Tuesday, February 28, 2017

1 de marzo de 2017 - Miércoles de Ceniza - Joel 2: 12-18

     Esta semana, un grupo de miembros de nuestra parroquia trabajaba mucho para preparar nuestra iglesia para esta temporada de cuaresma. En verdad, hay mucho para hacer para preparar.  Cada año antes del Miércoles de Ceniza, necesitamos quemar las palmas secas que se han salvado de la celebración del Domingo de Ramos del año pasado para tener cenizas para distribuir el Miércoles de Ceniza.  Esas cenizas significan muchas cosas diferentes para los fieles católicos cuando recibimos esa mancha de ceniza en nuestras frentes.  Nuestras cenizas nos bendicen y nos firman en arrepentimiento cuando comenzamos esta santa temporada de Cuaresma.  Nuestras cenizas significan la humildad que hoy llena nuestros corazones ante Dios. Nuestras cenizas simbolizan la necesidad que tenemos de la conversión y la renovación en nuestras vidas, de la manera en que necesitamos alejarnos de nuestros pecados y refrescar nuestros corazones y nuestras almas con el mensaje del Evangelio.  Sí, el fuego y la ceniza del acto de quemar las palmas de nuestra celebración del Domingo de Ramos son señales no sólo de nuestra mortalidad, sino también signos de la mayor destrucción que nuestros pecados inflige a Dios, inflige al mundo, e inflige a nuestros semejantes.  Hay muchas explicaciones para describir el ritual de recibir cenizas el Miércoles de Ceniza.  Pero, también, el misterio de este ritual, la forma en que toca nuestras vidas y nuestras almas, es algo que es difícil de poner en palabras.  Como Joel proclama hoy, desgarramos nuestros corazones, no sólo nuestra apariencia exterior, como deseamos volver a Dios con todo nuestro corazón. Como la recepción de las cenizas toca nuestras vidas hoy, escuchemos las palabras de un soneto escrito en honor del Miércoles de Ceniza por el poeta Malcolm Guite, un sacerdote en la Iglesia de Inglaterra.

Miércoles de ceniza
Recibe esta cruz de ceniza sobre tu frente,
Traído de la quema de la cruz del Domingo de Ramos.
Los bosques del mundo están ardiendo ahora
Y haces un arrepentimiento tardío por la pérdida.
Pero todos los árboles de Dios aplaudían
Las propias piedras gritarían y cantarían
Si pudieras comprometerse a amar estas tierras
Y reconozcan en Cristo su Señor y rey.

Él ve la lenta destrucción de esos árboles,
Llora para ver quemar los lugares antiguos,
Y aún haces lo que compras por favor,
Y aún a polvo y cenizas vuelves.
Pero Hope podría salir de las cenizas incluso ahora
Comenzando con este signo en tu frente.



Monday, February 27, 2017

10 March 2017 - Friday of the first week of Lent - Ezekiel 18:21-28

     God desires that we have life, that we have eternal life with him.  Ezekiel speaks for God, saying that if the man who has done evil genuinely repents of what he has done, he will be totally forgiven. “All the sins he committed will be forgotten from then on; he shall live because of the integrity he has practiced.”  What a wonderful message of hope we have today.  That is a message that speaks to us all during the Lenten season.  “Repent and believe in the Gospel.”  That is what we heard declared to us on Ash Wednesday when we received ashes on our forehead.  Needing to repent, to turn away from our sins, to reconcile, and to have a conversion of heart are common messages we hear in our Catholic faith.  We need to remember that in Ancient Israel, the people believed that they were not only guilty for their own past sins, but that they were also guilty of the sins of their parents and their ancestors.  We are familiar with the passage in John’s Gospel in which Jesus is asked whether a man who was born blind had this affliction due to either his sins or the sins of the parents.  Conditions such as paralysis, leprosy, and deafness were considered punishment for past sins.  We can imagine how such a belief would weigh on a human heart.  Yet, the message we get from Ezekiel today and the message we get from Christ’s Gospel give us hope and encouragement on our journey as we try to turn away from our sins. I saw a quote posted on the internet that said: Repentance may be old-fashioned, but it is not outdated so long as there is sin.”  May we hear this call to repentance today. 

Saturday, February 25, 2017

9 March 2017 - Thursday of the 1st week of Lent - Esther C: 12, 14-16, 23-25

       It is still early in our Lenten journey, but already in our daily masses we have heard from a lot of different Old Testament books: Leviticus, Deuteronomy, Isaiah, Jonah, and today Esther. This is quite different from how we normally hear different readings from the same book for a series of days in our daily masses in our liturgical cycle.  Esther was a Jewish woman who was queen to the King of Persia.  Esther used her influence with the king to help prevent a massacre of the Jewish people by the Persians. The prayer we hear in our first reading today was the prayer she prayed before she spoke to the king. In her prayer, Esther knows that she cannot do anything without God’s help.  She reminds God of the promises he made to her people generations ago.  Like the Jewish people in the time of Esther, we also might feel sometimes that we are completely in God’s hands.  What strikes us in Esther’s prayer is that she does not try to bully or manipulate God; rather, she is open to his will.  It is up to him to answer the prayer.  Even though we may may be confident in our faith, we may also feel like we are searching in our lives for something. Besides fasting and almsgiving, prayer is one of the pillars of Lent, so hopefully prayer is on our radar during these early weeks of Lent.  We have the prayer of the stations of the cross that is very reflective of  our Lenten journey.  The women of the parish have a prayer retreat during Holy Week at Karen Hodges’ farm.  Our Little Black Book and publications such as Give Us This Day and Magnificat also give us prayer suggestions. Like Esther, let us reach out to God in our prayers.  Let us search for different ways to communicate to him.  

8 March 2017 - Wednesday of the 1st week of Lent - Jonah 3:1-10

      We switch gears today in our first readings at our daily mass, going from the prophet Isaiah to the book of Jonah. Most modern Scripture scholars say that Jonah is not a historical figure, but he is certainly one of the most creative figures in the Old Testament.  Whether Jonah is fiction or non-fiction is not the point.  The point is, a lot of eternal truths in Jonah still speak out to us today in our modern world.  Although the book of Jonah is listed among the list of minor prophets in the Old Testament, we can see it as an instructive, cautionary tale rather than prophecy. We see Paul and the Early Church reaching out to the Gentiles in the New Testament, while on the Gospels, we see Jesus reaching out to the oppressed and marginalized of society beyond the Jewish community.  However, that was not the pervasive attitudes of the Jews in the Old Testament, as they saw salvation only for themselves and not the Gentiles.  Jonah shows those harsh Jewish attitudes moving in the direction of reaching out to the Gentiles, of intending God’s compassion and mercy for all, not just the Jewish nation.  Nineveh is described as a huge city, a place where all of its inhabitants were unbelievers in the one true God.  While Jonah is charged to bring God’s mission to the people of Nineveh, it is our mission as well to bring Christ’s message to the world.  Maybe we are not as overtly recalcitrant as Jonah in being messengers of God’s word, perhaps in reality we are equally disobedient and reluctant. It is hard sometimes when we are in fear to speak the truth, when we feel oppressed and silenced, and I think that is how all of us can feel from time to time.  How can we connect with God’s will in our lives to bring the Gospel to others?  

7 March 2017 - Tuesday of the 1st week of Lent - Isaiah 55:10-11

      Isaiah is the prophet I most associate with Lent.  It is well known among Scripture scholars that the huge book of Isaiah in the Old Testament, which made up of 66 chapters, is not just the writings of one prophet.  The writings of the 8th-century prophet Isaiah comprise the first thirty-nine chapters of this book.  The remaining chapters come from two other prophets, known as the 2nd and 3rd Isaiah. While the writings of the first part of Isaiah concentrate on the call to conversion, God’s promise of salvation is the main message of the latter part of the book. Today, Isaiah communicates a message of God’s abundant generosity, how his plans will not be frustrated. The creative and nurturing work of our loving God is compared to the rain and the snow that fall from the sky to the earth, how the rain and the snow will not be returned until it nurtures the earth with its moisture, just as the rain and snow give seed to the farmer and bread for humanity to eat. Later in the Gospels, Jesus talks about how seeds can fall of barren ground or rocks or inhospitable soil, not giving them a chance to grow. We can be that inhospitable ground for God’s word when we close ourselves off from his message or when we try to manipulate his message for own benefit. God wants his word to do his will for us in our lives.  We live in a world where we are bombarded with a lot of words and a lot of messages, some of which reinforce and explain God’s word, but some of which are against God’s word and against the values of the Gospel.  The beginning of our Lenten journey is a good time for us to discern if we are provide a fertile environment for God’s word in our lives.  It is not enough for us to know God’s word.  We are called to ponder it in our hearts.  

Friday, February 24, 2017

3 March 2017 - Friday after Ash Wednesday - Isaiah 58:1-9A, Matthew 9:14-15

     The people of Israel have returned from their exile in Babylon.  They are called to return to God, to return to their faith.  There is a lot of bewilderment, frustration, and hard feeling bottled up in their hearts. Isaiah calls them to not only an outward change, but more importantly, an inner change.  The spirit of Isaiah’s prophetic charge is reflected in our Gospel message as well.  The Pharisees were so concerned about the outward appearance that they gave to the world that they did not consider what Jesus and his disciples were going through.  Isaiah told the people to raise their voices like a trumpet. In great feasts and at the beginning of fasts, a trumpet blast announced what was happening.  When God spoke at Mount Sinai to Moses, his voice was compared to a trumpet blast in the book of Exodus. Like the Day of Atonement when the Jews fasted, our comparable days of fasting in our Catholic faith take place on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday to commemorate the beginning of Lent and the day that Jesus was crucified. In Isaiah, the people voice their desire for the Lord to approach them, to come near to them. The people desire God to be just with them in his laws.  And they want God to notice their fasting and acts of penance.  On the surface, this seems to be sincere and to adhere to their religious observances, but Isaiah wonders if this is really an excess of outward piety that violates the spirit of God’s law and is just for show.  Lent is not just about going through the motions for us as Catholics.  It is not about outward appearances.  We are called to pray and to search our hearts, to find the ways that God is calling us specifically to observe Lent this year in prayers, in fasting, and in charity. May Lent be a truly holy time us in our lives of faith. 

2 March 2017 - Thursday after Ash Wednesday - Luke 9:22-25

      As we are in the first days of our Lenten journey, we hear a Gospel message today in which Jesus foretells his destiny.  He know that he is going to suffer greatly, that he is going to be rejected by the Jewish authorities, that he will die and then be raised from the dead. We can imagine that Christ’s followers were perplexed when they first heard this message, that they couldn’t figure out what he was talking about.  Raised from the dead?  What exactly would that mean?  We are raised in a society where so many look after themselves before anything else, being ruthless and cut throat in getting ahead and rising to the top.  Christ’s message of service and servanthood is so against a lot of the ways of our world.  Mother Teresa was uncompromising and tenacious in the way she approached her life as a religious sister, but humility, simplicity and sacrifice also characterized her work.  Just as Jesus preached servanthood not only in his words but in his style of life as well, Mother Teresa presents us a model of servanthood through her life and service as well.  Rather than preaching a message of power, influence, and prestige, Mother Teresa calls all of us to service with this simple message: “Not all of us can do great things. But we can do small things with great love.”  The message from both Jesus and Mother Teresa is that a life spent focused only on ourselves and our self-advancement and our own self-interest will ultimately lead to self-destruction and disappointment.  Indeed, we gain our life only when we lose it. 

1 March 2017 - Ash Wednesday - Joel 2:12-18

    For many years, Kris Ivancic served as the liturgist here at St James.  She just retired from that position this past December.  We now have an altar guild to cover all the different tasks that are required for our liturgies.  You cannot even imagine how many different things we have to do to prepare for Lent and Holy Week, probably our busiest time of the year here in the Church.  Each year before Ash Wednesday, one of our tasks is to burn the dried palms that have been saved from last year’s Palm Sunday celebration in order to have ashes to distribute on Ash Wednesday.  Those ashes signify many different this to the Catholic faithful as we receive that smudge of ash on our foreheads.  Our ashes bless us and sign us in repentance as we begin this holy season of Lent.  Our ashes signify the humility that fills our hearts today as we stand before God.  Our ashes symbolize the need we have for conversion and renewal in our lives, for the way we need to turn away from our sins and to refresh our hearts and our souls with the Gospel message. Yes, the fire and the ash from the act of burning the palms from our celebration of Palm Sunday are signs not only of our personal mortality, but also signs of of the wider destruction our sinfulness inflicts upon God, inflicts upon the world, and inflicts upon our fellow creatures.  There are many explanations for the ritual of receiving ashes on Ash Wednesday.  But, also, the mystery of this ritual, the way it touches our lives and our souls, is something that is hard to put into words. As Joel proclaims today, we rend our hearts, not just our outward appearance, as we desire to return to God with all of our hearts. As the reception of ashes touches our lives today, let us listen to the words of a sonnet written in honor of Ash Wednesday by the poet Malcolm Guite, a priest in the Church of England. 

Ash Wednesday

Receive this cross of ash upon your brow,
Brought from the burning of Palm Sunday’s cross.
The forests of the world are burning now
And you make late repentance for the loss.
But all the trees of God would clap their hands
The very stones themselves would shout and sing
If you could covenant to love these lands
And recognize in Christ their Lord and king.

He sees the slow destruction of those trees,
He weeps to see the ancient places burn,
And still you make what purchases you please,
And still to dust and ashes you return.
But Hope could rise from ashes even now
Beginning with this sign upon your brow.

28 February 2017 - Tuesday of the eighth week in Ordinary Time - Sirach 35: 1-12

      According to the dictionary, an oblation is an offering, something presented to or offered to God.  The gifts of bread and wine are given to God as an oblation in our mass.  It struck me that in our reading from Sirach today, it explains that when we keep God’s law, it is an oblation or offering given to him.  I guess I never really consciously thought of it as that way.  It certainly adds to our understanding of why we are called to keep God’s law and commandments.  Sirach goes on to say that the one who keeps God’s commandments gives a peace offering to God. Tomorrow, we enter the holy season of Lent with our observance of Ash Wednesday.  I really love the season of Lent.  I really love this time when we look into our how hearts to see how we have missed the mark, to see where we have failed on our journey of faith and where we need reconciliation and wholeness and healing in our lives.  Ash Wednesday is one of the most crowded days in our church.  It shows how much the holy season of Lent resonates with the faithful.  The last couple of weeks we heard passages from the Sermon on the Mount, in which Jesus tried to break through the false piety and rigidity and hardness of heart that the Pharisees had in the way they approached God’s laws and commandments.  Recently, Pope Francis warned the faithful of a rigidity of heart as well, saying that while meekness, forgiveness, benevolence, and goodness are gifts from God on our journey of faith, rigidity is not one of those gifts.  Pope Francis added that “the law was not drawn up to enslave us but to set us free, to make us God’s children”.  As we end Ordinary Time today and get ready for our commemoration of Lent, may we see our lives and our love of God’s laws and commandments as an oblation to God and a gift of our faith. 

26 de febrero de 2017 - 8º domingo del tiempo ordinario - Mateo 6: 24-34

      No podemos tener dos amos. Necesitamos comprometernos con nuestra fe.  Necesitamos establecer prioridades en nuestras vidas.  Jesús, en una continuación del Sermón del Monte del Evangelio de  San Mateo que hemos escuchado por tres semanas, nos da consejos prácticos sobre nuestro camino de fe en el mundo moderno.  En estos últimos años, las familias mas ricas en nuestro país ganaban mas y mas. Pero, los trabajadores en estos años tenían un camino mas duro.  En estos años, los ricos son mas ricos y los pobres son mas pobres. Pero, en algunos aspectos, tal vez esto no es nada nuevo.   En Israel en el tiempo de Jesucristo, sólo un pequeño porcentaje de la población habría sido considerado rico, y éstos serían principalmente las familias aristocráticas griegas y romanas que que hubieran recibido la mayor parte de su riqueza a través de la conquista militar, alrededor de 2 o 3 por ciento de la población.  Habían sacerdotes y escribas que tendrían posiciones prestigiosas en la sociedad, pero que no tendrían mucha riqueza. Los publicanos tenían mucha riqueza material, pero no mucha posición social. En Israel, habían ricos y pobres, pero nada mas. Eran agricultores, comerciantes, pescadores, artesanos y trabajadores - serían la mayoría de la sociedad.  Y ellos estaban muy pobre. Habría sido mucha ansiedad y preocupación. Habría sido una lucha para satisfacer las necesidades materiales de sus familias. Ellos estaban preocupados por su futuro.  El filósofo danés Soren Kierkegaard definió la ansiedad como preocupante sobre el día siguiente.  No sabemos lo que sucederá "al día siguiente", lo que crea ansiedad para nosotros en el presente.  Con todos los cambios que tenemos en nuestro país y en el mundo, muchos de nosotros nos preocupamos por esta realidad y por el futuro.  Estamos preocupados por nuestras familias.   Las leyes del país - la situación de los inmigrantes - es una preocupación.  Vemos mucha preocupación y miedo y rumores en el Facebook cada día, ¿no? 
      Podemos decir sin duda que la Iglesia y nuestro Obispo y nuestra parroquia están con ustedes en solidaridad y con ternura fraterna como hermanos en Cristo.  Ustedes no están solitos.  Si, en verdad, es una realidad muy fuerte ahorita.  Pero, hay esperanza. Hay hombres de buena voluntad con ustedes, luchando por la justicia y la paz.  Su lucha es nuestra lucha. Sus preocupaciones son nuestras preocupaciones.  
     John Meier enseña la religión en la Universidad de Notre Dame.  Meier dice que la petición en la oración del Señor que pide a Dios "danos hoy nuestro pan de cada día “ tiene una conexión con nuestro Evangelio de hoy. Según Meier, el discipulado nos libera para depositar nuestra confianza en Dios para sustentadornos en nuestra vida. Nuestra confianza en la vida eterna y en el reino de Dios en el futuro nos ayuda en nuestra vida en el presente como discípulos de Cristo, en nuestra realidad del presente.  Nuestra vida como discípulos de Cristo no nos dispensa de las pruebas de este mundo, sino que es para darnos un sentido de seguridad, y confianza en estas pruebas.  Como discípulos, debemos establecer nuestras prioridades y liberarnos de la ansiedad innecesaria.  Debemos confiar en que nuestra vida aquí en la tierra es un don de Dios, que las cosas materiales en este mundo como la comida y la ropa y nuestros tesoros materiales son justas en nuestro camino de la vida, pero no el fin final en sí mismos.  Sí, necesitamos cuidar de nosotros mismos en nuestra existencia terrenal. Incluso yo, como sacerdote, yo pago a la seguridad social y necesito cuidar de mí mismo. Pero ese no es mi mayor tesoro. De ningún modo.
     Sí, ¿qué pasa con el reino de Dios? ¿Qué hay de la justicia de Dios?  Tenemos la llamada de proclamar este reino y su justicia en nuestras palabras, en nuestros corazones, en nuestras acciones, y en nuestro ser.  El Papa Francisco proclama claramente que la justicia del reino de Dios no representa una sociedad de exclusión e iniquidad, que no representa una sociedad de odio y miedo, que no representa una sociedad que no respete la dignidad humana.  El Papa Francisco mira que muchas personas están preocupados con la cantidad de dinero que tiene en el banco, pero no están preocupados en las  injusticias y los abusos a la dignidad humana. Vemos mucha gente luchando para poner comida sobre la mesa, pero somos una sociedad que pone mucha comida cada día en la basura.  Estamos orgullosos cuando vemos las ganancias de las corporaciones creciendo, ganando mucho para ciertas personas, pero a menudo ignoramos a los trabajadores a estas mismas corporaciones que tienen salarios insuficientes para cuidar a sus families.  El Papa Francisco afirma que no podemos limitarnos a concentrarnos en nuestra propia prosperidad personal mientras ignoramos el mensaje de justicia inherente al reino de Dios.
      Jesús dice al final del Evangelio de hoy: Primeramente, necesitamos buscar el reino de Dios.  Primeramente, necesitamos buscar la justicia de Dios en nuestra vida.  Y las otras cosas son secundarias.  Sí, ¿dónde está el reino de Dios y sus valores en nuestro camino de fe?  Es una pregunta que debemos tener.  

26 February 2017 - 8th Sunday of Ordinary Time - Matthew 6:24-34

     We cannot have two masters.  We need to make a commitment to our faith.  We need to set priorities in our lives.  Jesus, in a continuation of the Sermon of the Mount from the Gospel of Matthew that we have been hearing these past few weeks, continues to give us practical advice in how to live out our faith in the modern world.  In the last couple of decades, we have been hearing how the wealth gap has increased here in the US, how the top 1% of families in the US are getting richer and richer, and how a lot of good paying blue collar jobs are disappearing from the American job market, how the Middle Class that has made up a majority of American society is shrinking.  These statistics hit home to a lot of families who are having a tough time making it in the world today.  But, in some ways, perhaps this is nothing new.  In Ancient Israel in Jesus’ day, only a small percentage of the population would have been considered wealthy, and those would have mostly been the Greek and Roman aristocratic families living in that society who would have received most of their wealth through military conquest, only about 2 to 3 percent of the population. Their were priests and scribes who would have had prestigious positions in society, but who would not have had a lot of wealth. The tax collectors would have had a lot of material wealth, but not much social position. In Ancient Israel, there was virtually no Middle Class. Those who were farmers, merchants, fishermen, artisans, and laborers - they would have been the majority of society.  And they would have struggled to make a living.  Their would have been a lot of anxiety and worry in their daily lives, trying to provide for the material needs of their families, worrying about their future.  The Danish existential philosopher Soren Kierkegaard defined anxiety as worrying about the next day.  We don't know what will happen "the next day," which creates anxiety for us in the present. With all the changes going on in our country and in the world, a lot of us worry where all this is taking us.  We are worrying about protecting and safeguarding ourselves and our families.  We worry about terrorism and violence and world stability, about the type of world our children and grandchildren and the future generations will be inheriting.  There is certainly a lot of worry and angst in the world today.  We see a lot of worry and fear and rumors being posted to Facebook each day, don’t we?  And where does all of that get us? 
     John Meier, renowned Biblical scholar from the University of Notre Dame who has given us a lot of insight into the historical Jesus, sees today’s Gospel as being linked to the petition in the Lord’s prayer that asks God to “give us this day our daily bread”.   According to Meier, discipleship frees us to place our trust in God as the only true giver and sustainer of live.  Our trust in the coming of God’s coming in the future and the way it is present in certain aspects today is to shape us and mold us in our present life of discipleship, in our present reality.  A life of discipleship does not dispense us from the trials of this world, but it  is to grant us a sense of security and trust and confidence in the midst of these trials. As disciples, we are to set our priorities and to free ourselves from needless anxiety - to trust that our life here on earth is a gift from God, and that the material things in this world such as food and clothing and our material treasures are just means to an end, but not the final end in themselves.   Yes, we do need to take care of ourselves in our earthly existence.  Even I as a priest save for retirement and pay into social security and need to take care of myself.  But that is not my greatest treasure. Not at all. 
     Yes, what about God’s kingdom?  What about God’s justice?  It is a message that can threaten our view of the world, threaten some of the values by which we live our lives.  Pope Francis has been very clear in saying that the justice of God’s kingdom does not stand for a society of exclusion and iniquity.  It does not stand for a society of hatred and fear.  It does not stand for a society that does not uphold human dignity.  The Pope has pointed out that often the media makes a big deal of the ups and downs of the stock market, but ignores a lot of injustices and abuses to human dignity.   We see a lot of people struggling to put food on the table, but then we are a society that wastes so much food each day.  We are proud when see the profits of corporations grow and grow, making certain people richer and richer, but we often ignore the workers who have full-time jobs at those corporations, but with their low salaries, they have a hard time providing for their families.  Pope Francis asserts that we cannot just concentrate on our own personal prosperity while ignoring the message of justice inherent in God’s kingdom.  
     Jesus says at the end of today’s passage: We are to first to seek the Kingdom of God.  We are first to seek the justice of God’s kingdom.  And the other secondary things will be added unto us.  Yes, where is God’s kingdom and its values in the way we live out our lives each day?  Good question.  Very good question.  

Monday, February 20, 2017

24 February 2017 - Friday of the seventh week in Ordinary Time - Sirach 6:5-17

      “There is nothing on this earth more prized than true friendship.”  That is a quote from the great Catholic theologian from the 13th century, St Thomas Aquinas.  Our first reading today from the book of Sirach is about friendship.  Sirach, written in Alexandria, Egypt by a Jewish scribe about two centuries before Christ’s birth in the tradition of Jewish wisdom literature, gives us a lot of wise advice.  Sirach tells us that while we will have a lot of acquaintances in our lives, a true friend or a true confidant will be one in a thousand. Father James Martin has said, in order for us to be a true friend of Jesus, in order to be his true disciple, we cannot put Jesus in a box.  We need to understand him as truly human and truly divine, as our God who inviting us into a friendship and a relationship with him. I look out at our Happy Hearts group today gathered for mass, and I see so many friendships and relationships on so many different levels.  Indeed, Church is more than just coming to mass.  Making friendships and relationships and being a true part of the community is a part of our calling.  If you claim to be Catholic and ignore the community and friendship aspect of our faith, then I think you are missing a big part of what it means to be Catholic. I think we use the word “friend” so often in our modern secular world, that the true sense of friendship has lost its meaning.  Yes, to have a friend, we need to be a friend, to reach out to others.  Like the world love that has so many different worldly connotations when compared to love in the context of our faith, the sense of friendship has an entirely different meaning from a faith perspective.  Indeed, true friendship is based on genuine love.  As we come to mass today to celebrate around the Lord’s table as a community, as we come to have Jesus bring healing to our lives, let us thank God for the true friends we have in our lives, those friends who are there for us no matter what.  

23 February 2017 - Thursday of the 7th week in Ordinary Time - Sirach 6:5-17

      Yesterday, we celebrated the Feast of the Chair of Peter, the Apostle, honoring Peter and the first Pope and the Chair that has been occupied by the successor Bishops of Rome. Today, our saint is another of the great leaders of the Early Church - St Polycarp.  He was Bishop of Smyrna in modern-day Turkey.  Tradition has it that Polycarp was converted to Christianity by St John the Evangelist. Polycarp was a good friend of St Ignatius of Antioch, another Father of the Early Church.  Both of them were important links between the Apostles and the patristic era of the Early Church.  Polycarp was a great defender of the faith against heresies.  He was burned at the stake with 12 of his companions after he was arrested by the Roman authorities in the middle of the 2nd century. Today, in our modern American Church, we have Church leaders like Cardinal Timothy Dolan, Bishop Robert Barron and Father James Martin who give us practical advice on how to live out our lives of discipleship in the modern world. The Jewish people received a lot of sage advice from the wisdom literature in their Holy Scriptures, and Church leaders like Polycarp offered advice to the followers in the Early Church as well.  “Let us therefore forsake the vanity of the crowd and their false teachings, and turn back to the word delivered to us from the beginning” is one such type of advice that Polycarp gave.  Sirach advises us today about the dangers of allowing money control our lives and allowing our money and power to manipulate others.  Sirach also advises against giving ourselves over to the pleasures of the heart, forsaking our faith and God’s laws and commandments in the process. I find it so interesting how teachings from the Early Church and before the time of Christ still speak of truths that seem so relevant and timely in our modern world, like they were written by some of our Church leaders today. Yes, I guess that even though the world changes, human nature does not change very much, does it? 

22 February 2017 - Feast of the Chair of Peter, Apostle - Matthew 16:13-19

     Today, we celebrate the feast of the Chair of Peter, the Apostle, a celebration which links us to the universal Church and to the faith of the apostles that has been passed down to us.   This feast has been celebrate in Rome since the 4th century. The principal diocese of the Catholic Church is Rome and the Pope is its bishop.  Many of the faithful may think that the Pope’s cathedral is St Peter’s in Vatican City, but it is actually the Church of St John Lateran. In the Gospel today, we hear how Christ builds his Church upon Peter, the rock. The unity of our Church is expressed by the solidarity and unity that each diocese and each Bishop has with the Diocese of Rome and with each other.  In an age when many churches try to distance themselves from denominations and a central authority, priding themselves on their independence and their ability to speak for themselves, we Catholics pride ourselves in the universality of our faith, for the rituals we have practiced for centuries, and for our rich history and traditions.  When the Pope speaks formally from the Chair of Peter, it is the faith of the whole Church that he proclaims, not just the personal faith of one person.  As Jesus gives Peter a mission in today’s Gospel, it is a mission we all share in as disciples of Christ. Today, as we celebrate the Chair of Peter, may we pray in solidarity with Pope Francis, and our Pope Emeritus, Pope Benedict XVI, giving thanks for the leadership we have in our universal faith. 

21 February 2017 - Tuesday of the 7th week of Ordinary Time - Sirach 2:1-11

     If you recall, a week ago, we had a reading from the book of Sirach in our Sunday Gospel reading.  This week and next week, we also hear from Sirach in our daily masses.  Sirach is perhaps a book we Catholic are not too familiar with.  However, it contains great wisdom and advice that is still relevant for us today.  With the endearing salutation, “my son" that begins our passage today, we know that Sirach is going to give us some intimate advice. It is also a typical opening in Jewish wisdom literature.  So, what can we take from today’s reading?  Sirach advises us that serving God does not mean that our lives will be without trials and tribulations.  However, we are still called to serve with sincerity, generosity, and perseverance. Our trials and tribulations will help purify our faith.  In everything, we are called to be faithful and to trust in God.  Today’s reading brought to my mind a post that I recently made to the pilgrims’ forum.  A pilgrim wrote that she had been hiking on the Camino for one week and was wanting to give up and go home.  She asked if any of us pilgrims had felt the same way, wanting to know how with dealt with such feeling.  I wrote the following response: “There were days when I have been discouraged on the Camino too. There have been days when my plans on the Camino were thrown into disarray. When I reflect on the Camino (and I have been on the Camino five different times), it is through the struggles and the unexpected things that have happened to me that I have found the greatest blessings. I was struggling with a lot in my life when I went on the Camino last month. I had a lot of struggles on the Camino as well - I hurt my knee, I was vomiting for several days, and afterwards never got back to a normal routine of eating for the rest of the Camino. However, through those struggles, I received a lot of wisdom and knowledge from the Camino. My Camino really helped me examine my life. It has brought me a lot of peace. Sometimes we don't get the Camino we expect or want; sometimes we get the Camino we need, even if that Camino isn't easy. Ultimately, it is our decision whether to continue on the Camino or not, and I truly believe that there is not a "right" way or "wrong" way to follow the Camino. We are called to follow God’s will for us.  We are called to follow our hearts.  We are called to persevere. 

Saturday, February 18, 2017

19 de febrero de 2017 - 7º domingo del tiempo ordinario - Mateo 5: 38-48

      Muchos países de América Latina han pasado por revoluciones o guerras civiles o dictaduras militares, con muchos asesinatos y violencia.  Nicaragua, un país de Centroamérica, es uno de esos lugares. Tomas Borge fue un líder en la lucha contra la dictadura en control de su país. Fue capturado y puesto en la cárcel.  Durante meses, Borge estuvo sujeto al tortura terrible.  Parecía que nunca terminaría.  Después de que la dictadura se cayo, Borge fue liberado y fue Ministro del Interior del nuevo gobierno.  Un día, el guardia que le infligió este castigo tan terrible a Borge fue él mismo a la cárcel como prisionero.  Borge visitó a este hombre en la cárcel.  Se acercó al hombre y dijo: -Voy a vengarme de ti. Luego extendió la mano y dijo: "Esta es mi venganza, te perdono".
       Durante las últimas dos semanas, escuchamos las lecturas del Sermón del Monte de Cristo del Evangelio de Mateo.  Con las bienaventuranzas y una perspectiva diferente de las leyes y mandamientos de Dios, las enseñanzas de Cristo en el Sermón del Monte nos empujan a crecer en nuestra fe.  Cristo siempre conversaba con los fariseos en su ministerio.  Jesús estaba muy fuerte con ellos.  Los fariseos ciertamente deseaban vivir en la luz de la justicia de Dios, para ser justos ante Dios.  Definitivamente, los fariseos tenían buenas intenciones.  ¿Y no es éste el deseo de todos nosotros como discípulos de Cristo?  Pero los fariseos intentaron a tener un enfoque específico: vivir la justicia de Dios con estricta observancia de las leyes de Dios.  Los fariseos pensaban que por su propio esfuerzo, podían tener éxito en su camino de fe.  Jesús entendía de dónde vienen los fariseos.  Entonces, Cristo anunció un tipo de justicia que supería la justicia de los fariseos.  Podemos pensar que “ojo por ojo” es justicia.  Podemos pensar que obtener venganza es justicia.  Jesús nos desafía a tener otra perspectiva: “Sean perfectos, como su Padre celestial es perfecto.”  La mayoría de nosotros pensamos en la justicia desde nuestro propio punto de vista; pero, necesitamos centrar la justicia en Dios y en su ley en un punto de vista muy diferente.  Sí, debemos tratar de ser perfectos, como Dios, cumplir el propósito de Dios, cooperar con la gracia de Dios en nuestras vidas. P. Estamos perfectos como Dios cuando tratamos de amar como Dios ama, de perdonar como Dios perdona, de mostrar la buena voluntad incondicional y la benevolencia universal como lo hace Dios.
       ¿Tenemos una sugerencia que podemos emplear en nuestro camino de fe para vivir en el espíritu del Evangelio de hoy?  Si, debemos vivir en la santidad de Dios.   La santidad es una condición de ser, no es una condición de hacer.  La santidad es mas de vivir en los mandamientos de Dios.  Debemos vivir conscientemente en un estado de oración, un estado de unión con Dios.   La santidad no significa la piedad, sino vivir el amor de Dios, no vivir por nosotros mismos.  Estamos llamados a vivir como un tipo diferente de ser humano, cuyo centro está fuera de nosotros mismos y dentro de nuestra unificación con Dios.  Sí, sólo somos verdaderamente libres para vivir como discípulos de Cristo cuando estamos libres de nosotros mismos.  La santidad no es moralidad solamente, sino es más bien la transformación de nosotros mismos y el centro de nuestras vidas.  Cuando somos capaces de hacer esto, podemos entender verdaderamente el Evangelio de hoy.
      Cuando Tomás de Aquino celebraba la misa durante la fiesta de San Nicolás en el año 1273, tuvo una revelación, una experiencia con Dios que cambió completamente su vida.  Aquino aún no tenía 50 años y era considerado uno de los teólogos mas importante en el mundo.  Escribió más de 100 obras: comentarios sobre las Sagradas Escrituras y sobre los Padres de la Iglesia, libros de filosofía, comentarios sobre Aristóteles, y la Summa Theologiae.  Sin embargo, después de la misa, reveló a su secretaria que sus escritos llegarán a su fin.  En comparación con la experiencia mística que tuvo con Dios durante la celebración de la misa, consideraba todos sus escritos nada más que la paja.  De hecho, Aquino nunca escribió de nuevo después de ese día.  El aspecto intelectual de nuestra fe, las leyes y los mandamientos de Dios - todos son importantes, pero no lo son todo.  Si no tenemos una relación auténtica con Dios, si nuestro espíritu y alma no lo experimentan y lo aman, que el resto es para nada.  Como experimentó Aquino, las palabras a veces fallan miserablemente para describir esa experiencia mística, transcendente, y amorosa que tenemos en nuestro Señor.

Friday, February 17, 2017

19 February 2017 - 7th Sunday in Ordinary Time - Matthew 5:38-48

     Many countries in Latin America have gone through revolutions or civil wars or military dictatorships, with a lot of killings and murders and violence taking place. Nicaragua, a country in Central America, is one such place. A man named Tomas Borge was a leader in the struggle against the dictatorship in control of his country. He was captured and put into prison.  He was subject to the worse type of torture for months.  It seemed like it would never end. After the dictatorship was toppled, Borge was freed and actually became the Minister of the Interior of the new government.  One day, the tables were turned.  The guard who inflicted such terrible punishment on him was now an inmate in prison himself.  Borge visited this man in prison.   He walked up to the man and said:  “I am going to get my revenge from you”. He then held out his hand and said, “This is my revenge, I forgive you.”
      For the last couple of weeks, we have heard passages from Christ’s Sermon on the Mount from the Gospel of Matthew.  With the beatitudes and a perspective on God’s laws and commandments beyond their literal meaning, Christ’s teachings in the Sermon on the Mount definitely push us to grow in our faith. Let’s think about the Pharisees.  Jesus could be really tough on them. The Pharisees certainly desired to live in the light of God’s justice, to be just before God. They definitely had good intentions.  And isn’t this the desire of all of us as disciples of Christ?   But the Pharisees tried a very specific approach: to attain justice through the strict observance of God’s laws and commandments. The Pharisees thought that through their own effort they could succeed in being where God wanted them to be. Jesus understands where the Pharisees are coming from, but instead announces a kind of justice which exceeds and surpasses the justice of the Pharisees. We may think that taking an eye for an eye is justice. We may think that getting revenge is justice.  Instead, Jesus challenges us to a higher standard: “Be perfect as your Heavenly Father is perfect.”  When most of us think of justice from our own point of view, centering justice on God and his law may be a very different point of view. Yes, we are to try to be perfect, to be like God, to fulfill God’s purpose in creating us, to cooperate with God’s grace in our lives. We become perfect when we try to love as God loves, to forgive as God forgives, to show unconditional good will and universal benevolence as God does.
     What are some suggestions we can employ on our journey of faith that can help us live in the spirit of today’s Gospel. I thought about what it means to be holy, to aspire to be like God.  We can begin by approaching holiness as as state of being, rather than just being able to follow God’s law and commandments in our lives. Yes, holiness is fundamentally not about doing, but about being.  We are to live consciously in a state of prayer, a state of union with God, to live consciously inside of God.  Sanctity or holiness does not signify being perfectly pious, but doing and living for God’s sake what you used to do and live for our own sake. We are called to live as a different kind of human being, one whose center is outside ourselves and inside our unification with God.  Yes, we are only truly free to live as disciples of Christ when we are free from ourselves.  Holiness is not just about morality, but more about transforming ourselves and the center of our lives.  When we are able to do this, then we can truly understand the point of today’s Gospel.  
     When Thomas Aquinas was celebrating mass during the feast of St Nicholas in the year 1273, he had a revelation, an experience with God that completely changed his life. Aquinas was not yet 50 years old and was considered one of the greatest theological minds the world had ever seen.  He had written more than 100 works:  commentaries on Scripture and on the Church Fathers, philosophical treaties, commentaries on Aristotle, explorations of disputed subjects, and his great work, the Summa Theologiae, which stood unfinished. Yet, after mass, he revealed to his secretary that his writings will now come to an end.  Compared to the mystical experience he had with God during the celebration of the mass, he considered all his writings nothing more than straw.  Indeed, Aquinas never wrote again after that day.  The intellectual aspect of our faith, God’s laws and commandments - they are all important, but they are not everything.  If we do not have an authentic relationship with God, if our spirit and soul do not experience him and love him, than the rest is for nothing.  As Aquinas experienced, words sometimes fail miserably to describe that transcendent, loving, mystical experience we have in our Lord.