2nd Sunday of Lent - Transfiguration

 

Have you ever been camping, and after you pitched the tent, then later, during the night, someone walks up to you holding a portable lantern near their face, and you see their face shining in the night?

Today, we have the account of the Transfiguration, and we get a glimpse into His divinity. Six days after predicting His death and resurrection, when Peter, James, and John climbed a high mountain, called Mount Tabor, He shows His glory to them. It wasn’t during the night, but during the day, when Jesus face shone like the sun and His clothes became dazzling white, and they could see Jesus in all His glory.

In a flash the disciples eyes are opened. They can see who Jesus really is. He is more than a rabbi, a miraculous healer, or gifted preacher. He is greater than even Moses or Elijah! Jesus is God.

During this event, they saw Moses and Elijah talking to Jesus. Moses represents the Law and Elijah represents the prophets. Jesus, as God, and messiah, represents the fulfillment of the law and the prophets.

By revealing His glory, Jesus showed them what it would be like when He rose from the dead. Seeing this, gave the disciples strength during the hard times to see Jesus suffer and die. That’s because they would understand Jesus would come back in glory, and we will too, when we are in heaven with Jesus.

Jesus’s disciples didn’t fully grasp their mountaintop vision or how they would need to cling to it as Jesus headed toward the Cross. They didn’t know how their faith would be tested or how important it was that Jesus was more than a just man. And they didn’t know what Jesus meant when He said He would die and rise again. But Jesus knew. That’s why He told them to keep the revelation to themselves until He had risen from the dead.

In His transfiguration, Jesus was giving His disciples a gift to sustain them for the day of His crucifixion. On that day there would not be three tents, but three crosses. Jesus would not stand between Moses and Elijah he would hang between two thieves on the cross. On that day they would abandon their teacher and Lord to His cruel end. But Jesus’ transfiguration no only helped the disciples during His crucifixion. Even more, it foreshadowed an even greater revelation of His divinity: the resurrection!

Jesus’ glory was just as present on the Cross as it was on the mountaintop. The disciples just couldn’t see it. They needed a heavenly perspective and so do we. That’s why Jesus invites us to go up to the mountain every day for a glimpse of His glory: to see Jesus, the Son of God, who will be with us always, to the end of time.

When you have a difficult time, remember what Easter will be like, when we celebrate Jesus rising from the dead.

So whether you’re at Mass or gazing upon Jesus during Eucharistic Adoration, look to Jesus today.

Ask Him to open your eyes. Let Him strengthen your faith and fill you with hope!

Oh, Virgin Mary, during difficult times in my life, just as you gazed upon your dead Son on the Cross, and knew you would see Him risen from the dead, help me to look forward to seeing the glory of Jesus in heaven.

1st Sunday of Lent - Meaning of 40 Days

 

On this First Sunday of Lent, we heard the Gospel state, “the Spirit drove Jesus into the desert and He remained there for forty days, tempted by Satan”. And after the 40 days, “Jesus then came to the region of Galilee proclaiming the Gospel,” stating, “This is a time of fulfillment. The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel.”

What is the meaning of 40 days of Lent and what is necessary for true repentance?

In the English language, the special season before Easter is called “Lent.” The word comes from the “lengthening” of daylight hours as we progress from the darkness of winter to the new light of spring. But other languages, such as Spanish, have a name for this season that is derived from the word for forty. It is the season of the forty days.

  Most people know we do penance for forty days because Jesus fasted forty days in the wilderness. But did you ever wonder why Jesus was out there for forty days rather than seven or ten or fifty days? Think back to the Old Testament. 

Noah and all who entered the Ark watched rain fall for 40 days and forty nights. And at the end of the 40 days, there was hope that they would once again be able to walk on land. In Noah’s case, it’s the rebirth of a sinful world cleansed by raging floodwaters.

Moses was on Sinai for 40 days and then came down the mountain with the 10 commandments, the Law. It preceded the birth of the Law, which would guide the people on the way of righteousness.

The Israelites wandered around the desert for 40 years, seeking freedom from the slavery of the Egyptians with the hope of entering the Promised Land. A place God would provide for all their needs. But before they arrived, they crossed the Red Sea, which miraculously parted, so that they could be free from the slavery of the Egyptians. When Pharaoh and his army were hurled into the sea after the Israelites safely crossed, it was like a birth of a new Israel liberated from sin. It was the birth of the people of the covenant.

All these “forties” are necessary and were a prelude to a birth of something new. And Jesus? What did His forty days mean? It was the birth of a new Israel, the birth of His Church which would help mankind to be liberated from sin, reconciled to God, and governed by the law of the Spirit rather than a law chiseled in stone. It was a birth of a people of the New and Everlasting Covenant. As the rainbow symbolized the old covenant, God made between Himself and the people, the Eucharist is not only a mere symbol, but in fact, the New and Everlasting Covenant, between God and His people.

We can see by the historical facts from the Old Testament, the reason why Jesus remained in the desert for 40 days. There was deep meaning to it. Mysteriously, Jesus allows Himself to be tempted in the desert. Perhaps, showing us that He was like us in all things, but sin. Yet, He also wanted us to know God was doing something new. He wanted to also show us that if we turn to Him, who conquered ever sin and the devil in the desert, He will help us to overcome our temptations. His overcoming the temptations in the desert, was a prelude to His crossing over from this life to the next by His victorious conquering of sin and death on the Cross and His glorious resurrection and ascension into heaven.

When Jesus gave us, through the apostles, the waters of baptism, He gave us a new birth into the life of God Himself. He gave mankind a way, so that all could now enter the Promised Land of Heaven and be freed from the slavery of sin. But after Baptism, our journey to the Promised Land of Heaven has not arrived, because we- ourselves go about wandering through life suffering from temptations.

When Jesus came out of the desert, He gave us words to help us to know what we should do. He said, “This is a time of fulfillment. The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel.”

Our first thoughts with regard to repentance, is that we think of asking for forgiveness for our sins. But repentance is much deeper than that. By reflecting on repentance, it reminds us there is much more to repentance than getting our sins forgiven.

Repentance means, we will change our life. It means conversion. It means sort of a birth in the Spirit. And this is why we should turn to Our Blessed Mother, the advocate of sinners, and beseech Her to help us have a true and lasting repentance, so that at the end of our life, we cross the waters from this world to the next and enter the Promised Land of Heaven.

6th Sunday, Healing of a Leper & Lourdes Healings

 

Today is Feb. 11^th, the annual World Day of the Sick. Today, we will look at Jesus healing of the leper and speak about Our Lady of Lourdes and give advice to the sick.

In the first reading, we heard the rules concerning lepers. When lepers were near others, they were required to shout, “Unclean, unclean” to prevent others from having any contact with them. They were separated from the community for fear of spreading the disease.

When he approached Jesus, the leper kept his distance. But, Our Lord stretched out His hand to touch him, healed his illness and restored him to his community and family once again.

This action of showing the blotch on the skin to the priest and the priest restoring the leper to the community is symbolic of what happens when we commit a serious sin. If we commit a mortal, we separate our self from God and the mystical body of Christ. And if we want to be restored to the community of believers, and restored in our ability to receive Holy Communion, we do as the leper, we go to a priest, and we show him, so to speak, “the blotch of sin”. Then, Jesus in the priest absolves our sins, restores our relationship with God, and once again restores us to the body of Christ. And we can once again receive the Eucharist worthily.

In 1858 in the grotto of Massabielle, near Lourdes, France, the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared 18 times to Bernadette Soubirous, who was 14 years old. The first apparition was on February 11^th near the River Gave by a grotto. The grotto was a place where pigs fed in the area and took shelter there.

While in front of the Grotto of Massabielle, Bernadette describes what she saw: “I saw a Lady in white. I was a little frightened, and thinking I was seeing things (an illusion), I rubbed my eyes, but in vain…. The Lady took up the Rosary, She held in her hands and She made the Sign of the Cross. I tried again to make it and this time I could. My great fear went “away” as soon as I made the Sign of the Cross. I knelt down, and said the Rosary before this beautiful Lady.”

In a later apparition, Bernadette asked the Virgin Mary Her name, She said, “I am the Immaculate Conception”. She told Bernadette: "Pray and do penance for the conversion of the world." The Lady asked Bernadette again to scrape the ground in the "pigs’ shelter", saying, "Go to the spring, drink of it and wash yourself there". She moved on her knees to the back of the Grotto, kissed the disgusting ground used by pigs, ate the grass, and took mud in her hands and smeared her face. Later, the spring of water would prove to be miraculous.

During the third apparition on Feb. 18^th, Mary said, "I do not promise to make you happy in this world but in the other.”

In four years after the apparitions, the Lourdes Shrine recorded 7 Church approved miracles on Jan. 18^th of 1862. As of today, there have been 70 Church approved medical miracles. Since the beginning of the apparitions, there have been 7000 unexplained cures. Doctors of all religions examine the evidence to determine if it’s an unexplained miraculous healing.

Here are a few of officially approved healings.

Justin Bouhort was born in Lourdes in 1856. He was a sickly child since birth. By age two—the age of his miracle cure—he could not walk, suffered from malnutrition (as a result of previous infections), intellectual disability, and tuberculosis. Justin’s mom took him to the Grotto of Lourdes to plead for help from the Blessed Mother Mary. She bathed her son in the waters, then ventured back home with Justin. Justin recovered quickly and even began to walk! He grew into adulthood healthy. His miracle was approved on January 18, 1862.

Marie Moreau, was born in 1841. In 1858, when Marie was 16 years of age, she contracted an inflammatory disease of the eyes. Despite the remedies tried, her condition led to a severe degree of visual impairment, bordering on blindness. Her father went to Lourdes to get some water from the Grotto. On November 8th,1858, the family started a novena of prayers. In the evening, the young girl soaked a bandage with Lourdes' water, and tied it over her eyes. The next morning, Nov. 9^th at the moment Marie removed the bandage, her eyesight was fully restored. It was declared a miracle, on Jan. 18^th, 1862.

Sister Bernadette Moriau was born on September 23, 1939, in France. At the age of 19, she entered the congregation of the Franciscan Oblate Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, and graduated in 1965 as a nurse. However, at the age of 27, she began experiencing pain in her low back and underwent 4 unsuccessful surgeries. By 1975, Moriau was no longer able to practice her nursing. She began to have neurological ailments began, was fit for a spinal neurostimulator, was on morphine medication, was diagnosed with sphincter dysfunction, began wearing a cervical-lumbar corset. In 2005, her left foot was put into a splint after developing a contracture. In February of 2008, she made her pilgrimage to the Grotto of Lourdes, France. While retracing the steps of St. Bernadette, Moriau said she could feel the presence of little Bernadette, the Blessed Mother, and Jesus. On July 11, 2008—at the same time as the Eucharist procession in Lourdes was taking place—Moriau had her hour of adoration at her community chapel. It was there that a warm sensation fell over her. She was completely healed and was declared an official miracle on January 10, 2018.

Gabriel Gargam had a twofold healing, spiritual and physical. Born in 1870 at 15 years of age, he lost his faith. At the age of 29, when the train he was traveling from Bordeaux to Paris collided with another train, and threw him fifty-two feet from the train. He was taken to a hospital. Formerly a robust man, in eight months he weighed 78 pounds, his feet developed gangrene, could not take solid food, and was on a feeding tube. Doctors testified the man was a hopeless cripple for life. Previous to the accident Gabriel had not been to Church for fifteen years. But, his aunt begged him to go to Lourdes.

When he arrived at Lourdes, he went to confession and received Holy Communion. There was no change in his condition. Later he was carried to the miraculous pool and tenderly placed in its waters – but no effect. Rather, he lay motionless. On the way back they saw the procession of the Holy Eucharist (the Blessed Sacrament) approaching. Because he was motionless, his family thought he died and placed a cloth over his head. As the priest passed by carrying the Sacred Host, he gave a blessing over the sorrowful group around the covered body. Soon there was a movement from under the covering. While the family were looking on dumbfounded and the spectators gazed in amazement, he got up and stood erect, walked about and said he was cured. The multitude looked in wonder, and then all fell to their knees and thanked God for this new sign of His power at the Shrine of His Blessed Mother.

In this story, Gabriel cut himself off from the mystical body of Christ for 15 years because he no longer attended church. Just as a leper does not participate in the community, and separated himself from the Church.

Our Lord wanted his soul to be healed first, then his body. After he received Jesus in Holy Communion at Mass, he was bathed in the waters from the miraculous spring which prepared him for his physical healing. It was through Mary’s prayers and intercession that he went to confession, received Holy Communion and was bathed in the waters. Then Jesus truly present in the Blessed Sacrament, physically healed him when the priest gave him benediction.

The events of Our Lady of Lourdes remind the sick today, what is most important is the healing of our soul. If we want healing of our body, we need to first allow Jesus to heal our soul.

Eventually all of us will die, but our soul will live forever. If we die, while our soul is cut off from the mystical body of Christ, due to serious sin, then we will be cut off from heaven, and go to hell for all eternity.

But, if we live out our faith regularly attending Mass, going to Confession frequently, praying the Rosary daily, and accept our sufferings with love as a penance for the conversion of sinners, we will be ready for our eternal home in heaven.

My friends after you allowed Jesus to heal your soul, by washing away your sins, do not be afraid-- to ask for a physical healing through the prayers and intercession of the Virgin Mary. She was not afraid to come to a pig’s shelter and give us a miraculous spring of water, that has touched the lives of over 7000 people in an unexplained manner since 1858 in Lourdes, France.

5th Sunday - Year B - Jesus Heals Today

 

In the Gospel today, Jesus healed the mother-in-law of Peter, and He cured many sick of their various diseases. The Gospel tells us the whole town came to the door of Peter’s home.

Jesus today heals the sick and many times we are unaware of it, but there are times He heals in a miraculous manner.

Most of us are familiar with the story of Chase Kear, a 17-year boy from Colwich who had a pole-vaulting accident resulting in severe damage to his skull. Doctors said there was no way he would ever be normal again and they thought he would soon die. But through the prayers of many people asking Fr. Emil Kapaun for his intercession, Chase Kear had what many believe to be a miraculous recovery. The Vatican is investigating the alleged miracle.

On Jan. 19, 2015 there were reports that three 14-year-old boys who fell through the ice, at Missouri's Lake Sainte Louise. One of the boys, John Smith, was underwater for 15 minutes when rescuers found him.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported he was taken to a hospital with no pulse, and his friends who fell through the ice were treated for hypothermia. They performed CPR on John for 27 minutes.

Dr. Kent Sutterer said, "He was dead for 45 minutes," and that there was a "very poor chance of survival." But when the doctor called John's mom into the room, he said, "she started praying loudly.” His mother, Joyce Smith said, "I don't remember what all I said. But I remember saying, 'Holy God, please send your Holy Spirit to save my son.' ... All of a sudden I heard them saying, 'We got a pulse, we got a pulse.”

Today, John's brain function is normal, and he's at home walking and talking like any other teenager. Due to this alleged miracle, a movie, “Breakthrough” came out about the true story.

The next story just happened today. While I am certain it will never be declared a miracle. I believe the Lord did something. Today, is the feast of St. Blaise, while hearing confessions, I had the hiccups. And just after someone left the confessional, I prayed, “O Jesus, please help me. Take away these hiccups.” Immediately, the hiccups stopped. While some may say, that was coincidence. I don’t believe so. While I never prayed asking St. Blaise, the patron of throat disorders, for his intercession to stop the hiccups, he may still have interceded for me, asking Jesus to stop the hiccups.

What most of you don’t know, is that I was having migraines 2 or 3 times a week. The migraines were caused by arthritis in my neck due to past injuries. If I would take the medicine, as soon as the headache would start, they would prevent the migraine. But despite that, I still had migraines 2 or 3 times week and many times it was associated with weather change. When my arthritis would flare up, I would get a migraine.

A friend from Wichita asked me to come to a prayer service called “Encounter Ministries”. He suggested the group of 4 pray over me asking Jesus to heal the migraines. My response, was “A priest should accept His sufferings with love and offer them for the people of his parish. If Jesus wants to heal me, that is fine. But if He chooses to not heal me, that is fine too.” After they prayed over me, I have had only one migraine since October, whereas before, I had 2 or 3 migraines a week. I believe Jesus healed me.

As I mentioned before, last year, I had 5 surgeries and 9 procedures. I was getting a bit worn out with all those doctor appointments and all those surgeries and procedures. Sitting in all those waiting rooms. I saw it as an opportunity to pray for others who I would meet at the hospital and doctor offices.

While it took some time, for my thick head to understand, I now finally realized, Jesus used the doctors, the anesthesiologists, the nurse practitioners, the nurses, x-ray staff, etc… to heal me. Today, Jesus uses ordinary medicine, surgeries, etc.. to heal too.

What we all need to remember is, St. James, Chapter 1:17, “all that is good, all that is perfect, is given us from above; it comes down from the Father of all light; with him there is no such thing as alteration, no shadow caused by change.”

My friends, every good gift, every good thing, comes from God. And therefore, God is the one who heals in hospitals and surgery centers. He is the one who can heal anytime, or anyway He wants. We need to open our eyes to see all that He is constantly doing for us.

Sometimes, God doesn’t heal us because He knows it is best for our soul to accept the sufferings we have and see them as opportunities to grow in love for others. Suffering purifies our own soul and when we unite our sufferings to the sufferings of Jesus on the Cross, He can use our sufferings to give others the grace of conversion, the grace to turn back to Jesus, and to discontinue going down the wrong path of life.

I have also seen Jesus work apparent miracles through the sacrament of Anointing of the Sick. We come in contact with Jesus through all the sacraments. Many misunderstand it. Anointing of the Sick is to be given when there is a potential danger of death. Potential, does not mean the person is in fact in danger of death, but that it’s possible. For example if a person is going to undergo anesthesia, he or she should be anointed. The sacrament can also be given to the elderly or to anyone whose health has declined, even the seriously mentally ill can be anointed.

The problem is some think we shouldn’t be anointed until near death. But this is not true, we should not wait for near death. Because if we aren’t careful, the person will die before they get anointed. If a person is conscious, and if in mortal sin, they are to go to confession before anointing, otherwise they won’t receive graces from the sacrament.

Last week, I anointed our 7^th grade PSR teacher during class, because she was going to have knee surgery, so the children of her class could see how a priest gives the sacrament of anointing of the sick. I explained the three purposes of anointing of the sick.

First anointing forgives sin, even mortal sin, when the person is unconscious or unable to go to confession. This comes from the book of James who said, “Is any among you sick? Let him call for the priests of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord; and the prayer of faith will save the sick man, and the Lord will raise him up; and if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven” James 5:14–15.

Second, anointing of the sick gives us grace to endure our sufferings or the sufferings to come if we are going to have surgery or chemo-therapy or for some reason when we know we are going to suffer physically soon. We need those special sacramental graces to prevent us from losing hope and it helps us to turn to Jesus in our need. This is why we should also not wait to anoint someone. Because they need those graces to persevere through their suffering.

The third purpose is that Jesus can use the Sacrament of Anointing of the Sick to physically heal. As a hospital chaplain for 5 years, I anointed thousands of people.

Not very often, but there were times when it seemed Jesus worked what appeared to be-- a miracle. One such person was a woman, whose boyfriend said, she was brain-dead. The doctors suggested they pull the plug. I visited her in intensive care and anointed her. The next day she came out of her coma, and within 3 days, she walked out of the hospital. Is brain-dead, not really death? Or did Jesus work a miracle, despite brain death?

A sixteen-year-old girl at Council Grove, Kansas kept fainting during PE and during sports activities. One day, she fainted and hit her head. They took her to the hospital and the doctors discovered she had a heart problem. On their way to Children’s Mercy hospital in Kansas City, they stopped by St. Rose of Lima church in Council Grove and I anointed her.

When she arrived at Children’s Mercy, they ran all sorts of tests and said there was nothing wrong with her. They said there was no way the tests results sent from Council Grove could have been the same patient. They accused the Council Grove doctors of sending wrong tests. But, the Council Grove doctors were adamant and said they are absolutely certain they sent the right tests. So what happened? After she left the hospital in Council Grove, and before she arrived at Children’s Mercy, she was anointed, and we believe Jesus healed her. The girl never had another fainting incident again.

It is wonderful that Jesus heals the physical bodies of people, just like He healed Peter’s mother-in-law and the blind man and the lepers, and the paralyzed man. And He physically healed people through our prayers or through a group of people who pray, or through the Sacrament of the Sick, or though the intercession of saints and Jesus heals through ordinary means such as medicines, machines, and doctors.

All this is wonderful and a great witness to His power and love for each person. Yet, it is better for us that Jesus heals our souls by forgiving our sins and heal our souls through Holy communion. All those who Jesus healed and all the people who Jesus physically heals today eventually die. Our body will someday die, but our soul will live forever.

Our soul is infinitely more important than the body. It is more important that we help our soul to live a life of grace. At the end of the world, our soul and our body will be reunited at the resurrection of the dead. All of us will have an incorrupt body and will never die again.

Today, let us turn to Jesus, who is the resurrection and the life, may we come to Him often in the sacraments to receive His healing touch and His love. And may, Mary, Help of the Sick, pray for the sick and dying, now and at the hour of our death. Amen.