Happy Canada Day to Everyone, especially my friends up in Canada!

I lived in Canada for three years.  They were three of the happiness and most fulfilling years of my life.  I am so grateful for Winnipeg Harvest Food Bank and Siloam Mission for giving me the opportunity to live and serve in the wonderful city of Winnipeg.  I was then in Alberta in the town of St Albert just outside of Edmonton for a year after that.  What a great experience.  I met friends whom I will treasure for ever and ever.  Happy Canada Day!

Photos from Winnipeg from my last trip up there. 

7/3/2014 – St Thomas the Apostle – John 20:24-29

      “Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hand and put my finger into the nailmarks and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.”  This statement of Thomas in John’s Gospel is so memorable.  In many ways, Thomas’ proclamation is symbolic of how many in the modern world view faith today.  We need proof. We need to see. We want something tangible, something to grab onto.  Many in our present day see faith as an excuse to say that one believes in something and want it to be true.

      No one today can see and experience Christ in the way Thomas did in that locked room in Jerusalem.  Thomas saw the risen Christ eat and pray and explain the events of the past week to his group of disciples.  We cannot literally put our fingers in the wounds in his hands and side like Thomas did.  Christ seemed to know this when he said – “Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed.”  We might not see him in a literal the way Thomas did, but all who believe see Christ somehow in their lives.  They see him for who he is.  We must see him somehow with our own eyes.  Like Thomas and the other disciples, becoming a follower of Christ come through faith.  And through witnessing Christ’s presence in our lives, we in turn are called to be witnesses ourselves, just as Thomas did in his life when he became a missionary to Syria, Persia, and India.  We can see Thomas as our patron saint, as a saint who helps us believe in the midst of our doubts and insecurities.  Lord, help us in our disbelief.  Help us to take that leap of believing in you. 

7/1/2014 – Tuesday of 13th week in Ordinary Time – Matthew 8:23-27

     “Lord – save us!  We are perishing!”  The disciples cry out to the Lord.  They are doubting.  They are lacking faith.  They are in fear of sinking, of drowning.  I wonder in the great Franciscan missionary Father Junipero Serro felt that way as he founded the great mission system in California.  In fact, inspired by the Way of St James in Spain, some pilgrims who did that journey are tracing the steps that link the 21 original missions that the Spanish developed in the present state of California.  Junipero Serra became a Franciscan priest on the Spanish island of Mallorca, excelling as a theologian and an academic.  He yearned for more, asking to go to the Franciscan missions in Mexico, and eventually being sent to upper California. The 9 missions that Father Serra directly established help grow the Spanish influence in California and bring many of the native people there to the faith.  Today, not only does Serra’s statue stand in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park, but it also represents the state of California in the US Capitol.  Serra was beatified by Pope John Paul II in 1987.  The zeal and faith of Father Serra still speak to us today, and his legacy has had a great impact on California and in the development of Catholicism in the United States.  I am sure there were moments along Father Serra’s journey that challenged his faith.   Father Serra was legendary for the territory he covered either on horseback or on foot.  I think of all the places I travel to, having been to Fulton, Pontotoc, Jackson, Ripley, and Mound Bayou in less than a week.  I cannot imagine having to do some of that traveling without my trusty little Honda Fit carting me around from place to place.  Yes, save us Lord and protect us along our journey!

6/30/2014 – Monday of 13th week in Ordinary Time – Matthew 8:18-22

     “I will follow you” – innocent words that a scribe speaks to Jesus.  This scribe might really mean these words, but Jesus’ response to them shows that perhaps there is more to following him than might be on the surface.  We have been celebrating the Fortnight for Freedom, bringing attention of how important it is for us to have the freedom to practice our religion.  During this time period, we celebrate the lives of important martyrs in our faith, including St John Fisher and St Thomas More – two men who were martyred for the faith during the reign of Henry VIII in England.  And yesterday, we celebrated the lives of Peter and Paul, apostles and martyrs who were great leaders in the Early Church.  Today, we honor the First Roman Martyrs, men and women who died for their faith when they were blamed for the great fire that burned the city of Rome in the year 62, not many years after Christ’s death and resurrection.  I wonder how many of those men and women thought that they would die a martyr’s death as they journeyed as followers of Christ?   Our journeys can take us some very unexpected places. May we persevere through the trials and struggles we endure as followers of Christ.  Sometimes our journey may be a very lonely place to be.  However, God will lead us and guide us to where he wants us to be. 

29 de junio de 2014 – Solemnidad de San Pedro y San Pablo - 2 Timoteo 4,6-8, 17-18, Mateo 16,13-19

       Viajamos en el tiempo ordinario ahora.  Pero, hoy tenemos una celebración especial este domingo. Siempre, el 29 de junio de cada año, celebramos la Solemnidad de los Santos Pedro y Pablo - Apóstoles. Honramos a todos los apóstoles con los días de fiesta, sino de todos los apóstoles, Pedro y Pablo poseen un significado especial en el desarrollo de nuestra fe y de nuestra Iglesia.  Al reflexionar sobre la vida de Pedro y Pablo hoy, tal vez hay algunas lecciones que podemos aprender de ellos.

       La primera cosa que podemos aprender de la vida de Pedro y Pablo es éste: en medio de nuestra fragilidad y nuestras debilidades humanas, Dios nos llama para servir.  Ciertamente, oímos de la gran fe de Pedro y Pablo en las lecturas de hoy.  En el evangelio, nos explica del reconocimiento de Pedro de Jesús como el Cristo, el Hijo del Dios viviente, en un momento en que casi todos los demás en Israel todavía no se había dado a Jesús.  Y oímos en su segunda carta a Timoteo acerca de Pablo y su vida: cómo su vida está llegando a su fin, sobre cómo ve su vida como una libación de sacrificio a Dios, acerca de cómo se ve a sí mismo como haber mantenido la fe ahora que la carrera está llegando a su fin.  Sin embargo, además de admirar Pedro y San Pablo como hombres de gran fe y sacrificio, vemos también en las Escrituras las veces que Pedro y Pablo fueron víctimas de sus debilidades y sus dudas.  Por ejemplo, en la víspera de la pasión de Cristo, cuando salía de su última cena con sus apóstoles, Pedro le dice a Jesús que él nunca va a tener su fe en él sacudido.  Sin embargo, sabemos que Pedro lo negará a Jesús tres veces antes de que cante el gallo.  Pablo, antes de su conversión en el camino a Damasco, en su afán de seguir ciegamente la ley judía, los cristianos oprimidos por perseguirlos y oprimirlo, a veces con mucha violencia   De hecho, Pablo se puso de pie por y aprobado de la lapidación de Esteban.  Tal vez puede relacionarse con Pedro y Pablo en esta misma forma en nuestro propio camino de fe.  Hay momentos en que podemos ser valientes y decididos en nuestra fe, pero, sin embargo, en nuestra debilidad humana, también podemos negar a Cristo como lo hizo Pedro.  Nos podemos hacer esto en nuestras palabras y en nuestras acciones, en la falta de seguir los mandamientos de Dios. En nuestras debilidades y nuestra arrogancia, que podemos dejar de humillarnos ante el Señor al igual que Pablo antes de su conversión.

      En segundo lugar, podemos ver en Pedro y Pablo individuos con orígenes muy diferentes y formas diferentes en que responden a su llamado de Dios.  Sin embargo, tanto Pedro como Pablo fueron llamados a trabajar juntos en el ministerio, para edificar el Reino de Dios en la Iglesia Primitiva y traer conversos a la fe.  Pedro fue llamado a ser discípulo en la mitad de su trabajo como pescador. Probablemente no tenía mucha educación formal.  Pedro, un miembro del grupo original de los apóstoles, estaba rodeado de seguidores judíos de Cristo mientras viajaban con él en su ministerio terrenal.  Vemos Peter responder después de la muerte y la resurrección de Cristo como un líder en la iglesia primitiva, pensando que estaba sirviendo a los intereses de los seguidores judíos de Cristo en las tensiones la estaban teniendo tanto con los gentiles y los Judíos que eligieron no seguir el Camino de Jesús.  En muchos sentidos, Pablo era lo contrario de Pedro.  Paul era un pensador, un intelectual, un hombre bien educado, un miembro de la clase privilegiada de los fariseos.  Pablo no conoció a Jesús durante la vida de Jesús en la tierra. Pablo se sintió llamado a llevar la Buena Nueva a todos, para romper las barreras que impedían a los gentiles de unirse al Camino de Jesús.  Tanto Pedro como Pablo podrían ser audaz y directa. Se enfrentaron y argumentaron. Ambos llegaron a ser líderes en la Iglesia.  A pesar de sus diferencias, tanto influyó en gran medida la fe que practicamos hoy.  Ambos vivieron su fe, y ambos con valentía murió por la fe. Pablo, como ciudadano romano, fue decapitado. Pedro fue crucificado.

       Al igual que Pedro y Pablo, estamos llamados a ser misioneros. Estamos llamados a ser fieles al Evangelio. Y nosotros estamos llamados a ser fieles al llamado que Dios tiene para cada uno de nosotros.

6/29/2014 – Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul – 2 Timothy 4:6-8, 17-18, Matthew 16:13-19

     We have been journeying through Ordinary time these past several weeks since the end of the Easter season, but perhaps you would not have known it, because we still have not seen the color green at a Sunday mass.   We have celebrated the solemnities of the Most Holy Trinity and the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ these last couple of Sundays, and today we have another celebration that happens to fall on a Sunday this year – the Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul – Apostles.  We honor all of the apostles with feast days, but of all the apostles, Peter and Paul hold a special significance in the development of our faith.  As we reflect on the lives of Peter and Paul today, perhaps there are some lessons we can learn from them.

      The first thing we can learn from the lives of Peter and Paul is this: even in the midst of our human frailties and weaknesses, God calls us to serve him and his people.  Certainly, we hear of the great faith of Peter and Paul in today’s readings.   In today’s Gospel, we are told of Peter’s recognition of Jesus as the Christ, the Son of the Living God, at a time when most everyone else in Ancient Israel still had not figured Jesus out.  And we hear Paul reflect in his second letter to Timothy about how his life is coming to an end, about how he sees his life as having been poured out as a sacrificial drink offering to God, about how he sees himself as having kept the faith now that the race is coming to an end.  However, in addition to admiring Peter and Paul for being men of great faith and sacrifice, we also see in Scripture the times that Peter and Paul fell victim to their weaknesses, their doubts, and their human frailty.  For example, on the eve of Christ’s passion, as he was leaving his last supper with his apostles, Peter tells Jesus that he will never have his faith in him shaken.  Yet, we know that Peter will deny Jesus three times before the cock crows.   And Paul, before his conversion on the road to Damascus, in his zeal to blindly follow Jewish law, oppressed Christians by persecuting them and oppressing them, sometime very violently.  Indeed, Paul stood by and approved of the stoning of Stephen.   Perhaps we can relate to Peter and Paul in this same way in our own journey of faith.  There are times when we can be courageous and steadfast in the way we live out our faith.  Yet, in our human weaknesses, we also can deny Jesus like Peter did.  We can do this in our words and in our actions, in our failure to follow God’s commandments.  In our frailties and our hubris, we can fail to humble ourselves before the Lord just like Paul before his conversion. 

      Secondly, we can see in Peter and Paul individuals with very different backgrounds, very different ways they respond to their callings from God.  Yet, both Peter and Paul were called to work in ministry together, to build up the Kingdom of God in the Early Church and to bring converts to the faith.  Peter was called to be a disciple out of his work as a fisherman.  He probably did not have much formal education.  Peter, a member of the original group of Apostles, was surrounded by Jewish followers of Christ as they journeyed with him in his earthly ministry.  We see Peter responding after Christ’s death and resurrection as a leader in the Early Church, thinking he was serving the interests of the Jewish followers of Christ in the tensions the were having with both the Gentiles and with the Jews who chose not to follow the Way of Jesus.   In a lot of ways, Paul was the opposite of Peter.   Paul was a thinker, an intellectual, a well-educated man, a member of the privileged class of Pharisees in Ancient Israel.  Paul did not know Jesus during J's life here on earth.   Paul felt called to bring the Good News to all, to break down the barriers that were keeping the Gentiles from joining the Way of Jesus.

      Both Peter and Paul could be bold and direct.  They clashed and they argued at times, but they both became leaders in the Church.  Despite their differences, they both greatly influenced the faith that we practice today.  They both lived out their faith, and they both courageously died for the faith.  Paul, as a Roman citizen, was beheaded.  Peter was crucified. 

       Like Peter and Paul, we are called to be missionary. We are called to be true to the Gospel.  And we are called to be true to the calling God has for each one of us.

6/27/2014 – Solemnity of Sacred Heart of Jesus – Friday of 12th week in Ordinary time - Matthew 11:25-30

       Each time that we gather around the Lord’s table for mass as a community of faith, we celebrate the love that God has for us in a special way.   Today’s solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus always falls 19 days after Pentecost, which is always on a Friday.  The Sacred Heart of Jesus is one of the most beloved religious devotions in our Church, as it sees Jesus’ physical heart as a symbol of the love that he has for all of humanity.  Many saints have contributed to our understanding of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, especially St. Margaret Mary Alacoque of the Visitation Sisters of Holy Mary.  Her visions of Jesus in the 17^th century conveyed this message: “Look at this Heart which has loved you so much, and yet you do not want to love Me in return. Through you My Divine Heart wishes to spread its love everywhere on earth.” 

      As we contemplate Jesus’ Sacred Heart, our own hearts are touched by his death on a cross, by the way the soldier thrust a lance into his side, out of which blood and water flowed.  St Augustine wrote about how Christ became the door for our salvation, how that door was opened for us by his death and resurrection, by the soldier’s lance that opened up his side.  We choose where we want to enter Christ, where we can enter from his side as he hung dying upon the cross, the side from which the blood and water flowed.  The purification we receive from Christ is the water that flowed from his side.  The redemption we receive from Christ is the blood that was shed for us.  

      In his encyclical On Devotion to the Sacred Heart, Pope Pius XII calls the Sacred Heart of Jesus “a symbol of that divine love which He shares with the Father and the Holy Spirit but which He, the Word made flesh, alone manifests through a weak and perishable body, since in Him dwells the fullness of the Godhead bodily."  May the Sacred Heart of Jesus call us to a life of holiness today.  As Jesus tells us today to come to him for rest, we who are labored and burdened, may Christ’s Sacred Heart call us to true devotion and love for him.