Good Friday - St James Catholic Church - Tupelo Mississippi

Easter season at St James Catholic Church - Tupelo, Mississippi

4/29/2016 – Friday of the Fifth Week of Easter – John 15:12-17

      Love one another.  It seems like a simple commandment on the surface, but we know it is not so easy.  How do we follow the spirit of this commandment in the ordinary moments of our daily lives, in the complicated real life situations we meet along our journey?  Today, we celebrate one of the four female Doctors of the Church, Catherine of Siena.  She was born in 1347 in Siena, Italy, the youngest of 25 children, although more than half of those children did not survive childhood.  Although she was very devout as a teen, she did not enter the convent as a nun, but rather chose to stay a lay woman third order member of the Dominican order.  She dedicated her life to serving the poor and the sick.  A mystic, a philosopher, theologian, and advisor to popes, Catherine’s many profound writers were what earned her the distinction of being named Doctor of the Church by Pope Paul VI.  She and St Teresa of Avila were the first women to be named Doctors of the Church in 1970.  In all her profound writings, Catherine says this about love:  "You are rewarded not according to your work or your time but according to the measure of your love.”  In other words, if we forget about love, all else is to no avail.  May we never forget Christ’s commandment to love.

4/28/2016 – Wednesday of the 5th week of Easter – John 15:1-5

     If Jesus is the vine and we are the branches, how do we abide in him?  How does he abide in us?  I was recently reading an article about Herman Melville’s famous novel Moby Dick.  Most people remember the short three word sentence that is one of the most famous opening lines of a novel from American literature:  “Call me Ishmael.”  Later in the book, there is an interesting quote about a Polynesian island that the crew comes upon, as Ishmael states: “"It is not down in any map; true places never are."  On our journey through life, there is certainly a physical journey, but there is an internal journey of faith.  We have to take in all of the externals of our journey and process them in our faith in the depths of the soul.   Sometimes it is easier to concentrate on the externals and to ignore that faith places where we go. Perhaps those true place are those places on our faith journey that are marked in the spiritual realm, not the temporal earthly realm.  On our faith journey, may we go beyond our time and our efforts, take time to abide in Christ and to listen to him. 

24 de abril de 2016 – el cuarto domingo de Pascua – Hechos de los Apóstoles 14,21-27

       Durante la temporada de Pascua, escuchamos las lecturas de los Hechos de los Apóstoles.  Es la historia de Pablo y sus compañeros en sus viajes misioneros.  Es la historia de nuestra iglesia y de los primeros discípulos. Pablo y estos discípulos vivieron su vocación con la esperanza de Cristo resucitado en sus corazones. En la lectura de los Hechos del domingo pasado, escuchamos acerca de las experiencias de Pablo en Antioquía en su primer viaje misionero.  Este visita terminó cuando Pablo y Bernabé fueron expulsados ​​de esa comunidad.  Sin embargo, se sacudieron el polvo de sus pies y continuaron a la siguiente comunidad. Sus corazones todavía estaban llenos del gozo del Evangelio y el don del Espíritu Santo.  Hoy en una continuación de ese viaje, Pablo y Bernabé animaban a los discípulos y los exhortaban a perseverar en la fe.  Pablo y Bernabé tenían mucha esperanza en sus corazones, pero eran realistas también, explicando a los fieles que hay que pasar por muchas tribulaciones para entrar en el Reino de Dios

      Estamos aquí en nuestra parroquia de Santiago el Apóstol en Tupelo, Mississippi.  Cuando servía como misionero laico y cuando sirvo como sacerdote en la Diócesis de Jackson, las historias de los misioneros de nuestra iglesia y los miembros de la comunidad de los santos me edificaban constantemente en mi propio ministerio.  Eso es uno de estas historias.  En el año 1749, de 36 años de edad, un sacerdote franciscano en la isla de Mallorca de España, se ofreció para ir a las misiones en México.  Padre Junípero Serra era profesor de teólogo y de la universidad. Tenía una vida muy cómoda en España, su patria.  Sin embargo, recibía la llamada de Dios para evangelizar a los indígenas de las Américas, a los que todavía no recibieron la Buena Nueva de Jesucristo.  Después de 20 años de trabajo misionero en México, fue destinado a establecer un sistema de misiones en California.  Padre Serra tenía 56 años y su salud no era muy buena. Sufría de asma y dolor crónico en su pierna.  Viajaba más de 24.000 millas en los15 años antes de su muerte, la mayoría a pie o en mula o por mar.  Padre Serra y su equipo de misioneros llevaron el idioma español y la fe católica a California, estableció un sistema de agricultura y riego, estableció un sistema de caminos, y fundó un sistema de ley para proteger a los indígenas bajo de su autoridad.  Padre Serra murió en 1784 a 70 años de edad, pero era honrado por su trabajo misionero y por las misiones católicas que él estableció en California.  Cuando el Papa Francisco llegó a los Estados Unidos del año pasado, canonizó el padre Serra como un santo en la Iglesia Católica.  Padre Serra, al igual que Pablo y Bernabé y los otros primeros discípulos, hicieron grandes sacrificios para llevar la fe a los demás. Todos ellos son grandes ejemplos de fe para nosotros seguir.

      Doy gracias por nuestra comunidad de fe aquí en Tupelo, por la fe de los apóstoles y por la fe de nuestros antepasados.  En esta temporada de Pascua, 50 niños reciben la primera comunión - un número increíble. Nuestros estudiantes de segundo grado recibirán la primera comunión durante las misas este próximo fin de semana.  La semana después de eso, un grupo de 20 estudiantes del colegio recibirá el sacramento de la confirmación.  El fin de semana de Pentecostés, vamos a celebrar una misa con nuestros graduados del colegio y sus familias.  Cuando celebramos un evento importante en nuestra fe – el bautismo, la confirmación, la primera comunión, una boda, la graduación - tenemos la oportunidad de mirar la vida de nuestra fe, podemos preguntarnos si estamos viviendo nuestra fe en el espíritu de el Cristo resucitado y en el espíritu de los primeros apóstoles, o si tenemos que mirar a nuestro corazón y volver a comprometernos como discípulos de Cristo.  Tal vez hemos perdido la marca. Tal vez nos hemos desviado de nuestro llamado. Tal vez Dios nos llama a más.  El Cristo resucitado nos llama a la renovación del compromiso de nuestra fe católica no importa dónde nos encontramos en nuestro viaje. ¿Escuchamos la llamada?

A disturbing sign of the times - more than 1,000 shootings in Chicago so far this year

With the acts of terrorism and war that are on the news every night, we can be overwhelmed with all the violence that is going on in the world today.  I certainly hear that from some of my parishioners.  We hear about the violence and destruction from ISIS.  We hear about religious persecutions and intolerance.  In the midst of that, I read this today:  It is only the month of April, and already this year there have been 1,000 shootings in the city of Chicago already this year.  The article from the Chicago Tribune said that the rate of violence this rate is greater than anything seen since the 1990s.  New York, a city more than three times the size of Chicago, had less than a fourth of the shootings in Chicago.  With Chicago as my hometown and one of the places I love most in the world, with my ancestors going back to Chicago to my great-great grandfather, Captain David Dall, who ran schooners and other ships along the Great Lakes, I am greatly disturbed by this reality.  There are no easy answers, but we all need to work for peace on many levels in our lives.   The Second Vatican Council said that we need to read the signs of the times, to dialogue with the modern world, to infuse the world with the values of our faith.   Pope Francis does a good job of this.  How can we follow his example. 

4/22/2016 – Friday of the 4th week of Easter – John 14:1-6

      “Do not let your hearts be troubled.”  Jesus gives us words of comfort today, but when we're going through a difficult time in our lives, these words might not sink in.  I was remembering my mission experiences in Ecuador this past weekend with news of the earthquake that hit that country.  The epicenter was actually not that far from the coastal rainforest region where I served as a missionary there for 3 years.   I was telling Kris and Michelle in the office earlier this week that I felt lucky to have survived a lot of the experiences that I had there. I used to travel from the capital city of Quito to the jungle region on the coast on these rickety buses that would take an entire day of travel.   When I would transport things on them, mostly supplies for the schools and projects that I administered, I would have to sit up on the top of the bus with the goats and the chickens to safeguard everything I was transporting.  One day, when I was trying to get my things down from the top of the bus, I mis-stepped and ended up falling off.  Luckily, my fall was cushioned by my backpack, so I was not hurt or injured at all.  I remember all challenges, struggles, and traumatic experiences that I endured as a missionary, but even in the midst of those experiences, I had a peace in my heart that God gave me.  We are not promised that our lives will be easy or without challenges.  Jesus is there with us every step of the way.  With that assurance, may our hearts not be troubled. 

4/24/2016 – 4th Sunday of Easter – Acts 14:21-27

      During the Easter season, we always hear readings from the Acts of the Apostles.  We hear about Paul and his companions in their missionary journeys.  We hear about the establishment of the Early Church and how those first disciples lived out their calling in the hope they placed in the risen Christ.  In our reading from Acts, we heard about Paul's experiences at Antioch in his first missionary journey.  This mission trip did not fulfill their hopes and dreams, as Paul and Barnabas were expelled from that community. Yet, they shook the dust off their feet and continued on to the next community.  Their hearts were still filled with the joy of the Gospel and the gift of the Holy Spirit.  Today, in a continuation of that journey, Paul and Barnabas “put fresh heart in the disciples, encouraging them to persevere in the faith.”   Paul and Barnabas were encouraged and hopeful, but they were realistic as well, telling their followers that they would endure many hardships in order to enter into the kingdom of God.  

       We are able to worship here in our parish here in Tupelo, Mississippi only because of those who lived out their faith to the fullest throughout history and who passed down the faith to us.  When I served as a missionary both in the US and abroad, and even now as I serve as a priest in the Diocese of Jackson, the stories of the missionaries of our Church and the members of the community of saints who came before us constantly edify me in my own ministry.  Here is one such remarkable story of faith.  Back in 1749, a 36 year old Franciscan priest on the island of Mallorca, Spain volunteered to go to the missions in Mexico.  Father Junipero Serra was a well-known theologian and college professor.  He led a very comfortable life in his native Spain.  Yet, he felt that God was calling him to evangelize the indigenous people of the Americas, to those who had not yet heard the Good News of Jesus Christ. After 20 years of mission work in Mexico, he was assigned to establish a system of missions in the present-day state of California, a place where the Church had not yet been established.  Father Serra was 56 years old and in very poor health.  He suffered from severe asthma and a chronic leg sore that plagued him the rest of his life.  He traveled more the 24,000 miles over the next 15 years before his death, mostly on foot or by mule or by sea.  Father Serra and his team of missionaries brought the Spanish language and the Catholic faith to the state of California, introduced a system of agriculture and irrigation, created a system of roads, and founded a system of law that protected the indigenous people under his charge.  In the midst of all he was trying to accomplish, he fought with the military and the governors a lot. Father Serra died in 1784 at the age of 70, but he was remember and honored for his courageous missionary work and for the Catholic missions that he established in California.  When Pope Francis came to the United States for a pastoral visit last year, he canonized Father Serra as a saint in our Catholic Church.  Father Serra, like Paul and Barnabas and the disciples in the Early Church, made great sacrifices to bring the faith to others.  They are all great examples of faith for us to follow. 

       I give thanks for our faith community here in Tupelo, for the faith of the Apostles and our ancestor that brought us this far.   This Easter season, we have had 50 children receive first communion – what an incredible number.  Our second graders will receive first communion during the masses next weekend.  The week after that, a group of 20 high school students will receive the sacrament of confirmation.  And on Pentecost weekend, we will celebrate a baccalaureate mass with our graduating high school seniors and their families.  When we celebrate a major event in our faith – baptism, confirmation, 1^st communion, a wedding, graduation – we have the opportunity to take a look at our faith, to ask ourselves if we are living out our faith in the spirit of the risen Christ and those first apostles, or if we need to look to our hearts and to recommit ourselves as disciples of Christ.  Maybe we have missed the mark.  Maybe we have strayed from our calling.  Maybe God is calling us to more.  The risen Christ calls us to a re-commitment to our Catholic faith no matter where we are on our journey.  Do we hear that call? 

4/21/2016 – Thursday of the 4th week of Easter – John 13:16-20

      Jesus commissioned his disciples to be servants.  When I go on the Camino in Spain, I often encounter a lot of mud on the trail.   Northern Spain has a very rainy climate.  You can just imagine what it is like getting the gooey mud in the nooks and crannies of your hiking shoes, of mud splattered all over your pants.  The streets of ancient Israel often had mud and garbage and debris all over the place, so when someone entered a house of his host in sandals or bare feet, the lowliest servant of the household would meet the guest at the door to clean his feet before entering.  When taken in that context, Jesus’ act of washing his disciples’ feet at the last supper is even more humble and more an act of lowly service.  We live in a modern American world where everyone strives to be the best, when we want to be on top and better than everyone else.  How does that fit into the way Jesus calls us to service.  While Pope Francis has brought renewal and freshness and energy to our Church, while he has inspired a lot of people, it has been hard to me to hear how harsh he is on us priests.  I often feel scolded and chastised by him rather than lifted up and encouraged.  But I think Pope Francis so strongly believes that we priests need to be examples of service and living the Gospel values of humility and simplicity that he holds us to a very high standard.  Being a disciple of Christ is not supposed to be easy, it is not supposed to be comfortable and comforting all the time.  It is supposed to challenge us and may us uneasy and call us to go beyond our comfort zone.  May we have the courage to follow Christ’s example.

4/19/2016 – Tuesday of the 4th week of Easter - John 10:22-30

     Our Gospel takes place during the festival of the Dedication in Jerusalem.  This winter festival commemorates the dedication of the temple by Judas Maccabeus in December 165 BC after it had been desecrated by the Syrian King Antiochus Epiphanes.  Jesus, being a devout Jew, would have celebrated this festival with his disciples and his family.  During this Jewish festival time, Jesus is questioned about his identity again, a recurring theme in the Gospels.  The Jews do not understand who Jesus is.  They are awaiting the Messiah, but they have their own expectations and they are not being fulfilled.  Jesus’ signs and miracles and his proclamation of God’s kingdom are not recognized by so many.  How do we practice our faith, stay true to our traditions, and grow in our relationship with Jesus?  Yesterday, I read an article entitled:  “8 things every Catholic should be doing every day.”  The 8 points that the author recommends includes: 1. Start your day with prayer, reading the Bible, or with your Mother, Mary, 2. Smile – be polite to others – be kind – and give out hugs, 3. Reach out to a friend thru a phone call or an email or a visit, 4. Tell someone you love them and why, 5. Talk about God, 6. Sacrifice something, 7. Serve in some way, and 8. Reflect on your day.   Those are all interesting suggestions.  In whatever way we practice our faith, Jesus must always be our Good Shepherd, we must be true to our faith and our traditions, and we must be true to ourselves.

4/20/2016 – Wednesday of the 4th week of Easter – John 12:44-50

     Most of us here at mass this evening have probably had electricity as a part of our lives since we were born.  Many parts of the world are still not that way.  Where I lived as a missionary in Ecuador and where I served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Guinea in Africa did not have electricity all of the time.    Think about what our lives would be like if we did not have electricity.  When I was on the Camino in Spain this past winter, the sun did not rise until about 8:30, so most mornings I was walking in darkness for at least an hour or two.  Since many of the areas were down remote paths, there was not a lot of light. The last day of my walk into the city of Santiago de Compostela, I decided to start out very early in the morning – at 4:45 am – so that I could arrive at the pilgrims’ office that morning to register as a pilgrim and to attend the pilgrims’ mass at noon. During those early morning hours, I spent time in a eucalyptus forest and down some very remote paths in total darkness before the sunrise that morning.  The quiet dark hours that gave way to a beautiful sunset were some of my most memorable, pray-filled hours on the Camino, time with God that I will always cherish.  I remember the little LED flashlight I used on the Camino in those early morning hours that gave me just enough light to be able to see where I was going.  Jesus is the light of our world.  He is that light that helps us navigate through the darkness and shadows that we encounter in life.  He is the one who illuminates those values of our faith that we are to live by. May we see Jesus as our light in the midst of those things that could take us off our path of faith.

Quote - "Gifts" - By Ralph Waldo Emerson - 1843

I love this quote of how our true gifts need to come from our true being: 

Rings and jewels are not gifts, but apologies for gifts. The only gift is a portion of yourself. You must bleed for me. Therefore the poet brings his poem; the shepherd, his lamb; the farmer, corn; the miner, a stone; the painter, his picture; the girl, a handkerchief of her own sewing.

17 de abril de 2016 – el cuarto domingo de Pascua – Juan 10, 27-30

     Estamos en el cuarto domingo en la temporada de Pascua.  Estamos muy ocupados con el fin del año escolar, con la primera comunión, con la confirmación, la misa de graduación del colegio, y con el fin de nuestros programas antes del comienzo del verano.  En medio de la temporada de pascua, celebramos el Domingo del Buen Pastor.  Jesucristo, nuestro Buen Pastor, llama a sus ovejas a sí mismo. Él llama a sus ovejas en unión con el Padre.  Para el último par de años, Domingo del Buen Pastor también ha sido el Día Mundial de Oración por las Vocaciones.

      Como discípulos de Cristo, estamos llamados de escuchar la voz de nuestro Buen Pastor: una voz que nos conduce y nos guía y nos ayuda en nuestro viaje.  Hay muchos caminos en el mundo.  Hay muchas voces que nos llaman.  Sin embargo, sólo hay un Buen Pastor.  Nuestro Buen Pastor y la Iglesia están aquí para ayudarnos a encontrar nuestra vocación en la vida y estimular esa vocación.  Sin embargo, esto sólo puede suceder si nos comprometemos a seguir a Jesús como nuestro Buen Pastor.

       Podemos reflexionar hoy sobre nuestra vocación en el Domingo del Buen Pastor.  La búsqueda de nuestra vocación en la vida es importante.  Hoy, oramos especialmente por las vocaciones en la Iglesia: el sacerdocio, al diaconado, la vida religiosa consagrada y el ministerio laico.  Primer punto -  podemos decir que Dios nos llama en medio de nuestros dones y nuestras imperfecciones para servir en el ministerio. El Padre Henri Nouwen dice que aquellos en el ministerio en la Iglesia son sanadores heridos Iglesia, que todos nosotros somos pecadores y todos tenemos nuestros defectos.  En los Evangelios, Jesús llama a muchas personas para el ministerio en medio de las imperfecciones y las debilidades.  En nuestro ministerio, no vivimos nuestras vidas exactamente como Cristo vivió la suya.  Los ministros tienen su vocación para servir en la Iglesia y para vivir auténticamente como Cristo en muchas maneras y en muchas formas, viviendo nuestra vocación cristiana en la fidelidad, el servicio y la humildad.

      Segundo punto -  la vocación nos da una oportunidad de encontrar nosotros mismos.  El Papa Francisco ha dicho que la mejor manera de discernir una vocación en la Iglesia es para trabajar en las misiones, para ser voluntario con los pobres, para visitar a los enfermos en el hospital o en el hospicio, y para servir en nuestra parroquia. Cuando vamos fuera de nosotros mismos para servir a otros, Dios puede comunicar con nosotros en muchas maneras.  Sin embargo, necesitamos acompañar nuestra vocación con la dedicación a la oración y la Eucaristía y los aspectos espirituales de nuestra fe. Nuestros obras de caridad no sólo vienen de las buenas intenciones y el altruismo, sino de nuestra propia fe.  Nuestra fe y las buenas obras deben ser intrínsecamente conectados y deben complementarse entre sí.

       Tercer punto - estamos llamados a discernir a nuestra propia vocación y para ayudar a otros en su discernimiento, tenemos la llamada de caminar como mensajeros de la misericordia. Es un mensaje profundo en el Año de la Misericordia.  Tenemos que animar a otros a ir al Sacramento de la Reconciliación, para encontrar el amor y la misericordia en los amorosos brazos de María, nuestra Madre, y para llegar a otras personas que se han alejado de la fe.  El mensaje de Francisco y el Papa Benedicto es que necesitamos una nueva evangelización, que tenemos que evangelizar a nosotros mismos con el fin de ser capaces de evangelizar a los demás, para redescubrir a nosotros mismos lo que realmente significa ser católico y que se comprometan a esa forma de vida.

        Podemos escuchar a Jesucristo, el Buen Pastor. El nos llama en muchas maneras: a través de la oración, a través de la lectura de su Sagrada Palabra, a través de nuestras experiencias en los sacramentos de la Iglesia, y por medio de nuestro servicio al pueblo de Dios.  En nuestra fe, podemos responder a la vocación  que tenemos en nuestro Buen Pastor.  Cristo nos ayuda para tomar la decisión de seguir nuestra vocación, no importa si es difícil o complicado para seguirlo.

4/15/2016 – Friday of the 3rd week of Easter – John 6:52-59

    Today, we hear further explanation from Jesus in the sixth chapter of John in how we receive him in the Eucharist: “Whoever eats my Flesh and drinks my Blood remains in me and I in him.”  How do we experience Christ in the Eucharist and what implications does this have for us?  The American actor Martin Sheen, the star of the the movie The Way, about the pilgrimage of St James in Spain, had this to say in an interview he did this past December about the importance of the Eucharist in his Catholic faith: “one of the great mysteries that I experience at mass is the reception of communion. How do we embrace that? How can we possibly, consciously understand what that is? And I don’t have a clue. I just stand on line and say, 'I’m Ramón, called Martin, your friend, you’re welcome here. And I’m with them.' Whoever the crowd is I’m getting in line with, you just look at the people who are on that line, that community, that is the greatest and simplest expression of overtly trying to explain this mystery I’m talking about, because it is a mystery. It is probably the most profound mystery in all of the universe, this love. Sometimes I’m overwhelmed just watching people on line to embrace that sacrament. It is the most profound thing. I never ever can get over it. It’s just something you have to surrender to. And just saying yeah, I’m with them. That’s the community of saints.”  It is hard to put into words what the Eucharist means to us and what affect it has on our lives, for it is indeed a profound mystery, as Martin Sheen says.  Do we let the Eucharist challenge us and change us and transform us?  Or do we just not think about it? 

4/17/2016 – Fourth Sunday of Easter season – John 10:27-30

      Today, we celebrate the 4^th Sunday of the Easter season.  We are finished with our busy Holy Week liturgies and our students are back from spring break.  Now, we are really busy with the end of the school year, with first communion, confirmation, the baccalaureate mass for graduating seniors, and the end of our programs before the summer starts. In the midst of our busy lives, we celebrate Good Shepherd Sunday today in the midst of the Easter season.  Jesus, our Good Shepherd, calls his sheep to himself.  He calls his sheep into union with his Father.  For the last couple of years, Good Shepherd Sunday has also been the World Day of Prayer for Vocations. 

      As disciples of Christ, we are called hear the voice of our Good Shepherd: a voice that leads us, guides us, and helps us on our journey.   There are so many roads we can travel down in life.  There are so many voices call out to us.  But there is only one Good Shepherd.  Our Good Shepherd and our Church are there to help us find our vocation in life and to nurture that vocation.  However, this can only happen if we are engaged in that journey, if we commit ourselves to following Jesus as our Good Shepherd.

      So what are some points we can ponder today on Good Shepherd Sunday in regard to vocations?  Indeed, finding our vocation in life is important, whatever that vocation may be, but in our prayers for vocations today, we especially highlight the various vocations in our Church: to the priesthood, diaconate, consecrated religious life, and lay ministry.  First, we can say that God calls us in the midst of both our gifts and our imperfections to serve in ministry.  The late Father Henri Nouwen calls those in ministry in the Church "wounded healers", highlighting the way all of us are sinners and the way all of us have our faults.  Again and again in the Gospels, we see Jesus calling different individuals to ministry in the midst of their imperfections and weaknesses.  In our ministry, we don’t live our lives exactly as Christ lived his. Instead, those called to a vocation in ministry in the Church are called to live as authentically as Christ lived, with there being many ways and forms in which we live out our Christian vocation in faithfulness, service, and humility.

      Another point we can make about our call to a vocation is that we give of ourselves in order to find ourselves.   Pope Francis has said that the best way to discern a vocation in the Church is to go on a mission trip, to volunteer at a soup kitchen, to spend time with the poor, to visit the sick in the hospitals or in the nursing homes, and to be of service in our parish.  When we go outside of our comfort zones to serve others, God can speak very powerfully to us indeed.  Yet, this also has to be accompanied by our devotion to prayer and the Eucharist and the spiritual aspects of our faith as well.  Our charitable works do not just come out of good intentions and altruism, but from our very faith itself.  Our faith and good works must be intrinsically connected and must complement each other. 

       Finally, we could say, as we are called to discern our own vocation and to help others in their discernment, we are called to be a messenger of mercy.  What better message could we have in this Year of Mercy?  We need to encourage others to go to the Sacrament of Reconciliation, to find love and mercy in the loving arms of Mary, our Mother, and to reach out to others who have fallen away from the faith.  The message of Pope Francis and Pope Benedict is that we need a new evangelization, that we need to evangelize ourselves in order to be able to evangelize others, to rediscover ourselves what it really means to be Catholic and to commit to that way of life. 

      We can hear Jesus, the Good Shepherd, calling out to us in many ways: through prayer, through reading his Holy Word, through our experiences in the Sacraments of the Church, and through our service to the people of God. In our faith, we are to respond to the vocation the Good Shepherd is calling us to, we are to help others make the choice to follow their vocation, no matter how hard or different or overwhelming this may seem.  As we talk about vocations today, we are going to have the chance to hear from one of our confirmation students give a faith testimony, to hear about his journey through the confirmation process and his experiences with the risen Christ as he journeys toward the Sacrament of Confirmation in a few short weeks.  

4/13/2016 – Wednesday of the 3rd week of Easter – John 6:35-40

    “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me will never hunger, and whoever believes in me will never thirst.”  Many Catholics take the bread of life discourse in the 6^th chapter of the Gospel of John for granted, but there are indeed some Catholics who do not believe in the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist.  Yet, going back to the Early Church and the followers of Christ after his death and resurrection, the belief was in the real presence.  St Ignatius of Antioch, a Church Father from the 1st Century, had this to say about the Eucharist: "Consider how contrary to the mind of God are the heterodox in regard to God’s grace which has come to us. They have no regard for charity, none for the widow, the orphan, the oppressed, none for the man in prison, the hungry or the thirsty. They abstain from the Eucharist and from prayer, because they do not admit that the Eucharist is the flesh of our Savior Jesus Christ, the flesh which suffered for our sins and which the Father, in His graciousness, raised from the dead."  Notice that in this same quote, Ignatius calls us to performs various works of mercy in addition to believing in the real presence of Christ.  And even though we have four different masses every weekend here at St James and usually at least four daily masses during the week, with ample opportunity to receive Christ into our lives in this Sacrament, many who claim to be Catholic do not have time for the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist in their lives.   How are we living out the values of the Body and Blood of Christ that we receive? 

Response from Bishop Kopacz to a recent bill passed by the legislature in the state of Mississippi - HB 1523

Our mission to serve and educate: Bishop Kopacz addresses bill concerns

(from the Diocese of Jackson website, posted on April 11, 2016).  

“The Diocese of Jackson supported and would continue to support a religious exemption on behalf of the mission of the Catholic Church with regard to education and social services. We would like to continue to provide these services while remaining faithful to the teachings of the Catholic Church. The diocese had no involvement in the other portions of the bill that addressed business and government operations. The church will continue to work to protect its First Amendment right to worship, to educate and to serve in the public domain while respecting the dignity of all citizens.”

I responded to the recent inquires and feedback with the above statement regarding diocesan support for religious freedom that was signed into law in Mississippi with HB 1523. This law is wide ranging and it affects not only First Amendment Rights for recognized religious denominations, but also supports individual citizens with respect to freedom of conscience. The controversy, as we know, surrounds the conflict between religious freedom and freedom of conscience vs. discrimination. Most notably, although not exclusively, this has focused upon same sex civil unions and the redefinition of marriage in the law of the United States. For me as the Bishop of Jackson it is important to address this matter of vital importance as follows.

Parish Life and Worship The unchanging teaching of the Catholic Church regarding marriage for nearly two thousand years has been the indissoluble and faithful union of one man and one woman in the covenant of marriage between two baptized Christians. This is one of our seven Sacraments. I first wrote about it last summer after the Supreme Court ruling. This unchangeable teaching has been restated by Pope Francis in his just released Post Synod Apostolic Exhortation, Amoris Laetitia, (The Joy of Love). “Marriage is between a man and a woman, and homosexual unions cannot be placed on the same level as Christian marriage.” (AL250) That said, it is important that we all learn to imitate God’s unconditional love for everyone.

Pope Francis wholeheartedly continues: “The Church makes her own the attitude of the Lord Jesus, who offers his boundless love to each person without exception.” (AL250) Furthermore, everyone is a son or daughter; everyone has a family history; everyone has bonds of love with family members; and everyone has friends in difficult and painful situations. “It is a matter of reaching out to everyone, or needing to help each person find his or her proper way of participating in the ecclesial community, and thus to experience being touched by an unmerited, unconditional, and gratuitous mercy.” AL297

Pope Francis is beloved by many because he is able to reaffirm the teachings of the Church with fidelity, compassion, and hope, a standard for the entire Church. Some want to frame the debate surrounding the Church’s teaching as discrimination and hostility toward homosexual persons. On the contrary, we are being faithful to our mission to “speak the truth in love” and to live with the heart and mind of our risen Lord who came that all might be reconciled to God.

The Mission to Educate At the end of Saint Matthew’s Gospel, in the great mandatum directed to his apostles, Jesus said: “Go and baptize all the nations, teaching them everything I have commanded you, and know that I am with you until the end of the age.” The Church has been faithful to this mission for nearly two thousand years in a myriad of ways: most notably in the family, in parish communities, and in formal education. The Catholic Diocese of Jackson has been part of this mission to educate since its inception in 1837 in all manners of teaching, including in our Catholic School system begun in 1847. I provided a broader overview of our proud legacy of education in the State in my letter to the State Legislature. The letter is available below.

All teachers who formally represent the Catholic Church in our schools or parishes must teach what the Church believes, and must live in a manner that is in harmony with Church teaching. With respect to marriage in our mission to teach a Catholic must be married in the Church. If a Catholic is living with another – even if the couple is a man and woman – without benefit of marriage, or married civilly without benefit of a Church marriage, then they would not be hired, or their employment would be terminated. Same sex civil unions are seen in this light and the standards that underlie our Catholic ethos would apply. This is not a matter of discrimination but of being faithful to the mission and Gospel teachings entrusted to the Church by the Lord Jesus. My letter to the Legislature (available below) concerns the right of the Church to hire and commission educators without animus or prejudice to our tradition of faith.

Lastly, it is essential to point out that the Catholic Church in Mississippi has educated all who have come through our doors, beginning with the children of slaves in the 1840s. Non Catholics comprise a significant percentage of those who occupy the seats in our school system, both as students and teachers, and diversity has been our hallmark since desegregation.

The Mission to Serve In the same letter to the State Legislators I made an appeal to the First Amendment Right to serve with regard to Catholic Charities which has been at the forefront of outreach to vulnerable populations in Mississippi since the mid 1960s. Currently there are 23 programs or ministries that serve homeless veterans, victims of domestic violence and rape, legal immigrants, unaccompanied refugee minors and children in the state foster care system, to name a few. We serve all who are in need or in crisis situations with expertise, compassion, confidentiality and respect. The dignity of each person is upheld, and no one is turned away.

The two areas of concern of which I wrote surrounded adoption and foster care, asking the legislators to uphold our desire to serve while remaining faithful to our tradition of marriage in the placement of children. Throughout the country these programs have been addressed differently by state. At this time an accommodation for religious organizations is not needed in Mississippi with HB1523. Should this law be repealed, we would again request these specific exemptions. Although we are receiving public funds to carry out these programs, I still believe that it would be beneficial to our state for all sectarian and non-sectarian organizations to work together to serve vulnerable children. If a sectarian organization, like the Catholic Church, can only go so far because of their beliefs, other organizations can then address this gap in service. I believe that legislators can apply First Amendment common sense to support the service of the Church in society when by far and away it is a legacy of service for the common good.

In conclusion, I hope that it is clear that the Catholic Church in Mississippi is committed to building up the quality of life for all Mississippians, treating all with dignity and respect while remaining faithful to our tradition of faith, education, and service. Our role in supporting this bill was limited to the specific issues outlined above. This is invoked with malice toward none. Likewise, there is certainly a place for freedom of conscience in the public domain, an inviolable attribute of human dignity, but it should never be employed to discriminate against any person, a direct assault against human dignity.

Yours in Christ,
+ Bishop Joseph Kopacz
Bishop of Diocese of Jackson