A Look Back at the 60's

   The title of this post might suggest that I want to look back at the decade of the 1960's.  Not so, though that decade was a significant one in my life since I graduated from high school, entered the Franciscans, took my vows as a Franciscan and wrestled with my place in my Church and my country in a good way.

   The 60's I speak of here are the years that span from 2004-2014, the decade in which I passed from 60-70 years old.  Many things happened in my world during this time.  Boston sports teams enjoyed incredible success.  Three different popes lead the Church and 2 presidents the country. Terrorism and tragedy continually hit the news. But I do not write of these things either.  I write of what happened in my own personal life because these ten years have been a time of grace and blessing.  They were not easy years, far from it, but the graces and blessings came precisely from the challenges.

     In chronological order the following events mark this decade:

    1. In 2005 I went through Hurricane Wilma in Miami.he was a category 3, but hardly noticed nationally because Katrina took place that year.

    2. In 2006 I was diagnosed with prostate cancer and began treatments which ended in 2007. I also learned that I was a type II diabetic.

    2a. In 2007 my car was hit by a "flying refrigerator."

    3. In 2006 I moved to St. Anthony Friary in St. Petersburg which is still my home.

    4.  In 2006 I was united with a sister, Dorothy, that i hadn't known before.

    5. In 2011 I celebrated 40 years as a priest.

    6.  In 2013 my book, The Wandering Friar, was published.

    7. In 2014 I celebrated 50 years as a Franciscan.

    8. In 2014 I turned 70 years old.

    This string of events has lead me to a new place in my life, a place in which I rejoice and am at peace, a place that I like to call "the stretch run."  I choose this term because it does not suggest by any means that I am finished.  After all it is still a run and not a crawl. I am about to publish another book and I have preaching commitments lasting into 2018. At the same time, living here at St. Anthony Friary which is basically a place for retirement for us friars, though I am not yet a member of that population, I know that most of my active years are behind me and that diminishment and a meeting with what we friars call Sister Death, is not terribly far away either.

   To comment briefly on the above mentioned events the experience of the storm, illness and the refrigerator taught me that life is a precious gift, that the Lord can call me (us) home at anytime, so make the most of each day, each moment that the Lord grants me.  The refrigerator story adds a bit of humor to the situation, though it reinforces the message.  You see, in the summer of 2007 after happily returning to my summer ministry in Eagle River, WI after having gone through cancer treatments I was driving down the road one day and a used refrigerator loosely fastened to a truck fell and side-swiped me. I said to the Lord, "Really, You didn't get me through cancer to call me home with a flying refrigerator."

   In the midst of all of the above I discovered that I had a sister that I hadn't know before.   Getting to know Dorothy has been a blessing, has added richness to my life and show me that life always offers surprises, in this case a wonderful surprise.

   I already mentioned living here in our friary.  Many of the men here are still quite active but others are in various stages of illnesses that will lead them home to God.  It is a humbling reminder of what lies ahead for me, yet these men witness to a faith and a bravery that I hope I have when the time comes.

   The book and its writing have helped me to realize how blessed I have been throughout my life as a friar and as a priest and even before that by growing up in a wonderful Catholic family and neighborhood.  The anniversaries celebrated do the same.  The book also helps me realize that I am a late bloomer (not that the early years were bad) because in my later years my ministry and my vocation have born the greatest fruit.  Who knows?  Even grater things may lie ahead.

  Finally I sit in our chapel every day and look up at a wonderful painting of the death of St. Francis where he is surrounded by his fellow friars.  The thoughts I have are not morbid ones, but grateful ones, because I know that in the years ahead, whatever else may happen, I will by accompanied to meet Sister Death by my brothers.

Francis meets Sister Death--St. Anthony Friary Chapel.

In the Wonder of the Incarnation--A belated Christmas Message.

    It is now 2 days after Christmas and it is the feast of my patron saint--John the Evangelist. His Gospel is my favorite of the four because of its profound theology.  John does not give us a memorable infancy narrative as do Matthew and Luke.  Instead he gives us a "prologue", a beautiful and profound statement of who Jesus is.

  I wish here just to highlight 3 important features of this prologue.  I also encourage you to read and reflect on that prologue (John 1:1-18)

   1. Verses 1-3 state that"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." These three verses are packed with meaning.  First of all they tell us that the Word, as second person of the Trinity, is God and existed before time.  They likewise tell us that all was created through the Word.   This helps us to realize that while Jesus of Nazareth came to us in time He existed and was involved in the universe and in the life of our world even before He came in the flesh.  Francis of Assisi intuited this with his sense that the whole cosmos reflected Christ, something that St. Bonaventure later reflected on.

   2. The key verse in this prologue is verse 14, "The Word became flesh".  This was a shocking message at the time that the Gospel was written.  John was trying throughout his Gospel to combat a heresy that said that Jesus only appeared to be human.  To tell the truth many still find this to be shocking as we tend to spiritualize Jesus and minimize his humanity.  As one theology professor of mine used to point out, "You can't encounter the divinity of Jesus without deeply contemplating His humanity.  John carries this theme throughout His Gospel showing a Jesus who heals by using saliva, who weeps at the tomb of Lazarus and who washes the feet of His disciples.

   3.  The mystery of the Incarnation, begun in the life of Jesus of Nazareth, continues even after He dies and rises from the dead.  John subtlety states this in verse 16 where he says, "From his fullness we have all received, grace in place of grace"  Fr. Ronald Rolheiser, OMI, in his book, The Holy Longing, reminds us that the Incarnation  was not a 33 year experiment.  It rather continues in different ways--In the Church as the Body of Christ, in the Eucharist, in the encounter with Christ in the poor and needy (Oh how we conveniently avoid that one.)  Adding to that Jesus tells us that where 2 or 3 are gathered in his name He is there with us.  The "grace in place of grace phrase in this verse tells us that what began with the historical Incarnation in Jesus of Nazareth continues down through the ages in us.  Finally, in a deeper sense, we can see in this entire prologue what modern theologians are calling "deep Incarnation".  What this means is that because all is created in and through Christ that the entire evolving universe in some way reveals Him to us.

     An explanatory note:  When John calls Jesus the Word he is talking about the principle that from the beginning God is always communicating, or revealing God self.

   I love the nativity story in Luke that was read at midnight Mass.  I love to behold a beautiful nativity scene, but I love to do so while reading John's prologue.  A belated and Blessed Christmas to you and a Happy New Year.

The Need for Silence: An invitation for the last days of Advent.

   As we approach Christmas Day I invite my readers to reflect on the first two verses of the hymn, Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silent:

Let all mortal flesh keep silence,
And with fear and trembling stand;
Ponder nothing earthly minded,
For with blessing in His hand,
Christ our God to earth descendeth
Our full homage to demand.

King of kings, yet born of Mary,
As of old on earth He stood,
Lord of lords, in human vesture,
In the body and the blood;
                                                              He will give to all the faithful
                                                              His own self for heavenly food.

   Of course this hymn invites us in silence to ponder the great gift of the Incarnation, of God taking on human flesh.  It likewise call us to ponder how this great mystery is continued in the Eucharist.  In these last days of Advent, amidst the hustle, bustle and noise around us, even the noise of Christmas preparation, I think it is good for us to step back in silence and ponder what we are celebrating.

   Beyond reflecting on the meaning of what we are celebrating I think that we are called to holy silence  as we deal with the many issues placed before us today, issues such as race relations, immigration, tensions within the Church, just to name a few.  Our social media, which can do so much good, are quite frankly filled with immature, foolish rants by both liberals and conservatives.  I'm sorry but "OOh, look at how this conservative sticks it to this liberal," or, "Wow,  look at how this liberal makes a fool out of this conservative," does no good in advancing real discussion on the issues of the day.  Even worse than this are the statements that "Politican X or Y is a low life and an idiot."

   What I believe is needed is to first enter into a prayerful silence, a silence that invites us to put our preferred opinions aside for a moment and to look deeper, to see if there isn't another level at which to approach things, to ask oneself if I am really seeking truth or just seeking to entrench myself further in my own point of view.  We need to have discussion that leads us to a common consensus rather than ones that divide us further.

  I have created a link to a meditation by Richard Rohr, OFM on this subjest. I invite you to read and ponder it. /Richard-Rohr-s-Meditation.

Torture--What's Deep within us?

   The catechism (of the Catholic Church) later declares: "Torture which uses physical or moral violence to extract confessions, punish the guilty, frighten opponents, or satisfy hatred is contrary to respect for the person and for human dignity" (No. 2298). The use of torture dishonors the Creator in whose image every human person is created and disfigures the human person who is worthy of respect.

   The above quote from the Catechism of the Church makes it clear that there is no circumstance under which torture is justifiable.  Based on this teaching and based on what is in my own heart I must join with those who were saddened and disappointed in the recent report issued regarding CIA practices after 9/11.

   With this article I would like to take a look at the various reasons presented for supporting what the CIA called "Enhanced Interrogation Tactics."  Oh, how we love euphemisms. For many these practices were justified because of the results that they produced--stopping further terror attacks.  Basically the argument here is that the end justifies the means.  In Catholic moral teaching the end never justifies the means if the means are deemed as intrinsically evil, which torture is.  There have also been studies which show that torture does not produce good information.  The tortured will say anything just to be relieved of the torture.

   I must say though that I challenge the self-righteousness of many who objected to the torture.  It is easy to get puffed up with moral indignation over evil.  It is tempting to say that "I would never torture anyone, or I would never (fill in the blanks).  When we do this we are putting ourselves in the position of Peter who said that he would never deny Jesus.  We know what happened in that situation.

   What I'm getting at here is that we will never eliminate torture unless every one of us looks seriously at the darkness that lurks in our hearts.  This is true not only for torture and violence, but of anything we see to be evil.

  To reveal a bit of my own dark side that I would really rather not admit I can remember as a youngster that there were a couple of bullies in our neighborhood.  I used to fantasize about cruelly torturing them to teach them a lesson.  I never acted on that, of course, but the thoughts were there.  Later in life I faced, through both counseling and spiritual direction that a dark, angry violent streak resided within me, not one that led to physical violence but to angry outbursts that were not acceptable for a priest and friar. As I faced that truth I was freed from letting that darkness control me.

  We all love to point fingers at the government, at school shooter, at violent rapists,etc.  Until,however, individually and as a people we face the darkness within and admit that it is there, we will never be set free.   Let's all think about that.

   The next step is realizing that we can go to a deeper level within us, not one that naively let's evil go unpunished but one that takes the pains to find just ways to do it. I think that we might have found those ways with the 9/11 terrorists if we had  just put in the effort.

Let there be peace on earth!

A thankful Attitude--Happy Thanksgiving

    I am at a wonderful point in my life as we celebrate another Thanksgiving holiday.  I have just celebrated 50 years as a member of the Franciscan Order and I will turn 70 in less than two weeks.   Joining the Franciscans was the best decision I ever made and I am grateful for every day of life that God gives me, especially since surviving prostate cancer over 8 years ago.

   A number of years ago a friend of mine talked about having gratitude as an attitude if one really wants to be happy in life.  That is so true.  I see any number of people who constantly grumble about what's wrong, what they don't have, and what's wrong with the world.  They are miserable people.  That doesn't mean that they are bad, just that they don't know how to be happy.

    Of course we all know that the world is in tough shape, as is our nation. Things could be better in most of our lives as well. Even in the Church there are problems. Thanksgiving calls us to realize that while this is true we still have so much to be thankful for.  It is a matter of what we focus on. Today I choose to be grateful not only for life and for being a friar but for the many people that the Lord has put in the path of my life who have been a blessing to me or for whom I may have been a blessing for them.  My book, The Wandering Friar, tells of many of those blessings. I am grateful for my family which is continuing to grow through marriage and the birth of new life.  I am grateful as well for the fact that the beauty of this earth is mine to behold and appreciate even without owning one square inch of it.

   Finally I am thankful for the gift of faith, a thanks expressed most especially in the Eucharist, a word derived from the Greek word for thanks, because in the Eucharist the Lord give us Himself. Now that is really something to be thankful for.

   So, Happy thanksgiving everyone.  Focus on the many things we can be grateful for.  That is the only way we will be able to reach what we still seek for  and overcome the problems in our own lives and in the world.

Feast of Christ the King--What Kind of King is He?

   On this coming Sunday we Catholics, along with many other Christians, will observe the Feast of Christ the King. This Feast was established only recently (1925) by Pope Pius XI.  It was established for a reason that is still valid today--the rise of nationalism and secularism which led governments to be guided more by their own self interests and the quest for power than by the values of faith. The following link to a Wikipedia article on the feast gives are fine summary of its history:  Feast of Christ the King
  
   The Scripture texts for Mass this week tell us what kind of King Jesus was and is and challenges us, His followers, in several ways.

   The First Reading from Ezekiel (Ez 34:11-12, 15-17) tells us that He is a shepherd king who seeks the lost sheep to bring them back and heal them. It also tells us that He will "judge between one sheep and another."

   The Gospel text, from Matthew 25 tell us how He will judge us, namely on how well we feed the hungry, clothe the naked, visit the sick and the imprisoned.  It doesn't say anything there about being judged on how well we observe the minutiae of canon law or liturgical rubrics or having the correct theology.  Now I'm not saying that these things should be ignored or that they don't have their rightful place, but Jesus here and in several other places makes it clear that love of others, concern for the poor, mercy and forgiveness are what's really important for Him.

  Jesus is a King who reigns not by domination and control but by lifting up the lowly and inviting His followers to do the same.

  Does all of this sound a bit like Pope Francis?  Someone recently said that Pope Francis is not a liberal but rather a radical.  I agree.  He is a radical follower of the Gospel and invites us to be as well. Are we ready to follow?



   

All Souls Day, Purgatory and Praying for the Dead.

   If you are from my generation of Catholics the phrase "offer it up" became part of your vocabulary at an early age.  We were invited to offer things up for the sake of the souls in purgatory. We offered up setbacks and defeats, the illnesses we suffered, the hurts we experienced and of course we offered up our prayers for our loved ones who had died and for the "poor souls" who had no one to pray for them.

   I'm sure that if I spoke of "offering it up" to most younger Catholics I would get a puzzled look.  Furthermore many Catholics find it hard to believe in purgatory.  I can't say that I blame them because of the way that purgatory has been explained over the years.  It seemed to be presented as a mini-hell where people eventually left and got to heaven.  They could be helped by the prayers and offerings of the living which served as a sort of spiritual bail money or get out of jail early card.

   Looking back over the development of this doctrine I believe that we have taken some wrong turns.  Praying for the dead goes back to the Hebrew Scriptures (2 Maccabees 12:42-46) and was also practiced in some other ancient religions.  This tells us that for quite some time there has been a belief that the dead need our prayers as they go before God.  In the early Church some theologians spoke of the need for purification before entering heaven.  In other word though people die in God's good graces most of us are not perfect.  We still have unfinished spiritual business and God in a merciful way cleanses of purifies us. No one spoke of "purgatory" as a place until around the end of the first millennium. While this may be painful it is not punishment in the sense of something intended to hurt one as a result of misdeeds so much as a merciful and therapeutic purification process which may take place rather quickly, I imagine that like many experiences we have here on earth something that is difficult can seem to last forever even if it is brief.  Likewise I would think that the yearning of the deceased to be completely united with God with all barriers removed is in itself painful.

    The Church also speaks of the fact that this purification can be done in this life.  Many think that this means that sicknesses such as cancer are punishments for our sins.  I think not.  I do think that illness, suffering and the aging process lead us more and more to "let go", not only of our sins, but of the trivialities of life that we once thought were so important. 

   As for praying for that dead I think that our loved ones for whom we pray feel the support and strength of our prayers just as we do in this life when people pray for us.  Our prayers for them also help us in the healing of our grief and may also serve to heal our relationships with them if there have been hurts and regrets. This is much different than seeing God as a spiritual banker who lightens the sentence of those who get prayers.

   I live in a friary community that is made up largely of retired friars. I had the privilege of presiding at the community Liturgy on Sunday, All Souls Day.  I suggested to my brothers that our kind of fraternity could be considered a "purgatory".  After eliciting the appropriate laughter I explained that i meant that in a positive sense, seeing our community as a place where we help each other out on the final legs of our journey home to God so that there might be less unfinished business when we get there.  Many of the friars welcomed that thought.

   Our God is a merciful God who desires not to  lose any one of His beloved. May we all assist one another on the journey to our loving God.