25th Sunday, Last Shall Be First, First Shall Be Last

 

“Seek the Lord while He may be found, call Him while He is near.” You come to work Monday morning, and there stands before you the new employee, the boss just hired. You walk up to him and greet him. When the boss steps away from the department, you decide to ask the new employee, “So, how much are you getting paid?

When you first started, you got paid $6.00 an hour. After three years, you are now paid, $9 an hour. You are shocked to hear the new employee is paid $9 an hour. You become angry and approach your boss. You remind him you started out at $6 an hour, and the new employee gets $9. It took you 3 years, to make $9 an hour and so you say, “This is unfair”.

This man felt cheated just as the workers in the parable. But listen to what the landowner said, “My friend I am not cheating you. Did you not agree for the usual daily wage? Take what is yours and go. Or am I free to do as I wish with my own money. Are you envious, because I am generous?” Thus, the last shall be first and the first shall be last.”

Today’s parable Jesus addressed the Jewish people, whom God called at an early hour, centuries before Our Blessed Lord came to dwell among them. They were called to be near the Lord, as His chosen people, thousands of years, before the Gentiles, who were not Jews. Now that Jesus has arrived, the Gentiles were also called to be near the Lord—with an equal right, to form His Church. Therefore, He told the Jews that they had no right to be envious, because God does as He pleases, with His graces and gifts.

Would not the Jews of long ago, the prophets, the patriarchs, all the men and women of the Old Testament, and even the angels be envious of us, who can now, be nearer to the Lord, than they ever thought possible, because we can receive Him, who loves us, in the Eucharist.

If they could speak to us today, perhaps they would say, “This is unfair.”, “We waited for centuries for Jesus to come. And you, who are born today, can receive Him within your heart in Holy Communion. Please, I beg you, see the beautiful gift God has given you in the Eucharist. Do not forget--Jesus is here in your church and patiently waits for you to come to Him. When you have Eucharistic Adoration, you can even gaze upon Him, and pour your hearts out before Him, which we could never have been able to do, because He had not yet come down from heaven in our period of history of long ago.”

If one of the Jewish prophets, who lived centuries before Jesus was born, could stand before us, he may say to us, “O my people, you who live today in this world of turmoil and fear, do not forsake your God, who has come to be with you in the Eucharist because He loves you and cares for you.”

Not just the ancient patriarchs and prophets, who waited for the Messiah to come, would exhort us about the Communion and the Mass, but also those who came after Jesus including popes and saints. Listen to what the popes and the saints have said about the Mass and Holy Communion.

Pope Paul VI said, “The Mass is the most perfect form of prayer!" Pope John Paul II said, “In order to live-- man needs food and drink. In order to gain eternal life man needs the Eucharist.” St. John Vianney said, “All the good works in the world are not equal to the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass-- because they are the works of men; but the Mass is the work of God. Martyrdom is nothing in comparison, for it is but the sacrifice of man to God; but the Mass is the sacrifice of God for man."

St. John Chrysostom said, "How many of you say: I should like to see His face, His garments, His shoes. You do see Him, you touch Him, you eat Him. He gives Himself to you, not only that you may see Him, but also to be your food and nourishment."

St. Therese of Lisieux said, "Do you realize that Jesus is there in the tabernacle expressly for you - for you alone? He burns with the desire to come into your heart...” St. Peter Chrsyologus once said, "If angels could be jealous of men, they would be so for one reason: Holy Communion."

On August 15^th, I published my second book called, “Jesus in the Eucharist My Lord & My God.” The book explains the Mass, Eucharistic Adoration and all about the Eucharist. There are saints, stories and mystical experiences that some have experienced during Mass and Eucharistic adoration.

For example, about 15 years ago, when I was helping Fr. Spencer every other weekend offer Masses at Lyons, Little River and Bushton. I had a parishioner of Holy Name and a parishioner of Holy Trinity both tell me that they saw the face of Jesus during Eucharistic Adoration. A parishioner from Holy Name and the other was a 16 year old girl from Holy Trinity. They did not know each other.

When I was pastor of Sacred Heart in Halstead, after a Sunday Mass, a woman who sings in the choir came up to me and was crying. I said, “What happened, what’s the matter?” She said, “During Mass, when you elevated the Host above the altar, I saw the face of Jesus.”

In 2015, a 12 year old boy had a vision of Jesus in an adoration chapel at Sacred Heart church in Halstead. In describing what happened, he said, “All of us were praying in the Adoration Chapel. I was kneeling and looking at the Host, when suddenly Jesus came out of the Host, and stood before me. He was wearing a white tunic, had a gold sash around His waist, and wore a golden crown on His head”. Jesus then said, “Take off your shoes. This is holy ground.” The boy took off his shoes. Jesus then said to him, “Tell the others to do the same.” The boy looked at his grandmother and sisters, and told them to take their shoes off. They noticed the boy was seeing something and did has he re­quested. Jesus then said, “Tell the priest, I want the people to remove their shoes before they enter the Chapel. But, it’s up to them, if they want to remove their shoes or not.” The boy then said, “Jesus, then, went back in the Host.” This event happened within two months after the boy, and his sisters became Catholic. I was reminded of the burning bush, and how God asked Moses to remove his sandals, since he was on holy ground. When the boy was asked if he ever heard about Moses and the burning bush, he said he had no recollection of the Bible story, nor did he know in some countries, like the Philip­pines and India they traditionally remove their shoes, before entering an Adoration Chapel. The boy said, “I think it’s my mission to let other people know the Eucharist is Jesus.”

Have you heard about what happened last week on Sept 14^th , the feast of the Triumph of the Cross in Minneapolis, Minnesota? During the consecration prayers at the altar, the priest had a mystical experience. Fr. Brent Bowman describes what happened. He said, “With each word (during the consecration), I became more physically overwhelmed...At the same time, I was given sensory knowledge of the weight of God’s power coming down upon the altar, and The chalice became too heavy to hold as I felt it pulled down to rest upon the altar,” Attempting to elevate the Precious Blood, which I was not able to do for a period of time, I believe I was given grace to understand more deeply the bittersweetness of Our Lord’s Passion and how much blood Christ shed for the immense weight of all our sins.”

In the book, there are similiar stories of priests who have mystical experiences. For example, a priest who felt the Host beating between his fingers. It helped him to realize in the Eucharist is the beating Heart of Jesus.

Brothers and sisters, despite the millions of people who could not be near Jesus before He came to earth and gave Himself for us in the Eucharist, --we who are last before His second coming, are greatly privileged to be able to receive Our Divine Lord in the Eucharist during Mass, and adore Him in Adoration for truly the ancient prophets, patriarchs, holy men and women and even the holy angels, would have been envious!

24th Sunday - We are to Always Forgive

 

In the Gospel, St. Peter wondered, “How many times we must forgive others”. He was familiar with rabbis, who stated that a person should forgive, up to three times, but should not forgive the fourth time. Peter knew the number “Seven” was the "perfect number". And so, He asked if a person should be forgiven up to 7 times, thinking he would outdo the Rabbis. He thought that to forgive 7 times, was something very great. However, Jesus replies, 77 times! By saying 77 times, he meant a limitless number of times. In other words, we are always to forgive. Since God is infinitely merciful, we must forgive without limit and so imitate God’s mercy and compassion for us.

Jesus then told the parable of the man, who was forgiven a huge debt, but later would not forgive a much smaller debt, owed to him by one of his servants. Since he had not forgiven, as he had been forgiven, Our Blessed Lord states, he would be handed over to the torturers, until he paid his last debt. He said, “So will His heavenly Father do to you, unless each of you forgives your brother from your heart.”

God wants us to forgive because He has forgiven us. He wants us to be channels of mercy. How can we not forgive if God has forgiven our much worse sins?

In the Lord’s Prayer we pray, “Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.” Therefore, if we do not forgive those who hurt us, God will not forgive our sins.

When Jesus asks us to forgive 77 times, that does not mean He wants us to be a doormat and allow others to continue to hurt us over and over. Yes, we always forgive, but at times we need to set boundaries to protect our self and our family from others who repeatedly hurt us.

We should love our enemies and pray for those who hurt us. We can see this especially in Jesus, who loved and prayed for-- His enemies. His face was spat upon; His eyes were blindfolded; His back scourged; His head crowned with thorns; He was mocked; He carried His Cross and was nailed to it. He was given vinegar to drink and suffered three hours until His death. While on the Cross, Jesus prayed for us, saying, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”

Forgiveness is an act of the will. We choose to forgive, yet sometimes our unforgiving feelings continue because of our wounded emotions. But that does not mean we have not forgiven.

Forgiving is as simple as saying a prayer. For example, we mention the name of the person and the offense they committed and then we say, “In the name of Jesus, I forgive my sister for refusing to return my calls.” Or “In the name of Jesus, I forgive my neighbor for mowing over my flowers.” Or “In the name of Jesus, I forgive my father who tells me that I am stupid.” Or “In the name of Jesus, I forgive my daughter, who embarrassed me at the family reunion.” Or “In the name of Jesus, I forgive my ex-spouse, who lied and who verbally abused me.”

Sometimes, even though we want to forgive we just can’t make the act of the will to forgive and if that happens we ask Jesus to help us to forgive, He will.

We may also have difficulty forgiving our self for something that was seriously wrong. For example, “In the name of Jesus, I forgive myself for driving intoxicated that caused a terrible accident injuring three people.” And then we should bring to light the truth of what actually happened.

“The truth is that I was underage and adults gave me alcohol to drink. They were more at fault than I, because I never had hard liquor before. I forgive them too.” “I forgive myself because my parents never told me to not drink and drive, and because my father did it all the time because he is an alcoholic. I forgive myself because I was immature and didn’t think things out. I didn’t have courage to say no to my friends because I wanted to fit in. I felt all alone. I was confused. I never wanted to hurt anyone.”

Just as Jesus made an excuse for us on the Cross, when He said, “Father forgive them, for they know not what they do”, so we too must make an excuse for others and our self. We don’t excuse the bad behavior, but we excuse why the person did it. We don’t know why people say hurtful words. For example, if dad lost his temper, we can remind our self, he was verbally wounded in the past by his parents and now has difficulty controlling his emotions, or he became upset because he had terrible headache; or he just learned his sister has cancer, and his emotions got the best of him. Or his blood sugar is low which makes him irritable.

After we make the act of forgiveness, we can still have angry thoughts, not because we haven’t forgiven, but because our emotions have been wounded. It takes time for our emotions to heal.

Emotions need to catch up to our choice to forgive. And so, if we have angry thoughts after we chose to forgive, we need to remind our self we have forgiven and that our wounded emotions are causing angry thoughts and not because we haven’t forgiven. Most people don’t intentionally want to hurt others, but at times, their emotions can get out of control. We must forgive-- as Jesus forgives. If we permit our anger to boil, what can happen, is the fire of divine love, within our heart, can grow cold. But if we keep our eyes fixed on the love and forgiveness of Jesus on the Cross, we will embrace those who have hurt us, with the same love Jesus embraced us, for having hurt Him.

This is one of the reasons why Catholics display a crucifix at church and in our homes, because it reminds us to forgive. And it reminds us that it hurts to love others.

At the foot of the Cross stands Mary, may we take Her into the home of our heart, and may She help us to pray, for those who have hurt us, as She prayed and forgave for those who crucified Her Son! And as we approach the altar to receive Our Lord in Holy Communion, let us make an act of forgiveness in the silence of our heart, “Father, I truly forgive those who have hurt me, because they knew not what they did, and please forgive me--- for the times I refused to forgive.”

Sept 8th Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary

 

Today is the Feast of the Birth of Blessed Virgin Mary. On other words, it’s Mary’s birthday.

The Church has celebrated Mary’s birth since at least the sixth century. A September birth was chosen because the Eastern Church begins its Church year with September. The September 8 date helped determine the date for the Feast of the Immaculate Conception.

We don’t know for sure where Mary was born, though some suspect it was in Jerusalem or Bethlehem. When She was three years old, Mary had Her presentation in the Temple and so lived in the temple assisting the priests.

Later, we know She was living in Nazareth when the Angel Gabriel appeared to Her at the annunciation.

Scripture does not give an account of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary. However, the apocryphal Protoevangelium of James fills in the gap. This work has no historical value, but it does reflect the development of Christian piety. According to this account, Anna and Joachim are infertile but pray for a child. They receive the promise of a child who will advance God’s plan of salvation for the world. Such a story, like many biblical counterparts, stresses the special presence of God in Mary’s life from the beginning. And we all know that when Mary was created in Her Mother St. Anne’s womb, She was free from original sin.

The reason for the long Gospel of the ancestry of Mary is to prove that Mary was from the line of David, in which Jesus the Messiah was born and so Mary is the Mother of Messiah.

Saint Augustine connects Mary’s birth with Jesus’ saving work. He tells the earth to rejoice and shine forth in the light of Her birth. He said, “She is the flower of the field from whom bloomed the precious lily of the valley. Through her birth the nature inherited from our first parents is changed.” The opening prayer at Mass speaks of the birth of Mary’s Son as the dawn of our salvation, and asks for an increase of peace.

We can see every human birth as a call for new hope in the world. The love of two human beings has joined with God in his creative work. The loving parents have shown hope in a world filled with travail. The new child has the potential to be a channel of God’s love and peace to the world. This is all true in a magnificent way in Mary. If Jesus is the perfect expression of God’s love, Mary is the foreshadowing of that love. If Jesus has brought the fullness of salvation, Mary is its dawning.

Birthday celebrations bring happiness to the celebrant as well as to family and friends. Next to the birth of Jesus, Mary’s birth offers the greatest possible happiness to the world. Each time we celebrate her birth, we can confidently hope for an increase of peace in our hearts and in the world at large.

How do you celebrate birthdays? Do you have cake, ice-cream, or go eat out at a restaurant? Perhaps pray an extra Rosary for Mary’s intention. Whatever you do, celebrate Mary’s Birthday with joy.

Sept 5th - Saint Mother Teresa of Calcutta

 

Today is the First Saturday of the month and so you can offer your Holy Communion at Mass today in reparation for sins committed against the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Today is also the feast of Saint Mother Teresa of Calcutta.

Agnes Bojaxhiu was born on Aug. 26^th in 1910, in Skopje, Macedonia of Albanian heritage. Her father, died when she was eight years old, leaving her with her mother, a devoutly religious woman. At the age of 18, she left home in 1928, for the Loreto Convent in Dublin, Ireland, where she was admitted as a postulant, and received the name of Teresa, after St. Thérèse of Lisieux.

Agnes was sent to India and arrived in Calcutta in 1929. Upon her arrival, she joined the Loreto novitiate in Darjeeling. She made her final profession as a sister of Loreto on May 24^th, 1937. While living in Calcutta during the 1930s and '40s, she taught in St. Mary's Bengali Medium School.

On Sept. 11^th of 1946, on a train journey from Calcutta, Mother Teresa received what she termed the "call within a call," which was to give rise to the Missionaries of Charity Sisters, Brothers, Fathers, and Co-Workers. The content of the inspiration is revealed in the aim and mission she would give to her new institute: "to quench the infinite thirst of Jesus on the cross for love and souls" by "laboring at the salvation and sanctification of the poorest of the poor." The sisters would later receive permission to take a fourth vow of serving the poorest of the poor.

The Gospel of Matthew, Chapter 25 gives us 6 out of 7 of the Corporal Works of Mercy, which we will be judged at the moment of our death. Jesus said, “When I was hungry, you gave me food, when I was thirsty, you gave me drink. When I was naked you clothed me. When I was ill or in prison you visited me.” The 7^th Work of Mercy to bury the dead is in the book of Tobit.

Mother Teresa discovered God’s call to quench the thirst of Jesus on the Cross, by serving the poorest of the poor. She understood the words of Jesus, “What you do to the least of my brothers, you do unto me.” Her mission began when she took the first dying man off the street. She wanted him to know he is loved. She gave the homeless man a place to die, water to drink, food to eat, clothed him, cared for him in his illness and buried him when he died. Throughout her life, she opened different kinds of houses: houses for the handicapped, houses for the homeless, houses for the dying, houses for AIDS Victims, houses for abandoned children, schools for children and medical clinics.

On October 7th, 1950, the new congregation of the Missionaries of Charity was officially established. When she was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979, there were 158 foundations. From the late 1980s through the 1990s, despite increasing health problems, Mother Teresa traveled across the world for the profession of novices, opening new houses, and service to the poor and disaster stricken. New communities were founded in South Africa, Albania, Cuba, and Iraq. By 1997, the sisters numbered nearly 4,000 members and had almost 600 foundations in 123 countries.

After traveling to Rome, New York, and Washington, in a weak state of health, Mother Teresa returned to Calcutta in July of 1997. At 9:30 PM, Sept. 5^th, Mother Teresa died at the motherhouse. Her dear friend, Pope Saint John Paul II would later beatify her, and Pope Francis would canonize here.

During the Jubilee Year, 2000, when I was a seminarian, I was blessed to go on mission trip to Calcutta and worked in several of the houses, including the house for dying, a house for the handicapped and a house for abandoned children.

The experience was truly life changing to see the poorest of the poor and how the sisters worked in such harsh conditions, with a smile on their face as they took care of many of the poor.

Inside the mother house in the chapel is the above ground tomb of Mother Teresa. The sisters said it was above the ground because at times the chapel floods during the rainy season and they didn’t want mother’s remains to be affected. I was able to pray at her tomb every day.

When I was walking through their convent, I noticed beds with large nets hanging over them and the beds and long legs so they would not touch the floor. I asked them about it and they said, "We raise the beds off the floor, so we don’t get bitten by rats at night when we are sleeping and the nets protect us from getting bit by mosquitoes."

One of the most famous quotes from Mother Teresa came at the National Prayer Breakfast, where President Bill Clinton and first lady, Hilary and many dignitaries were present.

To all present she said, “I feel that the greatest destroyer of peace today is abortion. And if we accept that a mother can kill even her own child, how can we tell other people not to kill one another? Any country that accepts abortion is not teaching its people to love, but to use any violence to get what they want. This is why the greatest destroyer of love and peace is abortion.”

23rd Sunday "The Family that Prays Together Stays Together"

 

The Family That Prays Together, Stays Together

In the Gospel today, Jesus said, “Amen, I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything for which they are to pray, it shall be granted to them by my heavenly Father. For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.”

By these words of Jesus, it is very clear that Our Lord is present when at least two gathers together to pray. Do you want Jesus to be part of your family. Not just when you personally pray to Him, but when you gather as a family?

Praying as a family is not something that comes easily for everyone. In fact, a recent study of young families found that 76% of parents pray mostly as individuals rather than with family. This is particularly striking when paired with the finding from a similar report that found that 85% percent of parents are likely to watch television with their family while only 15% are more likely to watch alone.

In short, families are far more likely to watch television together than they are to pray together. There is good reason to put in the effort when it comes to family prayer. Not only does a faith life lead to happiness, but God wants to richly bless your family.

While it always good and necessary to bless our food before we eat as a family, the family can be doing much more.

Family prayer opens it to the great graces God has in store for you. Speaking on the importance of family prayer, Saint Pope John Paul II wrote: “The family celebrates the Gospel of life through daily prayer, both individual prayer and family prayer. The family prays in order to glorify and give thanks to God for the gift of life, and implores his light and strength in order to face times of difficulty and suffering without losing hope. But the celebration which gives meaning to every other form of prayer and worship is found in the family's actual daily life together, if it is a life of love and self-giving.”

In addition to attending church Sunday, praying at mealtime, and other forms of prayer, a family can pray simply by living charitably among one another.

Family prayer reminds us to forgive one another and ask God for forgiveness (although no one should confess their sins in front of family members). It helps us to remember; God is the center of our life and our family. When there are family problems, we will be more apt to seek God’s grace and help to endure struggles and overcome them. Prayer will protect the family from evil spirits who are constantly trying to sow anger, division, unforgiveness, and create problems. Daily family prayer need not be difficult. It's really not hard to pray as a family. Spontaneous prayer can make some feel uneasy. Some are good at it, others are not. We are not required to do spontaneous prayer, with family prayer. Here is an easy way, that can take less than 5 minutes. But, it should be done consistently, every day, perhaps before bed. Gather the family together, you can hold hands if you want, but don’t need to. Read a short paragraph from the bible (Matthew, Mark, Luke or John preferred), then ask each person to mention something they want to pray for or what they are thankful for. Then once everyone has mentioned their prayer intention, close with the Lord’s Prayer and three Hail Marys (together).

We can add a decade of the Rosary or and eventually a full Rosary. St. Louis de Montfort said, “Somebody who says his Rosary alone only gains the merit of one Rosary, but if he says it together with thirty other people, he gains the merit of thirty Rosaries. This is the law of public prayer. How profitable, how advantageous this is!”

So, if you four people in your home pray the Rosary together, each person receives the same graces as though each person prayed four rosaries.

God wants us to pray as a family publicly too. We are to keep the Sabbath holy by attending church regularly to worship God, which we are required to do, since He created us. In addition to Sunday church, we can also pray as a family during weekday Masses. And we can bring the family any time before the presence of Jesus in church and sit and listen to Him speak to our heart.

Jesus in the Tabernacle is always waiting for someone to spend time with Him and He is filled with joy when we come.

Jesus said, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and rest with me.” Our Lord also said, “Let the little children come to me. Do not hinder them.” and therefore, our Lord wants all members of the family to be with Him. By bringing the family together to church on Sunday and pray together every day at home, or come together as a family during Eucharistic Adoration, or before the Tabernacle it will give the family enumerable graces. Graces to forgive each other, to love each other and graces of peace and unity.

If we pray together as a family, we allow Him to be the Lord of our family. We will allow God to strengthen the family and protect it, as Fr. Peyton once said, “The family that prays together, stays together.”

I would like to close with a prayer for families by Mother Teresa of Calcutta.

Heavenly Father, you have given us a model of life in the Holy Family of Nazareth.

Help us, O Loving Father, to make our family another Nazareth where love, peace and joy reign.

May it be deeply contemplative, intensely Eucharistic 
and vibrant with joy.

Help us to stay together in joy and sorrow through family prayer.

Teach us to see Jesus in the members of our family,
especially in their distressing disguise.

May the Eucharistic Heart of Jesus make our hearts meek and humble like His, and help us to carry out our family duties in a holy way.

May we love one another as God loves each one of us,
more and more each day, and forgive each others faults
as you forgive our sins.

Help us, O Loving Father,
to take whatever you give
and to give whatever you take,
with a big smile.

Help us, O Holy Father, to make our families one heart, full of love, in the Heart of Jesus through Mary.

Immaculate Heart of Mary, cause of our joy, pray for us.
St. Joseph, pray for us.
Holy Guardian Angels,
be always with us,
guide and protect us.
Amen.

-- St. Mother Teresa of Calcutta