9 Days until Pentecost!

It's 9 days until Pentecost, do you know where your Holy Spirit Novena is?

Here is one I prefer and am encouraging my parishioners to pray it. You could pray it at any time for as long as you like to pray it.

Dearest Holy Spirit, confiding in Your deep, personal love for me, I am making this novena for the following request, if it be Your Holy Will to grant it:(mention your request together with prayers for the renewal of your parish). 

Teach me, Divine Spirit, to know and seek my last end; grant me the holy fear of God; grant me true contrition and patience. Do not let me fall into sin. Give me an increase of faith, hope, and charity, and bring forth in my soul all the virtues proper to my state in life. 

Make me a faithful disciple of Jesus and an obedient child of the Church. Give me efficacious grace sufficient to keep the Commandments and to receive the Sacraments worthily. Give me the four Cardinal Virtues, Your Seven Gifts, Your Twelve Fruits. Raise me to perfection in the state of life to which You have called me and lead me through a happy death to everlasting life. 

I ask this through Christ our Lord, Amen.

God bless you all.

The Harmony of Truth and Love

Today, April 16th, is the 86th birthday of our Pope Emeritus, Benedict. I love Pope Benedict, Joseph Ratzinger. I love his Christian imagination, his heart of prayer, and his gift for teaching. Pope Benedict saved my vocation to the priesthood.

Somewhat. When I was in seminary it was during the pontificat of Blessed John Paul II. Most all of my brothers LOVED JP2 and raved about his writings: the Theology of the Body, Love and Responsibility, Veritatis Splendor, and more. I couldn't read JP2. I enjoyed what he said, I just hated reading of it. I'm intellectually lazy in some ways.

That always bummed me out and it was a small question in my heart. "Am I NOT supposed to be a priest because I don't love JP2's writing?" Then I was assigned to read Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger. His writing amazed me. His writing spoke directly and simply to my heart. I had finally found a "Catholic celebrity" to read! All the more exciting then was his elevation to the papacy in 2005, just over a month before I was to be ordained a deacon. What a gift!

Today I want to share a favorite passage of his writings, one of the ones that made me fall in love with theology and see how good writing and teaching can lead hearts- my own included- closer to Jesus. You might find it inaccessible and hard to understand. Don't worry, this is not a test of your Catholicity but a sharing in the riches God has provided for me. Keep reading good Catholic theologians, though, and you'll find your own "Catholic celebrity."

"If an individual is to accept himself, someone must say to him: "It is good that you exist"-must say it, not with words, but with that act of the entire being that we call love. For it is the way of love to will the other's existence and, at the same time, to bring that existence forth again.
We now come to the all-important question: Is it true, then, when someone says to me: "It is good that you exist"? Is it really good? Is it not possible that that person's love, which wills my existence, is just a tragic error? If the love that give me courage to exist is not based on truth, then I must, in the end, come to curse the love that deceives me, that maintains in existence something that were better destroyed...
It raises the question of truth: Is it good that I exist? Is it good that anything at all exists? Is the world good? How many persons today would dare to affirm this question from the heart- to believe that it is good that they exist? That is the source of the anxiety and despair that incessantly affects mankind. Love alone is of no avail. It serves no purpose if truth is not on its side. One when truth and love are in harmony can man know joy. For it is truth that makes man free.
The content of the Christian evangelium [Greek word meaning good news, where we get the word Gospel] reads: God finds man so important that he himself has suffered for man. The Cross, which was for Nietzsche the most detestable expression of the negative character of the Christian religion, is in truth the center of the evangelium, the glad tidings: "It is good that you exist."- no, "It is necessary that you exist." The Cross is the approbation [formal approval] of our existence, not in words, but in an act so completely radical that it caused God to become flesh and pierced this flesh to the quick; that, to God, it was worth the death of his incarnate Son. One who is so loved that the other identifies his life with this love and no longer desires to live if he is deprived of it; one who is loved even unto death- such a one knows that he is truly loved. But if God so loves us, then we are loved in truth. Then love is truth, and truth is love. Then life is worth living. This is the evangelium [good news]... Christianity is, by its very nature, joy- the ability to be joyful."

From "Principles of Catholic Theology." page 80-81.

Let me get that for you...

I came across a comment on chivalry recently. Men should honor women because they have the capacity to give to us and to the world something that no man can. Woman have the capacity to bear life.

Not just the physical gestation of a child but to bear life. A mother does not simply carry a baby like I carry my cell phone. The baby is in their hearts and minds in a way that no other thing or person is. The type of tender love that a mother bears for her child makes all the difference in the world. We portray this truth all the time in movies- the love of a parent is irreplaceable.

So men, why be chivalrous? Because that woman will, is or has given the world something that you never can, life. Their nurture and care makes all the difference in the world so can't you make a difference in her world? Open the door. Let her ahead of you in line. Give her a better seat. If she's visibly pregnant, offer her anything.

At the very least, honor your own mother. Men, none of us will ever repay our own mother for the gift of life. Even if she was uncaring or hurt you, you are still alive. So be thankful by adopting the posture of chivalry. Be a man of justice by being a chivalrous man. Repay the dept you can never fully repay- to your own mom, to the mothers of your friends, to the mother of your bride, to the mother of your children, and even to the Mother of the Savior.

Let me get that for you...

Spiritual Lessons from Florida Gulf Coast University

Many sports fans- and even some non sports fans have heard of the darling team of this year's NCAA Men's Championship- aka, March Madness, Florida Gulf Coast University. FGCU was a lowly 15 seed and they fought their way into the "Sweet Sixteen," one of only 16 teams let playing in the country. Makes this Jackrabbit fan jealous.

But there is an interesting spiritual lesson to be learned from FGCU. After their defeat, I caught some of the postgame press conference and FGCU's senior Sherwood Brown was giving a  sport's cliché: "We believed in ourselves and we did it." Or something along those lines.

The real lesson is a little different. FGCU tested themselves- not against their own belief but against reality. In reality they played and won against Georgetown and San Diego State (the other SDSU). They tested themselves against reality and they REALLY won.

In our own spiritual life, the challenge isn't simply self confidence but to test ourselves against reality. As a Catholic Christian, we test ourselves against reality all the time: Scriptures, Sacraments, accountability from friends, and the Risen Lord Jesus Christ. These are the real things by which we can measure ourselves and know: are we going in the right direction or not?

In the world of basketball, Florida Gulf Coast University entered the test and found themselves to be true and good- in the world of basketball. They faced real opponents in a real test: Georgetown, San Diego State, and Florida. They know they are going in the right direction. In your faith life, can you say the same? Have you tested yourself against Scripture, Sacraments, accountability from friends and the Risen Lord Jesus Christ?

Lord, save us from the trial and test of temptation but do not save us from the test of your truth and goodness.

"For no other foundation can any one lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if any one builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw --  each man's work will become manifest; for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. If the work which any man has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. If any man's work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire." 1 Cor 3:11-15

On the Eve of the Conclave

On the eve of the conclave you could drive yourself crazy reading articles and blog posts about who the next Pope will be, what policies he should promote, and what problems he faces. You could read about the different factions or concerns in the college of cardinals. You can even make yourself busy with betting pools and bianco fumare parties.

I am tempted, and I gather other serious Catholics are tempted to worry or fret over the identity of the next Pope. Will he do everything we want him to? Will he defend the faith with the care and precision necessary in this mass media age? Will he work in the Curia to create an atmosphere that better promotes the New Evangelization?

In the midst of this, there is a lesson for the Year of Faith. In this time without a shepherd, we have to trust in the Good Shepherd all the more. We have no guarantee that our Popes will be confident. We have no guarantee that our Popes will be holy. History teaches us those lessons. But history teaches us another lesson. No Pope will sink the Church.

This is a time for us to have faith. No Pope will sink the Church, have faith. My good priest friend, Fr. Jim Mason likes to tell the story of Napoleon confronting the Archbishop of Paris: "Monsieur, I will destroy your church." The Archbishop responds, "Good luck. Priests and bishops have been trying for almost 2000 years."

I have a reasonable hope that the new Pope will do the things that, in my humble estimation, the Church needs. I have a sure hope, founded on revealed faith, that Jesus will care for and protect his Church no matter what. So in these days of intense prayer, remember, in the words of St. Augustine, quoted by Pope Benedict XVI in his document on the year of faith. "Believers are strengthened by believing."

The Fire which Burns and Saves

Today marks the end of Pope Benedict's papacy. I am sad. There are many things written and said by Pope Benedict for which I am grateful to God. Here is one.

This is a paragraph from Spe Salvi, his encyclical from November 30, 2007, on the topic of the meaning of Christian hope. When words become separated from their origin, they loose their meaning and their effect. We have to relearn Christian words and concepts. Hope is one of those words.

This encyclical is powerful and especially for me personally for several reasons. First, written just over a year after my dad's death, hope and judgment were still heavy on my heart. Second, he published this encyclical on November 30th, the feast of St. Andrew. I try to pay attention to such things as patron saints. Third, portions of this encyclical have popped up into my prayer life on several occasions. 

This is one of those passages. This passage, paragraph 47, makes me think about my own efforts in this world. Are they good enough for Jesus Christ? Was my homily prepared? My counsel in confession clear? Am I making full use of my gifts to be a priest? I entrust all of these efforts to Jesus Christ, the "fire which burns and saves."

Some recent theologians are of the opinion that the fire which both burns and saves is Christ himself, the Judge and Saviour. The encounter with him is the decisive act of judgement. Before his gaze all falsehood melts away. This encounter with him, as it burns us, transforms and frees us, allowing us to become truly ourselves. All that we build during our lives can prove to be mere straw, pure bluster, and it collapses. Yet in the pain of this encounter, when the impurity and sickness of our lives become evident to us, there lies salvation. His gaze, the touch of his heart heals us through an undeniably painful transformation “as through fire”. But it is a blessed pain, in which the holy power of his love sears through us like a flame, enabling us to become totally ourselves and thus totally of God. In this way the inter-relation between justice and grace also becomes clear: the way we live our lives is not immaterial, but our defilement does not stain us for ever if we have at least continued to reach out towards Christ, towards truth and towards love. Indeed, it has already been burned away through Christ's Passion. At the moment of judgement we experience and we absorb the overwhelming power of his love over all the evil in the world and in ourselves. The pain of love becomes our salvation and our joy...The judgement of God is hope, both because it is justice and because it is grace. If it were merely grace, making all earthly things cease to matter, God would still owe us an answer to the question about justice—the crucial question that we ask of history and of God. If it were merely justice, in the end it could bring only fear to us all. The incarnation of God in Christ has so closely linked the two together—judgement and grace—that justice is firmly established: we all work out our salvation “with fear and trembling” (Phil 2:12). Nevertheless grace allows us all to hope, and to go trustfully to meet the Judge whom we know as our “advocate”, or parakletos (cf. 1 Jn 2:1).

Thank you Lord, for Pope Benedict XVI!

Women of Faith

A few weeks ago, Sr. Mary Alma, of the School Sisters of Christ the King, presented to the women of SDSU and Pius XII Newman Center. Her talk was "Women of Faith." It was such a beautiful talk I had meant to share my notes as soon as I could. Sr. Mary Alma spoke of three levels of believing. 1st, that God exists, 2nd, who is this God, 3rd, who is this God for me?

  That God exists: This is a good beginning and it is the place many people start in the life of faith. It is reasonable to believe, faith compliments and crowns reason. To understand and help others with basic belief it is good to know apologetic arguments, which also shore up our own belief. Especially the proofs of St. Thomas Aquinas. Go to Article 3 in this link to read the Saint in his own words, especially the section titled: "I answer that."

  Who is this God? We know who God is by reading the Scriptures and knowing Jesus. Jesus is the full revelation of who God is. Consider Matthew 16 and the exchange with the disciples at Caesarea Philippi, here our Lord asks them two different questions. Who do people say that I am? Who do you say that I am? Peter answers, "You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God." See also how God is revealed in Luke 15 in the merciful father of the prodigal son. See how God is revealed in John 8 and the woman caught in the very act of adultery. Our own knowledge and estimation fall short of the beautiful reality.

Finally, consider Matthew 11 when Jesus tells us to learn from him. Does God ask us to learn from his omniscience or his omnipotence or some other divine attribute? No. Those things can be known by reason. Jesus asks us to learn the thing that only He can reveal about God. "Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me for I am meek and humble of heart."

  Who is this God for me? Who us Jesus for you? He is the one who is in love with you. How do we know? When you are in love you give your life for the beloved. Jesus' cross is the testimony of his saving love for you. How do you respond? How can you respond unless you have received and abide in this truth. Jesus is Emmanuel, "God with us." This is what he does. He gives himself in love so that you may sin no more.

  How to Live Your Faith: We can bring great joy to the heart of God by living our faith in straightforward manner. Remember the story of the Canaanite Woman, she comes and asks Jesus to heal her daughter, Jesus replies that food of the children should not be given to the dog. Is Jesus insulting her? No, he is challenging her faith and giving her room to exercise it. As she persists, Jesus responds, "O woman, great is your faith!" Imagine the joy on Jesus' face as he encounters substantial and enduring faith in the heart of this woman. Imagine how, in your own testing, he awaits to greet you with the same joy. "Great is your faith!"

 We also can live our faith by simple communions in the midst of our day. Whenever we change form one activity to another: sleep to waking, dorm to class, one class to another, and anything else, we open our hearts and minds to the presence of God in our soul. Perhaps a simple formula, "Jesus, I believe you are here in my baptized soul, I want to walk with you." Or something less formal, either way to become aware of and responsive to his life giving presence. Be a strong woman of faith in this year of faith.