Give it Away

Happy New Year (of Faith), everybody!

   Twenty-Eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time   B 

Readings

On Friday nights and Saturday mornings in the rectory,

there’s a question we priests ask each other often enough:

What are you preaching about this Sunday?

My homily this week wasn’t coming together the way I wanted,

and I found myself asking that question

over lunch just yesterday.

And as soon as I had asked it,

I knew that question held the key

to the message I’m supposed to deliver to you now.

(And—no—that’s not because

I pilfered some extraordinary insight from Fr. Tom or Fr. Stitt!)

You see, when someone else asks me that question,

I’m usually a little hesitant about giving an answer.

I may know full well what I’m preaching about…

…and it may be a very, very good idea…

…but there’s a part of me that doesn’t want to share it.

That’s my good idea! 

I’ve worked hard on it, and why should I just give it away?

Now, it’s not like I’m being asked

for my top-secret design for a life-changing invention,

and that sharing it will cost me a chance to make millions.

And if it’s going from one preacher to another,

aren’t we all about accomplishing the same goal?

Really, I have absolutely nothing to lose

and—from the perspective of why we preach in the first place—

there’s only something to be gained.

In the gospel,

we’re given quite a lesson 

on riches and poverty.

A wealthy man comes up to Jesus 

very eager and earnest,

but walks away from him rather sad:

he finds it easier 

to let go of his hopes for eternal life

than to let go of his many possessions.

How sad that must have left Jesus, too!

He knows that the riches of this world

can’t begin to compare 

to the treasures of heaven.

You see, with earthly goods,

there’s only so much to go around.

Whether it’s food or clothing or shelter—

or the money we use to buy all three—

it necessarily comes in a limited supply.

Oh, there are plenty of resources available to make sure

that no one goes hungry or naked or homeless…

…but the problem is we don’t want to share.

That’s mine! 

I worked hard for that, and why should I just give it away?

Deep down, I think, we’re afraid that there won’t be enough—

that we’ll go without, too.

If Jesus challenges this sort of thinking about earthly goods,

how much more so about spiritual ones!

 

This past Thursday,

the Catholic Church around the world began a Year of Faith,

which continues until the end of November 2013.

When announcing it,

Pope Benedict XVI described this special year

as a time for Catholics to rediscover the joy of believing

and their enthusiasm for sharing the faith.

Faith is not a limited resource,

because it is not an achievement of human effort—

a theory to be proven or a riddle to be solved—

but is a gift from God himself.

We should have no fear of sharing our faith with others…

…because there is no chance of it running out.

In fact, it’s when we try to keep it to ourselves

that we risk losing the most;

it’s when we give it away that faith multiplies.

Some of you are familiar

with the Catholic publication, Magnificat—

a monthly booklet that contains the daily readings for Mass

as well as other prayers and reflections.

Magnificat has published a Year of Faith Companion,

with something for every day of this special year.

This little book has done so well

that it’s already in its third printing…

…which is why I don’t have any of them for you yet.

We’ll be receiving ours in a couple of weeks.

And not just a few of them, either; I’ve order 1,000 copies.

Here’s the deal:

If you want to take a copy for yourself,

then you’re going to have to take two—

and the second one, you’re going to have to give away.

I want you to give it away to a Catholic in our community

who’s on the fence or has stopped practicing their faith;

or I want you to give it away to someone who isn’t Catholic

and who has no spiritual home.

The book will come with a short letter from me,

and a very brief questionnaire which you can bring back to church

if the person to whom you give that second copy

chooses to fill it out.

So while we wait for them to arrive,

I ask you to give some serious thought

to whom you could give your second book.

That shouldn’t be too hard!

We all know folks—at work, in the neighborhood,

even members of our own families—

whose relationship with Christ and his Church

isn’t what it could or should be.

The numbers tell me that for every one of you at Mass right now,

there are four or five more Catholics here in Malone

that we do not see on a regular basis.

That’s not a state of affairs we should be comfortable with!

And the best way to turn things around

is through one-on-one contact—

by making a personal invitation.

So as we wait for our shipment of books,

think about who you will approach,

and begin to pray for that person

and their openness to its message.

Jesus says—quite stunningly—

that it’s easier to get a camel through the eye of a needle

than for the rich to enter the kingdom of God.

If you’ve ever even tried to thread a needle the regular way,

you know that’s difficult enough!

It’s not something that happens by accident,

not something that comes together all on its own.

So, too, with faith.

We mustn’t get complacent about it.

Here in the Diocese of Ogdensburg,

we’ve got a special slogan for the Year of Faith:

“Taste again for the first time.”

It refers to our taste for the living and effective Word of God;

it refers to our taste for the Holy Eucharist

and the grace offered us in the other sacraments;

it refers to our taste for reaching out in love

to meet the needs of the poor in body and the poor in spirit.

May this new Year of Faith increase our appetite for believing!

In the months ahead

may we rediscover the Catholic faith with such joy and enthusiasm

that we could never keep it to ourselves!

We have absolutely nothing to lose;

there’s only something—everything—to be gained.

  

50 and Counting

Found this neat resource for the Year of Faith: Conciliaria...

Posted here are articles, video clips, and the like from 50 years ago--day-by-day--as the Second Vatican Council was underway.  Worth a look when you've got a minute...
 

Place at the Table

At last month's Holy Harvest Festival, the second prize for our raffle was a dinner for four prepared by the priests of the Malone Catholic Parishes.  Last night, we made good on that prize.

Monica and Randy, Barb and Mark seemed to have a really good time--as did the three of us.  But while FideliCat loved meeting our company, he seemed a little put out when he didn't find his supper dish set out on the table...

New Year

FideliCat is just purring with complete delight that the YEAR OF FAITH is now officially underway!

Here he is helping out in the sacristy before our parish Holy Hour to mark its beginning...

Silent Treatment

   Twenty-Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time   B 

Readings

A married couple

drove down a long country road

in complete silence;

they’d been in a heated argument,

and neither one of them was willing to budge.

As they passed a barnyard 

full of mules, goats, and pigs,

the husband asked sarcastically, 

“Relatives of yours?”

“Yep,” the wife replied.  “In-laws.”

When I have the opportunity to counsel couples

who are either prepping for their wedding day

or experiencing a rough patch in their marriage,

the “silent treatment” is something 

I always urge them to avoid.

A breakdown of genuine communication

is often one of the chief problems 

underlying marital spats,

so how can cutting it off fix anything?

Sure—there are times when things get so tense

that it’s only prudent

 to step quietly aside for a short spell…

…but just for a short spell.

If the “silent treatment” 
is bad policy within a marriage,

then we shouldn’t be surprised that it’s also a bad policy

when applied to the Sacrament of Marriage in general.

The Catholic Church has a rather vast body of teaching

on sex and marriage.

Oh, I’ve heard about that, Father, you might be thinking.

You hear about that stuff all the time.

It’s a long, long list of things you shouldn’t do.

There’s no silent treatment!

Lots and lots of people express their opinions

about the Church’s teaching on sex and marriage.

But if that’s all you’ve heard…then you ain’t heard nothin’ yet.

Following the sexual revolution 

of the 1960’s and ’70’s,

many things once taken for granted 

were suddenly called into question.

Nonetheless, the Church continued—

as she had for 2,000 years—

to stand by her understanding 

of the sacred nature of matrimony,

holding up—

as Jesus did when tested by the Pharisees—

a high ideal before the world:

the way God had envisioned marriage

from the first days of creation,
where man and wife 

are inseparably joined as suitable partners,

not just because their personalities are compatible,

not just because it feels good when they cuddle,

but because, by God’s design,

they compliment and complete each other—

are meant to be “rejoined at the rib,” you might say.

At least, that’s what happened on an official level.

But what’s happened here on the ground level?

In Catholic parishes and homes, at high schools and colleges—

if we’ve heard anything said at all—

we’ve been told by priests and parents and professors

(mostly off the record and in quiet whispers),

You’ve got a pretty good idea

of what the Church has to say about sex and marriage…

…but you’ve really just got to follow your heart.

So be careful, be safe, and do your best to see no one gets hurt.

The result of this long “silent treatment”?

Lots and lots of people have gotten hurt.

The number of Catholics getting married continues to decline—

and the majority of those have lived together beforehand,

which study after study has shown to put marriages at greater risk.

Divorce has become culturally acceptable and rather common—

although the divorce rate is now dropping…

…but only because fewer couples

bother with a wedding in the first place.

This steady weakening of marriage

endangers our children, even before they’re born,

as we’re sadly reminded during this Respect Life Month.

Life and love, after all, are intimately tied together.

As we learn from Jesus’ own example,

it’s only when the sanctity of marriage is upheld

that children will be unconditionally loved and embraced.

So…what to do?

A good first step is to follow the lead of the Pharisees

and ask, What is lawful?

We need to educate ourselves

on what the Church really has to say

about human sexuality and the vocation of marriage.

We can’t be satisfied with the characterizations made by those

who have a very different agenda

from the one Christ articulates in the gospel.

There’s never been a time in our history

when more books—and very good books, at that—

were being published on the subject…

…not to mention websites, DVDs, and the like.

Check some of these out—

and I’d be happy to make recommendations—

and you’ll quickly discover that the message

isn’t a long list of heavy-handed don’ts,

but is instead marvelously good news.

Catholic teaching on sex and marriage is based

both on a longstanding tradition,

and a wealth of accumulated experience—

and exists, not to place harsh burdens upon us,

but to protect us from danger in body and soul.

If God invented marriage,

then who better to tell us how to best make it work?

Painful but unavoidable in all of this is the realization

that divorce is clearly contrary to God’s original plan…

…and no one understands that better

than those whose lives have been directly affected by it.

Once you’ve made the effort and learned a thing or two,

the next step is to spread it around.

It’s high time to end the silent treatment!

Way too many people have already been hurt!

There’s a method to this, however,

which can only help our cause—

and it’s one we learn from Jesus himself.

Notice how, out in the crowd,

Jesus boldly proclaims God’s plan for marriage

as good news, a positive vision, one which is attractive.

It’s only when he’s gone inside the house

that he then puts forth his instruction on divorce—

a more challenging teaching, which even his disciples question.

We do well to do likewise!

Getting in somebody’s face and announcing

why cohabitation or contraception, why adultery or abortion are sinful

rarely—if ever—coverts someone to a new way of life.

But sharing the beauty of God’s design

and the joy which cooperating with it brings

is a far, far better way to begin.

Then later, away from the clamor of competing voices,

the nitty-gritty implications of this healthy and holy perspective 

can be better heard and questioned—

ultimately, understood and accepted.

Remember that what makes this all a bit complicated

are not so much the intricacies of Catholic doctrine and discipline,

but the twisting pathways of the human heart.

Our faith tells us that,

in sexuality and marriage as in all other things,

we are so much more than well-domesticated animals.

Our relatives are not out in the barnyard!

By nature, God has made us in his own image and likeness—

with inalienable rights, duties, and dignity.

And by grace, we have been adopted as “brothers” of God’s beloved Son—

children of God whom he longs to bring to glory.

So let’s end the silent treatment

and share the good news!

  

St. Bruno

My little makeshift shrine here in the rectory on this gloomy fall feast day...

"In the solitude and silence of wilderness..., for their labors in the contest, God gives his athletes the reward they desire: a peace that the world does not know and joy in the Holy Spirit."

--St. Bruno (1030-1101)

   

Test of Fire

With just one month now until Election Day (you have registered to vote, haven't you?), I thought I'd share here this well done video that's been making the rounds lately...

Let us pray.

Almighty ever-living God,

in whose hand lies every human heart and the rights of peoples,

look with favor, we pray,

on those who govern with authority over us

and those now seeking public office,

that throughout the whole world

the prosperity of peoples,

the assurance of peace, 

and freedom of religion

may through your gift be made secure.

Through Christ our Lord.  Amen.

--adapted from the Mass for Those in Public Office, 

Roman Missal, 3rd edition

  

Cat...or Mole?

So, FideliCat ventured out and about today, apparently on the hunt for heresy...and somehow ended up in my office.

I'm starting to get nervous that he's secretly working for the CDF...
 

Hello, Kitty!

On this feast of the great St. Francis of Assisi, patron of animals and those who love and care for them, we received this cute little bundle of joy on our doorstep...

We thought for sure we knew the identity of our generous benefactor, but--alas--we were wrong and he or she remains a mystery.

I have a funny feeling you're going to see a whole lot more of FideliCat in the days ahead.
 

All Smiles

Bishop LaValley paid us a visit today to celebrate Mass in Notre Dame Church for the students and faculty of Holy Family School...

In & Out

'Guess I was a little wound up this Sunday...but hopefully not too batty...

   Twenty-Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time   B 

Readings

We had a bit of a problem 

with bats in the rectory over the summer.

Trying to figure out what we should do,

each of us three priests had a different approach.

Fr. Stitt—being a rather gentle soul—

first suggested that we trap the bats live

and take them away to return to nature…

…but no matter how far he took them,

they kept finding their way back.

Fr. Tom—having lost his patience with the little critters—

tried to shoot the bats down…but his aim wasn’t so good;

we lost a few windows, but not a single bat.

Finally—being the seasoned old pastor—I stepped in,

knowing exactly what ought to be done.

First, I baptized the bats, then I confirmed them.

Not a single one of them

has come anywhere near the church ever since!

That old joke (with a new twist) came to mind

as I had lunch Friday with some friends from out of town.

They shared that their new pastor has a policy:

if the kids and their parents in the Confirmation program

don’t go to church, then they won’t get confirmed.

They wanted my opinion…but that’s tricky a one.

Indeed, it’s pretty clear:

all Catholics—not just those preparing for another sacrament—

unless hindered by sickness or another serious obligation,

are bound by God’s law to attend Sunday Mass.

The Eucharist is absolutely foundational to who we are as Catholics.

If you’re not going to Mass,

why would you even care to be confirmed?

And yet—on the other hand—I’ve seen a few people over the years,

who started out with the intention

of only jumping through the hoops to get confirmed,

but who actually come around in the end

and become regulars at Mass when they hadn’t been before.

So…where do you draw the line?

That’s precisely the question—is it not?—

asked in the scriptures this Sunday.

Who’s in?  Who’s out?  

And who gets to say?

When it comes to drawing 

the lines around religion,

things don’t quite appear as black and white

as they may have seemed years ago.

Specifically, when it comes to the Catholic Church:

who’s in and who’s out?

Most are fairly sure about the Church’s relationship with non-Christians.

Yes, we have kinship in the one human family.

Yes, we respect and honor

all that is good and true about their way of life,

whatever their religious tradition—if they even have one at all.

But we do not share a common faith.

Now, that doesn’t mean they’re bad people.

And that doesn’t mean heaven’s closed to them.

But you can’t really be said to belong to the Church

when you don’t believe in its founder.

Then there are our Protestant and Orthodox brothers and sisters.

In recent decades there’s been a new emphasis

on all the things we share in common:

our belief in Jesus as the only Savior of the world;

our recognition of the Bible as the inspired word of God;

our one baptism into Christ.

There’s a whole lot that unites us.

But it’s becoming increasingly common to hear people say,

“Well, it’s pretty much all the same.”

We do a great disservice, my friends, to all involved

when we give in to that sort of thinking.

Because it’s not all the same.

Sure, we sing many of the same hymns,

decorate our churches in similar fashion,

and even dress up our clergy in near identical robes.

A growing number even use the word “catholic”

in their denomination’s name.

But we still disagree on some rather major things:

on the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist;

on the role of the Pope as chief shepherd of the Church;

on some serious questions of modern day morality;

even on which books are found in the Bible.

It’s a blessing that we’re growing closer and cooperating more,

but we never help the cause by wallpapering over our differences.

We are in communion with each other…but only partially.

And then there are all the Catholics we have on the books,

but whom we rarely—if ever—see.

(We’ll look at those numbers in detail

when I present the parishes’ annual reports

near the end of Mass today.)

At a workshop I attended this past week

making preparations for the upcoming Year of Faith,

this group was referred to

as having been “sacramentalized but not evangelized.”

One of my professors in the seminary put it a little more bluntly:

he called them “baptized pagans.”

It’s a relatively unique problem to our age:

all these people who are technically Catholic,

but who don’t have much sense of what that means;

who think of themselves as part of the Church,

but don’t often find themselves inside a church;

who know a little something about Jesus,

but have yet to be really introduced to Jesus on a personal level.

It follows much the same pattern we see in marriage these days,

as the majority of our young people decide,

“Let’s start a sexual relationship, move in together

then have a few kids, maybe buy a house…

…and after all that we can talk about a wedding.”

The cart is put well before the horse!

We want all the benefits,

but without first making the commitment.

We know what effect this trend it having on marriage:

fewer and fewer people are bothering with it at all.

We mustn’t be surprised that it has much the same effect

as more and more Catholics are members

without ever truly being converted.

Where do you draw the line?

Who’s in?  Who’s out?  Who gets to decide?

Even when you’re dealing with something

as structured and carefully defined 

as the Catholic Church,

you see how very, very messy this can get!

In the midst of all this messiness,

Jesus teaches us two very clear lessons this Sunday.

The first: 

do not count anyone out too quickly.

Like Joshua had spoken to Moses,

so John speaks to Jesus 

on behalf of the other Apostles—

concerned about who’s in and who’s out.

Jesus’ words encourage caution:

no one can do genuine good

and at the same time be against his cause.

Those who do not now follow 

might yet become disciples;

their hanging out around the edges

might someday become real faith.

We wouldn’t want to chase them away

when there remains a chance to bring them in.

And the second lesson:

never underestimate the power of your example—

either for good or for ill.

One of the saddest things I hear in the confessional

is when young children come in

and confess having missed Sunday Mass.

The kids know where they’re supposed to be…

…but they can’t get here on their own.

Jesus has rather stern words

for those who cause his littlest followers to sin.

Let us lead by good example;

our presence here at Mass says so much all by itself.

And yet, we must do more than just show up!

If we hope to bring those on the margins

deeper into the life of the Church,

then we have to speak and act in a way that’s attractive.

If we Catholics are always complaining,

always tearing down one another or the clergy,

constantly hostile to this point of doctrine

or that aspect of the liturgy—

who’s going to want to be a part of that?

A kind smile, a warm handshake, a word of welcome—

like that simple cup of water mentioned by the Lord—

can go a long, long way toward bringing outsiders in.

If you’re happy to be here, if you’re happy to be a Catholic,

then make sure your face gets the message!

People will see it, and they’ll want what you’ve got.

Yes, we really had bats in the rectory this summer.

No, there were no guns involved!

But let’s all do what we can to make it the case around here

that the punch line of that joke is no longer funny.

Drawing our energy and our joy from the Eucharist,

let’s work at bringing everybody in and leaving nobody out,

that all those who have been baptized and confirmed

might join us regularly at Mass.

It is here, after all, that we Catholics belong

because we belong to Christ.

  

Peace is Flowing

Fr. Tom and I escaped late this afternoon for a little autumnal paddle on the Deer River Flow, about 15 miles south of Malone.  It was not my first time on this water, but it was for Fr. Tom...and it did not disappoint either one of us.