The Command of Love

It seems there are those weeks where the Mass readings have a central theme and sometimes you feel there is a sense of urgency when those themes are repeated. This week the focus has been on "Love." For three days we have been listening to the 15th chapter of Saint John's Gospel. On Wednesday, we heard the gospel from last weekend, "The Vine and the branches..." Then, yesterday and today, we have listened to the gospel passages about love. As a preview, we will also listen to the passages on love this weekend, especially if you hear the gospel from the Sixth Sunday of Easter. In John 15:12-17, Jesus says right at the beginning, "This is my commandment: love one another as I love you." The passage concludes with Jesus saying, "This I command you: love one another." Twice, Jesus reinforces the gift of love is a commandment. He even says that elsewhere in the gospels when he is questioned about what the great commandment is. At that time the Lord tells us the great commandment is to love God and to love our neighbor as ourself. Love is a beautiful gift and it is also a challenge! Maybe we find it difficult to show our love to someone or sometimes people struggle in their relationship with God and may find it hard to love Him. God loves us unconditionally! In fact, God loves us so much that He sent His only Son to be our Savior. Jesus is the ultimate example of this verse, "No one has greater love than this, to lay down one's life for one's friends." Jesus gave his all when he was nailed to the cross. That love extends to the resurrection because our Lord wants us to share in his gift of eternal life. Love is a key component in our lives and in our relationships and maybe that is where the urgency comes from. We live in a world that needs love. Perhaps that love needs to happen in our own communities, families, and churches. If we are going to preach love, we need to live it. As the song says, "They Will Know We Are Christians By Our Love..." Let us pray that the love of God will flow through our minds and hearts and radiate toward others. Love is a great gift and we need to share it now! Have a blessed day!!!

Saint Damien de Veuster

One of the beautiful features of the Third Edition, Roman Missal, is that we are introduced to some saints who have been canonized in recent years. I have seen them in other resources and have used their prayers on occasion to celebrate their life and the gift they are to the church. Now, we get to share fully by having their prayers in the Roman Missal. Today is a beautiful feast! It is the memorial of Saint Damien de Veuster. As his biography says, "Damien de Veuster was born in Tremeloo, Belgium, in 1840. He joined the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts, and volunteered for the missions in Hawaii where he was ordained to the priesthood upon his arrival in 1864. In 1873 he began his ministry among the quarantined lepers of Moloka'i until his death of leprosy in 1889. Blessed John Paul II beatified him in 1995, and Pope Benedict XVI canonized him in 2009" (Magnificat, 128). Truly, Saint Damien is a saint for our time, just being canonized several years ago. We thank God for the gift of this priest and saint of the Church. As the Collect read, "Saint Damien a shining witness of love for the poorest and most abandoned" (128). The gospel for his memorial is very appropriate, John 15:9-11. Jesus says to his disciples, "As the Father loves me, so I also love you. Remain in my love." The love that Jesus shares with us is the same love that Saint Damien shared with those he ministered to. Saint Damien gave his life to minister to those who suffered from leprosy, so much so that he suffered from the same disease and died from it. He lived his life, faith, and ministry to the fullest and he did so with great love. Saint Damien de Veuster, a saint for our times and an example that we can follow as we share the life and love of Christ with others. Saint Damien, pray for us!!!

The True Vine

Jesus Christ is the True Vine!!! Once again, the Church hears the call to stay connected to the vine because we are the branches. This past weekend we heard the gospel about Jesus being the vine and us being the branches. Now, we hear it again on this day, John 15:1-8. The Church gives us these beautiful reminders and hopefully we take them to heart. My homily over the weekend began with the story about the statue of Jesus that was in a church heavily damaged by a storm. When the parishioners came in to look everything over they noticed that the hands on the statue were broken off and someone had hung a sign around the statue that read, "I have no hands but yours." Saint Teresa of Avila offers this quote that coincides with that story: "Christ has no body but yours, no hands, no feet on earth but yours; yours are the eyes with which he looks compassionately at the world, yours are the feet with which he is to go about doing good, and yours are the hands with which he is to bless us now" (Sunday Homily Helps, Franciscan Media). The commentator went on to say that Christ relies on the branches to continue the mission entrusted to them. Jesus wants us to remain connected to him, the true vine. As he says at the conclusion of the gospel from John, "By this is my Father glorified, that you bear much fruit and become my disciples." There is no Plan B, Jesus is relying on us, just as he relied on the disciples before us. In order to accomplish the tasks given to us, we need to stay connected to the vine through Mass, the Sacraments, and Prayer. Do not be afraid to stay connected to Christ for he is the true vine. With our connection to the vine, we are fed and nourished so that we can truly become the Lord's disciples and bear much fruit. Have a blessed day!!!

A Rewarding Convention!

Once again, the Knights of Columbus in the State of Kansas met for their annual state convention in Topeka. Since I had a wedding on Saturday and the full weekend schedule I was not able to get to Topeka until Sunday afternoon. The Convention Mass was held at Saint Matthew's Church with the main celebrant being Archbishop Joseph Naumann from the Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas. His homily was very good, thanking the Knights for all that they do, but also charging them to continue the mission entrusted to them. There is a lot of work to do, especially with Evangelization. The main issue has been the attack on our Religious Liberty in this country and we need to stand up and let our voices be heard. Our government is trying to take away the freedoms that we enjoy and have us support legislation that goes against our conscience! That is not right and we need to do our part as "One Nation Under God!" At the Chaplain's Dinner following the Mass, one of our senators from Kansas, Jerry Moran was present. In his talk to us, he thanked the Knights of Columbus for their hard work and dedication. He also apologized to us for what the government is doing to our country and our religious liberty. That takes courage to stand up there and say that and we need to have the courage to speak up as well. Yes, this Knights of Columbus convention was a time to celebrate our accomplishments this past fraternal year but the work is far from over. There is a beautiful quote that I will use in a future blog about our mission because Jesus is counting on us. May God Bless the Knights of Columbus and May God Bless us in our efforts to evangelize and preserve the gift of religious liberty. Bless You!!!

The Way, The Truth, The Life

I don't know how many times I tell people that a particular scripture passage is one of my favorites. There are so many that I have lost count and maybe that means I need to write them down. I bring that up because today we listen to one of my favorite gospels, John 14:1-6. Jesus' opening line to his disciples is this, "Do not let your hearts be troubled. You have faith in God; have faith also in me." Then he goes on to say that there are many dwelling places in his Father's house and he is going to prepare a place for us. Once our Lord does that he will come back again to take us with him. At the gospel's conclusion, Jesus says, after Thomas has asked him a question, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." This is a beautiful gospel that is filled with meaning and hope. It is one of those gospels that I have chosen many times for funeral Masses. When people are filled with sorrow and grief over the loss of a loved one, they need hope, they need their faith renewed. Hopefully this gospel will do just that. Like Jesus said at the beginning, "Do not let your hearts be troubled..." Death is not the end, but the beginning. Life is changed, not ended. Do not worry! Do not be afraid! May your hearts know comfort and peace with the faith that you have in the risen Christ. Jesus tells us that we have faith in God and we need to have faith in him, for he and the Father are one. Our Lord assures us that where he is going we know the way because of the faith that we have in him. Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. This is our faith, this is our hope, this is what we believe. Let us listen to the words of our Lord, take them to heart, and put them into practice because the faith that we live just might touch someone elses' life. We are a resurrection people! We are a people of hope! We are a people that keeps our eyes focused on the life that is to come! May God bless us in our journey!!!

Saints Philip & James

"After the profound pain of Jesus' suffering and death, and of their own failure, the Apostles were impelled by the joy of Easter to proclaim with exuberant conviction the amazing news: Jesus lives! Death has died" (Magnificat, 45)! We have two examples today of apostles who went out and proclaimed this amazing news, Saint Philip and Saint James. As the psalmist says, "Their message goes out through all the earth" (Ps 19). We continue to build upon the foundation that was laid by those early apostles. The amazing news is still the same, Jesus Christ has truly broken the bonds of sin and death by his own death and resurrection. Even the gospel for today, John 14:6-14, gives us a message that we can preach as well. Jesus said to Thomas, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." Our faith and belief needs to be strong because we know that Jesus is the way, the truth and the life. If we believe and follow him, he will lead us to his Father's eternal kingdom. This is the hope and faith that sustained the early Church and the early Apostles. Now it is our great task to continue the mission entrusted to us. May we be strengthened in our efforts to build up the Kingdom of God in our midst and keep proclaiming with our words and our lives the amazing news that "Death has died!" "Jesus lives!!!" Saints Philip and James, pray for us!!!

Standing Up for Our Faith

The Church celebrates the Memorial of Saint Athanasius. His biography says that he accompanied Bishop Alexander to the Council of Nicea, and succeeded him as Bishop of Alexandria (Magnificat, 36). That is key because the Council of Nicea was held in 325 and it is the council that brought forth the Nicene Creed that we profess each week at Mass. The Profession of Faith is beautiful because it says everything that we believe and hold dear as Catholics. That biography goes on to say that Saint Athanasius "fought courageously against the Arian heresy. For this he suffered many hardships and was exiled several times" (36). Saint Athanasius was not afraid to stand up for the faith and that is a tremendous example for all of us. I believe another commentary says it all and it needs to make us prayerfully reflect and think about how we live our lives and our faith. "Saint Athanasius championed with ardor the Church's belief that Jesus Christ, the Word of God made flesh, is both true God and true man. The saint suffered intensely at the hands of the politically powerful int he long struggle for the truth. Is our faith in Christ worth that much to us" (Magnificat, 34)? The Church holds up this holy men and women for us as an example of how we can live our lives and faith. We seek their divine assistance at all times because we need grace and strength to stand up for our faith and live it to the fullest. Saint Athanasius, pray for us!!!