Life is not for the faint of heart. A few years ago California tragically passed into law assisted suicide thereby opening the door to grave evil and the diminishing of the dignity of life. We as a Catholic Church believe strongly that each life has dignity and value and adds special grace and blessings to the Body of Christ. As a Catholic priest I have had the opportunity to counsel families on the value of life at all stages and recognize the struggles of living with illness and dealing with end of life choices as we walk with loved ones to the moment of natural death.
Last week I wrote about redemptive suffering because I wasn’t prepared to fully write about an experience I had recently encountered where the culture of death, through assisted suicide, was so immanent and present in being promoted as the best solution. The situation in a nutshell is a person with a long standing illness had been taken to a local hospital for care and expressed to a medical professional that they were tired and wanted to die. The person jumped into action calling hospital staff to witness to the statement and then beginning to push and promote the various ways that death could be administered to the patient. There was great horror and fear from the family who knew this was not the intention of their loved one…but the medical machine continued to push. As I write this, life is winning in this small case as the patient and family continue to share the blessing of God’s love with each other, even in this difficult and hard case of illness and suffering.
I spent much time the last few weeks praying over my response and how we can better understand why life is sacred and holy and how living this life fully, even in suffering, brings about goodness and blessings. And so we come to the stations of the cross.
Take up our cross: We are all at one time or another called to take up the cross of suffering through illness. Sometimes this suffering is grave and at other times momentary and passing but nevertheless we are called to follow Jesus as he commanded, “And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.” (Lk 9:23)
Family sees us in love and we see them in love (like Mary): As we begin to carry the cross of illness and suffering we find the blessings of family and the deepness of love. The care and compassion of the family give us strength and courage to offer all we are and have in love. :“All you who pass by the way, look and see whether there is any suffering like my suffering, which has been dealt me” (Lam 1:12). “It is the Sorrowful Mother who speaks, the Handmaid who is obedient to the last, the Mother of the Redeemer of the world.” (from St. John Paul II Way of the Cross)
Meeting the stranger who offer help: When we choose to carry the cross of suffering with love we encounter the stranger who becomes the blessing in our lives. Many times at funerals the family gratitude and love of the “stranger” who came to care for their loved one is truly a graced moment. “A certain man from Cyrene, Simon, the father of Alexander and Rufus, was passing by on his way in from the country, and they forced him to carry the cross.” (Mk 15:21) (3a) how it transforms lives—the encounter with suffering changed the life of Simon and as he shared his experience with his sons transformed their life and the life of the community…we never know the lives we touch no matter what stage of life we are living.
Those who will care for us in extraordinary ways: Veronica is never named in the Gospels and yet her story and the miracle she participates in lives on in our faith. When we choose to be like Jesus in our suffering we allow others to participate in the service of love thereby conquering fear and death and bringing us into the fullness of life in the service of our those who are carrying the cross of suffering, as Jesus “emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.  And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.” (Phil 2:7-8)
Knowing those who pray for us: Prayer is powerful and when we allow ourselves to ask for and receive the prayers of the community it strengthens us to persevere and grow in a deeper connection with Jesus Christ. “Jesus turned and said to them, “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me weep for yourselves and for your children.” (Lk 23:28)
Living God’s will even when we feel humiliation: Being cared for by another is always a struggle…even small children begin to rebel early as they say “I can do it myself” to their parents. Humbling ourselves as we are stripped of our abilities opens our hearts and the hearts of others to share in the suffering and allows us to share, experience and be united in love. “And they crucified him. Dividing up his clothes, they cast lots to see what each would get.” (Mk 15:24) The world wants to strip us naked of dignity but we are called to a deeper and full unity of love.
An example of faith for others: Jesus’ words from the cross remind us of life and how even when all our hope seems to have vanished we shine forth as an image of God when we seek to be united with him. We, in love, are invited to ponder Jesus’ seven last words as a reflection of redemptive suffering. “I thirst.” (Jn 19:28)
When the other is able to recognize our dignity: “When the centurion standing there in front of Jesus saw how He had breathed His last, he said, “Truly this man was the Son of God!”” (Mk 15:39) In baptism we are called to be sons and daughters of the one true living God. Choosing to walk with Jesus Christ we are recognized, even in suffering and death to be holy and filled with bountiful worth in His holy image.
Death comes for us all: After his death on the Cross; Mary his mother, John the beloved disciple, Joseph of Arimathea and many other cared for the body of Our Lord…we do the same…because God is Love.
I apologize for the length of the reflection this week. Below are two links from our US Bishops that help to explain the Catholic position concerning assisted suicide.
God bless
Fr .Mark

Click to access Top-Reasons-to-Oppose-Assisted-Suicide-final.pdf

Click to access to-live-each-day-with-dignity-hyperlinked.pdf

Please feel free to share your thoughts in the comment section. God Bless Fr. Mark

Lent 27 March 2019; In Chapter 18 in “Rediscover Jesus” Matthew Kelly talks about yearning for home and how ultimately this yearning should lead us to our heavenly home. The desire for heaven is found in how we live our lives and what we value in life this the chapters title “Jesus on Lifestyles.” For those of us who lived through the 80’s we remember the show “Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous” which by its very title we can see is antithetical the Gospel values. There is nothing wrong with being “rich or famous” but when it becomes the goal and the lifestyle then we are placing our trust in the worldly and making false gods out of things and stuff and not looking towards the true God’s in whom riches and fame find love and meaning. This is where healthy detachment becomes a necessity and one of the ways the Catholic Church invites into a spiritual detachment that is both healthy and holy is the practice of tithing the first fruits of our labor. As someone who has practiced tithing for over 25 years, as a lay person, a seminarian and as a priest I can testify to the benefits of discovering happiness and holiness not solely in what I have or don’t have but who I am in the eyes of God. Here is a little food for thought on tithing.

Lent 2019 Rediscover Jesus Week #1 and #2

PRAYER: Jesus, open my eyes so I can see every person I encounter each day as you see them. (p 83) this prayer from “Rediscover Jesus” reminds us of how we are chosen to love radically and differently as followers of Jesus Christ. When I was first ordained I was introduced at my parish to Andy and Martha (not their real names) an elderly couple who were both suffering from Alzheimer’s disease. My visits to their home were always a trial as conversation was difficult and the behavior was unpredictable. But every once in a while there was a moment of clarity where you could once more see the person in their fullness. As I continued my visits those moments knit together allowed my heart, my eyes and my ears to begin to know them as God knows them and to see them as God sees them. Thank you Jesus for your patience in opening the eyes of we who are blind. God Bless, Fr. Mark

How much are you willing to suffer? That is a hard question to answer. Many people may begin with another question: Why am I suffering? or What is the goal of my suffering? Both very good questions. In Matthew Kelly’s book “Rediscover Jesus” he spends the whole of chapter fifteen on this question.
Why would I choose to suffer? Pause for a second and begin to answer that question for yourself. (PAUSE) If you have never asked or answered that question then Lent is a good time to “take time” and ponder this important Christian question because the invitation of Jesus to enter into suffering is a real part of the Gospel. In fact in a couple of weeks we will hear all about suffering as we hear the readings from the Gospels of Jesus’ Passion and Death.
So, let’s begin with that: Why would Jesus choose to enter into suffering? The only answer that makes any sense is one simple word: LOVE. And if this is the answer for Jesus then as disciples, and Christians as members of the Catholic Church we should be able to answer in the affirmative also…I choose to suffer for love. Once more this is not to say we suffer for the fun of it or in some pleasurable way but rather we suffer for the love of the other knowing the grace grown through love helps us to move into the love of God and the other.
Pope St. John Paul II in his Apostolic Letter “Salvifici Doloris: Of Human Suffering” looks at the mystery of suffering in the light of our Christian faith. He writes, “The Cross of Christ throws salvific light, in a most penetrating way, on man’s life and in particular on his suffering. For through faith the Cross reaches man together with the Resurrection: the mystery of the Passion is contained in the Paschal Mystery. The witnesses of Christ’s Passion are at the same time witnesses of his Resurrection. Paul writes: “That I may know him (Christ) and the power of his Resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that if possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead”.” (#21 SD)
This is the Way of the Cross that as we pray with Jesus carrying his cross we encounter love along the way; Our Blessed Mother, the accidental stranger, the caregiver, those who pray for and with us and finally the one who proclaims our dignity even in death. (I will have more to say on this next week) It is a trust that along the road we will encounter the great love that sustains us in an even greater love in and through Jesus Christ.
St. John Paul II continues, “The path of Paul is clearly paschal: sharing in the Cross of Christ comes about through the experience of the Risen One, therefore through a special sharing in the Resurrection. Thus, even in the Apostle’s expressions on the subject of suffering there so often appears the motif of glory, which finds its beginning in Christ’s Cross.” (#21 SD) It is clearly paschal because St. Paul believes the Passion and Death was followed by the Resurrection. The promise of truth bound up in life. We are always mindful of our true destination…our true home. This means we must continually seek out and encounter Jesus in all aspects of our life. Through prayer, service and emptying ourselves through fasting we offer our lives in love.
“This is the meaning of suffering, which is truly supernatural and at the same time human. It is supernatural because it is rooted in the divine mystery of the Redemption of the world, and it is likewise deeply human, because in it the person discovers himself, his own humanity, his own dignity, his own mission.” (#31 SD) In this discovery we find Jesus Christ present in healing our lives of sin, division and fear. It is an of generous love where we are broken and shared in the true Paschal Mystery of love.
Matthew Kelly reminds us that the world sees suffering as worthless and without sense (p 73-74) while we see it as an act of love, an act of life and an act of God’s grace growing in our hearts.
God bless
Fr. Mark

“God sees things in you that you don’t see in yourself.” (p 53 “Rediscover Jesus”)
What do we see when we look in the mirror? We often look most closely at the flaws that are readily apparent or we look vainly at only the beauty and ignore those parts that are not pleasing. When we look beyond the outward, the physical and immediate, we are called to look deeper. In our spiritual journey, when we seek to see how God sees, we can, just as we do with the outward, look critically and seek only the flaws (the sins) in our life or we desire only to see the good and discount the things we need to work on and correct as we, in our vanity, believe we are good enough.
We are reminded that God sees us as we are. He sees our sins. He sees our blessings. He sees our victories and our defeats. He sees all of this and yet beyond all of this into the goodness and holiness in which He created us to be and “sees things in you that you don’t see in yourself.”
God sees in pure love. God invites us to see in this same pure love as we look into the mirror of our soul where we are called to reflect the light and the love of God. Pope Benedict XVI reminds us that this seeing of pure love is the natural call to experience the divine. “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)
In Lent we respond to this deep calling to be in union with another through God. This is the calling of each vocation to be joined in love and hope. But we also must know, looking into our soul, the need for reconciliation and forgiveness in all our relationships. God seeks to heal, to unite, to join in the eternity of love where sin is conquered and robbed of its power. This deep need for self-reflection draws us closer to the cross where we in vulnerable love know God sees all and to allow others to glimpse into our desire to be blessed and loved were Thomas à Kempis notes, “It is often good for us to have others know our faults and rebuke them for it gives us greater humility. When a man humbles himself because of his faults, he easily placates those about him and readily appeases those who are angry with him.” (Book 2 #3, “The Imitation of Christ”)
When we learn to see ourselves as God sees, to love as God loves, we open our hearts to his graciousness, “If your heart were right, then every created thing would be a mirror of life for you and a book of holy teaching…If there be joy in the world, the pure of heart certainly posses it; and if their be anguish and affliction anywhere, an evil conscience knows it too well.” (Book 2 #4, “The Imitation of Christ”) Because when we see as God sees then we see the blessings even when it is surrounded by hurt and sin…trusting in the power of the Cross of Jesus Christ.
God Bless
Fr. Mark

As we begin our Lenten season I offer you this quote from Archbishop Charles Chaput where he writes, “Sinners hide among the saints, and saints among the sinners. Only God knows the truth of each person. And only he can winnow the wheat from the chaff at the end of time. Meanwhile the two cities interpenetrate and overlap. That leaves Christians with the task of seeking to live their faith well in a fallen world.” (p. 13 “Strangers in a Strange Land”)
Archbishop Chaput is commenting on St. Augustine of Hippo’s work “City of God” and the difficult question of sin and why Christians continue to sin even knowing the love of God and the blessing of mercy. When I first read this book last year I had underlined this quote and later made a small version that has been sitting on the table in my prayer space which helps me to do my nightly examen as I prepare for bed. I use it because it reminds me that I am called to be a saint but sadly I continue to be a sinner. And while it try to hide my sins among some saintly qualities I also know God sees my totality and calls me to seek repentance and healing…to live my faith well in a fallen world. And so, to live my Lenten life well…I should seek
To not take God for granted. It is easy to rely on God’s mercy in a bad way where the sin of laxity and presumption of grace interpenetrates they virtues leading us to goodness and holiness. It is where we are challenged to be honest with ourselves and recognize where we can get better and what we need to do to get there. A roadmap of prayer and discipline to follow out of love of God and for the other in our lives.
To seek the good in the other. It always seems far simpler to remember faults more than blessings. We often notice our neighbors for what they have done wrong rather than the gifts they have shared. As Christians we are called to do the opposite to seek the good and draw forth the better from each other. Parents do this quite naturally as they form their children to be good moral participants in the life of the family. They praise the real and the good within their children seeking to guide them closer to God through union in the family. But to seek the good in others we are also called to recognize the good within ourselves…to permit the grace and blessing of God to interpenetrate our sins and hurts…in other words to “forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.”
To share in gratitude. We are reminded by St. Paul that Jesus “though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped.” (Phil 2:6) Gratitude is the act of hopefulness and thanksgiving where we see our lives as gifts and blessings we are called to share. In gratitude for God’s gift of life and the gift of his Son, Jesus Christ, who offers us forgiveness and mercy we share this blessing with everyone we encounter.
To become a saint. “If you don’t behave as you believe, you will end by believing as you behave.” (Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen) To be a saint isn’t a luxury it is a necessity if we truly believe what we say we believe. We know by personal experience how actions often speak louder than words and the example we set are in truth more important than the homilies we preach to one another in life. We are reminded time and again how we are saints in progress and we must through reflection and conversation with others determine which direction our progress is heading. Because if it isn’t towards the good, the holy, the graced, then it isn’t towards God and that’s not a good thing.
We are invited to daily conversion in renewing our relationship with God. Be courageous, be a saint!

God bless,
Fr. Mark

Monday March 18th 2nd week of Lent

It was a crazy weekend and I am sorry for not getting out the daily blog. Generosity as we see in Chapter 11 is a wonderful gift to share because if we do not share our generosity then it quickly becomes the greed and grasping of “never enough”. In choosing to be generous we are choosing the abundance of love rather than the scarcity. It all begins with love of God and then follows the many loves that we have. Generosity is also linked to prudence, the wise use of the treasures God has given to us. Living and choosing prudent generosity is calculating how much or how little I can share, that again leads to greed and grasping, but to see the need in front and respond as Jesus would, with our full self. It fres us from selfishness and leads us into true fruitful relationships of love. As Matthew Kelly writes…”the Gospel liberates us from selfishness by inspiring us to be generous.” (58) How are generously living the Gospel Today? and “How is god inviting you to become more generous?”(59) If you wish to share, please comment. God Bless

Chapter 6 Tuesday 12 March 2019

Matthew Kelly continues to explore the theme of “Who is this Jesus guy?” noting that each of us must answer this question from our own personal relationship with Jesus. To “know” Jesus we must look with eyes of hope and faith into the moments and events in our lives. For example: in talking with parents seeking to share their faith with adult children who are doubting or not practicing we often talk about how they experience God and to share how this effects the way they live their lives. Jesus isn’t a God of convenience rather he desires a relationship with us that is daily, fruitful and full of life. A little video from Bishop Robert Barron https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UG77k-xLpz8

Chapter 5 (Monday 11 March 2019)

Mt. 16:13-20 In the Gospel of Matthew we hear this wonderful conversation between Jesus and his disciples where he asks “Who do you say that I am?” ending with the declaration by St. Peter. We also know that St Peter will then deny Jesus but return again to him because he “knows” the Lord. This too is our Lenten call..to return to Jesus because we know him and want to know him better. I would encourage you to go the following link at formed.org and listen to Dr. Scott Hahn’s talk entitled “The Fourth Cup” where he shares his insights on “Christ’s Paschal Sacrifice on the Cross” https://formed.org/listen/56ba021b084df3e40bdf0b72.

If you do not have the parish code please go to our parish website or look in our weekly bulletin for the code for your free subscription. http://www.stlucy-campbell.org/

( Sunday 10 March 2019)

Sorry I missed my post yesterday. It was a busy day at the parish with our Confirmation Retreat, Confession for our Vietnamese Religious education children and then Mass. As I noted in the video, Sunday is a day to look back at the previous weeks readings and take time to understand the lessons and hear God’s voice calling us to a deeper relation with Jesus Christ. Yesterday at the Confirmation retreat one of the ideas I hope the young people took away was from a Pentecost homily by Pope Francis where he reminded us we are called to “unity in our diversity.” Yes, Jesus is the way to heaven, but just as the twelve Apostles were each unique in the calling, we too must understand our “uniqueness” as a gift from God in getting to know Jesus better. If all are friends were exactly the same our life would be poorer for it. Today we are reminded Jesus wants our gifts, our unique gifts to be given and shared, to be grown in the abundance of God’s love.

Please, if you wish share your thoughts in the comment section below.

Thursday after Ash Wednesday #2

We are invited into a deeper relationship with Jesus Christ…don’t be afraid to open your heart, to share your fears, to celebrate your joys with Jesus this day. We are asked, How would we describe Jesus? Take time to write it down, share it as a family or with friends…look deeper than just the outward. God Bless.

Share your answer in the comments if you wish.

It’s a beautiful day in Hawaii. As many of you read this I will be doing a little work in Hawaii with Worldwide Marriage Encounter and while I write this in the airplane on the way, the weather app tells me it will be in the mid 70’s every day….slightly cloudy and breezy…in other words Hawaiian weather.
I’m not a great traveler…I don’t like flying too much and the double blessing of flying over water is not my cup of tea and yet I appreciate the gift of rapid nature of getting from one place to another that air travel gives us. I also appreciate the forced seclusion of the flight…no texts, no emails, no phone calls…just the quiet giving me the opportunity to read, reflect on the words and then continue. It is a forced discipline I wish I could follow more readily in the comfort of the rectory.
Archbishop Fulton Sheen in a short essay on love reminded us that there are two types of love: the love of an egoist and the love of sacrificial life. (I’m sorry that haven’t brought the book with me so I have to do a little of this my memory.) The Egoist in Archbishop Sheen’s understanding is one who grasps at love only for what it can give her/him, using the other person for satisfaction and solely an object of desire never the subject of gift. The alternative…sacrificial love…desires to serve the other and offer dignity and trust in giving without the need of recompense in seeing the other as equal and fully alive. It is here we see the gift of love in the example of Jesus Christ.
This gift of love is what we will be offered beginning next Wednesday…Ash Wednesday…as we begin our Lenten journey as we fast, pray and give alms. It is in the act of sacrificial love that we are able to grow in the spiritual good that comes from our Lenten discipline. Often time we can fall into some forms of laziness and expect God to do all the work of Lent.
For example, I know some people who choose to use their Lenten “fast” as a quick weight loss plan. There is nothing wrong with loosing a little weight during Lent (I sure could loose a few) but when this becomes the only good or the main focus then we can fail to allow God to enter the dark spaces of our lives that our fasting is meant to empty and be healed. It is in the offering of our lives to God, in sacrificial love where we allow our fast to become an act of love towards the other in God.
We see the same thing prayer where we add time or repetition without a direction or intention to the good of others. Our prayer should become an act of love towards the person(s) or intention offered.
And of course in almsgiving we see how our acts of service, our financial gifts need to be focused caring for the other. All to often we can begin to expect a “reward” for our good work and our financial gifts where the egoism of love begins to take over our hearts and spiritual work. Almsgiving is a true donation of self…the giving unfettered from the desire for return.
Please begin to prepare for Lent…don’t let it sneak up on you without asking God what you are called to share this Lenten season.
See you in the Eucharist.
God Bless
Fr. Mark