groupies

Hebrews 10:1-10; Ps 40 Here I am Lord, I come to do your will; Mark 3:31-35

We are all familiar with groupies.  Groupies are those crazed fans of music groups who lose their sense of reason and normalcy when they are around "their" rock star or "their" favorite musician.

We have seen it most recently with "Bieber Fever" and we are all familiar of the "Beetle Craze."

Strange how humans have that inert desire to group together and to find meaning in associating with groups or people.

Think about our local communities.  We have the Lyons club, the Rotary club, the KofC, Catholic Daughters, Altar Society, Guadalupanos/as and the list goes on.  There is the Friends of the Library group, the Gardening Club and more.


The bottom line is we like to gather, we like to belong, we like to find meaning in these place, these gatherings, these meetings of the mind.

In them we discover a place of comfort, a place of direction, a place of support, a place of importance.

Jesus in today's gospel invites us to another group.  He wants us to be his "groupie" but rather than losing ourselves in the emotional craze we are asked to invest ourselves in "the will of God."

Think about the will of God for a moment.  There are three parts of the will of God.

There is the universal will of God.  God has  a plan for all humanity and all of creation.  He wants to reconcile the created world to himself and he does so in Christ.  God creates us to know him, love him, serve him in this life and be with him in the life to come.

There is the circumstantial aspect.  These are those moments in our life that are beyond our control. This is where we throw up our hands because we can't make heads or tale out of the situation.  we find ourselves saying "Que sera, sera".

Here God invites us to surrender.  The words of Christ from the Cross come to mind, "Into your hands Lord I commend my spirit."  Surrender is a necessary part of living God's will n our life.  When we can not make sense of our life we look to God who brings meaning an purpose and we take him by the hand and let him lead.

The third aspect and the one that hits closest to home is the intentional or personal aspect of God's will. God invites us to invest personally in living our life according to his plan, no longer based on our whim.

God has given us the instruction manual or the game book so to say in the scriptures we read and the teachings his church.  We are asked to execute that on a regular basis.

We have to execute his will daily by being loving, merciful, forgiving.  We have to execute it by avoiding temptation and seeking to reach out to the least of our brothers and sisters.

We execute it by living the beatitudes and the corporal and spiritual works of mercy.

This is where we truly live out our identity as brothers and sisters.  This is the pattern for the groupie of Christ.

Go on and get crazy for Jesus.

Conversion of St. Paul: makeover

Acts 22:3-16 or 9:1-22; Ps 117 Go out to all the world and tell the Good News; Mark 16:15-18

Today in the Church we celebrate the memory of St. Paul's conversion to the faith. 

One of the most hateful and despicable men in regards to persecution of Christians gets an make over.

This is a real man who had real emotions and real ties to destroying Christians and message of Christ.  And yet, out of the blue there is this change, this 180 degree turn about. 

"A light from the sky suddenly flashed around him.  He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying, "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?"

"He said, who are you sir?  Then the reply came, "I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.  Now get up and go into the city and you will be told what you must do." 

There it is, the initial encounter that changes the heart of man.  There it is, the initial encounter that has changed the face of the church.  There it is, the  initial encounter that reminds us that God is active in our history; God is on the look out for men and women of his choosing to spread the good news.

From the clear blue sky, light shall rain down and hearts are transformed. 

It is often said that God loves us unconditionally, that God loves us as we are.  But what the conversion of Paul  reminds us is that God wants to change us, convert us, open our eyes. 

In deed God loves us but his love seeks to penetrate our hearts and transform our lives. 

Two things about conversions:

1) it is a surprise.  All were surprised when they heard of Paul's transformation. Which means that we have to create space in our life for God to surprise us. 

We have to be ready to be surprised.  With God we can no longer say we do not like surprises.  For if we are against surprises then ultimately we are against God. 

2)  We have to let God use us to surprise others.  Think about that today.  HOw can you bring the light of Christ in your life, your family, your work place and bring forth that surprising reality of truth in love. 

Be surprised!  Be the surprise! Bring a surprise with you!

ultrasound generation: words from Cardinal Dolan

As we mark the solemn 40th anniversary of the Roe v. Wade decision, I would like to address my column this week to our teens and young adults, who I believe will ultimately prevail in restoring a sense of respect for all human life, including the innocent baby in her mother’s womb. Please feel free to share this column with a young adult in your life, or ask them to look for it at www.cny.org.  

For much of the 40 years since the Supreme Court’s tragic Roe v. Wade decision ushering in an era of abortion on demand, we in the pro-life community have had little to cheer about. In the battle for hearts and minds, it has at times seemed as though we were losing ground, and fast. We could preach about the sacredness of all human life, about the harm that abortion does to women who are so often coerced by others into doing the unthinkable, and the lifetime of pain and regret so many of them, and the fathers of the aborted baby, face as a result. For a long time we were overwhelmed by even louder voices proclaiming “choice” to be the ultimate right. For too many of my generation, that argument was effective and catchy, and there is no changing their minds.

This civil rights issue of our time—the right to life of the innocent baby in the womb—won’t be won by the older generation; it will be won by the young. It is to you that I address this message on this solemn anniversary.

Popular culture calls you the “Millennial Generation” because you came of age at the dawn of the Millennium. But I think of you as the “Ultrasound Generation.” You are different than any generation that came before you in that your very first baby pictures were taken not with you in your mother’s arms, but you alive in her womb.

Your generation is defined by technology. You have come to expect almost annual revolutionary technological breakthroughs that change the way we live and work. You have seen staggering medical advances that have given doctors wonderful new tools in fighting disease and injury. And you have grown up with ultrasound technology that has opened a window into the womb, allowing us to glimpse preborn babies from the earliest weeks of gestation.

You have seen your little brothers and sisters before they were born in these grainy videos and photographs pinned to the fridge. Your mom or your dad has shown you those first images of yourself. Some of you have even seen your own children for the first time with newer, clearer 3- and 4-dimensional ultrasound technology. You have gasped with wonder at the sight of little arms flailing and legs kicking, heads bobbing and hearts beating, mouths sucking thumbs.

You have seen, and you believe.

Let’s face it, you figured out a long time ago that your parents’ generation isn’t always right. So many have tried to convince you (as they have allowed themselves to be convinced) that an unborn baby is nothing more than a “clump of cells.” College professors, politicians, Hollywood glitterati, and media talking heads have hammered you with the message that the decision to abort has no more moral significance than having a wisdom tooth extracted. To be an enlightened adult, you will be told, you must support the “right to choose.” (They won’t tell you what, or who is being chosen.)

You are rightly skeptical. They may believe what they say, but in this matter they are wrong. Think of your first baby picture, the one on the flimsy paper with the dark background and the unmistakable image of you. You know better.

You have seen, and you believe.

I know it is not easy to go against the prevailing culture. But your generation has not been afraid to be countercultural. Besides, I have good news for you—you are not alone. The pro-abortion movement’s dark secret is that it has been losing the hearts and minds of young people for a number of years. And now the secret is out. 

Just last month, the head of the nation’s largest abortion advocacy organization, stepped down, citing the need for someone younger to try to engage youth. Interestingly, she seemed to acknowledge that her side is losing you, the “Ultrasound Generation.”

“The intensity on that side will not go away,” she told the media. “They come to this issue as young people who want to overturn Roe v. Wade, and they’re going to do everything in their power. That view might change as they grow older and reality hits and personal experience happens, but right now the personal intensity is pretty high on that side.”

You know what? She’s right! I have seen that intensity myself in the young New Yorkers who pray at abortion clinics, lobby in Albany and climb onto buses in the pre-dawn darkness to join their fellow pro-lifers at the March for Life in Washington, D.C., as we’ll do this Friday. When I look out into the sea of faces out on the Mall in the shadow of the Washington Monument, I see you. You know who I see when I look at the rallies on the pro-abortion side? I see people my age and older.

That pro-abortion leader and others like her are counting on you having some sort of grand epiphany once you get older and, as she said, “reality hits.” But what they aren’t counting on is that when you saw yourself, your kid brother or sister, your own child, in that ultrasound photo, reality did hit. And it hit hard.

You have seen, and you believe.

But here’s the tough part: It is not enough that you believe. It is not enough that you are sympathetic to the cause. Don’t get me wrong, I am thrilled to know that so many of you in the “Ultrasound Generation” are pro-life. But this can’t be a secret anymore. You need to proclaim it. It can’t come from me or from people my age; our time is rapidly passing. Now is your time.

My time has seen 55 million abortions in the United States since 1973. That is almost exactly the population of New York State and California combined. A number that big can seem abstract, but you know intuitively that these 55 million people were your peers, your siblings. One of them could easily have been you.

In New York City, four out of every 10 pregnancies end in abortion, double the national average, mostly poor Black and Latino women. In some parts of New York City, the number is 6 in 10. Yet some of our elected officials in Albany are pushing a bill, believe it or not, to expand abortion access even further. It’s as though, in their minds, our state motto, “Excelsior” (“Ever Upward”) applies to the abortion rate!

Sometimes, it falls to one generation to clean up another generation’s mess. And I’m afraid we have left you quite a mess. I am asking you, the “Ultrasound Generation,” to set the course right, to change hearts and minds, to change the law so that your children’s generation is given the legal protection that your generation so tragically was not. Ultimately, I am counting on you to change our culture.

My faith in you is high. For I have seen, and I believe—in you.

refusal to betray love

Hebrews 7:1-3,15-17; Ps 110 You are a priest for ever, in the line of Melchizedek; Mark 3:1-6

Yesterday since it was the anniversary of Roe v Wade, the church asked us to offer the mass for gratitude for the gift of life.  So we did.

Yesterday was also the feast day of St. Vincent the Martyr, whose celebration we will commence today.  We decided to move his feast day celebration here on retreat.

I am pleased with the decision.  When we were in Madrid for world youth day, we stopped over in Valencia.  We spent several days in VAlencia warming up for our trek to Madrid for the arrival of the Pope and the commencement of the youth day festivities.

While in Valencia, we came across the relics of St. Vincent the Martyr.  He was a deacon int he early church and was killed for his faith in the 4th century.  You do the math.  That was over 1700 years ago.

Behind the Cathedral altar there is a box which contains the arm and hand of St. Vincent, still incorrupt for the most part.  It looks like a hand and arm.  Pretty amazing.

I remember having the opportunity to preach at the Basilica of the Sacred Heart while in Valencia with about 4 hundred pilgrims from all over the world and i was asked to preach on St. Vincent.

It was a pretty "cool"experience.  I remember telling the pilgrims gathered that a martyr simply put is one who refuses to betray love.

They do not choose to die but rather they choose to live for God and in living for God and holding firm to their faith no matter the consequences they honor love in its highest degree.

The refusal to betray love, not our love for God, but rather God's love for us.  This is what we celebrate in today's feast.

Martyrdom is the willingness to hold nothing back.  Martyrdom can easily be likened to tithing.  As you look toward today's first reading, we encounter Abraham  apportioning to Melchizedek  a tenth of everything.

What about us?  How do we give of ourselves?  What do we apportion out to God as a sign of our gratitude for him in our life?

Whether we are martyrs or not, we are all asked to give of ourselves as an opportunity to no longer live for ourselves but to live for God.

What say you!

LIFE

The Love of Life
Love is not merely a feeling, but is rather the desire for the best possible good for those whom we love. Through our natural intelligence and through Divine Revelation we become aware of the value of this most basic of all gifts which is life. Mere reason leads us to comprehend that it is better to be alive than never have had been in existence. The knowledge of the value of life that comes through revelation leads us to understand better this gift and to appreciate it: as a result, we worship and love more and more the Giver of this gift. This love is what moves us to protect the life of the unborn or any who might be unjustly treated. We are also led to protect women that might feel tempted or forced to commit abortion, as we know the devastating consequences that abortion will have in their lives. Last but not least we have to love, even if most of them seem to be utterly unlovable, the many perpetrators of abortion: medical personnel, and pro-abortion activists and politicians. We have to do everything that we can to convince them of their errors so that they repent and change their ways, both for their own benefit and for the benefit of society.

All human beings are created in the image and likeness of God. Using a traditional scholastic term, we can state that He is the exemplary cause of every human being, in other words, He is the model on which all human beings are created. He looked upon himself and wished that other beings would share in His own happiness. So if we reflect upon ourselves, we can begin to understand our participation in the greatness of our Creator. This participation on His greatness leads us to comprehend that He has brought us out of nothing with a purpose, because knowing His intelligence and His loving nature it is clear that all His actions are always guided by a magnificent purpose. The first intention for which He has created us is that we should enjoy for an eternity His loving company in Heaven. All human persons are called to this eternal and loving company, no one is excluded, save those who, through their own actions, exclude themselves.

This manner of creation brings us to understand the unique essential dignity of every human being. A dignity that is not lost for any deprivation of the many external perfections that we might expect to find in a human person. A person might be born with a disability, or may suffer disability through injury or disease, but these deprivations do not affect his basic dignity. A Christian also has the hope that one day when the doors of Paradise will be opened for those children, all their human imperfections will be healed and they will enjoy forever the beatific vision that we all long for.

We are also created to be collaborators in the salvation of the World. The Lord normally does not intervene directly in the world; He does it through our free collaboration in his plans of salvation. He gives to us the saving truths through Holy Scripture, our natural reason and the mediation of the Church and we have to manifest them in our daily lives. If we love those truths we should be impelled to share them with all whom the Lord places in front of us. So when we speak with love and conviction of those truths we cannot be accused of carrying out an exaggerated rhetoric when we defend human life from its biological beginning until natural death. Nobody in his right mind can call it "vitriolic rhetoric" when we denounce that millions upon millions of unborn babies have been killed in the womb in the U.S. and in the rest of the world. It is literally a question of life and death, for the victim, for the mother of the baby and for the perpetrator of abortion, assisted suicide or euthanasia. The victim will have his earthly life terminated; the mother will suffer greatly for her actions, and the perpetrator and the mother will live under the shadow of the unhappiness of having rejected the loving truths of their Creator and certainly they will place their eternal salvation in jeopardy. Our main solidarity has to be always with the victim of the crime, because if the conscience of the nation is not moved by this growing injustice, we know that a growing number will be victimized in the future. Our solidarity is also with the mothers of those babies because often they have been misled or forced into committing this terrible action.

Last but not least we wish and pray that all abortionists will understand the terrible consequences of their actions and be converted.

Excerpted from Spirit & Life, Monsignor Ignacio Barreiro-Carámbula, Interim President,Human Life International

spiritual Lions: a note from yesterday

Hebrews 5:1-10; Psalm 110 You are a priest forever, in the line of Melchizedek; Mark 2:18-22

Just a word from St. Paul in his letter to the Hebrews

“Every high priest is taken from among men and made their representative before God, to offer gifts ad sacrifices for sins.  He is able to deal patiently with the ignorant and erring, for he himself is beset by weakness and so, for this reason, must make sin offerings for himself as well as for the people.”

St. Paul is setting us up for a better understanding of Jesus the high priest.  He will later go on and speak about Jesus and his life in the flesh and how through his suffering he becomes a source of eternal salvation for all who obey him.

But I want to focus on one aspect of St. Paul’s reflection: “He is able to deal patiently with the ignorant and erring, for he himself is beset by weakness and so, for this reason, must make sin offerings for himself as well as for the people…”

How would our life and our ability to relate to others be altered if we meditated on that passage, not so much in regards to Christ and his identity but in regards to us and our identity?

What if we spent time reflecting on out own errors and ignorance?  What if we grew in our awareness of our own sins?  How would that affect our ability to deal with the sins of others?

Would it help us to be patient  in our dealings with those we encounter?

How quickly we hoist ourselves above others?  How quickly we judge our selves to be greater, more important, at a higher level of being than those we meet who are beset with errors and ignorance? 

Yet, we are not!

The one thing that Jesus as our high priest shows forth is how we are to deal with the burden of the sins of the other.  We are ask to carry them.

We are asked to patiently make that trek with Christ on the path to Calvary carrying the sins of the other as Christ carries our sins.

To deal patiently with the ignorant and erring, for he himself is beset by weakness…

Here are words of St. Francis De Sales in regards to his enemies, “If an enemy were to put out my right eye, I would want to smile at him with my left; if he put out both my eyes, I would still have a heart to love him.”

Again he stated this,

“The Lion is a powerful animal, full of resources; this is why he can sleep without fear either in a secret den or beside a path traveled by other animals.  Thus we must become spiritual lions! Fill ourselves with strength, with love of God, and thus you will not fear those ”animals” which are human failings because in the winds of temptations the great fires of divine love grow stronger, while smaller flames are blown out!”

on guard

Hebrews 4;1-5,11; Ps 78 Do not forget the works of the Lord; Mark 2:1-12


"Let us be on guard while the promise of entering his rest remains, that none of you seemed to have failed...Therefore, let us strive to enter into that rest, so that no one may fall after the same example of disobedience."

The two lines above are the bookends of the words of St. Paul today in the letter of Hebrews.

There is a sense of the possibility of losing or being lost caught up in his language.

To be on guard suggest a need to be cautious, careful, alert, vigilant, observant because there might be a situation that is dangerous or danger is or may be lurking.

Why the need for such insistence on St. Paul's part?  What could possibly go wrong?  If we accept Jesus as Lord, then why the need for this constant alertness and precipitous caution?


The importance is garnered from the context, something that many of fail to notice as we glimpse through the pages of scripture.

Remember int he context of Paul's letter he is directing the hearers or in this case readers back to the desert wanderings.  He is speaking in particular of Israel's infidelity.

When on the verge of entering the promised land, the lord ordered Moses to send men to reconnoiter the land, to scout out what was beyond the jordan.  (numbers 13-14)

On their return there were a few naysayers who were trying to convince the rest of the folks to disregard what God had said about giving the land and people over into their hands.

With a few negative remarks from a few naysayers the whole community broke out in loud cries, grumbling against Moses and aaron and but more importantly began to express their own disbelief in God's ability to lead them as he told them he would, "WHy is the LORD bringing us into this land only to have us fall by the sword?" Num 14:1-4.

Here in lies the sin of the nation of Israel. After having witness to enormity of God's power and how God rescued them from slavery and fed them with mana for 40 years, now on the verge of receiving God's reward they get weak in the knees and bail on their faith and trust.

This is the context in which Paul speaks these words today to us.

The danger that he speaks of is not so much out side of us but rather inside of us.  We, in our own journey, can be our worst enemies.

In the words of St. Philip Neri, "Lord, watch out for Philip, He betray you today."

THis is why Paul invites us to be cautious, alert, attentive, vigilant.

Quickly in a flash doubt and fear can take over our hearts.  In just a few moments, our faith can begin to unravel.

This is why it is so important to make an act of faith daily, to reconfirm our faith in the living God and entrust our life to him no matter the circumstances.

It is also important not to give in to the naysayers around us feeding us the darkness of distrust.

This is why we must be on guard.

The term on guard is used in fencing by the referee so the participants know they should get ready for the bout for the fighting is about to commence.

St. Paul is simply being the referee and getting us in the proper posture and stance for the bout, a bout that is often against our own interior doubts and worries and distrust.