Palm Sunday_A - Wash Away My Troubles_040520

Deacon Tom Writes,

Wash Away My Troubles

Palm Sunday of the Lord's Passion, Year A

As we stand powerless in the face of the ravages the coronavirus is unleashing around the world, we come to Palm Sunday and witness Jesus, the Son of God, rendered powerless before Pilate. There will be a complete turn-around for Jesus come Easter Morning. And there will be a turn-around for the world too. We see it already. People doing amazing things to come to the aid of neighbor and stranger. This time of adversity will show peoples' true character... They will either take great personal risk to come to the aid of others or they will talk the good talk... Time will tell. 

As we read through Jesus’ passion by St. Matthew today, we hear how Pilate handled matters when he lost control of the crowd...“he took water and washed his hands in the sight of the crowd, saying, ‘I am innocent of this man’s blood. Look to it yourself’”.

In capturing so vividly Pilate’s attempt to wash himself clean of any complicity in Christ’s death, Matthew has given us an image we may, at times, use to escape our own culpability in wrongdoing; we wash our hands of the matter. This need to become clean when things have gone wrong is universal and timeless. Pilate obviously realized that. Along similar lines we recall the story of King David years before whose guilt drove him to journal his remorse in Psalm 51:

            Have mercy on me, God, in your goodness;

            in your abundant compassion blot out my offense.

            Wash away all my guilt; from my sin cleanse me.

            For I know my offense; my sin is always before me.

And, guess what? This need to become clean again when we are troubled by our guilt is still around today. It has even been popularized in our music, I’m sure some of you may recall these words to the song, “The Road to Shambala by Three Dog Night:

            Wash away my troubles, wash away my shame

            With the rain in Shambala

            Wash away my sorrow, wash away my pain

            With the rain in Shambala

Yes, in all honesty, we make mistakes, (yet rarely own up to them) and we do things that hurt others and ourselves. Or, sometimes, we fail to do the right thing and that makes us feel just as guilty as if we did something wrong. We need to get back on the right path... the path of righteousness. What better image than that of water as a sign of our becoming clean again as a first sign of our willingness to show remorse and begin anew?

That is the exact function of the Sacrament of Reconciliation…which also has fallen victim to the coronavirus. You see, this Sacrament provides real cleansing. It provides healing from the inside out, in the heart and attitude. And real forgiveness comes from the very person Pilate unjustly condemned to death. It’s unfortunate that today when there is so much need of forgiveness and such a profound underestimate of our own sinfulness, this healing Sacrament is so underutilized. As we come to the end of our Lenten journey, let us attempt to take advantage of the graces Our Lord makes available to us when we ask Him to cleanse us of our sins.

Remember: enjoy the day and let your joy touch others!

Deacon Tom

Fifth Sunday of Lent_A - Divine Presence_032920

Deacon Tom Writes,

“ Divine Presence” 

Fifth Sunday of Lent, Year A

The story of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead is a remarkable one, but he is not the first person that Jesus brought back to life. There are other accounts of people Jesus brought back from the dead; it’s just that Lazarus’ is the most dramatic, since by all accounts he was dead the longest. The gospels also give accounts of how Jesus brought the son of the Widow of Nain back to life as well as Jairus’ daughter. But there is more to life than life……

We all have experienced times in our lives when we weren’t fully alive. We have all been down that lonely road when we have suffered the loss of a loved one or have struggled with sickness ourselves or sat helplessly by and watched someone we love suffer a debilitating illness. We have all when been bruised and battered in the game of life one way or another. Perhaps we were traumatized by the lost a job or were found ourselves in a bad marriage or relationship. These are painful moments, moments when we can truly say and feel that we ourselves were caught in a death grip. Today’s gospel reminds us of the times when we have witnessed or experienced the therapeutic power that other peoples’ love has had in raising our morbid spirits to new life. The love and support of our spouses, friends and family can sustain us, give us hope and allow us to simply breathe when we are in desperate need. The love and physical presence of others when we are merely going through the motions and pretending we are alive can truly lifts us up…. resurrects us and enabled us to get through the darkest of days. Have you forged powerful relationship like this over the years? I hope that you have.

Being with others to help and console them through the difficult moments of their lives makes Christ’s Divine Presence a reality, as real his Eucharistic presence. “For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.” MT 18:20

Our Lord desires to be present to everyone at all times but especially during times of our brokenness. Jesus calls his followers to bring his divine presence into the lives of others, without limit, condition or judgment…to listen and be there for them if only in shared silence, if that is what is needed.  

Today’s gospel tells the wonderful story of Lazarus being reunited with his family through the miracle of his resurrection. We have the ability to help restore vitality, indeed life itself, to anyone we are willing to share the burden of life with by simply being with them, consoling them and being the very presence of God at a time when darkness seems to never end and the hope of tomorrow is yet to dawn.   

Enjoy the day!

Deacon Tom

Image Credit - Lazarus of Bethany – en.wikipedia.org

Fourth Sunday of Lent_A - Sin -The Bad We Do; The Good We Fail To Do_032220

Deacon Tom Writes,

Sin –The Bad We Do; The Good We Fail To Do

Fourth Sunday of Lent, Year A

Today’s Gospel brings up the topic of sin from the perspective of its consequences. Jewish understanding was that if there was an illness, mental deficiency or the occurrence of some misfortune, it was attributable to sin on the part of the individual or the parent. That’s why the disciples wonder who is responsible for the man’s blindness: the man himself because of his own sins, or was it his parents’ fault, i.e. because of their sins. Jesus avoids laying blame. Rather, he says, “it is so that the works of God might be made visible through him” (Jn 9:2-3). Jesus puts an end to the notion that God employs disease to punish us for our sins. 

According to St. Thomas, “sin is nothing else than a morally bad act (St. Thomas, "De malo", 7:3), an act not in accord with reason informed by the Divine law. God has endowed us with reason and free-will, and a sense of responsibility; He has made us subject to His law, which is known to us by the dictates of conscience, and our acts must conform with these dictates, otherwise we sin.” [1]

Actual sin is committed by a free personal act of the will. It is divided into sins of commission and sins of omission. That’s right; you can actually sin by doing nothing, by failing to perform an action!! That raises the table stakes slightly, doesn’t it? Why is that? Well, sometimes we have a moral obligation to act. That’s the lesson of the Good Samaritan. You just can’t ignore someone in need. Sometimes you can’t chose not “to get involved.” 

Look at the words we recite during the Penitential Rite during Lent. We acknowledge to God and our brothers and sisters that we have wronged them by our thoughts, words, and deeds; in what I have done, and in what I have failed to do…. It’s right here. I’m not making this up…

I confess to almighty God

and to you, my brothers and sisters,
that I have sinned through my own fault,
in my thoughts and in my words,
in what I have done,
and in what I have failed to do;
and I ask Blessed Mary, ever Virgin,
all the angels and saints,
and you, my brothers and sisters,
to pray for me to the Lord our God.

These last few weeks of Lent are unlike any we have ever experienced. The Corona Virus is raising havoc around the world, causing unimaginable problems in the first world that in the past seemed to have only affected the third world . Who could ever imagine the Catholic Church giving dispensation for Sunday Mass? Overnight many have been cut off from their parishes which nourished their spiritual lives. Prayer and fasting, of course, are ageless Lenten practices which now seem so relevant in light of the current pandemic. But also, we can reach out via telephone calls, letters, use of social media to stay connected with one another while we curtail our social interaction. It is time to show that we are people of faith by trusting in God and not getting caught up in the fear that seems to be the order of the day. There is still a lot of Lent to go. In the days ahead may God give us the courage and ability to recognize our many faults and the grace to change our ways for the better. 

Keep the faith and Trust in God! 

Enjoy the day!

Deacon Tom

---

[1] http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/14004b.htm

Third Sunday of Lent_A - Breathe Into Me_031520

Deacon Tom Writes,

Breathe Into Me  

Third Sunday of Lent, Year A

A young man told me his conversion story a while ago when I was a prison chaplain in Connecticut. He needed some quick cash to pay off his gambling debts. So, he stopped by a bank to make a withdrawal. Small problem – his withdrawal slip was a pistol. While fleeing the bank the police responded appropriately by firing at him, unaware that his pistol was a BB gun. He was hit six times. As he lay dying, he says he saw the devil come to him and begin to “rip his soul out of his body”. Just when he thought he had drawn his last breath, he felt new life being breathed into him by Jesus and he heard Him say, “Get away Satan, this is a child of God”. This young man had been recovering for seven months when I met him and, after his recovery, which was still some time off, he would face a long prison sentence. That didn’t bother him because his profound encounter with Jesus had given him a new vision for his life; it has changed his life forever. He knows that God has a purpose for him and he is looking to find out just what it is.

Most of us look with skepticism at such extreme conversion experiences because they are over the top. Yet, recall these words of Isaiah, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, say the LORD.” We fail at times to remember that God is mystery. We simply cannot grasp the great love God has for us that leads to his pursuing us all the time, through … “the labyrinth ways of my own mind; and in the midst of tears” as Francis Thompson wrote in his poem, The Hound of Heaven. God is like a bloodhound, always tracking us down, right there beside us when we stumble and fall.

Today’s gospel demonstrates this very point. Jesus goes out of his way to engage this Samaritan woman. The Samaritans and the Jews are religious enemies who hated and loathed each other because they differed on the proper way to worship God. (Some things never change!!) Jesus intentionally crosses the barriers of hostility to encounter this woman. He meets her in the midst of the crises of her life; in the middle of her life that has been filled with broken relationships, disappointment, alienation from her community; and he breathes new life into her, and through her he animates the entire village.

By necessity we need to be advocates for those who are trying to put their lives back together after they stumble and fall. It is through their stories and their witness that we come to know the mystery of God’s love for us and his readiness to breathe new life into us repeatedly. No matter what we do. No matter how far we run or from how high we fall. 

I believe we all have profound conversion stories of how God has come to us through our failures and brokenness. Perhaps, as we continue on our Lenten journey, we can reflect on how God is calling us to use these encounters first to respond to his love and then to help him breathe new life into others he sends into our lives.

Enjoy the day!

Deacon Tom

Second Sunday of Lent_A - Renewal of the Mind_030820

Deacon Tom Writes,

“Renewal Of the Mind”

Second Sunday of Lent, Year A

In his letter to the Ephesians St Paul instructed them: “You should put away the old self of your former way of life, corrupted through deceitful desires, and be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and put on the new self, created in God's way in righteousness and holiness of truth.” (Eph 4:22)

When Peter, James and John see Jesus in the fullness of his glory, they, quite naturally, want to hang on to the moment. In an effort to hold on to this moment they want to erect three tents perhaps so that Moses, Elijah, and Jesus can stay with them for a while. But that was not to be. The vision doesn’t last. Before you know it, it’s all over and the time comes to return to the ordinary, routine affairs of daily life.

Hold on to the vision, Christ tells them. Keep this all to yourself until the Son of Man has been raised from the Dead! What an impossible task! Yet there can be no doubt that these men were deeply affected by what they saw. Seeing Christ in the fullness of His glory affected their thinking, their behavior, and their attitudes. Does what we hear today do the same for us?

If we so desire, the words of our Gospel today can have a great impact on our life. We too can be renewed in the spirit of our minds and be given a new mindset, one that will transform every aspect of our lives, renew and enliven our inner beings, empower us to do the difficult interior work that will allow us to grow more spiritually mature. St. Paul describes this process, “So whoever is in Christ is a new creation: the old things have passed away; behold, new things have come (2 Cor 5:17). It is being renewed from the inside out.

Peter, James and John were fortunate to have been given this glimpse of the divine Jesus. We are somewhat more challenged today since we will not experience this until our life’s end. But now that the story has been told, we have this vision implanted in our heads AND hearts. It is a vision that beckons us to begin the difficult, life-long work of crafting our new selves created in God’s way, a work that will come to completion only when we become one with him in what we refer to as, “the life to come.”

Enjoy the day!

Deacon Tom

First Sunday of Lent_A - An Unrequited Love _030120

Deacon Tom Writes,

Unrequited Love

First Sunday of Lent, Year A

The Prophet Hosea speaks of God’s unending love for his unfaithful  people and his desire to be reconciled with them with these words:

“I will allure her; I will lead her into the desert and speak to her heart.”  HOSEA 2:16

The season of Lent draws much from the desert imagery that is so deeply immersed throughout our Sacred Scripture. And, so at the very mention of the word “Lent”, for instance, we recall the journey of the Israelites from Egypt to the Promised Land, a journey from slavery to freedom. And we are mindful of how Jesus withdrew to the desert to discern God’s Will for him as read in today’s gospel. 

Yet, the words from Hosea cast another light on desert experiences:  they are a time of solitude, a time of intimacy, of knowing and becoming known. God calls those he loves into a place of solitude so that we can enter into a deeper relationship with him and, through his Mystical Body, into a deeper relationship with one another.  

Yes, Lent is about discovery, an awakening of just how incomplete our lives have become separated from our Beloved. These next six weeks give us the chance to see just how far we have fallen out of relationship with God and provide us the opportunity to seek to make things right. 

But least we think that we are left on our own to do all the work, recall the beautiful words from Hosea and remember who it is who entices us into this desert journey, God himself. It is God who desires us to seek him; it is God who calls us into relationship with him; it is God who desires to be our all in all, our Beloved; and it is God who is desperate for us to love him in return.  

May God bless all your Lenten efforts to draw near to him. May he bless abundantly your Seeking Heart. 

Enjoy the day!

Deacon Tom

Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time_A - The Call to Holiness_022320

Deacon Tom Writes on….

“The Call to Holiness”

Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A

Jesus takes the contemporary wisdom of his time and turns it upside down. The ancient patterns of behavior of seeking revenge, the old “eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth” order of the day mentality needs to give way to a new mindset, a new way of resolving differences. So Jesus introduces his followers to some new and innovative ways to bring about justice saying, “Offer no resistance to one who is evil” and “turn the other cheek.”

Jesus’ radical new prescription to eradicate the plagues of hatred and discrimination is to “love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.” Of course, this is much easier said than done. There is a story told about the days following the North’s victory over the South in America’s Civil War. President Abraham Lincoln was being pressured to completely destroy the Confederacy, to decimate the enemies of the Union once and for all. Lincoln’s answer was classic. He responded to those calling for the annihilation of the South with these reconciling words saying effectively:  “Don’t I destroy my enemies when I make them my friends?” Lincoln understood very well that violence only begets more violence. The cycle never ends. How could it in the absence of a new mindset, a new vision that lifts the victim and the vanquished to a higher level of social and moral conscientiousness? This attitude perhaps helped fashion America’s treatment of our enemies in the twentieth century when, after the Second World War, the Marshall Plan sent massive humanitarian aid to Europe in order to lay the foundation for a world able to reconcile differences through mutual respect and an orderly process of dialogue rather than mutual destruction.

Embracing a new way of responding to problems that give rise to the endless cycle of violence that ravages peoples, cultures, and societies is a critical component of our faith. Through the Prophet Moses, the Lord told his people to “Be holy, for I, the Lord, your God, am holy.” We are called to be holy as God is holy. Therefore violence and revenge are not options. There is no better advocate for this than Christ who became a victim for us all and who suffered torture and death at the hands of violent people in order to show us the way of peace, forgiveness, and reconciliation.

Let us take Christ’s words to heart and strive to put them into practice by “turning the other cheek” when others choose the way of violence and also by praying for those who do so.

I would like to recommend the book, Living Justice, by Thomas Massaro, S.J. as a great Lenten read on Catholic Social Teaching. Watching the News will never be the same!

Enjoy the day!

Deacon Tom

Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time, A - Make the Right Choice_021620

Deacon Tom Writes,

“Make the Right Choice”

Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A

Our readings today address the choices we have in life. Sirach seems to say that, in essence, every choice that we make comes down to this: we choose between life and death or, stated differently, between good and evil. Then the Sacred Writer cautions us further that, “whatever we choose shall be given to us”.  

It is not often we think of the choices we make throughout the day as either good or evil or between life and death. We probably make hundreds of choices over the course of an ordinary day. Yet, it shouldn’t be a surprise to us that every choice we make counts; every choice we make has us heading in one direction or another. We often find ourselves in situations where we must compromise... our faith, our values, our entire belief system. Jesus, in saying that he has come to fulfill the law, not to abolish it, reminds us that we have a reference point on how to determine if we are making good or bad choices. His focal point is … the Law, specifically, the Law God handed down to Moses on Mount Sinai.

In today’s Gospel, Jesus expands the meaning of the Law when he interprets it in a much broader sense. He equates anger with the act of killing another person. Then again, the act of calling someone a fool and thereby diminishing their dignity as a child of God becomes punishable by eternal damnation….

I don’t think that Jesus is being overly scrupulous. He is being very cautious. He knows that it is the little things that trip us up not only in the day-to-day happenings in our material life but also on our spiritual journey as well. He knows that every choice we make is either drawing us nearer to him or has us moving further away from him. He knows that little by little we can loose the kingdom of heaven by making bad choices. 

Jesus taught us that the best choice we can make is to choose to love, to love God first and foremost, and to love others, even our enemies as well. And this happens every time we choose to put others first, and by doing so, we deepen our love of God, which is always the right choice! 

Enjoy the day!

Deacon Tom

Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time_A - Light and Zest_020920

Deacon Tom Writes,

“Light and Zest”

Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A

The Sacred Author of the Letter to the Hebrews wrote this insightful passage concerning the enduring truth about the Word of God when he penned these words, “Indeed, the word of God is living and effective, sharper than any two-edged sword, penetrating even between soul and spirit, joints and marrow, and able to discern reflections and thoughts of the heart”. Hebrews 4:12

It seems there is no shortage of problems in our world today. Look around and you see protesters carrying signs and placards supporting one cause or another, advocating one course of action over a different path forward, labeling one ideology good and those who stand in opposition to that way of thinking bad. We seem divided over many issues... the world seems to be in disarray. Where does one turn to find a meaningful message, one that inspires hope, gives us a path that we may follow that helps heal our social maladies? Perhaps anyone who enters any of our Catholic Churches around the world today, February 9, 2020 will find some direction in these words from the Prophet Isaiah

Thus says the LORD:
Share your bread with the hungry,
shelter the oppressed and the homeless;
clothe the naked when you see them,
and do not turn your back on your own.
Then your light shall break forth like the dawn,
and your wound shall quickly be healed;

Isaiah goes on to say:

If you remove from your midst
oppression, false accusation and malicious speech;
if you bestow your bread on the hungry
and satisfy the afflicted;
then light shall rise for you in the darkness,
and the gloom shall become for you like midday.

We don’t surrender our politics, our agendas, our experiences or hopes for the future when we enter Church to worship God. These are essential dimensions of our lives that are to be conformed and shaped by the Word and Sacrament that we receive when we participate in “the sacred mysteries” which bring us together as “the people of God” whenever we gather in his name.

We are faced with many challenges today; we have many factors dividing us into contentious fractions to put it mildly. Where to begin? In good conscience, we must not overlook the cautionary and prophetic advice we find in Sacred Scripture from those who have not only experienced similar extraordinary times but also persevered while endeavoring to remaining faithful to high moral standards.

Jesus calls his disciples “the salt of the earth”. All who heard Jesus say this understood how valuable salt was as a preservative, an antiseptic, to enhance the flavor of food. Salt was a medium of exchange from which the word “salary” is derived. If we are to be the “salt of the earth” as Jesus called us to be, we must bring to the current debates the Christian values we find in Sacred Scripture that sees us all as God’s children and not just with our words but with our actions as well by bringing light and zest to the world around us. 

Enjoy the day!

Deacon Tom

Feast of the Presentation of the Lord_A - My Messenger_020220

Deacon Tom Writes,

“My Messenger”

Feast of the Presentation of the Lord, Year A

“A picture is worth a thousand words,” as the saying goes. In today’s first reading the Prophet Malachi speaks of another messenger whose anticipated arrival was awaited with much desire by the Jewish people. Malachi writes that this mysterious person will be pleasing to the Lord and will purge every tinge of imperfection from his priests and his people. He will fulfill the covenant and be swift to judge with justice. Malachi writes that “You will find him in the temple”.

While our Christmas season has faded into the past, our feast today celebrates the Jewish ritual in which the first-born male born was presented in the Temple as a sacred offering to the Lord. What a thought! The most precious gift we receive from God is symbolically offered back to the Lord, the source of all that we have… and all that we are.

How our faith really challenges us! God’s messenger, God’s Word, God’s revelation of himself to his creation was manifested in such a fully recognizable and human experience, a child….  a vulnerable, needy, dependent, infant in whom lies the salvation of a broken world.

The Feast we celebrated today calls to mind our need to present ourselves to the Lord; that we are called to offer our very being and the work of our hands to do what God asks of us in bringing about the Kingdom of God here in our time, where we work and live and go about our daily tasks. 

Jesus enters into the human family in an ordinary way, subjects himself to the rites and rituals of the Jewish faith in order to fully embrace our human condition. Throughout his ministry, Jesus continues to draw closer to the Father and discerns what is God’s Will for him. And, by so doing, Jesus becomes for us the “The Way, the Truth and the Life.”

The Prophets Simeon and Anna tell Jesus’ wonder struck parents somewhat of the foreboding road that lies ahead… there will be challenges for their child to overcome, there will be pain and suffering for him and them, too. Isn’t that the story of life? Perhaps that’s why God’s Messenger begins his story where we all do, an infant. May our journey through this life, like Jesus’ follow the path God has laid out for us. And may we follow his example and place our hope and trust in him.

Enjoy the day!

Deacon Tom

Third Sunday in Ordinary Time_A - Decision Time_012620

Deacon Tom Writes,

“Decision Time”

Third Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A

Making important decisions is seldom easy. St. Matthew recounts the story of ordinary men who were running a successful business when they were asked to make a decision. Their encounter with Christ causes them to alter the course of their lives. They set out in a new direction to face the uncertainties of life with a new certainty….that all is not contained in this life, but rather, the greater reality is yet to come.

In deciding to follow Jesus these men became witnesses to the life transforming possibilities that Christ brought to every person and every situation he encountered during his brief ministry. Because they decided to follow Jesus, it is through their eyes and through their stylists these events have been written down and preserved by Holy Mother Church. Today these words come alive for us here and now. We now are asked how we respond to Christ’s invitation to “Come after me…”

We all have received a calling from God. We all have a unique and specific purpose in life that belongs to each of us individually. If we do not accept this call, if we don’t set out to accomplish the specific task God has given us, then that work, that effort, remains undone.

Today our Gospel prompts us to look into our lives and see how we have responded to the call that we have received, the call to love God and neighbor, the call to forgive those who hurt us, the call to live our lives in a spirit of wonder and awe knowing God is with us, always present in our lives, always seeking to bestow his abundant graces upon us just as he did to those we read about today. What he does for them he will do for everyone who makes a decision to follow him.

Enjoy the day!

Deacon Tom