Saturday Reflection: April 26, 2008

Today's gospel offers a genuine challenge to all of us. Jesus' words to the disciples made clear that being a follower would not be easy. Many times following him would mean going against the current.

I recall often a most wonderful small book, First You Have To Row A Little Boat. Author Richard Bode is a great lover of sailing out off of Long Island, NY, as I remember some of the details of the book. He uses sailing as a metaphor to teach his children and his readers about the tides of life.

One review of the writing notes that Bode is attempting to teach lead his children to understand the importance of mastering the simple things of life before ever setting sail into the more complicated aspects of life (Kirkus Reviews).

The book ultimately recounts some of his own times, good and bad, alone out on the waters. He is teaching how strong one must be; how aware of one's own strengths and self-knowledge one must be while sailing. But at the very outset he teaches that to be a good sailor, requires the advice of another person -- in this case an older gentleman who operates a marina.

As a young boy he so wanted to sail. He would go down to a marina when he visited his grandparents. There he encountered a great teacher. Young Bode wanted to buy a sailboat. Like any 12 year old, he thought he had a lot of money! The wise marina owner told him he had to learn to row a boat first. Once in a little dingy, Bode was instructed to row back and forth across the inlet that came into the marina. "Piece of cake" he thought. In very short time he learned how much he didn't know!

The words Jesus is using with his disciples in today's gospel is so reminiscent of the Bode experience. To navigate through the waters of life's journey is no simple task. In sailing it's the use of winds and currents at the same time without any sense of gravity beneath the boat. What Jesus is teaching is that we have to learn to manage the world on which we sail. We have to learn those forces that can lead our boat to rough seas or into a pea-soup fog. We have to be more powerful than the ways of the world.

Jesus has chosen you to be in the world but not of the world. He has called you to know what it means to sail. He is teaching us that first things come first -- learning the spiritual life.

Thursday Reflection: April 24, 2008

The first reading from the liturgy today raises the question "What is a good Christian?" How many times have you asked yourself that question? Preparing a homily for the mother of a very close friend and high school classmate, I knew that I had to convey the virtue that so characterized her life. It is the life of a true Christian. While preparing, I came upon these words: The best thing to give your enemy is forgiveness; to an opponent, tolerance; to a friend, your heart; to your child, a good example; to your father, deference; to your mother, conduct that will make her proud of you; to your self, respect; to all men, charity.

Could there be a better description of a generous person? Isn't this the expectation that we all have for a Christian? These are words from an Indian guru quoted by Dr. Wayne Dyer in The Power of Intention, p 124. Why the picture of the anchor? Think about it in relation to the first question: What is a good Christian?

Wednesday Reflection: April 23, 2008

Today's gospel begins with familiar words: "I am the vine, and my Father is the vine grower." Then a few lines further in the evangelist's writing we encounter even my familiar words: "I am the vine, are you are the branches."

What is the message for our consideration? Jesus invites us to consider that a branch has a unique relationship to a vine. It is our relationship to Jesus, his impact upon each person's life, that will demonstrate to others whether or not we are the voice of God in our world today. We are called to be that voice by our baptism!

Ignatius of Loyola uses an metaphor in his Spiritual Exercises that comes to mind. He invites us to consider that faithful follower's role in relation to the master, in this case, Jesus. The loyalist is presented as the staff that the master relies on. Perhaps in our urbanized experiences staffs are not too frequently used by the general population. We are not out with the herds or in the fields! We might say that the branches that Jesus mentions is very much like the staff. The branches become extensions of the vine.

Pope Benedict's message was a call to renewal of a spiritual life. He endeavored to teach us this message by using a unique theme for the visit: Jesus our hope! We must delve into that message to discover the awe that comes to the one whose life follows the life of Jesus Christ. Those who live with their true selves, who know who they are, become the vibrant branches that give new life, that teach others the gift God gives those who stand firm with the Lord.

Tuesday Reflection: April 22, 2008

"Peace I leave you; my peace I give you....Do not let your hearts be troubled or afraid." Hearing these words, wouldn't most realize or imagine that a journey was about to take place, a going away from one point in time and place to another? Furthermore, wouldn't a person ask how these sentiments relate to his/her life? So, might we not ask today what is the reality of this peace that Jesus is offering. To have a clear understanding of Jesus' intentions, we must confront the reality, the intensity, the strength of our relationship to a "loving relationship with a living God" (Mulholland, The Deeper Journey, p. 52).

In these words, this gift, Jesus is both recognizing the challenges that confront every follower as well as promising a share in eternity with him. It is for us who strive to strengthen our loving relationship with Jesus by putting aside any fears we might sense when we recognize those various wants or desires that disrupt the peace we seek in our lives. We have to confront with all honesty the idols we have built up for ourselves, even the possibility that we have created a false image of God to conform to our wants and needs.

Without doubt, the impact of sin in one's life, even if only Original Sin, daily puts before us the temptation to create a "God" the way I want him to be for me. In these particular months we are bombarded by politicians trying to manipulate our perceptions of their worth. They are seeking to make us thing the way they want us to think. Temptations about in our world, our particular culture, that can easily lead us to construct "my God," as I want him to be even though it may not be an honest picture or understanding of who God is.

Jesus tells us not to be troubled or fearful when we are challenged by what is wrong, what is sinful. Peace, the reality of a loving relationship with him, is his gift to us to be able to handle what pulls us away from him, away from any chance for a loving relationship.

This is his gift to us on our journey of faith. Indeed, this is the reality of the theme for Pope Benedict's recent visit to our city, Christ is our hope.

LINK TO MY OLV PARISH

For OLV parishioners who visit this site, you may find the newly established parish blog helpful in keeping up to date with information of what is happening in the parish.

There is a link from this particular blog to the new blog. Check out the list of links located at the top and right side of this blog.

To go directly:

http://www.mydcolvparish.blogspot.com

Fr J.

How Better To Say Thanks

Thanks again, to Whispers in the Loggia for capturing a few significant papal words.

Yesterday, on the 3rd anniversary of his election, Pope Benedict offered a few unscripted words to the people who celebrated his anniversary at St. Patrick's Cathedral, NYC. If words up to that moment had not convinced his hearers that this was indeed a holy man, just listen to his words of thanks to the audience and his God:

At this moment I can only thank you for your love of the Church and Our Lord, and for the love which you show to the poor Successor of Saint Peter. I will try to do all that is possible to be a worthy successor of the great Apostle, who also was a man with faults and sins, but remained in the end the rock for the Church. And so I too, with all my spiritual poverty, can be for this time, in virtue of the Lord’s grace, the Successor of Peter.

It is also your prayers and your love which give me the certainty that the Lord will help me in this my ministry. I am therefore deeply grateful for your love and for your prayers. My response now for all that you have given to me during this visit is my blessing, which I impart to you at the conclusion of this beautiful Celebration.

In other spontaneous Pope talks from yesterday, from the Cardinal's Studio at 452 Madison, Benedict recorded a greeting for Sirius Satellite Radio's Catholic Channel; audio of the message available on the channel's website... and for this final day of the trip, it isn't too late to sample the satellite provider's extraordinary Pope Trip coverage with the free three-day pass.

Photo: Getty (through Whispers)

Sunday Reflection: April 20, 2008

While in Washington DC the excitement and genuine awe of the Papal visit continues but now with less intensity, the life of the Catholic Church has not yet passed from beneath the media examination. For Christians, especially on the East Coast, the successor of Peter possesses the power to stir the hearts of "multitudes," to use a New Testament phrase.

The liturgy's readings used in all Masses today speaks of the challenges confronting the early Church in its first months. Today in New York City, Pope Benedict continues his journey of renewal for and to the American Catholic community.

On more than one occasion the Holy Father has trumpeted a theme that is so closely related to one of the first crises that our earliest Christians encountered. DISCRIMINATION developed month within the first "parishes." Those who were referred to as Hellenists, the Greek speaking part of the diverse community allying itself with the Apostles, felt that they were being overlooked. Apparently the ones of the community who were reaching out to those in need, the hungry and the poor, were not caring for the Greeks, especially the widows, who were becoming an increasing segment of the early community.

Throughout his journey thus far the Holy Father has made clear his concern for immigrants who have to our different states and cities. Because I was caught in Saturday's heavy traffic at a major intersection in Takoma Park (New Hampshire Avenue and East-West Highway), I had time to notice the names marqueed over many of the businesses in the area. Twenty years ago there was no need to use a Spanish or Vietnamese dictionary to know what these stores were selling. Today ... wow!

In our time now how many are the parishes fully embracing the diversity of the cultural backgrounds the parishioners embrace. Rare today in the "national" parish -- the Irish, the Italian, the German parishes addressing the needs of early American immigrants. Today in our rather small grammar school, our students' families represent some twenty cultural backgrounds. Our principal whose married name is Martinez, was born in Ireland of Irish parents. Her accent, however, is right from London! Indeed we are becoming a world-wide community.

Pastors today, Bishops and priests, along with most Pastors of every faith, encounter the inculturation, the diversity issue. In some places the crisis is no different than it was in those first few months of the early Church. Pastors and their teams struggle with the issue. Changing or adapting to cultures is not easy.

Both Jesus and Pope Benedict remind us in today's gospel or contemporary speeches and homilies that there is genuine hope: Christ Jesus is our hope. Evan as he was on his journey to the final days of his life, Jesus, our hope today, gave lasting advice.

"Let not your hearts be troubled! You trust in God, trust also in me.... I am the Way, I am the Truth and Life.... If you know me, you will know the Father."

Obviously these readings bring us fact-to-face with a contemporary crisis: how do we in every parish reach out to incorporate into our lives our new sisters and brothers whose accents are far different from our accustomed Boston-New York City-Charleston twangs? How do we affirm and live out the Jesus-call to remember and care for the "least among us?" I recall how peculiar it was to hear Americans, American Catholics, speak about "those" Irish, "those" Germans, "those" Italians. Today they have ascended -- so we think -- and now its "those" Latinos, "those" African or "those" gays, "those" who don't worship as we think they should, "those" criminals. Crises, crises: the Church, it seems, will always live with crises: from the beginning one followed upon another. Why? Simply because we are not free from sin! No one of us is free from sin! But Christ Jesus is our hope!

REFLECTION: Saturday, April 19, 2008

The Acts of the Apostles continues in today's readings. The words of St. Luke make clear how much suffering weighed upon both Paul and Barnabas. Being a new voice crying out to the people, these two did not back down from their mission even tough they were violently abused. They "spoke out boldly."

Seeing that some of their own Jewish colleagues or friends rejected the Word of God, that became their sermon as they turned to the Gentiles. They made real earlier words from the Old Testament (Isaiah 49:6): "I have made you a light to the Gentiles that you may be an instrument of salvation to the ends of the earth."

When you read these words, perhaps you might consider if you think of yourself as one called to bring a light to others. And to whom are you called to bring the light of faith? What is your role as a bearer of the light of faith to others?

Perhaps we in the Catholic Church, especially in America might consider how we can make real the message that Jesus does care for each of us. What an awe-filled challenge it may be for each of us to recognize that you are called by God, by Jesus Christ to "be an instrument of salvation" to those seeking to know the God who is the way, the truth and the life! This is truly a reality that should bring us to our knees before the loving Jesus Christ.

For some this challenge may seem too much. Indeed our imagination and ego may bring us to care more about our safety, our own reputation, than to understand fully the noble vocation God invites us to follow. Yet the words of the gospel for today's readings reaffirms for that to be in the loving and caring hand of Jesus is not an impossibility. There is a true call to community rather than individualism which leads to isolation as recently noted by Pope Benedict XVI. "And whatever you ask in my name, I will do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son" (Jn 14:14). Can you receive any clearer or stronger affirmation than that? God loves us so much that he will grant success to our challenges simply to asking what we perceive as needed.

Yesterday our Holy Father, speaking to an ecumenical group of church leaders at St. Joseph's Church, Yorkville, NYC, NY suggested that, like Paul and Barnabas, we "must offer others transparent reasons for our hope ... that Jesus is Risen."

REFLECTION: FRIDAY, APRIL 18, 2008

The Shepherd has landed ... now the Shepherd has departed our city for another few days in the USA. For those who have journeyed with Pope Benedict these past few days, the message in John's gospel for today's liturgy is suitable for us. "I am the way and the truth and the life." This is the gift given us by our Holy Father in each of the "moments" when he shared his personal reflections. "Christ our Hope" becomes a reality for us when we are willing to accept Jesus as the way, the truth and the life.

Surely each of the Holy Father's talks contained challenges -- insights we may not fully comprehend on hearing. Time and study of his words may help our American Catholic Church enter again into a time of renewal. Again turning to today's gospel reading, we hear sentiments that echo the comfort of the Pope and his predecessor, Pope John Paul II and Jesus himself: "Do not let your hearts be troubled. You have faith in God; have faith also in me." Once again our spiritual leader came to encourage us, to call us to the Father through our deeper awareness of Jesus Christ and the content of our faith: "No one comes to the Father except through me," Jesus tells us.

Today Pope Benedict's personal journey to Washington ends and he continues on to the Big Apple. He will continue the opening of America to Jesus as well as to himself. But you and me? What happens to our spiritual journey now? Just as follows any trip, we return to the normal, everyday life. Just as follows any journey, we begin to relive the events that captured our minds and hearts. Now comes an important time. Now we begin to listen to our heats. What do we bring back to our daily lives from only two fully-packed days of hearing and watching the Vicar of Christ while here with us? What are the pictures in your mind's camera that speak out to you? Why are they significant? What words or thoughts have remained with you? What is their special meaning to you?

St. Paul's journey, as a missionary, recorded in St. Luke's Acts of the Apostles, reflects the Holy Father's visit here. He came to remind us that Jesus is our salvation, our hope. In times of trouble, in moments of confusion, in emptiness, in times of change, there is one rock solid help that supports us. Christ Jesus, risen, is our hope. In him is our salvation; in him is our peace, our joy. And, by the way, please don't think this to be an elitist writing these last few sentences!

EWTN BLUNDER!!!

Listening to the Rev. Richard John Neuhaus and Raymond Arroyo -- anchors for EWTN during the current papal visit -- critique the morning Mass at Nationals Park one could not be wonder if these two anchors had listened to the words of the Holy Father throughout the visit to the USA.

Pastor Neuhaus, as he was known prior to his conversion to the Roman Church, used the five or ten minutes to level blasts across the bow of the Archdiocese of Washington for the music and liturgical activities at this morning's Mass.

He said several times that it seemed to him, Fr. Neuhaus, that no one preparing the liturgy had read the Holy Father's extensive writings about liturgy. Those sentiments were then parroted by his colleague. There were more than a few insulting remarks made about the cultural musics incorporated into the liturgy. Again, do these men understand what the Pontiff had said about the diversity of our nation and our need to inculturate these new cultures into our faith practice.

Most insulting, however, is their ignorance of the fact that the Holy Father's personal liturgical director, Msgr. Marini, was present with Archbishop Wuerl and the local liturgy directors for three days just several weeks ago ... preparing many aspects of the visit including the liturgies.

If the current "elitism" charged against Senator Obama is a model, Fr. Neuhaus' almost non-stop accusations against the liturgy, especially his insults that the locals have not read or known the Pope's liturgy writing is elitism, loud and clear.

The Holy Father said "At the same time, conscious of its rich diversity, the Catholic community in this country has come to appreciate ever more fully the importance of each individual and group offering its own particular gifts to the whole." Listen up, guys!!!