Live Out the Kingship of Christ: The Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe (Matthew 25:31-46)

One of my favorite movies is the 1981 film Excalibur. In my opinion, it is simply hands down the best rendering of the legend of King Arthur. The sword in the stone, the knights of the round table, the quest for the holy grail, and other elements of the legend are presented in a particularly enchanting way.

The movie sparked an interest for me, not just in the legend and the lore, but also in the medieval history it came from. I began to have an appreciation the politics of that time period as well as the challenges and temptations most kings likely faced during their reign.

In the history of the Church, the role of a king was to maintain the peace of the realm, oversee the administration of justice, and to uphold the rule of law in the land. The king would provide for the safety and other life essentials of the people in his kingdom, in exchange for their services.

Some Medieval royals, such as Henry II of Bavaria and Louis IX of France, provide good examples of how a king was to provide for his people in charity. Both men are canonized Saints with feast days on the Roman calendar. We celebrate their attention on charity towards the people in their respective kingdoms.

Ultimately, these two holy rulers were simply imitating Christ the King in all things. They allowed the kingship of Christ to inform, shape, animate, and sustain how they approaced their daily responsibilities. They were a dim reflection of Jesus Christ, our true King of kings and our true Lord of lords.

Extrapolating on the prophesy of Ezekiel, it is Jesus that ultimately takes care of our needs: tending to us, feeding us His Body and Blood, giving us rest in the Holy Spirit (particularly on Sundays and Holy Days of Obligation), shepherding us rightly through His One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church.

On this, The Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe, we should recall that we too are baptized into this kingship of Christ, just like Henry II and Louis IX. We should renew our commitment to carry out the kingship of Christ in every aspect of our being. Afterall, we cannot truly love Jesus without loving our neighbor. We cannot truly love Jesus without loving the stranger in our midst.

Our Gospel today gives us a blueprint for how to more fully participate in the Kingship of Christ. It doesn't mean we have to invite total strangers into our home to eat Sunday dinner with us, as Louis IX was known to do. It doesn’t mean we have to have enormous amounts of wealth to donate to the relief of the poor, as Henry II did. But we can endeavor to do whatever is within our means.

More to the point, we can discern how God is calling us to meet this challenge to live out the Kingship of Christ in the particular circumstances of our ordinary world. Maybe God is calling us to help serve a meal to the homeless and hungry at the Saints Peter and Paul Community Services or through the Saint Patrick Center Casserole program. Maybe God is calling us to provide personal assistance to those in need through the Society of Saint Vincent de Paul. Maybe God is calling us to visit the homebound or those in nursing homes. These are just a few examples of some of the outreach ministries we offer at the parish that enable us to live out the Kingship of Christ through our time, talent, and treasure.

Our acts of love are ultimately fulfilled in God's love for us. What we do for the least of our brothers and sisters, we can do in the Kingship of Christ and for the kingdom that was prepared for us from the foundation of the world. Be Christ the King to those in our midst. Now, let's turn our full attention to the consummation of the Kingdom of God and the love He offers to us in the Eucharist. May the regrets of times we failed to love the least of our brothers and sisters, be transformed into a holy fervor to serve them this day forward...that we may truly go in peace, glorifying the Lord by our lives.

Daunting! - Reflection for Evening Prayer - Wednesday of the Thirty-first Week in Ordinary Time (Ephesians 3:20-21)

As Christians, we are called to live out the beatitudes; in particular, to perform the corporal and spiritual works of mercy for the least of our neighbors, as well as the stranger among us.  We are called to a life of service to the Church and to the World.  Let's not kid around, that is a daunting thought.  It is one thing live out the sacramental and liturgical life of the Church.  Yet, the fullness of the Christian life includes what happens between Mass.  How we respond to the call: "Go forth, glorifying the Lord by your lives."

As Christians, we called to take on the challenges within the Church head-on.  We are called to increase our awareness of those around us, meeting them where they are, and walking with them in faith.  We are called to help them conquer fear with love, discouragement with hope, and indifference with faith.   We are called to be conduits of the Holy Spirit to shape the culture and heal division.  In a Christian Anthropology class, Deacon James Keating would routinely ask us:  Are you ready for this responsibility?  Are you sure this is what you want?

Daunting!

Be not afraid!  Our reading today reminds us that God will do amazing things through us…things that are well beyond our imagination.  Just look at the examples we have from the past: Saint Augustine, Saint Francis of Assisi, Saint Catherine of Siena, Therese of Lisieux, and so many others.  These men and women didn't do great things because of their natural intelligence and abilities.  These men and women did great things because they completely surrendered their lives and their wills to God.  Their mission was the mission of God.  Their power was the power of God.  Everything they did was for the glory of God.

The same is true for us.  If we are feeling overwhelmed by certain aspects of the Christian life or by the idea of what we are called to do, you are not alone.  I think most of us have been there at various points of the earthly pilgrimage of life.  What I have learned about myself is that those times I am feeling overwhelmed or inadequate are usually the times I am trying to serve others on my own as opposed to allowing Jesus to serve through me.

God will do great things through us, far greater things than we can possibly imagine, if we can be humble enough to step aside and allow Jesus to serve His people through us.

Whose Image: Twenty-Ninth Sunday of Ordinary Time (Matthew 22:15-21)

Whose image and whose inscription do I bear? Do I give God all that is God's? If I'm being honest, I've never asked myself these questions, but maybe should.

The Catechism beautifully says: "The human body shares in the dignity of "the image of God": it is a human body precisely because it is animated by a spiritual soul, and it is the whole human person that is intended to become, in the body of Christ, a temple of the Spirit: Man, though made of body and soul, is a unity."

We may wonder how we come to share in this image of God. Baptism seals the Christian with the indelible spiritual mark (character) of belonging to Christ. But, it is through the Eucharist that we receive the gift of Sanctifying grace and our mortal and corruptible natures are transformed by being joined to the source of eternal life Himself. As our Blessed Lord said, "Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him". The pilgrim journey in this life is to become fully ordered to Christ in every aspect of our lives.

This is why coming to Mass at least every Sunday and every holy day of obligation is of extreme importance to the spiritual life.

It is at Mass that Jesus mediates on our behalf with the Father.  It is at the Mass the Jesus offers His Body and Blood for our salvation. It is at the Mass that Jesus feeds us his Body and Blood to give us sanctifying grace and to transform us into His image. It is at the Mass that we give our entire selves, along with the bread and the wine on the altar, to be offered up by Jesus Christ and transformed into His Mystical Body.

But, giving of our entire selves is the key, isn't it? No holds barred. Leaving nothing on the field, as some would say. Or, as Jesus put it in our reading today, giving God all that is God's. It is easy to put all of our good qualities on the altar; our love, our desire for holiness, our faith (as weak as it may be). But, God wants our entire self, warts and all. Did someone in the Church hurt us? Do we feel scandalized by decisions we think are being made in the Church?  Do we have emotional scars from divorce or some other family strife? Are we in the dark abyss of grief, depression, or despair? Let's put our hurts and our pains on the altar. Would we rather be home getting ready for the football game? Or would we rather be at some sporting event for our kids? Let's put those desires on the altar. Are our thoughts consumed with achievements at work or pursuit of worldly or material goods? Let's put those dreams on the altar. Do we find ourselves in addictions or some other destructive behavioral pattern. Do we suffer from cancer or some other terminal disease or debilitating condition.  Let's put it on the altar.

Jesus truly takes imperfect bread and imperfect wine transforms it into what? He transforms it into His perfect Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity. Anything we truly surrender to the Lord and offer to Him on the altar along with the bread and the wine will also be transformed into the image of God. The more of ourselves we offer in the Mass, the more room we will have to receive Sanctifying grace through the Eucharist. The more sanctifying grace we receive, the more ordered to Christ we become, the more the Holy Spirit can dwell within us, and the more in union we can be with the Holy Trinity. Union with the Holy Trinity is the essence of heaven.

Whose image and whose inscription do we bear? Do we give God all that is God's? Let's find out as we offer ourselves , our entire selves, in this Liturgy of the Eucharist.

Reclaiming Oktoberfest

Opportunities to reclaim our Catholic culture in a secular world, especially in the midst of All Things New, are questions that come up regularly in conversation. Reflecting on those opportunities, I'm reminded that our ancestors had rich traditions and customs to bring a more practical sense to their faith and engage their piety in a real and interpersonal way.

Oktoberfest is one such tradition with Catholic roots.  We associate Oktoberfest with festivals that feature beer, food, dancing, and often oompah bands. However, it was originally a celebration of Holy Matrimony.

In 1810, the crown prince of Bavaria, who later became King Ludwig I, married Princess Therese von Sachsen-Hildburghausen. The citizens of Munich were invited to participate in the royal event, which consisted of five days of festivities, including a large parade and horse races.  This became an annual event that we now know as Oktoberfest.

"THE Oktoberfest" is held annually at the Theresienwiese (named after Princess Therese) in Munich, Germany during a period of approximately two weeks, traditionally ending on the Sunday following Michaelmas (the first Sunday of October).

Inspiration for the two-week period for the festival comes from another Bavarian royal wedding when Duke Wilhelm V married Renata of Lorraine in 1568.  This event was attended by thousands and the celebrations - which included feasts, music, dancing, and jousting - lasted about two weeks.  The famous Rathaus-Glockenspiel (clock tower) in the Marienplatz square of Munich immortalized this royal wedding and reenacts scenes from it twice a day.

As Catholics, we have an opportunity to celebrate Oktoberfest with the intentions of these Catholic roots.  We have an opportunity celebrate a proud tradition that can enable us to embolden our faith and witness to the world around us.

The invitation to all of us is to take Oktoberfest as an opportunity to celebrate our marriages. We can take the opportunity to witness to and evangelize to others in terms of the importance of Holy Matrimony. We can celebrate the beauty of marriage and share stories to encourage others to embrace the sacramental life of the Church. We can use traditions like Oktoberfest to help others find God in the midst of their struggles and walk with them in the path of grace.

In doing so, we can remind the world of the truth and beauty of humanity. In doing so, we can be an example of what it means to be human, to contemplate the beauty of the human person, and to hunger for our ultimate destiny in Christ. 

Reclaiming our Catholic culture in a secular world involves rediscovering and embracing the Catholic roots of traditions and customs like Oktoberfest and using them to spread the sacramental worldview to others. Oktoberfest can be one stone in the rebuilding of the foundation of our society - a foundation of man and woman in the full dignity of humanity in Christ, modeled after the New Adam and the New Eve.

Devotions to the Precious Blood for July

Devotions to the Precious Blood of Jesus Christ started very early in Christianity as relics related to the bloody passion of our Blessed Lord were preserved and venerated by the early Church.  

“Let us fix our thoughts on the blood of Christ; and reflect how precious that blood is in God's eyes, inasmuch as its outpouring for our salvation has opened the grace of repentance to all mankind.” 

Saint Clement of Rome 

In the Year of our Lord (AD) 96 

Letter to the Corinthians 

For the month of July, which is in a special manner dedicated to the memory of the Precious Blood, the Church has blessed several devotions (many enriched with indulgences) that we should consider practicing at this time:

1. Chaplet of the Most Precious Blood 
• https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/liturgicalyear/prayers/view.cfm?id=1067
2. Litany of the Most Precious Blood of Jesus
• https://acatholiclife.blogspot.com/2011/07/litany-of-most-precious-blood-of-jesus.html
3. Offering in Reparation to the Most Precious Blood of Jesus
• https://acatholiclife.blogspot.com/2019/07/7-times-christ-shed-his-blood-for-us.html
4. An Offering of the Precious Blood for Souls
• https://acatholiclife.blogspot.com/2006/04/offering-of-precious-blood-for-souls.html
5. The Seven Offerings of the Precious Blood
• https://acatholiclife.blogspot.com/2019/07/7-times-christ-shed-his-blood-for-us.html
6. Precious Blood Deliverance Prayer
• https://youtu.be/7cWgJmhyHjs

Even science collaborates the worthy devotion to the Precious Blood of Jesus Christ:

https://sacredwindows.com/the-science-behind-jesus-blood-type/

Most Precious Blood of Jesus Christ, save us and the whole world! 

Let the Fire Fall

I appreciate the imagery of how the descent of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost in a way sealed (or confirmed) the Paschal Mystery.  Similarly, Confirmation is the Sacrament where the Holy Spirit puts the seal of Pentecost on the baptized person.

The more we study the history and the theology of the sacraments, the more I come to appreciate the moment of anamnesis associated with each one.  I've come to see our Confirmation is a participation in the Pentecost event.  The same fire of the Holy Spirit descending down upon us in the Sacrament of Confirmation that descended upon Mary and the Apostles in the Upper Room.  The same grace the Apostles received to be fearless witnesses of Him and to be strengthened at every stage of life and against all dangers and invisible enemies is offered to us through Confirmation.

Truly, through the laying on of hands and the anointing with the Sacred Chrism Oil by the bishop (or his vicar), we become anointed priest, profits, and kings through our Confirmation.  At the same time, the Old Testament prophecy of that God's Spirit would rest upon the Messiah to sustain His mission is fulfilled for us personally, in our lives.  We become true soldiers for Christ, ready and true witnesses to the faith and take on the obligation to spread and defend the faith by word and deed.  Indeed, the great commission becomes our mission.

Unfortunately, I didn't have appreciation for such things in my formative years.  Confirmation came and went for me.  While I didn't experience the Flame of Love at the time of the anointing, as intended, I was still consecrated to be a Temple of the Holy Spirit.  The hot embers of Confirmation were preserved in that Temple until such time that impediments to grace could be removed and those hot embers stoked into a Flame.

Now, when I attend Mass on Pentecost or for a Confirmation, I allow myself to truly enter (alongside Mary and the Apostles) into the mystery of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, the indwelling Trinity, and the seven-fold gifts with which we are endowed.

How to Get the Most out of Holy Week

Spend some time this week fully engaging in the roots of our Faith.  First and foremost, attend the Liturgies of the Triduum.  

The Triduum truly is the greatest experience available to us.  It is an opportunity to engage into the Paschal Mystery in a special way.  The opportunity to be present at the Triduum is an honor that is hard to put into words.  If you have never experienced the Triduum, please watch a short video called The Triduum: Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and Easter Vigil.

Praying the Liturgy of the Hours is another great way to fully engage into the Mysteries of this most holy of times.  

Holy Week is also a good time to retreat into the Scriptural basis of our encounter with the Holy this week.  Here are some resources you may be interested:

Palm Sunday

Holy Monday

Holy Tuesday

Spy Wednesday

Maundy Thursday

The Lamb's Supper

The Fourth Cup

Good Friday

Holy Saturday

"Adam, Where Are You?" - Christ's Descent into Hell

Easter Sunday

Why baptism?

In our modern world, it seems easy to see baptism as some archaic ritual full of symbolism, but devoid of any real meaning or tangible value.  When we look at the reality of the sacrament and the effect of the sacrament on our eternal lives, we start to see the importance and privilege of baptism.

We read in Scripture that the rain falls on the just and the unjust alike.  This is somewhat analogous of the grace of God.  We're all made in the image and likeness of God.  As such, we're all going to be offered the grace of God and have the opportunity to experience the joy of that grace.  However, sin becomes an impediment that blocks our ability to fully receive and respond to the grace God offers everyone.  While an unbaptized person may receive some of God grace and experience a certain level of joy from grace, a baptized person will have the impediments of original sin removed through the sacrament.  This will allow the baptized person to receive more grace and respond to grace more joyfully.

The phrase, “God became man that man might become God,” was credited to Saint Athanasius.  This is referring to our capacity to fully participate in the divine nature of God through the sacraments Christ instituted in the Church, and later in the presence of the beatific vision in heaven.  This mystical union with Christ is the climax of the human experience and the epitome of what true joyfulness can be.

It is baptism that begins the process of divinization in our soul.  It is baptism that indelibly marks us as adopted children of God the Father through Jesus Christ.  It is baptism that anoints us to be priests, prophets, and kings in the new creation.  It is baptism that dedicates our souls to be temples of the Holy Spirit.  As Saint Peter said, "Baptism now saves you."

The Canaanite woman from the Gospel of Matthew understood this well when Jesus said, "It is not right to take the food of the children and throw it to the dogs."  Her response was "…even the dogs eat the scraps that fall from the table of their masters."  Living an unbaptized life is like living the life of the Canaanite woman.  How inexplicable her joy must have been when her impediments were removed and she heard Jesus say, "O woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish."  

This is the power of our Blessed Lord through baptism!

Holy Senses

We are called to live with blind faith, yet that is something we are not very good at.  We want to be able to see it, feel it, and experience it before we really believe it.  It is fitting, therefore, that God would choose to perform the work of sanctification through the signs of sacramental matter and intent.  Those are the aspects of our faith that jump out to me:  awareness of the prefigurements from the Old Covenant and the use of sacred art, furnishings, sounds, and scents.

One example that I have more recently come to appreciate are the altars that are set up with the tabernacle directly behind it.  Above the tabernacle is the crucifix and on each side are three or four candles.  To me, this imagery helps bring to life the fulfillment of the temple, the menorah, the holy of holies, and other components of the Old Covenant. 

That is what proper art, furnishings, sounds, and scents can do.  It can help enliven the faith in our spirituality.  Conversely, I was recently in a church that kind of felt like it was an old Dollar General, complete with the 1960's drop tile ceiling and florescent bulbs.  It was a very difficult Mass for me to engage in.

I love the Byzantine approach to this topic.  Every icon in a Byzantine church has a specific purpose of helping us to engage in the Divine.  The Divine Liturgy of the Byzantine rite is full of chanting, incense, and other sacramentals that help to engage all our senses in the act of worship.

While I enjoy attending an occasional Byzantine Liturgy as a liturgical treat, I don't need that elaborate of an environment.  However, I think there are some things that we can be mindful of in the Latin Rite.  Is the Eucharist front and center (or at least in a prominent spot)?  Is the rest of the art and furnishings tasteful and engaging on the spiritual level?  Are there opportunities to more properly engage the other sense?  Can we expand the use of incense?  Are we ringing the altar bells appropriately during consecration?  Do we chant the Kyrie Eleison, the Gospel Acclimation, the Agnus Dei, and the Dismissal?  Are we allowing for appropriate reflectiveness and moments of silence through the liturgy?

I believe the more we can enable our parishioners to engage in the Liturgy through all of their senses, the more they will get out of it and the closer they will ultimately grow to the Lord.

Humble Pie - Wednesday of the Second Week of Ordinary Time (1 Peter 5:5-9)

Saint John Paul II once said, "The Catholic Church, expert teacher of humanity and holiness, shows us ancient and ever new instruments for the daily combat against evil suggestions: prayer, the sacraments, penance, careful attention to the Word of God, vigilance and fasting. "

Not that I would ever suggest anything lacking in the words of our holy father, but I might add one thing to the list.  Learning to love humble pie. 

Humble pie.  All of us have had it.  Some of us have probably had more of it than others.  Regardless, all of us know the bitter taste of humble pie that often doesn't go down so well.

When a healthy slice of humble pie is served to me, I try to think of this passage from the first letter of Peter.  I remind of how important the role of humility is in my cooperation with the mighty hand of God and ultimately combating the influences of Satan in my life.  I remember that my fight is not against flesh and blood, or the seemingly material sources of my frustration.

Often, humble pie comes with an array of emotions…emotions of crippling fear, anger, and resentment…emotions that can be overpowering and at the very least distracting…especially the more I resist it.  Satan knows well the weaknesses of human nature.  If given the opportunity he will use those distractions to erode our faith, little by little, without us even noticing.

Satan is the most cunning of creatures.  He is patient and stealthy.  If pride is our Achilles heel, Satan is hiding in the shadows of our ego with the arrow of Paris waiting for the opportunity to take us down.  Satan is steadfast in his goal to break our faith, kill our hope, and break our communion with Jesus.

Ultimately, God is our strength and our protector, but it is only through humility that we can be exulted by God.  We must always be mindful of our pride, and we should never be lax about it or distracted by it.  When we are served humble pie, we must do our best to accept it with gratitude while we surrender the moment to the divine providence of our heavenly Father.  Let almighty God take care of the consequences.  If we don't Satan is usually lurking around in the darkness, waiting to take advantage of our pride and attack us with further temptation.

As we prayed in morning prayer this morning, we must not allow pride to affect our ability to listen to the voice of the Lord.  We must not allow pride to sow seeds of stubbornness as we traverse this spiritual wilderness.  We must not speak boastfully or let arrogance issue from our mouths.  For God is all knowing.  It is the Lord who humbles, but He also exalts.  It seems it is ultimately the Lord that serves up the humble pie in our lives.  But, He does so for our protection from the evil one.  He does so to quell the pride that Satan is looking to take advantage of.

As I was recently reminded, we must always be mindful of who we are in the Lord.  Where is our pride preventing us from truly being present to the movements of the Holy Spirit in our lives?  Where is our pride preventing us from fully loving those God has sent into our lives?  Where is pride going to be an impediment to answering the call of the Lord through His Church?

Hmmmmm…humble pie.  It can smell like sulfur, taste like bile, and cause our stomach to feel like it is attempting to digest nails.  How we respond to the humble pie we are served in our lives is probably a good indication of where we are in our walk with the Lord and what kind of deacon we are going to be.  Be mindful.  Be vigilant.  Be sober.