A sermon on Christian meditation from Father Ryan Erlenbush. August 7th

Elijah, praying alone on Mount Horeb

19^th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A

August 7^th, 2011

1 Kings 19:9a, 11-13a; Matthew 14:22-33

At the mountain of God, Horeb, Elijah came to a cave where he took shelter. […] There was a tiny whispering sound. When he heard this, Elijah hid his face in his cloak and went and stood at the entrance of the cave.

Jesus went up on the mountain by himself to pray. When it was evening he was there alone.

Beginning to sink, Peter cried out, “Lord, save me!”

Today’s readings, especially the first reading and the Gospel, teach us the fundamentals of prayer. We see the two essential movements of prayer: First, there is mediation and contemplation – which is shown in Elijah and, most perfectly, in our Savior; it is the example of going up the mountain alone to prayer – and, second, there is supplication or petition – this we see (albeit in an imperfect way) in St. Peter, when he cries out “Lord, save me!”.
These are the two movements: Meditation, which is that mental prayer where we quiet ourselves and enter into loving union with God; and petition, the prayer where we ask the good God to give us all the graces we need for today, for tomorrow, and at the moment of our death.

First, there is mental prayer, that meditation which leads to contemplation. St. John Chrysostom tells us that two things are necessary for true mental prayer – a quiet place, and time. Notice the example of Elijah, the great prophet of the Old Testament. First, he heard the wind which crushed the rocks, but God wasn’t in the wind. Then there was the earthquake and finally also the fire, but God was not in these either. Rather, God came to Elijah in the tine whisper – this is the gentle and often very subtle movement of the Holy Spirit.

If the Holy Spirit is so gentle and often speaks to us through a little whisper, then it is obvious that we will have to listen attentively in order to hear him. We need to quiet ourselves in order to hear his voice and to follow his inspirations.

Today’s world is so busy and loud, we need a quiet place to pray. Of course, the church is a very special place for prayer, but also in our homes we need to take time to step away from the daily duties of life, to retreat to a quiet room, to shut the door, to quiet ourselves and to seek God.

We must point out that every family has not only the right but also the obligation to set aside time for daily meditation or mental prayer. Husbands and wives have a duty to provide each other with time for prayer – and parents with young children should be teaching them how to pray as well.

Of course the family should pray together – we mention especially the family Rosary. If your family is not in the practice of saying the Rosary together every day, the month of August (which is the month dedicated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary) is a great time to start. Perhaps five decades seems like too much at first … fine, we can start with one decade, or at least three Hail Mary’s. Then, we can build from this starting place. Little by little we will grow as a family.

Still, in addition to that common family prayer, the couple must allow each other – and their children as well, once they are old enough – the time for quiet personal prayer and meditation in a separate room apart from the business of the family life.

Now the next question is about time. How much time should we give over to prayer every day? The saints recommend at least fifteen minutes, though twenty would be better. Yes, twenty minutes of quiet reflective meditation every day is so important for us! How can we expect to fulfill all the duties of our daily lives if we are not praying?

Moreover, when we think about how many minutes we should pray, we ought to remember that prayer is all about developing a relationship with the Lord. Could we have a loving intimate relationship with any human being if we only spoke for two or three minutes a day? What if the only time we spoke to our husband was to ask for things, never to simply speak words of Love? Likewise, what if a man only spoke to his wife in a distracted and disinterested manner, perhaps for a few minutes a day or not even every day? This would never work among human being! Why should we think that such little prayer would work with God?

We will say this: If fifteen minutes of prayer every day seems too long, I reply in the spirit of St. Josemaria Escriva – the prayer is not too long, but your love is too short!

Still, we must not be discouraged. If all we can do in the beginning is five minutes, that is fine, it is a place to start. We begin wherever we are and we try to build from there. Sometimes I think that if we only got a little bit better at prayer every day, we would be saints in no time!

And what is this meditation supposed to be about? What are we supposed to do for those twenty minutes every day? We can consider the Rosary – the Rosary will teach us much about the nature of mental prayer and meditation.

When we meditate, we are to consider the mysteries especially of Jesus’ life, death and Resurrection, as well as the other mysteries of our Faith – the Trinity, creation, the final judgment. We think upon these mysteries and we consider the great love that Almighty God has shown us through these events.

Christian meditation is all about love, thinking upon God’s love for us and how he has shown us this love in Christ Jesus – and, filled with the divine love, making small acts of love for God in return. To say, “Jesus, how you have loved me! You love me so much that you have died for me! In turn, let me love you!”

Notice how different Christian meditation is from Eastern forms of prayer. Eastern meditation is all about emptying ourselves, dissolving into the “power” of the Universe, clearing our minds to become nothing. Eastern prayer is self-annihilation, but Christian mediation is focused primarily on being filled! Christian prayer is about being filled with God’s love. Far from clearing our minds and entering into nothingness, Christian meditation is focused on thinking about Jesus, about the mysteries of the Faith, about the love of God; and then making acts of love in return. Finally, Christian meditation culminates in the simple loving gaze of the creature upon his Creator.

How far we are from Eastern prayer, and from such practices as “centering prayer” or “yoga”. Centering prayer and yoga are focused on emptying the self, on clearing the mind so as to think of nothing – this is the opposite of Christian mediation. If we are practicing centering prayer or yoga, we need to cut that out immediately – it has nothing at all to do with the Gospel!

Remember, “Mother Earth” does not love you. I hope you know that “Mother Earth” does not love you – she cannot love you because she is not a person. God, the Most Holy Trinity, is three Persons who love you intensely, who want to be united with you, to dwell in you, to elevate you and glorify you by a share in their own life.

And then, finally and very briefly, we come to the very necessary second movement of prayer: Supplication, the prayer of petition. When we see just how much Jesus loves us, we are then filled with a confidence to ask of him all the graces we need to fulfill our vocation in life.

St. Peter, when he was walking on the water, became troubled and fearful seeing the storm and the waves – we too will have many storms to weather, but like St. Peter will be saved if only we cry to the good Jesus, Lord, save me! This is the prayer of petition – asking for the graces needed in the moment and, especially, for the grace to be united to God at the moment of death.

More than anything else, every day we must ask God to bring us to heaven when we die. We must ask God for the grace of final perseverance, which is the grace to turn to him in the last moment of life and to give ourselves completely over to his love.

Be sure of this, if we do not pray and ask to go to Heaven, we won’t. If we do not beg the Lord for the grace to be faithful to the end, we will certainly be damned. All the saints in Heaven are there for this one reason, they prayed and asked for the grace of salvation. Conversely, all the damned in Hell are there for this one reason, they did not pray and they did not ask for the grace of perseverance.

Do you see? Prayer is everything! Our good God loves us so much and he has so many good things that he wants to give us, if only we would pray, if only we would ask for his benefits. Indeed, if we are filled with the love of God and if we persevere in asking the good Lord to bring us to union with himself, we can be sure that he will give us the great glory of life everlasting.

It is better for us that Christ has ascended, Sermon of June 5th

The Ascension of the Lord

June 5^th, 2011

Matthew 28:16-20

And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age.

There is a great temptation to think that it would be easier to believe if only Christ would simply be present to us in the way he was present to his disciples during his earthly life. Wouldn’t it be easier if only the Lord still walked among us on this earth? After all, though we most certainly love and respect our Holy Father in Rome, Pope Benedict XVI; it probably seems like more people would convert to Catholicism if Jesus Christ himself were sitting in St. Peter’s Basilica.

All this boils down to one simple thought: It would have been better for us if only Jesus had remained with us and not ascended into heaven. This line of reasoning is a great temptation. And it is a terrible lie.

Our Savior promised us that it is better that he goes. He ascends to heaven not so much for his own sake, but for ours. His Ascension is what for the benefit of the world, for our salvation, and for the glory and exaltation of his bride, the Church. We are much better off, now that Christ has ascended. In fact, as counter-intuitive as it may seem, we have benefited from the physical and sensible separation which the Ascension has effected.

Christ has ascended into heaven and he is no longer present among us in the same manner as he was present to his apostles, that is to say he is no longer physically and visibly present among his people. Still, we know that he has ascended in order to intercede in our behalf, to pray for us and to answer our prayers. Indeed, the Lord did not abandon us when he ascended to his Father; rather, he his physical separation has brought about a greater unity through his grace working within us.

Now, to be very clear, when I say that it is better for us and for the Church that Christ has ascended into heaven; I do not mean this as a purely theoretical, spiritual, or theological claim. Certainly, it is true, on the level of doctrine, that the Church and each individual Christian has benefited from the Ascension of Christ; but I want to emphasize that, even on an historical and statistical level, we can see that it is better for us that the Lord ascended.

While it may seem to us that there would be more converts to the Faith if only Jesus had remained on earth, we must admit that this is historically not true. During his own life on earth, there were relatively few believers. Certainly, many individuals did follow Christ and many lives were changed and converted, but there was no great mass-conversion. Even the crowd which followed the Lord can scarcely be said to be true believers – one minute they will praise him, but the next they will cry out Crucify him! And we do not need to mention the fact that only a very few remained faithful to him at the Cross.

We must admit that the Church did not grow much during Christ’s life. The number of believers was very small – even the apostles were not much to speak of during this time.

However, after the Ascension, everything changed. Scarcely had our Lord ascended into heaven when, on the feast of Pentecost, the apostles were filled with the Holy Spirit and proclaimed the Gospel with boldness. In one day, 3,000 people were converted and baptized – more came to believe in that single day after the Ascension than had converted throughout Christ’s whole earthly life!

Moreover, consider how the Church spread throughout the whole world – those who had ignored Christ during his earthly life (I refer to the Greeks and the Romans, as well as many of the Jews), these are now converted by the preaching of the apostles after his Ascension.

Simply looking at the history of the Church, with a scientific perspective, we must admit that it has been better for us since Christ ascended into heaven.

And this points us to the dogmatic or theological and spiritual perspective: What is the reason behind this truth? Why is better for us that Jesus did not remain on earth, but ascended into heaven?

Christ ascends in order to teach us the importance of prayer. If he remained visibly present in our midst, we would not grow in faith as we ought; moreover, we would fail to recognize the power of prayer. Jesus ascended to take our prayers to the Father. The Lord mounts the heights of heaven, not to distance himself from us, but rather to raise us up and to give real power to our prayers. This is why Jesus told us: If you shall ask me any thing in my name, that I will do.

The Lord ascends in order to teach us that, in the final analysis, the only thing that has any real power is prayer! Think of it, he goes forth from this world and completely rejects all that the world has to offer; but, ascending into heaven, he directs our hearts and minds to what is above, to the power of prayer.

The Faith will spread and the Church will grow only through prayer – even the work of missionaries only has power because of prayer. You and I, each of us, will become saints only through prayer.

This is the lesson of the Ascension: As Christ hides himself from our worldly vision, he invites us to look upon him with the eyes of faith. And, as we grow in the interior life of prayer and contemplation, we shall find that our Savior is with us always, until the end of the age.

Christ alone is the Way, all others lead to perdition. Sermon of May 22nd

In that day you shall know, that I am in my Father,
and you in me, and I in you. (John 14:20)

5^th Sunday of Easter

May 22^nd, 2011

John 14:1-12

Jesus said to him, I am the way and the truth and the life.

Our Savior gives us a word of encouragement in today’s Gospel text. He says, do not fear, let nothing disturb you. Do not let your hearts be troubled. I have come as your way to salvation. In my own person, I have reconciled you with God and I will come again to bring you into the fullness of all joy in heaven.

Christ tells us, I am the way. Indeed, the Lord is our Way, he is our true and only access to the Father and to the life of the blessed which awaits us.

But, when Jesus says I am the way, he means this in two respects: Exclusively and inclusively. Exclusively, the Lord states, No one comes to the Father except through me – he is the only way to salvation and there is no other. Inclusively, he tells us, Whoever has seen me has seen the Father – all who trust in Christ, all who look to Jesus will be saved.

First, exclusively: The good Lord affirms not simply that he is “a way”, that is, one way among many. Rather, he says I am the way – he is THE way, the only way; apart from him there is no other means of coming to the Father or of gaining eternal life. Apart from Christ, there can be no salvation.

Our Savior offers a vision of salvation which is quite a bit different from that most prevalent in the modern western world. The two views – that of the Gospel and that of the world – can be compared by means of a certain metaphor.

First, the world’s vision of salvation: The world thinks that all ways lead to heaven and that, whatever choices people make and whatever they believe, all people will be saved. This vision may be symbolized by a metaphor of rivers and streams. The rains fall and the waters are gathered from many places into various streams and rivers. Then, these rivers flow together and ultimately all the water goes into the ocean – all the waters end up in the same place and they take many different paths to get there.

Christ, on the other hand, presents a very different vision of salvation. The Gospel vision can be compared to a tree: There is the solid trunk of the tree, it is in the center. And, from this trunk, many branches go forth, to one side or the other. As the branches break away from the trunk, they continue to separate, going farther and farther away from the center. There is no final unity, but rather the turns to one side or the other ultimately lead to different ends and to different places.

So it is with the Gospel – Jesus tells us that there is only one way which leads to salvation, and it is himself. He alone is our means of attaining to heaven; and every other path can lead only to hell. Our choices really do matter and what we believe really does make a difference – because there is only one path to heaven, and we must follow the Lord if we desire to come to eternal life with God.

When we consider this truth – that it is only through Christ and his Church that any may hope to come to salvation – we must not become over-confident. It is true, we have been blessed to be gathered into the household of the faith. We are blessed to believe in the Gospel. But, on the other hand, as we each examine our consciences, we quickly recognize that there are many ways (both big and small) in which we do not follow Christ, but instead seek happiness in other things.

A good question for our personal examination might be this: When was the last time I read a spiritual book that was written by a saint? There are so many silly books out there which promote all sorts of sentimental spiritualities – but when was the last time I read any book at all which was written by a saint? Have I ever read a book that was written by a saint? If not, it’s time to pick one up and to get started! We have the gift of the Catholic spiritual tradition, why would we look to anything else? Why waste our time with self-help books, when we have the true faith?

Again, consider all the pseudo-spirituality which is promoted through the new age movement and also through the modern fascination with eastern spiritualities and philosophies. Why look to thinks like eastern mediations? Why turn to Zen, Centering Prayer or Yoga? These can all only lead to one place – and it’s not heaven! And do not be fooled, these are all false spiritualities; however innocent they may seem. They are a false worship. But we have the Gospel.

Christ tells us; no, he cries out to us: “Why do you look to these false paths and false spiritualities? Why are you dabbling in these eastern prayers and meditations? Look, rather to me, for Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.” And here we come to the inclusive aspect of our Savior’s words.

Jesus is the Way to the Father and whosoever comes to him will gain access to eternal life. He is come as our Savior and his one desire is that he should draw all people to himself and grant them the true joy of heaven. Because Christ is the sure and infallible way to the Father, he can say Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.

Yet, we might ask: How can Christ say this, when we know that many who saw him did not see the Father? Consider the Pharisees; when they looked upon our Savior, they saw only a mere man and even an enemy. They did not see the Father. So many who lived with Jesus did not recognize him as their Savior and were not lead into communion with God. How then does Christ tell us Whoever has seen me has seen the Father?

Jesus speaks to us of something more than a merely physical or exterior looking. We see Christ not simply with our eyes, but with our minds and with our hearts. Thus, what our Savior means for us to understand is this: Whoever has seen me that is, whoever has meditated upon the mysteries of my earthly life and has gazed upon my humanity through contemplative prayer, such a one has seen the Father.

This is the promise of Christ – if we pray regularly, and especially if we take time daily for meditation on the mysteries of our Lord’s life; we will certainly be saved, we will certainly see the Father.

I am reminded of the wonderful prayer which is often said at the end of the Rosary. “Grant that by meditating upon these mysteries,” that is, upon the mysteries of the life, death and resurrection of Christ, “we may imitate what they contain,” for the Lord is our way and leads us by his own example, “and obtain what they promise,” which is to come to the fulfillment of all hope when we come to perfect enjoyment of the Lord as our Truth and our Life, in the glories of life everlasting.

How children will save the world. Sermon for Our Lady of Fatima, May 13th

This homily was delivered at the school Mass for our parish grade school (k-8). That morning, the first and second grade children crowned our Lady with flowers. Children, teachers, parents and also the regular daily-Mass-goers were in attendance.

The Fatima Children: Jacinta, Lucia, Francesco
ages 7, 10 and 9

May 13^th, The Feast of Our Lady of Fatima

The Beautiful Woman, that is the Blessed Virgin Mary, said to the child Lucia: “Recite the Rosary every day in order to obtain peace for the world.” She also said to the three children: “When you pray the Rosary, say after each mystery: O my Jesus, forgive us, save us from the fires of hell. Lead all souls to Heaven, especially those who are most in need.” – From the writings of St. Lucia, a child of Fatima

On May 13^th, 1917, the Blessed Virgin Mary started a project that was very very big, and that would take many years to come to fulfillment. On that day, she began the process which would lead to the three things:

First, our Lady wanted to convert the whole word – and this is a very great goal and the biggest part of her plan. Second, on a slightly smaller scale, Mary desired to convert the nation of Russia – you see, the Russians were about to fall to the evil communist government which would make it illegal to believe in God; so Mary decided that it was time to act to combat this evil and to convert the whole nation. And finally, the Mother of God wanted to save the Pope – because she knew that someone was going to try to kill him in the future.

These were three big tasks, three extremely important projects: Save the world, save Russia, and save the Pope. And I suppose you are wondering, “To whom would Mary entrust this great work? To whom would Mary turn for the accomplishment of such an important project?”

Well, I put this question to you: Do you think she would give this great work to adults or to children? Of course, she would entrust it to children! We have already seen this many times at our school Masses throughout the year – especially, on the feast of St. Therese of Lisieux and also a couple of other times (like at the Annunciation, when Jesus himself became a child) – God loves to answer the prayers of children. And when a young person prays, his prayers are especially powerful because God is always ready to hear and answer a child. And, of course, if anyone knows how powerful the prayers of children are, it would be Mary – because she is a Mother to us all, and we are her children.

When it is time for real work to be done, when our Lady has a project that is too important to fail, something that simply must be successful – Mary knows that she has to turn to children! She leaves the unimportant things to adults; you know, things like politics and economics. These things don’t make hardly any difference in the big picture. But saving souls and saving the world? That is just too important to entrust it to adults immediately; first it is given to children and then, through the children, to adults.

So, when Mary decided to save the world, Russia, and the Pope; she didn’t appear to adults, but instead she appeared to three children in Fatima, Portugal. She appeared to these three young children who were named: Lucia, Francesco and Jacinta. Now I know that Jacinta sounds like a funny name to you, but in Portuguese it is a beautiful name! J

And these three children were very young indeed: Lucia was ten years old, Francesco was nine, and Jacinta was only seven! They were very young children and most people probably wouldn’t have thought that they could do very much – but you and I know better, don’t we? We know that God loves to answer the prayers of children. We know that, if anything can save the world, it will be the prayers of children!

Mary appeared to these three children and told them that they needed to save the world, to save Russia, and to save the Pope – and she said that they would only be able to do this through prayer. Mary gave them three things that they had to do: First, they had to pray the Rosary every day. Second, they had to love the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Third, they had to pray to Mary in a special way on Saturdays. Through these simple prayers, the children would overcome every obstacle, indeed they would overcome the world!

And what do you think happened? Of course, what Mary had promised came true!

First, thirty years ago today (May 13^th, 1981), when John Paul II had not even been pope for three years, an assassin went to St. Peter’s Square with a mission: He had been hired to shoot and kill Pope John Paul II! It was the feast of Our Lady of Fatima, but it was before the feast was spread throughout the world or even very well known – and John Paul was riding in the square outside the church in his “Pope Mobile” (you know, the Pope rides in a sort-of Jeep that has no roof on it, so he stands on the car as it drives through the square and he is able to wave to people and shake there hands).

Well, John Paul II was going through the square in the midst of a great crowd of people, when something caught his eye … he saw a picture of Our Lady of Fatima! The car was stopped and he bent down to look at the picture more closely. Now, as the Pope bent down, right at that very moment, this assassin shot him … and if the Pope had not just then bent over, the bullet would have killed him! Still, as it was the bullet caused terrible damage and nearly did kill him … and it was no minor miracle that he survived that day.

And, you won’t be surprised to learn why it was that the Holy Father had to bend down so low to look at that picture of Our Lady of Fatima – he had to bend low because it was a child who was holding the image! Once again, we see that Mary does her greatest works through children!

Here is what John Paul II said about that day: “Could I forget that the event [Ali Ağca's assassination attempt] in St. Peter’s Square took place on the day and at the hour when the first appearance of the Mother of Christ to the poor little peasants has been remembered for over sixty years at Fátima, Portugal? For in everything that happened to me on that very day, I felt that extraordinary motherly protection and care, which turned out to be stronger than the deadly bullet.”

Thus, through the prayers of those three children, Pope John Paul II was saved; and what a great pope he became! This happened sixty-four years after the first apparition in Fatima; and the only one still alive was Lucia (Francesco and Jacinta had already gone to heaven) – but the prayers of these children all those years ago, together with the special protection of Our Lady, saved Pope John Paul II on that day.

The second part of the project also was fulfilled – because, only a few months after Mary first appeared to the children, Russia became communist and many many people were killed. It became illegal to be Catholic or even to believe in God! But the children had prayed and, through the influence also of Pope John Paul II, many people throughout the world were following the example the children had given – so many Catholics were praying the Rosary for the conversion of Russia!

And what do you think happened? Did the prayers work? Well, is Russia communist today? See how powerful the prayers of children can be! The whole country of Russia, a super-power, one of the strongest and most terrible nations the world has ever seen – and it was destroyed not by guns or armies, but by prayers! And especially by the prayers of children.

Finally, we have the third part of the project – to save the world, to get everybody to heaven. This part hasn’t been finished yet, but we are all working for it. This is where you come in – you, the children of our parish school! Now it is your turn to pray, and it’s your turn to save the world – just like the three children of Fatima!

Think of it, those three children (Lucia, Francesco, and Jacinta), think of all they accomplished! And there was only three of them! There are many more of you – over seventy. Why, if the three children of Fatima could save a pope and convert Russia; think of what you can do!

Today, our first and second graders crowned our Lady with flowers … you can scarcely imagine just how powerful a simple act like that is! You cannot even imagine how much that means to Mary and to Jesus! Your prayers – though they seem little to the world – are very powerful indeed.

So, you younger ones, you need to keep up your daily prayers. They are very important – you kids in the lower grades have the most power of all! So, I suppose it would be enough (at least to start) if you said three “Hail Mary’s” every day – this could change the world, if you say them from your heart.

As you get older, though, you will have to learn to pray more. So, now I address you older kids, the seventh and eighth graders – your prayers are still very important and very powerful, but you are getting closer to becoming full adults; so you will need to pray a bit more, at least a decade of the Rosary every day.

Now, you adults, we all need to be praying even more – we have to say all five decades every day; because we aren’t children anymore, so our prayers aren’t quite so pure, or so heartfelt. But, I’m sure that if we pray at least five decades every day, Mary will answer our prayers too! J

This is my point, you children are called upon by Mary to save the world, to save souls – just like Lucia, Francesco and Jacinta. You have a special place before God, and your prayers mean so much. I promise you this: You cannot even begin to imagine just how great you really are! You cannot even begin to image just how powerful your prayers are before our heavenly Father!

Already, you have done so much. I tell you truly, you are bringing salvation to our town. You are making me a better priest. You are making your parents and your teachers better Christians. And look at the joy you bring to our daily-Mass-crowd! Every time you come, the whole church is filled with new life and with a great reverence and love for God!

So, Pray! Pray, pray, pray! And, through your prayers and sacrifices, God will one day bring us all to the great joy of life everlasting.

The news report of the assassination attempt on Blessed John Paul II

Let my eyes shed down tears night and day, and let them not cease. Sermon of April 10th, on Passiontide

5^th Sunday of Lent, Year A

April 10^th, 2011

John 11:1-45

And Jesus wept.

In these final two weeks of the season of Lent, the Church enters into the period which in former days was called Passiontide. It is the time of the Lord’s Passion, a time when the whole focuses most intently upon the suffering and death of our Savior.

Throughout the whole of Lent we have engaged a spirit of contrition and of sorrow, sorrow for our sins and for those of the whole world. Now, in these final days, we turn our attention toward the results of sin, toward what it took to blot out those sins: The Passion of the Christ.

In the season of Passiontide, the whole Church weeps for her suffering Lord. Every Christian is meant to mourn the death of the Savior. Throughout these two weeks, the saints tell us, we are to weep constantly and to be filled with sorrow.

Some of the spiritual doctors go so far as to direct us not to think of anything happy or joyful – even desisting from considerations of the Resurrection or of Heaven. Rather, they say, we are to be totally immersed in the Passion of our Lord. We think of nothing other than the sorrows of Jesus our Savior and, our hearts and minds being filled with his wounds, we are called to have compassion on our good Lord whom we have so poorly treated.

We are instructed by the saints to be so focused on the sufferings of the Lord that, from the first moment when we wake in the morning, we ought to banish from our thoughts anything which is joyful or humorous and ought rather immediately turn our attention to some aspect of the death of Christ. Perhaps we may consider one of the Stations of the Cross or one of the Sorrowful Myesteries of the Rosary.

Yet, as I am sure you are probably thinking, there is a certain difficulty in all of this. As we live in the world and must go about the daily business of our affairs, it is not clear how we can incorporate this spirit of profound sorrow into our daily lives. Indeed, I am quite certain that many of our non-Catholic neighbors would be very confused if all the Catholics in town walked around teary-eyed and frowning for the next two weeks!

So, what are we to do? Obviously, our spiritual life must be integrated well with the real and concrete elements of our vocation. All true spirituality is rooted in the vocational calling to which we have responded.

While it is probably true that we cannot go about exteriorly consumed with sorrow for the next two weeks – certainly, there are many circumstances in which it would not be appropriate to express the inner movements of our hearts – we may nevertheless be totally immersed in an interior mortification.

While we go about the exterior motions of our day in a manner which draws to us no special attention, we may still carry Jesus crucified in our hearts. This is our task for the two weeks of Passiontide: To make a space in our hearts to carry Christ, and him crucified.

A simple example will suffice: Any time we look upon ourselves in a mirror or see our reflection in a piece of glace, we may consider the face of Christ as it was in the Way of the Cross. Consider how his face was disfigured with bruises from the many blows he had received. His holy face was now made dirty and covered with spittle. And then, the holy woman Veronica came to our Lord. She offered him such a small act of compassion, but the love which motivated her was divine. Join St. Veronica and compassionate your Savior so poorly treated by men.

Yes, these next two weeks will be difficult – in many ways they are the most difficult period of Lent. Our hearts will become very heavy with grief and we will be downcast. But, in order that we may not lose hope or become despondent, Holy Mother Church puts before our hearts and minds today a final consideration of the glory of the Resurrection.

We do not hear of Christ’s Resurrection itself, but instead we hear of the promise of the general resurrection of the dead at the end of time. The Lord says to the prophet Ezekiel in our first reading, I will open your graves and have you rise from them, O my people! It is the promise of life, a promise which gives us hope.

The same is reiterated by St. Paul in the second reading. In the Gospel, however, we turn from promise of the general resurrection to the resuscitation of Lazarus. In order that his disciples might have hope in him and might not despair at his death but instead may believe and look for his Resurrection, Christ our God raised Lazarus from the dead.

Yet, even here, in this wonderful miracle of the resurrection or resuscitation of Lazarus, we see something most interesting. For St. John tells us that Jesus loved Lazarus and his sisters. And, precisely because he loved them he waited two days before going to Bethany. Precisely out of love for Martha and Mary and Lazarus, Jesus waited and allowed Lazarus to die and the sisters to be filled with sorrow.

Even when Christ arrived in Bethany, he did not immediately work the miracle and raise Lazarus, but first he entered into the sorrow of Mary and Martha and the other Jews as they mourned for Lazarus. Jesus was so filled with sorrow at the death of Lazarus that he himself wept – and here we have the shortest verse in all of Scripture, And Jesus wept.

It was only after entering into that period of mourning and of sorrow that Jesus worked his great miracle. First he wept bitterly and was greatly perturbed – entering fully into the spirit of true compassion, suffering with Martha and Mary – and only later did he wipe away every tear and call Lazarus back to life.

This is our task in these days: To join Christ in his sorrows, as he has joined us in our sorrows. To compassionate the Savior who has been so compassionate toward us. To weep with him who has wept for us, to mourn for him who mourned for us.

By joining our God in his dolorous passion, may we soon be brought to the glories of life everlasting.

Some recommendations for Scripture reading

St. Dominic prayerfully reads the Sacred Page

The “Biblical Narrative” – these 14 books contain the basic story of the Bible

Genesis (50 chapters)

Exodus (40 chapters)

Numbers (36 chapters)

Joshua (24 chapters)

Judges (21 chapters)

1 Samuel (31 chapters)

2 Samuel (24 chapters)

1 Kings (22 chapters)

2 Kings (25 chapters)

Ezra (10 chapters)

Nehemiah (13 chapters)

1 Maccabees (16 chapters)

Luke (24 chapters)

Acts (28 chapters)

total: 364 chapters

Reading at a normal/relaxed speed, one can usually read about ten chapters per hour (though the number of verses per chapter does vary). Five to six minutes per chapter is a pretty healthy pace.
On average, one could read the “biblical narrative” or the “story of the Bible” in less than forty hours. If the goal is to read the story of the Bible in a year, that is significantly less than one hour per week!

In addition, some other books – these could be read every year or so:

Deuteronomy (34 chapters)

Tobit (14 chapters)

Job, chapters 1-3 and 38-42 (8 chapters)

Ecclesiastes (12 chapters)

Song of Songs (8 chapters)

Isaiah (66 chapters) or Jeremiah (52 chapters) or Ezekiel (48 chapters)

Two or three of the twelve “minor prophets” – Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi (from 1 to 14 chapters, each)

Matthew (28 chapters)

Mark (16 chapters)

John (21 chapters)

Romans (16 chapters)

Three other letters of St. Paul (about 22 chapters, for 3 letters together)

Hebrews (13 chapters)

1 John (5 chapters)

Revelation (22 chapters)

total: 285 chapters

Thus, to read both the “story of the Bible” and also the additional books of special importance in a year would only take around 70 hours, for about 649 chapters. That is still less than an hour and a half per week!

How to persevere through Lent, Sermon of March 20th

2^nd Sunday of Lent, Year A

March 20^th, 2011

Matthew 17:1-9

Jesus took Peter, James, and John his brother, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. And he was transfigured before them.

Perhaps we might consider why it is that here, on the second Sunday of Lent, the Church gives us the Gospel account of the Transfiguration of our Lord. It may not be immediately apparent to us, but if we consider the meaning of the historical event for the disciples, we will quickly understand how our reflection on the Transfiguration will aid us in our Lenten discipline.

First, what was the significance of the Transfiguration for the Apostles? Notice that the event happened near the end of Christ’s public ministry – it is recorded late in Matthew’s Gospel, in the 17^th chapter. Early on, the Lord’s preaching was very successful – wherever he went, many people converted and nearly all accepted him. Of course, the Apostles were very excited in those early days.

But then, there is a change. At a certain point, our Savior begins to look toward Jerusalem, to focus more and more on the suffering and death that awaited him in the Holy City. This transition – from those early, happy years to the last period of rejection – hinges upon the Transfiguration.

Our Savior had just told the disciples that he would suffer and die, that the Cross was coming. But the Apostles could scarcely bare this news. They feared the Cross, they were terrified at the thought of persecution. And so, Christ needed to give them comfort and strength.

For this reason, he took Peter, James and John apart from the others and led them up the mountain. Now, as soon as we hear it is these three, our minds ought to move forward to that other time these three were separated from the rest – on that night in Gethsemane, when our Lord suffered his great agony in the garden. The whole event of the Transfiguration is a preparation for the suffering which is soon to come – Christ seeks to strengthen at least these three, so that they might remain faithful through the Passion.

But, as our Lord is transfigured before them, St. Peter cries out, “Lord, it is good that we are here … Let’s build some tents!” You see, Peter talks too much. J

The Prince of the Apostles speaks with the comprehension of a child – he cannot even begin to comprehend the mystery he beholds, for he is distracted by the fact that it is shiny. Peter considers the Transfiguration beautiful simply because it is bright.

If Peter had been more reflective, he may have noticed that it was Moses and Elijah who appeared on either side of our Savior – the two men who perhaps bore more suffering and hardship than any others in the Old Testament. Moses, who was so often rejected by his own people and who died in the desert. Elijah, who was hated by the political and religious authorities of his day – who alone stood up against the darkness of hell which raged in the time of King Ahaz.

Christ is transfigured before Peter, James and John; he shows them the glory of the Resurrection. The Savior does this in order that they might be encouraged, that they might not lose heart. Christ knows that the Passion will be a great scandal to his disciples, he knows that it will be difficult and that they will be filled with sorrows – but he desires that they should not despair, that they should not lose hope, but instead might remain faithful to him to the end.

But, alas, we know that James fled with the others, he abandoned the Lord. Peter was even worse – the man who had said, “Let us build tents and remain here with you,” when persecutions came not only abandoned the Lord, but denied his Savior saying, “I swear to you, I do not know the man.”

Only John remained faithful. The disciple who was most reflective, and even contemplative. John is quiet, reserved, steeped in prayer. And he alone, from among the Apostles, he alone stood by our Christ at the foot of his Cross. The mystery of the Transfiguration had already penetrated the heart of the Beloved Disciple, strengthening him against all adversity, giving him hope in the midst of terrible suffering.

Christ was transfigured in order that the Apostles might persevere through suffering and so come to the glory of Easter. It is for this reason also that the Church gives us to meditate upon the Transfiguration now. For we yet have a long time till Easter – there is much of Lent through which he have yet to pass.

For some, it may come as a surprise that we are only in the second week of Lent. “The second week?” you say, “Surely, we have made it to the forth of fifth week by now!” No, indeed, we are still only in the second week, and, what is worse, this Sunday is only the first day in the second week! J 

Only through imitating the prayerful nature of John will we be able to find the strength necessary to pass through Lent. We must meet Christ, transfigured and in glory – but it is only in our life of prayer that we can find him thus transfigured. Our daily meditation is the time when Christ is leading us up the mountain, to encourage us, to give us strength, and to show us his glory.

We have quite a ways to go this Lent. But the Church, as a good and loving Mother, does not want us to be discouraged. So, today, she gives us this small foretaste in the Resurrection. She raises our hearts and minds to the contemplation of Easter glory – for the Transfiguration is a participation in the glory which awaits us all in life everlasting.

Build your house on rock through prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. Sermon of March 6th

9^th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A

March 6^th, 2011

Matthew 7:21-27

Everyone who listens to these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on rock.

When a professor is teaching a class, it happens on occasion that the students may not be paying attention. There is, I am told, one thing which the teacher can do, one thing which works for students from around the 5^th grade all the way up through to graduate school – the teacher or professor can regain the students’ attention by saying these simple words, “This will be on the exam.”

All of a sudden, the students perk up and are paying attention. They are taking notes and even checking with their classmates to make sure that they didn’t miss anything. I teach the 7^th and 8^th graders at our Catholic grade school, and I have never had to threaten with an exam yet – but, I hear it is something worth considering…

On a much more profound level, something like this occurs in today’s Gospel. Christ our Savior has come to the end of the Sermon on the Mount, the longest and most complete discourse on Christian morality; and he wants to make sure that we are all paying attention. For this reason he tells us, “This will be on the exam, this makes a difference for the final judgment.”

The Good Lord directs our hearts and minds to the final days, to judgment, to Heaven and Hell. “On that day,” he says, many will come and will cry out; but I will reject them, for they did not follow my commands. The teachings of the Sermon on the Mount are necessary for our salvation.

Perhaps we are a bit afraid when we think of the final judgment and the second coming of our Savior. Indeed, there is something terrifying and great about the end of time – for on that day, each of us will answer for our doings, whether good or evil. Moreover, we recall that Fear of the Lord is a gift of the Holy Spirit – it is the beginning of wisdom. It is good to fear the Lord.

However, the fear that we have ought not to be the fear of a slave, terrified that his master will beat him. Nor, less, should it be the fear of a dog, expecting punishment from his owner. No, rather the fear we have is the fear of a child who wants only to please his father.

We fear lest we should disappoint the God who has so loved us. Recognizing the goodness and the love of God, we fear lest we may separate ourselves from that Love through sin. We fear lest we should be separated from him who has so loved us.

Christ’s words are challenging, and perhaps even a little bit scary; but remember that the Good Jesus only wants you to be happy! That is what this is all about: Beatitude, eternal happiness, and joy even in this life. Thus, even the challenging teachings of the Sermon on the Mount – that we must love our enemies, that we must not have lust or anger in our hearts, that we must be free from attachment to worldly possessions since we cannot serve God and mammon – even these challenging teachings have been given for our benefit. Christ challenges us because he wants us to be happy with him, both here on earth and forever in heaven.

It is for this reason that the Good Lord tells us to build our house on solid rock, not on sand. The house is the soul, and the rock is Christ, but the sand is the passing delights of the flesh. We build our house by seeking after either the delights of heaven or the momentary gratifications of earth. We build our house by either following the commands of Jesus, or ignoring our Lord’s words and seeking pleasure.

If we seek our consolation and delight in the things of earth, these things which are passing away, we build our house on sand. And it is fitting that we compare this to building on sand; for just as sand passes through the grip of the fingers, so too the pleasures of this life pass away swiftly and are gone. If we think rarely of heaven, if we focus all our energy on the duties and demands of this life, we are fools who build on sand – our house will not stand long.

How then do we build our house on solid rock? How do we found our soul upon Christ?

This is to find joy and consolation in the Lord and in the hope of heaven. Next week, we begin the season of Lent, a time to re-found ourselves on Christ as our true rock. We build our house upon Christ through these three Lenten practices: Prayer, fasting and almsgiving. All three are necessary, together they will give us supernatural joy in this life, and eternal happiness in the life to come.

First, we consider prayer. Lent is a time of prayer, focusing on the things of heaven. Do you want to go to heaven when you die? Then ask the Lord for this grace! Every day, ask the Lord to bring you to heaven! Ask also for the graces needed to get you through the next day in the state of grace.

But we must also meditation – for how can we ask anything from the Lord, if we do not have a solid relationship with him? We must meditate daily on the mysteries of Christ’s life, death and resurrection. Daily meditation is necessary for salvation. During Lent, we have the opportunity to focus particularly upon the mysteries surround our Savior’s passion and death. Think of how much Christ loved you – he loved you so much that he died for you! Will he not give you everything else besides?

Then there is fasting. This is most necessary, for fasting is the body’s way of participating in prayer. We often pretend like we do not have bodies, we forget about the importance of fasting and mortification. The body works for our salvation too! It is not enough simply to pray with our minds – we need also to fast.

Remember, fasting is easy when done out of love. Christ became hungry out of love for you, will you not hunger for love of him?

Finally, there is almsgiving. Almsgiving covers a multitude of sins, and therefore is central to the mystery of Lent. Almsgiving can be part of an expression of sorrow for sin, especially during this time of repentance.

Moreover, almsgiving helps us to grow in charity. It frees us from mammon and opens us to the Lord. Simply put, without almsgiving we cannot be saved. Unless we love our neighbor and, especially, the poor; how can we ever hope to have a true love for Christ Jesus?

An Advent Meditation on Joseph and Mary, December 19th

4^th Sunday of Advent, Year A.

December 19^th, 2010

Matthew 1:18-24

Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary your wife into your home. For it is through the Holy Spirit that this child has been conceived in her.

During the season of Advent we have the opportunity to develop the interior life, the life of prayer. We all ought to be taking time every day, and especially in these final days before Christmas, to meditate upon the events of Christ’s life. The saints will tell us that daily mental prayer is morally necessary for salvation – and they recommend around 20 minutes a day. Unless we are regularly considering the great works which God has done in the past and the ways he has revealed his love for us, we will be unable to trust in his love now in the present and to look forward to his future coming in glory.

And so, whether our Advent has been a particularly good time of prayer and meditation, or whether we have not been as reflective as we had hoped to be, the Church now gives us these final days before Christmas to re-commit ourselves to daily mental prayer.

Perhaps one reason why so many of us struggle with mental prayer and meditation is that we don’t really understand what we are supposed to be doing. What exactly should those twenty minutes be spent on? What is mental prayer?

The two most popular forms of mental prayer and meditation are surely the Rosary and Lectio Divina (prayerfully reading Sacred Scripture) – I would like to focus on the second: how do we make a meditation with the Bible?

Today’s Gospel passage offers us a good opportunity to see how mental prayer should work – we can pierce into the text and try to fill it out a bit, seeking to come to a deeper appreciation of the Holy Family. All the while, during a meditation, we must be primarily concerned to look into what the holy persons present in the Biblical narrative are thinking, feeling, doing and saying. What is Mary thinking? What is Joseph thinking? Moreover, we look to discover something of the love which was in the hearts of Mary and Joseph – this love then inspires us to love God in our turn.

First of all, in order understand the relationship between Mary and Joseph, we need to know something of the historical circumstances of their betrothal and marriage. This can be discerned from a careful reading of the Bible passages.

It seems that, when Joseph and Mary were betrothed, but before they come together, they both thought that their marriage would be a natural union. There is no reason to think that either Joseph or Mary knew what God had in store for them – this is why Mary is so surprised when the angel came with the good news at the Annunciation!

Nevertheless, although Mary and Joseph entered into their betrothal period, believing that their marriage would be a normal and natural one, Mary had a desire deep in her heart to become a consecrated virgin. She desired to be a virgin, but she also knew that she was supposed to marry St. Joseph – and so she really didn’t know what to think. But she trusted in God and she also trusted in Joseph, she knew that all would come to pass for the good.

After their betrothal, Mary revealed to St. Joseph that she had a desire to become a consecrated virgin – and you can imagine that this must have been something of a surprise to Joseph! But he was a good man and a just man; and, what is more, he loved and respected Mary very much, and so he took the matter to prayer. Ultimately, Joseph agreed and the two of them together vowed virginity, promising to live as brother and sister in their married life.

But how do we know that Mary was a consecrated virgin? Think of what she said to the angel – Gabriel told her that she would conceive and give birth to a son, but Mary was terribly confused. Why was she confused? She was troubled because she had just made the vow of virginity (together with Joseph) and she knew that virgins don’t ordinarily conceive and give birth to children. If she had not vowed virginity, Mary would have presumed that the child would be the son of Joseph; but it is because she was a virgin and intended to remain a virgin that Mary said to the angel, “How can this be? Since I do not know man.”

Mary then told St. Joseph that she was with child, but she did not explain to him the full circumstances of the conception – she did not tell Joseph about the angel and the Holy Spirit. And why not? Mary remained silent because she was very humble and she did not want to speak more about the divine mysteries than was necessary. Moreover, Mary trusted in St. Joseph, she loved him and she knew that he loved her. She trusted that Joseph, being a just man, would not make a rash decision, that he would not come to a false conclusion, but that he would wait and pray and see what the Lord had to tell him.

Additionally, we see the great faith which Mary had in God – she trusted that God would reveal all things in the proper time, she knew that he would reveal the truth to Joseph in a manner most fitting and most holy.

But what did St. Joseph think? Understandably, he was very confused. On the one hand, he knew his wife was a consecrated virgin, and he knew that she was very holy. Think about it: Joseph had known Mary for many years and he had never seen her commit even the least venial sin! Every time he saw her, everything he knew about Mary told him that she was holy, a woman of great prayer and great faith. And, what is more, Joseph loved Mary, he trusted her, his heart was exceedingly tender towards her – she was his great joy in this life.

But, on the other hand, Mary was now with child – and Joseph didn’t know what to think. I do not say that he doubted the purity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, I do not say that he suspected her of sin; I only say that Joseph was torn, that he was confused, and that his faith in God was proved in that he did not act rashly, but trusted in God and took the matter to prayer.

It was at this moment, during this time of trial and confusion, that the angel of the Lord came to Joseph in a dream and revealed the truth. Think of the faith which Joseph had – he believes in a dream! He is willing to stake his whole life, his reputation, everything all on a revelation given in a dream – what faith, and what love!

How tenderly Joseph received Mary into his home – and love filled his heart all the more, as he considered the Christ Child already present in the womb of the Virgin. How Joseph loved Mary and Jesus! How tenderly he watched over them as a father and lord.

Now we have seen what was in the hearts and minds of Joseph and Mary, the next stage would be to consider what love moved the Holy Trinity, as almighty God watched over the couple and guided Joseph and Mary through every difficulty. Finally, we would then consider the heart of Jesus; even in the womb, Jesus already knew and loved each and every one of us. How he loved  his foster father Joseph. How he loved his Mother Mary. Even in those quite months, as he waited to come forth from the most pure womb of the Virgin and to be revealed to the world, Jesus was interceding in our behalf and meriting our salvation.