Beato Anacleto González Flores

Today is the anniversary of the beatification ofof Blessed Anacleto González Flores and his eight companions, all of whom were martyred during the days of the Cristeros in Mexico. Before being shot in 1927, among his last words were "Perdono a usted de corazón, muy pronto nos veremos ante el tribunal divino, el mismo juez que me va a juzgar, será su juez, entonces tendrá usted, en mi, un intercesor con Dios". In English, "I pardon you from the heart; very soon we will see each other before the divine tribunal; the same judge that is going to judge me will be your judge; then you will have, in me, an intercessor with God." He was a brave man. While being tortured and asked about he whereabouts of the Archbishop of Jalisco, he said, "No lo sé, y si lo supiera, no se lo diría". In English, "I do not it and if I did know it, I would not tell you it." Let us also pray for such holy boldness!

Epistle to the Hebrews - 5

Chapter 5

[1]For every high priest chosen from among men is appointed to act on behalf of men in relation to God, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins.
[2] He can deal gently with the ignorant and wayward, since he himself is beset with weakness.
[3] Because of this he is bound to offer sacrifice for his own sins as well as for those of the people.
[4] And one does not take the honor upon himself, but he is called by God, just as Aaron was.
[5] So also Christ did not exalt himself to be made a high priest, but was appointed by him who said to him, "Thou art my Son,
today I have begotten thee";
[6] as he says also in another place, "Thou art a priest for ever,
after the order of Melchiz'edek."
[7] In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to him who was able to save him from death, and he was heard for his godly fear.
[8] Although he was a Son, he learned obedience through what he suffered;
[9] and being made perfect he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him,
[10] being designated by God a high priest after the order of Melchiz'edek.
[11] About this we have much to say which is hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing.
[12] For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need some one to teach you again the first principles of God's word. You need milk, not solid food;
[13] for every one who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a child.
[14] But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their faculties trained by practice to distinguish good from evil.

Comments:

Verse 2: While the author of the epistle is not speaking here of the sacramental priesthood but of the Hebrew priesthood, this is still wonderful counsel. I think it ought to be written on our ceilings to that it is the first thing we see when we wake up: "Deal gently with the ignorant and the wayward, since you yourself are beset with weakness." We should not fail to teach the Truth or to compromise on the Truth, but tenderness and gentleness are essential.

Verse 14: Lately several people (in unrelated incidents) have tried to explain to me how they have decided to make a decision which is objectively sinful because the Holy Spirit told them to do so. While a spirit may have told them to do so, we can say definitively that it was not the Holy Spirit. We need to be on the watch for this in our lives, too. The sign of the Holy Spirit is not consolation. Emotion is not His calling card. These may be involved, but whenever they contradict the known truth, they cannot be authentic.

More Prayer

In lieu of a post I wonder if I could again ask for some prayers. Again, they are not for me but for an intention of mine. Even if you just have a minute, your time would be most appreciated.

Some Spiritual Reading

Heart of Jesus, loaded down with opprobium, have mercy on us!

I have noticed of late that many of my brother priests these days are struggling. Rather, they are receiving a good deal of opposition on fundamental issues. I am not sure if it is the priests whom I know or if it just in the Midwest or what, but it seems pretty common. My hope is that it is retaliation for trying to pursue holiness. Anyhow, I was rereading a great classic, "About Being a Priest" by Federico Suarez and came across a passage that I though apropos to the situation. I hope that my brother priests will find it reassuring, presuming that they are, indeed, in pursuit of true holiness.

From page 21:

"As another Christ, the priests will always overcome the world, whatever tribulations he may encounter. He will always triumph, in spite of everything, if only he remains faithful to his mission, if only he offers no resistance to the grace of his priesthood but lets is penetrate him and transform him, if only he makes his priesthood his whole life."

When I was in the seminary, there was an old Daughter of Charity--God rest her--and when I read this line I think of her. She would have said, in a pure and truly amazed way of Fr. Suarez, "What a man!"

Epistle to the Hebrews - 4

Chapter 4

[1] Therefore, while the promise of entering his rest remains, let us fear lest any of you be judged to have failed to reach it.
[2] For good news came to us just as to them; but the message which they heard did not benefit them, because it did not meet with faith in the hearers.
[3] For we who have believed enter that rest, as he has said, "As I swore in my wrath,
`They shall never enter my rest,'"
although his works were finished from the foundation of the world.
[4] For he has somewhere spoken of the seventh day in this way, "And God rested on the seventh day from all his works."
[5] And again in this place he said, "They shall never enter my rest."
[6] Since therefore it remains for some to enter it, and those who formerly received the good news failed to enter because of disobedience,
[7] again he sets a certain day, "Today," saying through David so long afterward, in the words already quoted, "Today, when you hear his voice,
do not harden your hearts."
[8] For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not speak later of another day.
[9] So then, there remains a sabbath rest for the people of God;
[10] for whoever enters God's rest also ceases from his labors as God did from his.
[11] Let us therefore strive to enter that rest, that no one fall by the same sort of disobedience.
[12] For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and spirit, of joints and marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.
[13] And before him no creature is hidden, but all are open and laid bare to the eyes of him with whom we have to do.
[14] Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession.
[15] For we have not a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.
[16] Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

Comments:

I love verse twelve. I love first how it sounds and second what it tells us about Our Lord. He is the great "I AM." Our Lord Jesus even says of Himself, "When they have lifted the Son of Man upon the cross, you will know that I AM." (John 8: 28; Definitive interpretation is given of this in the CCC, 211.) 

What I find most reassuring about this passage as both a Christian and a priest, is that Our Lord is still with us; He is still working among us. There is no need to doll up the Gospel or to try and explain parts of it away. The Scripture is our great and stalwart defense! So long as we come to know the Word Who is present therein and learn how to cooperate with His self-communication, we will be effective. 

Often people ask about preaching. They say, "Isn't that difficult? I could never do that. I wouldn't know what to say week after week." Well, if I had to get up each week and invent something, I would have run out of material a long time ago!  But, each week--each day, in fact--we get yet another chance to encounter the Living God. How could that get old? How could that become flavorless? Of course, if we do not pray and if we do not read the Scripture, we will be lost. 

When I was in high school I had to do a presentation on Homer's Odyssey. I did not read it, thinking that I could just make something up. I did make something up and brought in maps and looked at Cliff's Notes for about five minutes. When someone who had read the poem asked me a question, I was evasive, instead making up what I thought Homer should have said. Even the teacher bought into what I said and I got a fine grade. Sometimes we can do the same thing with preaching and teaching. We can fail to read the Scripture, put forth dazzling props and even try to teach a populist notion of the Scripture that has nothing to do with Jesus Christ and people may just eat it up. We'll have to answer for that, of course, but that seems far away. Why waste our time with this? We will be far more effective without props and gimmicks if we just pray and preach the Truth.

Something Nice for Sunday

A friend of mine rather indelicately (yet still humorously) put it that he would not be likely to listen to an audio file on a Sunday. So, I thought that I would instead post a poem for this week. It can be found in the back of the American breviary (though I am not certain as to why). It has become, over the years, one of my very favorite poems. It is by Fr. Louis (Thomas) Merton, O.C.S.O.

   

    St. Malachy

    In November, in the days to remember the dead
    When air smells cold as earth,
    St. Malachy, who is very old, gets up,
    Parts the thin curtains of trees and dawns upon our land.

    His coat is filled with drops of rain, and he is bearded
    With all the seas of Poseidon.
    (Is it a crozier, or a trident in his hand?)
    He weeps against the gothic windows, and the empty cloister
    Mourns like an ocean shell.

    Two bells in the steeple
    Talk faintly to the old stranger
    And the tower considers his waters.
    “I have been sent to see my festival,” (his cavern speaks!)
    “For I am the saints of the day.
    Shall I shake the drops from my locks and stand in your transept,
    Or, leaving you, rest in the silence of my history?”

    So the bells rang and we opened the antiphoners
    And the wrens and larks flew up out of the pages.
    Our thoughts became lambs.  Our hearts swam like seas.
    One monk believed that we should sing to him
    Some stone-age hymn
    Or something in the giant language.
    So we played to him in the plainsong of the giant Gregory:
    Oceans of Scripture sang upon bony Eire.

    Then the last salvage of flowers
    (Fostered under glass after the gardens foundered)
    Held up their little lamps on Malachy’s altar
    To peer into his wooden eyes before the Mass began.

    Rain sighed down the sides of the stone church.
    Storms sailed by all day in battle fleets.
    At five o’clock, when we tried to see the sun, the speechless visitor
    Sighed and arose and shook the humus from his feet
    And with his trident stirred our trees
    And left down-wood, shaking some drops upon the ground.

    Thus copper flames fall, tongues of fire fall
    The leaves in hundreds fall upon his passing
    While night sends down her dreadnought darkness
    Upon this spurious Pentecost.

    And the Melchisedec of our year’s end
    Who came without a parent, leaves with out a trace,
    And rain comes rattling down upon our forest
    Like the doors of country jail.

Sunday Homily

33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year B)

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Halfway Through November

Well, we are just about halfway through the month. I do not know about you, but I have been thinking a good deal these days about people whom I have known who have died.

I was presiding over a funeral earlier this week and someone asked me what the hard types of funerals are. I answered that the hardest for me are those who die away from the Church. The gentleman who asked me was surprised that I did answer that children were the hardest type of funerals. A child's funeral is certainly emotional in the moment, but the thought that someone has deliberately turned  away from Our Lord is the hardest to bear. When someone does not take advantage of the Sacraments, presiding is incredibly difficult.

My point to this, scattered as it is, is that while we need to certainly pray for the dead, we must pray for a good death, too. We need to pray for a good death not just for ourselves but for everyone, especially those whom we know and love. I hear often, "Father, I am not sure that I am person to tell so-and-so to come back to Church." My answer is generally a variation on, "Why not?"

As I said, this is a bit scattered. Sometimes thinking of the past and of those whom we have entrusted to Divine Mercy has that effect. Let's just not forget the entrusting.

A Blessed Feast of Mother Cabrini

"Perfection is not acquired by keeping one's arms folded, but by assiduously striving to overcome one's self." - St. Frances Xavier Cabrini

Today is one of my favorite days. I am of Sicilian descent which means that the Feasts of St. Joseph, St. Lucy, St. Philomena and St. Frances Xavier Cabrini are big days in my family. Mother Cabrini was a great woman and her life has a great deal to teach just about everyone, mostly about the level of effort of which we are all capable. When she came to the United States and came out here to the Midwest, she visited my ancestral parish which is now named for her.

Nota bene: There is also a post on the Epistle to the Hebrews today down below.

Epistle to the Hebrews - 3

Chapter 3

[1] Therefore, holy brethren, who share in a heavenly call, consider Jesus, the apostle and high priest of our confession.
[2] He was faithful to him who appointed him, just as Moses also was faithful in God's house.
[3] Yet Jesus has been counted worthy of as much more glory than Moses as the builder of a house has more honor than the house.
[4] (For every house is built by some one, but the builder of all things is God.)
[5] Now Moses was faithful in all God's house as a servant, to testify to the things that were to be spoken later,
[6] but Christ was faithful over God's house as a son. And we are his house if we hold fast our confidence and pride in our hope.
[7] Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says,
"Today, when you hear his voice,
[8] do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion,
on the day of testing in the wilderness,
[9] where your fathers put me to the test
and saw my works for forty years.
[10] Therefore I was provoked with that generation,
and said, `They always go astray in their hearts;
they have not known my ways.'
[11] As I swore in my wrath,
`They shall never enter my rest.'"
[12] Take care, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God.
[13] But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called "today," that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.
[14] For we share in Christ, if only we hold our first confidence firm to the end,
[15] while it is said, "Today, when you hear his voice,
do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion."
[16] Who were they that heard and yet were rebellious? Was it not all those who left Egypt under the leadership of Moses?
[17] And with whom was he provoked forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness?
[18] And to whom did he swear that they should never enter his rest, but to those who were disobedient?
[19] So we see that they were unable to enter because of unbelief.

Comments:

We do not often speak these days of the hardness that is the result of sin. The image is very fruitful. I think of this in a pretty pedestrian way. Rather, this reminds me of a pedestrian example. I love to bake bread. I am Sicilian on my maternal side and baking bread is in our blood. I learned how to do it from my mother and grandfather and they learned it from their forebears. If you bake bread, you know that when you leave it out to rise, you need to cover it with oil or a damp cloth. If you do not, you will get a dried crust that is difficult to work out and your bread will look a bit like a topographical map of the earth with its own little hard plates sitting on a molten center. I often think that by sitting in the world, if we are not careful, the same happens to us. As we sin, or as we are steeped in sin, as it is common to say today, we get a nice hardened exterior. If, however, we prepare ourselves for living in the world by seeking particular graces attached to our vocation and the sacraments, we can avoid this unpleasant result.

What is important to note in the text here is that we are the ones who do the hardening. Our Lord does the softening, but sin comes from us. It is helpful to look at ourselves and ask, "Where have I given up the fight against sin?" Or, "Where do I permit myself rudeness or coarseness with those around me?"

Thursday Quiet

Not to step too far away from the Epistle to the Hebrews, but today I am not going to post except to say that I would ask for prayers for a particular intention of mine. The prayers are not for me, but for someone else. Thank you.

Thank You

Sometimes, we need to thank the Good Lord for little things. Today is the feast of St. Martin of Tours, and we recall how Our Lord thanked him for just half of his cloak. Last night, a few kids in our parish youth group got to go and see a campfire for the first time in their lives. I even got to walk a bit and enjoy the beautiful weather and a fine, starry night. I even found fifteen minutes in the afternoon yesterday for an open window and a cup of tea. Who knows what today will bring? Perhaps we look forward to the day with some trepidation (hic sunt dracones!). Perhaps we think that today is no different than any other. Today, I am going to take a step back. My week is going very quickly because my schedule is a bit fuller than usual. These are the times when it is hard to pray. These, then, are the times when we need to be a bit more deliberate and focused with our time given over to the Good Lord. I often think that the little things are one of the wilder workings of His grace; even though they are small, they can bring us back to Him. Perhaps, if your week is going a bit too quickly, you can stop for a moment, too. I hope and pray you have a blessed feast day!

Epistle to the Hebrews - 2

Chapter 2

[1] Therefore we must pay the closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it.
[2] For if the message declared by angels was valid and every transgression or disobedience received a just retribution,
[3] how shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation? It was declared at first by the Lord, and it was attested to us by those who heard him,
[4] while God also bore witness by signs and wonders and various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his own will.
[5] For it was not to angels that God subjected the world to come, of which we are speaking.
[6] It has been testified somewhere, "What is man that thou art mindful of him,
or the son of man, that thou carest for him?
[7] Thou didst make him for a little while lower than the angels,
thou hast crowned him with glory and honor,
[8] putting everything in subjection under his feet."
Now in putting everything in subjection to him, he left nothing outside his control. As it is, we do not yet see everything in subjection to him.
[9] But we see Jesus, who for a little while was made lower than the angels, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for every one.
[10] For it was fitting that he, for whom and by whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, should make the pioneer of their salvation perfect through suffering.
[11] For he who sanctifies and those who are sanctified have all one origin. That is why he is not ashamed to call them brethren,
[12] saying, "I will proclaim thy name to my brethren,
in the midst of the congregation I will praise thee."
[13] And again, "I will put my trust in him."
And again, "Here am I, and the children God has given me."
[14] Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same nature, that through death he might destroy him who has the power of death, that is, the devil,
[15] and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong bondage.
[16] For surely it is not with angels that he is concerned but with the descendants of Abraham.
[17] Therefore he had to be made like his brethren in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make expiation for the sins of the people.
[18] For because he himself has suffered and been tempted, he is able to help those who are tempted. 

Comments:

Vs. 10: The RSV uses "pioneer" here. The Greek is "archegon."  "Pioneer" is an interesting translation., though it has some connotations in American English that evoke a very bucolic set of images, as if Our Lord traveled about in a Conestoga wagon. The prefix "arch" is typically rendered as "chief" and "egon" is leader. The Vulgate renders this as "ducem," which also signifies "leader." "Pioneer" is effective, but just do not read into the term too much. Our Lord did not look like this:

What is wonderful about this passage to me, as a priest, is that a part of the means of deliverance (Cf., v. 15) is the Sacramental Priesthood. The Sacramental life of the Church is a direct participation in the work of the Deliverer.

Epistle to the Hebrews - 1

Chapter 1

[1] In many and various ways God spoke of old to our fathers by the prophets;
[2] but in these last days he has spoken to us by a Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world.
[3] He reflects the glory of God and bears the very stamp of his nature, upholding the universe by his word of power. When he had made purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,
[4] having become as much superior to angels as the name he has obtained is more excellent than theirs.
[5] For to what angel did God ever say,
"Thou art my Son,
today I have begotten thee"?
Or again, "I will be to him a father,
and he shall be to me a son"?
[6] And again, when he brings the first-born into the world, he says, "Let all God's angels worship him."
[7] Of the angels he says, "Who makes his angels winds,
and his servants flames of fire."
[8] But of the Son he says,
"Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever,
the righteous scepter is the scepter of thy kingdom.
[9] Thou hast loved righteousness and hated lawlessness;
therefore God, thy God, has anointed thee
with the oil of gladness beyond thy comrades."
[10] And, "Thou, Lord, didst found the earth in the beginning,
and the heavens are the work of thy hands;
[11] they will perish, but thou remainest;
they will all grow old like a garment,
[12] like a mantle thou wilt roll them up,
and they will be changed.
But thou art the same,
and thy years will never end."
[13] But to what angel has he ever said, "Sit at my right hand,
till I make thy enemies
a stool for thy feet"?
[14] Are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to serve, for the sake of those who are to obtain salvation?

Comments:

It is onto the priesthood of this Son of the Father that priests have grafted. It would have been enough that Our Lord simply exist that we may give Him honor. It would have been enough had He simply walked among us. It would have been enough that He ascend to His Father. But this One has desired that we obtain salvation. Can there be any response other than to adore and follow?

Sunday Homily

Here is the first Sunday homily to be posted to this blog. For the first time in a long time I was a bit self-conscious while preaching. I suppose it was because I knew that I would be posting this later!

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Something Nice for Sunday

Today's piece for this Day of the Lord is a setting of the Holy Mass, the Gregorian "Misa de Angelis." This is likely sung Mass with which we are most familiar in the United States, next to the Requiem Mass. In our little church here in town we have a small group that just sang this setting for the first time in decades at a Novus Ordo Mass in Latin. I love this setting as a singer and a celebrant. As a singer it is simple and rich when done well. As a celebrant, I have the privilege of taking deliberate time while offering the Holy Sacrifice.

This link is particularly good. One can tell that it is a chorus singing as opposed to a monastery simply because the typical accents that one would normally know implicitly from the Latin are not carried over well. This is clearly sung as foreign language to the singers. Nonetheless, the singing is very fine.

Saturday Rest

I am writing this on Friday and anticipating Saturday. I was up this morning early at 4:30 for a meeting and am certain that I will not be in bed this evening until very late, so I am anticipating that tomorrow, there will be no post. Of course, this post will be appearing on Saturday, so don't be confused. I do find the delayed posting option on blogger to be useful!