““Pope Benedict XVI, in his Encyclical “Deus Caritas Est: God is Love,” returned to the topic of the truth of the love of man and woman, which is fully illuminated only in the love of the crucified Christ. He stressed that ‘marriage based on an exclusive and definitive love becomes an icon of the relationship between God and his people, and vice versa. God’s way of loving becomes the measure of human love.’ Moreover, in the Encyclical “Caritas in Veritate: Charity in Truth,” he highlighted the importance of love as a principle of life in society a place where we learn the experience of the common good”.” (AL #70)
Pope Francis in his Apostolic Exhortation “Amoris Laetitia: The Joy of Love” quotes Pope Benedict XVI on the strength of love when it is placed in the sacramental union of husband and wife.
This weekend I will be away for my cousin Catherine’s wedding in Seattle. For me, one of the great blessings I am able to share with my family is the witnessing of this wonderful gift of the Sacrament of Matrimony. One of the great blessings of my ministry, especially my work within Worldwide Marriage Encounter (WWME) is seeing, experiencing and sharing in the work of love that occurs in the unity of husband and wife. The common good of who Catherine and Gabe will become in the sacramental life is discovered in the shared sacrifice of unitive love.
Blessed Pope Paul VI (soon to be Saint)wrote in the encyclical “Humanae Vitae: Of Human Life” that, “By it (the sacrament of matrimony) husband and wife are strengthened and as it were consecrated for the faithful accomplishment of their proper duties, for the carrying out of their proper vocation even to perfection and the Christian witness which is proper to them for the whole world.” (HV#25) The vocational call of husband and wife in seeking the common good is found in the care for the other and the unitive and procreative love shared and blessed. God has called them to be husband and wife, to share in the creative act of love with Him. It is a divine gift given to be shared equally and blessed with abundance.
It is a sacramental love blessed and shared in union with the whole Church. “The sacrament of marriage is not a social convention, an empty ritual or merely the outward sign of a commitment. The sacrament is a gift given for the sanctification and salvation of the spouses, since “their mutual belonging is a real representation, through the sacramental sign, of the same relationship between Christ and the Church.” (AL #72) It is a holy and joyful work of love that Catherine and Gabe, and all married couples, are called to share in and in doing so become a Sacrament. They will see the sanctification of their love not as a chain to bind them down or a stodgy set of rules to hinder them, rather the sanctification of their life together is the joyful play and work of love. It is the new discovery of life and grace that is shared in the ever growing and deepening knowledge of the other in and through the grace shared and given by our loving Father.
In the marital vows, the taking and giving completely and joyfully, the unitive grace is expressed most thoroughly. As they offer their life and accept the life of their beloved through God’s sacramental grace they will complete the promise they made to each other on the day they began their journey as friends growing in love. “Mutual self-giving in the sacrament of matrimony is grounded in the grace of baptism, which establishes the foundational covenant of every person with Christ in the Church. In accepting each other, and with Christ’s grace, the engaged couple promise each other total self-giving, faithfulness and openness to new life.” (AL #73)
Ultimately, on their wedding day and throughout their married life they will be a sign of God’s love in the world. “To them the Lord entrusts the task of making visible to men the holiness and sweetness of the law which unites the mutual love of husband-and-wife with their cooperation with the love of God the author of human life.” (HV #25) The Trinitarian love of husband and wife flows into the world and attracts others to share in the love of God. It is in this mutual love, they share as husband and wife. It is the mutual love flowing forth in hope, peace and joy that will grow ever more abundant as their family grows in love. As our Lord entrusts this gift to them they are invited to care for the gift of each other…to cherish the gift…to bless the gift…and to grow the gift of each other in love.
God bless,
Fr. Mark

I was out playing golf with my friend Henry this past week and it was brutal. I could not hit my driver at all. It was terrible for the nine holes we played. Seven of the holes needed a driver and yet for the first four it was impossible. (and even worse, Henry was driving great that day) On the fourth hole, after two more miserable attempts, I put the driver away and pulled out my three wood and began from there…the first ball I hit, was straight…not as far as with the driver but it was going in the right direction. At that point I could almost feel the frustration that had been building with each failed drive fall away and the day was a little bit better.
The hard part was, the last time I had played my driver worked really well and even the “bad drives” were workable. I couldn’t self-correct this time. I went through the mental check lists, did my talk before each drive and yet nothing was working…in truth I am admittedly an awful golfer who enjoys the walk and the company more than the scores on the card and yet when it is going that bad…and it was that bad…it is very hard to even enjoy the walk and the company. Over the next few hole, on the par 4 and 5’s I pulled out the three wood and life was better when we reached the ninth and the day was almost done, I pulled out the driver once more and like magic it worked again…why?
Well, the easiest answer was that I let go of the frustration for a little while. I chose to set aside what was causing the aggravation and pick up a different tool. And, when I was ready, to try again. I kept playing the game but I changed how I would start. This I believe is where sport can teach us lesson in work, play and our spiritual journey.

Pope Francis in his recent Apostolic Exhortation, “Gaudete et Exsultate: Rejoice and Be Glad” reminds us “The Holy Spirit bestows holiness in abundance among God’s holy and faithful people, for “it has pleased God to make men and women holy and to save them, not as individuals without any bond between them, but rather as a people who might acknowledge him in truth and serve him in holiness”.”(#6)

You may ask: why holiness? Why golf? And why frustration? There is a direction that flows from God through our lives and directs us back to God and this is the gift of holiness and the grace of the Holy Spirit. Our spiritual journey is a walk and conversation with Jesus Christ as we seek holiness. God blesses us with great abundance and spiritual gifts to assist us on this journey. Sometimes I see someone wielding the prayer of the Rosary, the blessing of Lectio Divina, or the silence of meditation on the “Jesus Prayer” with such great affect my stumbling use of these spiritual gifts can raise frustration in my soul. We love to compare and gauge our spiritual life and gifts against others don’t we? The point is…”There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working, but in all of them and in everyone it is the same God work. Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good.” (1 Cor 12:4-7)
St. Paul wrote this almost two thousand years ago and we still fight the same spiritual battle.
If we get back to the golf analogy…every once in a while it is important to look at what we are doing in the spiritual life, look at what the goal is….Jesus…try to refocus and pickup a different club…and then begin to go towards the goal without the old frustration in your hands.
God bless
Fr. Mark

Wednesday this week was both a wonderful and sad day in the Diocese of San Jose. Early in the morning, after my Holy Hour (@6:00 a.m.), I checked twitter to find the announcement that Bishop Oscar Cantú had been appointed Coadjutor to the Diocese by our Holy Father, Pope Francis. It was exciting news. I then went off to my morning exercise and Mass with the MESST(Eucharistic Missionaries of the Most Holy Trinity) sisters as I normally would. We prayed for Bishop Oscar and our Bishop Patrick at Mass and shared stories of blessing as we waited for the 10:00 a.m. introduction streamed over the internet. (you can watch it at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KORRSPoaj0s )

When the introduction of our new Coadjutor was over I returned back to work and as I opened my email, the sadness came into the day. It was announced that Bishop Richard Garcia had died early that morning from complications of Alzheimers. It hit close to home because Bishop Richard was a priest of the Diocese of San Jose.
I first encountered Bishop Richard when I was in my first year of seminary formation at St. Patrick. He at the time was the Auxiliary Bishop of Sacramento. I was walking through the library in one direction and he going in the other. I greeted him and then to my surprise he stopped, greeted me and engaged me in conversation. Nothing grand, just my name and where I was from. Just some basic conversation facts that I forgot very quickly as I continued on my way. Fast forward one year and I saw Bishop Richard again, only this time he greeted me by name, asked how my mom in Idaho was doing with a warmth that was both memorable and filled with grace.
My knowing Bishop Rich continued to grow as I went to St. Catherine of Alexandria parish for my pastoral year. It was a parish Fr. Rich had served at early in his priesthood with Msgr. Joe Milani as his pastor. Even though decades had passed since his serving at the parish the stories abounded of his kindness, gentleness and care for his people in healing the parish community.
But, perhaps, it is Bishop Rich’s memory and his remembering that is so clear in my mind and what made his illness much greater. Deacon Rick, one of the deacons at St. Catherine, tells the story of how he and his wife arrived at the parish with his family. Moving from the Midwest to San Jose to work and how after purchasing their home in Morgan Hill went down the hill to visit the parish. As they were walking towards the church a young priest comes out to greet them (see the pattern) and begins to talk with them and inquire about the family and life in general. Fast forward many years and without fail, when they would meet, Bishop Rich would ask about Rick’s wife Rosemary, his family, his work—never forgetting and always being present with the same grace and generosity of time that marked Bishop Rich’s ministry to God’s people.
Lastly, when I was installed as pastor at St. Catherine 7 years later, to my surprise, Bishop Rich came to celebrate with the community the installation of their new pastor as the parish celebrated 100 years of serving Morgan Hill.
During breakfast after Mass Wednesday morning as we waited for the introduction of Bishop Cantú, we spoke about Bishop Garcia and how he had been such a good friend to many of the MESST sisters who had served the diocese of San Jose and how he continued to bless the sisters with prayers and presence even when he was assigned faraway in Sacramento and then Monterey. It seemed God was blessing us with the goodness of the man even as he was being called home to the eternal banquet of the Eucharist.

Let us pray for Bishop Richard, his family, his flock in the Diocese of Monterey and for all who loved this wonderful and holy man. Let us also pray for my Diocese of San Jose as we move towards the gift of a new shepherd to lead us into the future.

God bless,
Fr. Mark

I was riding home on the Caltrain this past Tuesday after a meeting in San Francisco. It was a blessing to be able to sit, pray a Rosary and then take time to read. I had brought my kindle with me and look through some of the books that I had begun but have let drop off my radar over the past year. So, I opened up the book “Awaiting God” by Simone Weil. A read two of the essays that make up this book. In her essay “Reflections on the Right use of School Studies in View of the Love of God” one of the major themes she spoke about the idea of attention in studies and how this helps to form our lives.

“Although today we seem ignorant to it, the formation of the faculty of attention is the true goal and unique interest of all studies.” (p 21) Simone Weil is reminding us of the underlying premise for learning…not just getting to a solution but to be attentive to the path we are walking. The “Love of God” is a journey, as is all love, to seek a deeper and fuller understanding to the greater good and blessing that occurs in our lives. In our increasingly digital society, where process is overlooked, where the ends will justify the means, we find ourselves awash in ego and selfish behaviors that do not engage us in a learning of the other in our lives.
She lays out an understanding where the interests of the study of all God’s creation is being attentive to what we encounter. Pope Francis in his latest Apostolic Exhortation, “Gaudete et Exsultate” (Rejoice And Be Glad) asks us to remember the details of Jesus’ call to take notice and be attentive to others,

“Let us not forget that Jesus asked his disciples to pay attention to details.
The little detail that wine was running out at a party.
The little detail that one sheep was missing.
The little detail of noticing the widow who offered her two small coins.
The little detail of having spare oil for the lamps, should the bridegroom delay.
The little detail of asking the disciples how many loaves of bread they had.
The little detail of having a fire burning and a fish cooking as he waited for the disciples at daybreak. (GeE #144)

As we read these short tag lines to the Gospel our temptation is to say; “I know that one” and skip to the next and the next and the next…until we come to the end and simply move one without much thought our care. And that happens too often in life…we pass by without looking with attentiveness.
We may one to take one of those small lines, find the Gospel passage (see below) and be attentive in reading. Weil writes, ”Without sensing it, without knowing it, this effort that appeared sterile and fruitless has deposited more light in the soul. The fruit will be found later, in prayer.” (p 22) If we are attentive in this study then the fruits will be found in a greater “knowing” of Jesus Christ. When we know Him, we begin to know ourselves and become attentive to the process rather than just the end. Attention to life points us in a direction towards a greater good. Pope Benedict XVI challenges us to seek this end when he writes, “What this means is that every generation has the task of engaging anew in the arduous search for the right way to order human affairs; this task is never simply completed. Yet every generation must also make its own contribution to establishing convincing structures of freedom and of good, which can help the following generation as a guideline for the proper use of human freedom; hence, always within human limits, they provide a certain guarantee also for the future. In other words: good structures help, but of themselves they are not enough. Man can never be redeemed simply from outside.” (Spe Salvi: Saved In Hope #25)
Attention to who we are and what we do must ultimately transform our lives and answer the biggest and most profound questions in our lives. It is the seeking of the greater which permits our heart to be greater, love greater, forgive greater, trust greater suffer greater and endure greater than we are able to do if we are just seeking any answer rather than the answer which is life.

“Even outside of any explicit religious belief, every time a human being accomplishes an effort of attention with the sole desire of becoming more capable of knowing the truth, they acquire a greater aptitude for it even if their effort produces no visible fruit.” (P22-23)

Take the challenge, be attentive…be loved and join together in seeking the only truth that matters…Jesus Christ.

God bless,
Fr. Mark

John 2:1-12 Wedding Feast at Cana
Luke 15:1-7 The Lost Sheep
Luke 21:1-4 The Widow’s Two Mites
Matthew 25:1-13 The Parable of the Wise and Foolish Virgins
Mark 6:30-44 The Multiplication of the Loaves
John 21:1-14 Jesus Appears by the Sea