“To you, I lift up my soul, O my God. In you, I have trusted; let me not be put to shame. Nor let my enemies exult over me; and let none who hope in you be put to shame.” (Ps 25:1-3)

As we celebrate our Thanksgiving and as Catholics begin our time of preparation for the birth of our Lord and Savior in the season of Advent we hear and pray the words of Psalm above as a sign of ordering our lives towards the gift of thanksgiving and of sharing our lives and the blessing of our time, talent and treasure with others.
I found this Psalm above as I prepared my homily for the First Sunday of Advent. It is the “Entrance Antiphon” for the Mass and point us in the direction of how we can better understand God’s call to serve. We begin with the lifting of the soul, the blessing of God with praise and Eucharistic life in which we find truth and love. It is the recognition in thanksgiving of the gift of life, the precious foundational gift where the very breath of God enlivens our souls and how we are called to share this gift in creating a culture of life as we follow God’s call to serve. This is because we recognize a creative goodness because we are made in the image and likeness of Love.
When we place our trust in God we see and experience an opening of relationship with others. We find our joy in the company of God and those in whom we see the presence of Jesus Christ (which should be everyone) in sharing who we are and what we have been given. It is the work (yes, relationships are work) of reconciling our hearts to another, the true gift of thanksgiving.
I have listened to parents, children and brothers and sisters describe the difficulty of Thanksgiving or other holidays because of a hurt in the family that remains unreconciled or not forgiven. This is the true enemy the Psalm above speaks of, when the shame of un-forgiveness over shadows the desire for unity and love placed in our hearts. It is the blessing we understand in the Incarnation and how the world of life is surrounded and imbedded in the world of love where grace is the tonic of healing. It is the image of the father welcoming the son home with an embrace of forgiveness that flows into a meal, a celebration and a greater invitation into healing mercy. (Lk 15:11-32) It is a reality of the ongoing nature of thanksgiving intertwined with the need for reconciliation. A gift that is found only in communion with God and others.
This week many people will travel great distances to be with family and friends, to be in company with them as they share time and a meal…the sharing of life. It is the same impulse that should draw each of us towards the sharing of the Eucharist with the family of the Church. Even in our travels let us not forget to give thanks to God for all the good things we have received.
God Bless
Fr. Mark

“If we cherish the Word of God, then we should reverence all words, knowing their power to hurt or heal.” (Fr. Timothy Radcliffe OP from “What is the Point of Being a Christian)

Words are important for human beings. We convey thoughts and desires through the use of words and while this in not the only manner in which we convey thoughts and feelings it is powerful because of how a words or phrase can take on such power in our lives and the lives of others. But it is also in finding the “right word” we become better able to seek the good in others and we enter into greater and deeper relationships.
We can be careless with words or intentionally deceitful with our words in a variety of ways. One of the most common sins I hear from young people in the Sacrament of Reconciliation is telling lies to their parents, friends and teachers. This sin seems to disappear from the confessional when people get older and it is not because they no longer lie but because they have become comfortable with lies and thus see them as normal, natural and necessary to get through the day.
Because, as we see in the quote above, words have power, then to cherish and hold to the truthfulness of words as an important way to seek God becomes life-giving and something to celebrate and not to be afraid of entering into conversations of truth.

“The moment that religious people start to talk about truth, then people become nervous. This is understandable. All over the world violence is associated with different faiths quarreling about the truth.”(Fr. Timothy Radcliffe OP)

If we believe truth is discovered in the Word of God, in a deep and intimate conversation with God, then our words need to reflect God’s Word in the life of Jesus Christ. They must at times be words of gentleness and healing and at other times words of steel and strength calling for the better and the conversion of the other in life. Each parent and child knows this experience which is why the image of the Father is such a powerful expression of God’s presence daily in our lives. Knowing and discerning the time and place is a discovering of the life of the other and how in relationship finds its unity in love. It is trying to enter into a conversation with the eyes of the other as we are reminded, “But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.”” (1 Sam 16:7)

“(W)e believe that the truth may be sought, patiently and with humility. If not then we shall be stuck in our differences.” (Fr. Timothy Radcliffe OP)

How do we learn the patience and humility necessary to hear the other in our lives. Even within families these differences can begin to gnaw away at the trust we have for one another. This coming week at Thanksgiving we are often warned to not talk about politics or religion…but if we are truly living a life of faith we can and should express our faith not simply in the words we speak but the words we live and the words we hear listening with an open heart to find God’s presence even when we may disagree. To be stuck in our differences is to be isolated from love.

“For Augustine, telling the truth to a stranger is part of building the human community constructing the Kingdom.” (Fr. Timothy Radcliffe OP)

To welcome the stranger. Are we happy when we see the stranger sitting in our place in the pews? The truth of our faith is simply…welcome to our home. In the days and weeks to come we will be challenged to speak the truth of welcome and the call to come and know our Lord Jesus with greater love. Telling the truth to the stranger is to hear God’s word…”Do not be afraid, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom” (Lk 12:32)…and to do his work “’Well done, good and faithful servant!…Come and share your master’s happiness!’” (Mt 25:23)

God bless
Fr. Mark

We can all fall into routines in many different ways. In the same thought our routines are often interrupted and disrupted by inner and outer sources that seemingly come at us when least expected. There is one great routine interrupter that occurs twice a year and comes along like clockwork. It is the dreaded “spring forward and fall back” disrupter that is a particular form of anguish and may I dare say evil that enters our lives.
One of my routines is my early morning prayer time followed by my morning exercise/walk. This past “fall back” a few weeks ago I noticed something different…when I began my morning walk down Railway Ave, through downtown Campbell and up the street before circling around and heading back to the parish…I saw lights that slowly disappeared as the days and then weeks continued. The routine I have is pretty peaceful and quiet and the people I see on this early morning jaunt around town are almost always the same but it is also the houses…now the houses don’t move…but you begin to notice, after four years, the ones that have the early morning lights on and those that remain in darkness. What I noticed, especially in the first few workdays after the “fall back,” was how many of the houses and apartments had early morning lights. How many more people where getting an early morning coffee at the local coffee house and more importantly (and dangerously for someone walking) how many more cars (often driving too fast) were on the road. It certainly made me look differently at the neighborhoods I was walking through and being much more attentive and careful in crossing the streets.
But as the days and weeks have gone slowly by the new lights have darkened, the coffee shop has few early morning customers and the cars have lessened, slowed down and the walk has fallen back into the routine.

“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.” (Will Durant)

The breaking of routine is beneficial for the renewed appreciation for what is around us. Where we once more have a new look at the gifts and blessings with which God surrounds us and we can begin to take for granted. It can make us unsteady and more attentive to the steps we take and the words we use. This can be good. But at the same time routine allows our minds to relax, to quiet the cacophony of noise, to silence the intrusive desire for the always new and hear a voice whispering truth and love. And this is where our routines and the breaking of routine sit side by side in the life of faith.

“Not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.” (Hebrews 10:25)

My morning routine of time before the Blessed Sacrament and then my walking Rosary open my heart to listen and speak to God about my hopes and dreams, about my doubts and fears as well as the blessings I give thanks for each day. The daily Mass, as I wrote last week, becomes the time of placing myself before God, as the prayer known in my bones, slowly unwinds around me. But when something breaks this routine I am challenge to discover God once more as the Holy Spirit moves my heart to recognize the presence of Love where we see the sparkling lights of life shine brightly, where the movement of the world call us to a new attentiveness and where God’s presence remains constant in the invitation to walk with Him in our journey.
God Bless
Fr. Mark

Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the living God,
who, by the will of the Father
and the work of the Holy Spirit,
through your Death gave life to the world,
free me by this, your most holy Body and Blood,
from all my sins and from every evil;
keep me always faithful to your commandments,
and never let me be parted from you.

The prayer above is the silent prayer the priest prays in preparation for receiving the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus in the Eucharist. During this week where we have been asked to pray for vocations, this prayer has been on my heart as I go about my daily prayers. Often in my Holy Hour, or when I pray the Rosary or the Liturgy of the Hours this prayer has slipped into the routine of prayer when I recite my consecration to the Sacred Heart, my prayer for vocations and the prayer for the bishops and priests of the Diocese of San Jose.

“and never let me be parted from you”

The final line of the prayer reminds me of the unity we all wish for in life and death. It is an invitation be become more Christlike in our journeys of faith. But most importantly for me it informs the body of the prayer where in the consuming of the Body of Christ and the drinking of the Blood of Christ we express how much each person is loved by God.
When I was first ordained in 2005 I had studied the Mass in seminary and had heard and prayed the Mass for almost all of my life. I don’t remember the Latin Mass and the Ordinary Form had and continues to be the spiritual food that feeds my soul daily. Throughout the years the prayer of the Mass has become more intimate and more like taking a breath as the labor of the Mass flowed into the prayer of the Mass. Don’t get me wrong, I am not a perfect presider and I make my fair share of errors…but the Mass now moves through my heart, soul and mind with joyful blessing. It is something that has gradually occurred and something I barely noticed until a few years ago when a parishioner remarked how tired I had looked before celebrating the Sunday evening Mass but, as she commented on, she could see life flowing into me as the Mass continued.

“Through your Death gave life to the world.”

How do we find life in the celebration of the Mass? The phrase that Mass is boring that I often hear from people breaks my heart but it also reminds me of when “Mass was boring for me.” When I truly discovered life within the Mass was when I was teaching in New Mexico and began attending daily Mass in the morning before school began. In the quiet ritual of daily Mass the rhythm of God’s grace began to fill me more and more. Daily Mass became a prayer and my presence before God. The intuition was confirmed when as a priest I overheard a student in our Catholic School telling his teacher how much he liked going to daily Mass with his class because it was so quiet and peaceful. This becomes the place of life, where we quiet our minds and allow the soul to be filled with the presence of God in the sacrifice of the Mass.

“Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the living God”

To recognize how much God gives to us in the gift of His son Jesus Christ is always a moment of pause. To know we hold Divine life in our hands, to know we take Divine life into our body, to know we become Christlike in this Eucharistic gift is simply amazing. To love Jesus is to love the Mass. To love Mass is to love the Church. To love the Church is to love our neighbor. To love our neighbor is to know how much God loves each one of us as a beloved son and daughter.
God Bless
Fr. Mark

Saints didn’t set out to have everyone follow them. Saints set out to follow Jesus, and others followed them in their pursuit of Him.
Mark Hart

Today is the Solemnity of All Saints where we lift our voices in prayer and thanksgiving to God for these examples of holiness which we are all called to aspire too in our lives. I have a great love for many saints and getting to know them through study, prayer and fun has helped me to be a better disciple of Jesus Christ. Saints come into your lives at very odd times and are often surprising in their entering and helping in a variety of situations in our lives. A few weeks ago I wrote about a newly canonized saint, St. Marguerite Bays, who captured my heart with her simple but powerful witness to her local parish and community.
There are the big saints, the famous saints and those everyone has heard about, and of course the Blessed Mother who is a category unto her own. Whether it is St. Jude for a desperate cause, St. Anthony when I can’t find my keys again, all saints are true friends. But let me share with you a few of my saintly friends.
My very first encounter with a saint came as a small boy when I was told St. Christopher was no longer an “official” saint. This broke my heart. My middle name is Christopher and how could I live without a saint in the middle…and besides when Mom or Dad got mad at me would they still give me the three name command…Mark Christopher Arnzen come here now! This went away quickly because in my boyish heart I guess I figured God would take care of this problem.
My second major blessing came at Confirmation when we were asked to take another saint name. I chose St. Nicholas because he exemplified the virtue of generosity. This was the first time my prayers with the saints were for a very specific purpose other than the routine “pray for us” that rolled mindlessly off my tongue. Asking and being with a saint in prayer seeking a certain virtue or need is one of the powerful parts of prayer of petition or intercessory prayer where our sister and brother saints pray with and for us in life.
When I was at Holy Names College I found another saint dropping into my life, St. Theresa Benedicta of the Cross (Edith Stein) a Carmelite nun who was murdered in the Nazi death camps because of her Jewish heritage. Discovering the courage of conversion and the following and trusting in Jesus Christ opened my eyes to a deeper gift of saying “yes” to God’s call to follow him. Of course when you find one Carmelite you can’t miss St. Teresa of Avila, St. Therese of Lisieux and St. John of the Cross to name a few who trickled into my life.
When I began my time as a missionary in New Mexico I had the pleasure of learning the lives of St. Bonaventure (the name of the mission) and then Blessed and now Saint Kateri Tekakwitha (the name of the school) where she opened my eyes to the many young saints who dedicated their lives to Jesus at such a great cost and how I am, as we all are, challenged to follow Jesus in a like manner where sacrificial love extends deeply into the service and caring for others.
The last saint I will share is St. Arnold of Soissons, the patron saint of beer brewers. I don’t know how I missed him during most of my life because I do enjoy a good beer and I don’t know why I never thought of him but he visited me from facebook where “Buy your Priest a Beer Day” popped up a couple of years ago. St. Arnold and his patronage has given me great joy over the past few years as friends and parishioners have shared in his prayers for good beer and has allowed me to receive and share a many good beers.
Saints are wonderful companions to cry with, to laugh with and to walk with on our journey of faith. Getting to know the saints of our Catholic tradition helps us to know who Jesus is through their lives and service. I would challenge you to learn about the saints (I will have a link below) and share what you learn with your family. Perhaps make it a weekly activity where everyone shares a little biography about a saint from the week or just from the greater canon of these holy men and women.
God Bless
Fr. Mark.

Saint of the Day Calendar