Listen To The Call !

As Jesus was walking by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers,
Simon who is called Peter, and his brother Andrew,
casting a net into the sea; they were fishermen.
He said to them,
"Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men."
At once they left their nets and followed him.
He walked along from there and saw two other brothers,
James, the son of Zebedee, and his brother John.
They were in a boat, with their father Zebedee, mending their nets.
He called them, and immediately they left their boat and their father
and followed him.

Today is the feast of St. Andrew the Apostle. He was Peter's older brother and very close to Jesus.  He was called from his vocation as a fisherman to become a fisher of men. He went on to teach and preach in the Black Sea area including Georgia and Romania. He was martyred by being crucified on an "X" shaped cross, the exact date is not known but it is believed he died in the mid to late first century AD. 

I have always found it amazing that when the apostles were called, that they dropped everything and followed Jesus. You have to wonder as well why Jesus picked these twelve very ordinary men?  Today we advertise an open position and collect resumes, interview acceptable candidates once, twice, and maybe even three times. We meet with our supervisors and discuss the applicants and decide on the one that absolutely most closely fits the position. This is not how Jesus operated. You would think that he would have scoured the temple and picked the wisest of the teachers and rabbis that he could find there.  But no, he picked fisherman and even a tax collector and he picked one man that he knew would betray him. He started with a team that was first of all pious.  They would have been men that followed their religion.  They would have been trained by their fathers in the ways of Yahweh and the Law.  But formal training, the kind that the leaders of the temple would have had, would not be for them.  So, Jesus would have a team of men with what we might term as an eighth-grade education, they would know just enough to keep themselves out of trouble.  Jesus was starting with a blank canvas and through the next three years what beautiful works he would make of these twelve ordinary people of the earth.  One canvas, no less beautiful than the others, would become torn when he betrayed the Lord, but even this was planned for and expected. 

We too are called by Jesus and once again he could have chosen another, wiser, smarter, better-looking person than you or I but he didn't.  Just as He did with the twelve he chose us because of who we are and not because of what we know or who we knew or what levels of education we had.  Some of us would be better schooled than others, but some of the others would have gifts and talents that could not be acquired in any school and He would use them too.  Our calling to be a fisher of men has been issued just as it was to the first twelve.  We must open our ears to hear the call.  We must also train our hearing to drown out the siren call of sin which could drive us into the rocks and sink us.  We must open our hearts to the call of the Lord.  There is no purpose on earth greater than to be a disciple of Jesus and to work for the kingdom.  There is no job that pays better or has better benefits or a better retirement plan!  We can start small.  Small is okay because being kind to another sometimes is the way people are led to Christ.  Preach with your actions before you preach using words.  Be of good cheer in all of the circumstances you find yourself in, as hard as that is to do, remembering that the things of this world are passing and temporary while our place in heaven will be forever. 

To Do Today:  Pray for the poor souls in Purgatory. 

Pentecost and Chef Boy Ar Dee

The apostles were told by Jesus to go to Jerusalem and to wait.  They were more than happy to comply with this direction because it was not safe for them to be out and about on the street.  The Temple Gang, still feeling their oats from their victory in getting Jesus crucified, wanted a chance to scatter the disciples of the so-called Messiah to the four corners of the earth. So Peter and the rest of the gang happily went back to the Upper Room and the scriptures say that they spent the time praying.  They probably were praying to be spared from being discovered by the Jews.  They also prayed that the lock on the door held and that no one had seen them steal back to the Upper Room.   When they were not praying, they filled the time discussing recent events and the words of Jesus and there probably was some discussion as to the meaning of the parables Jesus taught them.  They waited and continued to wait, happy that they could not hear a hostile crowd gathering outside their door.  In short, they appeared to be a pathetic gang of losers that would be very happy to just fade out of the public's memory. Then suddenly, everything changed.  There was the sound of a mighty wind and the Holy Spirit descended upon them and now they could not open the door fast enough to get out of the Upper Room.  They almost tore the door off of its hinges in their effort to get outside.  When they were outside, the fruits of the Spirit became manifest.  They threw caution to the wind and were not able to stop telling the crowd about Jesus and the good news that sin and death had been defeated.  More than that, there were people from everywhere, from all of the civilized areas of the world.  Not since the attempt to build the great tower of Babel had there been so many people, speaking so many different languages in one place. Everyone that was there heard the Good News, the Gospel, being proclaimed to them, each of them in his or her own language. Those losers, those timid and frightened bunch of rag-tag followers of Jesus had now lost all of their fear and boldly taught in the Holy Name of Jesus. They would NOT be silent!  The Apostles claimed their first converts that day and the Catholic Church was truly born and was visibly under the protection of the Holy Spirit as Jesus, the Son of God, had promised. 

It's an amazing story, the Holy Spirit infusing His gifts into the eleven like that!  What is even more amazing is that we have all been drenched in the Gifts of the Holy Spirit, the very same gifts that were infused into the Apostles were infused into us when we received the Sacrament of Confirmation.  If that is the case then why didn't we react as the Apostles did on that Pentecost Sunday? The reason, I believe, is that such a display was not needed when the bishop laid his hands on us.  We received the very same gifts that the Apostles did and they are as much a part of us as the very blood that circulates oxygen throughout our body through our veins. 

When I received the sacrament of Confirmation, I have to tell you that the only thing I felt at that moment was hunger, not a hunger for the Word of God mind you, a hunger for the pizza I knew was going to be waiting for me at home once this ceremony was over. It was a Chef Boy Ar Dee pizza kit that I made by myself.  Please keep in mind that this was prior to the opening of Falco's Pizzeria, the Cathedral of Pizza in Brighton Park on the southwest side of Chicago where I grew up,  

and even today a stop on the All-Chicago Gluttony Club Tour, although your attire should now include a bulletproof vest and if possible you should hire armed security guards to accompany you. So I was ignorant as to what pizza was supposed to look and taste like but the homemade treat filled us up and living in ignorance kept us satisfied. It was truly a memorable night.  To be very honest on this Thursday night I felt no different than I did at the close of Wednesday night.  Does that mean that the Gifts of the Spirit have passed me over?  Did the bishop make a mistake when he laid his hands on me? Did he not slap me hard enough? (That used to be a feature of the ceremony - a slap to ready you to be a soldier of Christ - this is not done anymore.)  I did receive the Gifts, the bishop did not make a mistake. The simple fact is the reception of a sacrament does not depend on the emotions it may or may not stir up. When I go to communion, for example, sometimes I feel the True Presence and other times I do not.  I still know intellectually that Jesus is present and my prayers are no less fervent because I know what I know. That is the genius of the Sacraments, they work as designed no matter how the person receiving them feels.  

But, where is the evidence that I received the Gifts of the Holy Spirit?  I barely speak English well much less any other language so I don't have the gift of tongues.  I can go on and prove negatively that I do not have evidence that I received anything like the gifts that the Apostles received, except, that I did receive them. Our pastor, Father Joe, in his homily pointed out that we use these gifts all of the time.  He pointed out that perhaps one time when you were more patient with someone that you normally had no patience with, well, that was one of the gifts of the Spirit that you were calling upon. In daily life. these gifts express themselves in many different ways which we sometimes do not recognize.  The gifts are there to be called upon when needed.  I cannot imagine, for example, those poor Christians in Iraq that were offered a choice between giving up Christ in favor of Islam, and to a soul, they refused to betray Christ and they were shot by the radical thugs whose god is not the same God of decent Christians and Muslims.  The Spirit was present in these people and gave them Courage.  So it is with us.  The Gifts of the Holy Spirit are there in each of us who have been confirmed in Christ and they are at the ready when we need them. 

The fact that they are there and we don't recognize them makes me wonder what we Catholics COULD do if we used these gifts like the Apostles did on the birthday of the Church so long ago?  We could make this world different if we wanted to and if we depended upon the Holy Spirit to help us as Jesus intended. If we truly used the gifts of the Holy Spirit, what a wonderful world we COULD have.  God bless.   

I Want You !

They strengthened the spirits of the disciples

and exhorted them to persevere in the faith, saying,  

"It is necessary for us to undergo many hardships

to enter the Kingdom of God."

The 21st Century has brought to the Church more martyrs for the faith than were created in the early years of Christianity.  What is it about the name of Jesus that fills the pagans with such fear?  Is it that they know, instinctively that the victory of Jesus against His enemies is a done deal and they want to try and change that?  Is it that the power of Love that Jesus represents is too powerful for them to overcome so that they have to resort to violence?

On July 26, 2016, Father Jacques was peacefully saying Mass for his congregation when two Muslim men entered the church and murdered him by slitting his throat. Jacques was reported to have said, "Satan go" when he was confronted by his killers. Both of these Muslims pledged allegiance to the so-called Islamic state. 

Jacques is but one of many modern martyrs that have been killed by followers of a perverted version of Islam. What distinguishes a Christian martyr from an ordinary believer?  Well, of course, there is the fact that the martyr is dead. But it is before death that the martyr distinguishes him or herself. This type of person has given their all to Christ and they have held nothing back.  Their life is one of service and of love. Well, many good Christians live that way and are they any less holy than a martyr?  No, because holiness does not come to us because of our actions, it comes to us because of the attitudes we hold inside.  To be holy, one does not have to stand on the street corner shouting scripture but one must hold that scripture in their heart and act on it.  A martyr goes one step further in that they will act on scripture even in the face of death.  Their commitment to Christ and His Church is total.  Their whole life is a testimony to the love of God and their loyalties are forever united with the precepts of Christ.  They are in effect, whole people, or holy. Of course, you can be holy without being a martyr, or can you? 

Each of us has a decision to make. Do we follow the world or do we follow Christ?  Do we acknowledge Jesus as Lord of All, including Lord of us?  If we do, then the stuff of martyrs is within is. A blood martyr has given their all and sacrificed life for Jesus and has given us an example of total commitment.  On the other hand, there are modern day people that give their all in an unbloody way by caring for the poor, the homeless.  There are those who sacrifice comfort and safety to help those that cannot help themselves. These people are the bloodless martyrs and they, like those who sacrificed their physical life, are shining examples of what we should be like. 

In America, it is becoming more and more likely that we may see our fellow Christians, Catholics, and Protestants alike may be called to the ultimate sacrifice for Jesus.  The craziness of radical Islam is not unknown in America.  Each of us has to be ready to step forward when our name is called.  We must be proud and loud and ready to serve our Master. 

Tuesday of Holy Week - Betrayal

Reclining at table with his disciples, Jesus was deeply troubled and testified,

"Amen, amen, I say to you, one of you will betray me."

I don't think that there is anything more painful to the human heart than an act of betrayal.  What makes betrayal so painful is that it is an act of a friend.  A person who does not know you cannot betray you. We all have been the victim of betrayal in our lives.  When I was a seventh grader, my friend Dennis and I went over to McKinley Park, a beautiful place when I was a kid, it was filled with bicycle paths, playgrounds, and a lagoon that you could actually catch fish at. This, of course, was in warm weather.  My friend and I were going to the park on a day when only fools and idiots were out of doors as it was very cold. We had a purpose in mind.  The cold snap would have frozen the lagoon solid and we wanted to take some time to explore the three islands that were on this man-made lake.  And so we did.  It turned out that these three little islands were nothing very special, a fact which we took note of and started to use the ice for its native purpose, sliding.  All in all, it was a lot of fun for a couple young boys on a cold and blustery Chicago winter weekend.  At one end of the park was the "inlet" that kept the water fresh.  The inlet was not a spring, it was a pipe that poured fresh Lake Michigan water into the lagoon to prevent it from becoming a stinking swamp in the summer months.  We gravitated towards this pipe because even though it was freezing cold, there were six feet of liquid water surrounding the pipe.  We got to the edge of the ice and my friend pointed at something and I bent low to see what it was.  The next thing I knew I was under the water. The icy water made me gasp and I was out air quickly.  God was with me at that moment because I did not panic and thrash about so I stayed near the hole.  I remember seeing the ice from the bottom with the weak sunlight lighting it up.  I struggled and pushed myself up and my friend's arm pulled me out and deposited me on the ice like a walrus.  I began immediately to shiver. My friend found it all hilarious and called me a clumsy oaf.  My lips were blue and I knew I could not walk the two miles back to my home but luckily my Uncle John lived not too far from the park.  My friend said he had to go home and turned and left me shivering and freezing to death on the ice.  I trudged off the ice and walked to my uncle's house which, luckily, was only two blocks away. My uncle provided me with warm clothes and hot chocolate and called his brother to come and pick me up.  Later, I learned that my friend, Dennis, was bragging and laughing about how foolish I looked after he pushed me into the lagoon.  That was the first time in my life I felt betrayed and it hurt. It hurt badly.  If you think back, I am sure that you will remember a time when a friend turned on you.  How did it feel? 

Judas Iscariot was a friend of Jesus. He was one of the twelve picked to be His special friends, His Apostles.  These would be the men He entrusted his kingdom, his Church on earth to.  Judas was an important Apostle. He had charge of the money.  He saw to needed purchases and made sure that the charity people offered were put to good use.  He may have also kept a bit for himself, at least there were suspicions that he did so but Jesus did nothing when it was brought to His attention.  This emboldened Judas and he began to think that if he could get away with stealing from the common purse, then how could Jesus be the Messiah, the Son of God?  Judas could see the writing on the wall.  He could tell that the Pharisees were baiting Jesus and were just waiting for him to make a single wrong step. If Jesus were to be arrested, so would anyone close to him unless that person had a special relationship with the high priest.  Judas decided to sell Jesus to His enemies.  Of course, once Jesus was arrested he could keep the common purse because it was money belonging to a criminal.  Inwardly, Judas was delighted with his plan.  Outwardly he continued to pretend that he was a faithful follower of Jesus.  When the time came, he received all that he had hoped for. He got the donations, he got thirty pieces of silver, the cost of an unskilled slave, and he was immune from prosecution because he had turned Jesus in.  In the end, he realized his betrayal cost him a lot more than he had received.  He could have asked Jesus for forgiveness and he would be forgiven.  Instead, he gave in to despair and committed suicide.

We all like to think that had we been around in the time of Jesus we would have been faithful followers of Christ. Back then, being a Christian brought with it dangers of death. Would we have become martyrs for our faith of would we have offered incense to the emperor's statue? 

Today, in America, we do not risk death for being a follower of Christ. But are we afraid to show we are Christians?  The America we live in is hostile to Christian ways. We can lose friends and esteem if we point out things that are wrong.  But if we fail to do this we are just like Judas in that we are trying to make friends with those who are in power who may hate Jesus and His Church. We cannot choose to be an undercover Christian. To do so would be a betrayal that would make Judas's betrayal seem mild in comparison. 

As we approach the end of our Lenten journey, let us look at where we have missed the mark, where we have sinned.  Forgiveness is just one reception of the sacrament of Reconciliation away.  If you haven't been to it in years, so what?  Tell the priest and he will help you along.  Our sins are betrayals of the One that loves us. We can ignore them and sign on to follow the world or we can face them, confess them, and receive forgiveness.  We can be Judas who betrayed and died or we can be Peter who betrayed and lived.  The choice is up to us. 

Lent - Risking It All

Today, believe it or not, marks nine months from Christmas!  It is also the day we celebrate the Solemnity of the Annunciation.  This is an exciting feast day for all Christians, although many of those in Protestant denominations fail to see the full significance of it. The Angel Gabriel came to a young girl in a small, out of the way, insignificant town, and told her that she had found favor with the Lord. He uses these words, "Hail Mary, full of grace..."  With these words, the angel announced that Mary was full of grace.  When something is full, you cannot fit any more into it. The angel goes on to announce that Mary will be the mother of the Messiah. For her part, Mary, full of grace, with her heart fully turned to God, accepts.  Her "Yes" is the beginning of the life of Jesus on earth. No sooner had she given her consent, when inside of her Jesus began to take on human nature. 

Today we do not grasp the danger she put herself in. Today, our morals are more, shall we say relaxed.  In our world, nothing is thought of pregnancy before marriage.  I am not saying this to judge anyone, it is just a fact. In the time of the Messiah, there was a long courtship period when the couple was said to be betrothed to one another, in effect they were man and wife in the eyes of the law. This period would be used by the husband to prepare a home for his bride. The man and woman had the rights to sleep together but the normal thing was to wait until the wedding. 

From the moment of Mary's "Yes," she was pregnant. What did she do? She left to visit Elizabeth and stayed there three months, coming back three months along in her pregnancy.  She told Joseph and he must have almost died because the one he loved appeared to have been unfaithful. He could go to the priests and denounce her or he could pay to have her transported elsewhere to have her child. If he told the priests there would have been a quick examination of Mary and when found to be pregnant she would have been condemned to death by stoning.  Joseph was a man full of love for Mary and he resolved to have her sent away to have the child. He later was filled in by God in a dream and he took her into his home and they were man and wife.  Both of them risked everything but they also took God at His word and the story of our salvation and God's infinite love for his wayward children moved forward. 

Each of us is here on earth because there is a mission that we have to complete. This mission cannot be done by another.  We may be asked to take a risk for the Kingdom. The question is simply; "Are you ready?"  So many of our brothers and sisters have been asked to shed blood for the faith in the middle east where Christianity took up root and prospered from the earliest time. These modern-day martyrs risked their all in the name of God and His Son, Jesus.

So, like Mary and Joseph, are you ready to turn your world upside down if God asks you to do something?  Do you want to remain safe and secure or are you a risk taker for the Kingdom?

The Christmas Truce - The Power of the Holy Name

The Christmas Truce 1914

In 1914 something happened along the western front in the no man's land between the British and German lines.  Peace or at least a temporary and very unofficial truce broke out on Christmas 1914. British and German soldiers wandered into that death zone and exchanged the joy of the season with each other.  They traded tobacco, Christmas carols were sung and a soccer (football) match broke out. (it is not recorded who won the game)  For a while, there was peace on the western front.  Such is the power of the events that took place in a little-regarded town in Judea almost two thousand years previously. The very thought that God came to earth was able to, at least temporarily stop the wheels of that terrible, bloody war that was fought using industrial methods that never were seen on the field of battle before.  The leadership of both sides in this war were attempting to fight the war using outmoded tactics suitable for the nineteenth century but not for this "War to End All Wars."  As a result of this outdated old fogey thinking from the field grade officers millions of men, Germans and Allies alike went to their deaths in a war where one side was trying to "bleed the other side white." 

Jesus is the Son of God.  The very thought of His birth that holy night stopped the bloodshed. What it took on both sides was simply a recognition that the other side was populated with people no different than those that were under arms on your side. Christmas Carols and a bit of bravery on both sides caused the slaughter to cease. 

Today we face an enemy that targets us because of our beliefs, one that has no respect for the Name that is above all other names.  As a matter of fact, they are targeting us because of the Name of Jesus. Their publications are calling for Christmas to become a celebration of blood.  They call for their followers to make their presence felt at our places of worship.  We know that they have no respect for Christian things and a basic "live and let live" policy is not part of their plan.  

What do we do?  Can there be a Christmas truce between them and us?  Unfortunately, no truce is possible for it is not within our power to create. The enemy has chosen to entrench themselves deeply in their beliefs that reward them for creating chaos and bloodshed.  So we cannot do anything on our own to cause a truce to happen.  

What we must do is to remember that the there is power in the name of Jesus.  We must trust in His name, we must trust in His power.  The name of Jesus is the antidote to hatred and discord.  We must call on the name and trust in his reply.  Our example in trusting in His name will baffle and confuse our enemies.  I have written about this example once before but it bears repeating in the present context.  Isis had lined up a group of Christians and one other non-Christian person, in order to execute them.  The Christians were on their knees and they kept praying and repeating the name of Jesus.  The non-Christian, also on his knees waiting for the knife, observed all of this.  His captors approached him and told him that if he declared himself to be Muslim that his life would be spared.  The man looked at the Christians, saw the joy on their faces and their brave countenance and he heard them repeating the Holy Name and he told his captors; "Their God is my God." 

That is how powerful the very name of Jesus is. Carry His Name in your heart, and have His words upon your lips and you will be safe in all circumstances because he will be at your side. 

ISIS Cannot Win

ISIS is losing ground and the so called caliphate is but a shadow of its former self. The vicious snake has begun to consume itself as we hear of executions of their own fighters, men who have had enough of the killing of innocent women and children and have tried to desert these butchers.. Now their rabid leader calls for lone wolf attacks against "the infidels." everywhere.   It turns out that the infidels include everyone who are not a part of ISIS including other Muslims especially the Sunni branch of Islam.  So in one of the latest attacks two fevered followers took five hostages and after shouting obscenities around the altar in the Catholic Church killed the eighty-five year old priest who was saying Mass.

The murder of the priest in a house of worship should come as no surprise. ISIS and it followers have no desire to co-exist with any other religion including Sunni members of Islam. To them all are infidels deserving of death. The fact is that there has been a wholesale slaughter of Christians in the lands that have been infested by ISIS. Thousands upon thousands of Christians, Catholics and Protestants alike have been put to death because they would not submit to the pagan religion espoused by ISIS.  Why our esteemed president, Barack Hussein Obama, seems afraid to call this wholesale murder of whole blocks of people for their religious beliefs what it is, genocide, is beyond me.  Who is he afraid of alienating? ISIS? ISIS would like nothing more than to have the president in their clutches. Is he afraid of alienating ordinary Muslims? Your ordinary Muslim hates what ISIS has done to their religion and wants nothing more than to live in peace.  How do we know this?  Because it was done for hundreds of years in places where Christians and Muslims lived together in peace. Declaring the murder of the innocent a genocide is not declaring war on Islam at all, it is declaring war on those who pervert Islam. 

There will be more bloodshed and there is no safe place. The lunatics that ISIS attracts live among us. They may be of foreign descent but they may have been born in America and will use the freedoms we have against us. But the title of this post is, "ISIS Cannot Win." and so far what I have written makes it sound as if they are.

ISIS cannot win because they do not bear any allegiance to God at all. They cannot win because they have turned their hearts away from the way of peace and hardened them into hearts of stone. The martyrs they are making are showing other Christians what it may take to prove themselves to Christ.  The Christian martyrs know that Jesus is the Son of God and rules at the right hand of the Father.  They surrender their very being to Jesus rather than to deny Him.  When a group of Christians were going to be executed by ISIS there was one Arab man who was not a believer among them. He watched as the Christians prayed and said the name of Jesus over and over again. His captors told the Arab man that if he converted to Islam right there and then he would be spared.  He looked at the condemned Christian men praying and told the devil's apostles that "Their God is My God."  He went to his death and  I am sure directly to heaven as he was a martyr for the faith because he professed his belief in Jesus at the cost of his very life. 

ISIS cannot hope to win because we know that Jesus Christ has already won the victory and that at the name of Jesus, every knee must bend and every tongue proclaim to the Glory of God the Father, that Jesus Christ is Lord.