"Be Jesus' Friend"? That's Possible?

Audio Sat. Eve: https://docs.google.com/a/stpius.net/file/d/0B1r8CMMH17Y0Vk0yN0RXNktZbHdrM21QUVVIRExXZGpFajRV/edit?usp=docslist_api

Before I talk about friendship, I want to share a story.  So as we celebrate Mother's Day, I was asked by a mother in the parish what I'm going to get my mom this year.  I said "Oh, nothing; I'll just send her an e-mail."  Well you can imagine her shock at that response.  But what I then explained is that my parents are away in Italy right now - their first trip out of the country, ever.  Mom sent me a picture saying they are enjoying some chocolate in Bologna.  I asked them if they went to Chocolate yet and tried the bologna.  I don't know how well the joke went.  So anyways, I decided to get on my Facebook page for the first time in like literally three years to see if they have been posting any pictures there (because they've only sent one e-mail and one text message).  What a whole new world I found there.  My entire family's life right before my eyes!
Then I remembered why I hadn't been on this website for, yes, 3 years: 700 friends?  How could that be the case?  I haven't even made 700 phone calls in the past year! How many of these are actually "friends?"  What does it even mean to be a friend?

I know one thing: a hamster cannot be my friend.  Not even my childhood dog can be my friend.  There needs to be some kind of mutual exchange and sharing of hearts, sharing of our very person with another.

Pope Saint Gregory says "A friend is, as it were, a keeper of the soul." To guard and care for the soul of another person, as a gardener protects and nurtures a plant, is to be a true friend.  Aristotle has three types of friendship, but really the first two are false versions: simply for usefulness (such as co-workers) or for mutual enjoyment (having a good time together).  These aren't necessarily bad but they certainly could be very unhealthy, and definitely leave a lot to be desired.  True or perfect friendship Aristotle describes as "the friendship of people who are good and alike each other in virtue; they both wish well upon each other, and are good themselves."  My point in all this is simple: a true and perfect friendship is a special blessing and gift from God.

Now in the Gospel today, Jesus calls us His friends.  But some of you might be thinking: "Be Jesus' Friend"? That's Possible?  In fact, On Wednesday I was at a conference and heard a surprising statistic from a reputable study.  The study was focused on religious practice in the United States, and it said that among the practicing adult Catholics (that would be you who are here today), most of you are not certain that a personal relationship with God is possible.
Today my friends, I am here to tell you again, YES, JESUS IS CRAZY ENOUGH IN LOVE WITH YOU TO WANT YOU TO BE HIS FRIEND.  Look at that Cross.  Would you do that for your dog? No, or at least you shouldn't.  Would you do that for your soul-mate? Yes, even if it was the hardest choice of your life.
Jesus chose you.  You are (or can be) His friend.  You aren't here for yourself, and you aren't here by yourself.  God made you, and he brought you here to this day.  Thanks be to God for the great condescension he shows in becoming human so He can befriend us.  Now let us accept that invitation, but not with one of the half-hearted versions of friendship.  Jesus doesn't want to be just a facebook friend, one among the 700 that we never think about or talk to.  He doesn't want just a utilitarian friendship, where He becomes a means to an end.  And he deserves more than a friendship that only shares the good times, even though a life in God will bring happiness both now and into eternity.  No, Jesus wants a true and perfect friendship, a sharing of hearts and a guarding and nurturing of their very person.

It's pretty simple, Jesus says: "You are my friends if you do what I command you."  So our response is to love Our Lord in a true and perfect friendship, guarding and keeping our Lord's heart in the choices that we make, in the way that we live.
May we pray today and always: Jesus, lover of my soul, my true and deepest friend, help me to stay close to you and to love you in all that I do, to never abandon your friendship.  Amen.

5th Sunday of Easter

1st communion audio:  https://docs.google.com/a/stpius.net/file/d/0B1r8CMMH17Y0TzVPem40WjB6RE4tNUlqMlF0UVRUNUZ2amdJ/edit?usp=docslist_api

First penance Service

- Vine & Branches

first communion retreat

What is this called? - monstrance 

What does this look like or remind you of?  - The Sun

The Son of God is like the sun! He is "the Light of the World"!

Ask 2nd graders "what would happen if the earth decided to not revolve around the sun anymore?" (Planet would get cold and living things would due)

We have to stay close to the Son, Jesus!

1. Prayer - Personal Prayer and group prayer (family)

2. Sunday Mass

3. Sacraments. Especially Confession and the Eucharist!  (Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament!)

Your relationship started at Baptism, and continues now today into the deepest part.  But this is far from the end, it is something  that we need to grow closer to every day.

Good Shepherd Sunday

Audio: https://docs.google.com/a/stpius.net/file/d/0B1r8CMMH17Y0WkJmMDNVWFY2YmtiQ1RlZUxHVzk2Vm9QcWZB/edit?usp=docslist_api

Fr. Barron says he's heard sheep that bleat as if they were a child in distress.  It reminded of a couple years ago when a friend introduced me to a hilarious youtube video of "goats screaming like humans."  See, I don't do much pop-culture for myself, I have to get it through other people: my friends, teens at the high school, other priests, or even my parents who introduced me to Duck Dynasty.  But the fact that sheep have a voice that is sometimes very much like our own may be kind of creepy, but also it makes the symbolism all the more clear.

The Lord is our shepherd, and we are his sheep.  And sheep can be stubborn, ignorant, and foolish, as I discovered in a great short story by Andre Dubus, who talked about how difficult it was for him to be kind to the sheep that his family was in charge of for one summer in his childhood.  The sheep would eat from trees that would make them sick, would themselves cut up on the fence as they broke free and wandered out where coyotes ate them at night.  In short, sheep can do unintelligent things.  But despite all the annoying ways we harm ourselves, our shepherd Jesus loves us infinitely.

The Latin word for "shepherd" is "pastor," and pastors are called to take care of their parish like Jesus does for us when he literally died to save us. I'd like to share about my time in Italy with Fr. Dan and the fiasco of the Good Shepherd statue.  We had seen the Vatican Museums enough times in recent past to be busy about other things, but Fr. Dan had to go and see if this statue was still there in the museums, on our last day, two or so hours before we had to meet Pope Benedict XVI.  So we go to the museums - the line was quick - and we head in straight for the "gift shop."  And there is this beautiful replica of a statue modeled off of the oldest existing image of Christ Jesus: as a young man carrying a lamb on his shoulders.  We have our own larger replica right next to the entrance of the education center.  Fr. Dan had an idea for this statue: place it above the garage of the new rectory that was being built at St. Vincent's.  As we plotted how to make this work, (could he carry it onto the plane? how about checked baggage? how about leaving it at the US seminary for a while?) we eventually decided the best would be to just ship it home now.  Fr. Dan committed to buying it, and it was boxed up very slowly and carefully, taped like crazy, wheeled to the curb, loaded in a car with all the other knick-knacks, and we went straight to the closest DHL (the European version of UPS).  Another 30 minutes were spent here is they measured and weighed the shipments (Fr. Dan couldn't but just one thing!) and we were told how much it would cost: yikes! Fr. Dan was short, very short.  I had nothing.  They said to go to an ATM, but news flash, Fr. Dan doesn't believe in credit cards!  So luckily, very very luckily, my credit card gave me cash though I'd never done this before (I can't believe I even guessed my passcode correctly!).  We got the dough, and were able to leave the package with them, praying that it would make the rest of the pilgrimage as smoothly as it started.
Apparently it did.  I have a picture of it on my blog.  This weekend that statue will be in front of the altar and in the evening (on Sunday) carried to the rectory and placed in its permanent home, a perpetual reminder to every priest what he is called to be: a living model every day of the Lord's cross, which gives us life.  And the place where we experience the Good Shepherd picking us up and carrying us on his shoulders all the way to heaven is right here in the Mass, as well as all the sacraments, but especially here.  In the Eucharist we see what the Good Shepherd does: he gives all the way to the end so that we may have the fullness of life.  Today these children are receiving their First Communion.  The life of the Good Shepherd is given to you today in a new way, in the deepest way we can experience before we go to heaven.  With you we all can now pray "Jesus, thank you for loving us as the Good Shepherd, and help us to live in that love all our days. Amen"

Third Sunday of Easter

Audio: https://docs.google.com/a/stpius.net/file/d/0B1r8CMMH17Y0bEJCREowMjNDcno3NVRpTDhQaVVYS0R6alFz/edit?usp=docslist_api

"You are witnesses of these things" (martyrs)

On Easter Sunday I spoke of Matthew Kelly's book the four signs of a dynamic Catholic. Those four signs were prayer, study, generosity, and evangelization (sharing our faith). We have to use these four simple signs in our own life so that we can witness well the gospel before others. It could be as easy as telling a story about praying with your family or what exciting things are happening at your parish - I mean, a new church and growing parish is something just about anybody can appreciate.  If we who bear the name of Christian don't have any enthusiasm about our faith, why would others want it?

Peter (in acts of the apostles) and John (in the second reading), who show us how to witness, get at the main point of Easter in the readings today: the forgiveness of sins and repentance (the sacrament of confession).
If you want to witness the great mercy of God,  try encountering it often yourself by going to confession every month! How often do we step on th scale or count calories or check our heart health or our bank balance? My guess is it is a lot more often then we go to confession! Probably even much more often than we even make a brief examination of conscience, something we should probably do every night.

Saint Peter didn't witness well until he had his own "confession" experience.  After Peter denied Jesus 3 times by a charcoal fire, the Lord prepares a meal by the seashore - on a charcoal fire, then proceeds to ask him 3 times, "Do you love me?"

What is the point of having a winning lottery ticket if you don't cash it in?

Divine Mercy Sunday Homily

Audio:https://docs.google.com/a/stpius.net/file/d/0B1r8CMMH17Y0R0NwREsxMHkyR1pPVlZSYU5yMzVEWDlSOFpN/edit?usp=docslist_api

Thomas Aquinas' poem-hymn to the Eucharist Adoro Te Devote, talks about today's Gospel in verse 4. Speaking to Jesus present in the Blessed Sacrament, each of us pray these words: Thy dread wounds, like Thomas, though I cannot see, / / His be my confession, Lord and God, of Thee, / / Make my faith unfeigned ever-more increase, / / Give me hope unfading, love that cannot cease.

Today when Our Lord Jesus comes among the apostles, he brings "peace," a peace that we see in the newspapers is so much needed across the globe, but if we look sincerely into our hearts we find that it is needed here again and again.  That peace comes from knowing that God has reconciled us to Himself in Christ Jesus.  It is a gift, and as we celebrate Divine Mercy Sunday, we call it a "mercy," too.

It is important that we remain connected to our Holy Father especially in his important words and actions.  So for today, I want to read a longer-than-usual section of P. Francis lecture to his priests in Rome on retreat in March 2014 (link here):

We are not here to take part in a pleasant retreat at the beginning of Lent, but rather to hear the voice of the Spirit speaking to the whole Church of our time, which is the time of mercy. I am sure of this. It is not only Lent; we are living in a time of mercy, and have been for 30 years or more, up to today.

This was an intuition of Bl. (now St.) John Paul II. He “sensed” that this was the time of mercy. We think of the Beatification and Canonization of Sr Faustina Kowalska; then he introduced the Feast of Divine Mercy. Little by little he advanced and went forward on this.

In his homily for the Canonization, which took place in 2000, John Paul II emphasized that the message of Jesus Christ to Sr Faustina is located, in time, between the two World Wars and is intimately tied to the history of the 20th century. And looking to the future he said: “What will the years ahead bring us? What will man’s future on earth be like? We are not given to know. However, it is certain that in addition to new progress there will unfortunately be no lack of painful experiences. But the light of divine mercy, which the Lord in a way wished to return to the world through Sr Faustina’s charism, will illumine the way for the men and women of the third millennium” (Homily, Sunday, 30 April 2000). It is clear. Here it is explicit, in 2000, but it was something that had been maturing in his heart for some time. Through his prayer, he had this intuition.

Today we forget everything far too quickly, even the Magisterium of the Church! Part of this is unavoidable, but we cannot forget the great content, the great intuitions and gifts that have been left to the People of God. And Divine Mercy is one of these. It is a gift which he gave to us, but which comes from above.


And this gift that we celebrate in the Easter season is exactly why Pope Francis decided to formally declare (link here) last night what he mentioned in passing a few weeks ago: an extraordinary jubilee year dedicated to mercy.  We all should read this letter in full before December 8, when this Jubilee Year begins.  It is written to us and for us, and will prepare our hearts to make next year effective.  This is different from the current year for the religious life, because jubilee years usually only occurs every 25 years or so, with the Pope having entire freedom to determine its time and purpose. For us, starting December 8, God wants us to reflect on God's Mercy, which was poured out from the wounds of love that Christ endured in His Passion and the apostles all encounter today.

We ourselves, and our bleeding and crying world need the Lord's mercy.  This is the time of mercy, and the Lord wants us to receive it and to carry it to others.

How do we experience the Lord's Mercy?
1. Confession
2. Eucharist

How do we share it?  In a million ways, but especially the corporal and spiritual works of mercy, which we should all have memorized.  Our Savior Himself told us, "Blessed are the merciful, for mercy shall be theirs."  May the Living and Reigning victor over Sin and Death strengthen us as he did the apostles to be missionaries of His Mercy.  Amen.

2015 Easter Sunday Homily!

Audio: https://docs.google.com/a/stpius.net/file/d/0B1r8CMMH17Y0eWRXNEdBYlJORWdNcjRtcHhZa0gyYWFKWnhZ/edit?usp=docslist_api

 What would life be like without Jesus? Have you ever considered this? How would the past 2,000 years of history have looked if it weren't for the truth that God became man, forgave sinners by dying on the Cross and healed them all the way to the very core of their illness by His Resurrection, and established the Church to carry out the work of saving souls of every generation from their sins? Would the U.S. even exist at all or would we even recognize it?  Would the hospital system, so deeply founded in the Christian principle of love of neighbor and universal dignity of every person, have ever been thought up? How about the university, founded on the Christian principle that the world was created by God and that universal truths can be discovered and applied?

But most importantly, how would we view death if it weren't for Jesus? Without the Resurrection, we would be stuck with only the other proposals of our world: Buddhism, that death is nothing. Atheism, that even life is nothing. Egyptian embalming in hope of preserving earthly life forever. Greco-Roman ideas that our spirits live on in some mysterious half-life. Judaism, which began to hope for some type of afterlife and reward for the just, but remained only a distant prayer to God.

Allow this question to really help you appreciate Easter: what would your life be like without Jesus?  Only then do we begin to understand the importance of Christ, and it is precisely the mysteries we complete today that make His story the most important in all of human history.
The Resurrection is absolutely fundamental: without it, our faith is pointless.  But thanks be to God it actually happened.  Indeed, the only explanation for why the twelve apostles would waste their lives running to the ends of the earth, leaving their families behind, being for the most part completely rejected by their Jewish communities, living mostly in poverty as outlaws of the Roman government, and eventually killed.  Why would Paul change, almost overnight(!), from a vicious hunter to the strongest witness to the faith, changing his entire value system so that he can say ("life is Christ and death is gain") unless he truly did encounter the Risen Lord Jesus on His way to Damascus?

These witnesses of the Resurrection testified before the world - something that we are all called to do as well.
Pope Francis says that every disciple is a missionary disciple. Blessed Pope Paul VI said the world listens to witnesses more than teachers, and if it listens to teachers, it is because they are witnesses – that is, they live what they teach.  In order for the world to believe in the Resurrection and the transformation Jesus won for us by his Paschal Mystery, we have to draw them in by showing “the Joy of the Gospel” in every part of our life.  We have to show them that we are different, because we are called to be in the world but not of it, and if Christians are simply riding the wave of the culture, then they cannot steer that culture to a higher good. So how do we witness as missionary disciples? Do we go across the world and preach like Peter and Paul did? Not necessarily.  Right next door to us we all know souls that are lost and broken in this world, forgetful or perhaps never taught of the Love God has for them.
And the first way we do that is we let Christ transform us – deeply, entirely, a complete fresh start, breaking ourselves down to nothing so we can be built up completely anew. I would like to propose four specific ways that God is inviting every one of us, churchgoers or not, to a higher and deeper life transformed by the truth of the Resurrection and sure and certain hope of eternal life.

They come from a book called The Four Signs of a Dynamic Catholic by Matthew Kelly, which I encourage you all to order from the website, DynamicCatholic.com. The book outlines four things we can do throughout this entire year to allow the Lord Jesus to recreate us into the new creation, the redeemed and restored human person that lives life on a deeper plane.

1. Prayer - Spend ten minutes a day in prayerful conversation with God.  Schedule it daily and make it a part of your "daily essentials" like food or sleep or your version of relaxing.  If you wish to know peace in your life, know Our Lord Jesus Christ in personal prayer.
2. Study - Learn more about Christ, the Bible, Church History, or the teachings of the Church.  This could include Catholic books or CD's or podcasts or blogs; our Catholic radio station, Redeemer Radio 95.7FM, or attending faith-strengthening events in the parish or beyond.
3. Generosity - Give 1% more of your income to the parish or to your choice of charitable organization.  A life of  generosity is way beyond giving money, but this is a starting part to looking beyond your own life and focusing on others as Christ did, and will flow into the rest of your life.
4. Evangelization (Witnessing) Sharing your faith seems intimidating, but it is really as easy as sharing a CD or book or blog-post with someone who you know, family or friends.  When your life has daily prayer time, and you are learning more about the faith and living a life of sharing with others, you can't help but share your love for Jesus and witness - both with words and more importantly with actions.

Thanks be to God for the Easter.  May the Resurrection of Christ be the center of our lives.  May it transform us and help us become the new witnesses that our broken world is longing to hear from.  Amen.

Holy Thursday

Audio: https://docs.google.com/a/stpius.net/file/d/0B1r8CMMH17Y0Vi1idEhhelA5eGFYTnpVb25FQWZWN1JzdjdF/edit?usp=docslist_api

 Dear friends, as we recall the gift and mystery of the Priesthood and of the Eucharist, I'm about to do something that I am pretty sure our pastor won't like, but hey, too bad, I got the pulpit buddy! What I'm going to do is walk over there and give Fr. Bill a big man-hug to thank him, on behalf of all of Saint Pius X, for all he has been for this parish for almost 14 years. 

This very day, when Jesus gives us Himself in the Eucharist and thus initiates the ministerial Priesthood, Pope Francis spoke to priests about weariness - both good kinds and bad kinds. It's been almost four years for me and I think I am getting a sense of what he means: there's a difference between the feeling you have after a successful day of hard work and the pain of heart we may allow to overcome us when things seem to go from bad to worse. I think every priest, really every person, is tempted to fall into this type of dejection of spirit, a sort of giving up. Certainly Jesus had every reason to feel the same: his closest followers are simple, sinful, blockheads; many of his family disowns him; the leaders reject him; Pilate doesn't stand up for Him; and Judas betrays Him. Despite these reasons Jesus doesn't fall into that trap. What He does, though, is wear Himself out for His people. He "loves to the end" as we just heard in the Gospel.

Now it's almost a nightly occurrence when I will hear, eventually, these words from the pastor's mouth: “Alright, let's pray! I wanna go to bed. I'm tired!” And let me tell you, this man earns it. You know, I wake up every morning thinking more like St. Therese of Lisieux and Blessed Mother Teresa, what “small things” can I do with “great love” today? Father Bill, nay nay! He wakes up and thinks, “Hmm... what can I build today? I already got an education center and a rectory. Well, how about a church?” This man goes big before he goes home! If I ever tried that, I'd be tired too!

But honestly, that daily exhaustion is a model of Jesus' sacrifice, of His tireless “foot washing” of the human race. Pope Francis today said to his brother priests: "The tiredness of priests! Do you know how often I think about this weariness which all of you experience? I think about it and I pray about it, often, especially when I am tired myself.… The tiredness of a priest is like incense which silently rises up to heaven. Our weariness goes straight to the heart of the Father."

I have been strenghtened in the true meaning of the priesthood thanks to the example of this priest, and many others, who are so visibly spent by the end of land and the Paschal Triduum.

This is spiritual fatherhood as it was meant to be, and is modeled in the Eucharist. Pope Benedict XVI (2009) "Breaking the bread is the act of the father of the family who looks after his children and gives him with a need for life. But it is also the act of hospitality with which the stranger, the guest, is received within the family and just given us share in its life. Dividing, sharing, brings about unity. Through sharing community is created."

"In the bread that is distributed, we recognize the mystery of the green of weeks that dies, and so bears fruit. Recognize the new multiplication of the loaves, which derives from the dying of the grain of wheat and will continue until the end of the world. At the same time, we see that the Eucharist can never be just a liturgical action. It is complete only if the liturgical agape then becomes love in daily life."

We all are priests. We have to spend ourselves like Jesus did. "This is how they will know you are my disciples, by your love for one another." 

When we are spent and exhausted because we have given ourselves, how do we do it again? Where do we find our source of strength? In many ways it is here in the Eucharist, in God given to us.

But also, we can see two things about Jesus that are good models for us.

In the Eucharistic Prayer, we reflect on two things about Jesus: His Hands and eyes. Priest must use His hands and eyes as Christ did. We all must use our hands and eyes as Jesus did.

"Raising his eyes to heaven, to you is Almighty Father"