Vocation Vacation !

"The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few; so ask the master of the harvest to send out laborers for his harvest." 

How have we Catholics gotten ourselves into the situation that we find ourselves today?  To say that the Church is running short of priests is to underestimate the problem.  Look at this chart which shows graphically the pickle we are in:   (source: Channel 23 Bakersfield CA)

 Above we see that the number of priests topped out in 1970 and has been sliding downhill, slowly at first, then starting in the 1980's it begins a rapid decline until we end up where we are today, and that, my friend, is in trouble.  You would think that the number of Catholics in the United States was falling off significantly but you would be wrong.  Compared with the 1970's there are thirty-million more of us that profess to be Catholics now than there were in the 70's.  You would think that with that kind of an increase we would be awash in priestly vocations.  You would be wrong there too. If One-Percent of the thirty-million became priests we would have 300,000 thousand of them - just based on the "new" people calling themselves Catholics.  Of course, this is just a simple calculation and one that does not take into account how many of those people are male and how many are female. It also does not take into account how many of them are converts versus reverts, nor does it count those people any differently that are just nominal Catholics, ones that call themselves such but attend mass sparsely or not at all.  But, there still should be more men studying for the priesthood than there currently is. The question this blog is raising today is a simple one, and this "Why?" 

I am a child of the 1970's.  I hail from an age where there were multiple priests at every parish.  For example, on Saturday afternoon you had your choice of five priests to go to confession.  A layperson knew his or her place. That place was in the pews and except when getting married, the altar rail was as far as the normal person went.  Father took care of everything that went on north of the Altar Rail Line.  He did the readings, he did the announcements and aided by a couple of acolytes he led the prayer.  There was literally no reason for unconsecrated hands to touch anything that was part of the equipment used for mass. Also, no civilian ever would be allowed to touch the Sacred Species, the very Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Christ.  The sacrament was removed from the Ciborium and you were fed by the priest. The young ones were even taught (at least at my parish) to not touch the host with the tongue even if it got stuck on the roof of your mouth, you were to let it dissolve naturally.  A priest back then was a man entitled to great respect.  You listened when Father spoke. He settled all of your doubts and questions and taught with authority. If you were a kid, you might not even know the priest's first name.  Even if you did, you never called him by it.  To this day, I do not know what the pastor who gave me first communion's first name.  He was then and will always be for me, Father Hughs.   

Then, something changed, but what was it? Oh, sure, the church made some changes.  The priest turned around and faced the people, we were able to listen, in our own language to the prayers of the mass. Communion was now offered in both the bread and the wine and you could, if you wanted to, receive the host in your hand, imagine that!  The music was updated and at some masses, the organ was out and the guitar was in.  We rowed the boat ashore with Michael and we Kumbya'd and developed a real feel-good sort of worship service.  Somewhere in all of this minutia, something changed not the church but the people in the church, the civilians, we changed. 

Our fathers and grandparents saw the Church as a constant in their life. In many parts of the world, the day was constructed around the church.  A son or a daughter that expressed an interest in a vocation with the Church was encouraged  and the family was proud of "my son the priest" or my "daughter the nun."  As I grew up in St. Joseph and St. Anne's Church and School, we were forever encouraged by the nuns and priests to consider a vocation in the Church as a priest, nun or religious brother.  I think that it was in the late sixties and early seventies that their advertising for the Church started to fall on deaf ears.  The question is why?  Nothing had, at the time, changed with the nuns or priests.  Society had changed a bit, the summer of love came and went as did Woodstock.  What changed at that moment, as I see it, were two things.  First, grandparents lost much of their voice in the care and feeding of their grandchildren.  Where once their wisdom would have been considered, it was now discounted, as their ideas were out of date with this new brave world that their sons and daughters lived in.  This would have been okay if the new generation of parents had similar goals for their lives as the previous generation. It is unfortunate that they did not. For them, spirituality took second place to consumerism. We became a people who were obsessed with the outward signs of success and this was unfortunately detrimental to our spiritual lives. When Danny or Debbie broached the subject of feeling a call to religious life, if not actively discouraged, they received no encouragement to follow through.  Instead, the subtle pressure was brought to bear that would distract the prospective religious person from their personal goal.  They would, like Jesus, be taken to the top of the temple and be shown all of the things that could be theirs.  Unlike Jesus, they were often unable to put the temptation behind them and many vocations were lost this way.  I am not saying that the parents were doing this out of hate.  No, far from it.  I believe that they were doing what they considered best for the child and what would be best for the family in years to come. This was the exact opposite of what would have happened in the days of yore! 

So, as our cadre of priests aged, their numbers began to fall. Even some of the priests already ordained fell prey to the life outside of consecrated life and left their vocation to pursue a career outside of the Church.  Today we are in extremis as far as priests go. We have never recovered that spark of spirituality that would ignite a blaze and burn away the dross of our fall into consumerism and once again open our eyes to what is important.  

Apple Phone 10 is not important.  1040 HD Televisions are not important.  Stacks of money in the bank are not important.  What is important is that we adopt (again) a fresh new spiritual way of thinking.  Parents, wake up, your eternity, as well as that of your children, are at stake here. Encourage spiritual things.  For every temporal thing in your child's life, introduce two spiritual concepts.  Pray together, take them to mass, drag them there if you have to! Preach to them not with words but with actions.  Treat your spouse with the loving care that Jesus lavishes on his bride, the Church. Encourage your children by example to be kind, to be loving, to be tender, to want to help.  If they express a desire to be part of the Church, encourage them to explore it for themselves and support them in their quest.  Don't push, for they will push back.  Remember all of the missed opportunities in your early life and let your kids discover for themselves, with your gentle and loving assistance, the beauty of offering their mind, body, and soul to Jesus.  Ultimately, it does not matter if they become priests, nuns, deacons, for only those God has ordained to be so will succeed in this endeavor.  But making sure that their spiritual life means more to them than what they have and who they know will make your son or daughter a proud follower of Jesus the Lord.  

Purgatory is a place where the last vestiges of our attachment to things of this world and our sins are burned away.  It is both a place of pain and sorrow and a place of great joy.  The Poor Souls, perhaps some people you know, are waiting for YOU to pray for them.  The time for gaining merit is on this side of the grave not once you arrive on the other.  Please, this weekend, say a rosary for a poor soul.  Remember, death is not the qualification for heaven, holiness is.  Where they are one day you may also be.

The Immaculate Exception

The angel Gabriel was sent from God
to a town of Galilee called Nazareth,
to a virgin betrothed to a man named Joseph,
of the house of David,
and the virgin's name was Mary.
And coming to her, he said,
"Hail, full of grace! The Lord is with you."
But she was greatly troubled at what was said
and pondered what sort of greeting this might be.
Then the angel said to her,
"Do not be afraid, Mary,
for you have found favor with God.
Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son,
and you shall name him Jesus.
He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High,
and the Lord God will give him the throne of David his father,
and he will rule over the house                                        

 of Jacob forever,
and of his Kingdom, there will be no end."
But Mary said to the angel,
"How can this be,
since I have no relations with a man?"
And the angel said to her in reply,
"The Holy Spirit will come upon you,
and the power of the Most High will overshadow you.
Therefore the child to be born
will be called holy, the Son of God.
And behold, Elizabeth, your relative,
has also conceived a son in her old age,
and this is the sixth month for her who was called barren;
for nothing will be impossible for God."
Mary said, "Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord.
May it be done to me according to your word."
Then the angel departed from her.

Today's Solemnity makes me happy that I am a Catholic.  This feast is a prime example of the Church getting something right, right from the start. The readings presented will confuse some people because it is the dialogue of the angel and Mary on the occasion of the Annunciation.  That, of course, is not what we celebrate on this day.  The reason that the Church uses this particular scripture passage on this feast day is because of what both of the characters say.  The Angel Gabriel tells Mary that she is full of grace.  The timing of this announcement is important.  It was said BEFORE she agreed to become the Mother of God, not after.  The Angel was therefore not bringing her Grace, she already had it and she had it in an extravagant abundance, she was full, absolutely full of grace.  Her soul could not contain even one more ounce of God's love and Grace.  If you have a jar and fill it to the top with sand, you cannot get any more in it.  Mary was born without the stain of original sin on her soul, her soul was pure and beautiful in God's sight.  But why did God do this? 

Look at what we know about the nature of God.  God is infinite goodness and love.  Nothing that is impure or sinful can ever be in His presence.  The Virgin Mary was going to be the Mother of the Messiah. For nine months she was to bear in her body the body, blood, soul, and divinity of the Son of God.  I never thought of it before, but, her womb could be considered a tabernacle. If I was going to be flippant about it, I might call Mary's womb a branch office of heaven because God was present inside of her. This being the case, there could not even be a hint of sin in the place God was to dwell. 

How did God do this?  It is true, God could have created Mary as singularly different creature, one who had a specially built soul which was absolutely resistant to sin but that would make Mary a creature at least one step removed from being a human being, she would be in effect Human Being Mark II.  The genus man had sinned and it was man that had to pay the price for the sin so Jesus would have to be born through the office of an ordinary woman. Mary, therefore, required a savior. 

God is not bound by space and time. He exists in the past, present, and future as we see it all at the same time. Therefore, God knew that Jesus was going to pay the price for the sin of Adam and Eve by dying on the cross. He, therefore, applied the graces to Mary before the fact as we see it and preserved her from any taint of original sin.  The old example is that while Jesus rescued you and me from the pit of sin, Mary was carried over it by her Son. 

As I said, the wonder of this feast comes from the conversation between Mary and the Angel. To her eternal credit, Mary never hesitates, she asks only how that she would conceive a son because she never had relations with a man. Then she accepts, meekly and humbly calling herself the handmaid of the Lord and she says, "Let it be done to me as you have said."   But, doesn't this immaculate conception thing kind of make her a puppet?  Could she have refused?  

Mary was a human being.  In many ways, she was very, very, ordinary.  She was a pious girl in an age where piety was the expected norm and she was taught to love God and keep the commandments.  She also was born with free will and she was free to say no to the angel.  Because she was full of grace, her whole mind, body, and soul were turned to God in a way that made it much more likely that she would say yes rather than no but she had that decision to make. And as I pointed out, she never hesitated but she nullified the no of Adam and Eve with her "Yes" to be obedient to God. 

Our Protestant brothers and sisters have a great deal of difficulty with the concept of where Mary fits into God's plan of salvation.  We Catholics are very fortunate that we understand the truth of the matter and that we have a mother in heaven that has the ear of the Savior.  What does Mary tell us in scripture?  At Cana, she gave us her best advice, "Do whatever he tells you to do." 

Please remember to pray for the poor souls in Purgatory today.  An Our Father, Hail Mary, and Glory Be will help them so much.  Remember, As they are, someday you may be.

When in Rome Do As The Romans Do

Today is the feast day of St. Ambrose who is a Doctor of the Church.  He is the author of that guiding principle "When in Rome do as the Romans do."  This is how we summarize his principle of following the local customs of the churches he visited. For example, if it was their custom to fast on Fridays, he would fast with them.  But to say Ambrose was a busy man would be damn him with faint praise.  

Ambrose was born into a Roman Christian family but to my way of thinking, he was not baptized a Christian. He was known to be a wise man and he was what was called Nicene Christian which meant that he did not believe in the what the Arians believed.  The Arians believed that at one point in time that God the Father created God the Son and thus the concept of the Trinity was nullified. 

The bishop of Milan passed away and the Arians were poised to create an issue when the new bishop was appointed.  Ambrose came to the conclave and while he spoke eloquently to maintain the peace, a cry went out for him to be appointed the bishop of Milan.  He ran away and hid but within a couple of days, he was found, he was baptized, ordained, and consecrated the Bishop of Milan. 

The emperor was an arianist as was his mother. They demanded that Ambrose provide them with two churches where they could worship in accordance with their beliefs.  Ambrose refused.  He stated that he would present his body to the emperor to do what he liked with it but he would never betray the altar of the Church of Christ. His teaching on the liturgy was that it should be a tool for the people to use to worship God and slight variations from place to place were to be expected. Ambrose baptized Augustine, another Doctor of the Church. 

The Poor Souls in Purgatory need your help today.  Please say a rosary for them.  Remember as they are, one day you may be! 

Things Will Be A Changin'

Then the wolf shall be a guest of the lamb,                         and the leopard shall lie down with the kid;
The calf and the young lion shall browse together,
with a little child to guide them.
The cow and the bear shall be neighbors,
together their young shall rest;
the lion shall eat hay like the ox.
The baby shall play by the cobra's den,
and the child lay his hand on the adder's lair.
There shall be no harm or ruin on all my holy mountain; for the earth shall be filled with knowledge of the LORD, as water covers the sea.

When you go to the movies today, you see previews of coming attractions. Movies that are scheduled to be there in the future but are not there yet. Our reading today from the book of the Prophet Isiah is just that, a preview of what is to be.  On the day the Lord returns, everything will change. Enemies will become friends. The nature of relationships between creatures will become one of peace and mutual care. On that day, Isiah says, there will be no harm or ruin, there will be peace.

This is what we are waiting for, the return of the Lord and the restoration of the world to how it was intended from the start.  When the Lord returns, those of us who are dead will rise to a great new morning, a world of wonders and a world of peace.  The Church wants us to know what it is that we are waiting for and wants us to know that we can help bring this about by living a worthy life now and to promote peace between peoples and to care for one another as it was intended for us to do from the start.  The Lord's day is coming and the Lord's day is already here! 

Our brothers and sisters in Purgatory long the Lord's day to manifest itself in their lives. They wait patiently and joyfully to be taken into the presence of God.  Your prayers and sacrifices can help them.  Won't you please pray for them today?  As they are, someday you might be. 

Lord I Am Not Worthy...

When Jesus entered Capernaum,

a centurion approached him and appealed to him, saying, "Lord, my servant is lying at home paralyzed, suffering dreadfully."  He said to him, "I will come and cure him." The centurion said in reply,

"Lord, I am not worthy to have you enter under my roof; only say the word and my servant will be healed.

For I too am a man subject to authority,

with soldiers subject to me. And I say to one, 'Go,' and he goes; and to another, 'Come here,' and he comes; and to my slave, 'Do this,' and he does it."  When Jesus heard this, he was amazed and said to those following him, "Amen, I say to you, in no one in Israel have I found such faith. I say to you, many will come from the east and the west, and will recline with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob at the banquet in the Kingdom of heaven."

If you wanted to describe the passage from Matthew in one word, I would say that the word you could use would be "remarkable."  Here we have an official of the Roman Army approaching a Hebrew street preacher to ask for help in curing his servant from some sort of paralysis.  We can assume that the Centurion had already exhausted remedies suggested by Roman medical authorities who were very often nothing more than slaves with a little bit of knowledge on how to stop bleeding and not much more than that. Unsatisfied that his servant did not attain any relief from the Roman medical community, he decided to reach out to the locals who seem to have better medical care than the occupiers of the country.  The Jewish people were healthier than most people of the era and had such modern things as toothbrushes and toothpaste made out of grit and a bit of honey.  Even so, the Centurion did not approach a medical professional but rather Jesus.  This is interesting because a Centurion was an important official in the Roman army.  He was generally a professional soldier with several tours of duty under his belt. At various times in history the number of soldiers he was in charge of ranged from thirty to one-hundred.  At this time, the Centurion in the Roman Army was in charge of one-hundred Legionnaires.  The Centurion reported to the Tribune and was in charge of and infamous for brutal disciplines meated out to those who needed it under his command.  He was expected to be a leader and one that could rally the troops when things were not going Rome's way in battle.  He must always appear resolute and he could count on being executed if he showed any cowardice when engaging the enemy.  Most of those with this rank would retire as Centurions but advancement was possible.  He could be promoted to the emperor's bodyguard and even be promoted to various civil offices including the Roman Senate.   So it was remarkable that this man would seek out a Hebrew to solve a medical problem. It shows that Jesus was known, even to the Romans, who took little notice of the religion of Israel except where it affected the power of the emperor. 

Jesus for His part, takes pity on the sick person, even though the servant was obviously not a Jew and was ready to set off with the Centurion to effect a cure.  The Centurion would have none of it.  He told Jesus that he was not worthy to expect Jesus to come under his roof.  He explained that as a person with authority he knew how to get things done.  He would tell one soldier to go and he would go and another to come here and that soldier would come running to see what was needed.   He knew enough about Jesus to know that Jesus was a man with authority and if he commanded the sickness to be gone, it would be gone.  Jesus was struck by this pagan's faith in the authority of the Christ.  He cured the servant, the Centurion went about his business and Jesus remarked that faith such as what was displayed by the Roman soldier could not be found in all of Israel and Jesus prophesied that non-Jews coming from the East and the West will sit and dine with Abraham, Isaac, and  Jacob and that salvation would be for all that could accept it, not just the Jews. 

We say the words of the Centurion every time we go to mass.  We are called to express our confidence in the ability of Jesus to do what Jesus said He would do.  Then we take the Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Christ inside of us.  No closer union is possible for us outside of being in heaven.  How many of us walk up to communion and receive it without really realizing what it is we are receiving?  Do we understand that Christ is inside of us as He is with all of the other people that have received?  Do we receive and then return to our place and take out the bulletin and catch up on parish news or do we open our minds and souls and speak to the God who is within us and who has given us this great gift?  Do we thank Him for all of the good things He has given to us in our life or do we look at our wristwatch and wonder if we will have eggs or pancakes when we go to breakfast after mass?  The Centurion was sure that Jesus could command nature and had the power to cure and he was a pagan.  We, on the other hand, have been brought up with this gift from a God who loves us and I fear some of us do not take it as seriously as we ought.  Next time you go to communion, communicate with Jesus, He IS present within you in a special way. Don't let Him come and go unrecognized.  

Please pray for the poor souls in Purgatory. They are souls full of joy and yet they suffer for they long to see God.  Pray for them and they will remember you in your time of need.  Remember, as they are, one day you may be. 

First Sunday of Advent - Wait, Wait, Wait

He will keep you firm to the end, irreproachable on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.God is faithful, and by him, you were called to fellowship with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

It is really hard to believe that the first Sunday of Advent is already here.  It wasn't too long ago that I was welcoming in the new year with all of its hopes and dreams.  

There is nothing so hard as waiting.  Life seems to be the period where we go from the back of the line to the front of the line.  Did you ever get into a line at the supermarket where everything was it seemed to be moving nicely and then you hear the dreaded "price check on seven."  The person in front of you has four ounces of cumquats and is insisting that they were on sale but the register rang them up at two cents more a pound than the sale price. You want to reach into your pocket and give the person a quarter so that she will get the heck out of your way!  Waiting is hard.  Can you imagine how hard it was for the Hebrew people?  

The Hebrews in the first century had been waiting for the Messiah for a long time. While they were waiting, countries were having their way with them and they wanted to be free of foreign interference with their government.  So, imagine having to wait centuries for something to happen and you think that your wait in the supermarket line with that screaming little brat that wants one of every candy bar that he has seen was long!  In the next four weeks, we will wait as we pray and reflect on the place of Jesus in our life.  Each week we will get closer and closer to that great time when our Savior will appear.   

There will be a lot of preparing to be done over the next four weeks. The house will need to be made ready to receive guests, there will be presents to buy and wrap and meals to plan, people to pick up and drop off.  It will be a mad scramble for some of us. All the while we are exhausting ourselves with the needs of the body will we be considering the needs of our soul?  There is no reason why even one of us cannot take fifteen minutes a day in prayer especially if you make time when all of the work of the day is complete.  You need this time of prayer.  Here is the painless way of doing it.  

Wait for a time just before bed.  Turn off the TV, radio, stereo and most of all the smartphone.  Breathe in and out deeply a few times and sink back into your chair.  Clear your mind of everything and just think of one word, "Jesus."  Breathe in and out as you slowly say the name. Then imagine that Jesus is there with you.  He is sitting just opposite of you and He is ready to listen to you.  Pour out your heart, let Him know how you feel.  Let Him hear of your joys and sorrows, laugh with Him and cry with Him. After fifteen minutes (longer if you like) take your leave of Him and thank Him for the blessings He has given you in your life.  

There is no secret to prayer that you need to know except this.  Prayer is simply talking to your friend.  He wants this relationship with you!  He loves you with all of His Heart.  

Advent is a great time to help your relatives and friends who might this very day be in Purgatory.  He or she is not there you say, well, then pray for the people who need it most.  Your prayers will not go unheard nor will they be wasted. 

Don't Fall Asleep At The Wheel

Jesus said to his disciples:

"Beware that your hearts do not become drowsy  

from carousing and drunkenness and the anxieties of daily life, and that day catch you by surprise like a trap. For that day will assault everyone who lives on the face of the earth. Be vigilant at all times and pray that you have the strength to escape the tribulations that are imminent and to stand before the Son of Man."

The human mind needs sleep.  Your brain will tell you when it has had enough.  You will lose your edge, you may daydream a bit and you just will not be alert.  

I had a job once working third shift, midnight to nine in the morning. Working third shift is not for sissies, I can tell you that.  During the day you are trying to sleep while the world works. Where I lived the noises of everyday life included gardeners with lawn mowers and leaf blowers doing their work almost every day of the week. This coupled with the sun which does not change its schedule for you does make sleeping a challenge.  If you were to have seen me during those nine months that I endured the torture, you would have seen a man who needed some real sleep.  Once. after my shift, I picked up my wife and we went to our favorite restaurant.  On the way there we encountered a stop light.  I stopped the car.  My brain which was in driving mode said, "Oh good, we've stopped."  I promptly fell asleep and my foot slipped off of the brake and we began to creep through the intersection.  I felt the motion and immediately awoke from my three-second slumber and re-applied the brake.  I was now awake, but only slightly alert.  We got to the restaurant safely and I had scrambled eggs, hashbrowns, and toast and four cups of coffee, black, to fortify myself to drive me and my wife back home. 

When we take on too much activity and do not get the rest we need we get drowsy.  It's nature's way of saying that something is wrong. Today Jesus tells us to not allow the cares of the world make us drowsy because we must stay alert and be ready the return of the Lord.   If we allow ourselves to fall into the traps that the world sets for us and we get all wrapped up in attaining temporal things, we will lose our focus on the kingdom of heaven and we will become drowsy when it comes to our salvation and will not ready for Jesus to return. 

This must be an important concept because Jesus returns to it several times in the Gospel accounts.  So, for this first week of advent let our watchwords be "Be sober and alert Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour."

Please remember to pray for your dear departed friends and relatives who may be at this very moment in Purgatory.  You can help them by prayer and sacrifice for them.  It takes about fifteen minutes to pray the rosary for them and you are going to Mass and communion anyway, can't you offer these things for their good?