The Wandering Friar

The Kingdom of God

2012-01-22T11:23:00.003-05:00

We Catholics are near the beginning of the liturgical year. The Advent/Christmas cycle is over and we are in what the Church now calls Ordinary Time. Ordinary here does not mean regular or common. It rather refers to an ordered presentation of the Gospel message, the Christian Mystery as we go through the weeks that are not related to Christmas and Easter.

   I this particular year the Gospel of Mark will be the principle one used on Sunday, though because Mark is so short there will be occasional use of the Gospel of John. Mark, the first Gospel to be put in writing, is brief and to the point. Today the Gospel text is from Mark 1:14-20. Mark gives us no nativity story, as Matthew and Luke will later do, and no great prologue as John does. He gets right to the point of Jesus ministry and so near the beginning of this passage Jesus has come to Galilee after being presented to us by John the Baptist, and He extends His basic invitation, "This is the time of fulfillment. The Kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel." (Mark 1:15).

   What are we to make of this call to repent? We get off on the wrong foot if we think that it means simply to feel sorry for your sins and change your behavior. It does mean that, but so much more. A little example might help us to get at what Jesus is inviting us to do.   Today we live in a new reality called the high-tech age. Statements that we can make today such as "I took a picture this morning with my cell phone," or "I posted on Facebook," made no sense just a few years ago, but in this new reality they make perfect sense.

   When Jesus invites us to repent He is inviting us to accept a new reality, a new way of going about in the world, a new way of seeing God. In many ways this new vision makes no sense to those who are outside of it. This new vision is called the Kingdom of God, a kingdom which is not a place in this life or even a place to go in the next but a radically different way of doing things. Some modern biblical scholars suggest changing it to a verb--the reigning or ruling of God. The Kingdom is among us already when God is ruling our lives. It is not yet here in its fullness, but is always breaking forth among us.

   The Scriptures use various words to describe this God ruling way of life, words such as peace, justice, forgiveness, healing, reconciliation. Jesus' Himself goes on to describe it in parables.

   The challenge for us is this.Have we really bought into God's different reality, a reality which is foundational and which directs all of our thoughts and actions, or are we still trying to fit God's ruling, God's reality, into the many kingdoms of today's world.

The Quest for the Perfect Hero

2012-01-14T11:16:00.003-05:00

   This evening I will be watching the New England Patriots play the Denver Broncos in an NFL playoff game. I will be rooting for the Patriots. After all, I am originally from New England. This is not a sports blog so I will say nothing more about the game itself. I am writing because of the attention drawn to Denver quarterback, Tim Tebow.

   By all accounts Mr. Tebow is an outstanding human being off the filed and a devout practicing Christian at all times. I wish that there were more Tim Tebows among professional athletes. What is at issue is not Tebow himself but the way that the nation and the media are reacting to him. For one thing he is not the only devout practicing Christian professional athlete. Troy Polamalu, a defensive back for the Pittsburgh Steelers, fits into that category even though he doesn't look the part and there are many others.

   Tebow has a great deal of athletic ability but even though he has had his spectacular moments at times, including a game winning touchdown pass last week, he is at best, right now, a mediocre quarterback with a unique playing style. So why the reaction to him? Why has he become in some opinion polls the most popular professional athlete in the country? I think that the answer lies in the public's desire to have the perfect hero contrasted with the desire of some to wait for the hero to fail.

   There are unfortunately today some people who hate religion and religious practice. Many in this crowd delight in Tebow's moments of failure. There are others who admire him so much that they are blind to the facts. They place him alongside the elite athletes in sports, a place he has not yet earned, and some even think that God guides the football every time that he touches it.

   After seeing report after report of scandals among athletes and other public figures whom we thought to be heroes we want to have the perfect hero, the one who lives a virtuous life and who excels in every way in all endeavors. That person is hard to find. In fairness to Tim Tebow let us simply applaud him for being a fine Christian and a fine human being. Let us wish him the best on the playing filed, but let us assess his talent for what it is and is not. Most importantly let us teach our kids to emulate his behavior rather than that of others who may have more athletic accomplishments.

   For a great reflection on God, Tebow and prayer in general check out this YouTube video by Fr. James, Martin, SJ, culture editor of America Magazine   Fr. James, Martin, SJ

A Blessed New Year to All--in the Flesh

2012-01-02T08:44:00.001-05:00

Circumcision by Guido Reni, 1635

As we start off this year of 2012 I am in Margate, New Jersey, just south of Atlantic City, working on a book with the same title as this blog, The Wandering Friar. The book, however will not for the most part use material written here, but will be filled with some stories taken from my life and many taken from the lives of folks that I have met over more than 40 years of ministry as a priest, and especially over almost 25 years as a traveling preacher. So please do pray that I complete this work by June and that you can have a copy by next Christmas.

Yesterday the Church celebrated the Feast of Mary, the mother of God, and also observed a world day of prayer for peace. At one time we celebrated this day as the feast of the Circumcision of Jesus. While on the one hand it would seem that the Church doesn't quite know what to do with New Year's Day, a purely secular event, and tries to baptize it with a Christian feast, I think that there is something important to be celebrated on this day which is really the octave of Christmas. The Church, taking a page from Jewish custom, keeps all great feasts for 8 days. Right now Christmas and Easter both have octaves. I would hope that the Pentecost octave would be restored, but that is for another time.

   The 8 day period, extending beyond to Epiphany, gives as the chance to reflect more deeply on the mystery of the Incarnation, a mystery which not only touches on our belief that God fully took on humanity in Jesus of Nazareth, but also that this mystery continues in the Church, the Body of Christ in the world. I think that we find the entry of the divine into the human too good to be true.   It is interesting that the first major heresy in the life of the Church was not a denial of Jesus' divinity, but docetism, a denial of his humanity. St. Luke in his nativity account is giving us theology, not history. By including the circumcision of Jesus in that account he is not only telling us that Jesus observed all the requirements of Jewish law, but that indeed he was human in every way, indeed quite totally a male human being. John tells us that the Word became flesh, not that the word appeared to be fleshly or human.

   The humanity/divinity of Jesus was debated strongly over the first centuries of the Church's life and the last declared doctrine relating to that came at the council of Ephesus in the fifth century in which Mary was declared to be the Mother of God, in other words the mother of the divinity as well as the humanity of Jesus. This is important not so much for what it says about Mary, but for what is says about God, that God desired to enter fully into humanity, into and through the body of a woman.

   I believe that it is vitally important that we reflect on this mystery for we still find it hard to believe that God wishes to be one with creation, even in and through us who are the Body of Christ in the world. We need to say yes to that mystery, as Mary did. To the extent that we do that we will have a Church that is believable as the Body of Christ, and not one beset by scandal.

   In 2 Cor: 4 St.Paul tells us that we carry a treasure in earthen vessels, and that we carry the dying and rising of Jesus in our bodies. Think about that. If we did would we mistreat our bodies in the way we do? Would we bounce between hedonism and prudishness in dealing with sexuality? Would we act violently in dealing with other human beings?   Indeed on the world day of prayer for peace might we draw closer to peace in the world by respecting "every body", born and unborn, of whatever race, nationality or religion.

   Peace to all people of good will!

A Blessed Christmas to All

2011-12-24T09:41:00.003-05:00

   Greetings from my home city of Boston where I'm spending the week with my brother friars at St. Anthony Shrine and visiting with family and friends. Earlier this morning I read a meditation from Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, who by the way offers wonderful daily meditations. Fr. Richard commented on the popular hymn, O Holy Night, compsed in 1847 by Frenchman Placide Cappeau. He is especially taken by the phrase "and the soul felt its worth."

   His thought is that because the Son of God chose to become human, to become one of us, that we see the true source of our worth, a worthiness that is based on a gift given to us, the Incarnation, and not on our successes and accomplishments.   Another spiritual writer, Fr. Ronald Rolheiser, OMI, like to point out that the Incarnation was not meant to be a 33 year experiment that ended with the Ascension, but rather a great mystery that began in Jesus and continues in us. If we can but allow our souls to feel their worth because Christ continues to act in through and with us, both we and the world would be transformed and we would indeed have Peace on Earth.

   I will end by sharing with you a poem, called Sharon's Prayer, composed by John Shea in his 1977 book, The Hour of the Unexpected:

Sharon’s Prayer

She was five,
      sure of the facts,
      and recited them
      with slow solemnity
      convinced every word
   was revelation.
      She said

they were so poor
they had only peanut butter and jelly sandwiches
to eat
and they went a long way from home
without getting lost. The lady rode
a donkey, the man walked, and the baby
was inside the lady.
They had to stay in a stable
with an ox and an ass (hee-hee)
but the Three Rich Men found them
because a star lited the roof
Shepherds came and you could
pet the sheep but not feed them.
Then the baby was borned.
And do you know who he was?

      Her quarter eyes inflated
      to silver dollars,
The baby was God.

      And she jumped in the air
      whirled round, dove into the sofa
      and buried her head under the cushion
      which is the only proper response
      to the Good News of the Incarnation.

by John Shea, The Hour of the Unexpected, Allan, Texas, Argus Communications, 1977

Merry Christmas to All

To enjoy Cappeau's beautiful hymn just click on below

The Gift of Brothers

2011-12-19T15:36:00.001-05:00

   In St. Francis Testament written at the end of his life he writes, "....and the Lord gave me brothers." You see Francis did not set out to found an order and recruit people to join it. He set out to do the Lord's work and people found there way to him. He received them as gifts from the Lord. His words challenge us friars to see one another as gifts, and given that we are all so very human that is not always easy.

   Here at St. Anthony Friary we just had the funeral of one of our brothers, Fr. Jim Jones, OFM. Jimmy, as he was known to us, was only 68 years old and had been ill with a heart condition for the past few years. That condition was worsened when he was mugged five years ago while taking a walk here in our generally safe neighborhood. He was also the seventh member of our community to die in the past 13 months. Ever since I came here Jim has been a positive presence in our community.   He was not able to engage in much public ministry, though I did notice that priests, and other people as well, often came by and said they had an appointment with him.

It was, I believe, the spiritual writer, Ronald Rolheiser, OMI,   in one of his recent books who talked about the grieving process and about the fact that only after death is the totality of the gift that the person was in life able to be fully appreciated.   I have found that to be true with all seven of my brother friars who have died this year, but today especially in the case of Jimmy.

   Our local bishop, Robert Lynch, came to the funeral. His reason for coming was to thank us Franciscans for the contribution that Jim Jones made to the diocese because of what he did for the priests here through spiritual direction. The homilist, Fr. John Tapp, from one of the local parishes, eloquently made the same point when he shared how Jim had been his spiritual director for 14 years. All of us in the community knew that Jim had done spiritual direction but never realized the extent of and the impact of his ministry. I mentioned above the fact that Jim was mugged a few years ago. Both the bishop and Fr. Tapp talked of Jim's journey towards forgiveness of his attackers, something that gives a challenging witness to all of us.

    As Christmas draws near and we think of giving and receiving gifts I am thankful for the gift of Jimmy Jones and all of my brothers who have died in the past year. I also pray to be able to better appreciate gift of those now living--in my Franciscan community, in my family, and in the great and growing circle of friends with whom the Lord has blessed me. That is a real Christmas gift.

And with Your Spirit::Thoughts on the New Translation of Mass Texts

2011-12-08T19:00:00.001-05:00

   A few weeks ago several readers of this blog asked my opinion on the new translation of the prayers for the Mass. I hesitated to respond because I wanted to wait and see. We are now into the second week of Advent and are getting used to (or not so used to) the new prayers at Mass so I thought that I might offer a few thoughts on the matter which I hope are helpful.
   Some explanations are in order. There is not a new Mass. The ritual of the Mass has not changed. What has changed is the wording of the prayers used. What many don't know is that in Rome there is an official Latin text from which all the languages of the world translate. In years gone by the criterion used for translation was what is called "dynamic equivalency". meaning that the basic meaning of the Latin was translated into English (in our case) or whatever other language. The Vatican in recent years has called for a more literal translation.   Both have their advantages and disadvantages. Also, the English used until recently was a more colloquial or popular style. Some wanted a more rich or elevated language for worship. Again there are advantages to both approaches. My opinion on what has been presented to us is mixed. Indeed there is a certain eloquence to some of the newer expressions used and there are more biblical references because some were unfortunately removed from the earlier translation. At the same time I think that some of the texts are awkward and stilted and that there are words used which the ordinary person in the pew cannot understand. I know that we have a more educated laity and that they can fairly quickly understand that the word "consubstantial" in the Creed means "one in being". Today. however, on the Feast of the Immaculate Conception there was a reference to" prevenient" grace. Even I who am trained in theology had to stop and think about that one. I also think that the prayers that the priest uses could have been smoothed off a bit and still have been faithful to the Latin.   What I do like is that there is more theological precision in a few places that never should have been missing.
   Before getting to those points I want to challenge people on both the left and the right who refer to this work as "going back." I have heard some say that they are finally getting back to the way that things should be and other lamenting that we are retrenching to the old days. Neither is true. I say Mass often in Spanish and occasionally in Italian and those languages have always had things like the triple "through my fault" in the Confiteor and have said "And with your "spirt", and not "and also with you." In that sense we are not retrenching but just doing what everyone else is doing.
   Some of the theological points that I like are:

   1. In the offertory prayers we refer to the bread, and later the wine, that we have received and which we now offer. This detail exists in the other languages but has not been used in English. The idea is that we offer back to God what God has given to us.

   2. At the consecration we are invited to "take this all of you and eat of it" (the bread) rahter than just " ...eat it. This subtlety suggest that we are not possessing the Body of Christ, but simply partaking of it. It also suggests a communal sharing.

   3. Several of the new forms for the dismissal rite make a clear link between the Eucharist and everyday life, eg., " Go in Peace and live the Gospel in your Life."

   One point that requires explanation is in the consecration of the wine into the precious Blood which is "poured out for you and for the many." This does not mean that Christ did not die for all, but rather suggests the masses or the multitudes who would accept Christ. He still died even for those who did not accept Him even if they have not taken Him up on it.
   In short I think we could have done better with this and hopefully some of the shortcomings can be corrected soon while still being faithful to the desired principle of a more faithful or authentic translation. A wise person once said that a translation is either faithful or beautiful, but rarely both. I still think that we need to strive for both.

Prepare the way for the Lord, An Advent Message

2011-11-23T11:17:00.001-05:00

   I was tempted to introduce Advent by offering a comment on the new translation of the Mass texts, but chose to wait until they have been in use for a while. Instead, some thoughts on the season itself.

Most of us Catholics think of Advent as the time when we get ready spiritually for Christmas. That is indeed one of the purposes for the season, and certainly we need to attend to that more often than we do, but it is not the only purpose of this wonderful time. At the beginning of Advent the Church's focus is more on the Second Coming of Christ, than on the First Coming. This Sunday's Gospel (from Mark 13:33-37) Invites us to "Be watchful! Be Alert! You do not know when the time will come." (Mk 13:33)

   There is a great deal of sound advice in these words. For one thing they certainly make it clear that anyone who tries to predict the end times doesn't know what they are talking about.   But how are we to prepare for the end times, for the coming of the reign of God in its fullness? I believe that the simple answer is to strive every day to be open to the many ways that the Kingdom of God breaks in upon us every day. In Luke 17:20-21 Jesus tells us that "The Kingdom of God is in your midst." What this basically means is that we who believe, insofar as we live the Gospel, carry the reign of God, the Kingdom within us right now. Yes, it won't come about in its fullness until the end times, but even now the peace, justice and love that characterize that Kingdom are in us and around us. This is indeed a big part of the source of Christian hope. It is easy to get bogged down and depressed by the evil in the world, and there is plenty of that.   I think that a wonderful discipline for Advent, and Advent type of penance if you will, is to pray every day that our eyes might be opened to see the Kingdom breaking forth around us, and secondly to do our part to help build that Kingdom. We by our own efforts do not hasten the coming of God's reign, but insofar as we cooperate with God's grace to do the things that make the world a more just place in which to live, by helping to overcome divisions between people, by seeing that life is respected in every way and by caring for this planet that we inhabit we cooperate with God's plan to bring about that Kingdom.

   As Advent comes to an end and changes focus on December 17, looking to the coming celebration of Jesus' birth, we can truly have a wonderful Christmas if each one of us can say that we spent this Advent season preparing the world for His coming now and in the future and if we strive to let him be born into our own hearts today.

   We Franciscans are proud of the fact that St. Francis, near the end of his life, recreated the Nativity scene with live people and animals in the little Village of Greccio in the Rieti Valley of Italy. This wonderful celebration inspired the many Nativity scenes that we all have in our homes today. Interestingly enough however there was no baby in Francis re-enactment. Why? Because Francis, in whom it was said that Christ came alive in his arms, wanted those who were there and who later would hear of this event to see ourselves as the manger in which Christ is born over and over again. May He be born in all of our hearts this year.

Left: Greccio Italy today

Feast of the Dedication of the Basilica of St., John at the Lateran--A Feast of the Church

2011-11-09T17:49:00.000-05:00

Today the Church celebrates what for many is an unusual feast, the dedication of the Basilica of St. John Lateran in Rome. This basilica holds a special place in Church history, Franciscan history and in my own heart. Back in 1999 our Minister General, Fr. Giacomo Bini, OFM sent a latter to the friars of the order asking for volunteers to serve as confessors for the Jubilee Year 2000. The Roman basilicas are staffed by the diocesan clergy of Rome, but each one has a staff from members of different religious orders as confessors, the reason being that we can bring in people from around the world who speak different languages. We Franciscans have been assigned to the Lateran because it was there that Pope Innocent III approved the rule of Francis and his brothers. Ability to speak Italian as well as 15 years of ordination were two of the requirements to supplement the full time team of confessors there so I signed on and was accepted. I spent just about 7 months in Rome that year and it was a wonderful experience.

The basilica, shown above, is the oldest standing Christian Church in the world, built by the emperor Constantine on land given to the Church by the Laterani family in 324. It (and not St. Peter's) is the Pope's cathedral as Bishop of Rome, and for centuries the Lateran, not the Vatican, is where the pope resided.For a fuller story on this great church you can click on this description from Wikipedia--St. John Lateran--Wikipedia

From June of 2000 until early January 2001 I was hearing confessions there of people from all over the world. I also lived with friars from many different countries as well. As time went on the basilica continually intrigued me. Artistically it is eclectic with all sorts of art styles and most of the works truly beautiful. In time I realized that this wonderful house of worship was a microcosm of the whole Church. As you enter you see large statues, six on each side, of the twelve apostles. (See picture to the right above) There is a beautiful mosaic behind the main altar. On the left side one finds the confessionals--8 of them, where we Franciscans serve. In the middle is the main altar where beautiful solemn liturgies are celebrated. On the right there is a large side entrance, a gift shop and a starting point for guided tours. There are many small chapels on both sides including one with a Pieta', not the famous one by Michalangelo and not as beautiful, but significant because many people come there to pray for healing. In the Blessed Sacrament chapel to the rear of the basilica one finds the white "cathedra" or seat of the pope as bishope of Rome.

Reflecting on all of this one sees that saints, sinners, seekers and doubters, the pope, bishops. priests religious and laity all gather here at various times. This is truly the Church. This is who we are, indeed even at simple, small parish Churches. The Church is indeed, as today's second reading says, made of living stones.

Yours truly in October 2000 in front of the Lateran Basilica

The Way, A Movie for All Saints Day

2011-11-02T10:03:00.002-04:00

In these early days of November we Catholics, and many other Christians as well, observe two feast that focus our attention on the next life--All Saints Day and All Souls Day. I find it interesting that in my case anyway some of the same people that I honored as saints in my own life I prayed for on the next day, because after all we are not certain and in some way all of us are both saints and sinners.

Often, as we look to the next life, we don't stop to reflect on the fact that whatever happens in the hereafter is based on what we do now, on our response to the call to holiness which comes to us through our Baptism. What do we do now, in this life, to grow into sainthood.

All of us are made saints (holy) the moment we are baptized. It's what we do afterwards that changes things one way or the other. I remember having this fact brought home to me very clearly back in 1978 when I was on an extended pilgrimage in Rome and Assisi. We visited the cathedral of St. Rufino there and stopped by the baptismal font where it was noted that about 10 different saints and blesseds were baptized there. Once we were duly impressed with that our guide pointed out that after our own baptism each of us had the same grace as those saints. (See the short video clip of this below, taken in May, 2011)

   So how do we grow in holiness in this life?   An obvious answer for starters is through prayer, and indeed without a strong relationship with the good Lord we don't grow in holiness. But prayer alone is not enough if we don't make changes in our life. This message came across loud and clear in a wonderful movie I saw the other day--The Way, starring Martin Sheen.   In this movie the four main characters are making a pilgrimage, walking over several weeks a 500 mile (800 km) trek to the shrine of Santiago (St. James the apostle) de Campostella in Spain, departing from a small town in France.

   None of the characters have a highly religious motivation for making the journey, but deprived of the ordinary creature comforts of their everyday lives, thrown together with each other, and not always happily so, they are forced to confront their weaknesses and shortcoming which become unmasked by the stress of the journey. By the time they arrive at Campostella they are transformed, perhaps not ready for canonization, but transformed nonetheless as they fall on their knees at the shrine of the apostle.

   I highly recommend the movie which, to use the parlance of the day, is much more about spirituality than about religion, and hope that it might move you, as it did me, a bit closer to sainthood.

Upholding the Ideals

2011-10-29T10:31:00.000-04:00

   Over the past few days the Vatican has issued a statement regarding a restructuring of the way that business is done between nations and by the banks. Also the pope gathered in Assisi with religious leaders of many different faiths from around the world to pray for peace, marking the 25th anniversary of a similar gathering by Pope John Paul II. I have been surprised by some of the reaction to both the document and the papal gathering, though maybe I shouldn't be.

   Some folks have criticized the Pope for praying with non-Christians.   Granted that we need to be careful of a one religion is as good as another approach to things but what is so wrong about gathering with people of good will to pray. If people believe in God and wish to pray that is a good thing, especially if they are praying for peace.    Remember the greeting of the angel at the birth of Christ--"Peace to people of good will", a line we repeat in the Gloria at Mass. The witness of a gathering like this also tells those who would distort religion to justify violence that they are wrong. Also I have had several friends remark to me that war will probably always be with us. This may unfortunately be true but I believe that Christians, and above all Franciscans, need to keep holding that ideal of peace before the world, and supporting efforts that do achieve some level of peace, or at least the cessation of violent hostility between peoples.

   As for the Vatican document on the economy I have heard two criticisms. The first may be somewhat valid in that it cites the lack of a deeper understanding of economic principles. Maybe (or maybe not) the Vatican needs to do more homework on the subject. What I don't get are those who say that because it was issued by a Vatican office and not the pope it is not infallible and does not need to be taken seriously. I'm sorry but the last time a pope spoke with infallibility was the 1950 declaration of the dogma of the Assumption. Does that mean that everything that popes have said since then, or that Vatican officials have said since then, is not to be taken seriously. I thought that as Catholics we should take it all seriously even when we disagree. Critique the statement to be sure, but do not dismiss it. I personally believe that while some parts of the document may be flawed from a technical point of view that it enunciates some important principles of Catholic social teaching that should not be ignored, and that indeed should be put into practice if we are to live in a more just and peaceful world. What think ye of all of this?

The Gift of Imagination

2011-10-10T14:43:00.001-04:00

   As one who strives to keep up with the advances in technology both to advance my ministry as a preacher and for personal enjoyment I was fascinated by the extensive coverage of the death of Apple founder and CEO Steve Jobs the past week. One of the blogs that I follow and that is referenced on this blog is Whispers in the Loggia, a site which puts out news of what's going on in the Church these days. Last week I noticed that "Whispers" carried an article from Osservatore Romano about this extraordinary man. You can click on the link here to see this article--Steve Jobs.

   Several things struck me about this article the most important of which is the fact that with the exception of world political leaders the Vatican does not usually reference the deaths of people outside the Church. In this case however there is a recognition that this man, who did not share our religious beliefs, was a true visionary who made a significant contribution to life in our world today. This is an example of something that I prefer to call "The Catholic vision of Life." What I mean by this is that when we Catholics are at our best (something which is not always the case) we are able to look out at the world and acknowledge the gifts that God has given to scientists, artists, politicians, etc. and affirm the results of their contributions as blessings from God even though many of them are not of our faith or even of no faith at all. At a deep level I think that this is because we look at humanity and creation in general as inherently good in spite of human sinfulness. With this belief in mind we can appreciate music, art, theater and scientific accomplishments as blessings and as ways of drawing us closer to God and each other.

   Now some might point out, and correctly so, that Mr. Jobs inventions as well as other advances in modern technology can lead us down the wrong path. That is where it is up to us, a creatures of free will to use these gifts properly. In this case this Franciscan advises that we keep the motto of the Jesuits in mind--Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam--For the Greater Glory of God. If we use our computers, smart phones, etc. with that in mind a lot of good can come of it.

A second thought on Mr. Jobs and on the above mentioned article is the fact that he was called a visionary, a term often used for saints and mystics. While the Vatican was certainly not trying to canonize this man I find this term interesting because it gives praise to a faculty which I think that we humans don't use often enough--the gift of imagination. When I'm doing a parish mission and speaking to school kids I encourage them to take time to daydream (though cautioning them not to do so while in class), to use their imagination to think about possibilities for their life and to ask God to guide their dreaming. Steve Jobs is an example of what dreams can do and a challenge to all of us to strive to imagine a better. more just and peaceful world.

   So lets thank God for the life of Steve Jobs and let us as well, as good Catholics, pray for the repose of his soul.

PS--thought you'd enjoy this cartoon

Be Still, and know that I am God (ps 46:10)

2011-09-19T18:09:00.000-04:00

      A few weeks ago after celebrating Mass at St. Peter the Fisherman in Eagle River, WI I was stopped by someone who politely asked why the Mass there didn't move along more. I asked the person what they meant and the response was that after the readings instead of the next reader or leader of the responsorial psalm got up there was a pause. Likewise, this individual felt, that too much time was spent waiting after communion. I explained that these pauses are called for by the Church in its directives for celebrating Mass so that we could briefly meditate on the readings or on what just happened while receiving Communion. The person politely thanked me, shrugged the shoulders and walked away without, I think, really understanding why there should be silence there.

      I mention this incident because I believe that this response to silence reflects a deeper issue in our culture. We like to think of ourselves, among other things, as living in the age of communication, and in many ways we are. The TV and radio blare out opinions on every political and religious issue. We can listen to any kind of music that we like. Cell phones and computers put us in instant contact with the whole world, and any of us who want can express our opinion on whatever. I am part of this. I'm writing this blog and have have one of those fancy phones that does everything. But we pay a price for this.

      What is that price? For one we are constantly bombarded by noise. At baseball games loud music and events on the jumbotron scoreboard keep one occupied between innings, and many folks have to have something electronic attached to their ear at all times Likewise we are living at such a fast pace which is necessary in a way to keep up with all that we are bombarded with. Finally we have lost the ability to listen, to truly listen to one another and to God.

      A big part of the solution to all this is to engage in a discipline of silence, to take the time to be still, to quiet ourselves, to take a deep breath and contemplate all that is going on around us--the good the bad, and the ugly. We need this in our personal relationships, in our political debate and discourse and above all in our relationship with God. When people question why silence is part of good worship something is amiss.

    So, some suggestions. Take time every day, even if you start with only 5 minutes, just to be quiet. Don't even think of it yet as prayer. Just be still.   Secondly take time regularly to listen to your spouse, or a close friend or relative if you're not married. By listen I don't mean being quiet to formulate your response in an argument, but try to really get inside the mind and heart of the other. Do likewise for the people with whom you disagree theologically and politically. And yes, take time, as the psalmist says, to be still and to know that God is God (Ps 46:10)

Tenth Anniversay of 9/11

2011-09-10T12:30:00.001-04:00

I was preparing some thoughts to post on the tenth anniversary of the tragic attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. I could not think of anything better than the joint statement of the seven United States Franciscan Provinces and the English province, so I invite you, dear blog readers, to click on the site below:. I welcome your responses.

Franciscan Provinces of US--statement on Tenth Anniversary of 9/11

Labor Day

2011-09-03T12:54:00.000-04:00

    This weekend we celebrate the third and final summertime holiday--labor day. On Memorial Day we remembered our deceased veterans. On July 4 we celebrated our freedom, and on Labor Day we honor workers. But what are we as Catholics to make of this day when the unemployment rate is so high and our political leaders seem unable or unwilling to address the problem in an effective way.

The teaching of our Church basically says that we are all workers. To be human is in some way to be a worker. From Pope Leo XIII in the 1890's right up to Pope John Paul II this teaching has been reiterated in various ways. Also through work we humans share in the ongoing process of creation by producing goods and services that enhance the quality of life on earth and which provide a means of living to all.

   The problem, of course, is that greed and self-interest, get in the way. Some goods and services do not enhance, but rather hinder, the quality of human life, and sometimes workers labor under unjust conditions. This writer thinks that the previous two sentences sum up the heart of today's problem, the blame for which can be cast at the feet of members of both of our political parties. I do not wish to promote or decry any one political leader in this blog, but I do believe that Christian concern for what is right, and not mere politics calls for me to point out some of the problems, as I see them, on this Labor Day.

   It was the greed of many banks and Wall St. firms, as well as the policies of our government and the high cost of the wars we have been waging that led to the economic downturn, and foreclosure crisis which is behind the high unemployment rate The last administration began it and this one has not been able to lead a return to prosperity, though we often forget the forces other than government are also responsible.

   The unwillingness of both political parties to bend, compromise and try to work together is also deplorable and adds to the problem.

   I have been working in Wisconsin this summer and decry strongly what Governor Scott Walker did when he took away collective bargaining rights from state workers. Now I will grant that some of the unions had demands that were unreasonable, but that's why negotiations get held. Our Church clearly teaches that workers have a right to organize and that employers are bound to negotiate in good faith.   What folks on all sides forget is the Catholic principle of keeping the common good in mind. If we did this we wouldn't have the 'my way or the highway" mentality that permeates so much of our political debate.

   So, as we celebrate Labor Day and grill our burgers, brats and hot dogs, I believe that Catholic and Christian concern calls all of us to work together so that all are employed at honorable work, and that all receive just compensation for their labor.

Sing to the Lord--A Wonderful Ecumenical Experience

2011-08-15T13:33:00.000-04:00

POPS River Revival--Ecumenical Concert (click on this link to see excerpts from the concert)

    I have been coming to Eagle River to assist at St. Peter the Fisherman Parish in the summerti
me since 1995. After a few summers I became aware of an ecumenical concert put on by Prince of Peace Lutheran Church here in Eagle River. I joined the choir in 2005 and have sung each summer since then (except in 2006 when I had to stay in Florida to take care of health issues). People from many different churches and denominations come together to praise the Lord in song with music from the Great Awakening and Revival periods. This year there were 105 of us plus the directors. You can see some excerpts from the concert by clicking on the link above.

   Ever since the Second Vatican council promoted ecumenism I have been a strong supporter of any effort in that direction. Honest ecumenism doesn't whitewash our differences with other Christians but seeks to celebrate our common ground which is belief in God and in God's Son, Jesus Christ, with the hope that such common sharing will lead to greater unity and the overcoming of our differences. Right now I think that we are stuck in a time where great steps forward have been taken but we don't know just how to proceed from there. We certainly need to pray to the Holy Spirit to guide us and to open doors that we don;t seem to be able pass through right now.

   Right from the start i have not only enjoyed singing with POPS, but have been impressed by the deep Christian faith of its members. This was especially so in 2006 when I could not come to Eagle River. Not only did I receive prayerful support from the Catholics in Eagle River, Phelps and Land O'Lakes, but also from the members of the choir from many different churches. I will never forget that.

   As for the singing part of it I have always loved singing ever since Sr. Mary Magdalene "volunteered" me to join the boys choir at my boyhood parish of St.William's in the Savin Hill neighborhood of Boston. I was a member of the seminary choir and am told that I do well singing the Mass parts. Because I'm the presider though I don;t get to sing in the choir.

   POPS gives me a chance to do that. We practice every Wednesday evening for 6 weeks and have a dress rehearsal on the Sunday night prior to the concert. The concert runs for three nights (Tuesday through Thursday) and a free will offering is taken each night with proceeds going to local charities. This year we raised over $5000.00. I hope to keep coming back to POPS and hope that you my readers will seize whatever opportunity presents itself to join with other Christians in prayer, song or promoting works of charity and justice.

Relay For Life

2011-08-05T15:14:00.000-04:00

I have copied in to this entry the column I wrote for the St. Peter the Fisherman parish bulletin on July 31. Tonight (August 5) I will walk with the St. Peter's team in the Northwoods Relay for life. I have done this every year since my own diagnosis of prostate cancer 5 years ago. Every year I also try to do something to raise consciousness about the need for getting the appropriate checkups and screenings. This blog entry is part of my efforts in that regard

In the St. Peter's bulletin I wrote:

He (she) has cancer. This sentence is so often whispered in hushed tones. Cancer takes lives and we don’t like to speak about it, yet millions of people have had that statement made about themselves. Five years ago I left Florida in June and was on my way to Eagle River for the summer. I had been biopsied for the third time for prostate cancer, but since the first two times were negative I was confident that this time would be as well. That was not to be. I was in Atlanta visiting friends as I journeyed north when I got the call from my doctor’s office telling me that I indeed did have cancer. Instead of continuing north I had to turn south again and return to Florida. I called Fr. Bob with the news that I would not be able to come to Eagle River that summer.

Fortunately I had been going for regular checkups and cancer screenings and my prognosis for recovery and cure was excellent. After consulting with doctors about possible treatments I chose a radiation approach and things have been just fine so far, though I do get nervous every six months when I go for follow-up exams.

The good news today is that cancer does not in many cases have to be a death sentence. There are millions of us in this country who are survivors and who will be participating in one of the many American Cancer Society’s Relay for Life programs. The Relay celebrates our survival but also works to find both better treatment and even a cure for cancer.

St. Peter’s has a team in the Northwoods Relay for Life called Walkers with Soul. I will be joining several parishioners who will participate as cancer survivors The Relay though is not just for survivors. It is for anyone who wants not only to support them and also for anyone who wants to support the struggle for a cure. Please consider coming out to Northland Pines High School field on Friday evening, Aug 6 for the opening ceremony and for the beautiful luminaria ceremony at dusk where candles are lit in remembrance of those who have died of this disease and honoring the survivors as well. Anyone can join the team even if you are not a cancer survivor.

Finally I urge everyone to get the cancer screenings that are recommended for your age and gender. Granted that there is squeamishness and humor regarding several of these tests, but remember THEY SAVE LIVES. This is so because most cancers can be treated with early detection. That was certainly so in my case. I might also add that care of our bodies and doing the things that prevent not only cancer, but other illnesses as well, is a Christian responsibility. God Bless and hope to see you at the Relay for Life.

For more on the Relay just click below.

Northwoods Relay for Life

Let Us Pray

2011-07-28T12:02:00.001-04:00

One of the prefaces for weekday Masses says, "You have no need of our praise, yet the very desire to praise you is itself your gift." These words provide food for thought regarding the meaning of prayer and why we pray. While I pray every day (and hope you do as well) over the past few months several requests for prayer have captured more than the usual amount of attention for me. From the viewpoint of "outcome" the results have been very different.

   A few months ago a good friend contacted me and asked me to pray for a baby named Evangeline who was born prematurely and had several medical complications. There was a good chance that she would not make it. Not only did I set about praying for this child and her parents, I asked my Franciscan community to pray for her, and several communities of sisters as well. In addition to that many other friends have been praying for her While Evangeline is not entirely out of the woods she has made great promise and looks to be on her way.   In her case it appears that our prayers have been answered. Certainly the whole story is eloquent testimony to the power of prayer.

   At just about the same time that I heard about Evangeline I was asked to pray for a 2 year old who fell into a swimming pool. I engaged the same people in prayer and the child's family and circle of friends spread the request for prayer. Unfortunately the child died. What are we to make of this? Both parents are good, practicing Catholics, people of strong faith. Was one prayer answered and the other not? This question, of course, as been on the minds of Catholics and others over the centuries. How do we explain this.

    I wouldn't begin to try to explain the mind of God, but I will say that our prayers are always answered. I'm sure that the family of the child who drowned in the pool continued to pray and found strength in their grief as a result of this. In fact I know this to be true. Deeper than this fact however is the need to understand why we pray and what is means to ask God for something. When we understand this it puts things into perspective.

   Why do we pray? The ultimate purpose of prayer is not to get God to do things for us, but rather to seek union with God, to grow in relationship with God. While I don't believe that God sits in heaven and thinks "Hmmm, I think that those folks on earth need a little sickness, death, tragedy and disaster," these things are part of life. They remind us that life is fragile and that we are finite. Because of this they open us to the need for God. Our illusion of total self-sufficiency is shattered by these things. They open us to God then and our first instinct, which is a good one, is to ask God to take away our pain and suffering, or that of someone we love. It is easy to believe that our prayer is heard when we get the desired outcome. When we do not we need to understand that if the ultimate goal of prayer is union with God, then God will indeed be with us when we open our hearts with our desires. What happens then is that God gives us strength and comfort when we don't get the results we want. God will always be there. God's promise to us is not that if we have faith all of our problems will be taken away, but rather that we will never be abandoned. I found this to be true back in 1992 when our family got word from the doctors that my mother would die of cancer. She had battled for 5 years and during that time we constantly prayed that she would live. When we found out otherwise we were sad of course, but we found that God gave us all great strength, and my mother went to her death peacefully knowing that she was loved by her husband and three children. The whole experience brought us closer to God.

   As that line from the Mass preface that I quoted at the beginning says God does not need our praise, our prayer, but we need God. Hopefully we go to God everyday to open our hearts in prayer and to present whatever is there--a request, a plea for forgiveness, a prayer of praise and adoration, or one of gratitude. If we do that we will draw ever closer to God and be ever more mindful of God's presence with and among us.

St. Bonaventure

2011-07-15T11:48:00.010-04:00

   I celebrated Mass this morning at St. Peter the Fisherman in Eagle River, WI. Today is the feast of a great Franciscan saint, St. Bonaventure. I asked the 20 or so people who were there if they knew anything about Bonaventure. Only three raised a hand. That experience reminded me that this great man and doctor of the Church is so well known in Franciscan circles, but not outside of it, so I thought that I would present a little about him on this blog.

   St. Bonaventure hails from a small town in Italy called Bagnoreggio in 1221. he died in 1274. After entering the Franciscans around 1240 he was eventually ordained, became a professor of theology at the University of Paris and was a contemporary of Thomas Aquinas. He became Minister General of the Franciscans and eventually was ordained a bishop and became a cardinal.

   It is a difficult challenge to sum up his great theological work in a few paragraphs, but I will try. The life of Francis of Assisi was the source of his theological reflection.   Basically he looked at Francis and developed a systematic theology based on his understanding of the great saints' life. He developed what is called a Christocentric view of the universe. This term means much more though than Christ-centered in the sense that any Christian theology or spirituality must be that. On a deeper level he gives emphasis to what is pointed out in the prologue of John's Gospel (Jn 1, 1-5)

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
He was in the beginning with God. All things came to be through him, and without him nothing came to be. What came to be through him was life, and this life was the light of the human race; the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

The same thought is expressed in the letter to the Collosians (See Col, 1, 15-16).

Basically what this tells us is that in the mind of God Christ is the first creation in the mind of God and that Christ was ordained to become human right from the beginning, even if humans had not sinned. How different this is from the thought the Jesus was a type of divine intervention made necessary by sin. Bonaventure and later Franciscan theologians like Scotus don't deny sin and the need for redemption. They stress that the coming of Christ is the center and high point of human history, the punctuation mark on it that God planned from the beginning. These thoughts are rooted in Scripture and also in several theologian of the early Church such is Iranaeus of Lyon. In this theology Jesus was not sent to get crucified. he was sent to proclaim the reign of God and to love us unconditionally. When that love met sin the cross resulted. Bonaventure sees the Cross as central and as the ultimate expression of God's unconditional love. Creation itself reflects Christ in whom all is created and the cross in which all discord and opposition are overcome.

Another aspect of Bonaventure's thought is being looked at today in light of our ever growing understanding of the universe. He stresses not only that all is created in Christ, but that all will return to Christ, very much in line with our sense of the expanding and contracting universe.

This theological vision is what animates all of us Franciscans. Francis lived it. Bonaventure reflected on it and today I am grateful to God for both of them. I rejoice with my brother friars at St. Bonaventure University in Olean, NY and with Franciscan theologians all over the world. I pray that any readers who are not Franciscan will have been enriched by this reflection,

The Good 'Ol Summertime

2011-06-30T12:12:00.000-04:00

Proclaiming the Gospel at St. Peter the Fisherman, Eagle River, WI, on the feast of Corpus Christi

After a whirlwind of travel in the past few months I've settled into my summer ministry at Eagle River, Phelps and Land "O'Lakes here in Wisconsin. My celebration of my fortieth anniversary of ordination has become a kind of moveable feast with the three parishes here all graciously celebrating this with me. As many of you know my summer times here are special to me for several reasons--wonderful people, a chance to experience parish life, a chance to sing in a choir and to offer some adult faith formation are at the top of the list.

It is a blessing that I have been able to be in touch during my travels via this blog and Facebook especially. As I've done that I've heard several comments about internet use--friendly kidding about being the "techie friar", accolades from people who urge me on with this, and while no one has said anything negative to me about my internet use I have run into folks who express concern or fear about our modern high tech world or who say things like "that stuff's not for me." I would like to address these concerns.

The internet and the social networking tools that have arisen with it are media, forms of expression and communication. As such they are morally neutral tool. You can find everything from the evil to the trivial right on up to the amazing and edifying. I strive to fit into the latter category. Over the past two months I have brought followers into things such as my experience in Assisi, my fortieth Anniversary of priesthood and offered several reflections. On Facebook I share interesting places and experiences that I have had. What has been really amazing to me though is the opportunity to connect in prayer. Now I don't like these requests that come out of nowhere and try to make you feel guilty if you don't pass on an e-mail about some situation. That having been said I have had the opportunity to pray for several situations passed on to me from good friends that I might never have learned about had it not been for the social networking that goes one. Just this morning I said Mass for a woman in Arizona who is facing very grave illness. There have been similar request during this time whether I was in Assisi, Florida, Michigan or now Wisconsin. This past Sunday we celebrated Corpus Christi, the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ.his was a feast the Eucharist to be sure, but also a feast of the Church which is the Body of Christ. To me the social networks, with all their capacity for triviality or even evil, are also a means of allowing the members of the Body of Christ to stay in touch, to pray, to teach and to affirm and support one another in living our faith. I say a big Amen to that.

Beginning of Mass, June 26, 2011

Pentecost:Too Good to be True?

2011-06-10T09:16:00.006-04:00

This Sunday the Church celebrates the feast of Pentecost. Pentecost is also a Jewish feast. The word simply means "50 days" in Greek, 50 days after Passover, and fifty days after Easter. We celebrate the descent of the Holy Spirit on the apostles and with that the birth of the Church, though it can be said that the Church was born on the Cross or even at the Annunciation. I won't enter into debate over that issue. There is truth in all 3 approaches. Suffice it to say that it is one of the three major feasts of the Church along with Holy Week/Easter, and Christmas.

   For the former two feasts the Churches are full, drawing even those who do not come to Church regularly. Why is this? While there are probably many answers for this I think that deep down even those of us who believe find it too good to be true. We can believe that God took human flesh in Jesus, or that Jesus rose from the dead,but Pentecost calls us to believe that the Holy Spirit not only descended on the apostles, but that the Holy Spirit dwells in you and me, and brings the mysteries of Christmas and Easter to life in us over and over again.

   I think that somewhere deep inside of us we like to keep God at a distance-in past history, in an ark, in a temple, in a Church, in the tabernacle. Now don't get me wrong, it would be heresy to deny the presence of god, of Christ, in the above mentioned places. The point is that we can more readily believe in those things than we can believe that God, through the Holy Spirit, dwells in me, in you, in the Church as the Body of Christ. When this happens we get caught up in externals, in what direction the altar should face, what language music and what to use. Now I don't deny that Eucharist and the other sacraments should be celebrated properly and with the right combination of reverence and joy, of common unity blended with local cultural expression, but when we put so much energy and even anger into this discussion we are not a calling on the presence of the Spirit among us. When we put too much emphasis on the business affairs of the Church while the world around us is torn by war, violence and injustice, we are not attending then to the Spirit dwelling amongst us.We argue that we are not worthy.   Of course we're not. The Spirit comes as gift in spite of our unworthiness. The challenge for us is what do we do with the gift.

   The answer is that we allow the Spirit to work in us, each according to his or her gifts, to make a difference in the world, through prayer, action and witness, and at the same time to build a vibrant Church, not one according to our own likes and tastes, but the Church that the Spirit is striving to build through us. Let us make our own on this wonderful feast the ancient prayer of the Church--"Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful. En-kindle in them the fire of your love. Send forth your Spirit among us and renew the face of the earth."

   I invite you to click on the link below for a rendition of the traditional hymn, Veni Creator Spiritus, sung in Latin with English translation. It beautifully expresses what this Feast is about.

Veni Creator Spiritus (Come Holy Spirit)

By the way in many parishes people are invited to wear red to Church this week. That is the liturgical color for the feast, the color of the tongues of fire which descended upon the apostles. I think that this is a great custom

Thanksgiving For Forty Years of Blessings

2011-05-19T17:54:00.002-04:00


With Bishop Nicholas D'Antonio, OFM,		my ordaining bishop, on the day of my ordination, May 22, 1971

As you have been made aware earlier on this blog I will mark an important milestone this Sunday--40 years of priestly ministry.   I want to take this opportunity to thank God for using me as His instrument in so many ways, ways that are beyond my own abilities and that have to do entirely with His Grace--be that with preaching, counseling and spiritual direction, or in the confessional. I also want to thank all those who have sent me cards and prayers for the occasion, and to thank the many people who have become part of my life--from Boston, to New York, the Bronx, Buffalo, Camden, NJ, the many places where I have preached missions in English and Spanish, in the US and Canada, the people of Bolivia, especially the campesinos, who left a permanent mark on my life, and the people of Eagle River, Phelps and Land O'Lakes, WI. I could not have imagined 40 years ago the number of folks who would become part of the fabric of my life. I would add to the list the people whom I touched and who touched my life through Marriage Encounter, many of whom have become lifelong friends.

   One of the real joys of these 40 years was the day I was preaching a mission in Spanish in Hialeah, FL in 2002. I was approached by a young man from Cuba, Erick Lopez, who expressed interest in joining the order. I will travel to New york tomorrow to participate in his ordination. What a blessing.

   I just returned from a wonderful time in Assisi which was basically a retreat, but also a vacation. It was a time of reflection, thanksgiving and re-dedication to my life as a friar and as a priest. I pray that in whatever years I have left I will be an even better priest and servant of the needs of God's people. I know that God and God's people will continue to bless me in ways beyond my wildest imagination.

St. Francis, Man of Peace and Non-Violence

2011-05-15T02:23:00.007-04:00

I am winding up a ten day retreat/vacation here in Assisi and feel renewed in every aspect of my life as a friar and priest. I look forward to quietly celebrating my 40th anniversary as a priest one week from today after participating in the ordination of two friars on Saturday, May 21.

   What is very much on my mind these days is the figure of St. Francis as the saint of peace, the peace of Christ. As a young man he was a soldier, but a soldier who became disillusioned with war. After heading off to battle he returned to Assisi in disgrace because he failed to pursue the military career for which his father equipped him. He later went to the middle east, along with the crusaders, not to fight, but to preach to the Sultan, who while not converting to Christianity, came to respect Francis as a truly holy man.

   What is keeping this aspect of Francis' life before me is the debate that has been going on since the death of Bin Laden. People have been asking "Was this the right way to go about things? Could there have been another way instead of just killing him?" All of this against the background of the entire situation since 9/11 regarding our dealings with the Muslim world.

   When I talk of non-violence or even of dialogue with the Muslims I often get a lot of grief. "Come on Fr. John, get real, look what these people have done to us," say some. Others say, "When they dialogue with us we'll dialogue with them." Yet, my friends, I belong to an order founded by a man of non-violence and entrusted by the Church with outreach to the Muslims. My task is religious before it is political, and yes it is unreal because it calls us to move beyond where we are, to think outside the box when it come to dealing with conflict. From one point of view it is quite rational to say that we must defend ourselves against random and irrational terrorists, and indeed we must. The question is how. Non-violence does not mean that we let people walk all over us. It means that like Ghandi and Martin Luther King Jr. we learn to resist and defend in a non-violent way. Dialogue does not mean just play nice. It means finding common ground on the one hand, but also asking the hard questions on the other. Believe me there are some challenging questions I would have in dialoguing with Muslims and I assume that they would have hard questions for me and other Christians. But that is how progress is made.

I believe that it is important to realize that it is easy to pontificate about what world leaders should do and to challenge them on various issues. At the same time we need to ask where we are personally A little incident from my own personal life highlights that point. I still need to grow.If I'm honest I have to admit that I'm not there yet. As a youngster fighting never made much sense to me. In the back of my young mind when other kids talked about needing to use your fists to be a man I never bought it. I thought of myself as superior to the "thugs" who were always getting into fights. Nonetheless there were a few times when I had to stand up to them and I got into a few fights for that reason. One time however I told one kid who challenged me that I preferred to use my brains rather than my fists to settle things in life. He walked away sneering not knowing what to do. Was this non-violence? Maybe, but I also felt smug and arrogant, so not quite. About 10 months ago I was threatened at knife point on the streets of St. Petersburg by man who didn't like the way I looked at him. As he approached my I gave him a punch and he fell back. The police came and that was the end of it. I did tell them that he was drunk or high and needed help. I did not press charges. I went home and thought about what happened. I had not struck anyone with my hands since I was a teenager. I did not feel guilty or think that I had sinned, but I asked myself, "Could I have done better? Could I have handled it in another way?" I still need to learn the way of non-violence.

   As I leave Assisi, feeling at peace and full of the spirit of Francis and more importantly of Christ, I think that the question for all of us in this violent and conflicted world is "Can we do better? Is there another way?" We Franciscans must always be raising that question.

   For some further great reflection on this topic click on the link below to the blog by my brother friar, Dan Horan, OFM
Bro. Dan Horan's Blog--article on Thomas Merton

Assisi Alive with Tradition

2011-05-07T06:10:00.001-04:00

City of Assisi today seen from OL of the Angels

I'm writing from Assisi today. It is a wonderful spring morning and the place is bustling with activity. I went to morning prayer and Mass in Italian with the friars here, then after breakfast I visited the Basilica of Our lady of the Angels. This is the place where the Franciscan movement really began. The Baslica was built in the sixteenth century and houses the little chapel of Or Lady of the Angels (beleived to be built in the mid 4th century) one of several small churches rebuilt by St. Francis and his early followers after Francis heard the call to "Rebuild my House." It was here that Francis and his companions first gathered as a community, a brotherhood. It was from here that they were first sent out to preach. It is here that to this day most of our general chapters are held.

Assisi is rich in tradition, but it is not locked into the past. Instead it honors and commemorates the past, yet brings it forward. Today the city sports modern buildings, festooned not only with Italian flags but also with TV satellite dishes. The friary has internet outlets in most rooms, including the one I'm writing from, but most importantly the basilica is filled with young people from all over the world enthusiastically singing hymns and praying in the chapel or "Portiuncula" (Little portion) as we Franciscans call it.

This brings me to the point of this blog entry. Tradition is, I believe, one of the most misunderstood words in the Catholic vocabulary. It is too often expressed as a clinging to the past and the old and a rejection of the present and the new. People who do this are called "traditionalists." Tradition is also often confused with customs. Customs are not the tradition, but ways of expressing the tradition. Throughout the centuries the Church has always found new external expression to bring alive the ancient tradition. Tradition then is the living and growing body of faith and belief, rooted in the past, but alive in the present and waiting to grow into the future. It needs new expression to continually do this. Here in Assisi today the 800 year old tradition of living the Gospel begun by Francis of Assisi in 1209 is very much alive in ways that Francis never could have dreamed of. Francis himself began his movement as a new way of living the old faith. The friars, sisters and lay people who have followed him continue to do the same.

Basilica of OL of the Angels, Assisi

The Portiuncula inside the Basilica

Today I rejoice in the fact that I prayed in a 15th century basilica that houses a 4th century chapel refurbished by a 13th century saint. Most of all I rejoice that 20th century youth are there now keeping the whole thing very much alive. As for myself I smile when friends comment to me that seeing a friar in his Franciscan habit holding an iphone is a shock to their senses. I think it is very traditional.

Response to the Death of Osama Bin Laden

2011-05-04T17:48:00.000-04:00

Very briefly rather than writing myself on the death of Osama Bin Laden I invote you to click on the links below for some thoughtful commentary. I welcome your comments as well

Statement from John O'Connor, OFM, provincial of Holy Name Province of the Franciscans

Vatican Response to Death of Bin Laden

White Sunday--Second Sunday of Easter--Divine Mercy

2011-04-30T11:41:00.001-04:00

We are coming upon the Second Sunday of Easter, a Sunday which in recent years has been called Divine Mercy Sunday because of the devotion of the Polish St. Faustina, canonized by Pope John Paul II. I struggle with this designation. Now that may sound like I'm against mercy, as well as being against motherhood and apple pie. Needless to say if anything helps someone who has strayed from God and the Church to find their way back I'm all for that, and the text of the Gospel includes Jesus' words to the apostles, "Receive the Holy Spirit, whose sins you forgive, are forgiven them." (Jn 20,23) This text is the basis for calling it Divine Mercy Sunday.

   My problem then is not with the idea of mercy, but because it sets aside the centuries old notion of Whitsun, or White Sunday, a day when the newly baptized from the Easter Vigil were presented to the community in their white baptismal robes. In the bulletin from my summer parish, St. Peter the Fisherman in Eagle River, WI, Fr. Bob Koszarek, the pastor there, points out that in Europe the day is often set aside for First Communion which like Baptism is also a Sacrament of Initiation. St. Peter's will be celebrating First Communion on that day as well, a very nice way of keeping that tradition.

   White Sunday then is to be about Baptism, Confirmation and Eucharist. Reconciliation is, of course, a Sacrament, but a Sacrament that is emphasized all through Lent. Our diocese here in St. Petersburg even has a wonderful program called The Light is On For You. TV, radio and newspaper ads let folks know that on a certain evening every Catholic Church in the diocese will be open from 5 PM-8PM for confession, especially to welcome back those who have been away for a while. Several other diocese in the US are doing the same. I think that is certainly a great expression of Divine Mercy.

   With the impending beatification of Pope John Paul II on the same day it is interesting to note than he was once asked what was the most significant day of his life. His answer was not his becoming pope, or even his priestly ordination. He said it was the day of his baptism.

   So on this White Sunday let us rejoice with the many new members of our Church who were baptized, confirmed and received Eucharist for the first time during the Easter Vigil. And certainly let us keep open the doors of mercy and forgiveness to all who are in need of that great gift.

He Can't Stop Loving Us

2011-04-22T16:43:00.001-04:00

As I was taking a walk this morning here in Conway, SC, I heard music coming from the open window of someone's home. As I got closer I realized that it was the popular ballad I can't stop loving you. During my walk I was thinking about Good Friday, the Lord's Passion and what finishing touches I might make on my homily at this evening's Liturgy of the Passion of the Lord. At first I felt the music as a distraction but then realized that if I took those words, "I can't stop loving you" out of the context of that song it was a perfect summary of what today is all about.

At last night's Mass of the Lord's supper the account of the washing of the feet was read. (Jn 13, 1-15). At the beginning of that passage we are told, "He loved his own in the world and he loved them to the end." Those words, I believe, are the key to understanding the suffering and death of Jesus, an indeed to understanding His mission here on earth.

Some strains of theology would have us believe that he came to be punished for our sins. This thinking prompts the oft raised question, "How can a loving God allow his Son to come to be killed?" While He certainly suffered for us, it was the suffering of love. His mission was to come in love and proclaim the reign of God. Because Love met sin the cross resulted. In other words the mockery, the rejection, the scourging and finally the savage death on the cross happen because He in love freely gave Himself over to us. He could not stop loving us. In His dying Jesus does not get punished vicariously for us. Rather in His overwhelming and infinite love He takes on our sin, our pain, our brokenness and destroys it. (For in in depth look at this thought you might consult pages 229-232 of the second book of Jesus of Nazareth by Pope Benedict, as well as the theology of St. Bonaventure and Duns Scotus in the Franciscan tradition.)

And what might our response be to this. With the first approach we often hear guilt as a response. To this latter approach I believe the response is a quiet, sorrowful, yet joyful,"Thank You" In other words, Eucharist.

May God give you peace!

A Priest Forever

2011-04-19T15:23:00.001-04:00

I just returned from the Chrism Mass here in the Diocese of St. Petersburg. Some of you readers may not know what that is so a brief explanation is in order. It is a Mass, celebrated by the bishop of a diocese, during Holy Week, when the sacred oils used in the various Sacraments are blessed. There are three of them, The Oil of the Sick, used for anointing the sick, the oil of Catechumens used in the rite of Baptism, and Holy Chrism, used in Baptism, Confirmation and Holy Orders. At the Mass the priests of the diocese also renew their commitment to priesthood. This year's Mass was particularly special to me because I will be ordained for 40 years in a little over a month (May 22) and those of us celebrating 25, 50, 60 and even one for 70 years of ordination were recognized by Bishop Robert Lynch of our diocese.

   Because of this special anniversary I have given a lot of thought over the past few weeks as to what being a priest means to me. A lot has happened during these 40 years and most of it has been wonderful. A major turning point for me came in 1975 when I made a marriage encounter weekend. This 40 hour experience in February of that year made me into a different and better priest. Some might wonder how an experience geared toward marriage speaks to a celibate priest. It's really quite simple. As the priest sees the married couple deepening their love for one another he realizes more deeply his call to love the Church, not merely the institution of the Church, but the people, the Body of Christ. It made clear to me that the priesthood is not a mere function, but a call to an ever deepening relationship of love with God and God's people. Interestingly I have been called upon a few times in recent years to preach retreats to priests and that is my major theme.

   I have been a high school religion teacher, a director of formation, a parish priest, a foreign missionary, and for the last 24 years a traveling preacher, or if you will, a wandering friar, thus the title of this blog. The real joy of these years is the continuing stream of people who become woven into the fabric of my life. I have no children but I have two wonderful nieces and many people whom I met as youngsters and have now had the privilege of marrying them and baptizing their children. I have friends with whom I can be real, down to earth, and yet respected as a priest. Likewise I have had countless people whom I met only once, but who were moved by the Sacraments we shared together, or by a word spoken in a homily. I take no credit for these moments, but see them as privileged moments when the Lord works through me. Also as much as it is a joy and privilege to celebrate the Eucharist some of the most special moments for me come in the confessional. In these days when so much has happened to cause mistrust of the clergy, it is amazing that so many trust God and the priesthood enough to bare the darkest recesses of their soul in the hope of encountering the merciful God who takes away their sin. To hear a good confession is a humbling moment for me and for any priest, yet a rewarding one. In another blog entry in the near future I hope to say more about the Sacrament of Reconciliation which has been going through growing pains over the last 40 years.

We priests are supposed to be the spiritual leaders of the Church, and we re indeed that, yet any priest will tell you that the faith we encounter in the laity so often puts us to shame. That is certainly true in my life. There are so many who have been an inspiration to me.

I am already beyond the length I like to give in a blog entry but I will close by quoting some key phrases from the rite of renewal of priestly commitment that we observed to day. The bishop asks:
   ". . .Are you resolved to unite yourselves more closely to Christ and to try to become more like him by joyfully sacrificing your own pleasures and ambition to bring his peace and love to your brothers and sisters? We answer. I AM
   "Are you resolved to be faithful ministers of the mysteries of God, to celebrate the Eucharist and the other liturgical serices with sincere devotion?   We anser. I AM.
   Are you resolved to imitate Jesus Christ, the head and shepherd of the Church, by teaching the Christian faith solyfor the well being of the people you serve? We answer. I AM.

   I will paste these words to my mirror so that I am reminded every morning of what I am to be about.

   Our bishop gave a wonderful homily at the Mass. You can check it on his blog, just click: Bishop Lynch's Homily

Donkeys, Palms and Hosannas

2011-04-16T12:17:00.001-04:00

I went to open my mail a few weeks ago after returning from a mission and was happily surprised to see that Bishop Robert Lynch of our diocese of St. Petersburg, had sent me and every priest residing in the diocese a copy of Pope Benedict's second volume of his work Jesus of Nazareth. This particular volume deals with the Scriptures related to Holy Week. His holiness is not presenting this material as official teaching of the Church, but as personal writing and scholarship. It is meant to use scholarship in such a way as to not only enlighten the mind, but to bring the heart closer to the Lord Jesus. I think it does that.

I am not however writing this entry as a book review. I will leave that to others. With Palm Sunday upon us I thought I might simply reflect here on a few of the points that the Pope makes regarding this wonderul day. the first thing he calls attention to is the proclamation of the kingship of Jesus who in each of the Gospels is the fulfillment of the promise of a new David. We see this in gestures such as the requisitioning of a donkey which is not His. This was the prerogative of kings. Likewise garments are placed on the donkey and in the path of Jesus, another gesture reserved for kings. The real curve ball is that this king, "humble, and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey." (Mt. 2:5,cf. Zech 9:9; Jn 12:15) (from page 4 of Jesus of Nazareth, Vol 2) There was an expectation of a political and military king about at the time and the language and imagery of such a king is used, but this One come in humility, on a donkey. Donkey were once the choice of kings but at the time of Jesus the horse was the animal of the powerful, the donkey having been relegated to use by peasants and the lowly.

   A second point made by the Holy Father is the fact that the crowds shouting Hosanna were the followers of Jesus as he entered Jerusalem, not the inhabitants of Jerusalem. The latter did not know Him, they had merely heard of Him. They had not come to "see" as Bartimaeus, the blind man had come to "see" Jesus in the account which takes place just before the entry into Jerusalem. It was they who later shouted "crucify Him." I know that over the years I had assumed that the same people who cried Hosanna had called for the crucifixion, but not so.   The little people then cry Hosanna, the religious establishment and the powerful call for His crucifixion.

   A third point made in this part of the book is the connection with the Liturgy. We are told that very early on the Church began praying at the beginning of the Eucharistic prayer, in words borrowed directly from the Palm Sunday Gospel accounts, "Hosanna, Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord." as a welcoming acclamation to the One who is the Messiah king and who comes to us in the Eucharist.

    And what might we learn from this? Jesus is a King, but One who comes in humble love. Certainly those of us who are leaders in the Church ought to remember this when we are tempted to be pompous and authoritarian.   We need to hear this message loud and clear in today's Church. Also to receive Jesus, the humble one, we need to be little and receptive, like the crowds that followed Jesus from "outside the walls." So much of what's going on today calls us to identify with the immigrant, the marginalized, the poor and to stand with them if we are to truly welcome Jesus into our lives. I truly believe that focusing ourselves on growing in our relationship with Jesus, rather than on fighting over who is conservative and who is liberal, is the key to renewal in the Church today.

To conclude I ask "Are you marching into Jerusalem as a follower of Jesus and shouting Hosanna? Or are you asking, "Is this the one from Galilee?" and looking on Him with suspicious eye? The truth is that there is a little of each in all of us. Our conversion lies in acknowledging this and moving more towards the first position. Happy Palm Sunday everyone.

Church on Board with bloggers, social networks

2011-04-09T09:22:00.001-04:00

I just thought that I would keep my blog followers up to date on one area where I think Church leaders are trying to keep up with the times. I will be going to Rome five days after this conference takes place. Wish I could be there for it. I have sent an e-mail to them expressing my interest

Vatican Conference for bloggers

Fifth Sunday of Lent--Lazarus come Forth

2011-04-07T17:25:00.001-04:00

Once again I am offering a video reflection on the Lenten Gospel texts. This Sunday's Gospel reading is from John 11:1-45, the raising of Lazarus. This will be the last of my Lenten video clips which some followers requested. I will periodically put up other video material. I hope that you might go to my YouTube channel and look at the Holy Week material that I did for last year. Just click on Fr. John's YouTube channel

Fourth Sunday of Lent--Can You See?

2011-04-01T20:44:00.000-04:00

This week's Gospel text is the entire ninth chapter of John's Gospel, the story of the encounter of Jesus with the man born blind. John is rich in meaning. Practically every line has layers of meaning. I touch on a few of them in this reflection, but ones that I believe get to the heart of the matter.

Third Sunday of Lent--Living Water

2011-03-24T12:44:00.002-04:00

I'm continuing to post video clips containing very brief homilies for the Sundays of Lent. This weeks text is John 4, 1-42, the encounter with the Samaritan Woman at the well. I urge you to read that text and have it in front of you as you watch the clip. This week I was able to put the clip here on the blog but I think that the full screen image is clearer on YouTube, so try click it on here :Third Sunday of Lent

Second Sunday of Lent--Transfiguration

2011-03-20T18:39:00.000-04:00

Once again I offer a brief video homily for a Lenten Sunday. I had difficulty uploading it to this blog so just click the YouTube connection below. It is also available on my face-book page which you can access on the right side of this page.

Second Sunday of Lent--Homily

First Sunday of Lent--Temptation

2011-03-12T17:13:00.000-05:00

I welcome feedback and comments from all who view this. Thanks for the response from last week

Music for the Soul--An Ash Wednesday Reflection

2011-03-09T15:31:00.002-05:00

I am at home this week at St. Anthony Friary as we begin Lent. I presided at the community Mass this morning and this afternoon took a quiet walk, thinking of many things. We have yet another sex abuse bombshell, this time in Philadelphia, and we have many examples of Church leaders that are just out of touch. Yes, there are many wonderful ones as well. I wonder, "What keeps me going as a priest and friar?" "What keeps good people coming to Church?" Why are so many joining the Church?"--Yes, RCIA programs in recent years report significant numbers. Last year the diocese of Atlanta had to hire an auditorium to accomodate the rite of election. Why? The answer of course is the great Mystery of Faith on which the Church is grounded and that no human follies can destroy.
I was pondering all of this as my IPod meditative music playlist brought me to one of my favorite religious classical pieces, Mozart's Ave Verum Corpus. In many ways Mozart himself was a microcosm of the Church, an extremely gifted man who enjoyed the good things of life, who is certainly not a candidate for canonization, yet who had a deeply Catholic soul which is expressed in much of his music. This piece reaches deep into my heart and soul, raises me to heaven, and brings me back to earth renewed and ready to move ahead. It has done so ever since I was a student in formation. It did not fail me today--I listened three times. Even if you do not understand the Latin I invite you to let the music take hold of you. If you do understand the Latin it is a beautiful summary of the essentials of our faith. Just click on:
Mozart's Ave Verum Corpus

Video Reflection, Ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time

2011-03-06T09:55:00.000-05:00

After a long absence from You Tube I am giving it another try. One bit of feedback that I received received previously was that while folks liked my material they thought it might be shorter. YouTube allows 10 minutes per clip, but that doesn't mean it has to be filled. This one lasts only 3 and one half minutes. It is a brief reflection on the readings for the Ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time. I hope you view it and find it helpful.

Religion, Violence and War

2011-02-28T15:41:00.000-05:00

Over the past few weeks I have been in several conversations that have pointed out that all too often the cause for was is religion. Some who did this were hostile, seeing it as a reason not to believe, others were pensive and reflective, lamenting this and wondering why, so I thought I would make an attempt on this blog to address the issue.
Let me begin by saying that I am not attempting to solve that problem. That is beyond me. If per chance I succeed at that please do nominate me for a Nobel Prize.
Those of us who are believers and especially who are clergy in any religion should be humbled by this fact. It is interesting that just about every religion advocates non-violence, peace, forgiveness. Nonetheless we have to admit that there is a great deal of passion regarding religion. Passion, when disconnected from the foundational spiritual experience on which religions are founded can lead to hatred and violence. As Catholics, before we get too self-righteous about what a handful of Muslims have done recently, need only to look to the Crusades, the Inquisition and the fights between Catholics and Protestants in Northern Ireland. And while I don't think that the Christian Churches of Germany were directly responsible for the Holocaust I do think that centuries of anti-Semitism in Europe, fostered often by Church leaders, contributed to that horror.
So what are we to do? Are we to be less passionate about our beliefs? Certainly not. I am passionate about my Catholic faith. I believe deeply in Jesus Christ and His presence in the Eucharist. I believe that His life and ministry continues in the Catholic Church and I know that I would not feel at home as a Baptist, or within many other Protestant denominations, although though I have many friends who belong to those Churches and I know that we share a common faith in Jesus Christ. I cherish the Jewish roots of Christianity and have been enriched by conversations with Bhuddists, Hindus and Muslims, as well as by reading some of their Sacred Texts. Yet I do not for a minute think of killing someone because their beliefs differ from mine.
I am not unique in that. It is hardly a boast. Why? Because I think that most believers deep down know that all people who genuinely seek God, truth, good are heading in the same direction. Also as a Christian I know that Jesus, a Jew, dealt with Romans, Canaanites and others and saw the good in them.
A final point I would make is that this history of violence between religions, as alarming as it is and as important as it is that we strive to end it, is a lame excuse for not believing or for not belonging to a Church of some sort. There are many good reasons not to belong, but that is not one of them because it fails to look at the fact that the same religions that produced violence have also produced countless holy people (what we Catholics call saints) and have inspired countless projects to feed the hungry and take care of the sick and homeless. This applies not only to the famous leaders and spiritual movements, but especially to the many great saints that I meet in every parish that I visit to preach. I'm sure that this is so in countless churches, synagogues, mosques, Buddhist and Hindu shrines and places of worship as well. This is the real fruit of religion and it should inspire us to continually dialogue so that the love of God that stands behind every religion does not go off course and lead to war.

An Open Church--The Need for Reform

2011-02-16T08:08:00.004-05:00

I have stated before on this blog that one of the things that energizes me as a Catholic is the deep-rooted faith of the many good people that I meet in my travels as "The Wandering Friar". I like to emphasize that they, and not just the hierarchy, are the Church. That having been said my attention turns to the hierarchy. I invite you to click on the two items below. The one entitled German theologians is from the National Catholic Reporter and commented on in the blog of Daniel Horan, OFM, a brother friar. As you go to his blog note also his comment on 4 things the Church can learn from the revolution in Egypt. The second item, Irish Church, speaks of the dire situation of the Church in Ireland in light of the sex abuse crisis.

German Theologians
Irish Church

I invite you to look at this material in broad terms. You may not agree with everything that is said, but I believe there is no doubt that there is a need for reform in the Church, reform of our way of doing business more than reform of doctrine or liturgy. The laity are part of the Church. They are the majority of the Church and their voice needs to be heard. There is way to much secrecy in the way decisions are made and the Vatican is weighed down with outdated modes of governance. Does anyone know what a dicastery is? I'm a priest and I'm not sure that I know, except that it is some type of organizational structure at the Vatican. I think that the real problem is paternalism. It is a particularly southern European cultural phenomenon that basically thinks that the "poor, simple laity ought not be bothered with the heavy concerns of the Church, forgetting that the laity today are quite well educated and capable of making a major contribution to the direction of the Church. Many American leaders are infected with the same belief. In my own Franciscan province I am happy that we see the laity as "Partners in Ministry" rather than as helpers of the priest. The Church at large needs to go in that direction as well.

Just to be clear I am not advocating a Church that simply goes with the whims of the crowd, but one in which the Pope and the bishops lead by collaborating with the laity. Also I am not throwing all the bishops under the bus. There are some fine exceptions to this critique, but those exceptions are all too few. As a friar, priest and a man of faith I believe in the promise of the Lord at the end of Matthew's Gospel that He will be with us always. The real question is not whether there will be a Catholic Church moving into the future, but whether it will be a youthful, vibrant and dynamic one.
Rhine, w

The Bible Tells Me So

2011-02-09T09:46:00.002-05:00

   This week's daily Mass readings present us with the two creation accounts from the Book of Genesis. Yes, there are 2 separate versions, one in Chapter one, the other in chapters two and 3. Many do not know that the first five books of the Bible are a weaving together of four different traditions by four different authors. What are we to make of these creation stories in this era when it is pretty clear that the universe is billions of years old and that some sort of evolutionary process brought it about and is still bringing it about.

   I remember well a seminary Scripture professor who came into class with a large Bible. He dropped it on the desk with a thud and then said, "Gentlemen, every last word of this book is true, but not all of it happened." Any Catholic commentary on Scripture will tell you that the first 11 chapters of Genesis are not to be taken as literal history and certainly not as science. It is unfortunate that many Catholics do not know this and that is why I am writing this blog entry. We Catholics have no problem with evolution as long as we believe that there is a God who brought it all about and who still sustains us and continues to create.

   As I entered into this week I decided that I would strive to look past the literary critique of Genesis and ask myself, "What is God telling me (us) in these writings"? I have come up with several answers to this question and they are the following, not necessarily in the order of importance:

   1. However it all came about, it comes from God.
   2. Everything God created is good and men and women are very good.
   3. Unlike other creation stories from nations other than Israel at the time evil does not come from God. It is the product of free human choices. Every human is Adam and Eve and we all ate the fruit. (A little Bible trivia-it says fruit, not apple).
    4. Humans have the obligation to use the goods of this earth responsibly.
    5. Woman is an equal partner to man.
    6. All is a gift from God. There is no real human ownership of anything, though what we call private property is not a bad way of taking a loan from God as long as no one takes too much of it.

So while creation didn't happen that way, the story reveals profound truth about God and our relationship to God. These 6 points are not the only things Genesis tells us. Perhaps you can find others.

A Different way of looking at Church

2011-01-30T09:21:00.001-05:00

Daily I receive by e-mail a brief meditation from Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, a friar based in Albuquerque, NM. Over the past few weeks his reflections have been centered on St. Paul's theology of the Church as Body of Christ. In his November 27 reflection he writes:

"For Paul, you do not live in the world and go to church. You live in the Church and go to the world. Take off your head, shake it and put it back on; because that was not the way any of us were trained to think."

Adapted from Richar Rohr, OFM The Great Themes of Paul: Life as Participation (CD)

This thought provoking statement is a great summary of the direction that my own thoughts of taken over the past month. My province's chapter at the beginning of the month had as it's theme "Where our deepest longing meets the world's great need." This theme certainly resonates with Richard's vision of Church. Basically it tells us that the Church exists for the world, not for itself.It exists to bring the Gospel to the world and that doesn't mean to go out and try to convert everyone. It means to bring love, justice, mercy and compassion to the world. If we concentrate on that there will no doubt be many conversions. This morning's Gospel from Matthew 5 gives us the beatitudes, wonderful statements that we are blessed by being poor in spirit and by working for justice even when we are persecuted. It tells us that we are blessed when we are meek and lowly. This is surely not the message of the world that tells us we are blessed by being rich and powerful.

During the past month we have seen the Tuscon incident and several other acts of violence in the streets of our country. In the past week we have witnessed the uprising in Egypt. It is to issues such as these, not to mention the many who suffer from hunger and poverty, undocumented immigrants, etc. that our eyes must be turned as Church and while I don't deny that many in the Church are focused in this way too many of us are more focused on rearranging the candlesticks at the altar and worrying about who can clean chalices or trying to retreat to a Church of the past that never really existed because nostalgia is always unreal.

So let's focus and being Church rather than going to Church. If we do that all kinds of wonderful things might happen, and the pews might get filled in the process as well. Finally, as I come to the end of this reflection my attention was just called to a wonderful blog entry by a wonderful young friar from my province, Dan Horan, OFM. In this blog entry he raises the question "What makes a space Sacred?" after giving a lecture on Thomas Merton. Does a Church building make it Sacred or is it that we come together in faith and love? Just click below to see more
Dan Horan, OFM--Dating God

Benedict XVI on social networking

2011-01-24T13:24:00.001-05:00

I just thought my blog followers would be interest in the Pope's talk for world communications day regarding social networking and the internet. It certainly encourages me to keep going with this blog and also my Facebook page (which you can access on the right side of this page. Just click on the highlighted line below:
Pope's talk on Social Netwo rking

Blessings of the Past

2011-01-23T09:39:00.000-05:00

I'm not one to spend a lot of time dwelling on the past, but during the past month I have been provided with several opportunities to do so. That can be dangerous since it often leads to unrealistic thinking about "good old days" that never really existed because there is good and bad in every age. In this case my backward look has lead me to a sense of gratitude for the people and places that have shaped my life.
Earlier this month I gathered with the friars of my province who were ordained 40 years ago. Although I went through my formation in another province I have been fully adopted into the Holy Name Province class of '71. Eight of us gathered at our friary in Margate, NJ (4 could not make it), and reminisced about seminary days, recalling a lot of funny and crazy stories, but also thinking of the influence of the 60's and the Second Vatican Council on us. We were so hopeful (in some ways naively so), but happy to be a bunch who have served the Lord in a way that has been shaped by that council even as many today would want to undo it or reinterpret it. We all felt a certain sadness over that and the sex abuse crisis and other things that we just could not foresee in 1971. We celebrated the Eucharist together and in fine Franciscan fashion went out to dinner on the Saturday night.
Just the other day I had another call from the past. In late grammar school and throughout my high school years I was a member of the CYO band in my parish, Saint William's, in the Savin Hill section of Dorchester, MA where I grew up. I found out via the internet that a reunion of band members is being planned and that there is a Facebook page for the band. I was delighted by the pictures and the flood of great memories that this brought about and I put myself down as a member. We were the champions for many years of the CYO music circuit, and we paraded with dignitarie played at big events, but more importantly the band, the parish and many wonderful people from there helped to shape my life in a wonderful way. The parish is now merged with another parish (St. Margaret's) and renamed (Blessed Mother Theresa), but there will always be some St. William's in my heart.
Finally this morning at Mass with the Gospel that recalled the call by Jesus to Peter, Andrew, James and John, Fr. Marty Bednar in his homily shared his own sense of a vocation that came to him as a high school student and it brought back memories of my own discerning of a call to join the Franciscans. I thought of St. William's parish again as well as the friars at Christopher Columbus High school, both of which nourished my vocation.
My last blog entry spoke of looking to the future, this one to the past, but right now is all that any of us have, and right now I'm grateful for the blessings of the past that have shaped me and looking forward to the years of life that I have left as a friar and a priest.

On to the Future: Looking out to the World

2011-01-07T11:33:00.000-05:00

I'm sitting in the Cape May-Lewes Ferry terminal and looking forward to a weekend with my fellow classmates from the class of '71 as we celebrate and reminisce over our experience in 40 years of ordained ministry. In my last entry I explained to readers what a provincial chapter is. Today I would like to share my experience of the chapter now that it is over.

   The past week was a roller coaster ride between excitement and tedium. At a chapter we tap into our vision as Franciscans and our contact with the God who shapes that vision. At the same time there is business to be conducted, finances to be discussed, and election of new leaders. We did all of that in a very wonderful, if fatiguing, four day period at the Hyatt Conference Center in Cambridge, MD.

   Fortunately at the end of all I am left with a sense of vision renewed and hope for the future in these very challenging times. The theme that we chose for the chapter was Crossroads 2011: Where our deepest longing meets the worlds great need. (See the above picture with our new provincial council) This theme is exciting for me because we chose to look outward at the world and not inward at the workings of the Church. Yes, we discussed at times our frustration with the direction that our Church and its leaders are taking, but our energy was directed at how we as Franciscan Friars can bring the message of the Gospel to the weak, the powerless, the alienated and the marginalized and to all people of good will through our life and ministry.

   For us Franciscans our fraternity, rooted in our life with God, is our primary gift. Though are numbers are getting smaller and we are withdrawing from parishes and other ministries, we are at the same time identifying needs in the areas where we serve and seeking ways to be more and more a brotherhood in mission. For us itinerancy is a core value. This means that we are not attached to places, that we can move on and be present in new ways even though are numbers are smaller.

   Though our numbers are smaller and vocations are less than in the past we are blessed with some quality young friars who unlike the younger members of many groups in today's Church, are not caught up in the need for clerical trappings and positions of power to provide them with security. Many of them that I met said that they chose us because we were more real and not clerical. In addition to their many talents that gives me good reason to have hope in our future. I certainly hope that my readers who are not religious have gained a little bit of insight into our lives as friars through this sharing. Also, for some more pictures and comments on our chapter click on my Facebook page to the right.

Holy Name Province Provincial Chapter

2011-01-02T16:04:00.000-05:00

I'm writing on Sunday, January 2, from Margate, NJ on the way to our provincial chapter in Cambridge, MD. Several of you who saw my schedule understandably asked, "What's a provincial chapter?" With that in mind I thought I'd answer that question.

In our order, and in most orders of men as well as women, the chapter is a periodic gathering of members to elect leaders and to make important decisions. We Franciscans have a general chapter every six years to elect the minister general and his council and to formulate policies for the whole order. This gathering is attended by the outgoing council and the provincials of each province of the world. In the provinces we meet every three years. At one time only the top leaders went to the chapter. In recent years there has been a democratization process in most provinces. In the case of Holy Name Province, to which I belong, all of us friars are delegates and expected to attend unless there is a good reason.

This year our provincial minister, John O'Connor, having completed a 6 year term, can be re-elected for three more. We also elect his vicar (vice-provincial) and a 6 member council for three years. Perhaps even more important than the elections these days are decisions that we make about the future. Like most religious we are getting smaller and have to make some tough decisions regarding use of personnel. In doing this we try to move forward by setting criteria as to how we do this based on the priorities of living our Franciscan life. There will be some strong debate but I'm sure we will live this gathering with a lot of hope and a clearer sense of where we're going.

Our chapter runs from Mon.,evening, January 3, to Friday, January 7 at Noontime. Please keep us in prayer and ask the Holy Spirit to guide us.

Emmanuel, God With US

2010-12-25T13:43:00.001-05:00

   A Blessed Christmas to one and all. I had promised a video for Christmas but let's just say that due to technical difficulties it wasn't meant to be, but there are certainly many thoughts on my mind as we celebrate this wonderful feast of the Lord's birth.

   Over nearly 40 years of ministry as a priest some words that I often hear as Christmas approaches go something like this, "It's been tough lately. There won't be any Christmas for us this year." While I certainly resonate with and have compassion towards those who express these sentiments I would like to suggest
that there is another way to look at Christmas. Modern advertising presents us with images of Christmas that are unreal. There is almost always snow, but just enough and no one has to shovel it. Families are always happy and healthy. Alcohol is consumed, but never too much. What happens is that we compare our lives to these images and then conclude that "There is no Christmas for me this year."

   We also mistakenly think that we are merely celebrating Jesus' birthday, and we are, but we are celebrating much more. By only thinking of the birth of Jesus, as wonderful a moment as that must have been, we are merely commemorating a past event. Theologian Ronald Rolheiser reminds that that the Incarnation, the taking on of human flesh by God, is not a one day, or even a 33 year, reality. It is a mystery that continues in us to this very day. As we celebrate the birth of Christ we are challenged to let Christ be born again in us today. To the extent that the Christ comes alive in us repeatedly we indeed have great cause for celebration. The nativity story told by Luke and Matthew presents us with a Christ who came in humble love to humble surroundings. That same Christ looks to be born into our own humble surroundings, into the brokenness, pain and suffering that we experience, to bring us healing, comfort and strength and set us free. When we understand this we can never think that there won't be Christmas for me, but rather rejoice that while we won't have a Christmas card picture Christmas we can have that special cause for real rejoicing because we know that Emmanuel, God with us, is indeed with us, in our real lives, just as they are.

   The next challenge of Christmas is realizing that through us, through our actions on behalf of the poor and marginalized of this word, Christ can be born over and over again in the world today. If more of us take up that challenge then perhaps the words, "Peace on earth" will be more than a nice theme for our Christmas cards.

Merry Christmas to all and a Blessed New Year!

Surprise: Fourth Sunday of Advent Reflection

2010-12-19T10:31:00.001-05:00

   None of us likes to be called out of our comfort zone. We tend to resist change. Yet the message of the Scripture over and over again is that our God is always calling us to change, to a new place, where God can be revealed to us more fully. As we come to the end of Advent this truth is brought before us. This year the Gosepl reading for this Sunday is the annunciation to Joseph. (Matthew 1:18-25) In other years the annunciation to Mary is featured, but in both cases we have people who have their wedding plans made, everything all figured out, and God intervenes calling them in a new direction, a wonderful direction to be sure, but nonetheless in upheaval in each of their lives. The Scriptures are filled with such stories--the calls of the prophets, the call of the apostles, etc.
   Granted that you and I are not likely to have anything happen to us quite as dramatic as what happens to Mary and Joseph in these Gospel accounts, but I do know that in my own experience over the years that my greatest times of opening to God have been times of change, whether it was going to Bolivia, and then returning, accepting an assignment to the Ministry of the Word which I thought would be temporary. (It is now 23 years and counting, and constant change within that 23 years.), or having injury and sickness come my way, though fortunately not too much so far.
   Christmas is coming, a time up gift-giving. Most of us say that we like to be surprised by the gits we receive. Perhaps true, but are we open to God's surprises in our life. Those surprises, though mixed with challenge and difficulty, are times when our relationship with our God truly deepens and grows.
   Come Emmanuel, we say and sing, but do we really mean it?

Our Lady of Guadalupe

2010-12-12T09:17:00.000-05:00

   For the second year in a row I am on the road for the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe. Last year I was in Paduca, KY, this year in Pahokee, FL. As I have pointed out previously those who know me know that my preferred style of spirituality is not highly devotional, yet when I participate in this feast I am fully drawn into it. I beleive that the reason for that is the sincerity and authenticity of the people, and the power that this feast represents in their life and culture.   We Americans can be so much in our head as we worship and pray. We hesitate to clap, sing and express our faith emotionally. None of that here. Everyone is fully into it. The little video clip was made at 5 AM today, not an hour when I'm usually awake, before most of the folks headed off to work in the sugar can fields around here.

   This feast is so important in the lives of people from Mexico and Central America because it represents a moment when God clearly was revealed as on the side of the poor. At a time when the Spanish missionaries and Church leaders were debating as to whether the native peoples even had a soul the Virgin Mary appeared to Juan Diego and imprinted an image of herself on his cloak for him to show to the bishop.

   While many of us who are of a scientific bent may raise questions to how this may have happened, I leave those questions aside and simply see it as a sign that God was saying, "You cannot neglect these wonderful people. They need to hear the Gospel too. They are part of my Church." Today as well as we struggle with issues of immigration reform we would to well to heed the message of Guadalupe.

Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception

2010-12-08T16:20:00.000-05:00

I'm at Mary Immaculate Parish in West Palm Beach, FL, ending a parish mission here on the Feast of the Immaculate Conception. Two of my brother friars offer interesting perspectives, one by a fine student friar from my province, Br. Dan Horan,OFM can be found by clicking in the link to his Blog which interestingly enough is called Dating God Friar Dan's Blog.

The other I have copied below from the daily meditation of Richard Rohr, OFM. Dan's is more scholarly and historical, Richard's is a meditation, but both suggest that finding meaning in this teaching is a work of continued reflection. You might note that Richard Rohr's page offers a chance too receive his daily meditations. I highly recommend them.

Sunrise in Honduras, (photo detail) by ©Henry Hoffman

ADVENT

Wednesday, December 8, 2010
Feast of the Immaculate Conception

As Jesus says, “No one can serve two masters, he will always love one and ignore the other” (Matthew 6:24). Our first and final loyalty is to one kingdom: God’s, or our own. We can’t really fake it. The Big Picture is apparent when God’s work and will are central, and we are happy to take our place in the corner of the frame.

Because I am a part of the Big Picture, I do matter and substantially so. Because I am only a part, however, I am rightly situated off to stage right—and happily so. What freedom there is in such truth! We are inherently important and included, yet not burdened with manufacturing or sustaining that private importance. Our dignity is given by God, and we are freed from ourselves!

Today’s often misunderstood feast of the Immaculate Conception is saying that even Mary’s dignity was totally given by God from the first moment of her conception, and all she could do was thank God for it. It was nothing she merited. In that she is a metaphor and archetype for every human life.

Adapted from Preparing for Christmas with Richard Rohr, pp.13-14

Prayer starter:
Thy kingdom come!

If you are inspired by Fr. Richard's daily meditations,
please consider both visiting the CAC Mustard Seed Resource Center and supporting Radical Grace, the publication of the CAC!

Shalom, Peace: An Advent Reflection

2010-11-28T09:00:00.000-05:00

   We begin advent today, a season of hope, a season not only to prepare for Christmas, but to look ahead and prepare for the next coming of Christ, and to ask ourselves how we're doing now in helping the reign of God to come about in our everyday lives. That task involves many things, but I was struck by a verse from today's first reading from Isaiah, specifically Is. 2,4, "They shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks; one nation shall not raise the sword against another, nor shall they train for war again."

   It's obvious that we are far from realizing this prophecy which appears on many of our Christmas cards. We are still making weapons and training for war. As a Christian and especially as a Franciscan I feel a call to work for peace. I have no naive delusions that make me think that the world will disarm in the near future. But shouldn't we be striving for that. As nations train for war can we train for peace?

    But how do we do this? I have been called unpatriotic for raising questions about some of our nations military involvements. I'm sorry, but as much as I love our nation my faith comes first. Can't you oppose a war because you love this country? Doesn't patriotism call us to strive to live out our deepest ideals and challenge our leaders when they do not. When I wrote about dialoguing with Muslims a while back I got responses suggesting that when they open to us we can open to them. That's an understandable knee jerk reaction but doesn't our faith call us to rise above that. At the same time many Christian opponents of war end up siding with political groups that do dislike our country and that have views that are hardly compatible with the Gospel. I learned this as a seminarian when I marched in an anti-Vietnam war protest in Boston, but walked away from it because the speakers were lashing out in foul-mouthed hate filled venom. I still think that war was wrong but that wasn't my way of expressing it.

   So what do we do? I think that instead of engaging in angry street protests we should look to take positive steps to bring people together, people from different countries, different religions, different political views and start training for peace, not to try and convince anyone to see things our way but to show that in spite of our differences we can live in peace and that we can develop models of conflict resolution that don't involve violence. There are groups that do this and I believe we need more. Pax Christi comes to mind as one of those groups. No, we're not going to end war tomorrow, but let's at least start training for peace, one step at a time.

A Gift of God--Sister and Brother

2010-11-19T09:35:00.002-05:00

Left: Dorothy, Near a beautiful tree outside the St. Petersburg Art Museum

Below to right: John (myself) by the same tree. Click on either to enlarge.

As I write I am in the middle of a wonderful visit with my sister Dorothy here at St. Anthony Friary. Our friary has wonderful guest accommodations and she is enjoying the warmth and hospitality of my brother friars. The reason for writing about this visit on this blog, however, is the uniqueness of our relationship. I did not know Dorothy, or know of her until a little over 4 years ago. To give the short version of the story Dorothy was born to my mother a year before she met my father. Times were different then and Mom had to put Dorothy up for adoption. My parents met, had a wonderful marriage of 48 years, and raised three children, me, my sister Anne and my brother Michael. Anne passed away in 2002.

At the time of our mother's death in 1992 I learned of the child that she bore prior to meeting my father. I had interest in making contact but looked in all the wrong places. Four years ago, shortly after I moved from Hialeah to St. Petersburg, I received a letter from a social worker in Boston informing me that my sister desired to make contact with us. There was a very respectably written letter from this woman named Dorothy expressing a desire to meet us but fully appreciating that we might not want to do that. I immediately made contact and arranged to speak with Dorothy and meet her as soon as possible. My brother Michael and his wife Laureen joined me a few weeks later to travel to New Hampshire and meet her. It has been a blessing for all of us, as well as for Dorothy's children Melissa and Erik, and Michael's daughters Laurie and Michelle.

We are amazed at the family resemblance in each others faces and are delighted to learn of the experiences that each one of us has had in life. During this visit with Dorothy in St. Petersburg I have enjoyed seeing her appreciation of art and architecture and she, understandably nervous about living for 5 days in a friary, has enjoyed the hospitality and kind outreach of my brother friars who have truly made her feel like part of the Franciscan family. In Greek Dorothy means gift of God and she has indeed been that to us and I hope that we have been for her.

A South Carolina Treasure--A Story of Strong and Courageous Faith.

2010-10-26T11:44:00.001-04:00

During the past week I have been with Fr. Marty Bednar preaching a mission at St. Anthony's parish in Walterboro, SC. In preparing for the mission it was explained to me that there was a mission of the parish comprised largely of African Americans. It is not uncommon in the southern US to find a church or chapel that was once all black by virtue of segregation, but which chose to continue its largely African-American heritage while welcoming all people. We found that, but so much more at the church of St. James the greater in Walterboro.

(Pictured to the left you see the Church, a beautiful Black Madonna and Child, and below, at the end of this article, the interior of the Church.)

It seems that in 1835 three prominent women of the area converted to Catholicism and brought many of their slaves into the Church with them. They built a small Church dedicated to St. James the Greater on their land. The real story begins in 1856 when that Church burned to the ground. With the civil war soon following the community there was neglected until 1897 when a Fr. Daniel Berberich came across an incredible group of former slaves and their descendants who had kept their Catholic faith alive during that nearly 40 year period in spite of there having been no priest. Local tradition credits a former slave, Vincent de Paul Davis with preserving the faith in the area. His descendants and those of other original families still belong to the parish. The Church was destroyed again by a tornado in 1935 and the present structure was built with many artifacts there from the older buildings.

I have commented on this blog at different times on the fact the the living witness of people of faith has shown me what Church really is, especially at times when the goings on in high places lead me to discouragement. The people of St. James certainly head the list of those experiences. I was privileged to celebrate Mass with them this past Sunday and to join in a small picnic on
Saturday. Several of them joined us for the mission at St. Anthony's here as well. This is one more example of the great inspiration I receive as I travel around preaching with the Franciscan Ministry of the Word.

In God All is One

2010-10-14T11:09:00.001-04:00

Greetings from Little Rock, AR where I'm spending two weeks preaching missions in English, then in Spanish. I have been enriched over the past few weeks by receiving daily meditations from Richar Rohr, OFM, a brother friar who lives in Albuquerque, NM. He reflections are brief, easy to understand, bur profound and thought provoking at the same time. Over the last few days the meditations have been on "Unity" as part of a Franciscan vision of life. The basic idea is that for Francis of Assisi all things mirrored the creator and even praised the Creator by their very exsistence. We humans, being creatures, are one with all things in God. This creates a perspective for respecting all creatures and thus caring for our environment as well as for seeking unity with other humans rather that trying to separate ourselves from them. You can click on to the following link and subscribe to his meditations as well as other resources. Richard Rohr, OFM.

A practical challenge to living this message came my way the other day when i was referred to a campaign called. Drop the I Word. Again you can click to see more of what it is about Drop the I word. I work regularly with fine Catholic people who happen to be undocumented. This campaign does not deny that there is a problem to be worked on in our country with immigration, but it realizes that simply calling people "illegals" dehumanizes them and feeds into fear and hatred. I encourage readers of this blog to consider making the suggested pledge. I believe that you can do that regardless of your political leanings on this issue.
Going back to Richard Rohr's thought we need to realize that these are human beings, our brothers and sisters, in many cases our fellow Catholics as well. Treating our immigrants as brothers and sisters, not as "others and outsiders" will do more for leading us to a solution rather than emphasizing what divides us. This is a truly Catholic and Franciscan vision to be sure. Look to the right side of this blog to see the US bishops Immigration Reform link as well as the Franciscan Action network. It is under the banner of "Links to my World" I look forward to your comments.

Feast of St. Francis: A light touch and a reflection

2010-10-05T14:58:00.004-04:00

   Yesterday our community here at St. Anthony Friary celebrated the feast of St. Francis. The celebration began on Sunday night with a ceremony that we Franciscans call the Transitus. Transitus is a Latin word for Passing and the ceremony recalls the death of St. Francis. Yesterday we had a wonderful Mass and a great dinner afterward. I was asked to do the honors of slicing the nice selection of beef that was served. I thought you might enjoy the picture to the right.
   For several days I have been drifting between several thoughts about Francis that I might share with you. Francis, like many saints, was a many faceted man. He loved animals and nature. He loved lepers and other poor people. He loved the Church and above all he loved the Lord. One of the blogs that I link to on this page is Whispers in the Loggia. If you go to that you will notice that there is a reference, with Francis in mind, of Pope Benedict's love of cats, as well as one recalling Francis initial call to "Go and Rebuild my house, for it is falling into ruin,"a timely reference in this era of so many calls for Church reform. Whispers in the Loggia2 I would like to comment on both of these aspects of Francis' life and the role of our order in the Church and in the word.
   Many Franciscan Churches celebrate the blessing of animals on or around this feast, including St. Mary's here in St. Petersburg, run by the Third Order Regular friars. Some of our friars from St. Anthony's help out with this each year. At one time I considered this practice nice, but kind of silly. My thoughts have changed greatly over the years. In addition to the fact that it draws young people and families it highlights an important part of Francis life and of our spirituality. Early on in his spiritual journey Francis was searching to discover his place in life, what God wanted him to do. As Fr. Rod Petrie, OFM, a member of our Ministry of the Word team, pointed out yesterday in his homily that in a deep moment of prayer he realized that before God he was a creature, a human being yes, but a creature, one who is created by God, and therefore a brother to all creatures. Understanding ourselves in this was allows us Franciscans to offer to the world a spirituality of connectedness to the created order, seeing ourselves as part of it rather than as standing above it. That is why Francis is seen by the Church as the patron of ecology and we friars and other members of the Franciscan family are entrusted with the task of helping all people to see this, and to care well for the planet on which the Creator has placed us.
   As for the need to rebuild the house of the Lord , that call is just as true now as it was in the early 1200's when Francis heard this call from the Lord. But beware, many folks, too many I think, hear the call for reform and launch out on angry crusades to change rules or to make sure they are enforced. Francis and the early friars did none of that, they merely lived the Gospel, preaching by their actions, thereby showing others by example how we should be Church. He never denounced abuses, though they were many, he showed the way instead. We need more of that today.

To the right you can see me blessing animals at St. Francis of Assisi in Hilton Head Island during a mission in 2007 as well as Pope Benedict with the aforementioned cat.(picture taken from the blog, Whispers in the Loggia)

A belated happy feast of St. Francis to all!

With any of these pics just click on them to enlarge them.

How Long O Lord

2010-10-03T09:36:00.001-04:00

We Catholics often focus on the Gospel text when preaching on the Sunday readings. Today however I was struck by the way that the first reading, from the prophet Habakkuk expresses what is in the heart of so many people who endure trial and hardship, turning to God all the time, but being frustrated that God doesn't seem to answer them. For the entire text of the reading just click on the reference below, then click on the reference below.

Hab 1:2-3; 2:2-4

We all ask at times "How long o Lord? How often to I have to pray? Are you Really there?"
As normal as it is to raise such questions and as understandable as it is that trial and hardship put faith to the test we need to remind ourselves often that the purpose of prayer is not to get God to do things for us, but to open ourselves to God and to seek deeper union with God.

The prophet in this reading tells us that "the vision still has its time, presses on to fulfillment, and will not disappoint. In other words the point is to trust that if we are in God's hands all will be well, even if it doesn't seem so at the time, to be humble enough to admit that God's perspective is bigger than mine. To pray is to go before God with our life just as it is, certainly to express our wishes, but then to let go and trust that if we are in God's hands all will be well.

A theologian once defined hope not as optimism, the belief that the glass is half full and not half empty, but rather hope is believing that when the glass is bone dry God will get you through it.

Good to Be Home

2010-09-24T14:48:00.001-04:00

After a wonderful summer which began with retreat to the priests of the Syracuse, NY diocese and continued with my summer ministry in Eagle River, Phelps and Land O'Lakes, WI, ending with a mission in Florence, WI, I finally arrived home the other day. I was weary from travel when I came in the door but was delighted with the warm "welcome homes" I received from my brother friars, a warmth which was added to because I managed to make it home in time for what we friars call Preprandium, a nice Latin euphemism for cocktail hour.

Over the summer I was made aware of how illness was effecting some of the friars here and was taken back by the way that cancer and the effects of advancing years had changed some of my brothers so much during my three months away. Certainly seeing that is a reminder of what could lie ahead for me in the coming years, but more importantly with that comes the assurance that we friars are well taken care of as we grow older, by our province and by the men we live with. If nothing else St. Anthony Friary is a faith-filled and caring community and it is good to be back in the rhythm of daily Eucharist and prayer withe the guys here and too look forward to celebrating the feast of St. Francis (Oct. 4) before I go back on the road.

The Fall schedule takes me back to Little Rock again as well as to some of the more familiar states of SC, GA and Florida. I will be looking forward to a visit from my sister Dorothy in November and then Christmas in Boston with my brother and family before our provincial chapter in Maryland right after the New Year.

So that's a little glimpse into my world over the next few months. A return to some more serious reflection will soon follow on this blog.

On the Lighter Side--From Pines to Palms

2010-09-10T13:08:00.000-04:00

(Just click on a picture to enlarge it.)

After several posts about Catholic and Muslims I thought that I would post something on the lighter side. I have finished up my summer in Eagle River and will be heading to nearby Florence, WI to preach a parish mission, then head home to Florida. Some have asked me about my references to the "Northwoods". Exactly what is it. Basically it is a large stretch of northern Wisconsin that is a beautiful land of tall pines and lakes, as well as a good deal of white and yellow birch and maples. Deer are abundant, and it is not uncommon to see a bear or a fox while traveling about. In the pictures above you can see evidence of that as well as of the early fall colors here in September.

As I head back to Florida and Tampa Bay with its wide assortment of palms and the possibility of taking a walk on which I might encounter dolphins, wild parrots and pelicans, I realize how blessed I am to be so close to the beauty of nature, in different ways, throughout the year. I will have a posting soon on Catholics and ecology, with memories of both the northwoods and Florida very much in mind.

I will not be posting again until I get back to Florida later this month, so God bless until then.

A Word from my Superiors

2010-09-08T11:47:00.000-04:00

After two posts related to the mosque controversy and Catholic-Muslim dialogue I am proud to post here a copy of a statement that has come from my Provincial leadership, namely John O'Connor, OFM, our provincial, and Dominic Monti, OFM, our vicar-provincial. I offer no further comment except that my words and theirs are motivated by our Christian and Catholic faith and its demands, not by any partisan political leanings. Also, please note Pope Benedict's recent statement on the outrageous acts planned by the preacher in Gainesville, FL. Just click on Papal Statement

Reflections Approaching September 11, 2010

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

For the past eight years throughout our nation, the anniversary of the horrific September 11th terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon has been marked by remembrance of the victims and prayers for peace and reconciliation in our world. Each year, the Memorial Mass at our Church of St. Francis of Assisi in New York City has called to mind the self-sacrificing dedication of our brother, Fr. Mychal Judge, OFM, and the thousands of others who perished on that day, and also has offered an opportunity to pray for healing among the peoples of the world so that such tragedies might not reoccur.

This year, however, the mood in our nation is different. Members of a small independent church in Gainesville, Fla., declaring that “Islam is of the Devil,” have announced plans to mark the September 11^th anniversary by publically burning copies of the Qur’an. A project to build an Islamic Center in New York several blocks from “Ground Zero” has unleashed vitriolic abuse against Islam as a religion; strong local opposition has surfaced in a number of places against Muslims providing places of worship for themselves in their communities. Perhaps heightened by our current economic insecurity, there is a mounting cry against the perceived “other” in our midst and that “true” – i.e., Christian – Americans must somehow “take back” the country.

As leaders of the Franciscans of Holy Name Province, we wish to lift our voices against this tide of anti-Muslim rhetoric in our nation. We cannot help but recall that in the nineteenth century, there was a similar outcry against Roman Catholics as an foreign, inassimilable mass within the nation, that our Catholic practices and values were contrary to the American way of life. Time, of course, proved those sentiments wrong. We must give our Muslim brothers and sisters the same opportunity. We must accept them as fellow-worshippers of our common God.

Our position as Catholics is grounded in the clear teaching of our Church. The Second Vatican Council’s dogmatic Constitution on the Church, Lumen Gentium, after speaking of the People of God who have explicitly professed faith in Christ, and then the Jewish people, goes on to state: “God’s plan of salvation also includes those who acknowledge the Creator, first among whom are the Muslims: they profess to hold the faith of Abraham, and together with us they adore the one, merciful God, who will judge all human beings on the last day” (LG, 16). The Church thus clearly teaches that Muslims are not “pagans” or “idolaters” but children of the same loving God as Christians and Jews.

On a practical level, the Decree on Religious Liberty of the same Council, Dignitatis Humanae, states that: “religious groups . . . must be allowed to honor the Supreme God in public worship. . . and promote institutions in which members may work together to organize their own lives. . . . Religious communities also have the right not to be hindered by legislation or administrative action by the civil authority. . . in erecting buildings for religious purposes, and in the acquisition and use of the property they need.” (DH 4) This has clear implications for how Catholic Americans should accept Muslims in our society. We cannot allow the actions of a fanatical minority to define an entire religion.

In a particular way, we Franciscans cannot help but recall that we are followers of a man who crossed frontiers, even battle lines, to offer a message of peace to the perceived enemies of Christianity. As Paul Moses has strikingly portrayed in his recent study, The Saint and the Sultan, at a time when some preachers were urging Christians “to kill a Muslim for Christ,” Francis boldly defied the prejudices of his era to demonstrate to the Sultan of Egypt that Christianity had another face than that of the Crusaders who faced him in battle. Francis was not able to win the Sultan over to the Gospel of Christ, but returned to Europe impressed by the faith he had experienced among the followers of Islam, convinced that he had met other worshippers of God like himself. Our General Chapter in Assisi last year urged Franciscans throughout the world to take up this heritage and to work in a special way at dialogue among Christians and Muslims and be architects of peace and reconciliation in society.

Three pieces of steel from the tangled mass of debris of the World Trade Center were entrusted to the Church of St. Francis of Assisi in New York and now form a memorial to the victims of September 11th, including our own brother, Fr Mychal. The compressed pieces of steel vividly summon the grief and unspeakable sadness of that tragic morning. Still, a single golden rose rises gently from the mass of contorted steel, transcending the senseless brutality with an enduring promise of hope.

Let this September 11^th be an opportunity for all of us to summon the better angels of our nature, to rise above the anger and bitterness that seem to be an increasing feature of our country, to show respect to all people who seek the face of God, and to be agents of true and lasting peace and reconciliation in our own land and among all nations.

Fraternally,

Fr. John F. O’Connor, OFM Fr. Dominic V. Monti, OFM

Provincial Minister Provincial Vicar

(Mrs.) Theresa Bartha

Executive Secretary

HOLY NAME PROVINCE

129 West 31st Street, 2nd floor

New York, NY 10001-3403

(646) 473-0265 x.309

Fax: (1-800) 420-1078

TBartha@hnp.org

More on Muslim-Catholic dialogue

2010-09-03T11:05:00.006-04:00

I want to thank my blog readers for the e-mails and comments that you made last week. My hope is that we can diffuse irrational emotion and enter into a discussion with reason, not only about the ground zero mosque but on a wider level of Christian-Muslim dialogue. Right now the political world, both on the left and the right, is driving that discussion. I believe that in the years ahead the Catholic Church and other Christian Churches, as well as the Jewish faith community, must invite dialogue with Muslims. Dialogue, of course, must be a two way street. there are some questions to raise about violence and the lack of religious freedom, not to mention the treatment of women in many Muslim countries. At the same time we must seek common ground together.

I am in the middle of reading a fine book entitled THE FUTURE CHURCH: How Ten Trends are Revolutionizing the Catholic Church. by John Allen, Jr., a writer with the National Catholic Reporter. Like myself I'm sure that many will not like all of these trends, but they are there and we must deal with them. Apropos of this entry one of the trends that he brings up is the fact that the next major challenge facing the Church, especially in Africa and the Middle East, is Islam. His Chapter on Islam (pp. 95-140) offers a fine summary of the complexities of dealing with Islam, touching on grounds for hope as well as areas of concern. While no one can offer a complete analysis of a topic like that in a space of 45 pages, Allen certainly points out several important features and offers fine references in his Suggestions for further Reading at the back of the book.

Allen's book was published by Doubleday in 2009. The ISBN number is 978-0-385-52038-6. I'm sure you can purchase it through the usual online services, as well as through NCR. When I finish reading it I will opffer a review on this blog.

Catholics and Muslims

2010-08-25T11:37:00.006-04:00

The flap over the mosque near ground zero in New York has set me to thinking about several things in regard to our understanding of the Muslim religion. I am not writing this blog entry to take a stand on that issue, but I do think that several things need to be pointed out.

I certainly appreciate the sensitivity to victims of 9/11, but sensitivity notwithstanding we sometimes need to point to facts rather than emotions. And one fact is that the Muslim religion did not take down the World Trade Center towers. Islamic extremists who distort Islam performed that terrible deed. Another fact is that the US Constitution makes it impossible to ban the construction of a house of worship on private property. All this having been said I do hope that the Immam and some of his followers could sit down with political leaders from New York and come to some common agreement. Right now it seems that they're talking through the airwaves but not directly to each other.

I also believe that this debate has surfaced a great deal of Islamophobia. I am not saying that all opponents of the project are guilty of this, nor has most of it come from New Yorkers, but from people all over our country and elsewhere.

When there is fear and anger there is usually ignorance. As a Franciscan, an order entrusted by the Church with Catholic-Muslim dialogue, I believe that we need to learn more about Islam. We need to understand where we agree with Muslims, and where we disagree as well. Maybe each one can take it upon him/her self to try to engage a Muslim in informal discussion about their faith. Perhaps we can try to read literature which explains the Muslim faith.

Here are a few interesting points of which you may not be aware:

1. Allah is not another god. Allah is God. If you go to Mass, say in Lebanon or Syria, it will be in Arabic and the prayers will be directed to Allah, the Father of Jesus. Allah is the Creator. Yes, Muslims believe some different things about Allah than we do, but Allah is God.

2. Muslims believe that Jesus was a prophet.

3. Muslims believe in the Virgin birth of Jesus and honor Mary.

These are a few things to ponder. I'm sure there is a lot more.

Finally, if the New York mosque is built perhaps they could contact local Christian and Jewish clergy and establish a program for dialogue. I'm going to write a letter to my provincial in New York and suggest that we Franciscans might explore that possibility.

A Midsummer Feast

2010-08-09T10:49:00.009-04:00

This coming Sunday the Church will take a break from ordinary time and celebrate the Feast of the Assumption of Mary. It was on the feast in 1963 that I received the Franciscan habit. A year and a day later on August 16, 1964 I professed my first vows as a Franciscan. I was 18 for the first event, 19 for the second. Much has changed in the world, the nation and the Church during that time and needless to say much has changed in my own life. An understanding of this great feast of Mary perhaps can shed some light on those changes.

For some it might be tempting to dismiss this feast as something tough to explain in light of modern science and our present understanding of the universe, but I think that a deeper look at the true meaning of the feast shows its timeliness, even though the theology around it may need to be reworked.

With the Church's teaching that Mary is assumed body and soul into heaven a statement is made that our salvation and redemption is not just spiritual. It offers the hope that all human beings share in the hope of resurrection, of body and soul, of the whole person. So why do we insist on praying for the salvation of souls and not the salvation of people? If salvation is only spiritual then the material world is devalued. Is it any wonder that we continue to pollute the environment? Is it any wonder that we can't seem to strike a healthy balance with our sense of sexuality, bouncing constantly over the years from puritanical prudishness to hedonism. And further, is it any wonder that so many Christians struggle to see the quest for justice as an integral part of the Christian mission. If we only have to save our souls why struggle against earthly injustice.

The Gospel text for the feast, from Luke 1, ought to guide us in understanding this feast. The author of the third gospel places on Mary's lips a canticle in which she praises God for what has been done to her in becoming the mother of the Redeemer, and then goes on to proclaim that in this child of hers God, "has cast down the mighty from their thrones, . . .has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he has sent away empty." That doesn't sound like a merely spiritual salvation to me.

It is interesting too that Pope Pius XII in proclaiming this doctrine in 1950 was trying in his own way to offer hope to a humanity so torn by the ravages of World War II.

And so dear readers of this blog please do reflect on the deeper meaning of this feast and ask for what kind of salvation do we strive. What did Jesus really come to bring about?

In the Blood

2010-07-28T12:48:00.004-04:00

Reading the blog of my brother friar Steve Dewitt (A Franciscan abroad, link to the right on this page) brings back memories of my days in Bolivia. I spent a little less than 3 years there between 1981 and 1984, a lot less time than I've spent in other places, nonetheless to borrow a term from Catholic sacramental theology, it left an indelible mark on my soul, mostly for the the better, although there are a few scars as well. Thankfully those have been healed

I think that anyone who spends time away from his or her home country, above all in a poor country, is challenged to stretch, to be open to see life in a different way and to question a lot of the presumptions about life that seemed quite reasonable back at home, and also to appreciate more the many blessings of home.

I could go on at length with various examples, but I'll mention just a few things that come to mind.

1. As a priest and friar I never was big on ecclesiastical pomp and the inner workings of chancery offices and Vatican congregations, but experiencing Church at the level of the campesinos of Bolivia, whose faith is so genuine, real and down to earth, moved me oven further from that dimension of Church, and keeps me grounded in dealing with Church now, helping me to focus on the Church as what is happening in the lives of very real people rather than what is going on at the top.

2. I speak Spanish, perhaps the greatest gift that Bolivia gave me. Sometimes I think that in God's great plan for things that is the reason why I went there. I left Bolivia in a down mood, thinking I had "failed" because my ambition to spend a lifetime there didn't work out. Since returning I spent two years at our largely Spanish speaking parish in Camden, NJ, and now move about the country preaching missions in English and Spanish. With the language comes an openness to the varied cultural differences of the people I meet from Mexico, Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador, Nicaragua and other Spanish speaking countries. This has added a richness to my life that would not be there had I not been in Bolivia.

3. My thirst for justice is stronger. I look at issues such as immigration reform, health care, etc. through the lens of my Bolivia years. Likewise my perspective on the present economic downturn is colored by my encounter with a poverty more extreme and severe than anyone here in the US can know.

Again I could go on with more but that could turn into a book. I thought it would be good though to share with you, the readers of this blog, a glimpse into these very important years of my life.

A Parish Priest

2010-07-15T12:49:00.003-04:00

My summertime experience in the Northwoods of Wisconsin is off and running. Most of you know how much I love being a traveling preacher, a Wandering Friar. It is indeed my vocation within a vocation and I hope to keep on traveling and preaching until I'm unable to do so. That having been said I must say that I love having the opportunity to be a parish priest for a few months here in Wisconsin.

I began traveling from Natick, MA to St. Peter the Fisherman parish in Eagle River, WI, back in 1995. In 1999, due to a shortage of priests here, St. Peter's became part of a three parish cluster with St. Mary in Phelps, WI and St. Albert in Land O'Lakes, WI. Over the years I have grown to feel truly a part of all 3 of the parishes and am warmly welcomed back each year. I enjoy preaching regular Sunday homilies and getting to preside at baptisms, funerals and occasionally a wedding, things i don't get to do while preaching parish missions.

My involvement here has taken me beyond the Catholic parishes to other events in the area. Since 2005 I have been singing with an ecumenical choir at Prince of Peace Lutheran Church here. I love singing and more importantly I have a chance to share faith with other Christians in this nearly 100 member choir. There is a concert from Tuesday through Thursday each year on the last week of July and proceeds from a free will offering go to various local charities. The POPS (for prince of Peace) is a regular part of my summers now as is the American Cancer Society Relay for Life on the first weekend of August. I have been participating in that with St. Peter's team since 2007 after my 2006 diagnosis of prostate cancer.

As I have been sitting here writing this entry at a local wi-fi site several people have stopped to say hello. It's nice to feel a part of the community here and I hope to keep coming back.

Faith and Doubt

2010-07-02T12:22:00.003-04:00

The other day I was presented with an interesting question which basically asked if it was sinful to doubt one's faith. My quick response to that is no, doubt is natural and normal, though it would be wrong and careless when presented with doubts not to struggle for deeper understanding.

From my point of view doubt is necessary in order to grow in faith and understanding of the faith. The answers and explanations provided in grammar school often don't satisfy the educated adult mind. I know that it was in the seminary that I began to question some teachings of the Church, as I understood those teachings. Questioning and wrestling with different approaches led me to a deeper understanding of many Church teachings, and a stronger faith in God. Learning that many parts of Scripture were true, but not necessarily historically true, has given me a deeper appreciation of the Scriptures and a deeper conviction that they are the revealed Word of God.One difficulty that we face today however, especially with some of our younger people, is that as they begin to experience doubt they just give up. They don't pursue deeper understanding. Part of this is due to an intellectual laziness on their part, but part of it is due to the fact that many of us Church leaders have never told them that we are available to listen to and discuss their doubts.

Another, and deeper, level of doubt is what happens when we wonder not about a particular Church doctrine, but about the whole thing--Is there a God at all? Is there anything after this life. In the end no expression of doctrine can fully express the great mystery that is God. We are all confronted with a decision to believe, or not believe, that there is a Creator, that there is something more than this earthly life. Though I am a priest I have often visited this question, and always come away with a deeper Yes. Not everyone does however. Though i believe that many of our teachings, while true, are inadequately expressed by an outdated theology and understanding of the universe, I still believe that they point to a deeper mystery which can never be adequately expressed. None other than Thomas Aquinas expresses this at the end of his great work, The Summa Theologica.

A third type of doubt is that created by the bad witness of us Christians, especially those who are leaders. The recent sex abuse crisis is a vivid case in point. This leads people to ask "How can I believe in a Church where such things happen, where priests abuse children and others cover it up?" That is certainly a legitimate question that hopefully leads us to understand that while these things are atrocious and horrible and need to be stopped, the mystery of Church is deeper that the bad example of some leaders. At the same time it helps to realize that this is a true "scandal" in the biblical sense, not because it involves shocking behavior, but because it leads others astray.

There are many wonderful bishops, priests, religious and lay people who provide me with inspiration that strengthens my faith. i pray that more attention can be called to them, especially in the media. At the same time I also believe that it is incumbent on those of us who believe to strive to live lives that reflect those beliefs.

I believe. Amen

I Do: A Reflection on Marriage

2010-06-25T10:29:00.001-04:00

The other day my attention was called to a Newsweek (June 21, 2010) article entitled, I Don't: the case against Marriage, by Jesssica Bennett and Jesse Ellison. Their principal tenet is that "40 years after the feminist movement established our rights in the workplace, a generation after the divorce rate peaked, and a decade after Sex and the City made singledom chic, marriage is—from a legal and practical standpoint, at least—no longer necessary." They cite some interesting facts and theories in favor of their position. For example, "It often pays to stay single," or "If you're going to wait, why get married?" Then there was the 28 year old man quoted as, "If I had to be married to have sex, I would probably be married, as would every guy I know." They also mention things like women no longer needing to depend on men for financial security, or that studies show that marrying a man means that a woman takes on seven hours a week more of housework, even though husbands and fathers these days do more of that than they did years ago. One interesting point made is that marriage has become so idealized and filled with expectations that it is almost impossible to maintain. They cite many other statistics and opinions as well and point out that most young people believe in monogamy, but just not necessarily a life long one or one that includes a wedding ceremony.

Articles like this certainly present a challenge to Christians and others who do believe in marriage. The question is "How do we respond to that challenge?" a challenge which has been there for a while and is not all of a sudden put on us by this article. There are some who would get angry and condemnatory and go pound on their pulpits. That may bring a certain satisfaction to those in the pew who already believe in, and are in fact married, but I don't think it would go far to alter the landscape. I think a different approach is needed.

First of all I don't think that we can bury our heads in the sand regarding the whole context, socially and economically, in which marriage is lived out. Most of us don't live on the farm, and even those that do live on a much different kind of farm. In addition the industrial revolution is over and we're in a new phase of a hi-tech, twittering, blogging, facebook and texting world where women have a lot more independence, and a try to juggle careers with child-rearing. They're not going to entertain any notion of marriage where he's the boss and she demurely follows hid commands, and like it or not the sexual revolution has taken place. All of this and more shapes the ideas that young people bring to the possibility of marriage for them. On top of this they have seen their parents generation have not too great a track record on staying married. This creates a certain skepticism regarding permanent commitment. We in the priesthood and religious life see the same trend for our lives.

Don't get me wrong. I'm not suggesting that I like or agree with all of the above. Some of the thinking is appalling, some of it interesting, but all of it needs to be taken into consideration. Simply going to young people of a marriageable age with "Thou shall or shall not…" will not cut it. So, what can we do?

Certainly as a celibate priest I tread lightly in saying anything about marriage. That having been said I offer a few thoughts. I think the first thing that we can do is look to the many happily married couples that there are and find out the keys to their success, and there are several. One of the blessings of my life as a friar and priest is the friendship I have with several couples that I met in my days of working with the Marriage encounter. What I have discovered from them is that faith and hard work are the two things that keep things going in a marriage. By faith I don't mean just showing up at Church on Sunday, but a firm conviction that the grace of God is needed to meet the challenges of marriage and a willingness to seek that grace when needed. By hard work I mean the realization that you don't just get married and hang on for dear life, but the day by day struggle to communicate with each other and realize that no matter how long you are together you never fully know and understand each other. Also included in hard work if the struggle to keep marriage and family as a priority over work, especially now when both the man and the woman may be working outside the home.

In one parish that I visited to preach a mission young couples were invited to draw on the wisdom of a "mentoring couple" from the parish that they could turn to for advice and wisdom. Many took up the suggestion and were happy with the results. W

I also think that in preparing couples for marriage we need to challenge both the man and the woman but in different ways. With the much diuscussed "bridezilla" phenomenon in planning for the wedding day I think that brides need to be challenged to realize that a marriage is more than the wedding ceremony. With the above mentioned stat that marriage means seven more hours of housework for the woman men need to be challenged to step up to the plate even more. They're doing better than their dads in this respect, but more is called for.

That's my two cents worth. It's not the whole answer. Much prayer and thought needs to go into this subject. I welcome your response, dear reader of this blog, via direct comments below or by e-mails to me.

Another Summer in the Northwoods

2010-06-21T13:07:00.003-04:00

The wandering friar has just finished a week of heavy wandering. I arrived in Eagle River for weekend Masses on June 11, and flew to Syracuse, NY on June 13 to preach a retreat to the priests of that diocese, returning back to Wisconsin on June 18 to resume my ministry here for the rest of the summer.

The experience with the priests was wonderful. Though I am a veteran preacher this was only my third retreat for priests, a task which I approach with a great deal of anxiety, and also the realization that much prayer is needed to perform that task well. Many of you provided that prayer, and for that I am grateful. The priests were largely older and seasoned priests whose dedication and zeal was an inspiration to me. It struck me that with priests getting so much bad press the stories of so many who have worked hard in parishes, schools, hospitals, jails and foreign missions over the years needs to be told.

My arrival in Eagle River last week and in Phelps and Land O'Lakes this weekend was deeply touching. I was welcomed with a lot of "glad your backs" and "great to see you agains" which made me realize that the people here are such a gift to me. I travel around and me great people in so many different parishes, but I have been coming back to Wisconsin almost every year since 1995. I feel deeply a part of so many of the joys and blessings, but also the sorrows and losses of so many people here. I will never foget the prayerful support I received from then in 2006 when I could not come here due to prostate cancer. I look forward to another summer of ministering to people here, of singing in the ecumenical choir at Prince of peace Lutheran Church, walking in the Northwoods Relay for Life to fight cancer, and offering an adult faith formation program entitled Revisitng Vatican II. It should be a great summer.

Corpus Christi: A Reflection

2010-06-06T09:01:00.003-04:00

Today is one of my favorite feasts in the Church's liturgical calendar, the Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ. This feast was established in the 13th century to affirm our belief in the real presence of Christ in the Holy Eucharist, because that belief was under attack. The Liturgy for the feast was composed by the great Dominican theologian, Thomas Aquinas.

Now in the early 21st century we still find a need to reaffirm this belief that Christ is present, body & soul, humanity and divinity, in this great Sacrament. I have for a long time however thought the we must do more than merely affirm our faith in this belief. We need to ask not only, "Is the Lord truly present to us?", but also, "What's He doing? How does it involve me, us?"

Bishop Robert Lynch, bishop of the St. Petersburg,FL diocese where I reside, has been conducting a wonderful program of Eucharistic awareness over the past few years, that nicely answers that question. He is gathering, nourishing and sending us,according to that program.

I think that many Catholics believe in the Eucharist, but keep themselves outside of the mystery, even though since Vatican II they have been participating more in the prayers of the Mass. I think that many people understand that the Lord is truly present and they receive Him with devotion, and that's it. Now that alone is wonderful, but there is so much more to it.

He gathers us, draws us each Sunday out of our daily lives, and invites us to bring the bread and wine of our own joys and sorrows to the celebration at His table.

He nourishes us--with His Word first of all, and then by not only feeding us with His Body and Blood, but drawing us anew into the mystery of His death and Resurrection, so that the bread of our daily lives is united to Him and we find healing and renewal. In nourishing us in this way He also unites to to Him and to one another so that in the words of Eucharistic Prayer III "we become one body, one Spirit, in Christ. Body of Christ then is the host, the consecrated Bread, but it is also us, the Church, united with Him.

To complete the process we are sent, to "Go in Peace" to bring to the world what the Lord has given us. The Eucharist then is not just a static ritual, as many critics say, but an ongoing drama in which God's love, given to us in Christ, is over and over again poured out in us so that we might pour it out on everyone we meet.

What a wonderful gift. Let's cherish it and renew our dedication to living out this gift in our lives.

Religion and Politics

2010-05-30T09:06:00.008-04:00

Recently I have received several e-mails and been in direct face to face discussion as well with folks who ask why the Church speaks out on issues such as immigration, the environment, health care,etc. People object to the Church doing this using remarks such as, "What about the separation of Church and state?" or "The clergy should talk about God, help people to pray better but keep politics out of the pulpit." I would like to offer comments on remarks such as these.

First of all there is some myth busting to do. One of the greatest myths used today in everyday language and even on many talk shows and newscasts is the notion that the US constitution establishes separation of Church and state. It does not quite do that and never uses the expression "separation of Church and state". The beginning of the first amendment reads, "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof..." The purpose of this part of the amendment was to prevent the establishment of a state church or religion or the favoring of one over the other and to allow people of all creeds to assemble in their respective places of worship without harassment and also to freely live out publicly the tenets of their faith. This amendment does not prohibit clergy and other religious leaders from trying to influence society on matters that they believe are in the public interest or public morality. In the 1800's it was the churches, especially some of the protestant churches in the north, who led the campaign against slavery. Today religious leaders speak out on the rights of immigrants, the availability of health care, the injustice of certain wars not by way of trying to impose their religious beliefs on society but because they believe that these things are true for all people. Likewise when they speak out on abortion. Now some people my disagree and sometimes religious leaders may be wrong, but it is their right to speak, the right of free speech, granted later in the same first amendment.

On the other side people get upset when a priest or other clergy person brings some of these issues to the pulpit. They say things like' "Father shouldn't talk about politics. He should stick to the Bible, or Church teaching, etc." The problem here is that the very same Bible speaks on some of these issues that are political. Your priest, minister rabbi has an obligation to address these issues from the pulpit. What cannot be done from the pulpit is to direct people to vote for a certain individual or to belong to a certain party. The general idea is that clergy should speak about political issues when they touch on matters of social morality but not enter into partisan politics.

What the constitution leaves room for from the various religions is that they serve as the conscience, or at least, a conscience for society. Complete separation of Church and state would not allow for that. For those of us who are people of faith we need to do some soul searching when addressing some of these hot button issues and ask whether the Democratic party, the Republican Party, the Tea Party or any particular talk show host or media outlet influences me more on such matters than does my faith.

Pentecost: A Reflection

2010-05-21T16:00:00.014-04:00

As a sit here on the day before Pentecost Sunday, celebrating 39 years of priestly ministry, my thoughts go to an event that took place at the beginning of my sophomore year of high school when in 1959 Pope John XXIII called for a council, the council that became known to us as Vatican II. In making this call he asked the Church to pray for a new Pentecost, a new outpouring of the Spirit, on the Church and on the world. The council began three years later in 1962 when this writer was a freshman at the Franciscan College Seminary in Troy, NY, certainly did provide for that outpouring. The Pope's prayer was answered with renewed enthusiasm for liturgy, especially the change to vernacular language, Scripture, the role of the laity in the Church, and ecumenism.

Every year we celebrate Pentecost and recall the descent of the Holy Spirit on the apostles and ask for an outpouring of the Spirit. This year though, most especially I think, calls on us to cry out loudly for an outpouring of the Spirit. We need to call on the Spirit to heal the wounds caused by sexual abuse, it's cover-up, and exploitation of it by many in the media. We need to call on the Spirit to heal the wounds within the Church between factions who call themselves liberal or conservative and who forget that the idea is not to win out against the opposition as we do in political elections, but to call on the Spirit to lead us to what is best for the Church which is usually a mixture of change and tradition. The Church above all must be a win-win place and not one with winners and losers. We need to call on the Spirit to blow on us anew that we might realize that the Church is not the institution, but the vibrant living community of faithful members, clergy, religious and laity alike, throughout the world. The institution is needed, to be sure, but the institution is not an end in itself, but at the service of this great communion of believers.

When this new breath of the Spirit upon us takes place there will be fewer people saying things like, "I like Jesus, but not organized religion or the institutional Church," because they will see living witness to Him in the visible, institutional Church. When that happens the Church's wonderful social teachings touching areas like the economy, peace, justice, concern for the environment will be heeded because we will once again be credible. People won't be able to say, "Don't speak to us about justice until you clean your own house."

As youngsters preparing for Confirmation many of us had to memorize the Seven Gifts of the Holy Spirit. I must admit that though I am a friar and priest I still had to check the catechism to be sure I had them all down. Let us ask the Spirit this Pentecost to pour out on us these gifts of Wisdom, Understanding, Counsel (or right judgment) knowledge, piety and fear of the Lord. These last two deserve some comment. Piety does not mean walking around with our hands folded and carrying our rosary. It means a strong devotion and loyalty to God and the things of God. Fear of the Lord means a sense of awe and wonder towards the Creator, not a fear of punishment by God. That awe and wonder is certainly created in me by viewing the video clip attached to my last posting.

Veni Sancte Spiritus! Come Holy Spirit and pour out your gifts on all of us.

PS You might look to the column on the left on click on the blog of our bishop here in St. Petersburg (For His Friends)for a nice reflection on Pentecost.

Immigration Reform and Some Other Issues: A faith Perspective.

2010-05-13T16:02:00.010-04:00

The Wandering Friar is not wandering this month and is enjoying some quality time at home. I've been able to work on mission talks, prepare more for the upcoming retreat for priests in Syracuse, NY as well as my summer adult education series in Eagle River.

I have also been giving thought to several important issues such as the big oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico--No, it has not hit Florida and there is a good likelihood that it won't. Nonetheless the fishing industry here still is getting hit and you can smell the oil at times when standing on a beach. It certainly tells this writer that we have to pursue other energy sources and that just saying drill, drill, drill is not the answer. The sex abuse crisis seems never to go away and while I'm certain that many in the media love piling it on the Church, we as Church still need to move towards a policy of transparency in everything. It's time for Vatican secrecy to go.

And last but not least among the issues is immigration reform. I believe that a challenge for Catholics is to step out of the slant of your particular political party and look at this issue from a faith perspective. If you click on the site below you will find a very fine interview from Our Sunday Visitor from Bishop Wester. He expresses some of the main concerns on people's minds, especially that of legality. After getting to the Sunday Visitor Web site click on the May 16 issue. I hope you read it and I welcome your comments.Bishop Wester on Immigration

The Grandeur of God, A View From The Hubble Ultra Deep Field 3D

2010-04-29T20:06:00.002-04:00

Hubble Ultra Deep Field 3D

I just came across a wonderful video taken from the Hubble telescope. Just click on the line above to see it. The relationship between religion and science has always been important to me. Many people of faith fear science and many scientists eschew religion. Francis of Assisi was known at one time to have gone before God in prayer and repeated these two questions, Who are you O God, And who am I?" For him, who lived at a time when people believed the earth to be the center of the universe, he was bowled over by the grandeur of God and his own littleness, yet belovedness, in the face of God.

For those of us today who do believe in God and see in videos such as this and other pictures sent to us by the Hubble telescope, we can only be awed and stop in wonderment at a Creator who created still creating such as vast universe. We can realize our own smallness as well. Our earth, solar system and even our Milky Way Galaxy are just specks of dust compared with all that is. Yet science tells us that we are one with all that is, that the same atoms and molecules formed at the beginning of the universe are the ones that we are made of. I hope that viewing this video helps us realize that the God who created all of this is a God that none of us can totally figure out. Yet we believe that He loves all that He made, including us, and that really is totally awesome.

Some Thoughts at Season's End

2010-04-24T16:02:00.009-04:00

Another season of preaching parish missions has come to an end. After attending a gathering of friars in Raleigh, NC I'll be heading home, taking a week of vacation and then settle down for a whole month with my community at St. Anthony Friary.

These past few months have been hectic. They have included travel to eleven states and one Canadian province, but they have also been quite enriching and filled with wonderful and unique encounters with a variety of peoples, something which I consider to be on of the real blessings of twenty two and a half years on the road.

Regular readers of this blog may remember that back in October I experienced an afternoon on the grounds of a monastery of nuns who lived a life of hermitage and who produced wonderful liturgical art. I have continued to preach in Spanish and am always enriched by the faith and the variety of cultures of the Hispanic people. Keep in mind that the word Hispanic is misleading because it lumps people together by a common language, but each country has its own culture. I am always experiencing that in new ways. This year I worked in Spanish in western Kentucky, North Carolina, Arkansas and South Carolina.

Many of the folks I work with in Spanish are undocumented and have many painful stories that reflect the injustice of our immigration laws. These must be changed and certainly not in the shameful way that Arizona has just gone. You can click on my links to the right to the Franciscan Action Network and the US Bishop's Immigration reform to see more on this topic. In spite of poverty and pain they have great faith, and not the passive resigned type of faith, but an active one that seeks to correct injustice.

Faith is not limited to Hispanics of course. Whether in Kentucky, Arkansas, Florida or the Carolinas I am always deeply moved by the strength of faith in people touched by sickness, injustice, the bad economy or the crisis of credibilty due to the continuing sexual abuse crisis and the cover-up engaged in by too many of our Church's leaders.

Another enriching experience came in February in Sanibel, Florida where the church there had been destroyed several years ago by hurricane Charlie. Many people told me how rebuilding not only the Church, but many of their own homes, brought them together and made them stronger.

Just last week I was in Miramichi, NB, Canada and for the first time in over 22 years of preaching missions joined with a community of native peoples,or as the Canadians say, First Nation people, as I celebrated Mass at the chapel of St. Joachim on the Eel Ground reserve. The Church had some very nice stained glass windows which integrated Christian saints and symbols with symbols from their culture. The brochure describing the windows was entitled, "One Supreme Being, Two Unique Cultures. Salmon fishing was a key part of this people's life and the local pastor and I were treated several days later to a nice grilled salmon, prepared by one of the Eel Ground natives. We enjoyed the meal and appreciated it more for the genuine gift that it was.

In closing this entry I'd mention that I'm often asked how I can live out of a suitcase. The answer to that is because of experiences such as the ones I've mentioned here, and that is only one year, of more than twenty two.

A Loving Embrace

2010-04-11T19:11:00.004-04:00

Perhaps you're thinking that this is a strange title for the blog entry of a Franciscan friar. Many of you know that I am a sports fan. I just witnessed the end of the Masters Golf Tournament and the impressive victory of Phil Mickelson.

Even the non golf fans are aware of the coverage that has been given to Tiger Woods over the past few months as a result of his multiple marital infidelities. I have constantly challenged so many who have self-righteously pontificated about his failures and those of other public figures because I believe that in his case anyway he has taken all the right initial steps to correct his wrongdoing. Only time will tell where it all goes. I was glad that he performed well, though inconsistently, in the tournament, and I wish him the best in the future, in his own personal life, as well as in golf.

The above having been said I must say that I was on the brink of tears when Phil won. The emotion came not from his birdie putt on the 18th green, but in the loving embrace from his wife Amy who has been struggling from breast cancer. You see Phil took time off last year to be at her side as she began treatment.The following quote, taken from the ESPN website, says it all. "We've been through a lot this year. It means a lot to share some joy together," Mickelson said, his voice cracking has he struggled to keep control. "It's been such an incredible week, an emotional week. And to cap it off with a victory is something I can't put into words.

"It's something we'll share for the rest of our lives." Today was a victory for him, for her and for his family. I congratulate Phil and his family and pray that his wife's recovery be complete, and that he too has much success on the golf course.

A Change of Seasons--a bit of personal news,

2010-04-11T13:44:00.007-04:00

Every once in a while I like to use this blog just to let folks know a bit more of what my life is like. This is one of those timesAs you can tell from my schedule posted above I'm heading into a more relaxed time of the year. I head north to Canada via the Auto Train to Washington DC. I used this wonderful mode of transportation last year and it nourished my general love for trains.After that I get to stop and visit friends in New Jersey and then family in Boston. On the way back home I stop at our friary in Raleigh, NC for a springtime gathering of friars. The month of May will see me taking a week of vacation and then spending some good quality time with my community in St. Petersburg as well as a chance to indulge one of my favorite pastimes--following the Boston Red Sox, especially when they come here to play the Tampa Bay Rays.

I hope during this time to work on some more video and have just completed a reflection on the Gospel for the Second Sunday of Easter. You can check it out by clicking on Fr.John's YouTube Videos

Also, I have added a link under My Blog List to a blog done by Steve DeWitt, OFM, one of our friars in formation. You can look at that by clicking here--A Franciscan Abroad

A Good Friday Prayer for Mothers (and Fathers)

2010-04-02T13:21:00.005-04:00

Roma Viva - Detail_of_Pietà_by_Michelangelo

There are so many wonderful reflections on Good Friday and the Cross of Christ that I was wondering what I might contribute through this blog. I am spending these days of Triduum assisting at St. James parish in Conway, SC and Resurrection in Loris, SC. I just finished witnessing a dramatization of the Stations of the Cross done by the youth of Resurrection parish here at St. James in Conway. It was indeed a moving presentation. I am always moved when the story of the Lord's Passion and Death is presented well. Often it is one particular part of Jesus' journey that strikes me and this year it was the Thirteenth Station--Jesus is taken down from the Cross and placed in the arms of His mother.

This moment is perhaps best captured by Michaelangelo in his famous sculpture, the Pieta' which is displayed at St. Peter's basilica in Rome. (click on the link above for a view of this great masterpiece.) While I have always been moved when I have visited this great work of art, and touched by this particular station of the Cross, I believe that this year I experienced it in a unique and personal way--in light of the many stories of mothers and fathers who have suffered and struggled over the deaths and other sad and tragic events in the lives of their children. I beleive that it is the mother though who suffers especially for it is she who bore the child. When one looks at Michaelangelo's masterpiece (and looking at the photo hardly does it justice) one amazed at his ability to capture in marble the anguish and sadness of Mary holding her dead Son in her arms.

During my years of priestly ministry I have sat with and wept with mothers who lost children to war, to tragic auto accidents, to childhood illness and even outright murder. I have felt the sadness and anguish of mothers who feel powerless as they watch children going through painful divorces or who see them living self-destructive lives, wasting away with drugs and alcohol or just the effects of foolish and bad decisions. I have prayed with mothers who see little children suffering from illness and who hope that God, the doctors or someone somewhere can bring about healing.

Then there are the little, but nonetheless real sufferings of every mother, such as the worry that they'll be OK at school, especially as they go off on their own for the first time, or venture on a field trip, or begin to choose friends who may not be a good influence on them. In so many ways this celebate priest has come to realize that to be a mother or a father, is to suffer. I pray that this moment in the life of Jesus and Mary brings comfort and hope to mothers everywhere.

New YouTube Videos for Holy Week

2010-03-27T14:09:00.003-04:00

I invite you to go to my YouTube Page for reflections on Palm Sunday and Holy Thursday. Fr. John's YouTube Channel God Bless and have a wonderful Holy Week and Easter

Bless Me Father--The Light IsAlways On For You

2010-03-20T09:55:00.003-04:00

On Thursday, March 11, the Diocese of St.Petersburg, where I reside, sponsored a program called "The Light is On For You." Every Church in the diocese was open from 5 til 8 PM for the Sacrament of Reconciliation. TV and newspaper ads appealed especially to people who had been away for a time to take advantage of this opportunity to return home to God and their Church. The program was a resounding success. This was the second year in a row where this was done.

In recent years The use of the confessional has fallen off. This is not entirely a bad thing because to a large extent it indicates that this Sacrament has been going through growing pains. People have questioned the need for scrupulously going through a laundry list of little sins on a weekly or monthly basis as they may have done when they were children. People wonder too why general absolution was introduced and then taken away. On the other hand there has also been a lessening of the sense of sin. Short of murder and mayhem, some would seem to say, is there any such thing as sin any more? I can assure you that there is.

While folks who know me realize that I stand on the progressive side of most Church issues, (Some think too much so, others not enough so, which tells me I'm doing my own thinking if nothing else.), when it comes to Confession I'm somewhat traditional. While I would like to see general absolution revisited and opened up because I believe that there should be as many ways as possible available to people to encounter God's mercy, I also want to affirm the place for individual one on one confession and encourage its use. As a Franciscan I am the inheritor of a great tradition of being known for merciful and compassionate celebration of this Sacrament. All over the world people still flock to Franciscan churches when they want to go to confession. In my own province, though the numbers are down, our urban Churches in Boston and New York are known for this. As I go around preaching parish missions I am amazed at the numbers of folk who take advantage of the opportunity that the mission presents to go to confession.

Many people protest that they can go directly to God with their sins. While I don't doubt that God is merciful when approached in this way, there is great wisdom in realizing that as humans we occasionally need to hear the assurance of another human voice telling us that indeed our sins are forgiven, especially if we have strayed in a serious way. Even for those whose sins are minimal I believe that it is good to periodically celebrate this Sacrament to hear that reassuring voice and to affirm in a one on one encounter, our need for mercy. I don't believe in going "just for the grace" because that turns grace into a kind of spiritual stardust to be sprinkled on our lives, but I do think it helpful in Advent, Lent and maybe a once or twice more, to celebrate this great Sacrament.

As a priest I find that I need to avail myself of this Sacrament and I am genuinely humbled by the faith of people who come to me for confession and awed by the power of merciful God to touch people's hearts and set them free, no matter what sin they may have committed.

Go in Peace. Your sins are forgiven!

Casting Stones

2010-03-20T09:29:00.005-04:00

During the past week I have been preparing my homily for this Sunday (5th Sunday of Lent, Year C) which gives us the well-known story of the woman taken in adultery who is brought before Jesus(John 8, 1-11). Let's face it, even atheists know Jesus' response to the crowd who wanted to stone her in accordance with the Mosaic law, "Let the one who is without sin cast the first stone."

While we may comfort ourselves with the thought that we no longer stone people, at least not in this corner of planet earth, a closer look might offer a real challenge to our present society.

If we take a look at what is going on in Jesus' encounter with the adulterous woman and the crowds we realize that the issue is not only the "stoning", but rather the public spectacle and denunciation and condemnation of this woman. Jesus unmasks their intentions with His invitation to let the one without sin cast the first stone. He is reminding them that though their sins are not publicly known they are sins nonetheless. More importantly He is reminding them that if they repent they will receive the same mercy that He is showing to this woman.

While we don't stone people today we love the public spectacle and denunciation of the sinner, especially if the sin involves sex. (Money scandals are a distant second.) We gloat when the sins of a politician or an athlete are brought to the fore and we let it be known how shocked we are. I wonder if many are not privately thinking "I'm glad my stuff doesn't get known", or "I'm bad, but not that bad." We love to have a scapegoat, someone to blame or punish, rather than looking at our own faults and seeking the same mercy and forgiveness that Jesus showed to this adulterous woman.

I do want to give one caution with this reflection. I'm not saying that public figures and especially Church leaders involved in scandal should not be held accountable to the people they serve. In the Church especially there has been too much secrecy and cover-up in this regard. The point is to take a look at the self-righteous, morally superior smugness with which too many of us meet these situations. The call to all of us is to stop throwing stones and to seek the mercy of Jesus who is always so ready to forgive rather than condemn.

Social Justice and the Gospel

2010-03-13T10:41:00.003-05:00

Sometimes I can't believe what I hear from the news media. On this blog i try to stay away from direct criticism of particular people on either the left or the right, but this week I make an exception. Glenn Beck of Fox News has told people who watch his program to run away from any Church that speaks of social justice. I say, Run away from Glenn Beck." Preaching social justice and taking action to correct injustice is anb obligation for those who claim to be followers of Jesus Christ. Back in the 1970's a Vatican synod described working for justice as a "constitutive dimension of preaching the Gospel."

While the Church should generally stay away from partisan politics, saying that the Democrats, the Republicans or anyone else has the whole answer she can and must and usually has spoken out against slavery,racism violation of human rights, the environment, lack of access to health care, abortion and other life issues Why? Because Jesus did, not necessarily on the above mentioned issues, but on the abuses of His own day. Since Leo XIII in the late 1800's every Catholic Pope has made statements and issued encyclicals on issues of social justice.

There are always those who want preachers to stay in their pulpit and tell people just to say their prayers. Pray we must, but we must also work to overcome the injustices that separate people form each other and from God, injustices that lead to war and violence.

No one would deny that preachers must denounce sin. The self-righteous smile smugly when a preacher rails against the excesses of lust, greed and other personal sins. Just one question, "Is injustice a sin, especially systemic social injustice?" Well, "Dah, ought the preacher address this issue?"

By the way I understand that Mr. Beck's remarks were in response to a Catholic nun who labored courageously for women's rights in Syria and who was given an award. Should she have told the women there to be quiet, get beaten and say their prayers? Apparently Mr. Beck thinks so.

Some Recent Wanderings and a Suggested Website

2010-03-06T12:42:00.005-05:00

I just returned from my latest mission journey to Little Rock, Arkansas. It was a wonderful two weeks for several reasons. First of all St. Edward's parish there is a model for many of the things I've written about earlier (See Oct and Nov, 2009) for multicultural parishes. This year they are celebrating 125 years as a parish, one which was founded by Germans in 1885. It remained a predominantly German parish for a long while, went into decline for a time and is coming alive again with the influx of Hispanic parishioners. What is great is the collaboration there between the old timers and the newcomers who speak a different language and have a different culture. Of course no situation is perfect and there are some tensions but by and large both groups seemed genuinely interested in each others activities and lend support to each other. The parish has young and capable leadership in their 30 year old pastor, Fr. Jason Tyler, as well as with a 28 year old school principle, and I am sure they are looking forward to at least another 125 years.

Little Rock also provided me with a reunion with some family members. The deacon there, Dan Hennessey, came to my ordination in 1971 with his parents as a 12 year old boy. I got time to spend with him and his family and also with his sister Caroline who came down from St. Louis. Parishioners at St. Edward's told me that Dan is at least as good a preacher as I am. It was good to hear that.

In my profile on this blog I mention that sports, movies and bike riding are hobbies of mine. I didn't mention that old trolley cars are also an interest and that I like to visit trolley car museums around the country. Like several cities Little Rock as invested in some retro look trolleys produced by a company in Iowa. I got to ride on it and put some pictures at the top of this entry.

And yes, as the title suggests, there is a suggestion. I have included the website to Richard Rohr, OFM's Center for action and contemplation in "Links to my World" on the right side of this page. I highly recommend that you check it out and perhaps subscrive to their mailing list for daily meditations. You can click on here Center for Action and Contemplation.Right now I have returned to Florida after my great time in Little Rock, and am looking forward to a "home game" mission at our parish in Tampa

Listening, a Lenten Penance

2010-02-26T15:16:00.005-05:00

This Sunday's Gospel (Luke 9, 28-36) gives us an account of the Transfiguration when Jesus took Peter, James and John up the mountain and revealed Himself to them in His glory. At the end of this experience a voice comes from heaven and says, "This is my Son, my beloved, listen to Him." That command "to listen" is, I believe, a timely on for today, to listen to God and to listen to one another.

We live in the so-called communication age. We can be in touch with one another rapidly via cell phone, the internet and internet based social communication tools such as Facebook and Tweeter. Anyone can get their message out there, including myself with this blog. We're all talking, but are we listening.

In the halls of congress we find republicans and democrats alike yelling at one another and very few of them are really trying to listen to what the other side has to say. This is especially evident in the health care debate. Similar nonsense happens in the Church as well. On TV and radio talk shows allow callers to express their opinion, as long as they agree with the talk show host. One such host has followers who proudly call themselves "ditto heads", meaning that they don't think for themselves but just "ditto" what the host has to say.

To listen does not mean to give another some attention, a hearing, so that we can argue back and prove ourselves right. To listen means to try and we get inside the skin, inside the world of another, to try to experience life from their point of view. In the end we may still disagree but we gain a greater appreciation for the other's perspective.

Listening is a lost art not only on the grand stage of Church and politics. It is sorely needed in interpersonal relationships, especially in marriage.

How about taking on listening as a Lenten penance. Commit to listening more to you husband, wife, parents, children. Listen to someone with different political and theological opinions. Try to understand what leads them to think they way they do. What thoughts, what life experiences have shaped them. Try not to disagree, even if you do, but simply try to draw them out so that you can see where they're coming from. Make an attempt to find common ground even though you may still disagree.

Think of this. The greatest act of listening is the Incarnation where God becomes one of us to walk in our shoes, to experience life as we experience it, to be like us in all things but sin. We cannot imitate that perfectly, but we can aspire to that great act of listening. To truly listen is one of the greatest acts of love that we can perform. So listen, for Lent.

A Growing Church

2010-02-19T12:54:00.004-05:00

It is very interesting to realize that our Church is growing in numbers in this country even though within the Church there is anger towards bishops and priests and a lot of bickering about liturgy, liturgical language, the role of women, etc. The Diocese of Atlanta has so many new members coming in on Holy Saturday that the Rite of Election will be held this Sunday at the city's Civic Center rather than at the Cathedral to accommodate the large numbers expected to be there. We are the largest single denomination in the US.

Why is this? I think that is because the faithful people who keep showing up as well as the newcomers who are drawn to us see beyond the externals to what lies deeper behind them. They see the Church to which I was referring in last week's entry entitled,the Church I Love. They experience the mystery of people of faith united in Christ.

It has been said that the greatest proof that the Church is guided by the Spirit is the ineptness and weakness of its leaders. Depending on human resources alone we would have gone down long ago. Wouldn't it be wonderful to say that the leaders help the spirit to work. Many if not most of them do but we need more on board.

Priestly Penitence

2010-02-19T12:35:00.006-05:00

During the past week my thoughts turned to Lent, which began yesterday. The first thing that came to mind, even before preparing my Sunday homily, was that perhaps we missed an opportunity for healing. We are in the Year for Priests in the Catholic Church. Much good stuff has been said about the priesthood and people have sent me and other priests letters of support and affirmation. For this I am very grateful. Nonetheless with all the news of sex abuse still continuing, this time in Ireland and the covering up of this abuse as well, and the anger that has come from the way that Church closings and mergers have taken place it would have been wonderful to have priests and bishops dedicate the first Sunday of Lent and the week that follows it as a world time of penance by priests and bishops, penance not only for the big stuff mentioned above, but penance for the arrogance, rudeness, lack of availability that we often show to God's people. First of all we could go to the middle of the sanctuary, kneel down, and ask people's forgiveness for our failures, then we could offer acts of repentance such as giving up some free time during Lent to better serve, visiting shut-ins that have been left to the sole care of lay ministers (This is not a devaluing of lay ministers but an acknowledgment that these good people want to see a priest occasionally),having listening sessions with parishioners to really hear their concerns, and many other possibilities according to each situation.

For my part as much as I try to be kind and available there are some moments of abruptness with folks and I could be much more available to people. I am also guilty of some laziness in preparation of homilies, talks, etc. I ask forgiveness for that and for any way that I fail to reflect Christ who came to serve and not to be served and to give His life as a ransom for the many. Maybe next year there can be such a time during Lent. We priests need to do it and the good Catholic people deserve it.

The Church I Love

2010-02-12T20:17:00.000-05:00

This past week I preached a mission at St. Isabel parish on Sanibel Island in Florida. Even after my first Mass there on Saturday I sensed a special spirit in the people there. What it came from was the fact that in August of 2004 the Church there and many of the homes of the parishioners were devastated by hurricane Charlie, the first of several to sweep across Florida that year. Parishioners, many of whom were facing severe damage to their own homes, banded together and saw to it that a new Church was built on the foundation of the old one. As I heard the story of how that happened I realized that more than a building was put up during this time. What happened is that a Church was renewed, a Church made not of stones but of living flesh and blood people.

It is easy to think of Church as institution, as buildings, as bishops, priests and the Pope. So often I hear people raising the question, “Why is the Catholic Church doing such and such?” or “I’ve had enough of the Church being out of touch, etc.” I too often raise such questions, but they need to be directed at the leaders, not at the Church, because the hierarchy, while vitally important to the life of the Church, is not the Church. The Church is the Body of Christ in the world today. It is a living, breathing community of people, united by their Christ, who suffer, struggle and also rejoice together. They come together to rebuild churches, be it in well off Sanibel Island or in extremely poor Haiti. They stand with each other in tragedy and rejoice with each other in good times.

The church is people who have faith, but whose faith is tested when an eleven year old son dies in a car accident, or a young mother dies of cancer. They are hurt by priests who are arrogant, rude and unavailable and by bishops who are more interested in protecting the institution, than in cherishing the mystery of the living Church, because they forget that the institution, though necessary, is there only to serve that mystery.
And where is that Church? It is alive and well. I have seen it over and over again in the over 330 parishes in the US and Canada where I have preached missions. These parishes are rich and poor, urban, rural and suburban. They are made up of English and Spanish speaking, as well has Haitians, Vietnamese and others. This is the Church that I love, the Church that sustains me, and to which I gladly give my life.

Thank You Sister

2010-02-04T10:15:00.000-05:00

Many readers of this blog are aware that the Vatican is conducting a visitation of the communities of religious sisters here in the U.S. Some might wonder just what a visitation is. In religious communities of women and men, especially at times of chapter when new leadership is to be elected and/or new policies are to be implemented, someone from outside the community is appointed as a visitator. In the case of us Franciscans it is a friar from another province within the order. This visitator visits each community and each individual friar, listening to the stories of the members, affirming the gifts of each one, but also challenging us to live our life more fully. In recent years I have found these moments to be a blessing. This is what a visitation is supposed to do.

In the case of our religious sisters in the US. the visitator is a sister from Rome, under the direction of a Cardinal who will be helped in her task by a team of sisters. I really do pray and I hope you do as well, that our sisters have a visitation in the sense that I described above. I fear though, that instead of a visitation, there will be an investigation, with the outcome predetermined before the stories are heard.

We are in the midst of The Year for priests, called for by the Vatican. During this year I have been deeply touched by the letters of affirmation that I have receieved from several people, thanking me for my vocation and encouraging me to go on. Perhaps we can contact some of the religious women who have educated us and guided us in other ways, and let them know how much we appreciate them and what they have done for us individually and as a Church. We can also let them know that we are praying for them and that we support them and stand with them during this visitation. Thank you Sister, all of you, for your dedicated lives.

A Well Deserved Award

2010-01-25T06:41:00.011-05:00

Holy Name Province of the Franciscans, to which I belong, has over the past twenty years encouraged us friars to not only promote lay involvement but to "partner" with the laity in all of our ministries. By way of backing up this commitment our province since 1998 has given ministries the opportunity to award the Francis medal to those lay people who make outstanding contributions to our life and ministry.

Many of you have commented favorably on the fact the we in the Franciscan Ministry of the Word preach in Spanish as well as English. One of the reasons for our success in this endeavor is Mr. Pete Suarez of Miami to whom we gave the Francis Medal this past Saturday at a dinner in his honor here at St. Anthony Friary.

Rod Petrie and Marty Bednar of our team met Pete back in the early 90's. Pete not only introduced them to various pastors in the Miami area but also became involved as a lay preacher. Pete has been doing that ever since. He also became involved with us on a province wide level, serving as a member of our Hispanic Ministry Committee for several years and participating in several province wide convocations for ministry. In addition to his work with us Pete, who by profession is a plumbing contractor, has earned an MA in Theology and teaches part time at the college seminary of the Archdiocese of Miami. He is likewise involved in his home parish.

At the award dinner Pete was accompanied by his wonderful wife Hilda and four other couples, all of whom are wonderful Catholic Christians and examples of how laity can make a difference in the Church and the world. Congratulations Pete.

In the picture above Pete is pictured with his wife, Hilda, Rod Petrie and John Anglin, to their left, and Marty Bednar on the right.

Human Tragedy, Haiti and God

2010-01-16T11:45:00.006-05:00

Once again we receive news that a population made up of some of the poorest people in the world have been struck by a natural disaster, this time the terrible earthquake in Haiti. As soon as such events happen the cry goes up, and understandably so, "Where is God? How can a just and loving God allow things like this?" While I do not pretend to have any definitive answer to that question and no one really does, I would like to offer a reflection and a perspective on this terrible tragedy.

First of all I reject offhand, and indeed find it appalling, that anyone who considers them self Christian would suggest that God is punishing these people. Shame on the Pat Robertsons of this world who say things like this. What is true is that the Creator has placed us in a fragile world where storms, earthquakes, pandemics, etc happen frequently. Life is fragile and when these things happen they should provide an awakening to all of us and a reminder that we are not in charge here, that there is no guarantee that we will live to be 80 years old, even though that is more or less the statistical norm. I say this not to frighten anyone but rather to suggest that in spite of our modern technology and great advances in medicine we will never succeed in total control over nature. It is an illusion to think otherwise and when we face the truth of this we become more free and more aware of what is really important in life.

More importantly we can so easily ask, "Why does this happen to poor people so often?" Instead, I think we need to be asking "Why is there so much poverty? Why is there so much unequal distribution of the goods of this world, gifted to us by the creator?" A 7.0 earthquake is a tragedy whether it happens in Beverly Hills, Greenwhich, CT, Nigeria or Haiti. The challenge for us is to learn the lessons, not so much that the Creator sends us from above, but that are naturally built into such tragedies by the Creator. The whole world is and will continue to respond to help the poor people of Haiti. We always seem to step up to the plate when these tragedies strike. In a short while, however, the aid will cease to come and the poverty and injustice will continue, or will it? The blame for that falls on us humans, not on the creator. Will our response be different this time? Will we numb ourselves to the human suffering in Haiti and elsewhere, or will we change our priorities?

Gold, Frankincense, and all that stuff-An Epiphany reflection

2010-01-04T14:28:00.005-05:00

This past Sunday we celebrated the feast of the Epiphany, a feast originally celebrated on January 6, but now moved to the nearest Sunday. What are we to make of this well known story in our modern age. I find it helpful to dwell not on questions such as "What really happened?", but on the deeper meaning of this account, and how we in the 21st century can apply it to our lives. To me there are two challenges of this feast.

The first thing is the famous star. The star is a symbol of light. The magi (and the scriptures don't say how many there were) were drawn to light, not only the light in the sky, but the light who was Christ. Do we today seek the light?, The Light? It's easy for people of faith to say yes. The problem is that we so often focus on the darkness. There is indeed plenty of darkness out there and all around us--war, terrorism, heinous crimes, lack of disrespect for life, corrupt politics, etc. While we should not have our head in the sand and make believe that these things are not there we need to look to the One who is Light of Light to nourish us and guide us in difficult times, to send us light to show us the way. Without this focus we can so easily fall into the cynicism which is one of the great "poisons" of our culture today.

The second challenge is to be bearers of the Light that we follow. Whenever we bring love, forgiveness, healing and peace to others, whenever we strive to do justice where injustice prevails the Light Of Christ shines through us and draws others to him. Those who bear the Light might not be great in numbers, certainly not a majority of the world population, but the Light we bear is powerful and that is what makes the difference.

A Happy Epiphany or "little Christmas" to all

Fr. John's Christmas Message--YouTube

2009-12-21T10:06:00.005-05:00

Here's praying that all readers of this blog have a Blessed and holy Christmas. For my Christmas message please click on Christmas Message When you get to youtube just click on the big arrow in front of my picture.

Once again, Merry Christmas
Fr. John

More Friary Pictures

2009-12-20T11:29:00.009-05:00

Here are some more pictures of our friary to go with the one below. You can see here our nativity scene, in pre-Christmas mode, our dining room, the beautiful courtyard, the envy of our friends up north at this time of the year and three paintings--of SS Anthony, Clare and Francis done by our resident artist, Miguel Loredo, OFM

Christmas at the Friary

2009-12-20T09:50:00.011-05:00

Several folks who follow this blog have asked me about St. Anthony Friary where I live. I have included a few pictures to give you an idea of what it's like here. One picture shows the outside of our newly painted friary. The beautiful Christmas tree is the work of the vicar of our community, Bro. John Capozzi, OFM., who works hard to keep our place looking great year round. John had the help of several friars in this effort completed at the house tree decorating party. The other shows the entryway with Christmas decorations.
For me the friary really is home. As the title of this blog suggests I am indeed the wandering friar, but as much as I enjoy my travels I find it so important to be rooted in my life here. It is always great to have brothers to come back to after a couple of weeks on the road. The fact that our daily routine is built around prayer and the Eucharist is vital to my life, as well as the interchange with the men here who have spent many years serving God's people in parishes, schools, foreign missions, military chaplaincy and much more. The word friar, by the way, means brother. In his testament St. Francis writes, "...and the Lord gave me brothers." To be brother to each other and to those we serve is at the heart of our Franciscan life. As Christmas approaches I'm grateful for the brothers that the Lord gave me, and I want you to know that by calling myself the wandering "friar" I am always, even when alone, part of a family of brothers who help to shape who I am, and who support me in so many ways in all that I do.

Our Lady of Guadaloupe

2009-12-10T08:41:00.004-05:00

Those who know me well hopefully know that I am a man of faith, but also a skeptic when it comes to things like apparitions. I generally believe that the presence of God is all around us and that as Catholics we have as well the Eucharist and the other Sacraments in which the Lord is present to us in various ways, and thus ought not to be looking for special apparitions and divine interventions. That having been said I must say that my experience with Hispanic people in my travels with the Ministry of the Word over the past few years have given me a deep appreciation for the upcoming (Dec. 12) feast of Our Lady of Guadaloupe. While scholars debate the details of exactly what happened there I am convinced that the event was "of God". The reason I say this is because in the conquest of 1521 by the Spaniards the native peoples were nearly exterminated. Even Church officials were debating whether they had a soul, as inconceivable as that is to us. Then, a short while later, Our Lady appeared to a young native boy named Juan Diego. Not only does this event impact this young man, but his people turn to Christ and the Church starts looking upon them differently. As they say, the rest is history. His people are now impacting the Church in our country, which I also think is "of God."

So ask, if you will, did she really appear? Whatever happened God certainly acted on behalf of a downtrodden people. Our Lady of Guadaloupe, pray for us.

It's Advent, Hurry Up and Wait!

2009-12-05T10:09:00.006-05:00

Some of you may remember that back on October 20 I was surprisingly moved by a visit to a community of cloistered hermit sisters in New York state. Part of the spirituality of these women and their male counterparts is an attentive waiting for the coming of the Lord. It's Advent now and many Catholics don't realize that this season is not only about preparing for Christmas, but about preparing for the coming of the Lord.

For those of us who are in the rat race and not spending our lives in solitude on a mountain top we might wonder, "What can we learn from these hermits?" I think that there are several things we can learn. First among these is the need to slow down. We live in a face paced society and certainly benefit from the speed and convenience that technology brings us. I myself marvel at how I can be in Kentucky where I am working this week and book three parish missions for next year via my cell phone as a road in here from the airport. This is all well and good but there are some things in life that do not have a quick fix or solution and we become frustrated, at least I know that I do, when things cannot get done in a hurry. So one Advent discipline in which we might engage is to slow down a bit, taking time to "smell the roses" and maybe to encounter the Lord in the slower pace. Many of you know that I love baseball and other sports. I can remember going to games back in the 50's and 60's and actually having conversations with people between innings. Now there is deafening thumping of music that prevents that. We need silence to listen to God but also to one another. We spend a great deal of time talking and twittering, but do we really listen to each other any more.

Finally we can learn that waiting on the Loird produces joy. There are all kinds of fundamentalist fear mongers wanting us to tremble because the world might be ending, and in the secular world there are movies like 2012 with its big earthquakes and tsunamis. Our faith does not call us to believe in the world's end, though that is inevitable, but rather in the coming of the Kingdom which we wait for, as we say in the liturgy, in joyful hope.

The Lord will come again in the fullness of time. If we are ready for the many little ways in which He comes every day. The big coming will take care of itself.

Happy Thanksgiving

2009-11-26T07:31:00.003-05:00

I'm sitting at a desk at our friary in Boston on Thanksgiving morning and thinking of the many people and things that I am thankful for on this day and hopefully we are all doing that. Thinking, however, beyond the obvious things to be thankful for I think back to a meeting a few years ago with a brother friar from Africa who was visiting the US. I asked him what his impressions were of our country, and they were positive. When I asked him what most stood out to him about life in our country he told me that all the buildings of New York, the technology that was available to us were not unexpected discoveries, but he couldn't get over the fact that we used the same water for bathing as we did for drinking. In his country drinking water was a precious commodity. A friar visiting from Bolivia where i served as a missionary told me once that he couldn't get over mailboxes on the street and that we Americans trusted enough to drop our mail and them with the assurance that the mail would reach its destination without being stolen.

These two little encounters, I believe, challenge us on this day to ask if we are thankful for the things we take for granted in our country. They challenge us to look beyond the sense of entitlement which affects all of us and to see all of life as a gift, and so to be thankful for everything.

The Mass that we Catholics place at the heart of our life of worship is called Eucharist, which is Greek for "thanksgiving". As I celebrate Eucharist later this morning I will thank God for everything that is gift in my life. I pray that all of us in our own way do the same.

Christ the King

2009-11-19T07:03:00.005-05:00

Our Church's liturgical year comes to an end this Sunday with the celebration of the feast of Christ the King. What an unusual title in this era when there are no kings and queens, though there are still plenty of dictators,and others who abuse authority. Let's face it though Christ the President or P{rime Minister just wouldn't cut it.

Actually the word King means Messiah or Anointed one (Cristos in Greek. What we are celebrating is our belief that Jesus is the fulfillment of the messianic promises of God to Israel, yet not in a way that any of us humans would ever have imagined because He is a King who rules by love, who "came not to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for the many." (Mk, 10,45) The Kingdom that He came to establish is one of love, justice and peace, one where the poor have the Good news preached to them

And so we might ask, "Where is this kingdom?" The easy answer is to say that it is in the future, at the end of time, in the next life. True enough this Kingdom will be brought about in its fullness at the end of time, but it is already here as well. It is here whenever the message of Jesus is lived out, whenever there is forgiveness, whenever the poor and hungry are cared for. One biblical scholar suggests that rather than referring to the "kingdom of God" the texts of the Gospel would be better translated as "the ruling of God," so that we could say that whenever it is apparent that God is ruling over our lives God's kingdom is among us.

This beautiful feast goes back only to 1925, though Christ has been referred to as King from earliest times, including the dialogue with Pilot in this Sunday's Gospel text (Jn 18, 33-37) where Pilate asks Jesus. "Are you the king of the Jews?" the feast was established by Pope Pius XI to make a statement of fascism and communism as well as secularism which wanted to replace Christianity with their own political philosophies. Though many things are different today than they were in 1925 the purpose of this feast is as timely as ever.

Thus the question that we all might ask as we celebrate this feast is "Who, or what, is ruling over my life? On what is my life based? What give meaning to my life?

An Article on my ministry

2009-11-16T10:39:00.003-05:00

Fr. Roy Gasnick, OFM, a membger of my community here at St. Anthony Friary, recently interviewed me about the Ministry of the Word. Since many of you often wonder just what it is that I do I thought that you would enjoy the article. Just click on the following and it will take you there. http://www.hnp.org/publications/hnp_today_view.cfm?iid=135&aid=2806

The Bi-lingual Parish Mission

2009-11-06T15:17:00.008-05:00

In the pictures above you see Fr. Marty (top) preaching in Spanish at SS. Mary & Edward in Roxborough, NC. Below, Fr. John is preaching in English.

I've just returned from a busy period in my ministry--four missions in six weeks, two of them bi-lingual missions with Fr. Martin Bednar, OFM. During that time I also attended the "Encuentro" for Hispanic ministry in our province of which I wrote in my last blog entry. Several of you have asked questions about these missions, basically asking what we do and why. The "what" part is easy to answer. We arrive at the parish on Saturday in time to preach an invitational homily at all the Masses, Spanish and English. On Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday evenings we divide the folks into two groups according to language, the larger one meeting in the Church (and that's not always the English speaking group), and the smaller one in a chapel or hall nearby the Church. Each group hears the Word of God in their own language. Both of us speak Spanish and so we alternate between groups on each of the nights. In this way everyone gets to hear both of us. At the end of each evening we bring the groups together for a common bi-lingual activity of prayer and ritual. Our efforts have proved successful and have helped parishes to work with the tension of trying to serve the two groups.

The "why" part of the inquiries is more complex. The basic answer to "why", of course, is that there are two languages being spoken and that the needs of all must be met. We run into issues however in two areas. One is that often the English speaking feel that the Spanish speaking are taking over their parish, a parish which they and their parents and grandparents helped to build. The other is a concern that many of the Hispanics are illegal immigrants. To both of these concerns we offer a gentle, but clear and firm challenge. Our forebears did not build, at great sacrifice, an Irish or Itlaian or Polish or American parish. They built a Catholic parish and the Hispanics who come are indeed Catholic and usually very good Catholics. Also I like to tell them that while they may be illegal according to civil law they are "legal Catholics" because they are baptized and that while they are hear they have a right o have access to Mass, the Sacraments and all aspects of Church life. Although we don't give any talks on immigration reform we often point out to individuals what the Church's position is on that subject.

One final point is that it is not only a matter of language, but of culture. Again, as I pointed out in last weeks's entry the mission of the Church is not to favor any one culture but to see that the Gospel is proclaimed and lived in every culture. There is one faith, but many cultural expressions of that faith. Over the years, long before experiencing the cultures of different Spanish speaking countries, I was enriched by the ways in which my Irish grandparents expressed their faith and then discovered that people of Italian, Polish and other ethnicities had their cultural expressions as well.

A final note. The Church in our country today also has large groups of African Americans, Haitians, Philipinos and Vietnamese, just to name a few, all working to maintain their faith, in a manner compatible with their culture. For those of us who are English speaking white Americans our job is not to get them to be "just like us", but to support them in living their Catholic faith in ways that are meaningful to them. This is a challenge for all of us.

From A Silent Mountain Top To 500 Alleluias

2009-10-28T10:42:00.006-04:00

In my last blog entry I talked about the experience of visiting a convent of contemplative, hermit nuns. This past Saturday I had another wonderful experience that was the polar opposite of that as I attended the "Encuentro Franciscano Hispano" run by my Franciscan province (Holy Name) at St. Camillus Parish in Silver Spring, MD. I attended this experience along with Fr. Marty Bednar, OFM of our MOW team along with Mr. Pete Suarez from Miami, a lay preacher and collaborator with us. In contrast to the silence of the cloister it began with a solid hour of singing with drums, guitars, mandolins, keyboards and other instruments, not to mention a great deal of hand clapping and other gestures, all part of celebrating the Hispanic Catholic experience. The contrast of these two experiences reminds me of the richness of our Church, a richness that I have seen over the past 22 years of traveling around preaching missions in different places, a richness that I choose to concentrate on instead of the squabbling and bickering that often goes on in high places.

Back to the "Encuentro". In addition to the singing and clapping there was a great deal of time for serious reflection. The main speaker was Alejandro Aguilera-Titus Associate Director of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops Multi-Cultural Ministry Office. He made several interesting points, but the one that stood out to me was his statement to the effect that the Church's mission in a multi-cultural parish was not to merge all the cultures together but to allow the gospel to be expressed in each culture in that culture's own unique way. In speaking of the importance of young adult (not teenage) ministry he pointed out something that should get the attention of all of us--50% of all Catholics in the US under the age of 30 are Hispanic. That says to me that there is where the future of the US Church lies. There was also a wonderful dramatization presented by the St. Camillus young adult ministry, several very interesting small group sessions and a wonderful clsing Mass and homily presided over by Bishop Francisco Rodriguez, auxiliary bishop of Washington, DC.

All three of us left that day tired, but exhilarated, and renewed in my commitment to our work of preaching in Spanish as well as in English. You'll note on the top of this blog page that my schedule includes 3 bi-lingual missions this semester. I hope to do many more.

A Surprising Moment of Silence

2009-10-20T10:43:00.006-04:00

Last week while I was preaching a mission at our Franciscan parish in Calicoon, NY. the pastor, Fr. Ignatius Smith, OFM., invited me to take a ride with him while he went to hear the confessions of some nuns. I wasn't too enthused about the ride at first but I asked him about the nuns, who were they? what kind of community did they have?, etc. and he informed me that they were a community of hermits. This got my attention and off we went.

It was a cloudy autumn day and the fall colors were just past peak in the hills of the region. The sisters lived on a large tract of land on a mountain top. While I didn't get to meet any of the sisters I spent some time in their chapel, took a walk on their expansive property and read a booklet describing their life and history. while founded in 1950 their life taps into the ancient monastic and eremitic traditions of the Church. They support themselves through religious art, works that are beautiful and also expensive.

I commented to several people about my visit and found that while many were interested there were several comments which in effect said," Why would someone waste their life away like that?" My response to that is that while it is not a life to which I feel called I am delighted that there are people whose calling is to pray for the rest of us and who remind us by the life they live that there is something more to life than the war, violence and greed that so easily dominate our lives. Also these contemplatives (women as well as men) and all cloistered religious remind us that there is to be a contemplative dimension to all of our lives.

Several readers of this blog have been wrestling with issues of God language both from a gender point of view and also with issues of blending ancient images and metaphors with modern science. Contemplative prayer (represented by disciplines such as centering prayer) calls us to allow ourselves to simply be, to rest in the presence of God, beyond images and metaphors. For us Franciscans such prayer leads us to a deeper involvement in the world. For our sisters and brothers living in cloisters and hermitages it leads them apart to lift up themselves and the world in prayer. Though this group does not have a website there a many references to them on Google, especially if you click on the followwing: http://video.google.com/videosearch?q=Monks+and+monastic+sisters+of+Bethlehem&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&ie=UTF-8&ei=abPhSuX7HNDj8AayqJTuAQ&sa=X&oi=video_result_group&ct=title&resnum=4&ved=0CCcQqwQwAw#

A Defining Moment by Mail

2009-10-08T09:28:00.004-04:00

Peace!

The other day I walked into the mail room of our friary here in St. Petersburg and noticed that there was a large envelope sent from the central office of my Franciscan province (Holy Name Province). In it was my Medicare Card, a jolting reminder that official senior citizen status was just around the corner, though I've qualified for some discounts since I was 55 years old. My mother always said that she would admit her age to anyone who gave her a discount for it.

With the reception of this card two strings of thought passed through my mind. The first one is how blessed and fortunate I am to belong to a community which will provide me with health care and a lot more as I grow older.I will soon receive a card from a Medicare supplement plan to seal the deal. More important is the fact that the friars are my family. I will grow old and die in the embrace of brothers who care, who will provide me with emotional and spiritual support. They always have, but appreciation for it grows as I grow older.

The other thought is about health care in our own country. I wrote a previous blog entry on that so for now suffice it to say that I pray that Democrats and Republicans alike "give a little" on their preferred means of accomplishing that goal and "just get it done." I believe it is a moral imperative, based on the Gospel and on Church teaching.

A Special Blessing of St. Francis

2009-10-08T09:21:00.005-04:00

May the Lord give you Peace! With these words St. Francis, whose feast we celebrated last Sunday began his sermons. he encouraged his followers to do the same. As I was preparing some thoughts for the blog this week the following was passed on to me, an apt modern adaptation of the blessing of St. Francis. It comes from a blog which I believe is run by Episcopalian Franciscans. The address is www.monasticmumblings.typepad.com

A four-fold Franciscan blessing:
May God bless you with a restless discomfort about easy answers, half-truths and superficial relationships, so that you may seek truth boldly and love deep within your heart.

St-francis May God bless you with holy anger at injustice, oppression, and exploitation of people, so that you may tirelessly work for justice, freedom, and peace among all people.

May God bless you with the gift of tears to shed with those who suffer from pain, rejection, starvation, or the loss of all that they cherish, so that you may reach out your hand to comfort them and transform their pain into joy.

May God bless you with enough foolishness to believe that you really CAN make a difference in this world, so that you are able, with God's grace, to do what others claim cannot be done.

And the blessing of God the Supreme Majesty and our Creator, Jesus Christ the Incarnate Word Who is our Brother and Savior, and the Holy Spirit, our Advocate and Guide, be with you and remain with you, this day and forevermore.

October 04, 2009 | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)