that I understood with the depth of the gift of mercy as shared love. It was the humbleness to allow the greater love of God’s mercy to be extended as I too asked for forgiveness and prayers. Mercy ultimately is seeing and acting with the eyes of love, the eyes of God, as we encounter our Lord Jesus in each other. It was at that moment that I knew what the women caught in adultery experienced,(Jn 8:1-11) what the criminal on the cross knew,(Lk 23:39-33) and what the disciples in the upper room rejoiced in as our Lord Jesus spoke those simple words. “Peace be with you.” (Jn20:20-22) Truly love is an ocean of mercy.

God Bless,

Fr. Mark

Ps. If you wish listen to  “Ocean of Mercy” by The Thirsting for a spiritual boost.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=U7kb9UcOp8Q

“This is the will of God, your holiness.” (1 Thes 4:3) Sometimes a short verse of Sacred Scripture gob smacks you early in the morning and shakes you out of the fog and has you sit up and take notice. St. Paul gives us this wake-up call today.

This call to holiness is a personal and profound entry into a relationship that goes beyond the humdrum and into the exciting and breathtaking.

To seek holiness is to seek love and to seek love is to seek God. And this is what God wants. He wants us to seek him but here’s the catch: he is not hiding rather he is pursuing us with fervor and joy. This is why, I believe, prayer and scripture are so important. It is why Sunday Mass is vital to our spiritual life. It is in these moments that we are able to slow down and stop. To put on the brakes and stop running thinking that we are seeking holiness and allowing the holiness of God to surround us.

How does this happen? Maybe it looks a little like this. A father was taking care of his two toddler children one Saturday. All he had to do was watch them, feed them lunch and then put them down for a nap. It all went horribly wrong. By lunch he was frazzled, most of the food prepared was either on the floor, the table or in the hair. As he prepared his children for their nap time the running began the escaping from the crib and the emotional temperature began to rise. At one point the father sat down on the sofa and laid his head back. When his wife came through the door, sitting on the couch was her dozing husband with a sleeping child’s head on each leg.

This can often be our life, where God in his love pursues us as we make the blunders and stumbles of our life where we want our own way and do it our way. We want to be in charge and focused on our pleasure and enjoyment, then God calls us to rest in him. It usually is neither a large clap of thunder nor a voice from the sky but the whisper of peacefulness that invites us to come and just be with him for a moment.

We discover the fullness of God’s call to holiness when we surrender to the joy of just being with God and resting as we do his holy work. It is being the saint that we are created to be were life is never without joy.

God Bless

Fr. Mark