Good Night Lord and Thank You For My Life and My Dominican Vocation

There are two reasons why I may have some difficulty falling asleep tonight.

On my way to Mass this morning at a Church near where my son and his wife live, I was awestruck by a life size portrait of Our Risen Lord that was on display immediately in front of the Church's main entrance.  It was the most astonishing portrait that I had ever seen. I could not keep my eyes off of it. While gazing at it, I began to make a left hand turn down a side street and to a nearby parking area.  So distracted were my mind and eyes that I turned directly into the path of an on-coming vehicle. I never would have seen that vehicle had my guardian angel not prompted me to look up and cause me to sharply veer to my right as the other more attentive and skillful driver veered to his right as well. Only by God's grace and Divine will did the two of us escape serious injury or even death. Only my loving Lord  knows why He spared us this morning - just another stark reminder that none of us are promised a tomorrow and that all of us must be ever ready to stand before His thrown of justice.

After saying Evening Prayer this evening, I received another "prompting." This one was to look at the most recent posting at Creative Minority Report - a powerful vocation video prepared by the Dominican Friars of the Eastern Province of St. Joseph. You can view it here.

This brief glance into the Dominican Order reminded me how blessed I am to be a Lay Dominican in that Province and how blessed our Province is to have so many men who deeply love God, His Catholic Church, the Eucharist, the priesthood, and preaching. These are men whose zeal for the salvation of souls mirrors that of their Father St. Dominic.

As this day draws to an end, I head for bed with a greater appreciation for God's mercy, for my vocation as a Lay Dominican, and for the Dominican priests who have challenged and enriched my life.

He is Alive and Waiting For You!

(Image Source: Wikimedia Commons)

Our Churches will be packed this Easter Sunday, filled by an influx of infrequent visitors and with the pungent fragrances flowing from the multi-colored spring flowers that will surround our altars and fill our sanctuaries. How pleased Our Lord will be to see so many there. How hopeful He is that all will return.

The songs we sing, the Scripture readings we proclaim and the homily we hear will remind us that Jesus died and rose from the dead, so that we too would have an opportunity for eternal life – a priceless gift which we have done nothing to deserve but which we can too easily forfeit.

Our Risen Lord is alive! And He desires much more than your weekly attendance at Mass. He hungers to have a personal, life-changing relationship with you. How will you respond to His invitation? Hopefully, the same way “Charlie” did.

“Charlie” was one of the many men I was privileged to meet during the more than ten  years I spent occasional weekends in area prisons.  During the course of these weekend retreats, we would remind our “brothers in green” that God made each of them in His image, that He loved them, that He had died for them, and that He would  transform them, making them into new creations. These are promises God makes not only to those confined to our physical prisons but to all who are spiritually imprisoned by their poor choices and personal sin. 

These are truths that some of the prisoners had either never heard before or had (like many of us) previously rejected. A few prisoners actually came to these weekends sincerely searching for a different way of life. A sizable number, however, initially came just to get away from the structured boredom of their daily routines and for the “real” donuts and coffee the volunteers brought from the outside.  They (like many of us at certain times in our lives) had no real desire to change. 

Why did you come to Mass this Easter?

“Charlie” came to one of these weekends. He was a “Charlie Manson” look-alike.  They could have been twins.  He meant business.  He had intentionally come to the program with filthy clothes, smelling as if his body had never been touched by the cleansing and aromatic qualities of soap or deodorant.  There was no way we would accept him, he thought.  As difficult as it was, we allowed God to use our welcoming arms and mouths as if they were His.  Throughout the day, “Charlie” challenged and questioned us. Then slowly he began to listen and hear the silent voice of his Risen Lord.

When “Charlie” returned the next morning, he was clean shaven, freshly showered and wearing impeccably pressed green pants and white shirt.  He was physically different.  He joyfully interacted with us.  He started the second day at least exteriorly different then he was the previous day.

He finished that day in the arms of a team member, crying uncontrollably and joyfully, having reconciled with his forgotten Lord through the Sacrament of Confession and having received Him in Holy Communion for the first time in twenty-seven years.

Will “Charlie” persevere in this new found relationship with His Risen Lord.? With God’s grace he will.

Truth be told there is a “Charlie” in all of us. The same forgiving, merciful, loving and Risen Lord Who welcomed “Charlie” into His open arms, is ready to embrace you as well.

What are you waiting for? Will He see you next week?

Holy Thursday and Our Priests

According to St. Pius X, our sanctity depends in large measure on the holiness of our priests. This Holy Thursday then is an appropriate time to reflect on our priests, the imperative that the Eucharist be the source, center and summit of their and our lives, and our duty as laity to treasure, encourage and support them.

We begin by recalling how eloquently St. Gregory of Nazianzus, Doctor of our Church, wrote of what it is to be a priest:

 “We must begin by purifying ourselves before purifying others; we must be instructed to be able to instruct, become light to illuminate, draw close to God to bring Him close to others, be sanctified to sanctify, lead by the hand and counsel prudently…I know God’s greatness and man’s weakness but also his potential.  The priest is the defender of Truth, who stands with angels, gives glory with archangels, causes sacrifices to rise to the altar on high, shares Christ’s priesthood, refashions creation, restores it in God’s image, recreates it for the world on high and, even greater, is divinized and divinizes.” 

In 1962 the late Archbishop Fulton Sheen advised his fellow priests that they “become significant to their fellow men not by being ‘a regular guy’ but by being ‘another Christ’.”  He foresaw the failings of his brother priests, as “a want of lively faith in the Divine Presence.” He was just as astute to recognize “the sanctity of the priesthood starts there too.” He warned prophetically that “every worldly priest hinders the growth of the Church; every saintly priest promotes it.” He prayed that God would make each of His priests “alter Christus”. That too should be our prayer.

The perspectives of St. Gregory and St. Pius X and the observations of Archbishop Sheen remain as valid and essential for us and our priests today as when they first shared them.  Zeal for the salvation of souls cannot be replaced with a misguided emphasis on community organizing and social justice issues. The Fathers of Vatican Council II made this clear when they wrote in Gaudium et Spes that “Christ did not bequeath to the Church a mission in the political, economic or social order: the purpose he assigned to it was a religious one.” The physical well-being of people (a notable goal and obligation for all) must of necessity be secondary to their eternal salvation. 

No one expresses this vital truth more clearly than St. John Chrysostom:

“Zeal for the salvation of souls is of so great a merit before God, that to give up all our goods to the poor, or to spend our whole life in the exercises of all sorts of austerities cannot equal the merit of it. There is no service more agreeable to God than this one. To employ one's life in this blessed labor is more pleasing to the Divine Majesty than to suffer martyrdom. Would you not feel happy if you could spend large sums of money in corporal works of mercy? But know that he who labors for the salvation of souls does far more; nay, the zeal of souls is of far greater merit before God…than the working of miracles.”

Our priests are under enormous pastoral and administrative burdens and are, have been and will continue to be viciously and relentlessly subjected to spiritual attack by the Evil One who knows full well that without priests there will be no Eucharist.  We can not allow that to happen.

They, like each of us, are human and prone to sin.  Sadly, some of our priests have grievously sinned and exposed a foul stench within their midst. Fortunately, the majority of our priests have not succumbed to such filth. But our priests can faithfully fulfill their role as “another Christ” only with the grace of God – abundant grace flowing to all priests for whom the Eucharist is the source, center and summit of their priestly lives, who treasure offering the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass daily, who spend time before the Blessed Sacrament each day, and who have developed a deep and trusting relationship with and devotion to our Blessed Mother.

They need our prayers, our support and encouragement.  Never a day should pass by without each of us getting on our knees, thanking God for the faithful priests he has sent and will be sending to help us on our path to personal sanctification and eternal salvation and asking Him to provide them with all they need to be faithful to their vocation and successful against the attacks of the Evil One. Regularly lift these heroic men up in prayer before the Blessed Sacrament, fast on their behalf, offer a Novena to St. John Vianney and a daily rosary for their sanctification, regularly go to confession to them, and let them know that you appreciate them even when the Truth they share may cause you to take a closer look at yourself, your relationship with God and your fidelity to the teachings of His Church. 

If we do all that, in God’s perfect timing, each of us will be able to say about all our priests, the same thing one lawyer reportedly said when, after returning from seeing St. John Vianney in Ars, someone asked him what he had seen there:  “I saw God in a man.”

It's past time to treasure our priests

(Adapted from an article written in 2009 during the Year for the Priests)

A Few Random Reflections This Palm Sunday

Jesus wanted His Apostles to spend time with Him before He died. Instead they slept. He awaits our visits to Him as He remains imprisoned in the tabernacles of His Churches, but we don’t come.

How harsh we are on Judas. Yes, he betrayed our Lord. But have not we done so repeatedly as well? How critical we are of Pontius Pilate. Yes, he did exactly what he knew he should not have done. How are we any different from him? How often have we either done what we knew we should not have done or failed to do that which we knew we should?

Do we really think we are much different from those who threw stones at Him, cursed Him, spit at and slapped Him? Come on. Be real. Every time we fail to do what He has asked us to do or fail to stand up to defend Him or His Church, or remain silent when the Truth is being misrepresented, or fail to teach or lovingly correct for fear of being ridiculed or causing tension or stress in our relationships with others, we am one with them.

When was the last time you joyfully accepted and carried any cross He has sent your way? In truth, He has given most of us only toothpicks to carry and yet we have complained unceasingly even about them. How frequently have we expressed gratitude to Him for the abundant blessings He has given us in this life?

Have not the anger, criticism, curses, despair, slander and untruths that have flowed from our tongues been as slashing and painful to Him as the whips with which He was scourged? Has not our failure to love Him and others as we ought pierced His Sacred Heart as surely and as painfully as did the thorns embedded in His Sacred Head?

How hypocritical  for any of us to criticize Peter for denying Jesus three times, when we have repeatedly done so throughout the course of our lives? How can we become indignant at those who nailed His hands and feet to the cross when in fact it was our sins that propelled their hammers through His bone and flesh?

Sure all the cowardly Apostles should have been at the foot of the cross while their Savior suffered and died. What has been our excuse? Why do we not put ourselves there more frequently so we can come to better understand and appreciate the anguish and suffering our sins caused He Whom we profess to love?

Oh, there is so much more to explore and learn if we but come to the foot of the cross and gaze into the eyes of our suffering, dying, loving Lord.

There is no better time than this week to do so.

And You Think The Mass Is Boring?

           Far too many Catholics complain they find the Mass to be “boring” or that they “get nothing out of it”.  It is unlikely they would feel that way if they knew the answers to the following questions:  What is the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass? What happens at Mass? Who is present there? What benefits do we receive by participating at Mass?

           In his powerful book, The Way to God, Father Winfrid Herbst, S.D.S. tells us that the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass “is not a mere commemoration of the sacrifice of the cross.  No it is the same, the actuality, the renewal, the continuation, the representation of the sacrifice of the cross… so that when I assist at Mass I am present at the Sacrifice of the cross as much as Mary, John and Magdalen were.  It is the unbloody renewal of the bloody Sacrifice of the cross.”

Does this essential truth of our faith comes as a surprise to many? How often we Catholics come to Church just to socialize and “catch up” with friends, families and acquaintances. Should we not come primarily to worship, adore, give honor to and receive the King of Kings and Lord of Lords?  When we understand what the Mass is, we shall!

            When properly understood and when participated in with proper intent, the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass “is offered,” as Father Herbst reminds us, “to give God Honor and Glory, to give God thanks for his benefits, to obtain the remission of our sins and make reparation for them, to obtain the precious grace of conversion by which a person is led to make repentance and reconciliation with God, to obtain victory over temptations, either by getting more efficacious actual graces or by having the temptations themselves lessened or eliminated all together”. But there is more, much more to this magnificent gift (see Section 1322-1372 of The Catechism of the Catholic Church). 

            St. John Marie Vianney taught: “There is nothing so great as the Eucharist. If God had something more precious, He would have given it to us”; and “If we really understood the Mass, we would die of joy”. In current times, Father William Casey of the Fathers of Mercy reminds us that “the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is the most important event that occurs every day on the face of the earth”.   

             

“Mass”, Pope Pius VI tells us, “is the most powerful form of prayer”. “The celebration of Holy Mass,” St. Thomas Aquinas writes, “is as valuable as the death of Jesus on the cross”.  St. Padre Pio also reminded us of four beautiful truths:  “It would be easier for the world to survive without the sun than to do so without the Holy Mass”; “The heavens open and multitudes of angels come to assist in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass”; “If we only knew how God regards this Sacrifice we would risk our lives to be present at a single Mass;” and “The best preparation for a happy death is to assist at Mass daily”.

           

            “The Eucharistic Sacrifice, the memorial of the death and resurrection of the Lord, in which the Sacrifice of the cross is forever perpetuated,” according to Canon 897, “is the summit and the source of all worship and Christian life”. In Canon 898, we are reminded that: “Christ's faithful are to hold the Blessed Eucharist in the highest honor. They should take an active part in the celebration of the most august Sacrifice of the Mass; they should receive the sacrament with great devotion and frequently, and should reverence it with the greatest adoration”.

            In The Decree on the Life and Ministry of Priest (Presbyterium Ordinis), the Vatican II fathers observed that the bond which gives unity to the priest’s life and work “flows mainly from the Eucharistic Sacrifice, which is therefore the center and root of the whole priestly life” (14).  Pope John Paul II noted in his Encyclical on the Eucharist (Ecclesia De Eucharistia), that the Eucharist “is the source and summit of the Church’s life” and that the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass “must be the center of each priest’s life” [31].  He went on to emphasize that “we must understand then, how important it is, for the spiritual life of the priest as well as for the good of the Church and the world, that priests follow the Council’s recommendation to celebrate the Eucharist daily” [31].  Short of serious personal illness or an unforeseen and pressing emergency, is there any compelling reason why a priest would not offer Mass each day? After all, who can fathom the benefits flowing from the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass?

            Is it any wonder then that both John Paul II and his successor Benedict XVI have repeatedly urged all of us, priest and laity alike, to rediscover a sense of “awe and amazement” in the Eucharist, the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, and Eucharistic Adoration? How we go about getting to that point again is beyond the scope of this article save to briefly note that for many reasons we have lost the sense of the sacred within our Church buildings and in the manner in which we worship and conduct ourselves while there.

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            However, I have no doubt we would rediscover that sense of “awe and amazement” for the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and the Eucharist if, when we next attend, we follow the suggestions offered by Father M. Raymond, OSSO:

“…when the Host is held on high and a chalice lifted…look up! Look up and see what Mary saw.  See a naked man squirming as He bleeds against a blackened sky; see a battered human body, writhing on a tree, prisoned there by savage spikes that have torn through Sacred hands and feet; see thorn-tortured head tossing from side to side as anguished torso labors, lifts and strains; see the eyes of God roll towards heaven beseeching, as broken lips blurt out that soul piercing cry: ‘My God, My God, Why has Thou forsaken Me?’

“What is this?  This is the Mass.  This is Crucifixion.  This is what Mary saw at the elevation of Christianity’s first Mass.  This is what you should see at the Elevation of every Mass!” (God, A Woman, and The Way)

(Adapted from an article published in the February 2011 issue of Homiletic & Pastoral Review, entitled “History of Communion Services”.

Do yourself and your loved ones a favor and purchase a copy of the presentation made by Father Peter Girard, O.P. entitled Heaven Unites With Earth: The Holy Eucharist and the Heavenly Liturgy. This CD (M-1567) is available from St. Joseph Radio. Contact them at: www.stjosephradio.com or (714) 744-0336. I am not affiliated with St. Joseph radio and receive no renumeration from them. It is just a great talk! Pass it around. More Catholics need to hear it!

Unlock The Doors Before It Is Too Late!

I was disappointed when I was not able to see You this morning.  I have grown to treasure our morning visit, Mass and the reception of Your Sacred Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity- so nourishing, peaceful and transforming.  I have noticed over the years that on those days I am unable or foolishly choose not to start my morning this way, the rest of my day is often more hectic and stressful. I marvel at Your great Love and Generosity in making Yourself so available to all of us.  We certainly are not worthy of that love and attention.

How joyful I felt as I drove up to Your place later that same day.  I did not have a lot of time to spend with You, but You can do so much in such a short period of time.  It is nice to end my day with You, however briefly our time together may be.

I began talking to You as I walked towards the Church door.  As I grabbed the door handle, I was anxious to be with You.  Suddenly, my peace was shattered.  The door was locked.  I could not get in.  You were there waiting for me, but I could not get in.  It was only 3:30 in the afternoon!!!  Had others come and been denied admittance?  So few ever visit You; how disappointed You must be when finally we come to see You but cannot get in.

This is not the first time that I have been locked out.  I sometimes stop at Your other places during my travels but cannot get in.  For so much of my life, I took You for granted and rarely thought of You.  Now I am incensed when we are kept apart.  You told St. Margaret Mary Alacoque that you have a “terrible thirst to be loved by your creatures in the Most Blessed Sacrament”.  You gave us this gift of Yourself. You long for us to visit and to show You heartfelt appreciation for all that You have done for us.

I want to spend time in Your presence.  I want my visits to be acts of reparation for the all the offenses against Your Sacred Heart, including those that I have committed.  I know that You are with me wherever I am.  But You are really, truly and most especially present in the tabernacles of all the Catholic Churches throughout the world, even if, in some of these structures, Your tabernacle is hidden.  Like little Francisco of Fatima, I want to spend some time with my “hidden Jesus”.  You are the only thing of everlasting value in these buildings.

Why (as St. Peter Julian Eymard observed more than 100 years ago) do we have time for everything except for visits to our Lord and God, Who is waiting and longing for us in the Blessed Sacrament?  Why do so few visit You?  Why are those who try to so often locked out? Why are Your Church and its members so timid and so silent about this great mystery and gift?  Why have we lost reverence for and belief in Your Real Presence?

Why do our activities in Church before Mass more resemble a social hour than silent preparation for the reception of Your Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity?  How can we show You reverence when we sometimes have no kneelers?  Why is there so often no silent time for us to thank You after receiving this magnificent gift?  How can we adequately thank You over the music and singing?  How can we demonstrate our reverence and appreciation for this Gift if sometimes we no sooner get to our pew than Mass continues?

Perhaps if silence were to return to our Churches before Mass, following the Eucharist and after Mass ended, reverence for You would be restored. Perhaps if the use of extraordinary ministers of the Eucharist was not so ordinary and if we saw all of your priests and people handle and receive Your Body and Blood more reverently, we would have a greater appreciation for Your Real Presence. Perhaps if we were reminded each Sunday at Mass by words and by what we see that You are really and truly present in the tabernacle, more of us would come.  Perhaps if we were encouraged to visit You, more would do so.

Perhaps if we knew that “every moment we spend in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament deepens our union with Jesus, transforms us into the very image and likeness of God Himself, and makes up for those who do not know Him or do not love Him”, more would come.

Perhaps if we knew that our late Holy Father (John Paul II) had asked that there be Perpetual Adoration in every Catholic Church throughout the world, more of us would come.  Perhaps if we were taught that “every holy hour draws the world and everyone in it closer to Christ”, more would come.  Perhaps if we knew that “every holy hour lifts up the whole world to the Father for His blessing”, more would come.  Perhaps if we knew that “every holy hour would save a soul from going to hell and bring that soul to heaven”, more of us would come.

We are told that some seventy percent of those who profess to be Catholic no longer attend Sunday Mass and that only thirty percent of those who do actually believe that You are really and truly present in the Blessed Sacrament. How can that be in the Church You founded?

Why do we fail to “adore and visit Jesus, abandoned and forsaken in His Sacrament of Love”?  Is not the time long past due for all in Your Church to teach more clearly and more emphatically of Your Real Presence and the need for us to spend time in That transforming Presence?  Is not our wholehearted response to John Paul II’s plea (echoed repeatedly by his successor Pope Benedict XVI) that we rediscover “a sense of awe and amazement in the Eucharist”, also long overdue? 

When I initially wrote this reflection several years ago, I humbly suggested that the Catholic Church respond to this sad reality by first unlocking the doors of its Churches and by reinstating “silence” as the reverent language spoken there.[1]  Small but essential steps, I thought then.  “Jesus will be pleased,” I wrote then.  “He will transform our families, our Church, our communities and us.”

Unfortunately, not enough parishes have implemented these simple steps. Is there any wonder then that rampant disbelief in Your Real Presence continues, or that so many of our “locked Churches” have since been “permanently closed” and our Lord evicted?

[1] Lest anyone feel that I am trying to impose my own personal preferences on the way we conduct ourselves and worship our Lord in our Churches, I would simply point out that much of what I have suggested here we are either already required to do under the General Instruction of the Roman Missal (GIRM) or has been recommended in the Encyclicals and Apostolic Letters of our gifted Popes, living and deceased.

[This article originally appeared on The Integrated Life Channel of Catholic Exchange on April 14, 2010]

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