Making the Leper Clean: A Challenge For All of Us."

                     

         On this final Sunday before Lent we are presented with two readings that deal with leprosy.  In the first one from Leviticus (Leviticus 13:1-2, 44-46) we see the prescriptions describing how a leper is to be declared "unclean" and forced to live outside of the community.  In the ancient world this disease was a terrible scourge and it was sound public health policy to do this.  Many people who were not leprous suffered, however, from this practice.  People with acne, psoriasis or other skin conditions were often falsely put into this state of uncleanness, not to mention the families and friends of the leper.  We now call this disease Hansen's disease and we know that it is much less contagious than was thought by the ancients.

   In the Gospel (Mark 1:40-45) a leper says to Jesus, "If you wish, you can make me clean." Jesus responds, "I do will it. Be made clean."  As wonderful as it was to cure a leper, Jesus was doing much more than that.  In making the man clean he was restoring his relationship to his family, friends and the community in general.  What we need to realize is that this was at the heart of Jesus ministry.  He does not perform miracles to show off.  They are performed to heal and restore not only physical health , but broken relationships with God and with others.  That is why He also forgives sinners.

      And what might you and I learn from this story?  We need to move off being awestruck by the miraculous element of this curing and realize that in making the leper clean Jesus is beginning a ministry of inclusion, of bringing back into the community those who were cast out.  We need to ask "Who are the  lepers of today?"    We might start with the victims of AIDS who, especially when this disease first became known over 30 years ago, were victimized not only by the disease but by the fear, prejudice and ignorance of too many people.  We could likewise take a look at others who, while not suffering from a physical illness, are cast out, not formally, but by social rejection.  Pope Francis has called attention to the plight of immigrants in Europe, the Middle East, and in our own country. Sometimes we stigmatize the poor and the homeless.  We stigmatize them and blame them for their condition.

      While I think the question, "What would Jesus do?" is often trivialized and overused I believe that it applies here.  I don't think that Jesus would want to remove all public health and security measures, but He would call us to realize that every one of the above mentioned people are just that, people, human beings, our brothers and sisters.  He would ask us to realize that they are suffering from poverty, rejection, disease or any combination of the three.  He would ask us to do what we can to bring them back into the wider community.  He would ask us to realize that even if some of them had to be in prisons, or hospitals, that they are still our brothers and sisters, in need of forgiveness or healing, and that whatever else they are, they are not just "unclean".  "I do will it. Be made clean."  He said it then, and He says it now.                               

Would You "Hang Out" With Jesus?

  The Christmas Feasts are over and we return for a while (until Lent) to ordinary time, the ordered cycle of Sundays which call us to reflect on the many dimensions of our following of Jesus.  Fittingly enough we begin at the beginning of Jesus ministry. He has been baptized in the Jordan and now He sets about calling his first disciples, Andrew and Simon Peter.

   This year we have the version of that call given to us by John. (John 1:35-42) In the synoptic Gospels Jesus calls them to leave their nets and follow Him.  John gives us another dimension of this call. In John,  Andrew and another disciple overhear John the Baptist's "Behold the Lamb of God" statement and followed Jesus.  Jesus asks what they are looking for.  They ask Him, "Where are you staying?"  Jesus' answer is "Come, and you will see."  We are then told that they spent a day with Jesus.  What a day that must have been!

   What are we to make of this invitation? What does it say to us as disciples of Jesus today?  Matthew, Mark and Luke in presenting Jesus asking the disciples to drop their nets and follow him remind us that we too, as His followers, must drop our nets, not literally giving up job, family, etc, but making the following of Jesus our top priority.

   John's version challenges us in another way. It asks us if we are willing to accept the invitation to go and live with Jesus, to go away from our own comfort zone and live with the Lord.

   I believe that Pope Francis who continually calls us to live the Gospel is, in his preaching, extending both of these invitations to us--to drop our nets, and to go and see where Jesus lives.  That is why he de-emphasizes rules and doctrines. It is not that rules and doctrines are not important, but rather that without prioritizing our relationship with Jesus as the starting point of our Christian life the rules and doctrines become mere empty words. 

   Our evangelical brothers an sisters often talk about having a personal relationship with Jesus.  We would do well to listen to them.  The challenge for them and for us is asking the question that Andrew asked Jesus, "Where do You live Lord?"  As Catholics we believe that He lives especially in the Eucharist.  Together with our Protestant friends we believe the He lives in His Word. But all of us are challenged to encounter Him in another way, the way which Pope Francis points out, --In the Poor. This means not only the materially poor, but all those who are marginalized in many ways.

   These three dimensions of the Lord's presence we might see as three rooms in the Lord's house.  I don't think that the Lord wants us to stay in one room, but to encounter Him in all three that we might delight in the fullness of His presence.

  So let's "hang out" with the Lord, to use a modern expression.  Let us be nourished by Him in the Eucharist. Let us be filled with His life as we encounter Him in the Scriptures. Let us finally go and meet him in the highways and byways of the world in the poor and forgotten.

  I have found that I need to meet the Lord in all of these ways and am most blessed when I do.

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.