3/31/2015 – Tuesday of Holy Week – John 13:21-33, 36-38

        Peter says he wants to follow Jesus wherever he goes.  There is no way that Peter can anticipate what we await Jesus in this last step of his journey.  Even though Peter says that he would lay down his life for Jesus, it is easy to say those words, but another thing to face that reality.  I think of the many missionaries of the Church who gave up their lives for the faith. Many missionaries go into the field knowing that the dangers and challenges they face can mean that their lives may be quite short indeed.

        Peter denied Jesus three times before the cock crowed, but Peter also did eventually give up his life for the faith.  According to Christian tradition, Peter was crucified in Rome under the Emperor Nero.  Tradition holds that he was crucified upside down at his own request, since he saw himself unworthy to be crucified in the same way as Jesus.  Peter learned from his mistakes and continued on the journey of faith, being all the more stronger for it.   The main thing is for us to learn from our mistakes and missteps and wrong turns on our journey of faith. 
          Isaiah gives us a glimpse of the coming of Jesus in his prophecy today: “I will make you a light to the nations, that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.”  The darkness in the world and in our lives can overwhelm us and overtake us at times, but Christ the light can lead us out of the darkness.  We may falter or make mistake, but the light is there to lead us in the right direction and to get us back of track.  

4/1/2015 – Wednesday of Holy Week – Matthew 26:14-25

      In Jewish culture, usually families celebrate the Passover together.  It is interesting to note that in today’s account from the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus celebrates the Passover not with Mary and Joseph, but rather with his disciples – his closest friends and followers.   Jesus knew that this would be his final Passover meal.   He knew that his journey here on earth was soon to come to an end.  He knew that one of these close friends would soon betray him.  We can imagine that Judas knew that he would be the betrayer at this point, even though he denied it publicly.  In the Gospels of Luke and John, it says that at the Last Supper, it was Satan who entered Judas’ heart at this point, causing him to betray Jesus.   It is easy for us to thumb our noses at Judas and at what he does, but might examine our own hearts and our own actions before we do so.  We may think of the times we betray Jesus in our words and our actions, how we justify ourselves even though we know we are going against the values of our faith and the Lord’s commandments.

     As we think of the communal aspect of the Passover that Jesus celebrated with his disciples, we think of how it is much more that the sharing of a meal.   Our sharing of the Eucharist, in the meal Jesus shares with us, we think of how we come together as a community of faith sharing in our belief in God’s kingdom – the kingdom that exists in glimpses right now here on earth and the eternal kingdom that is to come. The celebration that Jesus and his disciples shared in the tradition of their Jewish faith became much more.  In the tradition of the Last Supper that Jesus shared with his disciples, we remember the Paschal mystery.  We remember Christ’s Life, Death and Resurrection.  As we share in the Body and Blood of Christ in the Eucharist around the Lord’s Table, we are called to make a communal commitment share God’s love and mercy to the world. May we remember this calling and challenge as we enter into Christ’s Paschal mystery this Holy Week. 

3/30/2015 – Monday of Holy Week – John 12:1-11

       The poor shall always be with you - that is what Jesus says in today’s Gospel.  It is not that he did not have compassion for the poor, for he spent a lot of his ministry hanging out with the poor and the outcasts, standing in solidarity with the least of society, curing their infirmities and multiplying food for them to eat.  Jesus probably would have praised Mary had she decided herself to spend the money to help them poor. He probably would have seen that as admirable and compassionate.  However, out of his compassion, he praises Mary for her actions for honoring Jesus and ministering to him with the costly oil in this act of love. When I was on the Camino one daily, I walked several miles with a young woman from Lithuania.  When I told her I was a priest and told her about my work in Mississippi and my love for the Camino, she told me she perceived many of the priests in her country as men who desired a comfortable lifestyle, power, position, and honor.  That is quite different from what called me to the priesthood and from how I see the priests in our Diocese of Jackson living out their priesthood in their daily lives.  That is also quite different from the view of the priesthood that Pope Francis has called his priests to, to a servant priesthood in the spirit of Gospel simplicity. Pope Francis wants us to be a Church that is poor, a Church that is of the poor and for the poor.  Pope Francis has even called out priest who drive fancy cars and who live in big mansions. 

      I think all of us need to look at the way we use our resources and the gifts and treasures that we have.  We can use them selfishly, or we can use them in service to God and in service to others.  We priests sometimes hear such things in the confessional – the faithful confessing that they have not been good stewards of their treasures, that they need to look at the way they reach out to others and perform works of charity.  Let us think about that as we journey during Holy Week with Jesus toward the Easter mysteries. 

Celebrating Palm Sunday -

We have been getting our church ready for our celebration of Palm Sunday and Holy Week. Come see our new floor, newly painted walls, new LED lights, polished pews, and refinished Stations of the Cross. The hard work of many hands helped bring this all together. So many people have a great love for our parish of St James the Greater in Tupelo. Our Palm Sunday liturgies will start with the blessing of the palms in the gym and then the procession to the Church. Join us at one of our five masses this weekend for the beginning of Holy Week: 

Vigil mass - Saturday at 4:30 pm. 

Sunday morning masses in English - 8:00 am and 10:30 am. 

Sunday mass in Spanish - 1:00 pm

Sunday evening youth mass - 5:00 pm

3/29/2015 – Domingo de ramos – Marcos 14,1 – 15,47, Marcos 11, 1-10

      Cuando el emperador romano Constantino reconoció la Iglesia en el siglo cuatro, los cristianos en Jerusalén comenzaron a representar públicamente la solemne entrada de Cristo en su ciudad el domingo antes de Pascua. Este domingo tiene el nombre – Domingo de ramos.  Había una gran procesión por las calles de Jerusalén. La muchedumbre llevaba los ramos y cantaba "¡Hosanna en las alturas!".  Seguimos en esta misma tradición de la Iglesia Antigua hoy al conmemorar el Domingo de Ramos de la Pasión del Señor y el comienzo de la Semana Santa.  Además de la procesión con ramos, la otra característica antigua del Domingo de Ramos es la lectura del Evangelio de la Pasión en esta celebración.   La Semana Santa es un tiempo sagrado y especial en el año litúrgico de la Iglesia.  Es una semana donde completamos nuestro viaje con Jesús en su camino a la cruz, en su viaje a su muerte y resurrección y en la salvación que tenemos en él.

       En nuestra celebración de hoy, Cristo inicia su pasión entrando triunfalmente en Jerusalén en una entrada de amor y generosidad en lugar de poder y fuerza.  Sin embargo, en esta entrada triunfal, Jesús no entró como los grandes y poderosos del mundo; entró revestido de humildad y sencillez montado en un burrito. En esta entrada, era la gente sencilla que aclamaba a Jesús como el Mesías.  Era en esta ocasión cuando se hace realidad lo que ya antes había dicho Jesús: “Yo te bendigo, Padre, Señor del cielo y de la tierra, porque has ocultado estas cosas a los sabios y los entendidos, y se las has revelado a la gente sencilla y a los niños.”  Era la gente humilde y sencilla que reconoce que Cristo es nuestro único salvador.  La muchedumbre, llena de alegría, alfombraba el suelo con sus mantos y con ramos cortados en el campo para dar una bienvenida de gozo a su entrada.
  El orgullo y la arrogancia de los poderosos es lo que cierra los ojos de su fe. En lugar de alegrarse por la llegada de Cristo, los poderosos se sienten molestados ante el júbilo de la gente sencilla.
     

       Tenemos mucho ejemplos de fe en la historia de nuestra Iglesia.  Por ejemplo, en la semana pasada, en el 24 de marzo, marcamos el trigésimo quinto aniversario de la muerte del Arzobispo Oscar Romero de El Salvador.  Este año, el Vaticano declaró que el Monseñor Romero era mártir de la fe – murió durante la celebración de la misa en su país durante la guerra civil.  Romero defendía los derechos de los pobres en la mitad de mucha opresión y violencia.  C. El Papa Francisco expresaba su admiración por El Arzobispo Romero.  El Papa apoyaba a su causa de beatificación y canonización y llamándolo un santo hombre de Dios.  En comparación del ejemplo del Monseñor Romero, en el Evangelio de San Marcos, los discípulos de Jesús son casi nunca modelos de fe.   En la forma en que se representan en el Evangelio, tal vez nos preguntamos cómo estos discípulos continuarían el ministerio de Cristo después de su muerte.  Como acabamos de escuchar en la lectura de la Pasión, en la Última Cena, los discípulos insisten en que ninguno de ellos sería traicionar a Jesús.   Jesús predijo que su fe se agitará en los próximos eventos de su camino a la cruz. Pedro y los otros discípulos lo negaron.  Sin embargo, en su agonía en el huerto, mientras que Jesús oraba, los discípulos dormían toda la noche.  No sólo Pedro niega a Jesús, pero en el relato evangélico, no menciona los discípulos de estar presente en la pasión y muerte de Cristo.  De hecho, sólo las mujeres que habían sido seguidores de Cristo en Galilea son reportados como estar presente en la crucifixión, aunque a cierta distancia.                                          

       Como conmemoramos la pasión del Señor hoy y reconocemos la entrada triunfal de Cristo en Jerusalén antes de su crucifixión, podemos preguntarnos: ¿Cómo podemos tener los días de Cuaresma y el Domingo de Ramos y la Semana Santa un impacto en nuestras vidas?  Estaba edificado en la forma en veía los miembros de nuestra parroquia con sus promesas y compromisos de cuaresma: muchos de ustedes vinieron al via crucis, la misa diaria, el sacramento de reconciliación y la adoración del Santísimo durante la cuaresma para conmemorar este tiempo santo.  El año pasado durante la misa del Domingo de Ramos en la plaza de San Pedro en Roma, el Papa Francisco pidió a los fieles algunas preguntas muy directas que salen de la lectura de hoy del Evangelio de la Pasión: ¿Duerme en su vida de fe, al igual que los discípulos que se quedaron dormidos cuando Jesús estaban orando en el huerto?  ¿Te gusta el poder de Poncio Pilato en el Evangelio, que, cuando ve a una situación difícil, y luego se lava las manos de ella?  Esas preguntas nos dan mucho para reflexionar, ¿no? Esperemos que hemos visto en nuestras vidas y el compromiso que hacemos a nuestra fe en nuestro camino cuaresmal, y es de esperar las reflexiones y conclusiones a que hemos llegado a tener un impacto en la forma en que vivimos nuestra fe durante el resto del año.

Wow - 1,500 posts!

I just saw that the last post I made to my blog for Palm Sunday makes it 1,500 posts that I have made!  Wow – little did I know that I started this blog that this would be the case.  I thank all of you for reading my blog.  It has been rocky sometimes. As we know, the world of the internet can be a wonderful place where different ideas are shared, but it can also by a world of meanness and bullying, and unfortunately I have been the target of that as well.  As most of you know, at one point, I had decided to discontinue my blog due to the bullying and meanness out there.  However, I am thankful that the Spirit moved me to continue.  Blessings to all of you, the readers of my blog, and I hope that I will be able to continue for many years to come!

3/29/2015 – Palm Sunday of the Lord’s Passion – Mark 14:1 - 15:47

       As soon as the Roman Emperor Constantine formally recognized the Church in the 4th century, the Christian faithful in Jerusalem started to publicly re-enact the solemn entry of Christ into their city on the Sunday before Easter.  They held a grand procession in the streets of Jerusalem in which they carried branches and sang “Hosanna in the highest”.  We follow in this same tradition of the Early Church today as we commemorate Palm Sunday of the Lord’s Passion and the beginning of Holy Week.  Besides the procession with palms or branches, the other notable ancient feature of Palm Sunday from the Early Church is the reading of the Gospel of the Passion on this day, which today comes from the Gospel of Mark.  Holy Week is a very special sacred time in our Church’s liturgical year.   It is a week full of sacred liturgy as we complete our journey with Jesus on his way to the cross during the holy season of Lent, as Jesus journeys to his death and resurrection and brings us the salvation we have in him.

      This past week, I was speaking to a man at the Sanctuary Hospice who is in his last days.  He had a large painting and several smaller images of St Francis of Assisi in his room.  He was telling me how he felt St Francis was accompanying him in his last days there at the Hospice House, how St Francis for him has been such a great example of faith.  And just this past week, on March 24, we marked the 35^th anniversary of the date in which Archbishop Oscar Romero from the small country of El Salvador in Central America was gunned down by the military forces of his own country while celebrating mass.  The Vatican has official declared Archbishop Romero martyr for the faith.  Pope Francis has expressed his admiration for Romero, supporting his cause for beatification and sainthood and calling him a holy man of God.  We have a lot of great examples and models of faith in our Church throughout history.  However, in Mark's Gospel, Jesus' disciples are rarely models of faith.  In the way they are depicted, we perhaps wonder how these disciples would continue Christ’s ministry after his death.  As we just heard in the reading of the Passion, at the Last Supper, the disciples insist that none of them would betray Jesus.   Jesus predicted that their faith would be shaken in the upcoming events of his way to the cross.  Peter and the other disciples denied this.  Yet in his agony in the garden, while Jesus prays, the disciples sleep through the night.  Not only does Peter deny Jesus, but in the Gospel account, it does not mention the disciples being present at Christ’s passion and death.  In fact, only the women who had been followers of Jesus in Galilee are reported as being present at the Crucifixion, although at a distance.

       As we commemorate the passion of the Lord today and recognize Christ’s triumphant entry into Jerusalem right before his crucifixion, we might wonder: How are the events of Lent and Palm Sunday and Holy Week going to have an impact on our lives?   I have been very edified in the way I have seen our parishioners taking their Lenten promises and commitments seriously, how many of you have come to Stations of the Cross, daily mass, reconciliation, and the adoration of the Blessed Sacrament during Lent to commemorate this holy time.  Last year during the Palm Sunday liturgy at St Peter’s Square in Rome, Pope Francis asked the faithful some very direct questions that come out of today’s Gospel reading of the Passion: How has your life of faith fallen asleep, just like the disciples who fell asleep while they should have been keeping watch with Jesus?  Are you like Pontius Pilate in the Gospel, who, when he sees a difficult situation, then washes his hands of it?  Those questions give us a lot to think about, don’t they?  Hopefully we have looked at our lives and the commitment we make to our faith during our Lenten journey, and hopefully the reflections and conclusions we have reached will have an impact on the way we live out our faith during the rest of the year.

       We have a lot going on all during Holy Week, and it is easy to put all the focus on the many liturgies that are going on in our local parish here in Tupelo, but during this upcoming week, I will join the other priests and representatives from all the parishes of the Diocese to make the journey down to our Cathedral of St Peter the Apostle in Jackson to celebrate the Chrism mass with Bishop Kopacz.   The Chrism Mass reminds us of our oneness in Christ through Baptism and our holy anointing that we receive through our baptism: this is made possible by the ministry of our Bishop and his priests in our Diocese.  During the Chrism mass, not only will the entire assembly renew its baptismal promises with the Bishop, but the deacons and priests of our Diocese will renew the vow of obedience to Bishop and their commitment to serve God’s people in the various parishes and ministries in our Diocese.  Also, during this liturgy, the Bishop blesses the oils that we will use in the Sacraments that we will celebrate this year.   The Chrism mass is a very special show of unity and loyalty to our Bishop and to our holy universal Church. 

       I really hope to see all of you at our liturgies this Holy Week.  Through these liturgies, we really make sense of what our faith is all about.  We have this beautiful renovated church in which we are celebrating our liturgies this Holy Week.   I really want to see our church full during our Holy Week liturgies.  And, as your pastor, I would like to ask all of you to especially attend our services of the Triduum – Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and the Easter Vigil Mass on Saturday.  All of these are beautiful liturgies and all of them will help you grow in your faith as our Lenten journey comes to an end.  I know that we have busy lives, with a lot of commitments and responsibilities pulling at us and demanding our time.  However, let us all make a commitment to our faith this week as a community of faith to accompany Jesus on his journey to the cross and the resurrection. 

3/27/2015 – Friday of the 5th of week Lent – John 10:31-42

       In the Gospel of John, the crowd wants to stone Jesus; they want to kill him because they thought that Jesus spoke blasphemy, because he told them that he was God, not a man.  So often in John’s Gospel, the people misinterpret the words of Jesus, or they just can’t make that leap of faith in believing who he truly is. 

       Believing is a grace.  Believing is a gift from God.  I read an article by a Protestant minister from Chicago who expressed her frustration of having people approach her and telling her that although they consider themselves spiritual, they really don’t have any inclination to be associated with an organized religion, that it is not really for them.  I think that is a common attitude for many people to have in our modern world.  However, we can see in the Gospel how people many times either accepted Jesus or rejected him as a community.  The Bible also shows us how the disciples of Jesus and the early Church formed a community of faith that continued after the death and resurrection of Jesus, a community that grew and journeyed together.  And I am always so edified how we as members of the Church support each other and walk together as believers no matter what is going on in our journey, in both good times and in bad times.     
       We hear in the Gospel how many started to believe in Jesus when they came to him on the other side of the Jordan where John the Baptist was first baptizing people.  May we come to the Lord in our faith during these last days of Lent.  May we ask God to help us in our unbelief. 

3/26/2015 – Thursday of the 5th of week Lent – Genesis 17:3-9; Psalm 105:4-9

      We hear from Genesis today as we get closer to Holy Week.  Our reading from Genesis tells us about the covenant God made with Abraham. God promised to be faithful to Abraham and his descendants; God made Abraham the father of a great nation. The reading from the book of Jeremiah from the 5^th Sunday of Lent from Cycle B talks about the new covenant that God will write onto the hearts of the people.  We in our modern world see the heart as the seat of our emotions; the Ancient Israelites also saw the heart as the center of their thought, intellect, and being, in the same way we see our brain and our soul.  So, writing his covenant on their hearts would mean embossing it on their very being.  We hear about covenants so much during Lent because Jesus is our new covenant, because the salvation Jesus brings us through his death and resurrection is our new covenant. 

       “The Lord remembers his covenant forever” – the psalmist expresses great confidence in this statement in Psalm 105. Think about when you have gone through a dark or difficult moment in your life, when it takes everything you’ve got to make it to the next day, when you walk by faith because daily life is such a struggle. Sometimes we need to take it one day at a time.  Sometimes that is the best we can do.  But God never forgets the covenant He makes with his people, that He makes with us. 
        “Look to the Lord in his strength, seek to serve him constantly.”  May we truly believe the words of our psalm today, placing our trust in our Lord, placing our trust in the covenant he has made with his people.

3/22/2015 – Fifth Sunday of Lent – Cycle A – The Raising of Lazarus – John 11: 3-7, 17, 20-27, 33B-45.

      A lot of what we are taught about our Catholic faith can appear to be a paradox, can’t it?  We are told that in order to receive the joy of our faith, we are called to take up a cross and follow Jesus.  It is order to prepare to celebrate the Easter mysteries, the salvation we have in the resurrection of the Lord, we are called to journey with Jesus for 40 days in the desert wilderness.  In order to be a leader in context of our faith, we are not called to amass power and authority, but rather we are called to be a servant.  In order to receive new life in Christ, we must first die to our old life and our old ways.  And not only are we are called to repent and convert at the time we initially called to be a disciple of Christ, we are called to a constant cycle of repentance and conversion and renewal in our life of faith.

        Perhaps in the ways of the world, all these things would be seen as a paradox, but they are the truths of our faith as well.  Today, perhaps we see a paradox in what plays out in today’s Gospel.  We all go through difficulties in our lives, don’t we?  In one way or another, we all go through moments of challenge and suffering, of anguish and pain.  And we would fool ourselves to believe that once we become a disciple of Christ, that this pain and those difficulties will go away.  In those experiences of suffering, we might not feel the presence of God.  We might feel alone and abandoned.  Martha, the sister of Lazarus who was so attentive in serving Jesus and caring for him we he visited her family on a previous occasion, runs out to meet Jesus on the road, crying out to him, “Lord, if you had only been here…”  I am sure Martha is thinking: you love my brother and my family so much, you weep at the moment you hear that my brother has died, and yet you were not here when we needed you most.  Yet, in that moment of heartache and sorrow, Martha is able to open her ears and her heart to the words of Jesus:  “Martha, I know that you believe that you will be resurrected on the last day, I know that is a part of your faith.  But it is I who am the resurrection and the life.  And whoever believes in me, even if he dies, will live.  And everyone who lives and believes in me will never die.”

        When we grieve the death of a loved one, the suffering of a sick family member or beloved friend, the death of a relationship or the death of a dream we had in life, we could be wondering in our hearts: “Lord, if you had been here…” We might have felt that Jesus was not there with us in those moments.  But Martha, the Martha that is always busy occupying herself with a task, makes one of the most profound testimonies of faith in the New Testament: “Yes, Lord, I believe.  Yes, Lord, I have come to believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God.”  Martha, the one who cried out to Jesus, now realizes:  Yes, Lord, you are indeed here, yes, Lord, it is in you that we have eternal life. Those paradoxes that exist in our lives and exist in our faith can be troubling, can’t they?  We can feel grief, frustration, or pain, but at the same time, faith and understanding can exist as well.  It’s certainly a paradox.

      Wisdom can come in different forms.  Julian of Norwich was a young woman who lived in the 14^th century; she was an anchoress in her community. An anchoress is a woman of faith who lived apart from society in an isolated cell.  She is recognized today in our modern world as a great Christian mystic. There were some things Julian struggled to understand about her faith.  She wondered: in the great wisdom of God, why couldn't have sin been prevented and so then we would not be in the predicament we are in in our world.  Yet she hears these comforting words from Jesus in answer to her ponderings: In God's plan of salvation, it was necessary that there should be sin, but all shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well.”  In this, Julian comes to the revelation that no matter what, all things will be right in Christ.
     We place our hope in Christ.  We place our hope in our faith as we move forward through the holy season of Lent to the Easter mysteries to come. We have been approaching Lent as a special time in the cycle of our liturgical year: a time in which we examine our lives in a special way, at time in which we make special promises and commitments to God in our journey of these 40 days. Yes, there is a lot about our faith that be a paradox.  There is a lot about our faith that can be beyond our human understanding of things.  But, the Lord is indeed with us every step of the way, even during those times we don’t realize it. 

3/25/2015 – The Annunciation of the Lord – Luke 1:26-38

      Today, we celebrate the Annunciation of the Lord, a solemnity that falls in the last weeks of our commemoration of the holy season of Lent.  We might have some questions about today’s solemnity in which our liturgical color is white, in contrast to the purple color of Lent.

       First of all, where do we get the word “Annunciation”?  It comes from the root words as the verb “announce”.  The Angel Gabriel makes an announcement today to the Virgin Mary herself about the upcoming birth of Jesus. The annunciation is normally celebrated on March 25, 9 months before Christmas day, but when March 25 falls during Holy Week, as it did in 2013, the date of the solemnity is moved, since Holy Week takes precedence, and then it is moved to the Monday after the second Sunday of Easter according to liturgical norms in our Church.  As you know, we in the Catholic Church have laws, norms, and rules that address many different things.

        Why is the Annunciation so important to us in our faith and why would we celebrate it as a solemnity?  Perhaps the importance of the annunciation, of God being born as man, can be found in Mary’s answer to the Angel.  Doctor of the Church Bernard of Clairvaux explains that Mary is in a sense the new Eve.  After Adam and Eve had rejected God’s friendship, the world became clouded in darkness and sin.  God sought to enter the world in a new way through the birth of Jesus.  Salvation is offered to humanity through Jesus the son, and through Mary’s free will, she said yes to her role in becoming the Mother of our Savior.  The humble Mary made a bold, daring move and said yes, changing the history of salvation forever! Mary answers the answer from the depths of her heart and soul: “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord.  May it be done to me according to your word.”  Through that affirmation to the message conveyed to her by the Angel, Mary become not only the Mother of Jesus and the Mother of the Church, Mary not only become our Beloved Mother, but she becomes the first Disciple, the first one who believe in Him.  May the example of Mary in the Annunciation breathe new life in our faith.  May it give us strength and encouragement on our Lenten journey. 

3/24/2015 – Tuesday of fifth week of Lent – Numbers 21:4-9, Psalm 102

      We had a rough snow storm that shut down Tupelo at the end of February.  It was tough on us here in the South because we don’t have a lot of snow removal equipment down here.  I have siblings that live in Boston and Chicago.  I think of the rough winters they’ve had there these past two winters.  I remember living in Chicago and Winnipeg and dealing with the revere winters there.  In fact, for two years in a row, the Great Lakes have frozen over; it has to be really, really cold for that to happen. 

       Putting up with a rough winter is tough.  But try to imagine how the Israelites felt in the middle of their journey.  They’re tired, hungry, thirsty, and downright grumpy.  They give up hope in the middle of a desert journey that seems to never end.  They’re fed up with their situation.  They complain against God and against Moses for bringing them into this barren desert wilderness.  Looking back nostalgically, their life of bondage in Egypt seems good in comparison to what they are enduring now.  What they don’t understand is that God is still with them. 

         It’s easy for us to become hopeless and desperate in the midst of a crisis or a difficult situation.  We can look for someone else to blame for our misery and agony.  When a loved one is sick or dies, when we cannot find a job, when we fail at sometime we put our heart into, when our lives seem to fall apart at the seams – we wonder where do we find hope in the midst of the darkness and despair.

          For those living up in the Midwest and the Northeast this year, the winter can seem endless, but spring and summer will finally come. For that, we can be filled with hope and joy

          How do we open ourselves to God’s presence in our lives?  “O God, hear my prayer and let my cry come to you” – that is what the psalmist prays in today’s psalm.  Just as Moses and Jesus were able to bring God’s presence to his people in that difficult moment in their desert, we are also called to bring God’s presence to others in the midst of their reality, to bring God’s presence as we currently experience him in our lives.  
         As we continue our journey in these final days of Lent, may we never fail to turn to God, finding him in the reality of our lives. May we open ourselves and open others to the love and life of God that is present to us. Let us find hope in the Lord no matter where that reality finds us.

3/23/2015 – Monday of fifth week of Lent – Daniel 13:41c-62

      Today, in our first reading, we hear the story of Susanna from the book of Daniel.   Daniel is a popular figure in the Old Testament.  Most of us can probably remember the story of Daniel from our childhood religious education classes, of Daniel being thrown in the lion’s den for having disobeyed the law enacted by King Darius of Persia that no one was to offer a prayer to any god or any man except him for 40 days.  Daniel was thrown into the lion’s den, but God rescued Daniel for his faithfulness, with the lion instead devouring Daniel’s enemies. The book of Daniel is a part of the Hebrew Scriptures and the Protestant version of the Bible, but today’s story of Susanna is omitted from these Scriptures, but is included in our Catholic Old Testament. Today, we heard the short version of the reading, and even that shortened version is quite long.  In this story, the prophet and seer Daniel rescues Susanna from a stoning after she is falsely accused of adultery by two corrupt judges.  God, through Daniel, defends her and exposes the evil of these two judges.  God uses both Susanna as a tool to rectify the evil of the two judges who oppressed many innocent people through unjust judgments.

       Sometimes the humble and the just are the heroes of the story, like Susanna and Daniel.  But sometimes life isn’t fair, is it?  We look at the person who breaks the rules or breaks God commandments, and sometimes we don’t see any consequences to that, and we think: “Well, maybe I should go ahead and do that, too.”  That doesn’t excuse us.  That is not an invitation for us to sin.  All the little things add up.  John of the Cross once said: “The Lord measures out perfection neither by the multitude nor the magnitude of our deeds, but by the manner in which we perform them.”

       Susanna and Daniel are just two of many examples in Sacred Scripture for those who had the courage to stand up for what was right.   May we have the courage to do the matter, in all matters, both big and small.  As we continue in the last couple weeks of our Lenten journey, may we feel the Lord encouraging us to live out our faith in virtue and humility.

3/22/2015 – quinto domingo de Cuaresma – Jeremías 32, 31-34; Salmo 51

      Estamos caminando con Jesús en el desierto a su cruz durante los cuarenta días de Cuaresma.  La Iglesia nos llama a practicar las disciplinas de oración, ayuno, y obras de caridad para tener una experiencia profunda en este viaje con Jesús.  Tal vez, en estas semanas de Cuaresma, podemos tener una experiencia muy eficaz y muy edificante.   Pero, muchos de nosotros estamos en un lugar en nuestra vida donde estamos perdidos, donde estamos buscando la presencia de Cristo en nuestra vida, y no podemos encontrarlo en ningún lugar.  Es un lugar de frustración y confusión.

       Dios está con nosotros en la realidad de nuestra vida – es seguro.  En esta realidad, escuchamos el mensaje del profeta Jeremías esta tarde.  El profeta Jeremías nos habla de la nueva alianza que tenemos con Dios, de la nueva alianza que Dios establecería con su pueblo de Israel.  El Señor pondría su Ley en la totalidad de nuestras vidas – El va a escribirla en la profundidad de nuestros corazones.  Por Jeremías, Dios nos dice: “Todos me van a conocer, desde el más pequeño hasta el mayor de todos, cuando yo les perdone sus culpas y olvide para siempre sus pecados”.  Dios va a perdonarnos de nuestros pecados. Dios no habla sobre el castigo, sino por el perdón. 

       Jeremías profetizaba en Israel durante una época muy dura en su historia. En este momento de su camino, el pueblo de Israel no escuchaba la voz de Dios.  Era desobediente y rebelde.  El pueblo ha abandonado la ley y los mandamientos de Dios.   El pueblo ha escuchado los profetas falsas de su sociedad.   Y en los 52 capítulos de Jeremías, el profeta hablaba mucho sobre la ira de Dios contra su pueblo.  Pero, también, en las palabras del profeta, Dios habla hoy sobre su amor infinito, un amor que puede perdonar y olvidar todo nuestro mal, todo nuestros pecados. 

       Pero, necesitamos una respuesta a este mensaje que Dios nos da.  El salmista contesta – “Dios, crea en mí un corazón puro, renuévame por dentro con espíritu firme; no me arrojes lejos de tu rostro, no me quites tu santo espíritu.”  El salmista es humilde y arrepentido.   El reconoce la autoridad de Dios en su vida.  El reconoce sus culpas y quiere su perdón.  El quiere cambiar su vida – cambiar su manera de vivir.  Podemos orar las palabras de este salmo cuando queremos arrepentir de nuestros pecados, de nuestros delitos.  Podemos orar estas palabras para pedir una conversión al Señor, para implorar su misericordia y su compasión.

        En la realidad de nuestra vida, en la realidad de nuestros pecados y nuestros sufrimientos, no podemos olvidar la realidad de Cristo en estas semanas de cuaresma.  No podemos olvidar nuestro Señor, que se hizo hombre, que vivió y sufrió y murió y resucitó para salvarnos y redimirnos.  En la luz que Cristo llevó a nuestra vida, tenemos una participación en su resurrección y en su vida eterna.

3/20/2015 – Friday of the fourth week of Lent – John 7:1-2, 10, 25-30

        Some inhabitants of Jerusalem judge Jesus today.  Their reasoning: Well, we know where he is from – we know that he is from that backward province, Galilee – so there is no way he can be the Messiah.  In the Gospels, we hear a lot about how people judge him and condemn him and try to harm him.   But, still there are others who make that big leap and believe.  And many of those who believe are not the well-educated and the powerful, but rather the outcast and those on the margins.

        Our modern faith calls us to look back to the faith of the Apostles and the Early Church, from which the faith was passed down to us.  I recently came across a quote from the Early Church Father Cyril of Alexandria, who was the Patriarch of Alexandria, Egypt, an important city in the ancient world, in the first half of the fifth century.  Cyril had this to say about the Eucharist: "If the poison of pride swells up in you, turn to the Eucharist; and that Bread, which is our God humbling himself, will teach you humility. If the fever of selfish greed rages in you, feed on this Bread, and you will learn generosity. If the cold wind of coveting withers you, go to the Bread of Angels and charity will blossom in your heart. If you feel the itch of intemperance within you, nourish yourself with the Flesh and Blood of Christ who practiced heroic self-control during His earthly life, and you will become temperate. If you are lazy and sluggish about spiritual things, strengthen yourself with this heavenly food and you will grow fervent. Lastly, if you feel scorched by impurity, go to the banquet of the Angels and the spotless flesh of Christ will make you pure and chaste."  What a difference in what Cyril of Alexandria sees in Christ compared to what those inhabitants of Jerusalem saw in the Gospel today.

        Some Christians see in the Body in Blood of Christ as mere symbol, a mere remembrance.  To them, it is not a real presence.  Yet, we look to the writings of the Early Church Fathers such as Cyril of Alexandria, writings more than 1,500 years old, and we see the foundation of the love and loyalty we have to the Eucharist, the true Body and Blood of Christ.  Lord, may your true presences continue to accompany us on these last weeks of our Lenten journey as we prepare to celebrate the paschal mysteries.  Lord Jesus, may your Body and Blood nourish us and strengthen us today. 

3/19/2015 – Solemnity of St Joseph – Matthew 1:16, 18-21, 24a

       Our Happy Hearts group has the tradition of celebrating the solemnity of St Joseph on the Friday closest to his feast day – March 19.  So this Friday, March 20, we will celebrate St Joseph and will have a lunch of Italian food following the mass and the midday stations of the cross in keeping with the tradition that is celebrated by many faithful Italian American Catholics on this special day.

        It is in the midst of our holy season of Lent.  In fact, in little more than a week, we will celebrate Palm Sunday of the Lord’s Passion and then move into our commemoration of Holy Week.  But, today, we celebrate the celebration of St Joseph, the spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary.  We hear a reading about Joseph from the first chapter of Matthew’s Gospel today.  Joseph discovered that Mary was pregnant during their engagement but before they lived together; he was unwilling to expose her to shame, so he decided to divorce her quietly. Although Joseph was a devout Jew and dedicated follower of God’s holy law, he was not rigid or dogmatic about his adherence to the law.  Joseph realized that God’s law must be applied with kindness and compassion, that it must be interpreted with love, and that the very spirit of God’s law must not be violated. So, following the instructions of the angel, he takes Mary into his home and raises Jesus as his child.  I bet we all wish at times in our life we can have an angel whispering instructions in our ear or coming to us in a dream. Yet, the proper formation of our conscience, regular attendance at mass, and full participation in our community of faith we help us discern how God is leading us and guiding us in our decisions.  This is particularly instructive to us in our Lenten journey, as we examine our live to really see how we are trying to live as Christ’s disciples.

      I always associate the solemnity of St Joseph with the Italian American Catholic community; this day is as much a part of their identity as St Patrick’s Day is for Irish Americans.  In Sicily and in Italian American communities, the practice is to set the Table of Saint Joseph for this special day in his honor.  Pasta, vegetables, fish, eggs, pastries, fruit and wine are prepared and the poor are invited into the home to share in this special meal.  According to tradition, on the island of Sicily, there was a drought that destroyed the harvest and created a great famine.  The Sicilians prayed to Saint Joseph, the Patron Saint of the Family.  The prayers were answered when the famine and the drought receded. This great banquet of the Table of St Joseph remembers his intercessions for these Sicilian families in time of need and continues to gives thanks to him.

       Our Catholic traditions are an important part of our faith.  And here in Mississippi, especially in the Delta, Italian Americans who immigrated from Sicily have had a great influence on the development of Catholicism in our diocese and for the Catholic traditions we continue to observed.  We give thanks for that heritage, for the faith and steadfastness of those Italian Catholic families to continue in their faith despite great discrimination and hardship.  And we give thanks for St Joseph and for his intercessions. 

3/18/2015 – Wednesday of the fourth week in Lent - St Cyril of Jerusalem – Doctor of the Church – Isaiah 49:8-15

      Scholars believe that the 49^th chapter of Isaiah was written after the first phase of refugees from Babylon relocated back to Jerusalem in 539 BCE after being in exile for 70 years.  I can’t imagine the abandonment and pain the people Israel felt after having been in exile from their promised land. The Lord gives the people encouragement and hope through the prophet Isaiah.  The Lord tells the prisoners to come out.  He tells those in darkness to come into the light.  He tells them that they will no longer be hungry and thirsty.  Like a mother who does not abandon her baby, God will not abandon his people. Although these words would have been very welcome to the people of Israel, I am sure they were rather skeptical based on the experience they had in exile.

       As we hear these words of encouragement and hope during our Lenten journey, we celebrate the memorial of Cyril of Jerusalem, Doctor of the Church. Cyril also lived in a very difficult time in the history of the Early Church. The heresy of Arianism, denying the divinity of Jesus and his one in being with the Father, was gaining popularity during Cyril’s lifetime. Cyril was Bishop of Jerusalem during the 4^th century. One of the most valuable things he left behind was his work Catecheses, which was used in the Lenten season in preparing adults for baptism at Eastertime.  It is a great example of theology and liturgy in the Early Church.  Cyril was exiled several times as Bishop in his defense of the Church and of the faith.  And yet in the midst of his difficult life, he leaves us these encouraging and comforting words about how the Holy Spirit works in our lives: “The Spirit comes gently and makes himself known by his fragrance. He is not felt as a burden, for he is light, very light. Rays of light and knowledge stream before him as he approaches. The Spirit comes with the tenderness of a true friend and protector to save, to heal, to teach, to counsel, to strengthen, to console.”

        Some of us may be going through difficult circumstances in our lives right now.  Lent may be a particularly difficult time for us right now.  We might be struggling in belief and faith.  Let us feel comfort and encouragement in our faith.  Let us feel hope as we continue on our Lenten journey toward the celebration of the paschal mystery.