Bible Study Week 3 Audio

Here is the audio from week 3.

Bible Study Week 2

Here is the audio for week 2

My talk on the New Translation of the Missal:

Last week I was in Syracuse for the Diocesan Catechetical Institute Day. They asked me to give two talks. The first was on the new translation of the Roman Missal. I decided to post the text of the talk below.

Let's start with the first question that most people have: Why are we doing this?  Why do we have to have a new translation?

Where to begin?  Let's begin in 1962.  What big event happened in the life of the church in that year?  The second Vatican council of course.  This council affects everything we do in the church today.  But its effects are felt nowhere more than the liturgy.  We all know that the liturgy changed after Vatican ii.  The document from the church on liturgy is named Sacrosanctum Concilium. This was the first document published.  

1. This sacred Council has several aims in view: it desires to impart an ever increasing vigor to the Christian life of the faithful; to adapt more suitably to the needs of our own times those institutions which are subject to change; to foster whatever can promote union among all who believe in Christ; to strengthen whatever can help to call the whole of mankind into the household of the Church. The Council therefore sees particularly cogent reasons for undertaking the reform and promotion of the liturgy.

One such way that the council decided to renew liturgy was the allowance for vernacular liturgy.   

36. 1. Particular law remaining in force, the use of the Latin language is to be preserved in the Latin rites.

2. But since the use of the mother tongue, whether in the Mass, the administration of the sacraments, or other parts of the liturgy, frequently may be of great advantage to the people, the limits of its employment may be extended. This will apply in the first place to the readings and directives, and to some of the prayers and chants, according to the regulations on this matter to be laid down separately in subsequent chapters.

3. These norms being observed, it is for the competent territorial ecclesiastical authority mentioned in Art. 22, 2, to decide whether, and to what extent, the vernacular language is to be used; their decrees are to be approved, that is, confirmed, by the Apostolic See. And, whenever it seems to be called for, this authority is to consult with bishops of neighboring regions which have the same language.

4. Translations from the Latin text into the mother tongue intended for use in the liturgy must be approved by the competent territorial ecclesiastical authority mentioned above.

However the mass was not simply translated into English.  Rather all of the liturgical books of the church were revised.  

21. In order that the Christian people may more certainly derive an abundance of graces from the sacred liturgy, holy Mother Church desires to undertake with great care a general restoration of the liturgy itself. For the liturgy is made up of immutable elements divinely instituted, and of elements subject to change. These not only may but ought to be changed with the passage of time if they have suffered from the intrusion of anything out of harmony with the inner nature of the liturgy or have become unsuited to it.

 

In this restoration, both texts and rites should be drawn up so that they express more clearly the holy things which they signify; the Christian people, so far as possible, should be enabled to understand them with ease and to take part in them fully, actively, and as befits a community.

What we have now is often called the mass of Paul vi because it was under his papacy that the mass was reformed.  This mass was published in 1972.  Because there was a great desire to see this new mass in the vernacular as soon as possible all the countries of the worlds quickly translated this mass into the vernacular languages.  We have been using this translation.

However, in 2000 pope John Paul II promulgated a new version of the missal.  This book was, is, largely the same as the 1972 book but there are some differences.  For example, there are many more saints now since John Paul, he canonized many saints.  Also, there were some changes to the prayers and instructions to the mass.  All of these changes required us to have a new translation of the 2000 missal.  However, in the 30 years between the writing of these two books many things have changed, including our understanding of the best way to translate our prayer books.

Now, at the risk of putting you to sleep allow me to speak a little bit about the art of translation.  There is an old Italian adage that goes Traduttore, traditore: to translate is to betray. In a way, translate means to hand over.  The idea here is that we hand over the thoughts of an author into another language.

But, we shouldn't think so negatively because we deal with translation all the time.  What language was used in the writing of the bible?  The Old Testament was largely written in Hebrew with some Greek.  The New Testament was written wholly in Greek.  So if you have ever picked up a bible to read it chances are you were reading a translation, unless we have some Greek and Hebrew scholars out there.  But, we should remember that even these gospels are translations.  What language did Jesus speak?  While we cannot say for sure that he didn't know some Greek or Latin we can be sure that he spoke Aramaic which was the language of his time and place.  So, even the gospels themselves are translations.  Soon after their writing, Latin began to replace Greek as the lingua Franca of the ancient world.  Church fathers like Jerome quickly set about to put the bible into the language of the people.  That is what the Latin vulgate is all about.  Vulgate means vulgar or language of the people.  That is why Latin was accepted as the language of the church.

However, for reasons that are hard to explain in the short amount of time that we have, Latin became the official language of the western church.  Latin is still the official language of the church.  Only now we are encouraged to pray in our vernacular languages.  It is still recommended, however, that we all know some Latin especially priests and seminarians.  So there is nothing wrong with translations.

How many of you have ever learned a new language?  One of the things you quickly realize is that there is no exact science to translation.  Rather, there are many ways to say things in several languages.  The key is to try to say something in one language that means the same thing in another language.  For example, how do you say thank you in Spanish?  Gracias.  This is the word used for thanks.  But does this word actually mean thanks? It comes from Latin the phrase is gratias ago tibi which means to lead grace unto thee.  The idea here is that grace and favor should be given to the one who has done good to me: in a word, thanks.  But when we translate gracias as thanks, some of the flair and originality of the original language is missing.  Nothing we can really do about that...  To translate is to betray.

Now, let's talk about translation principles: first, dynamic equivalence.  This principle hold that a good translation is one in which the basic thought of the original language is rendered in the basic thought of the target language.  The best word we have to explain this process is paraphrase. 

A different principle is called formal equivalence.  This principle holds that a good translation does not so much bring the thought into the target language, rather it brings the actual words into the target language.  This could be summarized as a literal translation.

Now I should tell you that the last translation we had was a paraphrase where the new translation will be a literal translation.  I will talk more about why we made that switch in a few moments.

What we have been talking about is a little bit abstract.  Let's look at some texts and see what I mean.

Go over the Gloria in some detail.

So you see some of the differences between a paraphrase and a literal translation. Now, why did the church think it so important to make that switch?  The answers are found in this book: liturgiam authenticam, which is the 5th instruction on the vernacular translation of the roman liturgy.  As you can tell it sounds like a real page turning spell binder...  But it really is a beautiful little document.  It was issued at the behest of jp2 in 2001. With the new missal the pope wanted us to reexamine the way we translated liturgical texts.

This document explores the use of language in prayer.  It begins by citing Vatican II: 1. The Second Vatican Council strongly desired to preserve with care the authentic Liturgy, which flows forth from the Church's living and most ancient spiritual tradition, and to adapt it with pastoral wisdom to the genius of the various peoples so that the faithful might find in their full, conscious, and active participation in the sacred actions – especially the celebration of the Sacraments – an abundant source of graces and a means for their own continual formation in the Christian mystery.[1] 

     We are people who are part of a long and storied tradition.  We are not slaves to a precedent, rather we are inheritors of a rich history.  This history is concerned with the same thing that concerns us today: our continual formation in the Christian mysteries.  So the reforming of the liturgical books helps this process along.  However, the document contends that certain expectations should hold: (LA 3)  the greatest prudence and attention is required in the preparation of liturgical books marked by sound doctrine, which are exact in wording, free from all ideological influence, and otherwise endowed with those qualities by which the sacred mysteries of salvation and the indefectible faith of the Church are efficaciously transmitted by means of human language to prayer, and worthy worship is offered to God the Most High.[3]

What does this look like?  In other words what kind of language fits this bill?  19. The words of the Sacred Scriptures, as well as the other words spoken in liturgical celebrations, especially in the celebration of the Sacraments, are not intended primarily to be a sort of mirror of the interior dispositions of the faithful; rather, they express truths that transcend the limits of time and space. Indeed, by means of these words God speaks continually with the Spouse of his beloved Son, the Holy Spirit leads the Christian faithful into all truth and causes the word of Christ to dwell abundantly within them, and the Church perpetuates and transmits all that she herself is and all that she believes, even as she offers the prayers of all the faithful to God, through Christ and in the power of the Holy Spirit.[19]

     Now for time's sake let me summarize few more of the basic concepts presented here.  The document states that the reform of the liturgy helps to accomplish these things.  Also it states that the work of translation itself furthers the reform.  But, some people might wonder why we have to stick with the Latin texts at all. The new Latin texts are themselves a work of reform and renewal.  We should remember that.

When it comes to translation there are some guidelines the language should be understandable.  But, it does not have to be everyday language.  In fact it is a good thing for us to develop a separate language for prayer.

One tendency in translation that should be avoided is the temptation to render everything that is implicit explicit.  Also the translation is not the place to explain difficult things.  For example, in the creed it is said that Jesus is consubstantial with the Father. Is this an easy word to understand? No, but we have translated it one in being, which might be an explanation of the word, but the Creed is not the place to explain the word.

Some have said that there is a desire to use language as it comes from culture.  This document says instead, wouldn't it be great if culture was influenced by the language of the liturgy.  This has already taken place if you think about it.  Don't people say, in a totally secular culture: mea culpa?  Now it is not super common but you could certainly imagine it.  That is a case where liturgy influences culture.

Allow me to summarize, there are two major points here which seem to be driving the new work of translation.  The first is accuracy.  The church has found in the past 30 years that it is better to be accurate even if it means that we use language that might not be the easiest to understand.  The important things that we are being faithful to the Latin original which the Church believes is able to lift our minds and hearts to the transcendent realm.  The second principle that we discover is related, the Church recommends that we develop a sacred vernacular.  This is a kind of language that we use for a certain purpose, namely to praise God.  This sacred vernacular will remind us what the mass is all about.

Here is where I would like to leave you with a few thoughts.  Remember that this talk was called "getting the most out of the mass." What is the liturgy?  Here is the definition I memorized in school: The liturgy is a complexus of sensible signs by means of which, God, in Christ and through Christ, in the Church and through the Church, sanctifies man; and Man, in the Church and through the Church, in Christ and through Christ, renders worship to God. This is what the liturgy is and this is what the liturgy does. I firmly believe that we have been doing this for 30 years. One thing I want to make clear is that the fact that we are getting a corrected translation is not to say that the Mass has been wrong for 30 years. It has been the Mass, where God sanctifies us and we worship God. But, this new translation will be an improvement. We will take something that is good and make it even better.

What can we do to prepare ourselves?

• First thing to do is to evaluate the new prayer texts. Start to get familiar with them. Your handout contains the people's parts of the Mass. Look over them and see how they are changing.
  
• Keep a positive attitude. The only person who likes change is the man wearing wet pants. Change can be hard. Especially when it comes to something as personally important as the Mass. This is the heart and summit of the Church's life, to change it might cause us some stress. But remember, we are not getting a new Mass, we are just getting a new translation.
  

I'm convinced that this new translation will help our prayer lives. First, this sacred vernacular will help us lift our minds and hearts into a more prayerful place. I find the language to be more beautiful.

21^st Sunday Ordinary Time

CURRENT:

Father, help us to seek the values

that will bring us lasting joy in the changing world.

In our desire for what you promise

make us one in mind

and heart. Grant this…

 

 

NEW:

O God,

who shape the minds of the faithful to a single purpose,

grant your people to love what you command

and to desire what you promise, that,

amid the uncertainties of this world,

our hearts may be fixed where true joys are found.

Through our Lord…

 

Second, this new translation will cause us to stop and actually think about what we are saying. Many of us have so memorized the words of the creed, for example, that we just rattle off the fact that Jesus was born of the Virgin Mary, etc. A new translation will make us work a little, which might actually help us to recall the importance of what we are saying.

It has been said about other things, and it is certainly true of the Mass: you get out of the Mass what you put into it. The Mass is the greatest thing on earth. Yet, we can limit its effectiveness in our lives by our lack of participation. This new translation should continue to foster our participation in the Mass. It may require an effort on your part as you begin. Also, many of you will be asked to help your parish implement the new translation, so that means even more work. But, whatever you put into your preparation for the new missal will be paid back abundantly.

Bible Study

Hello everyone,

Sorry for the delay.  Here is the link to last week's audio recording. 

This should be a fun Bible study.  We will be going through 1st Corinthians.  A study like this allows us to take our time and really dig into this great work.  Don't worry if you miss a day.  I think you can still come and enjoy discussing any section of Paul's great letter.
God bless,
Fr Jake

Christ gives us a message of Hope:

32nd Sunday of ordinary time

 

    In today's reading from St Paul he gives us a beautiful little prayer: May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who has loved us and given us everlasting encouragement and good hope through his grace, encourage your hearts and strengthen them in every good deed and word. It seems to me that Jesus is doing this very thing in the gospel today. He tells us about the resurrection.

    As you may be aware we are coming to the end of ordinary time. In a few weeks we will celebrate the feast of Christ the king, which is the end of the church year. Every year around this time the readings for mass start to take on an eschatological dimension. Now, don't be afraid of this word. Eschatological means having to do with the last things: death, judgment, the end of the world etc. Now, from the perspective of Hollywood and many people in the world today, eschatology is frightening. When we think of the end of the world we see visions of earthquakes, tsunamis, and other terrifying things. And while these things might take place, they are not the focus of Christian eschatology. Rather, the focus of Christian eschatology is always the resurrection. And the resurrection is always good news. In fact it is central to the entire gospel message: those who believe in Christ, even if they die, will live forever. So Jesus is giving us good news indeed, the resurrection is certainly the encouragement and hope that Paul is talking about in his prayer today.

    What will the resurrection be like? To be honest we really do not know "eye has not seen, ear has not heard what God has in store for those who love him." So whenever we are speaking about the resurrection we must remember that it is quite mysterious, the resurrection lies beyond the veil and it is clouded in mystery. That being said, we can say some things about the resurrection. First, we can say what the resurrection is not. The resurrection is not simply resuscitation. I think the Sadducees from today's gospel were under the impression that resurrection means we simply get up and keep living our human lives. Jesus corrects this mistaken concept. No, he says, the children of the age to come will be like the angels. So we will certainly be different. We should remember to read this passage in light of the rest of the Bible. Jesus says today that we will be like angels, but we read elsewhere that he will raise our mortal bodies to make them like his own in glory. We know that angels are spiritual beings without bodies, Jesus is not saying we will lose our bodies, he is just saying that our bodies will be spiritualized. What does this mean? We will find out on the last day.

    Still, Jesus does give us an insight into that last day. He tells us that they are neither given nor received in marriage. What could this mean? Marriage means "till death do us part," but what about the other side of eternity? Jesus tells us that we are not married in heaven. Why not? Marriage is a sacrament. Like all the sacraments, these are signs of eternal realities. When we experience these realities for ourselves the signs will pass away. What is being expressed in the sign of marriage? Love, right! Marriage is a sign of love, two people agree to give of themselves completely for the rest of their lives by a commitment of love. St Paul tells us in Ephesians that this is a sign for the relationship between Christ and his church. However, on the last day this sign will be fulfilled. There is no marriage in heaven, not because there is no love in heaven, there will be a fullness of love. The love between a married couple today is supposed to be the sign of love between God and the human race. On the last day we will experience this union in its fullness. No wonder we call this good news! What exactly will this look like? Eye has not seen, ear has not heard... But isn't it exciting? Doesn't it sound wonderful: complete and total union with God forever? Certainly this gives us the hope St Paul mentions in the second reading. It is this hope which brings our RCIA candidates and catechumens here today. They are seeking nothing less than to be with God forever. Let's continue to keep them in our prayers as they journey toward Easter.

    We believe that all those who are joined to Christ will be raised with him on the last day. But, we don't have to wait until then to experience this communion. Jesus said in John's gospel: I am the bread of life, whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood, even if he dies, will live and I will raise him up on the last day.

Life with Christ:

31^st Sunday OT Year C:

Today we hear the interesting story of the conversion of Zacchaeus. It is certainly a story of conversion. Through an encounter with the person of Christ, the tax collector is transformed. But, I think there is more in the story. It not only tells us about how Christ can call people who don't know him; but, it also tells us how Christ can help us to deepen our relationship with him.

First, look again at the first line of the gospel: Jesus came to Jericho and intended to pass through it. This translation is a little bit clumsy. The Greek simply says "he entered and went through Jericho." This is not just a throw-away line introducing the parable. Rather, I think it means something more profound. Jesus is passing through the city, he makes himself available, he draws near to his people. Christ is no distant landlord; rather, he draws near, he passes through the city. How much more is this true after the resurrection! Jesus is no longer bound by space and time. Just as Jesus drew near to ancient Jericho, we know that Christ draws near to each one of us. Jesus is always passing by.

Next, look at Zacchaeus. What do we hear about him? First, he is a tax collector. We heard about a tax collector last week as well. Luke is showing us these characters to remind us that Jesus associates with sinners. Remember, in Luke's gospel we hear that Jesus is the good shepherd who leaves the 99 and goes in search of the lost sheep. This story of Zacchaeus is proof of this fact. Jesus passed through Jericho to find this lost sheep. This is still true today. Jesus passes through our "town." He doesn't run away from us, even though we are sinners. Rather, he continues to look for us, to seek us out. This fulfills what we hear in the first reading: God is the great lover of souls! God loves us so much that he sent his Son to seek out what was lost.

So, Jesus comes to us. What about our end of the relationship? The gospel tells us that Zacchaeus desired to see Jesus. What a beautiful way to put it! Even the sinner, says St. Luke, desires to see Jesus. Every human being has an innate desire to see Christ!

One thing I often ponder is the preaching of Jesus. What must that have been like, to hear Christ himself? What did he say? He must have been persuasive. Would I have followed him? I hope so. Worse yet, would I have even gone out to see him? It is easy to say that we would have gone out to meet Christ, but would we? Why did Zacchaeus seek him out: he wanted to see Jesus. In the person of Christ we encounter something that resonates with us: God's great love for the world! In Christ we find our origin and destiny. In the encounter with Christ we find the God who made us. We also find in Christ the communion between humanity and divinity. This is why JP2 always quoted Gaudium et Spes 22: it is Christ who fully reveals man to himself. Jesus shows us our origin and destiny. No wonder we want to see Jesus! This is why all people are innately drawn to this mystery. This is why Jesus was persuasive. Not so much what he said, but who he is, is persuasive.

Still, Zacchaeus knew that there were obstacles in his way. The gospel says he was short of stature. He would not let this get in his way, he climbed the tree. What keeps us from seeing Jesus in our lives? We know that Jesus is passing through, we know that he is always drawing near; but, there are things that keep us from seeing Jesus. Rather than give an exhaustive list, how about I just pick one that many of us deal with: time. Many of us fail to see Jesus because we are busy, there is little time. But if we are going to have a relationship with Christ, we have to spend time with him. We have to "see" him. It might take a heroic effort, but it is worth it. Carve out some time in your life. Start small if you have to: 5 minutes in the morning, 5 minutes in the afternoon. Don't let your crazy schedule keep you from seeing Jesus. Find some time to see Jesus in the Holy Eucharist. As you probably know, we have exposition of the Blessed Sacrament here at St. Matt's every Saturday morning from 11-12 during confessions, as well as a communal Holy Hour once per month. These are wonderful ways to see Jesus.

I think we would all like to be like Zacchaeus. We would all like to be converted in the same way by having an encounter with Christ so powerful that we leave behind all our sins. This story teaches us an important lesson. Before any conversion comes a desire to see Christ, followed by an encounter with Christ. Conversion is not a product of our best effort, it is a product of Christ working within us. This is St. Paul's prayer: we always pray for you, that our God may make you worthy of his calling and powerfully bring to fulfillment every good purpose and every effort of faith.

Humility and Supplication:

30th Sunday OT Year C:

    A couple of weeks ago we heard the story of the 10 lepers. If you remember Jesus healed all 10 lepers, but only one returned to thank God. The point of that story is conversion. Christ comes to heal us, we return and give thanks. A story like that one is easy for us to accept. We think of leprosy as an image for sinfulness. Christ can heal sinfulness and help sinners on the way to conversion. Today's gospel is more unsettling. This passage is not directed at the "sinners," it is directed at the "saints."

The first thing to remember when we contemplate this passage is the objective state of things. As an impartial observer, which person would we rather be? Jesus carefully chose his examples today. The Pharisee does everything correctly. First, he avoids sin: he does not commit adultery, he is neither greedy nor dishonest. Second, he does acts of virtue: he fasts and tithes. We should not construe the parable to mean that these things are bad. They are not. In many ways, the Pharisee is giving us a model to follow. It is good to fast, tithe, and avoid sins. On the other hand, the tax collector is an image of the grievous sinner. Tax collectors were famous for their dishonesty. So, Jesus is certainly not condoning dishonesty and sinfulness. Jesus is certainly not saying that sin is ok.

If that is not the point of the parable, what is? We just looked at the objective state of things: one man committed acts of virtue, one vices. What about the subjective state of things? Let's begin with the tax collector: what is going on inside of him? O God, be merciful to me a sinner. His disposition is one of supplication: he is begging mercy from God. Also, his is a humble disposition: he was in the back of the temple and would not even raise his eyes to heaven. (As a brief aside, this is why Catholics always sit in the last pews…) From an objective standpoint he is certainly a sinner; but, from a subjective point of view there is hope for him. He has that which is necessary to grow closer to God: humility and supplication, which is why the book of Sirach says that the prayer of the lowly pierces the clouds and goes straight to heaven. Humility and supplication are essential for a relationship with God. What about the Pharisee? Objectively he is doing everything well. Subjectively, he is a mess. Listen again to how Jesus introduces the prayer: "spoke this prayer to himself." Despite all his good actions, the Pharisee is not in communion with God: he spoke the prayer to himself. There is not a hint of supplication in the prayer of the Pharisee, the whole point of his prayer is self-congratulation. There is certainly no humility: he took up his place and called attention to how much better he was than the rest of humanity.

So Jesus is not saying that it is better to be a huge sinner. What he is saying is that everything we do must be directed toward having a relationship with God. Our actions can certainly lead us away from this relationship, which is why it is so important to grow in virtue. But, our external actions alone do not guarantee a healthy relationship with God. In fact, they can be for us a source of pride, which leads us away from God. No, what is essential is to develop a relationship with God, which is predicated on humility and supplication. This internal disposition allows for conversion, allows for a healthy relationship with God.

How can we be sure we maintain our humility? I mean the more we try to live a life of holiness the easier it is to fall into the trap of the Pharisee's pride. Let's look to St. Paul: I am being poured out like a libation. This is a beautiful image for Christian life: we should always be poured out. If we are always pouring ourselves out in prayer, pouring ourselves out in service of our families and community, then it is hard to fall into the kind of pride that can cut us off from God.

Where can we find another example where in great humility someone pours himself out for the good of others? Oh… how about the Holy Eucharist?

Vocations’ Day:

This past year Bishop Rhoades named me as assistant vocation director for the diocese. This past week I was asked, in that role, to offer Mass at Marian and St. Joe High Schools. The theme for this homily was vocations. I ask everyone reading this blog to pray for vocations.

Vocations day homily:

    Today we are having our annual vocations day. You know that this means that we are here to talk to you about religious vocations: the vocation to be a priest, brother, or sister. This is true! We are here to talk to you about these things. But, I want to give you a little bit of context. The religious vocation does not come out of nowhere.

What does the word vocation mean? It comes from the Latin Vocare, which means "to call." A vocation then is one's calling. Who is doing the calling? What are we talking about here? We are talking about God. He is calling you to something. God has a plan for each and every single one of us: holiness. This is the universal vocation. No matter what you might think God is calling you to be, you are most certainly called to be holy. But, Holy is one of those words that everyone knows what it means until I make you give me a definition. It is hard to pin down. What is holy?

The Biblical concept of holy always relates to God. Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God of hosts. So holiness is something that pertains to God. What things were called holy in the Old Testament? The temple was called holy. Why? God dwelt there. The vessels were called holy. Why? Because they were set aside for the God's use. The same is true today. As you all know I'm the associate pastor at St. Matthew's Cathedral. How many of you have ever been in that Cathedral? So most of you know that it is a pretty big space, what would you think if the next time you walked in that Cathedral if I decided play baseball in that Church? You would instantly know that I shouldn't be doing that. Why? Because God lives there in the tabernacle. The Church is a holy place. What about sacred vessels? What if you walked into the rectory where I live and you saw me drinking my morning coffee out of a sacred chalice? Wouldn't that be offensive? Why? That chalice has been set aside and is only to be used for sacred things.

Apply these two concepts of holiness to ourselves. God lives inside each one of us. This is our theology. We believe that on the day of our baptism, the Trinity began to live within us. God dwells in us. Also, we believe that on the day of our baptism we were consecrated, set aside for the service of God. This is very important. How often do we live like God is living inside of us? Yet, how easy is it for us to fall into sins of gossip, bad language, impurity, being uncharitable toward others? What about service? We were set aside for service of God. Yet, when we do our own thing, ignore our neighbors, and skip Mass we are not doing this service. Whenever we think about holiness this should be the first thing we think of. We are holy because God dwells within us and we were set aside for the service of God and our neighbor.

Now some of you might be thinking: Great! I never signed up for that. I mean, isn't it a drag to have been made holy? Now I have to go around being holy. The answer, of course, is no. Holiness is the pathway to happiness. Who made us? God. Why did God make us? To know, love, and serve him in this life so as to be happy with him forever in the life to come. God made us, and he made us to be happy. Think of holiness as the instruction booklet of the human person. If I want to be happy, if I want to do what I was created to do, I have to live up to this holiness. What would happen if I bought a blu-ray player but instead of putting the disks in the slot I jam bananas in there? It wouldn't work. The same is true for us when we sin. When we sin we are violating the very fabric of our being, we are ignoring the instruction manual for happiness.

So what is the key here? First, dwell with God. God lives within you. Get to know God. Speak to him often. Develop a prayer life. Get to know Jesus. Spend time with him in the Blessed Sacrament. If being holy means that God is living within you, you need to establish a relationship with him. Second, serve God. We do this first and foremost by our worship. Whenever we gather to pray at the Mass we are offering perfect worship. That's why we need to go to Mass every Sunday. The Church tells us to go to Mass on Sunday's because it is good for us! It leads to happiness.

These are the ways in which you live out your call to holiness. The more you do this, the more you will be able to then look and see exactly how this calling to holiness will be lived out in your particular circumstance. As I said, holiness is the universal vocation. Marriage and celibate priesthood or religious life are the specific vocations. Every single one of you is called to the universal vocation, and every single one of you is called to a specific vocation. But, you will never be able to figure out your specific vocation unless you are living the universal vocation.

When I was discerning a call to the priesthood, I found the greatest place to pray was at Mass. Every time I went to Mass, and when the priest held up the Eucharist, I prayed: God tell me what you want me to do with my life. Today as we celebrate this Holy Eucharist, let that be your prayer: God, tell me what you want me to do with my life. And, pray for the courage to follow the Lord.

All Scripture is Inspired

29^th Sunday OT Year C:

Today in our second reading St. Paul teaches us about Scripture. The holy Bible, the Sacred Scriptures, have been called the Word of God. St Paul tells us today that they are capable of giving us wisdom for salvation. Wow, wisdom for salvation! How often do we think of the Bible in these terms, do we make the Bible an important part of our lives? Have we, like St. Timothy, known these Scriptures from our youth or do we need to get to know them?

Many people can be somewhat intimidated by the Bible. First of all it is a big book, there are actually 73 books in the Bible: 46 in the Old Testament and 27 in the New Testament. It can also be a difficult book to read: Sure, books like Genesis or the gospels are full of narrative, which makes them easy. But, books like Leviticus, or even the prophets can be very difficult to read. Then there are many things in the Bible which are difficult for us to understand, like our gospel passage today: is Jesus saying that God is like an unjust judge? Actually he is not. Rather, Jesus is employing a story-telling technique that makes a connection between two things that are only barely alike. If the unjust judge will deliver justice because of persistence, how much more will God, who is supremely just…

Yet, for all its difficulties and obscurities, the Bible is worth the effort. It is the word of God. Paul says: all Scripture is inspired by God and useful for teaching, refutation, and training in righteousness. Inspired by God! The word St. Paul uses here is theopnuestos, which literally means "God breathed." What a beautiful expression! God is the one who breathes out the words of Scripture. They are written by human authors, but God breathes in and through them. It is almost as if the human writers provide the voice, but God provides the air that breathes out the words. What an unbelievable treasure we have here! When you hold the Bible in your hands, you are holding God's word, God's breath. The Bible is not just some ordinary book or novel.

Paul says that Scripture is useful for teaching. Today in the first reading we hear about the role of Moses in the battle versus Amalek. We hear how God worked through the hands of Moses to give aid and strength to his people in their time of need. When we read the Bible, we learn our story. We are the spiritual descendents of Moses. The Bible is our story, and when we read it the Bible teaches us about where we come from.

Paul says that Scripture is useful for the training in righteousness. In our struggle against sin and our desire to be faithful disciples of Jesus, the Bible can train us in righteousness. Look at the Gospel, Jesus teaches us to pray without becoming weary. There are many of us, here in this parish, who are weary. One of the most humbling aspects of being a priest is the fact that people share with me their struggles: Many of you are struggling with a family situation. Many of you are struggling with an illness. Many of you are struggling with some kind of sin. Christ is telling us in the Scriptures that all of us struggle, all of us grow weary. Yet, Jesus tells us to keep up our prayers, remain faithful even in the midst of our struggles. This is truly training in righteousness: even in the midst of our difficulties, even when we are weary, the only way through these tough times is faithfulness.

Paul gives Timothy a stern command at the end of the reading: proclaim the word. This command is given to each one of us as well. Drawing close to Christ, being his disciple, always includes an evangelical aspect. The faith cannot remain our own personal possession; rather, the faith impels us outward to share the good news with others. This is another important reason for us to become well-acquainted with the Holy Bible. Not only can these inspired words give us the wisdom for salvation, but when we share them with others, we share with them this wisdom as well. The better we know the Scriptures, the better we will be able to help others get to know Christ.

In the Holy Scriptures we encounter the Word of God: Jesus Christ himself. No wonder then that the Church has always read the Bible when it gathers around the altar. Here at this holy Mass we encounter Christ, first when we read the holy Scriptures, second in the Holy Eucharist. The Holy Eucharist is the Body and Blood of Christ, and the Bible is the Word of God. The holy Mass helps us to fulfill our mission: to proclaim the word. Here we are strengthened by the Holy Eucharist and formed by the word of God so that when we go forth from this Mass we can share with others the wisdom for salvation.

Thanksgiving, and not the turkey kind

28^th Sunday OT Year C

Today we hear of the Samaritan leper returning to Jesus to give thanks. All of Christian life is a life of thanksgiving. In fact, I would go even further, that all of human existence finds its meaning in thanksgiving. It is so important to be thankful.

I am reminded of a time when I was in the seminary. One day I received a package in the mail. This package was a care-package from the youth group I was a part of before I entered seminary. Inside there were snacks, cookies, and other little things meant to brighten my day. I opened the box in the mailroom, and there was another seminarian in that room. I don't remember exactly what I said, but at some point I said: "I need to send out a thank you note after getting a box like this." He looked at me a bit puzzled and said: "I never do that." What? "I never send out thank you notes." I was shocked, and a little disgusted. This guy was a deacon, which meant he was less than a year away from being a priest. He had been in the seminary for years and must have received countless boxes, gifts, cards, etc, and he never once sent a thank you note. I was really troubled by this. Thanksgiving is essential to what it means to be Christian, how would he be able to preach this message if he never gave thanks.

What does it mean to give thanks? It is actually a process. First comes the gift. I received a gift from the youth group. This means that I have to recognize it as a gift. No one had to give me anything. When that youth group decided to send me a present, they did so out of love. I recognize that it was a free gift, and I accept it. This recognition and acceptance is essential. The next step is a reciprocation of love. When we find ourselves in the presence of love, it should make us want to return love. A thank you note is a small thing in the grand scheme of things, but it says that I have recognized the gift, accepted the gift as a gift of love, then I have shown my love and appreciation by reciprocating this gift in whatever way possible.

Apply this on a grand scale: We are not responsible for our existence. Everything we have comes from God. I did not make myself. I am also not responsible for my continued existence. Nothing I have really came from me: my intuition, work-ethic, creativity, vocation, everything. Every breath you take, every dollar you make, every minute of your life is a pure gift from God.

[The following section will not be read at Mass, but I want to post it on my blog As many of you know, I am the Chaplain to Marian High School. These past two weeks have been very trying. I ask you please to keep Marian's students, staff, and faculty in your prayers. About two weeks ago, a student died, she was only 16 years old. This past week a Mother of 5, two of whom are current students of Marian, died in her sleep. Just yesterday I attended the funeral. There has been much sadness and many heavy hearts at Marian over the past two weeks. Yet, even these experiences teach us, in a mysterious way, to be thankful. There are no guarantees in life. Every day is a gift. Every person is a gift.]

What to do with a gift? First we recognize it. The more we realize that everything we have is a gift from God, the more we will appreciate it. When we recognize a gift, it is important to accept it. We see everything around us as a gift that comes from God, and we know that he gives us these gifts out of love. When we experience God's love, the only appropriate response is love, the appropriate response is thanksgiving. When we recognize that God gives us everything out of his life-giving love, the appropriate response is self-donation. When we give of ourselves to others, we are returning God's gift of love. When we gather here to worship almighty God, we are returning God's gift of love.

The leper in the gospel understood the appropriate response to Jesus' gift of healing was to return and give thanks. Naaman in the first reading took this even one step further, he recognized that to give thanks to the God who saved him meant that he needed to worship God. But, why did Naaman need to take that dirt?

Let me return to my story. Do you think that seminarian who refused to send thank you notes was thankful? I think he probably was. But, what was missing? He never expressed his thanksgiving. Naaman took that dirt because he knew that God dwelt in Israel. He knew that if he were going to worship that God, he could not simply do so internally. He understood the connection between worship and thanksgiving. For him to give thanks, he had to express his internal gratitude with external praise.

It is not coincidence that Christians named the Blessed Sacrament Eucharist. The very word means thanksgiving in Greek. When we gather here, every Sunday, we give thanks to God. Is there any wonder we are drawn to the Eucharist? The worship we render to God here at the Mass is the very thanksgiving we offer to God for all that he has given us. But, God is not to be outdone in generosity. When we recognize that everything we are and everything we have are gifts that come from God, and when we accept these things as gifts of love, we come here to give God thanks and praise. God goes one step further, he gives us the Eucharist, the body and blood of his son, the greatest gift of all.

Faith in action

27^th Sunday OT year C

If you had faith you could uproot this tree… Have you ever been able to uproot a tree with your faith? Me neither. Does that mean that we don't have faith? No.

What is faith? We have a difficult time understanding this concept in our modern world. Ever since the time of the Enlightenment, faith has come to mean something intellectual. To say "I believe" means "I agree." I believe that if I jumped off St. Matt's bell tower I would be very badly injured, etc.

But faith is ever so much more than just intellectual assent. First, faith is a theological virtue. This means that faith is a gift that comes from God. It is not a product of our own will and desire. Faith is a gift of grace. That is why the prayer of the apostles should be our prayer: Lord, increase our faith. Notice that Jesus doesn't ridicule the apostles for asking for faith. Rather, he just goes on to show how powerful faith can be. All too often we think that faith is something we do; rather, faith is a gift from God.

Another major problem in our modern world is that we tend to think of faith as something that is just internal. But faith is more than just our belief in God. Faith also includes what we do with this belief.

Listen again to the words of St. Paul: stir to flame the gift of god you have received. So it is God's gift, our job it to fan that gift into a flame. For we did not receive a Spirit of cowardice, but one of power and love and self-control. In other words, we will fan into flame the gift of faith God has given us when we love and show self-control. So, we need not only faith, but we need also to be faithful.

We pray as did the apostles: Lord, increase our faith. He does this especially in the Eucharist. Then when we go forth from this Mass we fan that gift into flame when we love those around us.

Now we will have a chance to make a pledge to the annual bishop's appeal. You will each be given a chance to put your faith into action. We ask that you please be generous as you support the work of the Church throughout our diocese as well as here in our parish.