The Holy Family - December 27, 2015

I remember a Peanuts comic strip in which Charlie Brown asked Linus, “Did you have a good Christmas?” Instead of giving a direct answer, Linus asked what Charlie Brown meant. Was he asking whether Linus had gotten good presents? Did he ask whether Linus had enjoyed the presence of his family? Was the question whether Linus had any deep spiritual insights in regards to the true meaning of Christmas? Poor Charlie Brown was left almost wishing he had not asked.

For me, there is another important part to that question. If you ask me this week whether I had a good Christmas, my answer will probably be, “I still am.” According to our secular society, Christmas is over. After all, the stores and malls started putting up Christmas decorations sometime before Hallowe’en, and it is now time to move on to the next big thing. But in the Church, Christmas only begins on December 25. This is our time to celebrate Christ’s birth, and we don’t give up on it easily. I keep singing Christmas songs, even when people give me funny looks. After all, those are the same funny looks I gave people who were singing or playing Christmas music two weeks before Thanksgiving.

On the other hand, if you ask me if I had a good Christmas, I may take Linus’ approach and think of all the different ways Christmas can be good. So let me take this time to offer my thanks to all who contributed to my good Christmas. Thank you to John Lester and his crew of elves who decorated the church to make it such a festive place. Thank you to Laurie Lanz, who leads our music program, for the festive music which is so vital to this feast. That thanks includes the cantors, our adult choir, our contemporary choir, our Schola Cantorum (the quartet), the children’s choir and Margie Masilunas’ handbell choir. Thanks also to all who served the parish liturgies in any capacity.

Thank you to all of you who sent me Christmas cards or presents. Yes, one of Linus’ conditions for a good Christmas had to do with the presents, and I do appreciate the gifts that I have received. That also includes those of you who sent me Christmas cookies or any other goodies. Perhaps I should question whether all those edible treats made a good Christmas, for now I have to behave myself and try to work off some of those calories before my next visit with the doctor, who always makes me step on the scale at the beginning of my check-up.

Thank you to Fr. Russell and to the staff and all the volunteers here at St. Malachy Parish. You do so much to keep this parish going, and I appreciate what you have done for Christmas and all throughout the year.

And speaking of “all throughout the year,” we still have New Year’s to celebrate. In the Catholic Church, January 1 is the Solemnity of Mary, the Mother of God. That is a Holy Day of Obligation. It is also the start of a new year, so we will again have a New Year’s Eve Holy Hour to allow us to welcome in 2016 in the presence of Christ in the Blessed Sacrament. The Holy Hour will begin with Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament at 11:30 pm.
                                                                                Father H                  

Fourth Sunday of Advent - December 20, 2015

As Christmas draws near, I suspect we all have our memories of celebrations from when we were growing up. For instance, I remember my family moving all the furniture in the living room so that we could have room to bring the big platform up from the coal cellar in our basement. The platform was important, for we had a model railroad running under the tree, along with a village of buildings that made up the Christmas platform. Dad would tack crepe paper along the edge of the platform to hide all the wires under the platform.

In the center of the platform, of course, was the Christmas tree. If you’re trying to picture the scene, remember that this was the 1960s. The tree was one of the aluminum artificial trees that were popular back then. It was gold, but it had a spotlight that shone different colors on it. Eventually Mom and Dad replaced that tree with a more life-like artificial tree, but I always had fond memories of the gold one. With that background, I still appreciate an artificial tree. But a friend of mine once told his wife and children that if they ever bought an artificial Christmas tree, he would buy them artificial presents.

Speaking of presents, they would end up piled on the floor in front of the tree. It seems we had two options for getting our lists to Santa Claus. We could wait for a big trip downtown, where we could sit on Santa’s lap at one of the department stores. But there was always the option of sending a letter to the North Pole by way of Paul Shannon’s rocket ship. If you don’t remember, Paul Shannon was the host of Adventure Time on channel 4, and his rocket to the North Pole was an annual feature.

Along with the big gifts were the “stocking stuffers,” with the stockings hung in their traditional place on the mantel. On top of the mantel was the crèche set. The figures were posed in a wooden stable that my father built before I was born. That Nativity set is now in my office. The figures are chipped in one or two places, and St. Joseph lost his staff longer ago than I can remember. To this day, he holds the replacement that Dad had made by straightening out an old paper clip.

Those memories show us how strong a hold this feast has over us. With Christmas coming this Friday, I want to take this time to wish all of you a very blessed celebration of the Nativity of the Lord. Along with Fr. Russell and Fr. O’Brien, I offer my wishes and prayers, and may you make memories that will remain with you through life to remind you of the joy of Christ’s coming among us.

In final preparation, we will offer Confessions on Monday and Tuesday of this week from 6:00 to 7:00. Christmas Vigil Masses on Christmas Eve are at 4:00 and 6:30, with the Mass During the Night at 10:00. Masses Christmas Day are at the usual Sunday times of 8:00 and 11:00. Finally, may you have a very blessed celebration.  Merry Christmas!
                                                                                               Father H                  

Third Sunday of Advent - December 13, 2015

Gaudete in Domino semper iterum dico gaudete. That is the Latin for the line from today’s second reading, “Rejoice in the Lord always. I shall say it again: rejoice!” I give you the Latin, from the Vulgate translation of St. Jerome, because this Third Sunday of Advent is often referred to as “Gaudete Sunday.” This is our day of rejoicing that the Lord’s coming is drawing near. This is the day we light the rose colored candle on the Advent wreath. Rose is a brighter color but one that that complements the purple of the other three weeks. So the rose candle reminds us that we have not yet arrived, but there is joy at the coming of the Lord.

That is an important message for us as we try to keep the balance between the impatience of waiting and the joy of the Lord’s coming. Sometimes, though, joy can be hard to find. Just consider all the violence in our world. The terrorism in Paris recently, followed by shooting incidents in our country, leave us wondering where we are headed. Perhaps part of the uneasiness comes from our modern twenty-four hour news cycle, which leads to greater coverage of events that would only have received passing mention years ago. But whether it is perception or reality, the news we face makes it difficult to follow St. Paul’s urging to rejoice.

The key is to realize that Paul tells us to rejoice “in the Lord.” After the recent shooting in San Bernadino, California, a number of political leaders made statements about praying for the victims. In response, The New York Daily News ran a large headline proclaiming, “God isn’t fixing this.” In what was quickly labeled “prayer shaming,” quite a few people (including some on my Facebook feed) told these politicians to stop praying and to do something about it. Now I can understand if the editorialists thought that the statements of prayer were empty without action. But to complain about the offer of prayer is counterproductive at best. The only hope we have for joy, now or in any time in the world’s history, is to prepare for the Lord’s coming. Certainly we have to put our faith into action. But first and foremost, our actions have to be grounded in the peace that only Christ can give.

I often think of a scene from the old TV show M*A*S*H. There was a crisis in the camp on one episode, and everyone was running around trying to deal with it. The camp chaplain, Father Mulcahy, asked Colonel Potter if there was anything he could do to help. Colonel Potter said, “Pray, Father.” Father Mulcahy complained, “That’s all I ever get to do.” But for us, particularly in Advent, our prayer reminds us that Christ has promised never to leave us. He will bring peace to a troubled world, and He will offer hope in hopeless situations. For us, the message is clear: “Rejoice in the Lord always. I shall say it again: rejoice.”

                                                                                                              Father H        

Second Sunday of Advent - December 6, 2015

   I would like to begin today’s column by picking up where I left off. Last week, in writing about the beginning of Advent, I noted that this season is not as penitential in nature as Lent. But there is still a penitential aspect to the season. As I noted, Pope Francis has decreed this coming year as a Year of Mercy, an opportunity for us to seek God’s merciful love, beginning this Tuesday on the feast of the Immaculate Conception.

I like the story of a priest who was teaching children about Confession. He asked the class, “What’s the first thing you have to do if you want to go to Confession?” One little boy raised his hand and answered, “Commit a sin.” The priest could not deny that was an important first step, but he had been taking it for granted that we already have committed some sin. For this Year of Mercy, though, the boy had a good insight. It’s not that we go out and commit a sin just so that we can experience God’s mercy. But the problem these days is that have to admit that we have are sinners. That part is easy to overlook in our society. The attitude of our society today was expressed in the title of a popular book from the 1960s, I’m Okay, You’re Okay. The idea is that I make choices for myself, and nobody can say anything about them. Some secular commentators have taken some of Pope Francis’ words out of context to make it sound like the Holy Father advocates a similar position. By proclaiming a Year of Mercy, the Pope is making it clear that we need the mercy of God. He challenges us to be aware of sin, but not in any hopeless way. Rather, we can stand up to the sins of our lives because we are confident that Christ offers us a better way.

Pope Francis got people’s attention when he explicitly included abortion in writing of the Year of Mercy. The Pope said, “One of the serious problems of our time is clearly the changed relationship with respect to life. A widespread and insensitive mentality has led to the loss of the proper personal and social sensitivity to welcome new life.” He then granted every priest the right to absolve the sin of abortion in Confession. For most of the United States, that decision does not make a legal difference, for most US bishops have already granted the right to priests. Yet even here, the fact that Pope Francis made that announcement may give hope to women who have been struggling with guilt to know that forgiveness is available.

As part of the Year of Mercy, the Diocese of Pittsburgh again sponsors The Light is On For You, an opportunity to receive mercy in a sacramental way. Like every parish in the diocese, St. Malachy will be open for Confessions this Wednesday evening, December 9, from 6:00 to 9:00. So feel free to come here or to go to any parish in the diocese. God is waiting to share His mercy with us.

                                                                                                     Father H      

First Sunday of Advent - November 29, 2015

   A young woman went to see the doctor, who told her the news she was waiting for. She was pregnant. She and her husband were thrilled. But soon they began to talk about the changes in their lives and about the responsibilities that they would have to carry. And that was assuming that nothing went wrong. Soon, the pregnancy became a time of adjustment and preparation. But they never forgot the joy of the new life that was coming to them.

The season of Advent which we begin today has frequently been compared to pregnancy. On one level, that is obvious. We are just under four weeks away from Christmas. The image of Christ as a newborn baby obviously leads us to reflect on Mary’s pregnancy. Yet as the Church has structured our observance of Advent, this first part of the season is not so much about preparation for Christmas as it is for the Second Coming of Christ. We have a reminder that we live all our lives in a time of anticipation. As a family awaiting the birth of a child comes to feel that their home is not complete until the child arrives, so we know that our world is never complete until we live every moment of our lives in a total and complete devotion to God. Recognizing that we will never reach that state on earth, we live our whole lives in anticipation. Christ is coming, and we see that promise as something real in our lives.

To speak thus of Advent as a time of preparation can make us as nervous as a young couple expecting their first child. Yet at the same time, our faith in Christ gives us the certainty of His gift of salvation. So this Advent becomes a time of joy and hope, even as it becomes a time of preparation. We may see similarities between our observance of Advent and that of the Lenten season which prepares us for Easter, but there are real contrasts. In both seasons, we simplify the decorations and the celebration of the liturgy. For instance, we do not sing the “Glory to God” at Mass during these seasons. In Lent, that change is a sign of our penitential spirit. In Advent, these changes are meant to remind us that we are in preparation and that our celebration is not complete until Christ comes.

There is still a penitential spirit to this season, of course. As a family starts thinking about things like gates on the stairs to keep a young toddler safe, so we look to make our lives more fitting for Christ to come in. As we prepare to begin the “Year of Mercy” proclaimed by Pope Francis, many people will be coming to Confession. In addition to our regular time of Saturday afternoons from 3:00 to 3:45, we will join with all parishes in the diocese to sponsor “The Light is On For You,” when every parish will offer Confessions on Wednesday evening, December 9, from 6:00 to 9:00.

                                                                                                Father H                  

Christ The King - November 22, 2015

Once on The Dick Van Dyke Show, Rob Petrie was asked to write a letter of recommendation for an old friend. To make it easier, the friend wrote the letter himself, and Rob only had to sign it. In the letter, the friend exaggerated his skills. He said, for instance, that he spoke four languages. As it turned out, he knew the word for “yes” in four languages. That got me to thinking that there are certain words that we generally know in a number of different languages. I take that as a sign that these are some of the most important expressions we have, if they become that familiar even in a foreign tongue. Take, for instance, words or phrases such as merci boucoup, grazie, danke schön or gracias. Everyone knows the English equivalent: “Thank you.”

Gratitude is so important to us. Primarily, we owe our gratitude to God, from Whom all good things come. So this Thursday, we have our special day for giving thanks to God for all His blessings. I have always loved the expression of thanks in a Preface to the Eucharistic Prayer available for weekday masses: “For, although you have no need of our praise, yet our thanksgiving is itself your gift, since our praises add nothing to your greatness but profit us for our salvation.” Gratitude to God helps us to be more open to His goodness in so many ways. In His love, He always wants the best for us.

In expressing our gratitude to God, we recognize that many of His gifts come from the love we show one another. So in thanking God, we also thank one another. I find that kind of gratitude especially important, for I am so thankful for the wonderful community that I have here at St. Malachy Parish. I get so many reminders of God’s blessing on a day-to-day basis, with the fantastic staff, with the volunteers in our parish liturgies and all our parish organizations, with the children of St. Malachy School and CCD who always bring a smile to my face, and all who make this such a wonderful parish for a priest to enjoy his ministry.

On a related note, since my mother’s death in 1992, my Thanksgiving tradition has been to celebrate the holiday with my sister in Fredericksburg, Virginia. So I will be away this week from Sunday afternoon through Friday evening.  But as our prayers center on thoughts of gratitude, please know that all of St. Malachy Parish will have a special place in my prayers this week.

Finally, I must admit that I used the Internet to make sure of my spelling of the French, Italian German and Spanish above, and I found quite a few others. So I address you now in various languages. In Hawaiian, Mahalo nui loa. In Hebrew, Toda raba. In Latin, Gracia tibi ago. In Norwegian, Takk. In Sanskrit, Anugurihiitosumi. And in Elvis, Thank you. Thank you very much.

                                                                                 Father H              

Thirty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time - November 15, 2015

During the week, I usually have lunch with the children in school. One day recently a young boy asked me about what it was like when I was his age, “back in the 1990s.” I let him know that he had to go back to the 1960s, and the look on his face showed his amazement that someone my age was still walking around. That helped prepare him for the shock of learning that I grew up in an age when we did not play video games.

It is always interesting to look back and see how things have changed. I recently read a book on the history of Commodore computers, having used a Commodore when I was first ordained. Among other things, the book reminded me to appreciate what we have today. Certainly there are dangers in today’s world that we never worried about when I was young. I wrote about some of the dangers in my Ponderings over the summer. But today I would like to offer some thoughts on resources that can be helpful for Catholics.

An obvious place to start for any Catholic is the local parish and diocese. We have a very helpful website at stmalachypgh.org for the parish or stmalachyschool.net for our school. If you are looking for information about some of our neighboring parishes, try the diocesan web site at diopitt.org.

On a national level, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops has a web site that I use just about every day. USCCB.org has the readings for Mass for every day, which I use for homily preparation, as well as the entire Bible that makes it easy to find a passage. For worldwide news, the Vatican’s website at Vatican.VA offers official Church messages. That can be helpful considering the way that Pope Francis’ message is often twisted in the secular media. And for travelers, MassTimes.org is very helpful for finding where the local churches are and when they offer Mass.

For mobile devices, there are quite a few apps that are helpful. I should mention that I use Apple, so my familiarity is with apps for the iPhone and iPad, though I know that some of them are available for other devices. There is an app version of MassTimes.org and of the Vatican web site. The daily readings and other prayers are available through the iMissal app. And one of the best overall apps, from what I have seen, is called Laudate. Laudate gives users the New American Bible (through the USCCB website) and the old Douay Rhiems Bible as well as the full text of the Catechism of the Catholic Church and quite a few official Vatican documents, including documents from the Second Vatican Council. There is quite a good selection of prayers (including a whole selection in Latin) and devotions and much more.

Again, all of this is just a selection of all that is out there, and I am only writing about things that I have used. The key point is that our modern technology can be a help to our faith. We have to be careful, but we can find some wonderful resources.

                                                                         Father H