St. Jude's Feast Day - October 28, 2023

 

Homily for the Feast of St. Jude

October 28, 2023

Everything Impossible

 

            St. Paul of the Cross, the founder of the Passionist religious order, traveled throughout Italy in the early part of the 1700s, preaching the Gospel to a society that had grown cold. Once, he entered a town and came to the town square to begin preaching. There was a cynical old soldier who sat on a large stone seat across the square, mocking and blaspheming as St. Paul went on. At the end of the sermon, Paul went up to him and encouraged him to convert and follow Christ.

            The soldier looked across the square and saw the butcher shop, and the butcher about to begin cutting up an ox that he had just killed. The soldier replied, “I’ll be converted as soon as that ox returns to life.” At that instant, the dead ox leapt to his feet and began charging at the soldier. Terrified, the soldier ran out of the way at the last second, and the ox crashed into the stone seat that he had been occupying, dropping dead a second time at the feet of the solider. Needless to say, the soldier was instantaneously converted!

            Our modern, rationalistic ears hear stories like that and think they are myths, fables, legends. They feel too impossible to be true. But is anything truly impossible to God? The lives of the saints are filled with events that really happened but are truly impossible by human efforts. And these miracles do not only happen in the past – just last week a parishioner showed me a recent photograph of the Eucharist in a monstrance from California – and clearly within the Eucharistic Host is an image of Our Lady, inexplicable except for a miracle from God.

            St. Jude, of course, is the patron saint of the impossible. He has gained this reputation because his name was so close to Judas that you’d have to be pretty desperate to pray to someone whose name is similar to the worst man in human history! But time and again, people can testify to the power of the intercession of St. Jude to accomplish the impossible.

            When we turn to God or a saint to ask them to do something impossible, however, we do not do so in a superstitious way, as if we are performing a magical incantation to get what we want. Sometimes devotion to St. Jude can fall into that category – periodically I find a stack of prayers left in our church which promise that all of our wishes will come true if we pray to St. Jude and leave 9 copies in church for 9 days. That’s a chain letter – that’s not devotion. Rather, when we ask for the impossible, we do so with a surrender that accepts the Lord’s answer – which could be yes, no, or not yet – and we trust that His answer is for our happiness.

            Because the greatest and most impossible thing in the entire universe is precisely what God wants to do – He wants to make you a saint. Ha!, you may be saying. That is truly impossible. And from a human level, yes. We are all so broken and weak – how can we do the great things the saints did? Not on our own – we can only do them by trusting in the God Who does the impossible. If He can rise from the dead, and make an ox come to life, can He not make your soul overflow with the divine life of grace so that you are radiant in holiness?

            Do we want Him to do that impossible task in us? I hope so – for holiness is the reason we are created, and holiness is the destiny of the blessed in Heaven. Most people want to settle for a mediocre decency, but God is looking for a few willing souls where He can do the impossible and make them saints. Will you be one of them?

            We pray through the intercession of St. Jude that God will do the impossible in us and make us the saints He has created us to be!

St. Jude Novena - By Grace Alone

 

Homily for Friday, October 27, 2023

St. Jude’s Novena

By Grace Alone

 

            St. John Bosco – whose relic is on display along with St. Jude up here – was a priest in Turin, Italy in the late 1800s who dedicated his life to young people, running a school for poor boys. Both he and his boys were known for their holiness…but every now and then there would be a student who was quite a character.

            Such was Michael Magone. When Don Bosco found the young lad, he was leading a gang of street boys…at the age of 13. All the boys, including the older ones, followed Michael, calling him “The General”. Don Bosco saw that he was a diamond-in-the-rough…he had tremendous leadership ability – if only he would use it for God! Bosco determined to invite him into his school.

            Michael accepted, mainly because it meant a roof over his head and food on the table. During his first few months at the school, he was in every way the troublemaker! He would get into fights, his language was salted with foul words, and he would complain and moan about going to the chapel for prayer. Every time he made trouble, he would be corrected, and he’d apologize and promise to do better. But his old street-habits seemed impossible to break.

            Finally one day it all snapped inside him. He was watching the other boys play sports, but as he looked at their happy faces, he realized – he didn’t belong here. He didn’t fit in. He was born a street rat, lived like a street rat, and would die a street rat. The sudden realization that he could never be as good, successful, well-behaved, or holy as them really struck Michael to the heart, and he struggled to hold back tears. He even said to a friend, “How can I find peace when I have a thousand devils in me!”

            Luckily St. John Bosco stepped in. He pulled Michael aside and said, “Michael, I have brought you here and given you food and clothing and safety for several months now. Would you do me a favor in repayment?”

            Michael agreed, grateful for all he had received from the priest.

            Bosco continued, “I notice that you haven’t made a good confession during your time here. Would you make a good Confession today?”

            The boy agreed – it was a last-ditch effort to try to find peace and happiness. He spent all day examining his conscience, and when evening came, poured out everything to Fr. Bosco. When he exited the Confessional, something deep had changed within him – there was a lightness, a radiance, a peace, and a joy that he had never experienced. In fact, that whole night, he couldn’t sleep because of his joy. Later on he told Fr. Bosco, “If only people knew the joy that comes with living in the state of grace!”

            He tried with his own efforts – but could do nothing until he invited Jesus to come in and take over his sinful, fallen brokenness – and Jesus made Michael Magone one of the holiest boys that St. John Bosco worked with, so holy that Fr. Bosco wrote Michael’s life story.

            Have you ever felt like St. Paul? “I do what I don’t want to do, and I don’t do what I want to do!” It can be frustrating because we know that it’s good to be humble, patient, kind, chaste, courageous…and so often we find ourselves the exact opposite!

            But that’s where the last line offers us so much hope: “Thanks be to God who has won the victory in the Lord Jesus Christ!” We are not meant to overcome sin and grow in holiness on our own efforts. Yes, we cooperate with God, but it is His grace alone that does it in us. His grace is often gradual, invisible – but sure, nonetheless. As long as we cooperate with that grace by avoiding temptations and frequenting the Sacraments and prayer, He can truly make us holy. You must believe that God desires your holiness – and that He can achieve it in us! As long as we want it too – really want it – He will make holiness spring forth in us.

            One final Michael Magone story – one time Fr. Bosco took all the boys out to a local field for games and sports. Halfway through the afternoon, Michael went missing. By this time he had gained a reputation for virtue, so when everyone returned home, Michael’s friends went straight to the chapel where they found him praying. His friend commented, “You’re so pious, you pray even when you don’t have to.”

            Michael responded, “You don’t need as much prayer as I do. I pray for strength not to fall back into my sinful habits.”

            He knew where the change came from – Jesus Christ. If you can’t change yourself, turn to Christ Who makes all things new – including you.

Ordinary Time 29 - Motley Crew

 

Homily for October 22, 2023

Twenty-Ninth Sunday of Ordinary Time – Special Mass for 70^th Anniversary of Diocese

Motley Crew

 

            Jesus came to earth, died to wipe away the sins of all of humanity, and then rose again to bring humanity to Heaven with Him. This message of hope and salvation was literally the most important message human beings have ever received…so who did Jesus choose to spread it? A communications expert? Someone skilled in logistics? The most courageous, holy, effective people He could find?

            Nope – He chose blue-collar workers. Fishermen. A public sinner like a tax collector. A man who doubted His resurrection, a man who denied him under pressure, and other men who ran away at the most critical moment. It was to this motley crew that He entrusted the monumental task of bringing the entire world to Heaven.

            Paradoxically, it is precisely the failings of the Church that prove its divine origin. As Catholic thinker Hillaire Belloc once said, “[The Church is] an institute run with such knavish imbecility that if it were not the work of God it would not last a fortnight.” The Catholic Church is not a social club, a charity, or even a community of faith. It is, rather, a divine institution. It was founded by Jesus Christ and animated by the Holy Spirit – and this is why I remain Catholic, even when its members are imperfect.

            Today we celebrate 70 years of the Diocese of Bridgeport. In those past 70 years, we have had some saints and some sinners – some tremendous blessings, and some big challenges. Even if we look around in this church today, we see a motley crew of saints and sinners, people with rock-solid faith and people who have one foot out the door. And we look a whole lot like that motley crew that Jesus assembled to live out and spread that Good News.

            At the end of the day, the imperfections of everyone in the Church – from Pope to priest to regular folks in the pew – can be a good thing because it forces us to keep our eyes fixed on Jesus Christ. I remain a Catholic because of Him – because He founded it, because it teaches His doctrine, because He is truly present in the Holy Eucharist.

            In fact, to be a Catholic is to belong to Him. St. Paul uses two beautiful images that bespeak of the Church: the Body of Christ and the Bride of Christ. We are the Body of Christ because we continue the life of Christ in the world today. In the powerful words of St. Theresa of Avila: “Christ has no body but yours, No hands, no feet on earth but yours, Yours are the eyes with which He looks with Compassion on this world, Yours are the feet with which He walks to do good, Yours are the hands, with which He blesses all the world.”

            The story is told of a Polish town in World War II that was badly damaged during the bombings. One of the bombs destroyed the Catholic Church at the center of town. When sorting through the rubble, the townspeople found the statue of Jesus which had been badly damaged. They asked a sculptor and artist to restore the statue, which he did, but the hands were so completely gone that he could do nothing with them. So the townspeople chose to display the damaged statue in the town square with the words underneath, “You are His Hands.”

            The Church is also the Bride of Christ. What does it mean to be the Bride of Christ? Like any good husband is loyal to his bride, so the Lord will never abandon us. He doesn’t take lightly to those who disrespect His Bride, as any man wouldn’t put up with insults on His wife. And the Lord, too, desires one-flesh union with us like a husband and wife have that union: our union is effected by receiving His Body in the Eucharist.

            But just as a bride looks more radiant on her wedding day than she does when she just rolls out of bed, so our Church is currently not looking as beautiful as she will. Our second reading from Revelation speaks of the glories of the purified Church descending from Heaven. We’re not there yet, but we’re on our way there – not because of us, but because of what Jesus is doing to sanctify His Bride.

            Have you ever wondered why, in the Creed we profess at every Mass, we don’t mention the Eucharist? That is because it was never doubted for the first thousand years of Christianity! However, around the year 1050 there was a French priest named Berengarius who was the first person to say, “The Eucharist is merely a symbol of God, not His true Body and Blood.” This led to a huge controversy in the Church about the Eucharist – what was It, really? A symbol, or the True Presence?

            About a century later, in a small Italian town of Bolsena, a priest was elevating the Eucharistic Host when all of a sudden a few drops of blood began to drip from the Host onto the corporal (the white cloth on the altar). Recognizing this as a miracle, the people spread the good news far and wide until Pope Urban IV heard about it. He investigated it personally, and, convinced that it was a true miracle, instituted the Feast of Corpus Christi, the feast which celebrates the Body and Blood of the Lord. Man had questioned the Truth – and God answered, bringing His Church to a deeper love and understanding of His greatness.

            So God has preserved the Church amidst many challenges. When the Church was tempted by wealth and riches, God raised up St. Francis as a witness of poverty. When the Church was threatened by the Protestant split, God raised up Catholic reforming saints like St. Charles Borromeo and St. Robert Bellarmine. When new worlds like America and Africa were opened up to Europe, God raised up St. Ignatius Loyola to found the Jesuits who would be missionaries to these far-off places. When the Church seems unrelatable to the youth of today, God has been raising up young saints like Bl. Carlo Acutis, who became holy in his fifteen years of life.    This gives me a great hope – the Church will always thrive, and “the gates of Hell will not prevail against it” – not because of anything we do or don’t do, but because it belongs to Jesus Christ Himself.

            Napoleon Bonaparte once taunted a Catholic cardinal by saying, “Your Eminence, do you not know that I have the power to destroy your Church?” The Cardinal responded, “Emperor, the clergy of the Catholic Church have been trying to destroy the Church for eighteen hundred years. We haven’t succeeded, and neither will you.” We’ve got that guarantee from Christ!

            So, be proud to be Catholic! Be proud to be a part of the Diocese of Bridgeport! God is still moving here, even in this motley crew assembled here in St. Jude’s Parish!

Ordinary Time 28 - Who Is Welcome?

 

Homily for October 15, 2023

Twenty-Eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Who Is Welcome?

 

            The Christian Roman emperor Theodosius had a large task on his hands. It wasn’t easy ruling the entire Roman Empire, stretching from Spain and England to north Africa. The Empire combined thousands of tribes and languages, and tensions were frequently high. So when the people of Thessalonica in Greece started to riot, Emperor Theodosius sent troops to quell the riot…but they ended up massacring the entire city.

            St. Ambrose, who was Theodosius’ bishop, wrote to him and told him that he needed to make a public display of penance for such an atrocity. The bishop refused to give the Emperor Holy Communion until he had atoned for this act. To his great credit, Theodosius did as he was told – he took off his royal robes, put on sackcloth and ashes, and walked barefoot to the cathedral in Milan where Ambrose met him at the door of the church – and refused him admittance. The Bishop told him that such an atrocity required more than a day’s penance. So every Sunday, the Emperor made the barefoot pilgrimage to stand outside of the church door, praying, until Christmas Day when the Bishop allowed him in and reconciled him to God.

            Was St. Ambrose being unwelcoming to the Emperor? No, he was waiting until the Emperor was ready to put on his “wedding garment” of repentance before entrance into the wedding feast. All are welcome in the Church, and all are called to repent.

            There are three groups of people in today’s Gospel. The first group is those who were invited but refused. Sadly we see that in today’s world – AP News last weekend ran an article about the “nones” (those who claim to have no religion), which now comprise about 30% of Americans, and 70% of “nones” were raised in a Christian household. These are the people who are invited into the abundant life of Christ through the Eucharist and the Sacraments, but who choose to abandon that, for a variety of reasons. I know that many “nones” say they still believe in God, but God has made it clear how to have a relationship with Him: through Jesus Christ. And Christ established the Catholic Church as His continuing work on earth, and the Eucharist as the most intimate encounter with Him. So to be a “none” is to eat from a dumpster while a wedding feast awaits – a person might become satiated but miss out on the abundant joy and life that God desires! I pray that none of us may become a “none”, and that those of our families who belong to no religion may experience the spiritual hunger that drives them into the arms of the Catholic Church.

            The second group of people are those who have accepted the invitation to the wedding. The very-imperfect Catholic writer James Joyce once said the definition of Catholicism is “here comes everybody.” It is indeed a motley crew that the Lord has assembled and invited to His feast – if you want a perfect Church, this isn’t the one for you – and what a blessing that is that the Catholic Church is messy, motley, imperfect. Let’s be honest, whose life isn’t messy, imperfect, crazy? As the Vatican II document Lumen Gentium states, “The Church is at the same time holy and always in need of being purified.” A good description of the members of the Church as well!

            Much ink (and pixels) has been spilled lately about making the Catholic Church a “welcoming” church. So who is welcome into the Church? Everybody! Every human being from every race, culture, and background is invited to come into the Church. No matter what you’re struggling with, no matter what you’ve done in the past, you are welcome here.

            But if one were to receive a wedding invitation, there are certain expectations: one must dress appropriately, one should bring a gift, etc. I know that my brother and sister-in-law don’t wear shoes in their house, so when they invite me over, I take my shoes off when entering. I wouldn’t go over someone’s house and light up a cigarette or rummage through their refrigerator. So while the invitation is offered to all, there is also an expectation for all. And our response to the invitation of Christ to come to His wedding feast is repentance.

            This brings us to the third group – or rather, person. The man who comes in without a wedding garment. This symbolizes the person who wants to be welcomed into the Church but refuses to give up their sin. The Church makes a distinction between sins of weakness and deliberate sins. All of us struggle daily with sins of weakness – a harsh word, an impure thought, laziness, telling a white lie. Those are struggles we do without thinking about it, based on the weakness of our nature.

            This is quite different from a deliberate sin. This is a sin that we purposely choose to enter into. Examples include purposely holding a grudge or planning revenge, living in an intimate relationship with someone without a Sacramental marriage or being closed off to life within marriage, intentionally choosing a sports game or recreation over Sunday Mass, cheating on our taxes, harboring racism in our thoughts, or other sins where our hearts purposely choose something against the commands of God. Many people in today’s world want to be welcomed into the Church while living in a state of sin, unwilling to repent. But Christ makes clear that all are welcome in the Church on His terms, not ours. To experience the joy of the banquet means to give up the counterfeit happiness of sin. Repentance is our ticket to the banquet!

            My friends, the question of who is welcome in the Church and its corollary who is welcome in Heaven is simple: everyone is invited, and everyone is called to put off the rags of their sin (through repentance) and embrace the wedding garment of holiness that Christ has already purchased for us. Let’s RSVP to that invitation quickly, for the banquet awaits!

Ordinary Time 27 - Custody of the Senses

 

Homily for October 8, 2023

Twenty-Seventh Sunday of Ordinary Time

Custody of the Senses

 

            It’s very clear that the fruit that God comes looking for from His vineyard is the fruit of holiness. He wants our lives to be holy, after He has nourished us with the Sacraments and graces and the teachings of our Faith. And there are lots of elements that go into a holy life – daily prayer, spiritual reading, discipline, growing in virtue, self-sacrifice. But today I want to talk about a little-discussed way to grow in holiness, which St. Paul speaks of in the second reading: keeping custody of your senses.

            St. Paul instructs us to “guard out hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.” If you have a garden here in Monroe, you will most likely have to put a fence around it, because the deer are always ready to ruin a good harvest. Likewise, for our soul to produce a harvest of holiness, we have to guard it from the Evil One, who wants to ruin the crop.

            How do we do so? By guarding our five senses. The outside world enters into our minds (our thoughts) and our hearts (our desires) through our five senses. St. Paul says the same thing: “Whatever is good, holy, or pure, brothers, think of these things.” If good, uplifting, holy, inspiring things enter our eyes and ears, then our thoughts and desires will be filled with good and holy things, and it will be easy to become a saint. If violence, sex, blasphemy, coarseness enters our eyes and ears, then our heart and mind will be sullied.

            There was a commercial a few years ago – I don’t remember what it was for – that featured a man in a coffeeshop. He was typing on his laptop when he happened to look up and see, across the café, a young couple who were kissing passionately. He grimaced in horror and disgust, and then, embarrassed, he put his head down and kept working. The tagline of the commercial was, “You can’t unsee things.” That’s a pretty good reminder in the spiritual life – we can’t unsee things. So what we put into our senses matters greatly.

            After all, what we see or hear becomes our thoughts, and our thoughts become our words and actions, and these become our habits, and our habits become our character, and our character becomes our destiny. So, as Christians, we must practice custody of our senses. Someday our eyes will look upon the Face of Jesus and Mary – someday our ears will hear the choirs of angels. So we keep our senses preserved from the filth of sin, because they are meant to participate in the glories of Heaven!

            Any time I bring this up, though, people tell me, “Oh, but it doesn’t affect me. I can listen to filthy music or dirty comedians or watch violent or lewd movies and it doesn’t affect me.” Ah, but it does – because we should naturally be ashamed and shocked by sin, and if it we’re not bothered by it, it means we’ve become desensitized, and that is definitely not a good thing! Our consciences should naturally flee from evil, not become comfortable with it.

            One time, St. Dominic Savio, who became a saint while still a schoolboy in Italy, happened upon some of his classmates looking at a dirty magazine. Always clever, he said to his friends, “Hey, what are you guys looking at? Can I see it?” They were surprised that he was interested, so they handed over the magazine – and Dominic immediately tore it to shreds. But the boys protested, “What did you do that for?” He replied, “Because one glance is enough to stain your souls!” The boys replied, “Oh, but it’s not a big deal, it doesn’t affect us.” He replied, “This is even worse – you have grown used to looking at filth!”

            So – I challenge you to examine what music you listen to, what TV shows and movies you watch, what internet sites you visit. Would Christ enjoy listening to that music with you? Would He enjoy that movie, or would He play that video game with you? Maybe instead of reading People magazine, we can read the Lives of the Saints. Instead of watching a movie with a bad scene in it, we can watch an older movie which was entertaining but innocent.

            The Lord will someday come to your vineyard, the garden of your life. Will you be able to say that you have preserved the sweetest, ripest fruits of holiness for Him? Or have you let wild animals into your vineyard, to trample the fruits of innocence and holiness, leaving Him with nothing but spoiled fruit?

            St. Dominic Savio once said, “The senses are like doors to the soul, and it’s up to us if we wish to admit a devil or an angel.”

            Whatever is good, holy, and pure, think of these things – and holiness will be easy.