Pentecost

On behalf of my parents, younger brother and godmother I thank everyone who was able to participate at my Mass of Thanksgiving celebrating my 25 years of priesthood last weekend. May the Holy Spirit continue to bless you.

We began the Easter season by setting a fire at the entrance of the church symbolizing the light of Christ. Today we end this great season by celebratingthe fire that God lights in us through his Spirit. Fire both fascinates and frightens us. It warms us and burns us. It draws us and makes us want to run away. It is a fitting image of the love of God – a love that we both long for and fear. And it is a fitting image of our baptismal vocation – to set the world on fire with love.

Today we also pray that the Holy Spirit will guide our graduates as they head off to the next stage in their lives. Besides honoring our graduating high school seniors we also remember the 23 young people who will complete our Eighth Grade, as well as the 17 Kindergarten youngsters who will be entering First Grade. We call upon the Holy Spirit to help these young people, especially to be their guide in faith and truth.

Easter 7

As I reflect about my 25 years of the priesthood, many thoughts pass through my mind and the journey that God has led me before and after ordination. I have been a priest almost half of my life. You sometimes wonder what God has in mind for us. I think back of myself as that quiet, shy, inquisitive, little boy who played all kinds of sports and played with Legos, erector sets and built dams in a creek. God had a plan and over time he unveiled what he had in mind. I thank God above all – he has truly blest me throughout my 51 years of life. I thank my parents for their faithfulness and their example – it is through them that I learned about God and how to serve the Church. My two brothers, Jim and Dave, my grandparents, my teachers, my friends and girl friends all shaped me in some way also – especially the bruises I received from my brothers. That was the time before my ordination. During my priesthood I thank the pastors that I have served under. In my first five years of priesthood and two parish assignments I had four pastors – all unique and brilliant in their own ways. But most of all it has been from the parishioners that I have served that I have received so much. In parish ministry there are so many ways that I serve God’s people – from the womb to the tomb. At times you have no idea what to say and you pray to the Holy Spirit for guidance and wisdom. At other times you put your foot in your mouth. There have been those moments that I have helped and there were those moments that I have hurt. That is the humanity that I deal with, my brokenness, my imperfections. Fortunately God is bigger than all of us and he knows each and everyone of us better than we know ourselves. Thank you and may God continue to bless all of us.

Easter 6

Jesus tells us in our Gospel this Sunday, “No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” Jesus is basically talking about self-sacrificing love. Other than Jesus himself, what better example of this agape, this unconditional love, do we have than that of a mother? Mothers have gone without sleep or food, changed their own plans, or given up something new for themselves, all to take care of the needs of a child. Monks and nuns may stay up late or rise early in the morning to pray, but no one knows more about the concept of a vigil than a mother staying up with a colicky baby, or the mother of a teenager who lies awake in bed waiting to hear the sound of the garage door to know her child has come home safely from an evening’s event.

On this Mother’s Day we thank our mothers and those who have acted in a motherly manner for all their love that they have shared with us. May God continue to bless our mothers.

Easter 5

Businesses grow through networking, making connections with individuals and other businesses that lead to referrals. Faith communities grow in much the same way by individuals connecting to one another through a common love for Jesus. The image Jesus uses for it is the vine. Like branches, we are connected to him and then through him to one another. As the saying goes, “it is not what you know, but who you know.” Knowing Jesus and obeying his word, we make steady progress as a community of faith and enjoy the consolation of his Holy Spirit. None of us can do what we do unless we remain connected to Jesus. Let us ask Jesus to make our connection to him stronger. With that stronger connection we can continue to draw our life from him, so that in faith, we can make our faith community stronger.

This Sunday, 62 of our young people will receive Jesus in Holy Communion for the first time. This is a special time of grace, a special time for the child, a special time for the family and a special time for our parish. This time is special because Holy Communion is Jesus’ sign of love for us. Jesus was willing to give his life on the cross and he was willing to give his very self in Holy Communion for us. Jesus is truly merciful. We are called to follow Jesus’ example by being merciful to one another. To recite Jesus’ law of love means nothing; to live it is everything. What sacrifice of love are we willing to show one another?

Easter 4

This day we celebrate Good Shepherd Sunday and World Day of Prayer for Vocations. In our Gospel, Jesus refers to himself as “the good shepherd.” He then goes on to define what makes the shepherd good: “A good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.” Jesus speaks of his unconditional love for us as his sheep. It is in the process of laying down his life that Jesus can offer us the gift of salvation in his resurrection and the gift of a glorified body in his second coming.

Jesus tells us that he is the good shepherd who knows his sheep and they know him when he calls. This implies more than an acquaintance with another person, rather it implies an intimate relationship. When someone is called to religious life or any vocation, one deepens that relationship with Jesus and the community. We pray this day for all who are called to a vocation, whether to the single life, married life, religious life, priesthood or deaconate.

Easter 3

Here is a question to ponder: While the family is gathered around the table for dinner some night, what if Jesus suddenly appeared and asked, “Have you anything here to eat?” How would you react? Would you be terrified just like the apostles in today’s Gospel? And what if Jesus did not look like the way you thought he should? Then what?

As a matter of fact, Jesus shows up all the time, and often we do not recognize him. We may have difficulty seeing the presence of Jesus in our lives. The distractions of the world blind us to what is there before us. The poor, in whose appearance Jesus is present today, are already asking us, “Have you anything to eat?” How will we respond to Christ? Let us pray that our eyes may be open so that we might discover and respond to Jesus right there before us.

Easter 2

St. Thomas, the apostle, who professed his faith when he met the resurrected Jesus, said, “My Lord and my God!” Hopefully St. Thomas can be an example for all of us. I don’t mean in his lack of faith, although most of us probably have at one time or another doubted just like St. Thomas. What I mean is that St. Thomas got a second chance. Jesus appeared again to the disciples in the upper room, this time with St. Thomas there. St. Thomas was given another chance to make his confession of faith. Through God’s divine mercy, the same happens to us. We are given second chances (and sometimes third, fourth, or even fifth chances). As Jesus responded to St. Thomas, “Blessed are those who have seen and have believed.” We are thus blessed for the call is to believe.

Thomas Merton, a Trappist monk and writer once said, “Faith is not the suppression of doubt. It is the overcoming of doubt, and you overcome doubt by going through it. The person who has never experienced doubt is not a person of faith.”