Catholic prayer for Labor Day

Merciful Father: On this weekend, when we rest from our work and from our usual labors, we pray for all who shoulder the tasks of human labor: in the marketplace, in factories and offices, in the professions, in our schools, in our government, and in family living. 

We thank you, Lord, for the gift and the opportunity of work. We ask that you bless our efforts and that you bless the dignity of our work, that our work be for the good of our brothers and sisters and for the glory of your name. 

We lift up to you all who long for just employment and those who work to defend the rights and needs of workers everywhere. 

May those of us who are now retired always remember that we still make a valuable contribution to our Church and our world by our prayers and deeds of charity. 

We ask for a special blessings for our first responders and for all who serve in the military, that you bless their work and their sacrifices, that you keep them safe in their service to our community and our country. 

May our working and our resting all give praise to you until the day we share together in eternal rest with all our departed in your Kingdom as you live and reign Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever. Amen.

(Adapted from the Catholic Archdiocese of Detroit).  

Catholic prayer for Labor Day

Lord, as we commemorate Labor Day

here in our beloved country,

we thank you for the blessing of work.

We ask for strength to complete our work each day.

We ask for rest when we are weary.

We ask for Your guidance

for those who are out of work and 

for those who are seeking employment.

We ask that you be with those whose faces

we might never see but who work tirelessly each day

for the good of our society.

We ask this through Christ our Lord. AMEN. 

(Adopted from a prayer from the Diocese of St Petersburg and from Our Sunday Visitor). 

15 September – Exodus 32:7-14; 1 Tim 1:12-17; Luke 15:1-10 – Homily for Catechetical Sunday - Homily for 24th Sunday in Ordinary Time

    Sometimes we can get lost in life.   In today’s readings, we hear about different ways of being lost.  In the story of Exodus, the people of Israel have escaped slavery in Egypt, but have lost their faith in God on their journey to the promised land.  They worship the golden calf, a man-made idol, instead of worshipping God who liberated them.   In the 2nd reading, Paul tells us about how he was lost in life before his conversion to the Way of Jesus. Paul was trapped in an endless cycle of arrogance and unbelief until he found new life through Christ.   Then, in the Gospel, Jesus tells us about the shepherd who searches for the lost sheep, the woman who searches her house to find a lost coin, and the angels of God who rejoice over the lost sinner who finally repents.   These readings teach us about what we can do when we get lost on our journey of faith, about what we need to do once we are found again.  

     We feel incredible joy when we find something that was lost.  We are much happier at having found the lost object than if it had never lost it.   Think about the last time you lost or misplaced a set of keys and had difficulty finding them.  We take our keys for granted when they’re always there, when they’re in our pocket each time we unlock the front door or the car.  But, when we misplace our keys, what a relief and joy it is to finally find them.  I put one of my car keys in the trunk of my car when I went to the prison for our ministry, but it slipped into the wheel well and I did not realize it.  I searched forever for that key and was so full of joy when I finally found it.  

      Sometimes we’re lost ourselves and we don’t even realize it.  I remember one leg of the long pilgrimage hike I went on in Spain the first time that I went back in 2003.  I left the city of Leon walking ahead of a friend that morning.  I kept walking & walking, finally making it to the village destination that afternoon – the trouble was the village I expected was Valverde, but I arrived in a different village, Villar de Mazarife.  I had followed the arrows on the pilgrimage route that day: how did I end up in a village that wasn't even marked on my map?   After asking other pilgrims, I realized that this stage of the pilgrimage had 2 alternative routes – something my guidebook didn’t even mention.  I had followed a route that I didn’t even know existed – I was lost compared to where I wanted to be, but wasn’t even aware of that fact!  Luckily, my friend ended up taking the same alternative route, and we both met up in the same village that afternoon.  Boy, was I relieved!  

      Sometimes, we don’t recognize how lost we are or how we have strayed from our faith.  In those moments, we are called to recognize our need for God’s grace, to open ourselves for God to guide us. God invites us to participate in the process of redemption by calling us to a constant cycle of conversion  God asks us to acknowledge the ways we’ve contributed to the brokenness of our own lives and the brokenness of the world.

      As we hear these wonderful Bible stories today, we are reminded that we don’t achieve redemption on our own – redemption is always the result of God’s freely given grace.   Just as Jesus brings back the lost sheep because the sheep can’t find his way back on his own, God finds us, he touches us, and he brings us back in a way that we can’t do for our own selves.  It’s up to us to turn our lives toward God, to look God-ward no matter where we are and what we’re doing on our journey of faith. 

      Today, as we hear about finding our way back after we get lost, we celebrate Catechetical Sunday.   The word “catechesis” describes the effort in which we the Church make disciples in Christ.  Our word “catechesis” comes from the Greek word “to echo the teaching.”  Our theme for Catechetical Sunday this year is “STAY WITH US,” as we invite Jesus to stay with us, just as the disciples of the Early Church invited Jesus to stay with them when he appeared with them after his resurrection.  

      We give thanks for our catechists today, for all of our teachers and our volunteers who help us pass down our faith here to all of you – our children and our youth.   Pope Benedict XVI once said that the people should not be regarded as “collaborators” of the clergy in the work of evangelization and bringing others to the faith, but, rather, as people who are really “co-responsible” for the Church's being and acting. As we ask Christ to stay with us on our journey, may we ask him to help us live out our life of discipleship.  May we ask him to stay with us to help us bring the faith to others.  

     We might feel a bit lost or confused at different points on our journey of faith.   At other moments on our journey, we may feel like we have found the right path for us.  No matter where we are, lost or found, Christ is seeking us out.  He is with us.  

6 September 2019 – Friday of 22nd week in Ordinary Time – Colossians 1:15-20

      We have been hearing readings from the letters of St Paul in our first readings in the daily masses this week - from the first letter to the Thessalonians earlier in the week and then from Colossians, which we hear from today.  Paul tells us today that Christ is the image of the invisible God for us here on earth.  Recently, when we went through the ALPHA program earlier in the year, part of the conversation one evening revolved around the images that we have for Jesus and that we have for God.  We may ask ourselves where we see God’s presence in our daily lives.  That is a good questions for us to ask ourselves, for God is not some intangible, nebulous being who is way off in the heavens.  God is present in the here and now of our lives if only we are aware enough to see him in the different ways he is present in our reality.  Paul tells us that Christ was present before all of creation, that he holds all things together.  In the chaos, the violence, and the turmoil of the world, that may be hard for us to comprehend sometimes, but in the unity and beauty of nature, perhaps we see what Paul is trying to communicate to us.  Often, we feel ourselves challenged to see the image of Christ here on earth.  We can feel challenged to see him in both our joy and in our struggles.  I wonder if we are willing to open our eyes to see him as he is present to us– to see and believe.

8 September 2019 - 23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time – Philemon 9-10, 12-17, Wisdom 9: 13-18b

       St Paul’s speaks to us today in the letter to Philemon.  It is the only time in our masses when we hear a reading from this letter.  I bet many of us don’t really remember much about Philemon.  It is by far the shortest of Paul’s letters, not even being organized in chapters, and containing only 355 words in the original Greek.  What strikes me about this letter is that Paul wrote it while he was in prison himself, probably in Rome. Paul is not interested in his own safety and well-being, but rather in the well-being of the runaway slave Onesimus, who was returning to his owner, Philemon.  Paul has such an interesting faith journey, as he started out being a prosecutor of Christians, wanting them to be arrested or to be killed.  But after his conversion, Paul goes to great lengths to spread Christ’s Good News throughout the world, even to go to prison for the sake of the Gospel. When I was in Rome in 2010 at the Basilica of St Paul, I even got to see a piece of the chains that enslaved Paul when he was in prison.  Paul became a spiritual father to so many of the faithful, nurturing them in the faith.  He even calls Onesimus his spiritual son in the faith, his own very heart.
       For Paul, God was not some ambiguous concept or a far away being in the heavens.  Indeed, Jesus was Paul’s Lord and Savior.  Jesus led Paul to faith and salvation.  Like Paul, we the modern-day disciples of Christ, are on a quest for the living God. We seek out God in the reality of our lives.  Unfortunately, that is not how many in our modern world see it.  The philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche once advised his sister Elizabeth to take a new path, to take risks, to go on a search through life as if no one has gone there before.  Nietzsche told his sister: if you want peace of soul and happiness, then believe, but if you want to follow the truth, then seek. Many in our world see belief as being incompatible with our search for the truth just as the philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche did. But our faith tells us that all of us are indeed on a journey through life. We are all on a quest for the Living God. God is alive in so many way in our lives, in our Church, and in our faith. In our first reading, the book of Wisdom tells us that it is hard sometimes to figure out those things within our grasp here on earth, so how do we search out those things that are from heaven?  In our faith, we see Jesus as a light who illuminates our search through life, who helps us on our journey of faith, who keeps us on the right path.
       One of my favorite Catholic books that I have read in recent years is Quest for the Living God by Sister Elizabeth Johnson, professor emerita from Fordham University, a Jesuit institution in New York.  She explains that whereas learning all the doctrine and dogma of the Church is important, whereas going to mass each week and participating in the liturgical celebrations and the educational life of a parish community are essential to our Catholic faith, what is equally important is where we experience God in the lived experience of our daily reality. I have shared with you many times that I experienced God in my missionary work, in working with the street people and drug addicts in an inner city soup kitchen in Canada, and in serving with the people of the rain forest jungle region on the coast of Ecuador in South America.  As a priest, I experience God in my daily life in so many ways here at St Jude and in my different ministries. Elizabeth Johnson’s book talks about how Hispanic Catholics experience God in a special way in their lives as the God of fiesta, through their joyful fiestas and social gathers, and through a special devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary.  In reflecting upon our quest for God in our lives, in reflecting upon Paul’s own journey and how he helped and nurtured others in their own quest, the important thing to remember is that this quest continues throughout our entire lifetime.  This quest is on-going and continuous.  There is always so much to learn about God, so much to discover, to experience, and to celebrate in our relationship with God and on our pilgrimage through life.  The more we continue our search for the living God and help each other on that search, our life of faith will be all the more richer for it. 

Mass of the Holy Spirit - St Joseph High School

It was great to see my priest friends at the mass of the Holy Spirit at St Joseph High School in Madison, Mississippi today.  

Mother Teresa of Calcutta - mosaic artwork

When I was at St Joseph High School in Madison, Mississippi today for mass, I saw this beautiful mosaic artwork of Mother Teresa.  I was very impressed.  

4 September 2019 – Wednesday of 22nd week in Ordinary Time – Luke 6:38-44

     Healing the sick is a major sign that Jesus performed in proclaiming the Kingdom of God to the people of Ancient Israel.  Those who had sick friends and family members brought them to Jesus with the hope that he would heal them.  Even the evil spirits recognized who Jesus was. Even though we live in the modern world many centuries after Christ lived, we need healing on a lot of levels in our lives.  Often times we are afflicted with a particular physical disease or illness.  As a missionary, I have had malaria, Dengue fever, amoebic dysentery, and pneumonia, so I have had my fair share of different diseases.  But we also need healing from other things as well: from the faults, our weaknesses, our anger, our inadequacies, and our failure to forgive.  However, often times, we try to hide those things that we need to be healed from.  Often times, we are afraid to admit the ways we need to be healed.   We need healing from those demons that follow us and seize our lives.  We need to bring these things to Jesus for healing, because healing will not come in any other form in our lives.  Even Jesus needed to go off to a deserted place, to a place of introspection, of silence and solitude.  We need to find those moments that heal us and re-energize us in our lives.  We need to find a way to come to Jesus for healing.

3 September 2019– St Gregory the Greg – Tuesday of 22nd week in Ordinary time – 1 Thessalonians 5:1-6, 9-11

     The image of light shining in the darkness of the world is a major theme in today’s reading from Paul’s first letter to the Thessalonians.  But, in many instances, we often take light for granted in our world.  Night comes to us in the modern world, but everything is all lit up.  But in the ancient world, when expensive oil lamps were the main way of bringing light into the night, the darkness of night would come and envelope everything with there being very little to light it up.   I remember reading by candlelight in some of the places I have lived in Africa and in South America. It is hard getting used to that reality when we are so used to electricity.  In his letter, Paul tells us that Christ’s judgment and the end times are not something that will come like a thief suddenly in the middle of the night. The light of Christ is preparing us for that day.  It prepares us like nothing us can.  We are to help each other on our journey, to encourage each other, to enlighten each other, until that day comes.

     We think of Rome as this mighty empire, but by the 6th century, Rome had been invaded by many different groups such as the Visigoths and the Vandals in the years leading up to the reign of the pope we celebrate as the saint of the day: Pope Gregory the Great.   Gregory united Christendom in the midst of Rome’s political downfall.  Gregory made major contributions to theology, he reformed the liturgy of the mass and the office of readings that monks and priests pray up to this day.  Having been a monk himself and a Benedictine abbot, having served as the magistrate for the city of Rome, Gregory’s reforms have prompted many historians to see him as the Father of the Roman liturgy that we celebrate today.  Gregory had this to say: “The only true riches are those that make us rich in virtue.”  This quote is so radical compared to how our world sees things.  May this help us to be a light to the world.  May this help encourage us, strengthen us, and edify us.

St Joseph Catholic Church - Holly Springs Mississippi

Earlier in the week, we visited St Joseph Catholic Church in Holly Springs.  We went to visit Bishop Houck New Hope Village.  It was a nice visit.  

Mass with Bishop Kopacz - St Mary Catholic Church - Yazoo City Mississippi - 11 August 2019

We went to St Mary Catholic Church in Yazoo City, Mississippi on 11 August 2019 for mass with the community there to celebrate the renovation of their parish hall.  

Sunset - St Jude Catholic Church - Pearl, Mississippi - 26 August 2019

Sometimes a picture says more than words.  

27 August 2019 – homily reflection for Tuesday of 26th week in ordinary time – St Monica – Matthew 22:23-26

      It is not often that we celebrate mother and son saints in the Church, but today and tomorrow we celebrate a mother and her son who each have their own saint days in the official calendar of the Roman Catholic Church – St Monica and St Augustine.  The fact that St Augustine is one of our Church’s most influential theologians is almost overshadowed by the fact that the prayers of his beloved mother are credited with bringing him to the faith after a lifetime of being outside of the faith and leading a very pleasure-filled lifestyle as a youth and young adult.  Monica lived in North Africa in the 4th century, being the Christian wife of a pagan husband. Many mothers who pray for the return of their children to the faith identify with tenacious prayers of St Monica.  Monica was patient in her prayers for her son.  She never gave up on him. If a lot of us think of our own faith and the faith we see in close family members and friends, we can see a person of faith who was an influence both in prayers and by example. 

         The Gospel today shows Jesus confronting the hypocrisy that he sees in people.  He is especially hard on the Scribes and the Pharisees.  He sees that doing things that don’t ultimately matter, while neglecting and criticizing what matters most in a life of faith.  Worse yet, they lead others astray. 

         There is a lot in this world that can indeed lead us astray.  Then we have the examples of faith in our lives such as St Monica.  As we honor Monica today, let us remember the many prayers of mothers and grandmothers who have had such an influence on our lives of faith.

1 September 2019 - homily reflection for 22nd Sunday of Ordinary Time cycle C - Luke 14:1, 7-14

     If you think about the stories we hear in the Gospels week after week about Jesus and his disciples, a lot of it involves Jesus’ interaction with the people of Ancient Israel and his sharing of meals with them.  In fact, some Scripture scholars humorously report that Jesus ate his way through the Gospels. Scripture Scholar Father Robert Karris, a Franciscan priest at St Bonaventure University in New York states: “In Luke’s Gospel Jesus is either going to a meal, at a meal, or coming from a meal.”  Elsewhere in Luke, the scribes and Pharisees accuse Jesus of being a glutton and a drunkard in the way they see him always eating with others, trying to discredit him and criticize his ministry.  But, since sharing meals with others and inviting others to a meal are a part of Southern hospitality, perhaps we here in Mississippi can understand Jesus’ behavior.  In many ways, Jesus reveals different facets of God’s kingdom in the way he shared meals with sinners and tax collectors, with the poor and the outcasts.  In today’s Gospel, as Jesus’ conduct is being observed while he is dining with a leading Pharisee, Jesus presents a parable that addresses the Christian virtue of humility when he sees the Pharisees trying to grab the seat of honor when they sit down for a meal. 

     If you search the internet for quotes from the saints and different theologians about the virtue of humility, you will be overwhelmed with how many wonderful quotes on humility you find. St Augustine, Doctor of the Church from the 5th century, whose feast day we celebrated on Sunday, August 28, had this to say:  "No one reaches the kingdom of Heaven except by humility”.  The great mystic St Teresa of Avila, also a Doctor of the Church, saw humility as as the foundation of our growth in holiness, as she states: “Humility must always be doing its work in us like a bee making its honey in the hive: without humility, all will be lost.”  Teresa’s protege and fellow Carmelite St John of the Cross had this to say about how God views greatness and humility: “To be taken with love for a soul, God does not look on its greatness, but the greatness of its humility.”  Trappist priest Thomas Keating, one of the spiritual fathers of centering prayer who passed away in 2018, stated these profound words - ““Humility is an attitude of honesty with God, oneself, and of all reality. It enables us to be at peace in the presence of our powerlessness and to rest in the forgetfulness of self.”

     But above all, Jesus’ journey here on earth is the greatest example of humility we can have. Jesus emptied himself.  He came to us as a servant in his human likeness.  By humbling himself, he became obedient to death. Jesus explains in today’s Gospel that we should follow that example.  If we try to exalt ourselves, we will be humbled, but if we humble ourselves, we will be lifted up. We have many examples of humility all around us that can inspire us and encourage us on our journey of faith.  These examples come not only from the famous saints whom we honor in our faith, but by those we meet in our everyday lives. I immediately thought of many of the religious sisters I knew in Ecuador.  Sister Gemma.  Sister Elena.  Sister Julia.  Sister Monserrat.  Sister Celia.  Sister Rosa. Their names still stay with me after more than 20 years.  They served in the jungle with the poorest of the poor.  They never asked for honors or accolades.  They never asked for comfortable living quarters.  They served in humility and generosity.  They served others with love, compassion, and charity.  They encouraged others and made them feel confident in themselves.  Their very lives encouraged others to want to live their lives as Christians.  

     Like any of the valves of the Gospel, humility is not just an academic theory we discuss.  It is not something that we can force into our lives.  Humility is a fruit of the holy spirit, just like faithfulness, charity, and patience.  By following the Gospel in our daily lives, by studying and growing and practicing our faith, values like humility will be fruits of that faith. I really love this quote by Franciscan priest Richard Rohr: “(The words) humility and human come from the Latin word, humus, dirt. A human being is someone . . . taken out of the dirt. A humble person is one who recognizes that and even rejoices in it!”  Humility is called to be an integral part of the earthly, messy reality of our lives.  Yes, we are called to find joy in our humble identity.  We called to allow God to live in us and fill us with his spirit, to do his will throughout our journey of faith. In our humility, in our humble lives of service, may we always be instruments of God’s peace and goodness and graciousness. 

Catholic funeral homily - Mike Meadows - Readings - Psalm 23 - 2 Timothy 4:6-8

      We welcome the family, loved ones, friends of Mike Meadows here to St Jude Catholic Church, his parish community, to celebrate his life and his entry into enteral life.  Many family members and friends came from across the country to visit him and his family these past few weeks while he had been sick at St Dominic Hospital in Jackson.  Many have come here today to St Jude for his funeral liturgy. 

       The Word of God speaks to us today - these readings have been chosen especially for his family to represent Mike and his life. I really love the reading from St Paul when Paul is reviewing his life and is able to say: I have competed well, I have fought the good fight - I have finished the race - I have kept the faith.  Paul is able to say that the crown of righteousness awaits him, which the Lord will give him in the last judgment.  Those of us who know Mike well know that has had quite a battle in the last 5 years with his health.  There have been a lot of ups and downs for him during these years. When we look back at Mike’s life, we can see a man who had great love and devotion to his family and friends.  He used to call his mom every Sunday night - he never missed that call. He loved his family so much - that was evident to anyone who knew Mike. Mike had a friendly, extroverted personality.  He knew everyone and never met a stranger. 

        Here at St Jude - Mike will long be remembered for his devotion to the Knights of Columbus, especially in recruiting new members.  Here in our parish of St Jude, if you were a man and not a member of the Knights, Mike would never relent in getting you to join.  I literally saw him hunt men down after mass, not taking “no” for an answer.   Mike felt so strongly in the brotherhood of that group.  And have been involved in the Knights every year of my priesthood, I can tell you that our council of the Knights of Columbus is definitely a true brotherhood.  One memory I will always have is the 4th degree ceremony that we went together here at St Jude.  Mike and his son Matt joined me and many other men at our parish to become members of the 4th degree.  Mike had wanted to become a 4th degree Knight for many years, but some sort of conflict always came up in his life.  It was a great experience for all of us and I memory of Mike that I will always cherish.   

     At our other Knights of Columbus functions, especially the Friday fish fries during Lent, Mike was always there greeting people.  He was a very loved member of our parish community.  Another thing that always stood out about Mike was that he was always looking out for the well-being of others.  Even when he wasn’t feeling well himself, he was always looking to help the other person, helping someone in need. Like Irish priests here in our Diocese, if Mike wasn’t giving you a hard time, you knew he was mad at you.  This was part of his outgoing personality. 

    Mike was also very patriotic and very proud of his service to country in the US military.  He was very loyal to his Marine friends; he had a lot of long, devoted friendships with them.  They would do anything for each other. He loved getting together with Marine friends and their families, going on vacations and trips. 

       In our Catholic prayers for the repose of the souls of the faithful departed, it states that the ties and bonds of affection and love that we knit together with family and friends during our lifetime do not end with an earthly death - they still remain. Mike’s spirit will live on in many ways.  

      In the 23rd psalm, it states that the Lord is our shepherd who leads us and guides us through life.   At the end of life, the Lord is there to lead us to a pool of life giving waters.  The Lord was truly the good shepherd of Mike’s life.  The good shepherd is there for Mike leading him to eternal life with him.  

1 de septiembre de 2019 – Domingo vigésimo segundo del Tiempo Ordinario – Lucas 14:1, 7-14

     El Evangelio de hoy habla sobre la humildad que necesitamos tener en nuestro viaje de fe como discípulos de Jesucristo.  La palabra "humano" viene de la misma raíz que la palabra "humilde". Las dos palabras proceden del latín "hûmus" que significa "suelo” o “tierra".  Cuando Dios nos creyó, no nos hizo desde el cielo – el nos hizo de la tierra.  De la tierra viene nuestra humanidad & nuestra humildad.  Para nosotros como católicos, la humildad es una característica que siempre tiene que estar presente cada día en nuestra vida de fe.

     ¿Como podemos ser humilde en el sentido de nuestro Evangelio de hoy?  Ser humilde no es tener un carácter débil o cobarde o flojo.  Ser humilde es reconocernos ante Dios y ante nuestros hermanos como somos, sin apariencias, sin imagen falsa.  Sabemos que el orgullo y la ambición pueden llevarnos a un nivel falso, pero, para ser humildes verdaderos, podemos ser más amados por los demás.  En nuestro mundo moderno, muchas personas quieren ser humildes, pero no pueden porque están muy centrados en ellos mismos, porque quieren dar una imagen a los demás que no es verdadera.

     Nuestra pobreza tiene una base en nuestra humildad.  No estamos refiriendo a la pobreza sociológica o económica, pero una pobreza de nuestro espíritu a la que todos estamos llamados.  Los pobres del espíritu no son los frágiles. Ellos dependen de Jesús, ellos respetan a Dios y a su prójimo.  Los pobres del espíritu - los humildes - ellos no buscan el reconocimiento por parte de los demás.  Ellos tienen tiempo para dedicarles a crecer por dentro. Los humildes - los pobres del espíritu - tienen Cristo en el centro de su vida.  

     Necesitamos tener la humildad como la virtud principal de nuestra vida para viajar en el camino de fe.  El ayuno, la oración, la limosna, las obras de caridad, y cualquier otro bien que podamos realizar. Sin humildad no sirven para nada.  Sin una conexión en nuestra fe, pierden su riqueza.  Podemos reflexionar – ¿como podemos vivir la virtud de humildad en nuestra vida de fe?

        Quiero terminar con un dicho del Padre Tomás Keating sobre la humildad. Para mí, este dicho tiene la esencia de la humildad en nuestra vida de fe: “La humildad es una actitud de honestidad con Dios, con nosotros mismos y con toda la realidad. La humildad nos permite estar en paz en presencia de nuestra impotencia y ignorancia y nos permite descansar en la falta de memoria en nosotros mismos.

Bulletin reflection - September 1 2019 - reflection for the 22nd Sunday of Ordinary Time - Quotes from the Saints on Humility

The Gospel today talks about the virtue of humility, so I am going to share some of my favorite quotes on humility from some luminaries in our Catholic faith.  Blessings to all you - have a blessed week.  Father Lincoln. 

“You must always humble yourself lovingly before God and before men, because God speaks only to those who are truly humble and He enriches them with His gifts.“ (St Padre Pio - 1887 -1968)

To be taken with love for a soul, God does not look on its greatness, but the greatness of its humility. (St John of the Cross - 1542 - 1591)

"No one reaches the kingdom of Heaven except by humility”. (St Augustine of Hippo - 354 - 430)

“Humility must always be doing its work in us like a bee making its honey in the hive: without humility, all will be lost.”  (St Teresa of Avila - 1515 - 1582)

“The most powerful weapon to conquer the devil is humility. For, as he does not know at all how to employ it, neither does he know how to defend himself from it.”  (St Vincent de Paul - 1581 - 1660)

“Humility is an attitude of honesty with God, oneself, and of all reality. It enables us to be at peace in the presence of our powerlessness and to rest in the forgetfulness of self.”  (Father Thomas Keating - 1923 - 2018)

“ The truly humble reject all praise for themselves, and refer it all to God.” 

(St. Alphonsus Liguori - 1696 - 1787)

28 August 2019 – Wednesday of 21st week in Ordinary Time – St Augustine – Matthew 23:27-32

     Woe to you, you Scribes and Pharisees, woe to you, you hypocrites.  Jesus sees people who are pious and whitewashed on the outside, but who don’t care much about what is going on in the inside.  Jesus saw past the exterior of the Pharisees.  He saw past their empty rituals.  He saw what was lacking on their inside. 

         The Pharisees thought they had all the answers.  They thought they had figured it out.  Today, as we hear this Gospel message, we celebrate the feast day of St Augustine.  He was a very intellectual boy growing up in a wealthy household in North Africa in the middle of the 4th century.  Although he had a pagan father, he had a great Christian example in his mother, St Monica.  Yet, as much as Augustine was on a search for God, his search for the fulfillment of his earthly desires and earthly pleasures consumed his life as a youth and young adult.  He founded his own school of philosophy in Rome, but knew that he had not yet found the final destination of his search for God.  The letters of St Paul and his search for spiritual fulfillment finally led him to Christianity at the age of 32.  Augustine’s teacher, St Ambrose, baptized him during the Easter Vigil celebration.  Augustine would later advise the Christian faithful: “Understanding is the reward of faith. Therefore, seek not to understand that you may believe, but believe that you may understand.”

       St Augustine was very aware what we going on in his interior and knew that the emptiness he was feeling would only be fulfilled by his relationship with God.  St Augustine - we unite our prayers to yours.  

30 August 2019 – Friday of 21st week in Ordinary Time – Psalm 97:1-2, 5-6, 10-12

       “Rejoice in the Lord, you just.” We hear this proclaimed in the psalm today.  Yet, sometimes we may find it a challenge to rejoice in the reality of our lives, in the sufferings and trials that we endure in life. 

         When I was looking at the list of saints for today, I saw the name St Richard Martin.  He was a devout Catholic layperson who was arrested and martyred in the year 1588 for giving shelter to priests during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I in England when the Catholic Church was outlawed in that country.  Can we imagine having to give up out lives for wanting to live out our faith?  Perhaps with what we see going on in the secular world today, making sacrifices for the faith even up to the point of giving up our lives does not seem so far-fetched.

         There was a time when one had to be a martyr in order to be named a saint.  However, there is a lot to learn from all the saints proclaimed by our faith and how they lived their lives.  The saints are just not a part of history or from an old-fashioned faith that doesn’t exist anymore.  Richard Martin and the other Catholics who died while trying to live out their faith in the years after Henry VIII tried to outlaw the Catholic Church in England show us the courage and sacrifices people have made through out history in order to live out their faith and to pass along that faith to others.  We live in a society where sacrifice is often looked down upon or mocked.  How are we called to courageously live out our faith and to rejoice in the Lord no matter what our circumstances are in life?

Reflection for parish bulletin - 25 August 2019 - 21st Sunday of Ordinary Time

       Back in the summer of 2002, while I was teaching at Greenville High School in the Delta, I had a fellowship from the US Department of Education.  I studied with a group of teachers in the countries of Chile and Argentina for eight weeks that summer, which was a wonderful experience.  A husband and wife from Maine who befriended me on that trip had spent a lot of time in Spain.  Several times that summer, they encouraged me to go on a pilgrimage to Spain that was at the time not very well-known. After praying about going on that pilgrimage, I felt the call to go, hiking 300 miles of the pilgrimage route of Santiago de Compostela in 2003.  Little did I know at the time that I would later go on the Camino four other times.  I am hoping to go many more times in the future.  I remember that first time I went, I wondered if I made the right decision about going, since I did not have a lot of time to prepare and I really did not know what to expect on a pilgrimage.  However, pilgrimage is now a big part of my Catholic spirituality, something that has really shaped my life. 

        I bring this up as we prepare for the ALPHA faith sharing program in a few weeks here at St Jude.  Perhaps signing up for ALPHA is a big leap of faith for you. Perhaps you feel like ALPHA is outside of your comfort zone.  Perhaps you wonder about the type of experience this is going to be.   However, as your pastor, I want to encourage you to become a part of this program.  ALPHA for adults will take place on Monday evenings, while the youth ALPHA will take place on Sunday evenings.  I have heard so many good comments about the ALPHA program we had for adults last winter.  There was a great sense of community and a great opportunity to share our faith with each other.  I was telling Deacon John that I believe in “BOTH/AND” as a priest, that there are lot of things we can include in our faith, rather than to be closed minded and narrow minded.  We have so many ministries and outreach programs here at St Jude that appeal to different spiritualities.  We have a Spanish mass, an extraordinary form Latin mass, prison ministry, college outreach, and ministry at the state hospital.  We have traditional Catholic devotions such as Adoration, Benediction, and the prayer of St Michael.  We try to reach out to all different devotions and spiritualities.  The ALPHA program is a part of this effort to evangelize and grow in our faith together, to offer different ways to express our spirituality.  

        We have heard about the need to evangelize to those who are unchurched or who are curious about the Catholic faith, or to reach out to those who have been on the sidelines of their faith for a while.  ALPHA helps us to grow in our own faith and to reach out to others.  Bring a friend or co-worker or neighbor or family member to ALPHA: they need not be Catholic or even Christian.  Let us open our hearts to the ALPHA program. It is a way for us to evangelize not only in our own parish community, but in the community around us.

25 de agosto de 2019 - vigésimo primer domingo del tiempo ordinario - Lucas 13: 22-30

   ¿Qué debemos hacer para ser verdaderos discípulos de Cristo ¿Quién será elegido para entrar en el reino eterno de Dios?  En esencia, son las preguntas que Cristo recibe en el Evangelio: "Jesucristo, quien va a entrar la vida eterna con usted? ¿Quién va a recibir salvación?  ¿Muchos o pocos?”  En la respuesta de Jesús a esta pregunta, tal vez hay otras preguntas que debemos pedir también.

      En el año 1894, nació un muchacho que se llamaba Reymundo en un pueblo muy pobre en Polonia.  Reymundo era un niño muy travieso, siempre se metió en problemas y no obedecía a sus padres. Su mamá perdió la paciencia con él un día.  Ella gritó: Señor, ¿qué va a pasar de mi hijo?  Al reflexionar sobre lo que dijo su mamá, Reymundo oraba a la Virgen María. María respondió en una visión. Ella presentaba dos coronas a este muchacho: una blanca y otra roja. Ella le preguntó si él estaba dispuesto a aceptar cualquiera de estas coronas. La corona blanca simbolizaba que él debe perseverar en la pureza, la roja que se convertiría en un mártir. Dijo que iba a aceptar estas dos coronas. El próximo año, a la edad de 12 años, Reymundo entraba en la congregación de los Franciscanos, donde tomaba el nombre religioso Maximiliano. Recibió su ordenación al sacerdocio a la edad de 24 años.  Establecía la misiones católicas en China, en Japón, y en India.  Él promovía una dedicación a la Virgen María el los pueblo donde él servía.  Volvió a Polonia a su monasterio cuando había problemas en su país.  El monasterio tenía una estación de radio y una imprenta.  Después de la invasión alemán de Polonia en la segunda guerra mundial, la estación de radio y la imprenta hablaban en contra los nazis.  El monasterio fue cerrado y el Padre Maximiliano Kolbe fue detenido por los alemanes. Finalmente, fue enviado al campo de concentración de Auschwitz, era el prisionero # 16670.  Su celda se convirtió en una capilla en la que invitó a todos los demás prisioneros para rezar el rosario, para cantar himnos a la Virgen María, y para celebrar la Eucaristía. Porque era cura, recibió muchos golpes de los guardias.  Cuando un prisionero escapó, los guardias seleccionaban 10 de ellos para vivir en una celda juntos sin agua y sin comida para morir de hambre. El Padre Maximiliano no estaba escogido inicialmente.  Sin embargo, cuando supo que uno de los hombres tenían una gran familia con muchos niños, el padre Maximiliano Kolbe se ofreció para ocupar su lugar. El Padre Maximiliano hizo un ministerio con los otros prisioneros hasta el momento de su muerte.  Fue el último de los 10 prisioneros de morir. Murió el 14 de agosto de 1941.  Durante la canonización de Kolbe en 1982, el Papa Juan Pablo Segundo lo llamaba el patrón del siglo vigésimo, un siglo que vio tanta guerra y  violencia y crímenes contra la humanidad.

      No creo que el Padre Kolbe estaba preocupado por la pregunta que se hizo en el Evangelio por alguien en la multitud: ¿Cuántos estarán salvos?  Como se dice en el Evangelio, algunas de las personas en la época de Cristo estaban pensando: Asistimos con usted en la calles y en las sinagogas, escuchando sus enseñanzas. Hemos comido y bebido con usted. Fuimos parte de su grupo de discípulos. Ciertamente entramos en su reino de salvación al fin de los tiempos.  

     En verdad, Jesucristo nos llama a una vida de discipulado. Él nos llama a ir más allá de la superficie.  Sus enseñanzas deben penetrar nuestro corazón para tener un corazón abierto a la conversión, el cambio, y la transformación.  Por lo tanto, en lugar de hacer preguntas acerca de nuestra salvación, tal vez tenemos que concentrarnos en la profundización de nuestra relación con Cristo, para crecer más cerca de él y los valores de su Evangelio. Fuimos salvados en el pasado en nuestra vida, en el momento de nuestro bautismo, en el momento de nuestra iniciación en la fe.  Somos salvados en el presente, como Cristo nos llama a la conversión, a la renovación y a la nueva vida.  Y seremos salvados en el futuro, en la gracia que tenemos en Dios cada día. 

       Se nos invita a entrar en la puerta de la fe cada día de nuestro camino como pueblo peregrino.  Algunos días, la puerta puede parecer muy difícil para entrar.  Me encanta la imagen que el Papa Francisco nos dio cuando el Año Jubilar de la Misericordia comenzó. El Papa empezó el Año Jubilar con la puerta especial en la Iglesia de San Pedro de Roma que sólo se abre durante años jubilares especiales. Y él lo hizo no sólo al abrirse esta puerta en una manera normal. Él tomó un martillo y derribó los ladrillos, abriéndola a los peregrinos para entrar en su visita a San Pedro.  Algunos días, habrá una gran cantidad de ladrillos alrededor de nosotros también.  Con la misericordia y la gracia de Dios, vamos a tener la fuerza para destruir estos ladrillos.