Carry the gospel with you

Gospel reading of the day:

Luke 21:5-11

While some people were speaking about how the temple was adorned with costly stones and votive offerings, Jesus said, “All that you see here–the days will come when there will not be left a stone upon another stone that will not be thrown down.”

Then they asked him, “Teacher, when will this happen? And what sign will there be when all these things are about to happen?” He answered, “See that you not be deceived, for many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am he,’ and ‘The time has come.’ Do not follow them! When you hear of wars and insurrections, do not be terrified; for such things must happen first, but it will not immediately be the end.” Then he said to them, “Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be powerful earthquakes, famines, and plagues from place to place; and awesome sights and mighty signs will come from the sky.”

Reflection on the gospel reading: Jesus calls us in this passage to be careful and prudent when we read the signs of the times. It is easy to be deceived and to err in our estimations of events. Many Christians read cataclysmic portents into the events of our day, but it is for God to know when time concludes: our task is to be available to the present moment and address what need God sets before us as we make our way.

Saint of the day: Persecution strengthened Catholicism in Vietnam. French missionaries in particular introduced Catholicism among the Vietnamese from the early 17th century onward. Conversions were abundant in the 18th century and up till 1819. But when the profligate Emperor Minh-mang ruled (1820-1841), he initiated a brutal persecution of Catholics. In an edict of January 6, 1833, he ordered all Christians to renounce their faith, and as a sign of that renunciation, to tread on a crucifix. This command was followed by the destruction of Catholic churches and religious houses, and the death penalty for all priests. Thousands died in the prolonged massacre, among them not only numerous missionary clergy and religious, but myriads of native Christians, priests, religious and laity, cruelly tortured and executed.

The death of Minh-mang marked a slackening of the murders, but under his successors, new legislation eventually renewed the attack against Christianity. Only in 1862 did the anti-Christian movement begin to give way but only because of French influence; the French justified their occupation of Vietnam in 1883 because of the incomplete implementation of religious liberty. Vietnam remained a French protectorate until it threw off French control in 1954. In the 1960s the country had a population of 31 million and a well-organized Catholic population of 2.25 million, a population that native bishops governed.

Few nations have had to pay so dearly for their Catholicism. As many as 100,000 had died for the faith by 1800. In the 19th century, the number of victims increased, with from 100,000 to 300,000 executed. It would have been impossible to name all these martyrs. The 117 saints that the Church has identified include eight missionary bishops, several missionary priests, and a large number of native victims: priests, religious, and lay people.

Spiritual reading: “I, Paul, in chains for the name of Christ, wish to relate to you the trials besetting me daily . . . the prison here is a true image of everlasting hell; to cruel tortures of every kind–shackles, iron chairs, manacles–are added hatred, vengeance, calumnies, obscene speech, quarrels, evil acts, swearing, curses, as well as anguish and grief. But the God who once freed the three children from the fiery furnace is with me always; He has delivered me from these tribulations and made them sweet, ‘for His mercy is forever.’ In the midst of these torments, which usually terrify others, I am, by the grace of God, full of joy and gladness, because I am not alone–Christ is with me. Our Master bears the whole weight of the cross, leaving me only the tiniest, last bit . . . Come to me with the aid of your prayers, that I may have the strength to fight . . . We may not again see each other in this life. But we will have the happiness of seeing each other again in the world to come, when, standing at the throne of the spotless Lamb, we will together join in singing His praises and exult forever in the joy of our triumph. Amen.” (“Letter from Death Row to the Seminarian of Ke-Vinh” by St. Paul Le-Bao-Tinh, 1843)

Fr. Ron’s Homily for the First Sunday of Advent, Year C

For many people the anticipation of something is better than the real thing. Not only that, there is often a wonderful feeling attached to anticipation. I just can’t wait for…. this movie. I am so excited about this … upcoming wedding! Often the real thing never actually lives up to the person’s anticipation. If people have anticipated too much, there is sometimes a depression that sets in afterward, especially if the event doesn’t meet their expectations. They say that Christmas often leaves people in a depressed state.

Because of this feeling of anticipation, marketers have pushed the anticipatory periods further and further back. I was rather shocked to walk into Denny’s two weeks ago and see all the Christmas paraphernalia already up and ready. I was greeted by a tree with presents under it right at the door. Stores have been playing carols for weeks…and it was still two weeks from Thanksgiving!

Our religion has always used this anticipation period as well. Even in the Old Testament we are told constantly by the prophets that we are waiting for something. That ‘something’ was many different things – especially the return from exile, or the birth of a messiah. In the New Testament period, as we began to develop a liturgical year and celebrate events in the life of Jesus, advent became the anticipatory season – 4 weeks of preparing and waiting for one of the great Christian feasts – celebrating the Incarnation of our God.

In our marketing culture, we all know that many things have overshadowed this pivotal event. We can celebrate Christmas now with nary a mention of Jesus – Santa or Rudolph have become the icons for this new age. Values get a bit twisted, too. I saw the preview of an ultra-violent action movie the other day that they proclaimed was the perfect Thanksgiving Day entertainment! As this fighting character was slashing bodies with his sword! Similarly, all sorts of things are pushed as Christmas events which do not reflect the original source of the event.

But we already know this. Every Christmas there is an attempt to put Christ back into Christmas. To try to bring back the feeling of anticipation that the Jews felt as they patiently waited for a Messiah, to feel the anticipation that John the Baptist was preaching about, the coming of someone who would bring about a new kingdom, a new peace, a new world order.

As Catholics, we need to use the liturgies of these four weeks and allow the readings and the traditions, like the Advent candles or Advent calendars, instill in us a longing and an excitement that this great event is to be celebrated again. That God has so loved us that he takes on our body, our mortality, and humbles himself to arrive as a small helpless baby. Much of the mythology around the nativity stories, while it didn’t happen historically in the ways described, is an attempt by the evangelists to relate the Christ Child to the tradition of Hebrew history and to create stories which point out truthful information to help us direct our own lives.

Think of George Washington and the cherry tree. Most young people have heard that story, and yet we know it didn’t really happen – it wasn’t literal, but an imaginative retelling of the childhood of a great man. It brought out the important qualities in the man – that he always told the truth. He was an honest man, even from childhood. In much the same way, the nativity stories of Jesus are wonderful imaginative oral stories that bring out some important truths. We need to search for these truths, and anticipate His coming, but in a way that will not be a letdown, will not lead to depression, but will inspire our thanks and our longing for Christ to come again.

This first Sunday in Advent is a mixed bag for us. We just celebrated Thanksgiving, so for those of us who were not able to go to Mass on Thanksgiving, there will still be a real sense of all the the things for which we need to give thanks. We are also celebrating the feast of St. Andrew the Apostle, the patron of our parish. We are also celebrating two baptisms, births into the kingdom of God today, and finally, and maybe most important in the long run, we are celebrating the beginning of the Advent season.

The Gospel today begins our year long reading of St. Luke’s Gospel, but oddly and somewhat appropriately it begins not at the beginning but near the end. As we have been dealing the last two weeks with apocalyptic visions, we start Advent with Luke’s apocalyptic vision. But unlike Mark’s the purpose of Luke is to let his readers know that the church is here to stay. And because it is here to stay we have to beware of letting ourselves go. We always have to be on guard for that second coming. We need to prepare ourselves. We need to avoid dissipation, drunkenness and the material cares of life. If we as Christians remain firm amid the disorder of the world and avoid temptations, we will be prepared for his coming. Remember Jesus has already come, but he is coming again, and so we use Advent to help us keep our minds on the whole idea of the ‘coming’. We must keep awake to that idea. So we establish predominate themes of advent here – anticipation, coming, being awake and looking forward.

Fr. Kavanaugh of St. Louis University summarizes this Gospel in a very beautiful way:

“Darkening skies, longer nights announce the winter of life. But the child in us looks for the sign of love in the sky, the rainbows of fall, the snows that brighten the earth, the arms that reach down to lift us up. We love to light the candle that dispels the dark. We can’t wait to open the next window on the Advent calendar.”

Jesus promises us a return. We need to focus on that – which gives us the Advent hope.

Lastly today I want to say a few words about the Baptisms we will celebrate in a few moments. Jesus tells us that we have to be like little children. The children today that are brought to God’s fountain to receive the sacrament of initiation are also our hope. Much as we await the hope of the world as a little child in Bethlehem, these two children represent our Christian hopes and remind us that we need to be vulnerable in a difficult world, full of trust, hope and love. All children have these qualities, and this Advent we need to develop them in ourselves as well.

So as we await the birth of our God as a little child, let these children help to remind us of that birth, and let the Gospel today remind us that despite the fears that the world creates us in us, we need to stay awake and keep our eye on the prize – Jesus himself.

And this is the Good News we anticipate today!

Carry the gospel with you

Gospel reading of the day:

Luke 21:1-4

When Jesus looked up he saw some wealthy people putting their offerings into the treasury and he noticed a poor widow putting in two small coins. He said, “I tell you truly, this poor widow put in more than all the rest; for those others have all made offerings from their surplus wealth, but she, from her poverty, has offered her whole livelihood.”

Reflection on the gospel reading: Jesus has entered Jerusalem to begin the final period of his life. He observes a widow who gives freely of the entirety of her substance and thus shows her perfect trust that God will take care of her. The proximity of this account of the widow’s mite to the Lord’s own passion suggests the widow might be a symbol of Jesus himself who soon, in Luke’s account, also gives of the entirety of his substance to demonstrate his perfect trust in God’s providence.

Saint of the day: Born on January 13, 1891 in Guadalupe, Mexico, Miguel Agustin Pro Juarez was the eldest son of Miguel Pro and Josefa Juarez.

Miguelito, as his doting family called him, was, from an early age, intensely spiritual and equally intense in his mischievousness, frequently exasperating his family with his humor and practical jokes. As a child, he had a daring precociousness that sometimes went too far, tossing him into near-death accidents and illnesses. On regaining consciousness after one of these episodes, young Miguel opened his eyes and blurted out to his frantic parents, “I want some cocol” (a colloquial term for his favorite sweet bread). “Cocol” became his nickname, which he would later adopt as a code name during this clandestine ministry.

Miguel was particularly close to his older sister and after she entered a cloistered convent, he came to recognize his own vocation to the priesthood. Although he was popular with the senoritas and had prospects of a lucrative career managing his father’s thriving business concerns, Miguel renounced everything for Christ his King and entered the Jesuit novitiate in El Llano, Michoacan in 1911.

He studied in Mexico until 1914, when a tidal wave of anti-Catholicism crashed down upon Mexico, forcing the novitiate to disband and flee to the United States, where Miguel and his brother seminarians trekked through Texas and New Mexico before arriving at the Jesuit house in Los Gatos, California.

In 1915, Miguel was sent to a seminary in Spain, where he remained until 1924, when he went to Belgium for his ordination to the priesthood in 1925. Miguel suffered from a severe stomach problem and after three operations, when his health did not improve, his superiors, in 1926, allowed him to return to Mexico in spite of the grave religious persecution in that country.

The churches were closed and priests went into hiding. Miguel spent the rest of his life in a secret ministry to the sturdy Mexican Catholics. In addition to fulfilling their spiritual needs, he also carried out the works of mercy by assisting the poor in Mexico City with their temporal needs. He adopted many interesting disguises in carrying out his secret ministry. He would come in the middle of the night dressed as a beggar to baptize infants, bless marriages and celebrate Mass. He would appear in jail dressed as a police officer to bring Holy Viaticum to condemned Catholics. When going to fashionable neighborhoods to procure for the poor, he would show up at the doorstep dressed as a fashionable businessman with a fresh flower on his lapel. His many exploits could rival those of the most daring spies. In all that he did, however, Fr. Pro remained obedient to his superiors and was filled with the joy of serving Christ, his King.

Falsely accused in the bombing attempt on a former Mexican president, Miguel became a wanted man. Betrayed to the police, he was sentenced to death without the benefit of any legal process.

On the day of his execution, November 23, 1927, Fr. Pro forgave his executioners, prayed, bravely refused the blindfold and died, arms outstretched like Jesus on the cross, proclaiming, “Viva Cristo Rey”, “Long live Christ the King!” The photograph immediately above in this section shows Fr. Pro seconds before his execution. The photograph below shows Fr. Pro being shot at point blank range when the initial round of bullets failed to kill him.

Spiritual reading: Does our life become from day to day more painful, more oppressive, more replete with sufferings? Blessed be He a thousand times who desires it so. If life be harder, love makes it also stronger, and only this love, grounded on suffering, can carry the Cross of my Lord, Jesus Christ. (Miguel Pro)

Carry the gospel with you

Gospel reading of the day:

John 18:33b-37

Pilate said to Jesus, “Are you the King of the Jews?” Jesus answered, “Do you say this on your own or have others told you about me?” Pilate answered, “I am not a Jew, am I? Your own nation and the chief priests handed you over to me. What have you done?” Jesus answered, “My kingdom does not belong to this world. If my kingdom did belong to this world, my attendants would be fighting to keep me from being handed over to the Jews. But as it is, my kingdom is not here.” So Pilate said to him, “Then you are a king?” Jesus answered, “You say I am a king. For this I was born and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice.”

Reflection on the gospel reading: We celebrate on this last Sunday of the liturgical year, as we do every year, the kingship of Jesus. The gospel passage we read is the interrogation of Jesus by Pilate, one in which the nature of Jesus’ kingship is the dominant theme. Pilate, the representative of the Roman Empire, asks in a mocking voice whether Jesus is a king, but Jesus, full of a dignity and power that Pilate apparently did not anticipate, challenges Pilate. Pilate modulates his tone in recognition that something is in Jesus that he had not at first recognized. In the conversation that follows, Jesus makes clear that he is a king but his kingship is not the kind that people in this world understand: My kingdom does not belong to this world. If his kingship is not a worldly one, then what is is?

Jesus says that his kingship lies in his mission of witness: I came into the world to testify to the truth. Jesus is the very Word of the Father who has come and pitched his tent with us. The Father cannot lie, so the Father’s Word is entirely the Truth. And when we hear the Truth and conform to it, by our lives lived for the poor and oppressed, prayerful attentiveness to the Spirit’s urging, and commitment to carrying the gospel with us, we are ourselves subjects of Christ the King.

Spiritual reading: You know that those who are recognized as rulers over the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones make their authority over them felt. But it shall not be so among you. Rather, whoever wishes to become great among you will be your servant; whoever wishes to be first among you will be the slave of all. For the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many (Mark 10:42-45)

Carry the gospel with you

Gospel reading of the day:

Luke 20:27-40

Some Sadducees, those who deny that there is a resurrection, came forward and put this question to Jesus, saying, “Teacher, Moses wrote for us, if someone’s brother dies leaving a wife but no child, his brother must take the wife and raise up descendants for his brother. Now there were seven brothers; the first married a woman but died childless. Then the second and the third married her, and likewise all the seven died childless. Finally the woman also died. Now at the resurrection whose wife will that woman be?

For all seven had been married to her.” Jesus said to them, “The children of this age marry and remarry; but those who are deemed worthy to attain to the coming age and to the resurrection of the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage. They can no longer die, for they are like angels; and they are the children of God because they are the ones who will rise. That the dead will rise even Moses made known in the passage about the bush, when he called ‘Lord’ the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob; and he is not God of the dead, but of the living, for to him all are alive.” Some of the scribes said in reply, “Teacher, you have answered well.” And they no longer dared to ask him anything.

Reflection on the gospel reading: Jesus argues for the resurrection because the Bible proclaims a truth about God as the God of the living. At the core of today’s gospel is the proclamation that our God is the God of the living. So as it is written in Deuteronomy, Choose life, so you may live, that God may be your God indeed.

Saint of the day: The Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary is a feast celebrated by both the Catholic and the Orthodox Churches. It is the celebration of a presumed event of which there is no strict historical record – namely, that Mary, as a child, was presented to God by her parents. There is no mention of this event anywhere in the New Testament. But it appears, for instance, in an apocryphal work called the Infancy Narrative of James.

According to this story, Mary’s parents, Joachim and Anne, who had been without children, received a heavenly message that they would bear a child. When a girl was born, the parents went in thanksgiving to the Temple in Jerusalem to consecrate her to God. The story then says that Mary remained in the Temple until she reached puberty and then she entrusted to Joseph who was to be her guardian.

Other versions of the story from works such as the Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew and the Gospel of the Nativity of Mary say that Mary was brought to the Temple about the age of 3 in fulfillment of a vow by her parents. And she was to remain there to be prepared for her future role as the Mother of God.

Western art usually focuses on the figure of the little girl Mary climbing the steps of the Temple, having left her parents at the bottom, and approaching the Chief Priest and other Temple figures at the top of the steps. The Presentation was one of the traditional scenes illustrating the Life of the Virgin.

Spiritual reading: MY LORD GOD, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end. Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think that I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so. But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you. And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing. I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire. And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road though I may know nothing about it. Therefore will I trust you always though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death. I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and you will never leave me to face my perils alone.

(“Thoughts in Solitude” by Thomas Merton)

Carry the gospel with you

Gospel reading of the day:

Luke 19:45-48

Jesus entered the temple area and proceeded to drive out those who were selling things, saying to them, “It is written, My house shall be a house of prayer, but you have made it a den of thieves.” And every day he was teaching in the temple area. The chief priests, the scribes, and the leaders of the people, meanwhile, were seeking to put him to death, but they could find no way to accomplish their purpose because all the people were hanging on his words.

Reflection on the gospel reading: When Jesus arrives in Jerusalem, he goes to the temple and sees the commercial exchanges that surrounded the animal sacrifices that represented an integral component of the Temple system of worship. Consistent with his ministry that sought to foster hearts with attention focused on the Lord, he made a demonstration against the sellers. The parties which had a vested interest in the existing system, that is the priests, scribes, and leaders of the people, decided they had to contain Jesus and determined the need to sentence him to death. Scripture scholars generally agree that this event, the disturbance in the Temple, was the immediate cause of the plot that led to Jesus’ crucifixion. This passage then teaches us that a single-hearted devotion to God is worth dying for.

Saint of the day: Bernward was of a Saxon family and was raised by his uncle Bishop Volkmar of Utrecht when orphaned as a child. He studied at the cathedral school of Heidelburg and at Mainz, where he was ordained in 987. He became imperial chaplain and tutor to the child Emperor Otto III. He was elected bishop of Hildesheim in 993, built St. Michael’s church and monastery there, and administered his See capably. He was interested in architecture, art, and metal work and created several metalwork pieces. He was engaged in a dispute for years with Archbishop Willigis of Mainz over episcopal rights to the Gandersheim convent, but eventually Rome ruled in Bernward’s favor. He became a Benedictine in later life and died on November 20, 1022.

Spiritual reading: The good in any prophecy is ultimately shown if it awakens us to the gravity of decision in courageous faith, if it makes clear to us that the world is in a deplorable state (which we never like to admit), if it steels our patience and fortifies our faith that God has already triumphed, if it fills us with confidence in the one Lord of the still secret future, if it brings us to prayer, to conversion of heart, and to faith that nothing shall separate us from the love of Christ. (Karl Rahner, S.J.)

Carry the gospel with you

Gospel reading of the day:

Luke 19:41-44

As Jesus drew near Jerusalem, he saw the city and wept over it, saying, “If this day you only knew what makes for peace–but now it is hidden from your eyes. For the days are coming upon you when your enemies will raise a palisade against you; they will encircle you and hem you in on all sides. They will smash you to the ground and your children within you, and they will not leave one stone upon another within you because you did not recognize the time of your visitation.”

Reflection on the gospel reading: In this passage from Luke, Jesus approaches Jerusalem, where he is about to undergo his passion, death, and resurrection. Using words from scripture evocative of the siege and wasting of Jerusalem by the Babylonians, he foretells a new desolation for the city, fulfilled in the destruction of the city by the Romans almost 40 years later. Jesus suggests that if Jerusalem had accepted him and his message, that terrible fate would be spared it, that a way to peace would open before it, but given the failure to accept his message, there would be no peace. And so it is with us in our own lives: our acceptance of Jesus is a pathway to peace, one to which we should set our feet.

Saint of the day: Raphael Kalinowski was born as Joseph Kalinowski in 1835 in what is now Vilnius, Lithuania. The son of Andrew Kalinowski, a prominent mathematics professor at the College of Nobility, and Josepha Poionska Kalinowski, Joseph studied at his father’s school. Though he felt a call to the priesthood, Joseph decided on college first. He studied zoology, chemistry, agriculture, and apiculture at the Institute of Agronomy in Hory Horki, Russia, and at the Academy of Military Engineering at Saint Petersburg, Russia.

A lieutenant in the Russian Military Engineering Corps in 1857, he planned and supervised the construction of the railway between Kursk and Odessa. He was promoted to captain in 1862 and stationed in Brest-Litovsk. There he started, taught, and bore all the costs of a Sunday school, accepting anyone interested.

In 1863, he supported the Polish insurrection. He resigned from the Russian army and became the rebellion’s minister of war for the Vilna region; he took the commission with the understanding that he would never hand out a death sentence or execute a prisoner. Arrested by Russian authorities in March 1864, he was condemned to death in June 1864 for his part in the revolt, but the authorities feared they would be creating a political martyr and commuted his sentence to ten years forced labor in the Siberian salt mines. Part of his sentence was spent in Irkutsk.

Released in 1873, he was exiled from his home region in Lithuania. He moved to Paris, France, and worked as a tutor for three years. In 1877, he finally answered the long-heard call to the religious life, and joined the Carmelite Order at Graz, Austria, taking the name Raphael. He studied theology in Hungary, then joined the Carmelite house at Czama, Poland. He was ordained in January 1882.

He worked to restore the Discalced Carmelites to Poland, and for church unity. He founded a convent at Wadowice, Poland in about1889. He worked with Blessed Alphonsus Mary Marurek. Noted spiritural director of both Catholics and Orthodox. An enthusiastic parish priest, he spent countless hours with his parishioners in the confessional. He died November 15, 1907 at Wadowice, Poland of natural causes.

Spiritual reading: There is nothing too small to pray about. “Oh God come to my assistance; O Lord make haste to help me.” Sometimes one is so tired, so dull, so hopeless, that it is a great effort of the will to remember to pray even so short a prayer. “Oh Lord hear my prayer. Let my cry come unto Thee.” (“On Pilgrimage – July/August 1973″ by Dorothy Day)

Carry the gospel with you

Gospel reading of the day:

Luke 19:11-28

While people were listening to Jesus speak, he proceeded to tell a parable because he was near Jerusalem and they thought that the Kingdom of God would appear there immediately.

So he said, “A nobleman went off to a distant country to obtain the kingship for himself and then to return. He called ten of his servants and gave them ten gold coins and told them, ‘Engage in trade with these until I return.’ His fellow citizens, however, despised him and sent a delegation after him to announce, ‘We do not want this man to be our king.’ But when he returned after obtaining the kingship, he had the servants called, to whom he had given the money, to learn what they had gained by trading. The first came forward and said, ‘Sir, your gold coin has earned ten additional ones.’ He replied, ‘Well done, good servant! You have been faithful in this very small matter; take charge of ten cities.’ Then the second came and reported, ‘Your gold coin, sir, has earned five more.’ And to this servant too he said, ‘You, take charge of five cities.’ Then the other servant came and said, ‘Sir, here is your gold coin; I kept it stored away in a handkerchief, for I was afraid of you, because you are a demanding man; you take up what you did not lay down and you harvest what you did not plant.’ He said to him, ‘With your own words I shall condemn you, you wicked servant. You knew I was a demanding man, taking up what I did not lay down and harvesting what I did not plant; why did you not put my money in a bank? Then on my return I would have collected it with interest.’ And to those standing by he said, ‘Take the gold coin from him and give it to the servant who has ten.’ But they said to him, ‘Sir, he has ten gold coins.’ He replied, ‘I tell you, to everyone who has, more will be given, but from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. Now as for those enemies of mine who did not want me as their king, bring them here and slay them before me.’”

After he had said this, he proceeded on his journey up to Jerusalem.

Reflection on the gospel reading: The whole gospel of Luke is a continuous journey toward Jerusalem. In the other gospels, Jesus is reported to come and go as he journeys about Palestine, but in Luke’s gospel, there is one continuous movement toward Jerusalem. In Luke’s gospel, movement toward Jerusalem is movement toward God and God’s purpose. In today’s gospel, we are near the end of the the story: Jesus is about to arrive in Jerusalem and the fateful events that occurred there during Holy Week and thereafter. God’s purpose for Jesus’ life is being fulfilled.

This parable then fits within that context. Jesus is the master who leaves his kingdom in the charge of others. Some of them invest what he has given them, and they return to him greater sums that he originally left them. These people are people who till the fields on behalf of the gospel and reap the reward that God will give to them.

Another class of people does nothing with what God has entrusted to them. They horde their riches, that is, they fail to preach the gospel and give nothing to those who are in need. In this failure, they displease their master.

The parable suggests that there is a still worse group of people. The third class of people completely reject the Lord. They look upon the Lord and totally turn away from him.

All of us have received gifts from God. Our charge, as each of us makes her or his way toward that particular Jerusalem which God sets before us, is to bring more back to God for all that God has given us.

Saint of the day: Born August 19, 1769 at Grenoble and educated by the Visitation nuns at Sainte Marie d’en Haut, Rose Philippine Duchesne entered the Visitation community at the age of 17. During the Reign of Terror the community was expelled from France and. Philippine returned home. After the Concordat of 1801, she and her companions attempted to rebuild their convent but were unsuccessful. In 1804, she met Father Varin and offered her house and her community to Mother Barat, who arrived there December 13, 1804. Mother Duchesne and her companions were professed the 21st November, 1805.

From 1805 on, Philippine felt a call to be a missionary. In a letter to Saint Madeleine Sophie she described the grace she received during an all-night vigil before the Blessed Sacrament on Holy Thursday (April 3-4, 1806). This remarkable letter testifies to her ability to incorporate into her prayer a universal dimension not particularly common to nineteenth century devotion.

“All night long I was in the New World, and I traveled in good company. First of all I reverently gathered up all the Precious Blood from the Garden, the Praetorium, and Calvary. Then I took possession of our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament. Holding Him close to my heart, I went forth to scatter my treasure everywhere, without fear that it would be exhausted. St. Francis Xavier helped me to make this priceless seed bear fruit, and from his place before the throne of God he prayed that new lands might be opened to the light of truth. St. Francis Regis himself acted as our guide, with many other saints eager for the glory of God. All went well, and no sorrow, not even holy sorrow, could find place in my heart, for it seemed to me that the merits of Jesus were about to be applied in a wholly new manner.”

It was only in 1818 that Philippine could realize her dream. Answering an appeal of Bishop Dubourg, she left with four companions for the U.S.A. In a log cabin, at St. Charles near St. Louis, Missouri, she founded the first house of the Society in the new world. In 1820, she opened the first American free school west of the Mississippi. In 1828, she had already founded six houses. In 1840, Rose Philippine Duchesne resigned as superior to devote herself, at the age of 71, to beginning a school for the Indians at Sugar Creek, Kansas. Deteriorating health forced her to resign this much cherished work and on November 18, 1852, she died at St. Charles, having spent 34 years of her life extending the work of the Society as an international community.

Spiritual reading: We cultivate a very small field for Christ, but we love it, knowing that God does not require great achievements but a heart that holds back nothing for self. (Rose Philippine Duchesne)

Weekend Retreat

This last weekend, some parishioners from Holy Trinity in Reston, Virginia; St. Charles of Brazil in Lansdowne, Maryland; and St. Andrew the Apostle in Warrenton, Virginia gathered for a retreat at the 4-H Center not far from Front Royal. The retreat started on Friday evening and concluded on Saturday evening. Fr. Jim led the retreatants in reflection and prayer. Here are some photographs from the time set apart for prayer and reflection.

This photograph presents all the participants:

Fr. Jim shared his faith, hope, and love with us as he encouraged the participants to enter into the Light of Christ:

Fellowship among believers was an elemental part of the weekend:

Art as prayer:

Jesus is at the center of everything we aspire to do. The Blessed Sacrament was exposed during the retreat for periods of private meditation and prayer:

Fr. Ron’s Homily for the Solemnity of Christ the King, Year B

Today we are at the end of the First Liturgical Cycle and the at the end of our church year. When we began in Advent last year we looked forward to the physical coming, the Incarnation of our Savior – the great wedding of heaven and earth. At the end of the year, we also look forward to our Savior coming, but now it is at the end of time, whether it be at our death or the end of the world. It is that time when Christ will come in all his glory, his Kingship made known to all.

In between the Incarnation and the Second Coming, we celebrated the death and Resurrection of the Lord in Lent and Easter, and the rest of the church year was spent examining the many teachings of Jesus about the Kingdom of heaven. All of the parables in the last months have been parables and metaphors for the kingdom of heaven. The message of Jesus was that the kingdom of heaven is available to us right now, here on earth. And he gave us ways to participate in the kingdom of heaven, summarized by the Beatitudes and the two great commandments. Last week we read readings that touch on the end of our days in this kingdom on earth, and that time when all things will be united in Christ. Each year we celebrate much the same pattern over a three year cycle of readings. But, again, I wanted you to see the overall picture, that there is a rhyme and reason for the readings at Mass, and there is a progression to the readings.

Last week’s reading and next week’s reading for the 1st Sunday of Advent all have similar themes: they all talk about the coming end of time and the new kingdom that will be established with Christ coming again in all his glory. Today’s feast is a relatively new feast, however. It was established in 1925 to honor the centenary of the Council of Nicaea – the Council that gave us the Creed that we still say today. There was actually a political reason for the establishment of this feast when it was in 1925. It was to contrast the rising European movements of nationalism and fascism, and was proclaimed to show that Christ was the primary ruler. So in a sense it was established as an anti-democratic feast.

Nevertheless, most of us have at least a little bit of fascination with royalty. When a royal dies, like Princess Diana, the whole world watches, even though a humble saint also died the same week – Mother Teresa. Literature abounds with popular stories of Kings and royalty who hide their positions.

The Prince and the Pauper is a popular story about a King to be who changes places with a commoner. Audrey Hepburn starred in a wonderful film, Roman Holiday, as a princess who runs away and pretends to be common. I bring this up because Jesus was a little like that. He tended to hide his royalty, his kingship.

In the Gospel reading today Pilate asks Jesus if he is a King. And Jesus , as John portrays him, is a master of indirection. He never really answers the question in a straight forward way. He is like the royalty who pretend to be someone else. But in the end, he has to admit that he has a kingdom, but it isn’t on earth. Pilate gets very frustrated with Jesus because he can’t get a direct answer, but what he does get from Jesus is the truth. In fact, Jesus says the reason he was born and came into the world was to testify to the truth. Finally Pilate asks outright: You are a King, then! Does Jesus want each of us to come to that realization as Pilate did, on our own, that Jesus is our King. And if he is, and his kingdom is not of this world, then we have to take our eyes off of this world – all the material things that so interest us, and keep our eyes on the heavenly kingdom.

Jesus ‘ second claim that the reason he was born was to bring truth into the world sets us up for the Advent season that begins next week. Beginning next week we begin to await the birth of that truth and ready ourselves for the remembrance of Jesus ‘incarnation – the Word made flesh. So as we finish the church year amid warnings of the end of the world, and with today’s emphasis in the prophet Daniel on the Son of Man coming back to rule the new order – the “Son of man receive(ing) dominion, glory, and kingship; all peoples, nations and languages serve him. His dominion is everlasting!” – we move into his original coming on earth as a little child, such a contrast to the glory we celebrate today.

We also have a rare reading from the Book of Revelation as our second Reading today. Usually Revelations is a difficult work to read and interpret, but today’s passages are simply constructed and quite beautiful. For the apocalyptic writer, Jesus is ruler of the kings of earth, who has made us into a kingdom. This great king will come ‘amid the clouds and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him.” And the final image is the cosmic image. Jesus is Alpha and Omega – he is the A and Z, he is the beginning and the end of all things. What an appropriate way to end our church year and look forward to the new one! As we celebrate the end, we are also aware that Jesus is the beginning, and that beginning comes again for us next week, drawing us back into a cycle of birth and resurrection and returning in glory.

What does this mean for us today? The Gospel reading is all about the crucifixion of Jesus in contrast to the glory of kingship. We are reminded of what had to happen to Jesus in order to bring out the kingdom for us and that we have to work together to create s kingdom, this city of God, on earth. What can we do to bring about this kingdom now, even though we know it cannot be complete. How can we bring peace to this world? How can we stop violence? How can we save lives? How can we bring the truth to the world? It starts with each of us. Father Joe Diele, one of our CACINA priests puts it this way: “God is dreaming a dream for our world and we are the instruments through which God’s dream can be a reality”. Christ gives us that mandate and that hope. Think this week about what we can do to be God’s instrument for the creation of the kingdom.

And this is the end and the beginning of the Good News I bring you today.