Being Prepared!

This past weekend, the faithful heard a powerful message coming from Luke's Gospel, 12:35-40. The message was about being prepared for the return of our Lord. Jesus says to his disciples and us: "Blessed are those servants whom the master finds vigilant on his arrival" and "You also must be prepared, for at an hour you do not expect, the Son of Man will come." I am reminded of a quote that comes from Saint Anselm, a doctor of the Church, "One thing is certain, that is death, what is uncertain is its hour." If you were to look at Luke's Gospel several verses before this particular passage began you would have seen Jesus say, "Do not be afraid any longer..." That is an occuring theme of our Lord's, "Do not be afraid." We have been blessed with the gift of faith and that becomes important as we think about being prepared. This is a message that we need to focus on everyday because we do not know what the future holds for any of us. However, we do know that our Lord has gone to prepare a place for us and he will come back to take us with him. Let us continue to pray for a strong faith and ask the Lord to help us to always be ready, to always be prepared. God Bless!!!

Transfiguration of the Lord

Today is the Feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord. It is our glimpse of glory, the hope of the Resurrection that is to come. I think the commentator in the Magnificat magazine says it best, "Christ's Tabor radiance is a kind of mirror in which we glimpse the glory that God wills to give his friends. The resplendence of the Transfiguration reveals the fullness of life destined to be ours. The Transfiguration invites us to configuration. As we peer into the glory that pours from every pore of the transfigured Christ, we cast off everything unworthy of our personal relationship with the Infinite, and we take on the luster of the Son of God. Jesus gazes back at us with a luminous look of love that makes us desire to live his transparent beauty - to be luminaries. Silently from Tabor's splendor, the Savior begs: 'Become what you behold!'" (86). The preface for the Mass even said that the Transfiguration was meant to strengthen the disciples faith so that the scandal of the cross would not deter them in the mission or cause them to lose hope. This glimpse of glory gives us strength, especially to carry the crosses in our own lives, because we know the Lord is always present. Let us be strengthened by the Transfiguration and always wait in joyful hope for the coming of our Savior, Jesus Christ. Have a blessed day!!!

Our Lady of the Snows

The title of this blog brings up some great memories. One of my favorite places to visit is the National Shrine of Our Lady of the Snows in Belleville, Illinois, right across from St. Louis, Missouri. My first visit to the shrine came when I was a little boy in the early 1970's. About the only items on the grounds at the time was the outdoor ampitheater where Mass was celebrated during good weather, outdoor Stations of the Cross, and the Lourdes Grotto. My family and I went back to the shrine in 1985 and there were a lot more to the grounds including a motel, so it was a great place to stay. My memory from that visit was that I was able to serve the Sunday morning Mass at the outdoor ampitheater. I even told the priests that I encountered there, they were OMI's, or Oblates of Mary Immaculate, that I was wanting to be a priest. They would have liked me to join their order, but I felt called to be a diocesan priest. Since I went to seminary at Saint Meinrad in Indiana, the Shrine of Our Lady of the Snows was a great stopping point. I bring this memory up because the Universal Church celebrates today the Feast of Saint Mary Major. One of the four major basilicas in Rome is named Saint Mary Major. The basilica was erected in Rome by Pope Sixtus III and it honors Mary, the Mother of God. You might wonder the connection between the Basilica and the Shrine. It just so happened that a sign was given on where the Basilica of Saint Mary Major was to be built. It is built on the Esquiline Hill and the sign, a snow covered hill in August, thus Saint Mary Major and Our Lady of the Snows are the same. In a special way, let us pray that on this day and everyday our Blessed Mother will intercede for us with her motherly care. Our Lady of the Snows, pray for us!!!

Saint John Vianney

This past June, the Church concluded the observance of the "Year for Priests." It was a wonderful time to focus on the priesthood and to thank God for the gift of priests who are called to lead His people. The observance also acknowledged the
150th Anniversary of the death of Saint John Vianney, commonly known as the Cure of Ars. At the outset of the "Year for Priests," our Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI declared that Saint John Vianney would be the patron saint for all the worlds priests. What a beautiful honor and a great example for us, especially as priests to call upon his intercession. As one author put it, "Saint John Mary Vianney exemplifies the holy simplicity of those who are not learned in the sense the world honors learning but who are immensely learned in the ways of God. Theirs is the true childlikeness which dares to praise God by their lives as well as by their words" (Magnificat, 60-61). We can learn a lot from this holy man who had a great skill in helping penitents who came to him. On a side note, the Supreme Convention for the Knights of Columbus is going on at this time in Washington, D.C. In his address, Supreme Knight Carl Anderson said that, "everyday should be a year for priests." Our bishops and priests need the prayers and support of God's people. We are living in challenging times and we all need to pray and work together, clergy and laity. Let us pray that Saint John Vianney will intercede for us so that we can continue to build up the Kingdom of God in our midst. Blessings to you!!!

Fear Vs. Faith

The title of this blog entry comes from the commentary that was written for Mass on this August 3. The gospel today is from Matthew 14:22-36. It is the account of Jesus walking on the water and the disciples thinking it is a ghost. Our Lord assures them by saying, "Take courage, it is I; do not be afraid." Of course, Peter being the spokesperson says, "Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water." Jesus invited Peter to come out and he did. However, Peter became frightened and began to sink and Jesus reached out and caught him. In reply to this, Jesus said, "O you of little faith, why did you doubt." A beautiful lesson for us, do not doubt and have courage and faith. According to the commentator there is another beautiful message to take from this gospel. "The point is not that Peter lost his focus and thus sank. He should never have left the boat in the first place. Jesus had promised to be with them. This storm might be scary, but it will not sink the boat. It takes strong faith to remain in a storm-battered boat just as it takes strong faith to remain in a conflict-ridden church. Our challenge is not to walk on water but to remain in the boat, exercising a faith that affirms no matter how bad it might seem, Jesus the Lord is with us, and we will get through this storm" (Loose Leaf Lectionary, 3640). What a great thought for us today and always. No matter what happens to us in this life, we need a strong faith and live always with the promise that Jesus is with us until the end of the age. God Bless!!!

The Voice of God

Listening is an acquired discipline. We not only listen with our physical ears but we also listen with the ears of faith. Like the gospel acclamation for Monday's Mass says, "One does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God." The prophet Jeremiah writes, "Listen to my voice; then I will be your God and you shall be my people" (7:23). From this passage, the commentator writes, "What God's voice tells us is the true story of his incredible love for us. No other storyteller, however gifted, can paint for us the full, living portrait of who we are and have been, and who we are becoming. Let us listen attentively, lest we forget and try to remake ourselves according to some other image" (Magnificat, 36-37). The voice of God speaks to us through the scriptures, through prayer, and through the voices of others. We always have to discern or pray about the voice that we listen to in our lives. We know there are many voices calling out to us but only one voice needs to be loud and clear. That voice is, the voice of God. Have a blessed day!!!

Stewardship- A Way of Life!

Over the last several years, the Diocese of Salina, Kansas, which is my home diocese, has been moving in a stewardship direction. Like the title says, Stewardship is a way of life. Everything that we have is a gift from God and we are to return to God what He has given to us. We do that by returning to God what is commonly known as the 3 T's: Time, Talent, and Treasure. Whenever people hear the word stewardship they think of money or the treasure part, but that is not the case. Stewardship is more than giving our 10% back to God, but it is giving our time and talent, to be of service to our brothers and sisters. Last weekend or this weekend, parishes in our diocese are listening to a CD that our bishop, Paul Coakley, put together regarding the pastoral plan for our diocese, "Stewards of Hope." If you would like to learn more about this plan or stewardship, you can visit our diocesan website at: www.salinadiocese.org. In his message, Bishop Coakley said that stewardship and stewards of hope will be with us for ever. The pastoral plan is to renew and recharge the faith of our diocese by focusing on different aspects. Those aspects range from keeping the Lord's Day holy to Marriage and Family to Religious Education, and so on. Stewardship is an important component of this plan because as we live our faith and the call to holiness, we are living that stewardship way of life. As the Lord calls us to be disciples, so we are also called to be stewards. This is a topic that can be continued in length because there is so much to learn, but most importantly, it is a way of life. Have a blessed day!!!