2nd Sunday of Lent, Year C (Gospel: Luke 9:28b-36) 'This is My Son the Beloved; Listen to Him'

 

No doubt you are familiar with the term ‘Jekyll and Hyde,’ which refers to someone with two completely different personalities. It is from the book The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson, set in 19^th century London.

 

Dr. Henry Jekyll is a well-respected scientist in London. He is fascinated by the goodness and evil that is possible in each person. He is also tired of always being treated as such a good and respected person in society. He manages to create a potion which completely changes his personality into someone very sinister, Mr. Hyde, who then goes out at night committing terrible acts of violence and murder.

 

The first time, after the potion wears off, he is horrified at what he has done, but then he wants another taste of it and tries it again. As time goes on he needs more of the potion to have the same effect, but he also wants more and more of it. In the end he reaches a point of no return, where he completely becomes the evil character Edward Hyde. He has now been transformed into someone consumed with evil. Finally, realizing what has happened he takes his own life.

 

The story is a good analogy of what can happen to each of us depending on the choices we make. One thing it reminds me of is the tendency to hate, that is in all of us. We are not born full of hatred. It is something we choose and sometimes are taught.

 

A priest friend of mind from Northen Ireland, was telling me that during what were known as ‘the troubles,’ where there was so much hatred and violence between Catholics and Protestants, there were also many good people who wanted to end the violence and to build bridges between the two sides. He told me that he was invited one time to speak to the children in a Protestant elementary school. To my astonishment he also told me that the first thing he had to do when he went into the younger children, was to take off his shoes and socks and show them that he didn’t have hooved feet. Their parents had taught them that priests were the devil and that they had hooved feet. They were breeding hatred into these children from their earliest years. So sad.

 

Hatred is something that our society is seeing a lot of at this time. People are full of hatred for other groups of people, sometimes immigrants, for one political party or the other, for one president or the other, for one pope or another. It amazes me how many times in confession people have told me that they hate one group or another. But hatred is something we choose to do. Like the potion that changed Dr. Jekyll into Mr. Hyde, the more we hate, the more we are filled with hatred and it begins to flow into other parts of our life as well.

No group is worth hating. We may be angry with them, or disagree with them and sometimes need to condemn people for wrong doing, but we always choose to hate or not to hate.

 

When you hear about some of the horrors that drug cartels, or organized crime are engaged in, it would make you wonder how individuals can do such terrible evil to other human beings, not just killing, but torturing as well. They don’t start out that way, but they get involved in crime and gradually keep choosing to do more and more, until they are no longer affected by it. It takes them over and they end up doing things that no human being was ever meant to do. We choose to hate or not to hate, to commit crime or not to commit crime. Even if it only seems like minor things like political parties, we can still choose to hate or not to hate. We can dislike and even be angry with injustices that happen, but without hating.

 

What we fill our minds with is also going to determine how we think. If we are taught to hate a person, or group of people, from an early age, then it is only going to get worse as we get older, unless we choose to stop hating.

 

In this strange and terrifying event that we read about in the Gospel, the transfiguration, there is one line in it that always strikes me, where God the Father says, ‘This is my Son, the Beloved. Listen to him.’ ‘Listen to him.’ Listen to Jesus, to what He teaches. Fill your mind with his teaching, not the teaching of the world, which is usually the complete opposite.

 

I remember someone telling me about their father, who was now a widower, and spent most of the day with the TV on listening to nothing but the news and getting more and more angry and anxious every day, with all that is going on. As you know, there is no news like bad news. Bad news is what sells. It is what gets us to watch more, or listen to more and much of what we are told often isn’t true. If I continually fill my mind with the thinking of the world, I am probably going to become anxious, angry and filled with hatred. That is why it is so important that we keep listening to the things of God, all that is written in the Scriptures.

 

In the second reading, St. Paul refers to those who are not living as Christ calls us to and he says, ‘Their minds are filled with earthly things,’ and so they have turned in on themselves. He goes on to say, ‘But our citizenship is in heaven.’ If we remember our destiny and that we only have a limited time in this world and that ultimately all things will be subject to Christ, in other words, that there will be perfect justice, that can change our outlook considerably. We see a bigger picture. If I’m only focused on that bad things that are going on right now and forget the bigger picture, it will also color the way I see everything in the world.

 

Many people have said to me, ‘I am so worried about what I see happening in our country,’ that is before and since the election. Why are you worrying about what is going to happen in the country? What is important is that I play my part to make it a better country and a better world and then let it go. What will happen will happen.

 

In St. Matthew’s Gospel (Matt 6:25 ff.), Jesus says,

‘Why do you worry about tomorrow. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

The Father knows what you need, even before you ask him.

Seek first the kingdom of God and all these other things will be given you as well.’

 

I need to focus on today and what I can do today. Remember that our destiny is not this world, but heaven. Whatever happens around us, happens. If we focus on what God teaches us, then our mindset will be different and we ill influence the world in a better way, but that is something that we must choose to do.

 

I want to finish with this inspiring letter by a French journalist after the terrorist attack on a concert in Paris, in 2015.

On Friday, November 13, 2015, in Paris, gunmen broke into a concert hall and shot 129 dead.

A journalist by the name of Antoine Leiris, posted this letter entitled, “You Will Not Have My Hatred,” to Facebook, less than three days after his 35-year-old wife of 12 years, Helen Muyal-Leiris, was killed. She was one of 129 individuals killed during the series of attacks in Paris that Friday night.

Friday night, you took an exceptional life—the love of my life, the mother of my son—but you will not have my hatred. I don't know who you are and I don't want to know, you are dead souls. If this God, for whom you kill blindly, made us in his image, every bullet in the body of my wife would have been one more wound in His heart.

So, no, I will not grant you the gift of my hatred. You're asking for it, but responding to hatred with anger is falling victim to the same ignorance that has made you what you are. You want me to be scared, to view my countrymen with mistrust, to sacrifice my liberty for my security. You lost.

I saw her this morning, finally, after nights and days of waiting. She was just as beautiful as when she left on Friday night, just as beautiful as when I fell hopelessly in love over 12 years ago. Of course I am devastated by this pain, I give you this little victory, but the pain will be short-lived. I know that she will be with us every day and that we will find ourselves again in this paradise of free love to which you have no access.

We are just two, my son and me, but we are stronger than all the armies in the world. I don't have any more time to devote to you, I have to join Melvil who is waking up from his nap. He is barely 17-months-old. He will eat his meals as usual, and then we are going to play as usual, and for his whole life this little boy will threaten you by being happy and free. Because no, you will not have his hatred either.

‘This is my Son, the Beloved. Listen to him.’

 

8th Sunday Year C (Gospel: Luke 6:39-45) ‘Why do you notice the splinter in your brother’s eye?’

 

A woman once brought her son to visit the famous Mahatma Gandhi, in India, who was revered as a wise and holy man. She asked him to tell her son to give up candy, as he was totally addicted to it. Gandhi told her to come back in three weeks. So she returned three weeks later. Then Gandhi said to her son, ‘You should give up all this candy, it is going to damage your health!’ The woman was puzzled and asked him why he hadn’t said that three weeks before. He told her that he was also addicted to candy, and so he had to give it up himself before he could tell her son to do it.

 

‘Do not judge and you will not be judged. Do not condemn and you will not be condemned. Forgive and you will be forgiven.’ (Matt 6:37)

 

That has to be understood correctly. It is normal to judge a person’s actions. If someone murders another, it is morally wrong. If someone abuses another person, sexually, or in any other way, it is morally wrong and we can judge such actions as right or wrong and we should be accountable for our actions. The judgement God tells us not to make is the judgement of the heart. We cannot judge the heart of the person who did something like that, because only God can judge the heart. We don’t know what causes someone to act the way they do. I suspect that if we could see what goes on in the heart of each other, we would be a lot more merciful with one another.

 

When I was in the seminary I visited a man in prison over two years. We actually visited them in their cells. He had committed a very brutal murder, which was a chance meeting and a provoked attack. 30 seconds either way and he would never have met the person. He actually turned himself in, as he couldn’t live with what had happened. The media called him a monster and a cold blooded killer, etc. Visiting him in prison showed me a man who was deeply remorseful for what had happened. He prayed for the woman he had killed and her family. He wasn’t a monster. He was a person who had made a terrible mistake.

I remember watching an episode of First 48, where they follow real murder cases and how the police try and solve them. One such murder was committed by a man who had been introduced to crime by his father at the age of 6. He would bring his son to drug deals with him, at the age of 6. One of the detectives who had caught him acknowledged that he never had a chance. Even she could see the tragedy of his background which resolved in him getting more and more involved in crime and not surprisingly eventually in a murder.

 

The greatest knowledge we can gain, is self-knowledge. The more we are able to look at ourselves honestly, the less likely we are to be over-critical of others. If we are honest with ourselves, none of us are in a position to judge the heart of anyone else and yet we do it all the time. It is hard for us to distinguish between the actions of another and their heart. We tend to judge the person rather than their actions. If you turn it around, how would you feel if people only judged you as a person, rather than by your actions. You know the way we do things and then are frustrated with ourselves, because we know we can do better, but our own weakness pulls us down.

 

In one of the parishes where I worked, an elderly lady went into a room for a meeting. In that room a carpenter was doing some work. She lost her temper with him and threatened to throw out his tools etc. Her reaction was completely out of proportion to what was going on. As it happened I turned up a few minutes later, although it had nothing to do with what had just happened, but I realized she felt I was judging her. I knew that because the next time she came to me for Communion she had her head down; she wouldn’t look at me in the face. I felt the Lord saying to me, ‘You see the shame this woman feels because of her own weakness. Perhaps this is a temper she cannot control and it causes her great humiliation.’ It would be easy to write her off as a cantankerous old woman, without giving any consideration to the fact that maybe this is a weakness that she doesn’t have much control over and that causes her much grief. We cannot judge the heart.

 

St. Thomas Aquinas says that the only thing we can really take credit for, are our sins. Maybe that seems a bit extreme, but think about it. Everything we have comes from God: our gifts, talents, opportunities, health, ability, intelligence, chance for education etc. To recognize that also helps to bring humility.

Humility is not pretending you are stupid when you know you aren’t, rather knowing what we are like before God. In other words, humility is truth. We are small and we are sinners, but that’s ok, because the Lord loves us as we are. The more aware of this we are, the less likely we are to only see what is wrong with the people around us. Unconsciously we tend to think that if we could sort out the people around us, the world would be a better place. But what the Lord tells us is to focus on ourselves and then the world will start to become a better place.

 

When I am in traffic and someone cuts me off, or does something that scares me, I usually react like most of people and get angry with the person, calling them all kinds of words that aren’t in the bible. But then I try to stop myself and ask myself if I have ever done anything similar? because of course I have. That usually gets me to calm down. The truth is that they are not the idiot that I just called them. They are someone who made an error in judgement. We all do it, all the time. If we didn’t, there wouldn’t be any crashes on the road. The Sheriff’s department in Lee County have actually set up a taskforce to deal with road-rage, because it has gotten so bad. The rage within people has little to do with the traffic and incidents on the road. It is just a rage that people have within them, which is triggered by some traffic incident. If people were prepared to look at their own mistakes a bit more, there would probably be a lot less road rage, because we would realize that we are no better than most other people on the road. If I can only see the fault of the other, then I am less likely to be tolerant. IF I can acknowledge my own weakness, it will probably make me slower to condemn.

 

‘Why do you notice the splinter in your brother's eye, but do not perceive the wooden beam in your own? Remove the wooden beam from your eye first… Then you will see clearly to remove the splinter in your brother’s eye.’

 

7th Sunday Year C (Gospel: Luke 6:27-38) The need for forgiveness

 

Immaculée Ilibagiz

There is an amazing account of a woman called Immaculée Ilibagiza, born in 1972, from Rwanda. Up until her twenties, she lived a happy life with her family and neighbors. Her family were well educated. But in 1994, when she was 22, Rwanda descended into a horrific nine months of ethnic cleansing. The Hutu tribe, who were the majority, tried to rid the country of the Tutsi tribe. Up to this point they had lived in relative peace together. During this time almost a million Tutsi’s were brutally murdered, mostly with machetes, including all but one of her family. She and seven other women fled to the house of a local pastor. He was a Hutu, but did not agree with the killings. She and seven other women, hid in a bathroom, just 3 x 4 feet, for three months. Outside she could hear the killings going on, and the Hutus searching for her and as a result they could only speak in whispers. They searched the house several times, but never found her, as the pastor had moved a wardrobe in front of the door of the bathroom where they were hiding. When she went into hiding she weighed 120 pounds. When she finally escaped she weighed just 65 pounds.

 

During her time in hiding, God led her to a deep experience of prayer through the rosary. She found herself praying the rosary all day long. She said that initially she found it very hard to say the words, ‘Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who trespass against us’, and she often skipped the words. But God helped her to go from a place of hatred to being able to forgive, though it took some time. While she was praying and struggling with trying to forgive, God also granted her a vision of Jesus being crucified, saying, ‘Father forgive them, for they know not what they do.’

 

When the genocide finally ended and she was able to live freely again, she was able to visit the prison where the man who had killed her family was. He had been a family friend, Felicien, who was held in high regard. When he was brought before her, he was forced to his knees, but he was too ashamed to look at her. The guard gave her permission to spit on him, or beat him, but all she said was, ‘I forgive you.’ The guard, began to shout at her and say, how can you say that to the man who killed your mother?’ But she replied, ‘That is all I have left.’

 

Some time after, she began to write a book called, Left to Tell, which is an amazing read and I would highly recommend it. Not surprisingly it’s a NY Times bestseller.

A couple of years ago she spoke in St. John the XXIII church, here in Fort Myers. She has spent the last twenty years working for the UN and traveling all around the world, talking about the need to forgive. When she finished the talk, she ended by saying, ‘If I can forgive my families killers, anyone can forgive.’

 

One of the hardest things that any of us are faced with is trying to forgive people who have hurt us. Often the people who hurt us the most are the people closest to us. When people say to me that they are angry with someone, it nearly always indicates that they need to forgive that person. Let me try and clear up a few misconceptions about what forgiveness is and is not.

 

Forgiveness is a decision of the will, as opposed to something we feel like doing. Most of us rarely feel like forgiving someone and if we were to wait until we actually felt like it, we would probably not forgive at all. When I forgive someone I make a decision to forgive that person because the Lord is asking me to, not because I feel like it. The reason why it is so important to do that is because when we forgive someone we open up the door to God’s grace to help us begin to heal. If I refuse to forgive someone, I am blocking God from helping me to heal from the hurt. We are the ones who suffer, not the person we are angry with.

 

We may think that if I say I forgive someone I am saying that what they did doesn't matter. When we forgive we are not saying that, or that we no longer mind, or that the hurt is all gone. But when we refuse to forgive someone, we are the ones who suffer. The anger, hurt and resentment eats away at us inside. It is a terrible thing to meet people late in their life who have continually refused to forgive. You can see the bitterness in them and it is a sad sight to see. None of us want to end up like that. The good thing is that it is never too late to forgive.

 

It is easy to think that if I don’t forgive someone they will go on suffering because of what they did. The truth is that they may not even be aware of it any more. We are the ones who suffer. We are the ones who lose out. The first step in the process of healing from the hurt is to make the decision to forgive them and say the words. ‘Lord I forgive this person because you ask me to.’ It doesn’t mean that everything will suddenly be alright, or that we will suddenly love that person. In fact we may need to say those words again and again, but slowly we begin to heal. When we make the decision to forgive, we allow God to heal us, because we are the ones who are injured.

 

All of us make mistakes and do wrong. We are well aware of that. I’m quite sure that all of us expect and hope that God will forgive us, but Jesus was very clear that we also need to forgive others if we expect to be forgiven ourselves. Jesus gave some very strong stories about people who refused to forgive, finishing with the words: ‘And that is how my heavenly Father will treat you unless you each forgive your brother from the heart’ (Matthew 18:35). In another place Jesus says:

‘If you come to the altar to make your offering and there remember that your brother has something against you. Go and be reconciled with your brother first. Then come and make your offering’ (Matthew 5:23-24). 

 

Even if it is the other person who has a problem with us, we are asked to at least be willing to reconcile, to reach out to them. If they don’t accept it, that is their problem, but we must not be the one to refuse to reconcile.

 

I remember the story of two brothers who lived in an apartment block next door to each other and they had a falling out over something. They refused to speak to each other and would have nothing to do with each other. Eventually one of them began to leave a small bag of candy outside the door of the other and then the other brother did something similar. It was their way of saying I forgive you and I’m sorry, even though no words were spoken.

 

We also need to forgive ourselves for the sins we have committed. So many people carry the guilt and shame of sins from years ago. If we have asked for forgiveness then God has forgiven us, because He has promised us that. By dying on Calvary Jesus won that forgiveness for us. All we have to do is ask for it and it is ours, no matter how terrible the sin was. God assures us of his forgiveness for anyone who asks. We will always carry the memory, because that is the damage done by the sin, but we have the freedom to know that we are forgiven. That is what God wants for us, the freedom of knowing that He will always forgive us, as long as we ask for forgiveness and are willing to forgive. 

Forgive us our trespasses

As we forgive those who trespass against us…

 

Sixth Sunday Year C (Gospel Luke 6:17, 20-26) On Immigration

 

Church teaching on Immigration

There is a lot of confusion about what we are and are not obliged to do as Christians, towards immigrants and I would like to share with you, not my opinion, but Church teaching. This is not a political talk, and it is not a criticism of anyone or any party, because I believe that people have the right intention, but we should also know our obligations, as God teaches us.

 

Bishop Burbidge of Arlington says,

 

‘The Church does not support open borders, but rather a common sense approach where the duty to care for the stranger is practiced in harmony with the duty to care for the nation.’

Unconditional open borders is not the teaching of the Church.

 

CCC. (Catechism of the Catholic Church) 2241 ‘Immigrants are obliged to respect with gratitude the material and spiritual heritage of the country that receives them, to obey its laws and to assist in carrying civic burdens.’

 

The needy are entitled to our help, but not to use illegal means to obtain that.

 

CCC Political authorities, for the sake of the common good for which they are responsible, may make the exercise of the rite to immigrate subject to various juridical conditions (the law). These conditions would indicate that some people are not permitted to immigrate into a country and if they do illegally, they may face punishment, [including being deported].

 

The issue of immigration was discussed prior to Vatican II, but without any teaching that any deportation and deporting those who had illegally entered a county was intrinsically evil.

 

1929 the Vatican signed an extradition treaty with Italy, agreeing to return any alleged criminals, who sought refuge in the Holy See, which they agreed extradite them. The Vatican wouldn’t have agreed to that if it considered it evil to do that.

 

What about the teaching of the Church through encyclicals and the teaching of the Church in the Magisterium [The official teaching body of the Church]?

 

In Gaudium et Spes, which was one of the documents of Vatican II, it speaks of causing people to move from one place to another, when the Church speaks of that, it’s about the ejection of people from their proper chosen home. That’s deportation. Deportation is evicting you from your proper home. Sending people out of a country that entered illegally back to where they came from is not deportation. That is repatriation. Deportation is kicking you out of your true home. Someone here illegally, this is not their one true home.

 

The Holy Family were not illegally refugees in Egypt, when they fled there, as it was part of the Roman Empire. St. Joseph obeyed the civil law by obeying the census. They complied with Roman Law as well as Jewish law. St. Joseph worked for a living and didn’t receive handouts. He wasn’t a fugitive from justice.

 

Vice president Vance mentioned the encyclical Ordo Amoris. It talks about a hierarchy of love. The order of love that we must give is:

God first,

family second,

country third,

our own people (citizens) fourth and

other people, fifth.’

There is a hierarchy. Catholic truth is not being taught on this matter. 

 

JD Vance said the cartels are making 30 million dollars per day, smuggling people and drugs across the border. Those who enter the country illegally are at the mercy of cruel employers and landlords. They are paid well below the minimum wage and often given jobs that are dangerous. Their employers threaten to deport them if they complain.

 

One bishop said, ‘The truth of having a secure border, in an orderly and lawful immigration process, is indeed the most compassionate approach for migrants and it helps to guard against the chaos and mass suffering that is happening at our borders now.

 

In Mark’s Gospel (7:27-28), a Syro-Phoenician woman approaches Jesus and asks him to heal her daughter. Jesus replies,

‘First let the children eat all they want, for it is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to the dogs.’ ‘Lord,’ she replied, ‘even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.’

Jesus was saying, there is a hierarchy of love.

 

There is a wall around the Vatican. Noone enters the Vatican without proper permission or paperwork. Even as a priest, I could not just walk into the Vatican. I would have had to get special permission and I was in Italy legally. If you do go in illegally you will be arrested.

 

People are exploited. Every sovereign nation has a right to defend itself and to determine who comes into its country, but there needs to be a legal process. When there isn’t, people are exploited, immigrants are exploited. If registered they are protected. We have always had immigration. I am an immigrant and probably everyone here’s ancestors are immigrants. I was talking to the owner of a tile store a few days ago, who is also an immigrant and we were both talking about this.

 

John Paul II said ‘Illegal immigration should be prevented.’

 

Is the State obliged to welcome all foreigners without condition? Does Church teaching require open borders and if so at what cost to the nation, its people and even to the migrants themselves?

 

Far from mandating open borders, or condemning deportation, the Catholic Church teaching is this

1.       The civil authority’s primary duty is to the common good of its own people, who form the household of the nation.

2.       Hospitality towards immigrants must be guided by prudence and ordered to justice.

3.       Unchecked immigration can undermine civil society, exploit both native workers and migrants and serve the interests of globalism at the expense of the common good.

 

Thomas Aquinas says, ‘Foreigners who wish to be admitted entirely to the fellowship and  mode of worship of another nation, should not be given the rights of that nations citizens immediately… Their offspring should have to wait for several generations before their offspring were admitted to citizenship.’ He says, ‘This is because the immediate admission of foreigners to citizenship could lead to many dangers.’ If foreigners were admitted fully into the affairs of the nations as soon as they arrive, many dangers might occur, since the foreigners might not have the common good firmly at heart yet.

 

In 373 the Germanic Goths were allowed to come into Rome as refugees. Soon they all rose up in revolt and they crushed the Roman empire. They ultimately contributed to the fall of Rome.

 

Civil authority must protect the common good of the nation, that of the people of the nation. The people have a legitimate right to exist as they are and to have this continuing existence protected.

 

The Church is not saying that we don’t care for people, we absolutely should care for people, but there is an order that must be followed.

 

Cardinal Dulles, the Cardinal of Catholic Bishops said, ‘Individual deportations of undesirable aliens occurs continually as a matter of national policy today. Mass deportations could perhaps be necessary for the sake of peace and security.’ Civil authority can justly restrict some civil rights of those who aren’t members of the civil society.

 

CCC: ‘Civil society has a right to defend itself and the people of which it is constituted. Non-citizens don’t have unconditional rights to reside, receive full benefits, or to automatically obtain citizenship. This is manifested in the law of the old covenant and of the duties which are imposed in the New Testament.

 

The Bible

In first letter of Paul to Timothy, Paul writes, ‘But if any man have not care of his own and especially those of his house, he has denied the faith and is worse than an infidel.’

 

Thomas Aquinas, quoting St. Augustine, says, ‘We can wish well to everyone, but those to are closer to us are regarded as our principles and consequently more worthy of love. If he does not observe the faith with regards to those to whom nature has given him, the result is that he will not regard it to others.

 

The Jewish people for forty years were going from country to country, but seeking out their true home, which was the Land of Canaan, which God had given them. In other words it was repatriation.

 

So there you have what the Church teaches. Immigrants should be allowed in, but legally and in the right way, so that they won’t be exploited.

 

We have a duty to love everyone, and it is important that we do our best to treat people with dignity and respect, but there is also an order in which it should be done. We don’t want anyone to be exploited and everyone should be given a fair chance, but it must be done in the right way. This is the teaching of the Church, not my teaching.

5th Sunday Year C (Gospel: Luke 5:1-11) Put out into deep water

 

St. Patrick's College, Maynooth, where I was ordained a deacon.

 Today I would like to share a personal experience with you which is connected to this Gospel. Thirteen years ago (2012) I had reached a crisis point in my priesthood. I had been finding it more and more difficult to work as a priest in Ireland, as it had become very anti-Catholic. Some priests weathered this better than others, but it was having a very negative effect on me. I wasn’t sure I could continue, even though I wanted to. Quite a  number of priests I know left.

 

I asked my bishop to be allowed to spend some time with the Dominican Fathers and he agreed. Their charism is more about preaching and teaching, which I have always felt called to. But after eighteen months with them, I still did not feel at home. I was praying a lot asking the Lord to guide me. I wasn’t sure if I had reached the end of the line, although I was convinced I had been called to be a priest and certainly wanted to continue. I seemed to be out of options.

 

It was around that time that I had an opportunity to visit a friend of mine in Naples, Florida, by the name of Kelly Curry. He is a Baptist and had been a Baptist minister when I got to know him. I came to know him when I was working in Ireland, where he had a ministry, helping people to come back to their faith. He has always been a tremendous support to me as a Catholic priest, which is not always what you would expect from Baptists from my experience. While I was visiting him in Naples we prayed together. He was also convinced that I was called to continue working as a priest.

 

One weekend I decided to go to the Saturday evening mass in the local church and then to a Baptist service on Sunday with him, more out of respect for him than anything else. Up to that point he had often come to mass with me.

 

The Gospel that day was today’s Gospel: ‘Put out into the deep for a catch.’ When the minister began to preach, he really seemed to be speaking to my heart and Kelly said the same thing afterwards. The gist of what he said was this: “The disciples were professional fishermen. They knew their trade. Then this charismatic preacher, having finished speaking to the people, asks them to ‘put out into the deep’ and cast their nets again. As professionals they knew there were no fish that day. They had fished all night and the daytime was not the best time to fish. But so as not to offend the preacher, Peter reluctantly cast the nets. You can hear the hesitation in Peter’s words, ‘We worked hard all night…but if you say so…’ Then the miracle takes place. They cast the nets and suddenly all the lines go tight and they literally catch a miraculous amount of fish. When Peter realizes what has happened, he is afraid, because he realizes he is in the presence of someone extraordinary, holy, or other-worldly. He reacts by saying, ‘Leave me Lord, I am a sinful man.’ Let me hide. He is suddenly aware of his sinfulness in the presence of this man’s holiness and he is afraid. But Jesus’ words are words of reassurance. ‘Do not be afraid.’

 

The first reading is similar. The prophet Isaiah is given a vision of heaven and what is his reaction? He is also afraid, because he realizes he is a sinner in the presence of God’s holiness, but the Lord reassures him by sending an angel to touch his lips with a hot coal, a symbol of being purified and then God calls him to follow him.

 

Back to the Baptist service. The minister went on to say, “What the Lord was showing Peter and the others, was that He is in charge. He is master of the land and sky, the earth and the sea. He controls everything. They felt their work had been fruitless, a waste of time, but then Jesus shows them that God can produce fruit out of apparent failure. When everything seems to have come to an end, He can open new doors, totally unexpected doors. The miraculous catch was probably more than they had ever caught in their lives. What was Jesus saying to them except that He is the one who can make any work or situation bear fruit, even when it appears to be a failure to us. It doesn’t depend on our ability, rather on us being open to God.

 

I felt the Lord was saying to me, “Murchadh, you think your work has been fruitless, that you have come to the end of the line. Now you must trust me because I will make things happen that you could not have foreseen.”

 

Kelly and I were both amazed at what the preacher had said, as it seemed to be specifically speaking to me. I was greatly encouraged by these words. Shortly after that I began to wonder if I could work in Florida, as the Church here seemed to be so much more positive. As it happened Kelly knew one of the priests in the diocese. So I made an appointment to see him and I explained my situation to him. He suggested I apply to the bishop and so I did. Long story short, both bishops agreed to let me come here and try working here and here I am almost twelve years later.

 

When I thought everything was coming to an end, the Lord opened new doors that I did not even know were there. This also reminded me of the fact that the work I do is the Lord’s work, not mine. If it bears fruit—like the miraculous catch—then it is because of him, not because of me and He continually shows me this. My job is to try and be faithful and continue to listen to him. Why does God keep things hidden from us until the last minute? because it strengthens our faith. We realize it doesn’t just depend on our ability, or our skills, or our holiness. It depends on God’s power at work. What God requires of us is to be open to him. God does everything else.

 

Now apply this to your own experience. How many times have you come to what seems to be the end of the line? Things haven’t worked out and there seems to be no way forward? This is where the Lord asks us to pray and trust, which is difficult. He can do anything and open doors where we didn’t even think there were doors. With God there are always new possibilities and when we feel afraid of God because of our inadequacies, remember Peter’s reaction to Jesus: ‘Leave me Lord, I am a sinful man.’ We want to run and hide, remember Jesus’ response to him: ‘Do not be afraid.’ God is not put off by our sinfulness.

 

Think also of your sinfulness before God’s holiness. Does it make you afraid? It does for many people, including me. But that is where we go back to what God shows us in the Scriptures. Every time someone becomes aware of their sinfulness before God, God’s response is always the same: ‘Do not be afraid.’

 

One reason why the Apostles were such effective instruments in God’s hands, is because He left them under no illusions about their own sinfulness. They were humbled by their own weaknesses, but this made them ideal instruments for God to use. God works best through us when we are aware of our own littleness. Then we realize that everything depends on him, not on us, which is how it should be. The more we get ‘out of the way,’ the more God can use us, but that is often a painful journey.

 

God doesn’t need us to be great, but to be open.

The Presentation of the Child Jesus in the Temple (Gospel: Luke 2: 22-40)

 

 

If you were invited to climb a very high and dangerous mountain and told you would be given all the advice and equipment you needed, maybe you would take the challenge. It would be scary, but possible. But if you were told that one of the world’s greatest climbers would go with you step by step, that would probably take away any fears that you had, or certainly most of them, because you would know that you are going to get expert step-by-step guidance, encouragement and strength.

 

Sometimes when I think of some of the different things that people of different faiths believe, and how strange they seem to me, it also makes me think of the Eucharist. For those who do not believe as we do, it must seem like the craziest notion of all; that God makes himself present through the hands of a priest, in a tiny piece of bread and some wine. What could be more bizarre than that? And we don’t just believe that it is a reminder of Jesus, or that it represents Jesus, but that it really and truly is the body and blood of Christ. I think that it is a teaching so extreme that only God could come up with it and get away with it, so to speak. What human being would try to convince others that a piece of bread actually becomes the body of Christ, when a priest says certain prayers over it?

 

Our life on earth is not easy and sometimes very difficult. We go through trial after trial, which can seem overwhelming. I am continually amazed at things that happen to people when they tell me about their lives. We need all the help and encouragement we can get. God knows what we need more than anyone and God offers us the greatest gift we could ask for, the Eucharist, which is really and truly the body and blood of Christ, to give us the help, direction and encouragement that we need. God is saying, ‘Not only will I guide you, but I will be with you every step of the way, so that no challenge it too big. If we really believe that, then like being accompanied by an expert mountain climber, it would take away our fears, because we know that we have Jesus himself accompanying us, every step of the way, not just guiding us, but giving us his very own strength.

 

To help us believe, the Lord has also given a great number of Eucharistic miracles, to date over 200 miracles all over the world and they are the ones that have been officially recognized. In many of those miracles, the host has miraculously turned into a piece of bloody flesh. And with modern technology many have been studied by scientists and it has always shown that is the real flesh and blood of a man’s heart.

 

The first time that Jesus gave the people this teaching— “Unless you eat my flesh and drink my blood you cannot have life within you”—it says that many of the people who had followed him up to that point left him. They said “This is madness. Who could accept it?” It is interesting how Jesus responded to them. He didn’t say anything. He just let them walk away. He then turned to the disciples and said, “What about you, are you going to go away too?” In other words, “This is my teaching. Take it or leave it.”

 

In his first letter to the Christians in Corinth (1 Cor 11:23-26)—which is the oldest account of the mass that we have, written about 54 or 55AD—St. Paul says, “This is what I received from the Lord and in turn passed on to you, that on the night He was betrayed” He doesn’t say that he received it from the other Apostles, but from the Lord himself. Jesus, as you probably remember, appeared to St. Paul while he was persecuting Christians and the event turned his life around. Jesus appeared to him several other times as well and Paul was so affected by what happened to him that he dedicated the rest of his life to preaching about this man Jesus, but the line that always strikes me is where he says, “This is what I received from the Lord…” He is saying, “I didn’t make this up and neither did any other person. Jesus himself taught us this and taught us to do this in his memory.” So, every time an ordained priest says the words of consecration at mass, “This is my Body… This is the chalice of my Blood…” Jesus becomes present in the form of bread and wine. How are we supposed to understand this?  We aren’t!  I do not understand it at all, but I believe it. That is why we are meant to fast for an hour before receiving Holy Communion and why we don’t eat or drink, or smoke in the church, to remind us that this is something unlike anything else in the world. It is also a beautiful sign of how close God is to us, that He would continually come to us in the middle of our lives, each week, each day, to help and encourage us. He comes to us as we are, not as we should be, but as we are.

 

It is also God himself who makes it possible to receive him, because we could never be ready or worthy enough to even come close to the divine presence, not to mention receive him. That is also why we always say the prayer: “Lord I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof, but only say the word and my soul shall be healed” (just as the Roman soldier said when Jesus offered to come to his house to heal his servant). It is also why we begin every mass by acknowledging that we are sinners and asking God’s forgiveness.

 

There are two extremes that I come across with regard to the Eucharist. One is where someone will say to me, “Father, I don’t receive the Eucharist because I really am not worthy enough.” Correct! No one is worthy enough, nor ever could be, but since the Lord himself is happy to come to us this way, we should not be afraid to receive him. The other extreme is where people feel they have a ‘right’ to receive the Eucharist without any kind of repentance, or need to confess their sins, or change a lifestyle that is sinful. That is also wrong. There is no question of this being a ‘right’ on our part. The Eucharist is pure gift from God and for our part we must try to approach it as worthily as we can, especially by confessing our sins every so often. But the most important thing to remember is that Jesus wants to give himself to us, and so we should not be afraid to come to him. Remember that ultimately it is God himself who makes it possible for us to receive him. “Lord I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof, but only say the word and I shall be healed.”

St. Paul also warns us to be careful not to receive unworthily, or we will bring condemnation on ourselves.

Each person must examine himself before he eats of the bread and drinks of the cup. Anyone who eats and drinks without recognizing the body, eats and drinks condemnation on himself. That is why many among you are weak and sick and some have fallen asleep (1 Cor 11:28-30).

 

If we are living in any way that is not in line with God’s teachings, we need to address it. Several years ago, after I spoke about this, a couple came to me who were 48 years married. They said they had both been previously married, but never got an annulment, so they were never married in the Church. They realized that since they wanted to receive Communion, they really needed to put this right. So, after 48 years, they both applied for annulments, got them and were then married here in the church. I found that so inspiring. And that is the right approach. If you find yourself in a second union, without having got an annulment, then you should try and put it right. Come and talk to me and I will help you sort it out. All of us need to make every effort to do what the Lord asks. Receiving the Eucharist casually is a big mistake and it is sacrilegious, that is, a sin against what is holy.

Eucharistic Miracle in Buenos Aires

At seven o’clock in the evening on August 18, 1996, Fr. Alejandro Pezet was saying Holy Mass at a Catholic church in the commercial center of Buenos Aires. As he was finishing distributing Holy Communion, a woman came up to tell him that she had found a discarded host on a candleholder at the back of the church. Ongoing to the spot indicated, Fr. Alejandro saw the defiled Host. Since he was unable to consume it, he placed it in a container of water and put it away in the tabernacle of the chapel of the Blessed Sacrament.

On Monday, August 26, upon opening the tabernacle, he saw to his amazement that the Host had turned into a bloody substance. He informed Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio (Auxiliary Bishop at that time, now Pope Francis), who gave instructions that the Host be professionally photographed. The photos were taken on September 6, 1996. They clearly show that the Host, which had become a fragment of bloodied flesh, had grown significantly in size. For three years the Host remained in the tabernacle, the whole affair being kept a strict secret. Since the Host suffered no visible decomposition, Cardinal Bergoglio decided to have it scientifically analyzed.

On October 5, 1999, in the presence of the Cardinal’s representatives, Dr. Castanon took a sample of the bloody fragment and sent it to New York for analysis. Since he did not wish to prejudice the study, he purposely did not inform the team of scientists of its provenance. One of these scientists was Dr. Frederic Zugiba, the well-known cardiologist and forensic pathologist. He determined that the analyzed substance was real flesh and blood containing human DNA. ‘For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink.’ (John 6:55)

Zugiba testified that, “The analyzed material is a fragment of the heart muscle found in the wall of the left ventricle close to the valves. This muscle is responsible for the contraction of the heart. It should be borne in mind that the left cardiac ventricle pumps blood to all parts of the body. In other words, it is the action that keeps the body alive. ‘Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you cannot have life within you’ (John 6:53).

Dr. Frederick Zugiba

Dr. Zugiba also said that the heart muscle was in an inflammatory condition and contained a large number of white blood cells. This indicates that the heart was alive at the time the sample was taken. It is my contention that the heart was alive, since white blood cells die outside a living organism. They require a living organism to sustain them. Thus, their presence indicates that the heart was alive when the sample was taken. What is more, these white blood cells had penetrated the tissue, which further indicates that the heart had been under severe stress, as if the owner had been beaten severely about the chest.” ‘I am the living bread, that comes down from heaven.’ (John 6:51)

Two Australians, journalist Mike Willesee and lawyer Ron Tesoriero, witnessed these tests. Knowing where sample had come from, they were dumbfounded by Dr. Zugiba’s testimony. Mike Willesee asked the scientist how long the white blood cells would have remained alive if they had come from a piece of human tissue, which had been kept in water. They would have ceased to exist in a matter of minutes, Dr. Zugiba replied. The journalist then told the doctor that the source of the sample had first been kept in ordinary water for a month and then for another three years in a container of distilled water; only then had the sample been taken for analysis. Dr. Zugiba’s was at a loss to account for this fact. There was no way of explaining it scientifically, he stated. Only then did Mike Willesee inform Dr. Zugiba that the analyzed sample came from a consecrated Host (white, unleavened bread) that had mysteriously turned into bloody human flesh. Amazed by this information, Dr. Zugiba replied, “How and why a consecrated Host would change its character and become living human flesh and blood will remain an inexplicable mystery to science—a mystery totally beyond her competence.”

Only faith in the extraordinary action of a God provides the reasonable answer—faith in a God, who wants to make us aware that He is truly present in the mystery of the Eucharist.

The Eucharistic miracle in Buenos Aires is an extraordinary sign attested to by science. Through it Jesus desires to arouse in us a lively faith in His real presence in the Eucharist. He reminds us that His presence is real, and not symbolic. Only with the eyes of faith do we see Him under appearance of the consecrated bread and wine. We do not see Him with our bodily eyes, since He is present in His glorified humanity. In the Eucharist Jesus sees and loves us and desires to save us.

In collaboration with Ron Tesoriero, Mike Willesee, one of Australia’s best-known journalists (he converted to Catholicism after working on the documents of another Eucharistic miracle) wrote a book entitled Reason to Believe. In it they present documented facts of Eucharistic miracles and other signs calling people to faith in Christ who abides and teaches in the Catholic Church. They have also made a documentary film on the Eucharist—based largely on the scientific discoveries associated with the miraculous Host in Buenos Aires. Their aim was to give a clear presentation of the Catholic Church’s teaching on the subject of the Eucharist. They screened the film in numerous Australian cities. The showing at Adelaide drew a crowd of two thousand viewers. During the commentary and question period that followed a visibly moved man stood up announcing that he was blind. Having learned that this was an exceptional film, he had very much wanted to see it. Just before the screening, he prayed fervently to Jesus for the grace to see the film. At once his sight was restored to him, but only for the thirty-minute duration of the film. Upon its conclusion, he again lost the ability to see. He confirmed this by describing in minute detail certain scenes of the film. It was an incredible event that moved those present to the core of their being.

‘I am the living bread come down from heaven. Whoever eats this bread will live forever and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh’ (John 6:51)

 

 

 

 

The Baptism of the Lord (Gospel: Luke 3:15-16, 21-22)

 

Peter said to the people, ‘In truth I see that God shows no partiality. Rather in every nation, whoever fears him and does what is right, is acceptable to him.’ (Acts 10:34-35).

 

Cultural differences are interesting. What is acceptable to us, can be totally unacceptable in other cultures. When I was living in Rome, I learnt that in Italy the people will be very conscious of how much you drink as a priest. In a restaurant they will count every drink you have. In Ireland people don’t think about it and in fact will be quite tolerant, even if the priest has a drink problem. Complete opposites.

 

My friend bishop Michael Gokum in Nigeria, told me that in Nigeria, giving Holy Communion with the left hand would be considered very offensive. They would also consider it very inappropriate for a priest to be in a restaurant. Neither of those things would cost us a thought.

 

In the second reading today St. Peter says he realised how anyone can be acceptable to God if they do what is right. That might seem obvious enough to us, but it wasn’t obvious to them at that time. The Jewish people believed that they were specially chosen by God, which they were and are and that meant anyone else who was not Jewish was not so important to God. But then the Lord began to teach the Apostles that He was there for everyone, of every nationality and creed. It took them a while to come around to this way of thinking. In fact the first few times some Gentiles (non-Jews) received the gift of the Spirit, the Apostles were quite surprised. They hadn’t expected this. They didn’t think that Gentiles would be given the gift of the Spirit. God was helping them to gradually broaden their horizons. Everyone, of every nationality and creed was being called into God’s family. The Lord was helping the Apostles to see a bigger picture, but as with most of us, this happens gradually.

 

Everyone is called to be part of God’s family and all are welcome, however, that doesn’t mean that anything goes. There is a thinking today that everyone should be welcome in the Church and should be able to continue their life-style, regardless of whether it is in accordance with God’s teaching. That is not what Jesus taught. The Apostles preached faith in Jesus Christ and repentance for sin. Jesus’ first words in his preaching were, “Repent, for the Kingdom of God is at hand” (Matt 4:17). Christ died for our sins and we are called to be in relationship with him, but we are also called to repent of sinful ways of living, ways which are not in accord with God’s teaching. Our culture is demanding that we accept everyone’s lifestyle, regardless of whether it is sinful or not. That is not what Christ preached. Immoral sexual behaviour is not acceptable to God and the Apostles were very strong in their preaching about this. Listen to what St. Paul wrote:

‘Of this you can be sure: no immoral, impure or greedy person (that is an idolater) has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God’ (Eph 5:5).

 

‘The acts of the flesh are obvious, sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and sorcery, hatred and discord, envy, drunkenness, orgies and the like. I warn you as I did before, no one who practices such things will enter the kingdom of God’ (Gal 5:19-21).

 

That means that sexual sins are serious and we must repent of them ourselves and encourage others to do the same: homosexual sin, heterosexual sin, sexual sin outside of marriage (fornication), pornography and every other kind of impurity. All of these are offensive to God. ‘Oh, but we might offend people if we say anything.’ Is it better to warn people of the possibility of losing eternal life with God because of sin, or to be quiet in case we offend them? because that is what it comes down to. Jesus’ own words: ‘It is not those who say to me, “Lord, Lord”, who will enter the kingdom of heaven, but those who do the will of my Father in heaven’ (Matt &:21). You often hear people say, “I love God and I’m a good person.” That’s nice, but am I doing the will of the Father in heaven? because that’s what matters.

 

It is interesting that one of the things that attracted people to Christianity at the beginning, was their way of life, which didn’t allow every kind of immoral behaviour and sexual deviance, because the Christians understood that we have a higher calling from God, that shows us that our bodies are not meant for any kind of behaviour, but a life of purity, which recognizes the dignity that God has given us. The Roman Empire was morally bankrupt, very similar to our society today and as a result it imploded and destroyed itself. People were drawn to Christianity because they didn’t want to accept this way of life. Instinctively people knew this wasn’t right, because the Spirit teaches us what is right.

 

In 1917 Our Lady told the three children in Fatima that the current war, which was WWI, would soon end, but that if there wasn’t repentance a worse war would follow. It seems there wasn’t repentance and the Second World War followed. In WWI it is estimated that about 20 million people died. In WWII it is estimated that about 70 to 80 million people died, because there wasn’t repentance for sin. That is how serious sin is. People are inclined to say that God would never punish us, but that’s not what is in the Scriptures. Many times the world, or different places, became so sinful in their behaviour, that God wiped them out. It is God’s world, not ours. We are God’s creation, not our own and we are accountable for what we do.

 

Everyone struggles with sin. That is normal and God assures us of his forgiveness and mercy if we repent, so we should never be afraid of our own weaknesses and struggles. But there is a big difference between falling into sin and living a double life. To persist in a lifestyle that is contrary to God’s teaching and then expect God’s love and mercy is naïve and it is not what the word of God says. Everyone is welcome in the Church, but not everything goes. Our culture is demanding that we accept everyone’s lifestyle, even if it is immoral. That is not what the word of God teaches and we have to resist it and we will be despised for it and called bigots and small-minded, but it won’t be the first time.

 

After Jesus was Baptised in the Jordan there was a vision of the Spirit coming down on him in the form of a dove. The Father in heaven was empowering him with the gift of the Spirit, to enable him to live the mission that the Father had given him, to teach the people about God and to offer himself for the sins of the world. The Spirit gave him the strength and wisdom He needed for this difficult mission. It says that after his baptism, Jesus was lead to the desert for 40 days, for a time of testing.

 

When we are baptised we receive God’s grace and the gift of the Spirit to enable us to live the Christian life. The path to God is not a way of life that we can easily live by our own strength. It is difficult, but that is why God gives us the gift of his Spirit to help us.

 

When we are baptised, we state what it is we believe and we commit ourselves to this way of faith. If you were baptised as a child, someone else will have spoken on your behalf, but they do this on condition that they will pass on the faith as we grow up, otherwise it would be hypocrisy. If someone comes for baptism as an adult, they must go through a time of learning about our faith, which we call the Order of Christian Initiation of Adults (OCIA). We have eight people in this parish doing it this year and they will be fully accepted into the Church at Easter. They go through about six months of instruction and only when they understand the faith properly will they be baptised.

 

In the Church, everyone is welcome, but not everything goes and I think that this passage from the Old Testament speaks to us today about this very calling:

 

If my people who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and I will forgive their sin and bless their land. (2 Chron 7:14)