The Sunday Homily - ALL SAINTS DAY

At an important point in the life and work of Mahatma Gandhi, a missionary gave him a book that contained the four Gospels. This of course, was the Indian leader's first exposure to Christianity. He read the Gospels with great interest, and was convinced that the principles taught by Jesus could resolve all of the political, social and economic problems of his country.

Gandhi had to travel throughout Western Europe in order to muster support for an independent India. Traveling through Christian countries, he was dismayed only to conclude that the Gospels are wonderful indeed, but he did not see anyone living their teaching. For this reason, Gandhi never converted to Christianity.

Today we celebrate All Saints Day. We are all called to be saints. Today’s Gospel passage reminds us of the program.

The Beatitudes contain the essence of the Christian way of life. The Catechism of the Catholic Church states: The beatitude we are promised confronts us with decisive moral choices. It invites us to purify our hearts of bad instincts and to seek the love of God above all else. It teaches us that true happiness is not found in riches or well-being, in human fame or power, or in any human achievement – however beneficial it may be – such as science, technology, and art, or indeed in any creature, but in God alone, the source of every good and of all love" (CCC # 1723).

The Beatitudes of the Gospel turn all worldly values upside down. The world pursues happiness in wealth, power, fame and sex, whereas the Gospel demands of us values that are essentially different.

The Beatitudes challenge us to choose: to live Christianity or to live by the standards of the world. Do you want to give in to the demands of a worldly way of life, or have you decided to live true and authentic Christianity? The choice to live the Gospel changes our entire life. It tells us how we are to act, how we are to dress, how we are to speak, and how we are to interact with people. The choice to live the Gospel affects every aspect of our entire existence.

A number of years ago I was invited to give a retreat to a group of lay people in New York City. A seminarian graciously accompanied me in order to help with the practical details. Prior to the evening retreat, we had a number of appointments, and so that meant that we would have lunch in New York. The seminarian really enjoyed Asian cuisine, so I accommodated his palate by inviting him to lunch at a Korean restaurant.

As we went to our table, we were met by a Korean woman who graciously attended us with delicate courtesy. Having had many years of experience at my father's restaurant, I was able to notice that her kindness, manners, and spirit of service were far from ordinary.

Towards the end of the meal, another Korean woman finished waiting on our table. When we were ready, I asked her for the check. She then proceeded to tell me that there would be no charge for the lunch because the first waitress took care of the bill. I was very surprised and I asked her why she had decided to pay for our meal. "She is Christian", was the unanticipated answer from the waitress.

"She is Christian", meant that all the other waitresses were not Christian, and that all though encountering a free meal in the middle of downtown New York City surprised me, they were not surprised at all. They knew that this woman was different. Because of her Christianity, she was different.

The four beatitudes in Luke's Gospel sum up the eight beatitudes in Matthew's Gospel. The shorter version in Luke's Gospel is followed by four curses that underscore what happens to those who choose to live by the values of the world.

Let us for brevity sake, consider the four beatitudes in Luke’s Gospel.

"Blessed are you poor, for yours is the kingdom of God". No matter how much or how little we possess, we are all called to recognize that everything we have comes from God. God is our Father and He will provide all of our needs. Creatures are simply stepping stones on the journey towards eternal life. This beatitude calls us to be totally detached from the things of this world and to seek our true happiness in God alone. However, at the same time, this beatitude also calls us to use our gifts, talents, resources, and the things of this world to help all those who are in need and to create a better life for everyone.

"Blessed are you that hunger now, for you shall be satisfied". Most of us have never suffered from severe hunger or thirst. Most of us, despite the challenges of life, have never gone without a meal or never went without water. The hunger that Jesus refers to concerns the hunger for the transcendent. Secularism and materialism have deadened this natural desire for God. The desire for God is insatiable in this life and can only be satisfied completely in eternity.

"Blessed are you that weep now, for you shall laugh". The Christian experience begins with the acknowledgement of our sinful condition. "Depart from me Lord, for I am a sinful man" (Luke 5: 8). Repentance allows us to experience true joy. The humble person acknowledges sin, converts, and becomes the loving recipient of God's mercy. No one can truly repent without true sorrow for sin.

"Blessed are you when men hate you, and when they exclude you and revile you, and cast out your name as evil, on account of the Son of man! Rejoice in that day, and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven; for so their fathers did to the prophets." Jesus knew that the life of the true Christian on earth would not be an easy one. The authentic Christian lives a life totally in contrast to those who live by the standards of the world. As we saw two Sundays ago, for the Christian, conflict will always be a normal way of life. It is amazing what millions of our brothers and sisters have suffered throughout the history of Christianity for their Lord and God.

In conclusion, the beatitudes do not contain all of the teachings of the Gospel. However, they do contain the most essential aspects of Christian behavior that we need to live in order to reach Christian perfection. The Beatitudes of Jesus present to us an entirely new way of living our lives. Granted, this new way of life is challenging and difficult, nevertheless, he alone offers to us all of the spiritual means that we need in order to live them with conviction in our daily lives.

The Saints that we celebrate today are our heroes. They inspire us to live out our lives with heroic virtue. All of us have our favorite saints. Because of the challenges that we face today, I am most especially inspired by the martyrs of Spain and Mexico. Here are just a few examples.

The years 1936 – 1939 marked the greatest persecution against the Catholic Church. The place was Spain. The persecution was brutal and thousands of Catholics were martyred.

One of the martyrs was Blessed Victoria Diez Bustos de Molina. Victoria became a public school teacher. However, the historical times in which she lived became very difficult. Before the civil war actually began, there was a very anti-catholic environment in Spain. The government prohibited the teaching of the catechism in the classroom and demanded crucifixes be removed from the walls. Victoria refused to comply.

Eventually the civil war did spill over in the small town of Nornachuelos where she was teaching. Father Molina, the parish priest, emptied the tabernacle and entrusted the Blessed Sacrament to Victoria. Quickly Father was arrested; the church was ransacked and burned.

Around this same time, Victoria was teaching catechism to a group of women at around eight o’clock in the evening. During the class, two armed men entered the classroom and demanded that Victoria leave with them.

Victoria, together with Fr. Molina and eighteen others who were already in prison were awakened in the middle of the night. They were forced to walk for three hours to a new destination: an abandoned mine shaft. Each one was forced to stand upon a huge stone above a large pit where they were shot and killed.

Victoria watched as the men were shot and fell into the pit. Fr. Molina was the last man to be killed and then it was Victoria’s turn. The soldiers tried to convince her to save her life if she would only renounce her Catholic Faith and cry out “Long live the republic” and “Long live communism”. Victoria refused. Instead she knelt on the stone, and with her eyes raised to heaven and her arms opened in the form of a cross she shouted, “Long live Christ the King! Long live the Virgin Mother!” Victoria was only thirty-three years old.

Between the 1920’s and 1930’s there was also a terrible persecution against the Catholic Church, but this time it was in Mexico. Here are just a few testimonies regarding the thousands of martyrs that occurred during the Cristero uprising.

As a young priest Father Mateo Correa gave First Communion to Miguel Pro. In 1927, frail and elderly, he was taking the viaticum to a sick parishioner near Valparaiso when he was caught and accused of being in league with the Cristeros. Taken to Durango, he heard the confessions of some Cristeros awaiting execution. When the commander demanded to know what they had said, the brave confessor refused to answer, and he was shot.

On March 26, 1927, Father Julio Alvarez, pastor of Mechoacanejo, Jalisco, was arrested, tied to the saddle of a horse, and led away to Leon. On hearing his sentence, he said, “I know that you have to kill me because you are ordered to do so, but I am going to die innocent because I have done nothing wrong. My crime is to be a minister of God. I pardon you.” He crossed his arms and the soldiers fired. They then threw his body onto a trash heap near the church.

On April 11, 1927, the pastor of Totolan, Jalisco, Father Sabas Reyes was arrested, beaten, and tortured, but he suffered with heroic patience. His hands and feet were burned; he was starved, left in the sun, and given nothing to drink. He was beaten until a number of his bones were broken and his skull was fractured. On April 13, he was taken to the cemetery and shot. Three or four times the rifles spoke; each time, Father Reyes raised his head and cried out “Viva Cristo Rey.”

When he was advised to leave his parish, Father Pedro Esqueda of San Juan de los Lagos, Jalisco, responded “God put me here; He knows where I am.” November 18, 1927, he was captured by government troops at a private home. He was brutally tortured for four days, but suffered in silence. On November 22, he was led to a mesquite tree and ordered to climb it. Although he attempted to obey, he could not because his arm was broken. He was tortured again, and then shot.

Because of the political unrest in Mexico, Father Pedro de Jesus Maldonado was ordained in El Paso, Texas. Returning home, he became pastor of Santa Isabel, Chihuahua. In the early 1930s, he was sent back to safety in Texas, but he begged to be allowed to return. A group of armed and drunken men arrested him at his house and made him walk barefoot to Santa Isabel. He recited his rosary along the way. He was beaten and hit on the head so hard that his left eye popped out. He had prayed for the grace of receiving final Communion. He had a consecrated host with him in a pyx, and when his murderers found it, one of them forced him to eat it saying, “Eat this, this is your last Communion!” He was then beaten until he was unconscious, and then taken to the civil hospital where he died on February 11, 1937.

We are all called to be saints. We are all called to be heroes. Now, more than ever, the Church needs new saints and new heroes.

Year for Priests - A Reflection on the Priesthood by Fr. Richard Libby

Every time Jesus worked a miracle, He tied it to faith. He would not work miracles if faith was lacking; or, if He did work one miracle, He would not work a second. Faith was, is, and always will be more important than a miracle or a cure.

For the past several years, the Church in the United States of America has designated the last Sunday in October as “Priesthood Sunday”, in an attempt to boost priestly morale and to encourage faithful Catholics to a greater appreciation for the great gift of the priesthood. It seems particularly fitting during this “Year of the Priest”.

Most of us have heard the quotations from great priests of the past concerning the high dignity of the office to which they have been called: St. Ignatius of Antioch said that the priesthood is the “apex of dignities”; St. John Chrysostom said: “He who honors a priest honors Christ; he who insults a priest insults Christ"; and St. John Vianney, the patron saint of priests, said that “the priesthood is the love of the heart of Jesus”. Pope Pius X once said that the only praise he’d ever desired was to be called a good priest; and Pope John Paul II said that his ordination to the priesthood was the greatest honor he ever received. It is fitting for us to devote a day to the great gift that is the Catholic priesthood, because it is through Catholic priests that Jesus continues His presence in the world.

It is only because of priests that anyone in the world is able to have faith. Faith comes from hearing, as St. Paul tells us; and it is the priest who preaches the Gospel today. It is the priest who begets new spiritual life by bringing people to Christ, both by his preaching and by baptism; it is the priest who heals the soul wounded by sin; and it is the priest who offers the sacrifice by which we are redeemed.

We all know that the priesthood is a great gift, both to the man who receives it, and to the people who benefit from his priestly work. After all, a priest does not become a priest for himself; he is a priest for you. He is here to be the presence of Christ for you. St. John Vianney, in his later years, wanted to give up his pastoral responsibilities and devote himself to a life of prayer, but he remained at his parish because he knew that his responsibility was the salvation of the souls that had been entrusted to him. That’s another remarkable thing about the priesthood: by its very nature, it requires the priest to put the needs of his people ahead of his own desires. The priest is called to be all things to all men.

Since the priesthood is such a great gift to the whole Church, what must we think of those who want to see changes in the priesthood? Remember, the priesthood is a gift from Jesus Himself. He calls His priests, and He even arranges for their assignments. He is the great model of the priesthood, and those men that He calls to follow Him must strive mightily to conform themselves to Him. It is NOT our place to call on the Church for a change in the priesthood; to do so would be the same thing as telling Jesus that we do not appreciate His gift, or that we know more than He does about what kind of gift He should give us. Remember, Jesus did not accommodate Himself to the desires of the people. He preached the truth, and they either accepted it or rejected it. It may be very counter-cultural for the Catholic Church to have an all-male, celibate priesthood, but what of it? The priesthood is a gift from Jesus; let’s be grateful for it.

The story is told that one time, Jesus was walking along and found a man sitting by the side of the road, weeping. He asked what was wrong, and the man said, “I want to see”. Jesus cured his blindness, and went on. He found another man sitting, weeping, and asked what was wrong. The man said, “I want to walk”, and so Jesus healed his lameness and went on. Jesus saw a third man sitting and weeping. He asked what was wrong, and the man told him, “I am a priest”. Jesus sat down and wept with him. Only Jesus could know the true depths of the emotional experiences of a priest. A priest tries to do Jesus’ work, and he gets rejected and persecuted because of it. A priest tries to bring people closer to Jesus, and he is distressed at their indifference. A priest calls his people to conversion, and few respond. Obviously, the story that I just told is not historically factual, but it makes a valid point about the close connection between Jesus and His priests. If it saddens the heart of a priest to see how indifferent so many people are toward their salvation – and believe me, it does – how much more does it sadden the Sacred Heart of Jesus?

Of course, we all know that there have been some priests who have abused their positions and have hurt people in the process. The most extreme cases caused a huge scandal in the year 2002 – a scandal that caused sadness and embarrassment for all Catholics, priests and laity alike. I make no excuses for those who have betrayed the trust of others. It is true that priests remain human, and are subject to the same faults and foibles as anyone else, but even this fact is no excuse for the most egregious violations of trust. In this regard, an insight from St. Francis de Sales may be helpful. He said that a priest who gives scandal is guilty of spiritual murder, but that anyone who takes scandal is guilty of spiritual suicide. In other words, we as faithful Catholics must be able to look past the human failings of our priests, no matter how serious those failings may be, and remain close to the one true Church that Jesus founded. It is NOT the fault of Holy Mother Church that Her priests commit sins; the responsibility for those sins belongs to the priest alone. Anyone who would leave the Church because of the actions of a priest would deny himself access to the one necessary and complete channel of graces that leads to everlasting life.

If you read the stories of those saints who were priests, you will discover quickly that many of them were all too human. Just start with the apostles, the first priests: they argued among themselves about which of them was the greatest, while they were still in the presence of Jesus. St. Damien of Molokai was coarse and rough in manner; Padre Pio, at times, was abrupt and impatient; St. Nicholas had a quick temper; and St. Jerome’s sarcasm was legendary. Today, we might shy away from priests who have such qualities, but these qualities did not keep these priests from getting to Heaven. Perhaps, at times, God makes use of a priest’s impatience, short temper, coarseness, or sarcasm to prick the consciences of the people, and to make them realize their need to reform. Surely a priest needs to strive for perfection, but while he’s doing that, be patient with his imperfections. God may be using them for your benefit.

If you want to know what you should do for your priests on Priesthood Sunday, the answer is the same as it is every day: treat your priest the way that you would like him to treat you. Support him; give him the benefit of the doubt; trust him; understand and accept his limitations; and, most importantly, pray for him. In this matter, St. Therese of Lisieux gives us an excellent example. She wrote about making a pilgrimage to Rome in the company of many saintly priests; and yet, it was during that pilgrimage that she saw, by their conduct, how much priests need prayers. How much easier would it have been if St. Therese had simply recounted and criticized their offenses! Yet she chose the high road instead. She didn’t give even a hint as to the kinds of things that the priests did; she just started praying for them, and continued for the rest of her life.

When you think of the high calling that the priesthood is – that the priest is called to be another Christ and to continue the most important work that Jesus did – then you will understand quickly how badly priests need prayers, because they are bound to fall short. How can our Lord fail to give a favorable hearing to prayers offered for men whom He Himself has called to the priesthood? Perhaps there’s some real wisdom in the quip that, sometimes, makes its way around the Internet: “If the church wants a better pastor, it only needs to pray for the one it has.”

Fr. Libby is the pastor of St. Joseph's Catholic Church in Alice, Texas

Further Reading - Michael Brown from Spirit Daily comments on increased attack on the Catholic priesthood

Handheld Ultrasound: A Peek at the Future of the Pro-Life Movement?

SAN FRANCISCO, California, October 23, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - New technology hailed as a stunning leap forward in modern health care may be about to give pro-life advocates unheard-of power to save a life - in the palm of their hand.

At the Web 2.0 summit in San Francisco this week, General Electric unveiled the ultraportable and user-friendly Vscan, an ultrasound machine about the size of a large flip phone. Dubbing it "the stethoscope of the 21st century," the company offered various scenarios in which the device could vastly advance the landscape of diagnostics.

For pro-lifers on the front lines, the new gadget could hugely improve abortion-bound women's access to ultrasounds, which have been found highly effective in helping mothers choose life for their baby. In the past, the sheer size of the devices has given pro-lifers a perennial puzzle over how to bring the heavy medical equipment into the paths of such women.

Thomas Peters of the American Papist blog was among the first to ponder the new invention as a potential "revolution in sidewalk pro-life counseling technology."

Chris Slattery, the founder and president of the New York pregnancy resource center Expectant Mother Care, called the breakthrough "absolutely awesome."

Slattery said that his own operation has been actively pursuing smaller versions of the ultrasound - having just crammed his mobile ultrasound into a 15-foot cargo van, a step up from the previous 20-foot mobile home.

"Our movement is going more and more mobile with ultrasound," said Slattery. Some pro-life organizers, he said, are so devoted to the life-saving benefits of ultrasound that they have created "a whole sub-segment of the movement" dedicated to providing mobile ultrasound.

But while the vision of pro-life sidewalk counselors nationwide packing a personal ultrasound in their back pocket may be an attractive one, the new technology won't be available for general consumption. Ultrasound sonography is tightly regulated by state law as well as national medical guidelines issued by the American Institute in Ultrasound Medicine, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, and the American College of Radiology.

Still, with equipment and training provided by organizations such as Option Ultrasound and National Institute of Family and Life Advocates (NIFLA), more and more pregnancy resource centers today have been able to open the technology to a life-saving venue. Major pregnancy resource center groups now provide regular and ongoing sonography training for medical clinic affiliates.

"[Ultrasound] is the most powerful tool in the movement," said Slattery. "I've been looking for a new ultrasound machine - and I want to find out more about this."

Taking the Plunge by Marcelino D'Ambrosio, Ph.D.

 I recently visited Italy, Spain, and France and was reminded of the religious contrast between America and Europe. In Europe, large numbers of people consider themselves agnostics or even atheists.

In America, something like 95% of the population believes that God exists. Nearly as high a percentage also believes that there is a life after death and that people are rewarded or punished by God in the next life based on how they lived this life.

So does that mean that there is a higher level of Christian faith in America than in Europe? Not necessarily. Because true faith entails a whole lot more than belief.

Hebrews 11 is one of the classic places in the Bible that discusses the nature of faith. “Without faith,” says the author, “it is impossible to please him.” Certainly such faith includes and presupposes convictions about things that can’t be seen or proven. “Whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him (Heb 11: 6).”

But mere belief can be objective and detached. I’ve never been to China, but I believe it exists. I don’t plan on going any time soon, and my belief that China exists has no impact on my daily life.

True faith is much more personal than this. The New Testament authors actually came up with a new and very strange grammatical construction in Greek to try to convey the personal nature of Christian faith. It is not about just believing that Jesus is the Son of God, or that he died for our sins or that he rose from the dead, but believing in him, or even into him. Faith is a dynamic journey in Christ, a plunge into the depths of the heart of God. If you have conviction that God is omnipotent and all loving, then you must entrust yourself, your loved ones, and your future entirely to him. You take a risk, assuming that he indeed is trustworthy. In fact, that is the origin of the Hebrew word “amen” which is connected to the word for rock. To say “amen” literally means “it is reliable, I can stand on it.”

Lovers who say they believe in their beloved show it by making a public pledge to be faithful to each other til death do them part. This is the covenant of marriage. The act of Christian faith is a lot like this. It is a conviction that leads a person to entrust themselves in love to God in Christ and commit themselves to an exclusive relationship to this God come what may. In fact the verb “to believe” in Latin is “credere” which is related to the Latin words “cor” and “dare”, to give one’s heart. Even in the English language the verb “be-lieve” is related to the German/Saxon verb to love.

So true faith can’t be cool and aloof. It must move from conviction to confidence to commitment for it to be authentic and mature. Do you believe that a supreme being exists and that he knows you better than you know yourself and loves you better than you love yourself? Then it would make sense for you to surrender yourself completely to him and do whatever he tells you.

That’s why Abraham is the prime model of faith in the Old Testament. He did not have that full revelation of God in Christ that we are privileged to possess. In fact he did not even know God’s name. But when this Unknown God called him from the comfort of Mesopotamian civilization to wander in an unknown land, he packed up and left (Gen 12). And when this God required the sacrifice of his only son, the son he had waited for all his life, he did not hesitate to comply (Gen 22).

Abraham had the courage of his convictions. He acted on what he believed. As for the countless Americans who believe in God… If their belief was true faith, there would not be millions of unborn babies legally murdered in this country year after year.

It is easy to shine the searchlight on our neighbors. But how about us? Does the way we vote, spend, work, plan and play reflect what we say we believe?

from http://www.catholicexchange.com/ 

Ending the Desecration of the Lord’s Day - By Fr. Roger Landry

The most important part of St. John Vianney’s efforts to convert his parish in Ars was to help his people to recover a sense of the sacred importance of the Lord’s Day.

The fathers of the Second Vatican Council, summarizing the constant teaching of the Church, taught that to be truly Christian, Jesus in the Eucharist must be the source and the summit, the root and the center, of a person’s life. If someone chooses - other than because of a serious illness or physical impossibility - not to come to Mass on Sunday, opting to put some other person or some activity above God, then, they imply, the person is not really a Christian except in name. Sunday is a “little Easter” and if people don’t recognize the significance of celebrating Easter then they really do not grasp the basics of the Christian faith. Moreover, at a practical level, if someone thinks that work, or games, or catching up on sleep is a higher priority than coming to encounter God and worthily receiving his very life inside, then God is not really God in that person’s life and the person has forsaken the worship of God for an idol.

St. John Vianney knew this. He was convinced that he would never succeed in helping his people strive for and attain heaven unless he first got them coming to Mass.

The first Sunday after his arrival in Ars the Church of St. Sixtus was packed. The villagers hadn’t heard the bells of the Church ring since the premature death of their former pastor and most of the 230 residents of the village assembled in Church to learn the identity of their new pastor. Few presented themselves for Holy Communion, which showed Vianney that there was not much fervor among his new flock. He nevertheless hoped that, if they would come each Sunday, he could start to increase their spiritual temperature.

The next week, however, he saw a much smaller assembly. Many were absent on Easter. As the warmer months came, the Church was almost empty, as the sound of the Church bells lost a competition with the clamor of the anvils, carts, and workers in the fields. This profanation of the Lord’s Day wounded Vianney to the core. To him, it was first one of the most serious offenses against the love of God; second, he thought it was one of the worst sins a person could commit against himself, intentionally serving mammon instead of the Lord.

One Sunday he rose to the pulpit with tears already in his eyes. He preached with a holy fire and clarity that people could still remember fifty years later. His whole body shook as he spoke. Even though he was addressing the “choir,” he spoke in a way so that these “choir members” could sing the same melody at home and throughout the village to those who were not present.

“You keep on working, but what you earn ruins your soul and your body,” he said. “If we ask those who work on Sunday, ‘What have you been doing?,’ they might answer: ‘I have been selling my soul to the devil, crucifying our Lord, and renouncing my baptism. I am doomed to hell. I shall have to weep for all eternity for nothing.’

“When I behold people driving carts on Sunday, I think they are carting their souls to hell. Oh! How mistaken in his calculations is the man who toils on Sunday to earn more money or accomplish more work! Can two or three francs compensate for the wrong he has done himself by violating the law of God?”

The Curé of Ars, out of love for God and for those entrusted to him, didn’t mince words. His message may strike some today, as it did some in Ars in 1818, as too severe. He was reminding his people, however, of three essential truths that pastors in every age have the duty to make sure their parishioners never forget: first, there is a hell; second, there are mortal sins that, unabsolved, will lead us to hell; and third, voluntarily missing Mass on a Sunday and unnecessarily profaning the Lord’s Day are mortal sins.

Many then and now prefer not to think of hell or the mortal sins that can lead us there. They bristle when priests or concerned family members bring these subjects up and often react with scandalized outrage that someone would try to “scare” them into coming to Mass. They pronounce with an absolute moral authority - which they refuse to accord the Church as a whole! - “God would never send someone to Hell for merely missing Mass.” They do not want to face, however, the significance of their betrayal. Judas accounted Jesus less valuable than thirty pieces of silver. Many work on Sunday for far less than that.

Vianney was not principally striving to scare his people into their religious duties as to remind them that missing Sunday Mass is not a small matter without eternal consequences. He principally wanted them to know that Sunday is a day of and for the Lord. “Sunday is the property of the good God,” he preached. “It is his own day, the Lord’s day. He made all the days of the week; he might have kept them all; he has given you six and has reserved only the seventh for himself. What right have you to meddle with what does not belong to you?”

It’s noteworthy that when God gave us the commandment to keep holy his day, he also told us the reason: “for you were once slaves in Egypt” (Deut 5:15). To work on Sunday, in other words, is a form of slavery - slavery to work or to what work can accomplish - from which God wanted to set us free. God gave us the gift of the Sabbath so we could be restored to our true identity by putting first the God in whose image we are made. Jesus himself came to give witness to the meaning of the Sabbath as a day for the worship of God and charity toward others.

For Vianney, Sunday was the time in which people recovered who they really are: “Man is not only a work horse, he is also a spirit created in the image of God! He has not only material needs and coarse appetites; he has needs of the soul and appetites of the heart. He lives not only by bread, but by prayer, faith, adoration and love.”

In addition to preaching, he would go out in search of his lost sheep. In his home visits, he politely invited and encouraged everyone to return to the sacraments, but most ignored him. So early on Sunday mornings, he would go out to the fields to reiterate his appeal. One day he encountered a man taking in his crop. Ashamed at being caught, the man tried to hide behind his cart. “O my friend,” Vianney said with palpable grief in his voice, “you seem very much surprised to find me here… but the good God sees you at all times. He it is whom you must fear.”

The cumulative result of all of these efforts was that, a few years after his arrival, almost everyone in the village was coming to Mass. That allowed the real work of forming them to be saints, which we’ll write about in future columns, to begin.

We live in a time when, on any given Sunday, only one out of four Catholics is coming to Mass. This Year for Priests is an opportunity for all practicing Catholics to imitate the love of St. John Vianney in going out to call the other three back, first by invitation and encouragement and next, if necessary, by not hesitating to remind them of the significance and the eternal stakes.

The conversion of our culture, like the conversion of Ars in the 1800s, cannot happen without it.

Article printed from The Integrated Life Channel: http://integratedlife.catholicexchange.com



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The Sunday Homily - THE BLINDNESS OF BARTIMEAUS

Jesus is passing through Jericho and a large crowd surrounds him as he passes by on his way to Jerusalem. From the Gospel, we can assume that everyone can physically see Jesus except a blind man by the name of Bartimaeus. While he cannot physically see Jesus, a superior form of vision illumines his mind and heart. It is the light of faith that tells him that the Lord is passing by.

"Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!" The blind man cries out to Jesus. He is in need and his faith allows him to recognize that Jesus is the Lord, and that it is the Lord that can answer his need. "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!"

Many people try to stop Bartimaeus. However, the Lord Jesus is able to hear his cry for help, and turns to him with kindness and compassion. "And Jesus said to him, 'What do you want me to do for you?" And the blind man said to him, "Master, let me receive my sight'. And Jesus said to him, 'Go your way; your faith has made you well'. And immediately he received his sight and followed him on the way" (Mark 10: 51-52).

This beautiful passage from the Gospel of Mark gives us an encouraging lesson of hope. Jesus passes by. He passes by every circumstance of our daily lives. It is only through the vision of faith that we come to recognize his daily presence in our lives. Pride, rationalism, indifference, laziness and discouragement will blind us. However, the light of faith will allow us to see Jesus as he makes himself present.

Faith will allow us to perceive his presence when we pray, when we read the Scriptures, and when we worship at the Eucharistic Banquet. Faith allows us to see him present in our brothers and sisters. Faith allows us to see him present in the ordinary circumstances of our lives, even in those moments that are difficult to handle. Jesus is passing by. It is this vision of faith that allows us not to miss his presence as he passes through each moment of our lives.

One Sunday morning as I welcomed a new young woman to the parish, I asked what she did for a living. She told me that she works with the blind. I smiled and I said that we both have a lot of in common. Spiritual blindness is more obstructive than physical blindness. Is not this the situation of our contemporary world?

It is obvious and evident that life begins at the moment of conception, and yet in the face of scientific proof, many continue to promote abortion. If human life did not begin at the moment of conception, why would an abortion be necessary in the first place?

A blind humanity continues to advance destructive practices such as embryonic stem-cell research, homosexual marriages, euthanasia, and human cloning. Many refuse to see the consequences of godless behavior on human society. How much more destruction must take place before people begin to see the truth?

Those who think that they have all of the answers are no longer reachable. Pride is the root of spiritual blindness. Bartimaeus exemplifies the humility that is needed in order to see and to grasp the truth.

Unfortunately, our own country has become profoundly divided between two opposing forces. On the one hand, the radical left decries any appearance of traditional values in the name of individual rights. When Americans speak out in support of family values, they respond by questioning the substance of these values.

On the other hand, the radical right can be just as polarizing as their counterparts of the left. They decry the immorality of our times, but they often conduct themselves with a profound lack of christian charity. 

Similarly, this ideological battlefield has effected a profound division in the Catholic Church in America.  Chicago’s Cardinal George once said at an Ad Limina visit to to Rome:

“The Church's mission is threatened internally by divisions which paralyze her ability to act forcefully and decisively. On the left, the Church's teachings on sexual morality and the nature of ordained priesthood and of the Church herself are publicly opposed, as are the Bishops who preach and defend these teachings. On the right, the Church's teachings might be accepted, but Bishops who do not govern exactly and to the last detail in the way expected are publicly opposed.

The Church is an arena of ideological warfare rather than a way of discipleship shepherded by Bishops. The freedom of the Church is now threatened by movements within the Church and by government and groups outside the Church. The Church's ability to evangelize is diminished.”

The only solution for the problems that we face as a Church and as a nation is to be humble, sincere, and open. We are all born blind. Only through the faith we received at baptism do we truly see. Faith gives us a superior vision that allows us to see clearly.

Pope John Paul II once wrote; “It is urgent to rediscover and to set forth once more the authentic reality of the Christian faith, which is not simply a set of propositions to be accepted with intellectual assent. Rather, faith is a lived knowledge of Christ, a living remembrance of his commandments, and a truth to be lived out. A word, in any event, is not truly received until it is put into practice. Faith is a decision involving one’s whole existence. It is an encounter, a dialogue, a communion of love and of life between the believer and Jesus Christ, the way, and the truth, and the life. It entails an act of trusting abandonment to Christ, which enables us to live as he lived, in profound love of God and of our brothers and sisters” (Veritatis Splendor, 88).

Darkness abides in the deep recesses of opinions and ideologies. We must move beyond the illusory images that only appear to be reality. We must have the openness to question and not accept blindly everything that is presented to us by modern culture. We must understand that relativism is bankrupt and that true freedom can only be found in objective truth.

When we are humble, open, and thirsty for the truth, Jesus will flood our souls with his Holy Spirit. The cobwebs of twisted thinking will vanish, light will shine through our entire being, our eyes will be open, and we shall see.

There will always be obstacles. Just as in the case of Bartimaeus, people will attempt to stop us. There will even be many things that will hinder our relationship with the Lord. We must remove everything that hinders us so that we can freely walk with the Lord as he passes by. "And throwing off his mantle he sprang up and came to Jesus” (Mark 10: 50).

What are the things that are holding us back from a deeper relationship with the Lord? Once these attitudes, attachments and even sins are detected, what are we willing to do in order to change our lives? Through the vision of faith, Bartimaeus was able to see Jesus as he really is: the Lord, the Savior, the Master, the Redeemer, and the Messiah. It is through faith that he was able to encounter the Lord.

The initial encounter that Bartimaeus has with the Lord as he passes by, allows him to become a disciple. Because of his humility, his openness, and his persistence, Bartimaeus' first encounter with the Lord is so profound that it marks a definitive change in his life; he now begins to walk with the Lord. He has met the Lord, and his life is changed forever. "And immediately he received his sight and followed him on the way” (Mark 10: 52).

What about our encounters with the Lord? Every contact with the Lord should better our lives and make us stronger disciples. Every moment with the Lord should renew us and give us the strength to journey on towards eternity. However, sometimes routine, distractions, and the tempo of our busy lives prevent us from really taking the time to encounter the Lord as he passes by. We become like the multitude that saw Jesus; only Bartimaeus was able to see him because he was a man of deep faith.

Bartimaeus' example is a profound one. He persists in his cry for help. His sight is restored, and he becomes a loving disciple of the Lord Jesus. He becomes a loyal disciple. This is exactly what we must do. Persevere with loyal fidelity, always remembering the Lord is always passing by.

The Year for Priests - Is Celibacy Repression? - by Christopher West

Recently, a former Catholic priest (Alberto Cutié) appeared on Oprah to defend his choice of leaving the Church in order to get married. This priest had battled with desire for this woman for several years and finally decided his only options were to marry her or repress his sexual desires. Indeed, as he announced to a national audience, “repression” is the only choice for a person who remains celibate.

Is this true? Are our only options when it comes to sexual desire to “indulge” it or “repress” it?

Granted, to a world bound by sexual lust, life-long celibacy seems absurd.

The world’s general attitude towards Christian celibacy might be summarized like this: “Hey, marriage is the only ‘legitimate’ chance you Christians get to indulge your lusts. Why the heck would you ever want to give that up? You’d be condemning yourself to a life of hopeless repression.”

The difference between marriage and celibacy, however, must never be understood as the difference between having a “legitimate” outlet for sexual lust on the one hand and having to repress it on the other.

Christ calls everyone - no matter his or her particular vocation - to experience redemption from the domination of lust. Only from this perspective do the Christian vocations (celibacy and marriage) make any sense. Both vocations - if they are to be lived as Christ intends - flow from the same experience of the redemption of sexuality.

First, marriage is not a “legitimate outlet” for indulging our sexual lusts. As Pope John Paul II once pointed out, spouses can commit “adultery in the heart” with each other if they treat one another as nothing but an outlet for selfish gratification (see TOB 43:3).

I know it’s a cliché, but why do so many wives claim “headache” when their husbands want sex? Could it be because they feel used rather than loved? This is what lust leads to - using people, not loving them.

Liberation from the domination of concupiscence - that disordering of our appetites caused by original sin - is essential, John Paul II taught, if we are to live our lives “in the truth” and experience the divine plan for human love (see TOB 43:6, 47:5). Indeed, Christian sexual ethos “is always linked . . . with the liberation of the heart from concupiscence” (TOB 43:6). And this liberation is just as essential for consecrated celibates and single people as it is for married couples (see TOB 77:4).

It is precisely this liberation that allows us to discover what John Paul II called “mature purity.”

In mature purity “man enjoys the fruits of victory over concupiscence” (TOB 58:7). This victory is gradual and certainly remains fragile here on earth, but it is nonetheless real. For those graced with its fruits, a whole new world opens up - another way of seeing, thinking, living, talking, loving, praying. The marital embrace becomes a graced experience of the holy, rather than a base satisfaction of instinct. And Christian celibacy becomes a liberating way of living one’s sexuality as a “total gift of self” for Christ and his Church.

John Paul II observed that the celibate person must submit “the sinfulness of his humanity to the powers that flow from the mystery of the redemption of the body … just as every other person does” (TOB 77:4). This is why he indicates that the call to celibacy is not only a matter of formation but of transformation (see TOB 81:5). The person who lives this transformation is not bound to indulge his lusts. He is free with what John Paul II called “the freedom of the gift.” This means his desires are not in control of him; rather, he is in control of his desires.

In short, authentic sexual freedom is not the liberty to indulge one’s compulsions, but liberation from the compulsion to indulge. Only such a person is capable of making a free gift of himself in love - whether in marriage, or in a life of consecrated devotion to Christ and the Church.

For the person who is free in this way, sacrificing the genital expression of one’s sexuality for so great a good as the eternal Marriage, this is not repression at all but the fullest possible expression of sexuality.

printed from the Theology of the Body Channel - http://www.catholicexchange.com/ 

Fr. James comments on an interesting evening and an interesting drink

I have to travel this week for a special meeting. I will be back on Friday night, so my parishioners need not play hookie this weekend.   I don't particularly like to travel, unless it deals with vacation time, but here I am doing what I need to do. 

An interesting highlight of the day after travelling all day in the characteristic crowded planes was something that I found on a menu in a simple, but  nice Japaneese Restaurant in Manchester, N.H. 

It was getting rather late, so I asked for something to go so that I could watch something on Fox News.  The waitress persauded me to stay and have a nice dinner.  The place was empty, so I felt kind of sorry for the owner.  So, I said that I will stay for dinner if they switch the TV station to Fox News.  They agreed and I sat down for a nice dinner.

I roared laughing as I looked over the menu.  My eye caught a rather interesting drink that was listed on the left hand side of the menu: Suffering Bastard.  I immediately thought of ordering the drink for a short list of people.  #1 on the list is our dear friend Barack.   Following him would be a few clerics.  Am I being uncharitable?  Maybe.  But, come on, it's cold up here and I am freezing in Corpus Christi when  the temperature drops below 70.  Cut me some slack.

Just in case you are interested as I am, here are the ingredients of this rather interesting drink. 

Suffering Bastard recipe
1 1/2 oz rum
1 oz overproof rum
3/4 oz Orange Curacao liqueur
1/2 oz orgeat syrup
1 oz fresh lime juice
2 oz fresh orange juice
Shake all ingredients well and strain into an ice-filled double old-fashioned glass. Garnish with slices of orange and lime, and serve.

There is nothing on You Tube regarding this recipe, so here is something else that might just fill in the gap.  This segment has nothing to do with the recipe, but it will give you a good laugh.

Chastity and Friendship by Robert Colquhoun

Chastity is able to blossom when friendship is present. Friendship is a great good that leads to spiritual communion (CCC 2347). Friendship is something that continues forever, just as chastity is a promise of immortality. Friendship is essential in good relationships, and especially in marriage. Jesus called us friends because he made known to us everything that he heard from his father (John 15:15). Sharing, intimacy, and trust are ingredients of a true friendship. Friendship extends further than the sharing of common pursuits. In this article, Augustine’s views on Christian friendship are reflected upon.

Augustine believed that Christian friendship was “rightly and with just reverence defined as ‘agreement on things human and divine combined with good will and love’” (contra acad II, VI, 13). A prerequisite for friendship is that people must be friends with themselves. He also said if they do not love God they are their own enemies and incapable of friendship (Ep 258). He saw friendship as sympathy for one who is aspiring toward God, something which continues and helps him to grow in the love of God (Sol. 7, 20, 22).

Friendship is active and progresses, becoming more perfect as friends draw nearer to God. Its fruitfulness is the measure of intensity (Sol. 1, 22). So Augustine arrived at a clear understanding of Christian friendship – it is a union between persons who, loving God with their whole hearts, souls and minds, and loving each other as themselves, are joined for all eternity to each other and to Christ himself.

God is the author and provider of Christian friendship. “There is no true friendship unless you weld it between souls that cleave together” (Conf. IV, 7). Friendship must be stabilized in God. “If souls please you, then love them in God, because they are mutable in themselves but in Him firmly established; without him they pass and perish.” (Conf. IV, 18). God is a part of Christian friendship because “he loves his friend truly who loves God in him, either because God is in him or in order that he may be in him.” (Serm 336, 1). True Christian friendship is transformed by grace. It also exceeds human limitation (Ep. 250, 3). Friendship will find perfection in heaven, “Peace exists… for all who love each other in this life and are joined by the bonds of a faithful friendship.” (Ep. 249, 1).

[1] St. Augustine believed that love should be active in a friendship. He wanted God to be the real object of a man’s love for his friend, as all holy love seeks God in man. Augustine did not want friendship to revolve around loving someone for oneself. He wanted men to have a creative love that sees men not for what they are but for what they might become. God is the end as He is the beginning of all true friendship. When we see Christ in other people we are aware of their innate goodness and that they are created in God’s image.

Confidence is an essential element in a well developed friendship. During this stage it is possible to confide intimate thoughts to him, knowing that they will be held as sacred (De div. quaes. 83). Augustine saw confidence as homage to the presence of God who dwells in a friend. It is not necessary to fear human weakness in this stage, for it is in God that one places confidence (Ep 73, 10).

Frankness is another key part of a truly solid friendship. Augustine wrote to Jerome, “Let us resolve to maintain between ourselves, the liberty as well as the charity of friendship, so that in the letters we exchange, neither of us shall be restrained from frankly stating to the other whatever troubles him.” (Ep 82, 36). Sometimes telling the truth requires considerable courage. Frankness can involve hurting people, but in a good friendship this might even strengthen the friendship. To be a true friend one must be willing to sacrifice the convenience of being agreeable for the good of a friend’s soul. It can be a sacrifice to wound the friend we know for his sake. But this sacrifice can be made out of love for God who is truth and is the “love that chastises” (Ep 93, 4-5). Fraternal correction should always happen without bitterness or harshness but with gentle understanding.

Prayer is more powerful than anything we can say or do to a friend. Good Christian friends know that they want good things for each other, and that God is the greatest good. They do all things possible to bring each other closer to Him. Augustine says, “Prayer is a necessity in friendship, for we cannot of ourselves bring another to God. We ought to ask him unceasingly to fill our hearts and those of our friends with His love.” (Ep 145, 7).

Augustine believed that only Christians who lived their faith were capable of perfect friendship. He advised that one should look for a friend among such persons and pray to God to send him one (De cat. Rudibus xxv). When one finds a man one wishes to have as a friend, he should make his love known. This is because there is no better incentive to love than to realize that one is already loved (De cat. Rudibus IV, 7). Later on in a friendship, friends should be aware of their duties towards each other and also understanding of their limitations. If a person sees that two of his friends are in disagreement, he should not abandon one so as to remain a friend with the other, but should try to restore peace between them (Serm. XLIX).

Augustine did not believe that physical separation of friends reduced the union among them. The object of friendship in the mind of a friend, lived in one’s own mind. Sharing in the same love of God, friends are never far from each other. Temporary or permanent separation (in the case of death) does not destroy a friendship (Ep 9,1). Friendship should never be terminated for slight reasons. When problems occur that lessen the warmth of friendship, one should accept every means to dispel them and restore the former depth of the friendship. But the termination of a friendship is justified if serious conditions change. For example, should a friend encourage another to renounce their faith it would be acceptable to finish the friendship.

As friendship is rooted in Christian love, it should not be confined to a small circle of people. Friendship should be shared with all those whom love and affection are due. Augustine spoke about the love of enemies, whom we are asked to pray for by Christ himself. He believed we must love our enemies in order to make them friends. “They will become friends when they abandon their evil ways.” (Serm LVI, X14). The real unity of Christians with Christ is founded on love. This is as “Christ has loved us that we may love one another; the effect of his love for us is so to bind us to one another in mutual love that we become the mutual body of which he is the head, his members linked together in that lovely bondage.” (In Ev. Jo. LXV, 2).

I am grateful to Patrick Paul M. de Castro for providing the quotes from St Augustine for this article.

from the Theology of the Body Channel at http://www.catholicexchange.com/ 

Will Obama allow a world government to be created?

Click here for interview with Glenn Beck on Monday's radio show

White House Communication Director praises Mao - Is anyone surprised?

You cannot help the poor by destroying the rich.

You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong.


You cannot bring about prosperity by discouraging thrift.


You cannot lift the wage earner up by pulling the wage payer down.


You cannot further the brotherhood of man by inciting class hatred.


You cannot build character and courage by taking away people's initiative and independence.


You cannot help people permanently by doing for them, what they could and should do for themselves.  ......Abraham Lincoln

Confessions of a Gypsy Priest

BARCELONA, Spain, OCT. 16, 2009 (Zenit.org).- Neither slaps from his father, nor his friends' ridicule, nor discrimination by some of his fellow seminarians, nor serious cancer were able to stifle this young gypsy's vocation to the priesthood.

Born 35 years ago in the marginal neighborhood of La Mina, in Barcelona, Juan Muñoz Cortés felt called to the priesthood at the age of 12, a call which was supported by a number of individuals, whom he holds dear in his heart, but also by intense spiritual experiences.

ZENIT spoke with Father Muñoz Cortés for this week's installment of God's Men.

ZENIT: When did you begin to feel the call to the priestly life?

Father Muñoz: In school I felt attracted to the figure of Jesus of Nazareth and I began to be interested in him, thanks to the religion teacher, a nun of the Daughters of Charity, with whom I had a chat.

One night, when I was 12, an image of Christ came to me, like a light, that was weeping the entire time, and I began to weep.

It was 3 a.m. I was in my room, next to my brother. My parents got up and asked me: "What's the matter with you? What's hurting you?"

And I answered: "I am crying with joy because in my head I saw a man with a beard and tears; he wore a crown."

Little by little I went discovering my vocation until one day a priest asked me intuitively: "Why aren't you a priest? Have you ever thought of the priestly life, of service to the community?"

I hadn't said anything to him before out of shyness and, at that moment, I blushed and I didn't know what to say. From then on, everything evolved.

Personal support is very important for an individual, a youth, to discover his vocation. Through the witness of priests, nuns and laymen, we can discover the vocation.

ZENIT: How did your family react?

Father Muñoz: When I told them I wanted to be a priest, they didn't like it. They said no, that I had to get married and have children.

I belong to the gypsy people and, for my family, to have a son who doesn't get married and has no descendants is somewhat shocking.

The fact that my family did not accept my vocation resulted in a crisis for me. There was a time when they wouldn't speak to me; I was even slapped by my father. He did not accept my vocation up to the moment of his death.

But then, in intensive care, after asking for the anointing of the sick and going to confession, he asked for my forgiveness and said: "I'm going with God and I will pray for you, so that you will be a priest; from heaven, I will help you."

I only replied that I forgave him and that he should go in peace with God. I think God wanted to give me this great witness of my father before he died. It was lovely. My father's death marked me a lot.

And now, thank God, it all goes well. My mother and my two brothers are very happy.

ZENIT: In your journey to the priesthood, did you have any doubts?

Father Muñoz: All my life, since I was 12, I had wanted to be a priest, but there were very many difficulties, of course.

For example I would hide when going to Mass because my friends laughed at me. I even stopped going to church for two years because I thought that the call to be a priest was an obsession of mine.

At that time, I went out with a girl. I told her that I had a vocation to the priesthood, but that I had doubts. She said she respected this but did not share in it.

However, the time came when I had to tell her: "I am very sorry, but I cannot go on: There is something like a hole between you and me, and the only thing that can fill my life is to serve others, the neediest, and to follow the way on which God has led me for years, which is to be a priest, to be with him very intensely."

She felt badly, and even went through a depression, but came out of it and now we get along very well. She is married, has children and, thank God, all has gone well.

ZENIT: What other difficulties did you face in the seminary?

Father Muñoz: The fact that my friends didn't accept me on entering the seminary affected me very much and has affected my vocation.

Moreover, I am a gypsy, and because of this I have felt marginalized by my companions of the seminary, and even by some priests who didn't accept me.

They said that we were always dirty, which is typical of what is said. Someone even told me that I had to go to the evangelical church because I was a gypsy.

However, you can see where I have arrived with the help of God, with my direct prayer to him, who has always helped me, and who said to me interiorly: "Do not worry, go forward, despite the struggles, despite the difficult moments, I am with you."

I believe that my success in being a priest has been the work of God.

I was ordained priest in the Basilica of St. Mary of the Sea, with two other friends; 1,600 people attended and some 140 priests.

And now I am the happiest person. I live the priesthood very completely, as if I had always sought this.

ZENIT: What was the hardest thing in this process?

Father Muñoz: The hardest thing was that, when I was already a deacon, doctors diagnosed that I had cancer. I was very shocked and had a crisis.

In fact, I discovered my illness in my dreams. In them, my father, who had already died and was next to a lady who was illumined, though I did not see her face, advised me: "Go to the doctor.'"

I explained this to my mother, who also encouraged me to visit the doctor. On the third day of having these dreams, I felt an intense pain, which frightened me. Then I did go to the doctor and he detected it.

It was a very aggressive cancer. The doctors told me I needed surgery, although there could be a lot of metastasis and I might not leave the operating room.

I rebelled against God. I asked him why when I was coming to my fulfillment, to what I had most dreamed about, to be a priest, I got cancer that could take my life.

Then I said to my spiritual director that I wanted to go to Lourdes and I entrusted myself to Doctor Pere Tarrés.

We went to Lourdes, we slept in an inn and were very cold, and the next morning we went to Mass in the grotto and went to the pools.

Just he and I were in the pools. When it was my turn to get into the water, I felt a strange sensation and began to weep.

One of the volunteers asked what was wrong with me. I told him about my problem, that I didn't want to die and that I was afraid. And he answered me: "You'll see how the Virgin will cure you; pray here."

He bathed me and I began to weep again. I stayed there a few minutes praying before the image of Lourdes, and I left there transformed.

Then I said to my spiritual director: "The Virgin has cured me, I feel much inner peace," and he was surprised.

On returning to Barcelona, friends who came to see me also asked what was the matter with me, and they said: "You are changed, you are as though illumined."

When the physicians operated, they saw there was no metastasis. I was not given chemotherapy or radiotherapy, and I do not take any medication, although they do continue with the checkups. For me, it was a miracle.

ZENIT: What experiences, positive and negative, have surprised you in the year and a half that you have been a priest?

Father Muñoz: I thought I would find more respect, love and dedication among my fellow priests, but I have felt somewhat disappointed on seeing a lack of union among priests, I don't know if it's a sort of loneliness because of the fact that diocesan priests live alone.

But at the same time I have met wonderful people who have supported me in everything; people of all kinds, of all cultures, of all races, young and elderly, from whom I have learned very much.

I have truly seen the face of God in these people. I had never imagined how God can talk through people.

Some persons, interestingly enough especially women, have impressed me a lot and have given me help of all kinds in becoming a priest -- spiritual, financial, etc.

I think of Mary Magdalene's relationship with Jesus; I imagine she consoled him many times and helped him with her words, when he felt misunderstood, unprotected and even alone, to get the strength and pray to God that his will be done.

I think too, for example, of a great friend, who now works in the bishop's offices. I was with him on the eve of my priestly ordination.

I couldn't sleep. We gave each other a hug, wept together and spoke about God, about the total surrender I was going to commit to, on consecrating my whole life to God and to the most needy.

And the most wonderful thing has been to attain the fullness of being a priest. I live this with very great intensity; at times words don't suffice.

I live very passionately dedication to the Eucharist. Sometimes I am overwhelmed on singing the Preface.

ZENIT: And what has impacted you the most in your priestly life?

Father Muñoz: The morgue. I am helping with the funeral services of Barcelona and have been very affected by people's grief, being able to transmit hope and faith in the next life to people who suffer the pain of the death of a loved one, who feel alone and abandoned by God.

[The fact] that they enter weeping bitterly and leave with faith, thanking me for having transmitted a living witness and message of Christ and hope in the next life, is what has most impressed me.

I have even officiated at the marriages of people I met in the morgue and I have made many friends who have started coming to confession with me and I have become a spiritual guide for them.

If a priest is a person who prays and gives himself to others, he is the happiest person.

[Interview by Patricia Navas; translation by ZENIT] - http://www.zenit.org/article-27241?l=english 

The Sunday Homily - TO SERVE WITHOUT SEEKING ANY EARTHLY REWARD

When we are led by the impulses of fallen human nature, we tend to seek human recognition for the good that we do. At times, for those who dedicate themselves to the service of their brothers and sisters, the temptation of ambition can be intense. In this Sunday's Gospel passage from Mark, Jesus teaches us that we must serve without seeking an earthly reward.

"And James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came forward to him, and said to him, 'Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you.' And he said to them, 'What do you want me to do for you?' And they said to him, 'Grant us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your glory'" (Mark 10: 35-37).

James and John are mistaken. Their outlook is flawed. They are operating from the perspective provided by their fallen human nature, and they are trapped by their own egotism. Christianity is not about earthly reward. Our only reward is eternal life in heaven.

As disciples of Jesus, we are called to give ourselves unconditionally to the service of our brothers and sisters. No matter what our state in life may be, we are called to give of ourselves with detachment from all worldly glory. We experience true evangelical freedom when we serve with a spirit of total detachment.

The egotist is saddened when he does not receive recognition for the good that he has done for others. When applause is not heard, when awards are not given, and when attention is not received, the egotist retreats from his good work and fades away in self-pity. Let us remember the words of Jesus: "When you have done all that is commanded you, say, 'We are unworthy servants; we have only done what was our duty'" (Luke 17: 10).

We all know that people can be very ungrateful for the service that is given to them. How many people thank those who give of themselves unconditionally? Parents, teachers, clergy, police, firefighters, doctors and nurses many times live thankless lives. Nevertheless, the Gospel calls us to give of ourselves unconditionally and seek as our only reward eternal life in heaven. This is true Christianity. Any other posture is simply rooted in egotism.

"Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or to be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?" (Mark 10: 38). Jesus asks James and John if they can live the Cross? Can you be neglected, forgotten, die to yourself, and never seek praise from others? Can you be submerged in hatred, pain, and even death? The standard of greatness for Christianity is not earthly glory, but the Cross of Jesus Christ.

Even though Jesus demands that his disciples enter into a life of service with a spirit of detachment from earthly reward, it is true that every authentic Christian does receive a foretaste of eternity here on earth when we serve without seeking recompense. The Sacred Scriptures are filled with numerous references regarding the blessings that the just receive when we truly live out our Christian vocation. "He is like a tree planted by streams of water, that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers" (Psalm 1: 3).

Many times we may receive appreciation and thanks from those whom we serve. Birthday celebrations, little expressions of thankfulness, and gifts from grateful people should be seen as noble manifestations of gratitude. However, we must remember the example of Jesus. Only one of the ten lepers returned to give thanks for having been cured. It is important to remember, that despite the ingratitude of humanity, Jesus continued his mission until his cosumatum est. His reward was the cross and the empty tomb.

When we serve with a spirit of detachment, we will walk among our brothers and sisters, even among those who have been ungrateful and hateful, with joy and a smile. The disappointments and adversities that others may  cause, will purify our interior motives and allow us to focus on eternity.

"Whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be the slave of all. For the Son of man also came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many" (Mark 10: 44-45).

Dear E Parish Friends:

    Please join me next Saturday, October 24 at 7:00 PM at St. Helena's.  I will be hosting a wine and cheese book signing event for my first book.  If you live in the Corpus Christi area, I hope that you will be able to join me.  All proceeds from the sale of my new book will be donated to the St. Helena elementary school project.  My book will be available for purchase, online, within two or three weeks.

God bless,

Fr. James

"Note To Catholic Bishops: Obamanomics Is Evil, Too" - by Austin Hill

Breaking news: some of the American Catholic Bishops are in disagreement with President Obama and the Democratically controlled Congress, over their proposals for healthcare legislation.

Not surprisingly, the Bishops are concerned because the proposals allow for taxpayer funded abortions. But is this the only thing that the Catholic Bishops – and other intelligent, rational people of faith – should find appalling with “Obamacare” as it is currently being formulated? In other words, if abortion funding were to be eliminated from the Obamacare plans, would the American Catholic Bishops then decide that Obamacare is great?

Last Thursday, Bishop William Murphy, Cardinal Justin Rigali, and Bishop John Wester published yet another letter urging the Congress to “improve” the current healthcare legislation. They also expressed their “disappointment that progress has not been made on the three priority criteria for healthcare reform” that they had cited in their previous letters.

Among the Bishop’s “priority criteria” for American healthcare are the following points: that no one should be forced to pay for or participate in an abortion, that healthcare should be affordable and available to the poor and vulnerable, and that “the needs of legal immigrants are met.” Taken individually, each of these “criteria” is fine, so far as it goes.

But attempting to attach these agenda items to President Obama’s plans for a government take-over of the healthcare industry and the medical profession is, at best, a huge mistake, and at worst, irrational. As for ensuring that nobody be forced to fund or participate in an abortion, the Bishops should certainly stand their ground on this.

And while the Catholic Church (as well as most other Christian churches) officially states its believe in the “sanctity of the unborn” and opposes the slaughter of children, the American Catholic clergy are, nonetheless, quite inconsistent when it comes to upholding their stated “pro life” worldview.

Recall, for example, the flap that erupted last May when President Obama delivered Notre Dame University’s commencement address. Given that Obama is arguably the most ardent abortion-supporting President of record, the University fell under harsh criticism for inviting him to speak. Yet in defending himself against the criticism, Father John Jenkins, president of the University of Notre Dame, claimed that President Obama had been invited to the university not because of his stance on abortion rights, but because he is an inspiring leader who has “overcome a racial barrier.”

That's a fair assessment of President Obama, so far as it goes; indeed, Obama has overcome a very significant racial barrier, and one could say that he is “inspiring” in this regard. Yet Jenkins’ implicit message is confounding. His response to the Obama outrage implied that abortion is not a preeminent concern, that it is merely one of several issues in the realm of political leadership and public policy that Catholics are supposed to care about, and not necessarily the MOST IMPORTANT issue.

If abortion is “one of several” public policy concerns for Catholics, then that’s fine. Yet now some of the Bishops seem to be back to the “abortion is preeminent” position.

My point here is that American Catholic clergy are frequently “all over the road” on the abortion issue, and this inconsistency weakens their efforts at influencing any public policy at all. So what are we to make of the Bishops’ concern that “healthcare should be affordable and available to the poor and vulnerable?”

By federal law, healthcare is already made available to anybody who enters a hospital in America and requests treatment, regardless of their ability to pay (this is why Obama changed his own rhetoric back in July, dropping his calls for “healthcare reform” and morphing the agenda into “health insurance reform”). And the lack of affordability in healthcare is, in no small part, because of a lack of a truly competitive free market for health insurance, and because those who work for a living and actually pay for their health insurance are also paying for those who don’t work and don’t pay their way.

In short, the Bishops are proposing some lofty ideals, but they seem to be ignoring the economics of it all. They seem to be ignoring the wisdom of Pope John Paul II, who eloquently taught that all of life is connected to economics – and yes, this reality even applies to healthcare.

The Bishops’ own concerns even speak to this economic reality. They are fretting over Americans being coerced by government to pay for abortions - that’s an issue regarding the “sanctity of life,” yes, but it’s also an issue of economics. The two are inextricably attached, just as all of life is attached to economic concerns.

If the Bishops took more seriously the Church’s teaching on the virtue of free markets, and the immorality and devastation brought about by economic redistribution, they would find plenty more to dislike about Obamacare, specifically, but also Obamanomics, generally.

Hopefully the American Catholic laity are seeing things more clearly, even if the Bishops do not.

- from http://www.townhall.com

October 15 - St. Theresa of Avila - LET NOTHING TROUBLE YOU

With all that is going on, it would be very helpful for us to take a moment to reflect upon words written many years ago by today’s saint.

Saint Theresa of Avila once wrote: “Let nothing trouble you. Let nothing frighten you. Everything passes. God never changes. Patience obtains all. Whoever has God, wants for nothing. God alone is enough”.

And here is a good story that illustrates the point even more.

A number of years ago, a young woman worked as an executive for a growing company. Her work required that she travel frequently in the small private jet owned by her employer. Everyone in the office knew that she dreaded traveling by air.

One day as she was flying back to Minneapolis, a very serious thunderstorm began to develop directly in the path of the jet. The pilot told everyone to be seated and warned them the approaching turbulence would be severe.

The woman tightened her seatbelt, closed her eyes, breathed deeply, and began to recall a verse from the Bible that she had memorized long ago, “For God did not give us a spirit of cowardice but rather of power and love and self-control” (2 Timothy 1: 7).

Suddenly the plane began to shake violently. Some of the passengers began to scream as luggage fell from the overhead compartments. As the commotion continued, the plane began losing altitude and continued to drop as if there were no end in sight. At this point, the passengers completely panicked fearing that the death of all would be the outcome. Throughout the ordeal, the woman, her eyes closed, continued reflecting on the Bible verse. She even began to recite it aloud numerous times: “For God did not give us a spirit of cowardice but rather of power and love and self-control”.

As the pilot struggled to bring the small jet under control, the company president got word about the situation. He immediately left his office and went to the airport. As the plane landed he went out on the flight apron to greet his employee. He had expected to find her in very bad shape. Instead, he was pleasantly surprised to find her calm and confident as she left the plane and walked onto the tarmac.

“What happened? How did you manage to remain so calm?" he asked. "We all know that you're terrified of flying in our small jet.” The woman simply looked at him peacefully, smiled, and then said, “For God did not give us a spirit of cowardice but rather of power and love and self-control”. This true story illustrates the power of faith.

Father John Corapi, SOLT speaks out

Who Really Won? - Mark Steyn for National Review Online

The most popular headline at the Real Clear Politics website the other day was: “Is Obama Becoming A Joke?” With brilliant comedic timing, the very next morning the Norwegians gave him the Nobel Peace Prize. Up next: His stunning victory in this year’s Miss World contest. December 12, Johannesburg. You read it here first.

For what, exactly, did he win the Nobel? As the president himself put it: “When you look at my record, it’s very clear what I have done so far. And that is nothing. Almost one year and nothing to show for it. You don’t believe me? You think I’m making it up? Take a look at this checklist.”And up popped his record of accomplishment, reassuringly blank.Oh, no, wait. That wasn’t the real President Obama. That was a comedian playing President Obama on Saturday Night Live.

And, for impressionable types who find it hard to tell the difference, CNN — in a broadcast first that should surely have its own category at the Emmys — performed an in-depth “reality check” of the SNL sketch. That’s right: They fact-checked the jokes. Seriously. “How much truth is behind all the laughs?

Stand by for our reality check,” promised Wolf Blitzer, introducing his in-depth report with all the plonking earnestness so cherished by those hapless Americans stuck at Gate 73 for four hours with nothing to watch but the CNN airport channel. Given the network’s ever-more-exhaustive absence of viewers among the non-flight-delayed demographic, perhaps Wolf could make it a regular series:

Who was that lady I saw you with last night? That was no lady, that was my wife. “In fact, our sources confirm, his wife is, biologically speaking, a lady. Joining us now is our medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta. Sanjay, we all like a joke, but how much truth is behind the laughs?”

Fortunately, the Nobel Committee understands that President Obama’s accomplishments are no laughing matter. So they gave him the Peace Prize for “his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples.” I assumed this was a reference to his rip-roaring success in winning the Olympic Games for Rio — but as it turns out, the deadline for Nobel nominations was way back on February 1.Obama took office on January 20. Gosh, it’s so long ago now.

What “extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy” did he make in those first twelve days? Bowing to the Saudi King? Giving the British prime minister the Wal-Mart discount box of Twenty Classic Movies You’ve Seen A Thousand Times? “Er, Barack, I’ve already seen these.” “That’s okay. They won’t work in your DVD player anyway.”For these and other “extraordinary efforts” in “cooperation between peoples,” President Obama is now the fastest winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in history. Alas, the extraordinary efforts of those first twelve days are already ancient history.

Reflecting the new harmony of U.S.-world relations since the administration hit the “reset” button, the Times of London declared the award “preposterous” and Svenska Freds (the Swedish Peace and Arbitration Society) called it “shameful.”

There’s something almost quaintly vieux chapeau about the Nobel decision, as if the hopeychangey bumper stickers were shipped surface mail to Oslo and only arrived last week.

Everywhere else, they’re peeling off: The venerable lefties at Britain’s New Statesman currently have a cover story on “Barack W. Bush.”Happily, there are still a few Americans willing to stand by Mister Saturday Night. “I am shocked at the mean-spirited comments,” wrote Judi Romaine to the Times in protest at all the naysaying.

“I’m afraid I’ve registered into a very conversative [sic], fear-based world here but I’d like to suggest the incredible notion we all create our worlds in our conversations. What are you building by maligning rather than creating discourses for workability?

Bravo to Obama and others working for people, however it appears to cynics.”If that’s the language you have to speak when you’re “working for people,” I’d rather work for a cranky mongoose. Yet to persons who can use phrases like “creating discourses for workability” with a straight face, Obama remains an heroic figure.

Like Judi Romaine, he works hard to “create our worlds in our conversations.” Why, only the other day, very conversationally, the administration floated the trial balloon that it could live with the Taliban returning to government in Afghanistan.

A lot of Afghans won’t be living with it, but that’s their lookout.This is — how to put this delicately? — something of a recalibration of Obama’s previous position. From about a year after the fall of Baghdad, Democrats adopted the line that Bush’s war in Iraq was an unnecessary distraction from the real war, the good war, the one in Afghanistan that everyone — Dems, Europeans, all the nice people — were right behind, 100 percent.

No one butched up for the Khyber Pass more enthusiastically than Barack Obama: “As president, I will make the fight against al-Qaeda and the Taliban the top priority.” (July 15, 2008)But that was then and this is now.

As the historian Robert Dallek told Obama recently, “War kills off great reform movements.”

As the Washington Post’s E. J. Dionne reminded the president, his supporters voted for him not to win a war but to win a victory on health care and other domestic issues.

Obama’s priorities lie not in the Hindu Kush but in America: Why squander your presidency on trying to turn an economically moribund feudal backwater into a functioning nation state when you can turn a functioning nation state into an economically moribund feudal backwater?Gosh, given their many assertions that Afghanistan is “a war we have to win” (Obama to the VFW, August 2008), you might almost think, pace Judi Romaine, that it’s the president and water-bearers like Gunga Dionne who are the “cynics.”

In a recent speech to the Manhattan Institute, Charles Krauthammer pointed out that, in diminishing American power abroad to advance statism at home, Obama and the American people will be choosing decline. There are legitimate questions about our war aims in Afghanistan, and about the strategy necessary to achieve them.

But, eight years after being toppled, the Taliban will see their return to power as a great victory over the Great Satan, and so will the angry young men from Toronto to Yorkshire to Chechnya to Indonesia who graduated from Afghanistan’s Camp Jihad during the 1990s. And so will the rest of the world: They will understand that the modern era’s ordnungsmacht (the “order maker”) has chosen decline.

Barack Obama will have history’s most crowded trophy room, but his presidency is shaping up as a tragedy — for America, and the world.— Mark Steyn, a National Review columnist, is author of America Alone.

Obama and the Noble Peace Prize - what a joke!

"George Bush liberates 50 million Muslims. Ronald Reagan liberates hundreds of millions of Europeans, saves parts of Latin America. Any awards? No. Just derision. Obama gives speeches trashing his own country and he gets a prize for it. This actually makes total sense when you look at who these Nobel people are, these elite Norwegians, Europeans. They love what Obama is doing. And this fully exposes, folks, the illusion that is Obama. This is a greater embarrassment than losing the Olympics bid was, and Obama got it right. He knows exactly why he was given this award.

The elites of the world are urging him, a man of peace to not do the surge in Afghanistan, they are urging him not to take on Iran. If you want to get serious about this for a minute that is what this is really all about. How can he now send 40,000 more troops to Afghanistan after that cotton candy speech he just gave this morning, of which we have sickening sound bites that I am going to make you listen to. Because I have to listen to them, you do, too. None of you will be allowed to turn off the radio. None of you will be allowed to change stations. I am going to play excerpts of it, and everybody is going to damn well listen to it right along with me. You didn't do anything, I'm just not doing this alone anymore.

We're in this together, we're in this together. But the Nobel Peace Prize just told Obama, "Look, we love what you're doing, you are destroying your country as a superpower. Keep it up, Bud. This is what we expected, and you're doing a damn good job." Those are accomplishments, folks, and in the eyes of the Nobel Peace Prize Committee, these are the accomplishments they're looking for. He's basically emasculating this country and they applauded today with this award. They love a weakened, neutered United States. This is their way of promoting the concept and it's a slam dunk." - Rush Limbaugh, Friday October 9

Sunday Canonizations in the Vatican

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The Sunday Homily - HOW TO GET TO HEAVEN

Whenever we want to get somewhere we consult a map, ask someone for directions, or use the Internet. Some cars are even equipped with a guidance system. Our contemporary technological society makes it very difficult for us to get lost. However, the most important destination of all is our journey to eternity.

“Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” The young man in this Sunday’s gospel narrative asks Jesus the most important and most fundamental question. Moreover, the young man is open. He sincerely seeks an answer from the Lord. “What must I do?

When we were little children we learned the simple, but profound truth about our existence. Why did God make me? God made me to know him, to love him, to serve him in this world and to be happy with him in everlasting life. Here lies the plain truth about our life on earth. We will not be here forever.

Life is like a bus ride. We move forward with our bags packed, hoping that when the bus stops and the door opens, we will be at the right location. We must remember the fundamental truth of Revelation: eternity consists of three states: heaven, purgatory and hell. To deny the existence of purgatory and hell is to deny Christianity.

One day each of us will stand before God for judgment. We will stand before God without a lawyer and without family and friends to support us. We will stand alone before Almighty God. Each day could be our last day on earth. We should each ask ourselves each day, if I were to die today, how would God judge me? Is there any particular sin, attachment, or attitude that might keep us from getting to heaven? If we really want to get to heaven, we can’t be making excuses for our behavior. Life is not a dress rehearsal.

What is Heaven? Without a doubt, heaven is a place difficult to describe. We cannot begin to understand it because heaven belongs to the mystery of faith.

In the Gospels, Jesus speaks of this mystery through images. He calls it the kingdom, a place of life, light and peace. He refers to it as a wedding feast, the Father’s house, the heavenly Jerusalem and paradise. St. Paul tells us that “no eye has seen, nor ear has heard, nor the heart of man conceived what God has prepared for those who love him” (1 Corinthians 2: 9). And St. John tells us that in heaven “we shall see him as he really is” (1 John 3: 2).

St. Paul's awe is echoed in the words of a child taking an evening walk with her father. Wonderingly, she looked up at the stars and exclaimed; "Oh, Daddy, if the wrong side of heaven is so beautiful, what must the right side be!"

Heaven has been defined for us in the Catechism of the Catholic Church. “Those who die in God's grace and friendship and are perfectly purified live for ever with Christ. They are like God for ever, for they see him as He is, face to face. This perfect life with the Most Holy Trinity - this communion of life and love with the Trinity, with the Virgin Mary, the angels and all the blessed - is called Heaven. Heaven is the ultimate end and fulfillment of the deepest human longings, the state of supreme, definitive happiness” (1023 – 1024).

Life confined to the boundaries of time and space without the promise of eternal life would be cruel and unbearable to live. Without the certainty of an eternal paradise, the trials and tribulations of this present life would have no meaning and purpose.

The judgments of time will be corrected by the judgments of eternity. The injustices of this world will be replaced by the justice of the world to come. The tears shed now, will be replaced by the joy lived forever in eternal life.

Another aspect to the eschatological teachings of the Catholic Church is purgatory. It is imperative that we not lose sight of the reality of purgatory. While it is important never to diminish the reality of the resurrection of the body, it is essential that we embrace the whole of Christian Revelation, that we do not simply adhere to those dimensions that make us feel comfortable.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church states: "All who die in God's grace and friendship, but still imperfectly purified, are indeed assured of their eternal salvation; but after death they undergo purification, so as to achieve the holiness necessary to enter the joy of heaven. The Church gives the name purgatory to this final purification of the elect, which is entirely different from the punishment of the damned" (1030, 1031).

This teaching of the Catholic Church is based on the Sacred Scriptures from the Second Book of Maccabees. Thus, it is important for our spiritual growth and development that we keep in mind the reality of purgatory. Prayer, fasting, penance, and ascetical practices are essential ingredients for those of us wishing to avoid a prolonged stay in purgatory.

It is also important that we understand the need to pray for the dead. Since there is a purgatory, it is laudable that we have Masses celebrated for our deceased family and friends. The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is a powerful tool to free souls from the pains of purgatory. This of course is not to be misunderstood as a continuation of an abuse that existed centuries ago. However, rather than deleting Maccabees from the canon of the Bible altogether, it is better to understand the correct practice of praying for the dead as practiced through the age old tradition of the Catholic Church.

Finally, regarding the existence of hell, let us consider once again some of the most fundamental aspects of this other dimension of the eschatological teachings of the Church. In his teachings on eternal condemnation, Jesus refers to hell many times; however, in those moments, he always uses descriptive expressions such as “Gehenna,” “eternal fire,” “the unquenchable fire,” “furnace of fire,” and “where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth.”

The teachings of Jesus on the existence of hell are clear. If we deny the existence of hell then we are denying an essential part of Christianity. The reality of hell and the possibility of eternal condemnation constitute for us a daily call to conversion.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church states: “The teaching of the Church affirms the existence of hell and its eternity. Immediately after death the souls of those who die in a state of mortal sin descend into hell, where they suffer the punishments of hell, ‘eternal fire’. The chief punishment of hell is eternal separation from God, in whom alone man can possess the life and happiness for which he was created and for which he longs” (1035).

So, let us go back again to the question of the young man of this Sunday’s gospel passage. “Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”

The answer that Jesus delivers is two dimensional. In the first place, he reminds the young man, who is a faithful Jew, that he must live out in his daily life the Ten Commandments. The young man answers Jesus honestly and tells him, “Teacher, all of these I have observed from my youth” (Mark 10: 20). The young man is a good and faithful man.

But, look and see what happens next. Jesus invites him to go deeper. “There is one thing that you lack. Go and sell everything you own and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come follow me” (Mark 10: 21).

What happens to us when Jesus asks us to go deeper? What occurs in our soul when Jesus calls us to a deeper fidelity and a greater love? Some people respond with generosity, like Mary, the mother of the Lord. Others really mean well but don’t follow through, like Peter. Unfortunately, there are those who walk away from the Lord, like the young man of this Sunday’s gospel passage. “But his face fell at these words and he went away said, for he was a man of great wealth” (Mark 10: 22).

What has always amazed me about this gospel narrative is the fact that Jesus did not plead with the young man to reconsider his decision. Jesus respects the young man’s freedom, just like he honors our freedom as well.

However, here is the really good news. For all those who love the Lord and respond to whatever he may be asking of us, there is a reward. Just consider how this Sunday’s gospel passage concludes. “I tell you solemnly, there is no one who has left house, brothers, sisters, father, children or land for my sake and for the sake of the gospel who will not be repaid a hundred times over, houses, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and land – not without persecutions-now in this present time and, in the world to come, eternal life” (Mark 10: 29-30).

Papal General Audience from Wednesday

Our Heritage - Newt Gingrich weighs in on events current and Founding-era by Robert Costa

In a meeting with NR staff, sipping a Diet Coke, Newt Gingrich reminded us that he’s a “historian by training.” Not that we needed the hint. Gingrich gabs about history with the acuity of a college professor (he was one) and an enthusiasm usually seen only in reenactors. But instead of gushing about great men or events, Gingrich enjoys getting tangled in history’s battles of ideas, be they from 1790 or 2009.

Asked by one editor whether he’d be a Hamiltonian or a Jeffersonian should a time machine suddenly become available, Gingrich said, “I’d be a Hamiltonian on economics, and a Jeffersonian on politics.”

“You’d be a fusionist even then,” quipped Jay Nordlinger.

Gingrich laughed. Although he and his wife, Callista, had in theory come to NR to chat about the impressive new documentary they co-host, Rediscovering God in America II: Our Heritage, the discussion was wide-ranging, covering everything from the history of the Left to the war in Afghanistan.

The couple’s film (co-produced with Citizens United), which documents the history of religion in America from the 17th century until the Civil War, is what Gingrich calls an “oral-history project,” in which he hopes to give “the facts” about the powerful role of religion in early America, told through the words of the Founding Fathers, “in their own words, for themselves.”

Though it may be about the past, Gingrich says the documentary’s themes are tied directly to the present. He says he worries that the “core definition of America” — that citizens are “endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights” — is “under assault, both in the academic and news-media communities, as well as in the courts.”

Gingrich says he has major concerns about American culture, and “the degree to which it is becoming an anti-religious culture.”

“Ironically, in some ways, it is becoming a culture in which it is more acceptable for schools to teach about Islam than to teach about Christianity,” says Gingrich. “If you think about that, it verges on the bizarre.”

“We are the only society I know of that asserts that power comes directly from God to you, that you are sovereign, and that you loan power to the government,” says Gingrich. “A point that Reagan always used to make was that the Constitution begins with ‘we the people,’ and not ‘we the bureaucrats,’ or ‘we the lawyers,’ or ‘we the judges,’ or ‘we the politicians,’ but ‘we the people.’ If you eliminate that, and you make generalizations about where power comes from, then of course we can trust the judges, and of course we can trust the politicians.”

If power in America continues to move away from the people, Gingrich says that the country risks “actually eliminating the uniqueness that has made America an exceptional nation. You begin drift into a world where nothing is stable.”

“The modern Left is essentially proto-totalitarian,” says Gingrich. President Obama, he says, is “an authentic representative of the intelligentsia. I think he likes Reveille for Radicals for a reason; he likes William Ayers for a reason. He didn’t notice 20 years of sermons for a reason.”

But is Obama that different from liberals like George McGovern? “Oh, yeah,” says Gingrich. “My sense is with McGovern, unequivocally, that he was a man from a different world. McGovern was a man who had grown up in pre–World War II America. And he grew up in South Dakota. Obama really grew up in the world of the modern American intelligentsia — he is a person of the Left. The minute you accept that, you understand almost everything.”

Obama, Gingrich adds, “is a radical in the sense that the victory of those values would mean the end of American civilization as we know it.” President Reagan, in contrast, “was a radical within the American tradition. He was almost like the Jacksonian uprising against the establishment. Reagan represented a fundamental break with the dominant system of government for the last 60 years. He didn’t quite pull it off. He managed to defeat the Soviet Empire and managed to renew the energy of entrepreneurial America, but he did not in fact change the underlying crisis.”

And Americans didn’t vote for Obama’s brand of radicalism. In 2008, Americans, says Gingrich, “were voting for the end of Bush. They were voting to have no taxes raised on anybody making under $250,000, and they were voting for a tax cut for 95 percent of the American people. Go back and read what Obama campaigned on. This is a con job on the scale of Madoff.”

One editor asked Gingrich why America took such a sharp cultural turn after the Second World War. “I think it’s actually, in a bizarre way, the victory of the European intellectuals,” says Gingrich. “It would be interesting to go back and do a study of how this evolved. You have two streams coming together. You have an anti–middle class intellectual elite in the United States. You can go back and read, for example, Sinclair Lewis’s Babbitt and Main Street, etc. And you have the European refugees, who bring a very left intellectualism.”

“Gertrude Himmelfarb wrote about this,” says Gingrich. “There’s a huge difference between the English and Scottish enlightenments, which were actually within the context of God, and the French enlightenment, which ultimately ends up being anti-Christian and anti-clerical. What you had is this emerging belief among intellectual elites — you really see it intensely in Europe but you increasingly now see it in the United States — that you have to believe in a secular world, and that all this other stuff is somehow unacceptable.”

This trend emerged, he says, “partially because, ultimately, if you believe in God, then it creates limitations on your own ego and it creates limitations on your own behavior.”

Gingrich says two different wings of the Left have emerged. “First, Deweyism is the creation of an educated class which knows nothing. Dewey wrote about this: ‘You don’t want them to know too much history, because that limits their plasticity’; ‘you don’t want them to know too much math or science, because that limits their plasticity.’ I keep arguing that the most important political phrase of the next ten years is that ‘two plus two equals four,’ which the Poles used against the state. It partly came out of Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four, where the state torturer says to the citizen: ‘If we tell you that two plus two equals five, it equals five. If we tell you that it equals three, it equals three,’” he says. “Deweyism, in that sense, wanted to create plasticity. William Ayers in that sense is a legitimate disciple of Dewey. How do you get to a revolutionized society? You make sure the people don’t know anything.”

Gingrich likened this to the Left’s current strategy of “saying that $10 trillion in debt doesn’t really matter because you won’t really notice it, and anyway by the time we get to that, something good will have happened.”

“The second [wing] is the highly educated intelligentsia,” continues Gingrich. “These are people of whom Ronald Reagan said ‘it isn’t what they don’t know that’s frightening, it’s what they know that isn’t true.’ These are the people who believe that Castro is really okay, that Chávez is a pretty good guy, and that it was terrific that Ahmadinejad got a nice run last week and no one was mean to him in New York.” This kind of thinking, says Gingrich, was evident in the recent argument between French president Nicolas Sarkozy and Obama on whether or not to confront Ahmadinejad over his nuclear program.

Gingrich, a new convert to Catholicism, says that his recent documentaries and books, as well as his own faith, have influenced his politics and philosophy. “I think the centrality of the Eucharist in the Catholic experience, and the degree to which you’re directly infused with Christ, gives me a much higher appreciation of the cost of a totalitarian state on an everyday basis,” he says. “One of things that influenced my conversion, and influenced my thinking about the work we’re now doing, is reading George Weigel, starting from The Cube and the Cathedral to The Final Revolution to his biography of the pope.”

“If you read Weigel,” he says, “and think about the points he’s driving at, and then you look at the passion of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals to try to destroy every public cross in the country, to try to destroy every reference to religion, you begin to see this intense competition between this secular bureaucracy that literally is terrified of the sight of religion and the desire of humans to have access to being able to approach God without being constantly pressured by the state.”

Looking to Afghanistan, Gingrich says, “the real underlying challenge is that this is a much bigger problem than people understand. You can pull out of Afghanistan, and then what? You want to pull out of Pakistan? Fine. And then what? We pulled out of Somalia, and now we have pirates. You think these guys are going away? Or, do you think that this will become a bigger problem? It’s like dealing with Iran. The last few weeks have been worse than Chamberlain. This is Baldwin in 1935, just willfully blind because he didn’t want to tell the British people the truth because it would offend them.”

If things are so dire, then where is America’s Churchill? “I don’t know, we’ll find out,” says Gingrich. “I hope that we can find one.”

— Robert Costa is the William F. Buckley Jr. Fellow at the National Review Institute.

see - http://www.nationalreviewonline.com

My favorite Far Side - kind of says it all, doesn't it?

As Mike Lapore from Brooklyn used to say..."It's the end of the world".

Some Catholic Bishops Are Just Plain Fools

Personal commentary from Father James - When it comes to the abortion issue, there is no common ground. To seek "common ground" with a radical supporter of abortion such as President Obama, is to give in on the abortion issue. The madness in the Catholic Church continues. Why are some Catholic Bishops so mesmerized by Barrack Obama? If all of the Catholic Bishops throughout the world were to take a united stand against abortion and all the political leaders that support abortion, the scourge of abortion would end quite rapidly. Bishops who do not take a firm stand against abortion are cowards and they participate in what John Paul II called the conspiracy against life.

VATICAN CITY (AP) - African bishops attending a Vatican meeting are speaking about the election of Barack Obama in divine terms—putting them very much at odds with many of their U.S. counterparts.

Archbishop Gabriel Charles Palmer-Buckle of Accra, Ghana said Wednesday that there was "a divine plan behind" Obama's election.

"It's like the biblical story repeating itself," he told reporters, citing the Old Testament figure Joseph, who after being sold into slavery in Egypt ends up becoming a top official.

"We believe God has his own plans. God directs history," he said of the U.S. election. "We pray that it (Obama's presidency) brings blessings for Africa and the whole world."

He acknowledged that Obama has earned the wrath of many conservative American bishops because of his support for abortion rights. Earlier this year, dozens of U.S. bishops denounced the leading U.S. Catholic university, Notre Dame, for giving Obama an honorary degree.

"We are definitely aware of it," Palmer-Buckle said. "But we feel it our duty to meet him and find out what are the things that unite us more than divide us."

Earlier this week, the Ghanian prelate leading the three-week meeting on the Church in Africa, Cardinal Peter Kodwo Appiah Turkson of Cape Coast, Ghana, cited Obama's election in saying he didn't see any reason why there couldn't now be a black pope.

And the archbishop of Kinshasa, Congo, Monsignor Laurent Monsengwo Pasinya, told the formal synod itself that it would be wise to not ignore what he called a "primordial event" in recent times.

"If the election of a black as head of the United States of America was a divine sign and a sign from the Holy Spirit for the reconciliation of races and ethnic groups for peaceful relations ... this synod and the universal church would gain from not ignoring this primordial event of contemporary history which is far from being a banal game of political alliances," he said in his speech.

Archbishop John Onaiyekan of Abuja, Nigeria gave more tangible reasons for praise in meeting with reporters.

"Obama has the authority to talk straight to our bad leaders and tell them they are messing up our countries," he said. Besides, he added, "In Africa we are always happy when our brother is big."

Year for Priests - Celebrating the life of Father Damian

When Joseph de Veuster was born in Tremelo, Belgium, in 1840, few people in Europe had any firsthand knowledge of leprosy (Hansen's disease). By the time he died at the age of 49, people all over the world knew about this disease because of him. They knew that human compassion could soften the ravages of this disease.

Forced to quit school at age 13 to work on the family farm, six years later Joseph entered the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary, taking the name of a fourth-century physician and martyr. When his brother Pamphile, a priest in the same congregation, fell ill and was unable to go to the Hawaiian Islands as assigned, Damien quickly volunteered in his place. In May 1864, two months after arriving in his new mission, Damien was ordained a priest in Honolulu and assigned to the island of Hawaii.

In 1873, he went to the Hawaiian government's leper colony on the island of Molokai, set up seven years earlier. Part of a team of four chaplains taking that assignment for three months each year, Damien soon volunteered to remain permanently, caring for the people's physical, medical and spiritual needs. In time, he became their most effective advocate to obtain promised government support.

Soon the settlement had new houses and a new church, school and orphanage. Morale improved considerably. A few years later he succeeded in getting the Franciscan Sisters of Syracuse, led by Mother Marianne Cope (January 23), to help staff this colony in Kalaupapa.

Damien contracted Hansen's disease and died of its complications. As requested, he was buried in Kalaupapa, but in 1936 the Belgian government succeeded in having his body moved to Belgium. Part of Damien's body was returned to his beloved Hawaiian brothers and sisters after his beatification in 1995.

When Hawaii became a state in 1959, it selected Damien as one of its two representatives in the Statuary Hall at the U.S. Capitol.

- http://www.americancatholic.org

Click here for a recommended movie on the life of Father Damian

Update on my first book

My first book is in. Shortly, a webpage will be included in my E Parish website which allow you to purchase this book online. The first wine and cheese book signing event will take place at St. Helena of the True Cross of Jesus Catholic Church at 7:00 PM on Saturday, October 24.

endorsements

At a time when militant feminists continue their efforts to emasculate men in our society, Father James Farfaglia’s book, Man to Man, is a welcome guide to men, especially Christian men, to value and develop a healthy attitude toward their masculinity. – Rene Gracida, Bishop Emeritus of Corpus Christi

Fr. James’ understanding of masculinity in Man to Man will drive deep into the heart of every man. With his years of pastoral experience, he witnesses to the wounds that keep men from experiencing the joy that life offers. Fr. James’ insight and wisdom will help the ordinary layman to enter more fully into the mission of being Jesus to others. – Steve Pokorny, Theology of the Body Ministries

Man to Man couldn’t have come at a better time for today’s men who are confronted with a myriad of mixed messages regarding their manhood or lack thereof. With eyes wide open to the dangers lurking in today’s culture, Fr. James Farfaglia takes a brutally honest approach to discussions of love, marriage, sexuality and family life – sure to capture a man’s attention. The author urgently invites all men: husbands and fathers to accept the loving heroic role that God has created them for. Man to Man should be on every book shelf. Better yet, in every man’s hands. – Donna-Marie Cooper O’Boyle, award winning journalist and best-selling author of numerous books on Catholic lay spirituality

After having been happily married and raising children for nearly 30 years, I know from experience that the principles and advice that Father James Farfaglia imparts in this excellent new book are theologically sound and eminently helpful for all men, especially married men. His many years of pastoral experience in counseling married couples, hearing confessions, and carefully observing the exigencies of married life from the stand point of a priest have prepared him to speak as a genuine expert on the important lessons Catholic men must learn if they are to be truly happy, holy, and fulfilled husbands and fathers. – Patrick Madrid, author, radio host, and director of Envoy Institute

President Obama on Saturday Night Live

Obama to Deliver Keynote Speech at Major Homosexualist Dinner

WASHINGTON, D.C., October 6, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - President Barack Obama will deliver the keynote address at a dinner hosted by the Human Rights Campaign, America's largest homosexualist lobby, the group announced yesterday.

Obama is expected to offer remarks at the 13th Annual Human Rights Campaign Dinner, which will be held at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington, D.C. Saturday, Oct. 10.

"We are honored to share this night with President Obama, who has called upon our nation to embrace LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender) people as brothers and sisters," said Human Rights Campaign (HRC) President Joe Solmonese.

U.S. Rep. Patrick Kennedy will also present the first-ever Edward M. Kennedy National Leadership Award to Judy and Dennis Shepard, parents of Matthew Shepard. Sen. Edward "Ted" Kennedy, who succumbed to brain cancer in August, was widely recognized as one of the foremost champions of the homosexual agenda.

The speech is the President's latest token of support for the cause after catching flak for backing down on some homosexualist issues - such as his campaign promise to dismantle the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) by executive fiat.

The relationship between HRC's Solmonese and President Obama frayed earlier this year when the Justice Department filed a brief defending DOMA against a lawsuit by a California homosexual couple in June.

"As an American, a civil rights advocate, and a human being, I hold this administration to a higher standard than this brief," wrote Solmonese in an open letter to Obama. "In the course of your campaign, I became convinced - and I still want to believe - that you do, too. ... [T]his brief should not be good enough for you. The question is, Mr. President - do you believe that it's good enough for us?"

When White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs told reporters yesterday that Obama would be speaking to the HRC event, one reporter asked why the President had not taken a more aggressive pro-homosexuality stance.

The reporter asked: "Recently we saw this White House issue an executive order banning federal employees from text messaging. Why doesn't the President do something similar with the issue of domestic partnership benefits, especially health care and pension benefits?"

Gibbs interrupted to respond: "Well, the President -- the President has been working -- I don't have an update on -- but we talked about that a few months ago, in terms of extending some benefits."

In June, Obama signed a presidential memorandum requiring the federal government to provide several spousal benefits to domestic partners of federal employees, including homosexual partners.

Last week, President Obama included homosexual couples raising children as an instance of the "American family" while declaring September 28 National Family Day.

Contraception is an intrinsic evil - by Father James Farfaglia

You may be surprised to learn that prior to 1930 every Christian denomination agreed in their opposition to artificial birth control. In 1930, the Anglican Church, motivated by increasing social pressures, stated that artificial birth control could be allowed in some circumstances. Shortly thereafter the Anglicans gave in, allowing contraception. Since then, all other Protestant denominations followed the example of the Church of England. Today, the Catholic Church stands alone in opposition to artificial birth control. However, even though the Catholic Church affirms that artificial birth control is intrinsically evil, the majority of Catholics in America completely rejects and ignores the Church's teaching on procreation.

The first cries for change within the Catholic Church came about in the late 1950's and the early 1960's with the availability of the birth control pill. In July of 1968, Pope Paul VI published an encyclical letter Humanae Vitae (On Human Life) which reaffirmed the constant teaching of the Catholic Church that artificial birth control is intrinsically evil. The encyclical was confronted by a massive revolt within the Catholic Church and it is believed that 96% of Catholics in this country completely reject Humanae Vitae.

Why does the Catholic Church affirm that artificial birth control is intrinsically evil? The reason is founded on this principle: every marital act must keep together “the inseparable connection, established by God, which man on his own initiative may not break, between the unitive significance and the procreative significance which are both inherent to the marriage act (Pope Paul VI, Humanae Vitae, 12).

This fundamental principle contained in Humanae Vitae is true because the nature of sexual intercourse, which is both life-giving (pro-creative) and love-giving (unitive), reflects the plan of God for marriage. A man and a woman must not intervene to separate their fertility from their bodily union. To do so is to disrupt the plan of God for marriage, sexuality, and married love. Therefore, the Church's teaching is not only affirmed by Divine law, but by natural law as well.

Sexual pleasure within marriage becomes unnatural, and even harmful to the spouses, when it is used in a way that deliberately excludes the basic purpose of sex, which is procreation. God’s gift of sex must not be abused by frustrating its natural end—procreation.

However, this does not mean that married couples only have sexual intercourse when they want to conceive a child. Mutual love or the good of the spouses, one of the three purposes of marriage, indicates that sex is good, sex is holy, and that the sexual union between the spouses enhances, in a very deep way, the intimate love between husband and wife. Nevertheless, we must keep in mind that the three purposes of marriage: the good of the spouses, the procreation of children, and the education of children, are equal and form one single entity. The first purpose of marriage is not superior to the other two.

The Catholic Church continues to affirm that every conjugal act must be open to the transmission of life. The Catholic Church continues to affirm that all forms of artificial birth control are intrinsically evil. However, the Catholic Church does teach that there is a moral or ethical way to regulate births. The moral way to regulate the procreation of children is through the use of Natural Family Planning.

Husband and wife cooperate and participate in the on-going miracle of God's creation. The fundamental task of marriage and family life is to be at the service of life. Responsible parenthood is lived out within the structures which God has established in human nature. God's design is that the nature of sexual intercourse is both life-giving (pro-creative) and love-giving (unitive).

Married couples are called, through holy matrimony, to cooperate with God the creator in the continuation of the human race. Every husband and every wife must be in tune with God and what he wants. Too many Americans make all of their decisions, especially the size of their family, based on selfish motives. Christian marriage, by the very nature of Christianity and the very nature of the sacrament of marriage, calls a married man and a married woman to seek God's holy will in their lives.

Thus, when married couples prudently discern the number of children for their family, most importantly, they must be in tune with what God wants for them; what God is asking of them. Every child is a gift from God. Some married couples are called to have a large family. Some married couples are called to have a smaller family. Some married couples cannot have children and within that great suffering, they find another calling subordinate to their vocation to marriage.

In order to be in tune with God and his holy will, a married man and a married woman must have a profound, intimate, and personal relationship with God. This relationship is fostered and deepened through a daily and well disciplined life of prayer.

Mary, the Mother of Jesus, is the perfect model of a creature's relationship with God the creator. She listened attentively to what God was asking her through the angel Gabriel. At first she was afraid, but then she trusted. Trust is essential. Trust God. When we do not trust God, we take our focus off of him and we turn inwards and our ego takes over.

Let there be more children

Since the advent of widespread contraception and abortion, a cultural hostility to children has grown. They are often depicted as costly encumbrances who interfere with a carefree adult life.

No fewer than six recent books are dedicated to defending the childless-by-choice lifestyle – for selfish reasons, or to counter "overpopulation," a thoroughly discredited myth.

In fact, if married couples were to have more children, Medicare and Social Security would not be hurtling toward bankruptcy.

Since 1955, because of fewer children and longer life spans, the number of workers has declined relative to the number of beneficiaries, from 8.6 to only 3.1 workers paying benefits to support each beneficiary. Without substantially more young people to enter the work force as young adults, in 25 years, there will be only 2.1 workers supporting each beneficiary.

Eliminating our young does not solve problems even on pragmatic grounds. It adds to them.

Children, and those who are dependent on us due to disability or age, offer us the opportunity to grow in patience, kindness, and love. They teach us that life is a shared gift, not an encumbrance. At the end of life, we will be judged on love alone.

Meanwhile, in the midst of so many challenges to life, we look to "Christ Jesus our hope" (1 Timothy 1:1), who offers to all the world a share in his victory over death.

- from a statement for Respect Life Sunday by Cardinal Justin Rigali

The Sunday Homily - Marriage is forever

The Sacrament of Marriage represents a lifelong commitment on the part of the spouses. For better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, until death do you part; marriage is forever.

As we read in this Sunday's gospel passage, Jesus' teaching on the indissolubility of marriage is very clear. "Therefore what God has joined together, no human being must separate" (Matthew 19: 6).

Increasingly the dominant American culture has intensified the barrage against marriage in the media. Every day millions of living rooms are inundated with the lustful images depicted in soap operas, situation comedies, movies, talk shows, and music videos. Magazines extol immoral lifestyles. Weekly tabloids play up the scandalous sexual proclivities of film, sports, and television celebrities

This onslaught against marriage has been relentless, seemingly working toward discrediting the notion of Christian marriage as an institution and cornerstone of society. Since there is so much confusion about marriage even among Catholics, it is important that we remember some basics facts about marriage as a sacrament.

1. A man and a woman living together under the same roof, unmarried and engaging in sexual intimacy are committing fornication, a mortal sin.

2. Parents who tolerate this promiscuity in their homes also commit a mortal sin.


3. A civil marriage between two Catholics or between a Catholic and a Protestant is not a marriage. This may be a sin of fornication or adultery depending on the circumstances.

4. A divorced Catholic spouse who enters into a new marriage civilly before receiving an annulment commits adultery. He or she needs to wait for the annulment before entering into a new marriage.


5. When a divorced Catholic spouse seeking an annulment does not wait for the annulment process to be completed and enters into a new marriage in any Protestant church, this too is adultery. The divorced spouse is still married.

6. A Catholic who marries in a Protestant church without the proper dispensation from the bishop of the diocese enters into an invalid marriage.

7. A marriage between homosexual partners is not a marriage.

In all of the cases stated above, those living in any of these irregular situations cannot receive Holy Communion until they reconcile their lives with God. Reconciliation can take place in the following manner:

Case #1 – The couple will first need to split up, confess their sin and receive absolution; and then marry in the Church. If they really love one another, they will be more concerned about the salvation of their souls.

Case #2 – The parents who have been tolerating the sexual intimacy need to become more demanding and urge the couple to split up and marry in the Church. The parents need to go to Confession.

Case #3 – If no previous marriage exists, couples in these circumstances must go to Confession and then contract a valid marriage in the Catholic Church.

Cases # 4 and #5 – Before these individuals can go to Confession and receive Communion, they will need to obtain an annulment. If there are no dependent children living in the household, they should split up until they have obtained the annulment. If there are dependent children in the home, the couple should avoid sexual intimacy by separating or by living in separate rooms until they have obtained the annulment. By living in a state of celibacy, they can then approach the sacraments of Confession and Eucharist.

Case #6 – Those having attempted marriage in this manner need to have the marriage validated and blessed by a Catholic priest.

Case #7 –Ceremonies of this sort can never be marriages. Catholics must never attend these ceremonies because they give rise to scandal.

Aside from all of the confusion caused by moral relativism and hedonism, more Catholics in recent decades have become confused by the alarming number of annulments being granted to Catholics on what many regard as slender or insufficient grounds.

An annulment is not a Catholic divorce, as some mistakenly believe. A valid marriage signifies the full and free consent of a man and woman to live together in Holy Matrimony for the rest of their lives. An annulment means that an impediment exists which has hindered the full and free consent of those contracting marriage.

Many Catholic priests agree with my experience, that in the majority of cases, the large number of failed marriages has resulted from the couples having been insufficiently prepared for the Sacrament of Marriage in the first place. True, many couples do marry for the wrong reasons; however, parishes in many parts of the country have been negligent in providing thorough and caring marriage preparation for engaged couples.

Still, the best preparation for marriage is practicing Christian chastity. It is this virtue of chastity that helps a married couple to remain faithful to one another. But, if young people are not being sufficiently challenged to cultivate this virtue, we may be marrying many who have developed profound sexual addictions through a promiscuous life style; and these addictions in and of themselves will not allow for the necessary full and free consent to take place.

Whether clergy or concerned lay people, we need to take the time to help young people live chastely in a very difficult world. Encouraging them to develop a rich Eucharistic life, make frequent Confessions, and practice devotion to Mary, and to avail themselves of on-going spiritual direction, all these are the proven ways by which we can help strengthen young people to live out their relationship with Christ and each other.

The Church must not capitulate to the clamors of the secular world. By the holiness of their lives, both the clergy and married couples can be a wonderful help to those who are called to the sacrament of marriage.

For those who are already married, mutual fidelity is the path that provides personal joy and peace. However, subject as we are to the effects of original sin, we are all fallen creatures of flesh and blood, and it is normal that fidelity can prove a struggle. For married couples a daily renewal of their personal commitment to their spouses, a well disciplined spiritual life, and a realistic acceptance of their own personal limitations will provide the lasting strength to remain faithful until death.

As a priest, I have always delighted in the exuberant joy of young couples as they marry and then bring the first child to the parish to be baptized. I have always admired those elderly couples, who after the many years of happiness and patience, still faithfully wear their wedding rings by now embedded in the worn and wrinkled fingers that have been tried by the adversities of life.

Finally, although the Catholic Church upholds the indissolubility of marriage, the Church always welcomes her children who are divorced and separated. Those who suffer from difficult marital situations are always welcomed as living members of Christ's Church.

Even in those situations where individuals may not be able to participate fully in the Eucharist, the doors of the Catholic Church remain open to all welcoming all to be living members of the family of God. No matter how difficult a personal history or situation may be, there is always a solution for those who are open to doing God's will. And all those who are entrusted with the pastoral care of souls must be kind, patient, compassionate, understanding, and willing to spend a lot of time ministering to all those who seek their loving care.

Dismantling Marriage in the Afternoon - by Steve Pokorny

Recently, I did something I never do after work. I sat down on the couch and…gasp…. watched TV. Apparently I never learned my lesson that there’s not much good on TV. And on this certain day it went from good, to bad, to shockingly awful.

First up: Rosanne. You know, that old show with the woman who disrespected the Star Spangled Banner a couple of years back. When I tuned in, Roseanne and her TV husband, Dan, were renewing their wedding vows. My first impression was “wow, maybe there is something actually worth watching on TV.” Although the “vows” consisted in Dan saying “You won’t buy me shirts, and I’ll promise to put my dirty ones in the hamper,” there was at least some semblance of what marriage vows should consist. Sigh, as you’ll see, it’s sad that I have to long for the days of Rosanne.

Next up: Deal or No Deal. After a guy wins $50K (a modest amount), he confessed his love for his girlfriend and proposed to her. She was actually surprised. It made me think that perhaps real love isn’t dead (on TV, that is). However…

I flipped on King of Queens. Doug (played by Kevin James) was talking with his friends about his new assistant, who was apparently the opposite of the temperature of liquid nitrogen. One of his friends asks, “Do you think of her when you have sex with Carrie [Doug’s wife]?” Doug’s response: “No. I only think about my vows and the commitment we’re building. [Beat] [Laugh].’ Basically the message is that his vows aren’t that serious a thing and that any woman can take her place. Maybe the show got better, but as I was flipping around I was stunned to see…

The Simpsons. No, it wasn’t so shocking to actually see The Simpsons on air (as it has been on for longer than 20 years). No, what was shocking was the fact that they were making a blatant stand for so-called same-sex “marriage.” This wasn’t just a brief male-on-male kiss as found in The Simpsons Movie. No, the entire episode was devoted toward this politically charged issue. I sat there and gawked like a cow stares at an oncoming train.

The episode began with the town of Springfield’s tourism industry being decimated; thus Lisa (yes, the 8 year-old girl of the Simpsons family) proposed that to save Springfield, they should open the town gates to homosexual “marriage.” The Reverend Lovejoy, the pastor of the non-denominational “Bible-believing Church,” proceeded to ring a bell in order to drown out the discussion by Marge Simpson (apparently, this scene was to give balance and reveal that “true” Christians are just bigots and have no real arguments against this equal “right).

[1] And what about Homer Simpson? That epitome of masculine identity, after realizing that he could make $200/marriage, put down his anti-same-sex “marriage” sign and proceeded to become a minister from the on-line “e-piscopal” church (“just type in your name and poof! You’re a minister” –apparently just like the real Episcopal church). And much like the agenda that is driving the same-sex “marriage” campaign, Homer quickly realized that he didn’t just have to limit it to weddings between 2 men or 2 women; he could offer marriage to a man and his truck (or better yet, a man and his cow; or even 2 men and 5 eight-year-olds)? Just like real life, why should anybody he be denied his “right” to express his urges? Why shouldn’t what was considered by Jesus Christ as deviant be enshrined in public law and shoved down the throats of every man, woman, and child?

The fact that these episodes are being shown during the dinner hour should be a wake-up call. It has been said that art imitates reality (I’m definitely not calling these shows art), but what is happening with pop culture is that this is a re-definition of reality. We must not be fooled: kids are watching these shows and they are soaking up this message. If we don’t provide the answers to them about what marriage is, they will be educated in a false understanding of love.

What’s more is that we must remember that redefining this reality redefines all other realities. Marriage is to point us to the very truth about Love with a capital L. Unlike our society which thinks that love can merely be anything they feel it to be, for a Christian, love is not a feeling; Love is a Person. When this Love came to earth in the Person of Jesus Christ, he did not come as an androgynous being. No, He came to the earth precisely as a Bridegroom with the very specific mission of marrying His Bride, The Church.

As can be seen in Ephesians 5, it is this marriage between Christ and the Church that is the definitive revelation of marriage and of love. We are all called to union with Christ, and marriage between one man and one woman is the sign that points to this reality. If it is in and through marriage that Christ’s love for the Church is to be revealed, what happens when this image is covered over, or worse, redefined?

When we start having marriage mean anything we want, it begins to lose the true understanding of marriage. Marriage begins to not be seen as a matter of self-sacrificial vocation to love as God loves, but as a means for convenience. And as we know about any relationship, once that convenience comes to an end, the marriage is bound to fail, and the fallout from divorce begins.

Moreover, when marriage begins to lose the true meaning of marriage, it becomes emptied of all meaning. And when something has no meaning, it ultimately becomes meaningless. Thus what is being proposing with the grand experiment of same-sex “marriage” is to empty marriage of any real content. Jesus Christ becomes seen as superfluous. The Church and it’s “rules” become merely oppressive. And all the while, people will be getting involved in “marriages” that are full of sentimentality but empty of real love.

...

Steve Pokorny, the Director of TOB Ministries (tobministries.com), specializes in speaking to youth and young adults about the gift of their sexuality. Steve has an MA in Theology and Catechetics from Franciscan University of Steubenville, an MTS from the John Paul II Institute for Marriage and Family Studies, and has received training from the Theology of the Body Institute. He currently serves as Associate Director of the Office of Marriage and Family in the Archdiocese of San Antonio. He is Associate Editor for Catholic Exchange's Theology of the Body Channel (tob.catholicexchange.com), and his blog is truesexualrevolution.blogspot.com. He is married and lives in San Antonio. You can contact Steve at tob_ministries@yahoo.com.

Thank you Mr. President

The Year for Priests - 50 Years a priest