This week I wanted to share a very special treat I have at home. I recently purchased the Catholicism DVD series from Lighthouse Catholic Media by Father Robert Barron. It is blowing me away! I am a recent ‘revert’ to the Catholic faith and I just cannot seem to get enough of the church. The more I learn the more I fall in love with everything Catholic. This week the Gospel reading has one of my favorite lines, “you have not chosen me, it is I who chose you…” Does anyone else find this incredible? It blows me away to say that verse slowly and think of what he is saying. God, the creator of everything we see and everything we are, the giver of life, the source of all love and mercy has called us to himself so He can immerse us in His mystical and unimaginable love for us. Sometimes when I am at Mass thinking it is so great that I chose to be there and look at me worshipping and being good, I get smacked over the side of the head (very lovingly) with this reminder. I have not chosen God, I am not good enough in and of myself apart from God to make that choice, it is God’s gift to me that I have the grace and ability to be with him. It is all a great mystery and a great gift. Be still and say thank you for the gift of life, no matter what the present circumstances. We serve a God who brings the best out of what seems like the worst (case and point…the suffering and death of Christ on the cross).

Let us remember to rejoice at Mass, remain in God’s love and build each other up. Before you bash a reader, get up there on Sunday and try it yourself…we would love to have you in our company!

Peace and love in Christ ~ Amy

On November 27, 2011 a new liturgical year begins with the words of the prophet Isaiah: “O Lord, your are the king (father), we are the clay, you are the king (potter); we are the work of your hands.”  (Is. 64:8).  On November 20, 2011 the church concludes the liturgical year with a specific feast, called Christ the King.  Americans have a tough time with the concept of a king.  After all, we never had one.  Yet, Catholics proclaim a King, whose dominion is based on love, truth, and compassion.

It is important to know that at least three denominations (Lutherans, United Methodists, and Roman Catholics) observe the last Sunday of the liturgical year under the title of Christ the King.  This feast, however, is Roman Catholic in its origin.  The tradition goes back to the 19th century when British, Americans, Spaniards, French, German, Russians, and Japanese were at war or about to go to war somewhere.  In the midst of these conflicts, Pope Leo XIII issued an unusual encyclical letter, “Annum Sacrum”  (May 25,1899), in which he dedicated the world to Christ the King, the real King.  Twenty six years later, after the great war had devastated Europe, Pope XI offered another reminder of Christ’s kingship.  In his encyclical “Quas Primas” (December 11, 1925) he established the feast of Christ the King to be celebrated on the last Saturday of October.  When the Roman Catholic Church revised the Calendar in 1969 this feast was moved permanently to the last Sunday of the liturgical year.  The biblical references develop the concept of being a king, the way Jesus really was.  For instance the prophet Ezekiel points out (Ch. 4) to the shepherd-king.  The Israelite community measured the wealth of the shepherd by the size and the health of the sheep.  Sheep and goats were source of clothing (wool), shelter (hair-blanket), milk, butter, cheese, and meat.  Goatskins were used as containers for water and wine.  Sheep and goats had to be led by the shepherd to food and drink, and protect them from other animals.  In the New Testament, when Saint Paul wrote his first letter to the people of Corinth (54-57) points out to Christ the King, being the new Adam leading us to life, while the first Adam brought us death.  The Gospel outlines beautifully the kingship of Jesus by the  DOING-MINISTRY, rather than the TALKING-MINISTRY.  “You did it for me and to me.”  It is clear in our century that the talking ministry is less effective than the doing ministry and the Being-Ministry.  I really believe that it is time to combine the doing and being together.  The great theologian Karl Rahner once said: “The mystic is not a special kind of person.  Every person is a special kind of mystic.” We all know that we become active and contemplative by giving meaning to our lives in serving others and growing with others.  The gospel uses the expression: feeding the hungry and giving water to the thirsty.  Service in our Christian journey is not a hobby, a job, but rather a ministry and ambition for the privilege to serve.  As we all know, there is a big difference between hobby and ambition.  There were some students applying for admission to a college in the psychological field and they were asked to fill out a questionnaire (anything new?).  Among the questions asked were: “What is your hobby?” and “what is your ambition?”

If Jesus is the King, what is the kingdom?  The kingdom is you, because you are loving, you are loved, and you are lovable.  VIVAT IESUS REX (Long live Jesus the King!)

The notion of authority is very important in our relationship with God and one another. The Holy Scripture is literally overspread with the authority syndrome. The prophet Isaiah describes in details the transfer of authority from Shebna to Eliakin (Is, 22:16-21). Saint Paul bows before the authority of God whose ways are unsearchable and full of wisdom ( Rm. 11:33-36) Saint Matthew gives
a new twist to the concept of authority connected with law and identity. About 20 centuries ago, Jesus asked a question, which was answered properly and correctly. That’s fine and dandy! The point is that Jesus asks that question today, to you and me, personally. Actually, you are the Peter of the Gospel. Do we really know Jesus? Here is a soliloquy, which may help our understanding:

“Honestly, Jesus, I really do not know who you are. My life is so busy with making a living and just getting through each day that I do not have the time or the energy to really get to know you. Just getting up in the morning and putting my socks on is a major project, and when I am through,
I fee exhausted. My faith is weak. My love is centered on the people I live with and work with. I rarely if ever pray and when I do, it seems that no one cares anyway. I suspect if I knew you, there will be things you would expect and demand of me – like coming to Mass every Sunday and quit drinking – and I would see you as more of a burden and a bother than a blessing. Deep in my heart I know that sooner or later I have to know you better than I do now. So, please, keep asking me, “Who do you say that I am?” I really want to be reminded.”

Well, Jesus reminds me today to answer honestly and truthfully: “Do I really know Jesus?”
Peter gave a good answer two thousand years ago and he became the rock of the church, and in the course of 2011 years, these words “You are Peter,” have been spoken 266 times to the ears and conscience of the Popes from Peter to Benedict XVI. The question Jesus asks is rather scaring and challenging, because he doesn’t want the answer already recorded in the Bible and in the catechism. He wants “your answer.” Our lives are made of questions, some are good, some not so good. It is not bad to ask “who, what, where, when, why, how.” There are questions with little or no consequence at all, like “would you like French fries with that?” or the question may have a life time consequence, for instance “will you marry me?” So, the question, “Who do you say that I am” will shape our identity and relationship with God and one another and definitely includes the notion of authority, which is needed at every level of our personal growth. We do know that authority may be associated with power, but they are different. For example a mugger with a weapon has power over me, not authority. On the other hand, genuine authority does have power, even if power means service not control. As a matter of fact, the word AUTHORITY comes from the Latin AUCTOR, which means helper or author. We also know that the authority may be de iure (connected with power and office), for instance a police officer or a judge has de iure authority. Authority de facto means that authority is there, we like it or not. A political columnist whose writings influence government policies has de facto authority. Now, what’s the authority of the church? The model authority in the church is not political, sociological,structural, but rather one of KOINONIA, that is “union based on mutual loving service in the truth of Christ, activated by the Holy Spirit in order to create community with God and all persons.” (An agreed statement on Authority in the church, 1997).

But for those who look fondly, and thankfully, back on the last year, the year ahead will bring challenges. These people never grow old; they believe that until death there must be chances for success, improvement, joy, gratitude. A few days ago I met an 85-year-young man who was learning to play the violin. And why not?

For those who don’t care, there will never be challenges, and that’s a pity. Many of these people will die before they ever actually live. So, let’s take a look at our own viewpoints and briefly reflect on the paradox of time. In a recent poll the most common expression of 2010 wasn’t “Good Morning” or “How are you?” as in previous years, but rather “I am sorry. I have no time.”

Unfortunately this is also a common excuse given for our failings and shortcomings. We haven’t time to call, to write, to smile, to eat or to sleep. Parents don’t have time to care for their children. Children don’t have time to listen and do what their parents ask of them. We have family members running in opposite directions and never meeting–or running right into each other and crashing.

Would it not be better idea to make our journeys walking side by side, hand in hand, helping each other? When husbands don’t make time for their wives, and vice versa, couples don’t have time to love, to share. Sometimes couples try to make time in their busy schedules then chalk these efforts up as “wasted time.” But the truth is this “wasted time” can surprise us by becoming the most valuable time.

If we want to make our journeys through life meaningful and memorable, we must remember the story of the blind man and the cripple. They were able to make their journeys together: one would see where to go while the other did the walking.

Side by side. Hand in hand. Helping each other.

So, we don’t have time. Why is that? We are living in an age when modern technology has furnished our lives and our homes with all sorts of time-saving gadgets. We live in an age of instant coffee, TV dinners, and on and on…. Perhaps we need to utilize these conveniences more efficiently and remember the days when boiling a kettle in the morning meant lighting a fire first. (Producing some smoke after an hour was an accomplishment!) Yet our parents and grandparents very rarely, if ever, complained they had no time. They always seemed to have plenty of time for everything back then.

As we consider carefully the year just gone and the year just beginning, let’s keep in mind a few important things:

a) there is no past except in our memories
b) the future only exists in our imaginations
c) what we really have is the present.

There is no point in regretting or wishing “if only we could begin all over again.” It’s not a matter of “if.” We can and we must. Life begins whenever we decide to begin living. Today, after all, is the very first day of the rest of our lives, no matter how young or old we are.

Jesus was rejected, so do you!

The fact is that rejection can break us or make us stronger. It all depends how we handle it. We know that Jesus experienced rejection in many instances, so he is training his apostles, disciples and followers how to handle this process which is present some time or another in our spiritual journey.

Many people are somewhat familiar with what the military calls Basic Training or Boot Camp. Depending on the branch of service, this period of intense formation varies from six to thirteen weeks and is intended to prepare youngsters for whatever they may encounter during their time of service.

Marines, for instance, engage in a 13 week process, which, according to the U.S. Marine Corps Web site, “transforms a young person with the courage to succeed into a mature, highly disciplined, fully capable marine.” At the end of the 13 weeks, the trainees are challenged with a final test, called “The Crucible,” which is somewhat connected to the “Cross.” It is designed to emphasize the importance of teamwork in overcoming adversity. The Crucible is a 54 hours field training exercise demanding the application of everything the recruit has learned thus far. Following their successful completion of the Crucible, the traines are treated to a special meal and are formally recognized at their graduation as full fledged marines.

Our Lord is training his disciples because they will undergo some tough times, for instance rejection and persecution. Rejection is part of our lives, we like it or not. Suppose you have a job as a sales person going door to door to promote and sell the product and you tried to work as hard as you can (10 hours a day), knocking at 100 doors a day. Statistics show that only 10% would even open the door and only 3% will possibly buy your product. Now you had to face 97 slammed doors and barking dogs and some small children saying to you, “Mom said she is not here.” Would you not feel discouraged and rejected as Jesus did? Rejection is an ugly word, it is painful.

Let’s see how Jesus reacted to rejection and our possible reactions. Our first reaction would be to retaliate. When we are hurt, we instictively want to defend ourselves by getting even. We want them to feel the pain we feel or more. Unfortunately, this is also the reaction of the apostles James and John, as reported by St. Luke the Evangelist. “…Jesus resolutely set out for Jerusalem. And he sent messengers ahead, who went into a Samaritan village to get things ready for him, but the people there did not welcome him, because he was heading for Jerusalem. When the disciples James and John saw this, they asked, “Lord, do you want us to call fire down from heaven to destroy them? But Jesus turned and rebuked them, and went to another village.” (Lk.9:51-56).

You don’t have to burn bridges to follow Jesus ! Jesus had already instructed his disciples how to handle rejection: “just wipe the dust off your sandals and move on” (Lk. 9:5). Jesus always offers a better solution: change rejection into love. We should keep in mind that God is not the enemy of our enemy. Anger is not a good reason to retaliate. God’s way is not retaliation, but reconciliation. God is in the business of transforming enemies into allies, competitors into companions, strangers into family. Social codes call for punishment, Jesus’ codes call for understanding.

Jesus invites us to look forward not in the past. King Solomon failed because he turned back instead of going forward. The Pharisees turned back by using religion in the wrong way. Living in the past doesn’t heal rejection, it makes it more difficult. Living in the past may be sometime a good place to visit, definitely not a good place to stay.

There was a good old pastor who had a good practice to visit the parish school one day a week. He walked into the fourth grade class, where the children were studying the history of USA, and asked them how many states they could name. They came up with about 40 names. He then replied that in his days, students knew the names of all the states. One student raised her hand and said, “Yes, Father, in those days there were only 13 states!” So, my friends, do your math correctly: count your blessings, don’t look back, look forward and keep on counting!!!!

• Make a simple bow when the person in front of you is receiving communion; do not wait until it is your turn
• Say “Amen” loud enough to be heard
• Let the Eucharist be given to you; do not take it
• If receiving in the hand, make sure your hands are clean and respectful
• After receiving communion, step aside and consume it
• Never take the Eucharist back to your seat
• Cross your arms if you are coming for a blessing only
• Fast for one hour from food and drink, except water
• Read more from the USCCB

A Capuchin is a Franciscan who follows St. Francis of Assisi. Want to learn more about the friars that serve here at Most Holy Redeemer? We would love to hear from you and share more about our life and our story and how you can possibly become one of us.

Contact Brother John Paul Russo at capuchinlife@aol.com or check out our web site: capuchinfriars

I believe that I read the story in the New York Times back in 2006. That story never left my mind because it reminds me of what Advent should not be. The story is about the murder of four prostitutes in Atlantic City, NJ. It describes the dark underbelly of Atlantic City’s prosperity: prostitution, drugs, crimes. While the gambling industry brings more than 40 million tourists a year, and billions of dollars, to the city, a less prosperous side continues its slow deterioration into the abyss.

Advent is about “what was, what is, what could be.” All that remains of the past is what we call “what was.” The “what” is the reality of “who” we are today and we are not what we are supposed to be or we want to be, then what will be?

The doctor of the church, Bernard of Clairvaux in his fifth sermon on Advent describes three advents (comings) of Jesus. In the first coming, Christ comes in flesh and in weakness; in the second, he comes in spirit and in power; in the third, he comes in glory and in majesty; the second coming is the means whereby we pass from the first to the third.

Now, how is the prostitutes’ story connected with the three comings of Jesus? Well, Advent is a time of hope, and that hopefulness ran out for Kimberly Raffo, Barbara V. Braidor, Tracy Ann Roberts, and Molly Jean Dilts. They were the four women whose bodies were found in a strip of land between the Black Horse and the Atlantic City Expressway.

While Advent is a time “waiting for the Lord,” we experience drastic changes if we let God into our lives. He comes to fill the valleys of depressions, leveling the mountains of pride and making straight our crooked ways. Let us not forget that when the gospel speaks of valleys and mountains, it doesn’t give us a lesson in geology, it speaks about our lives. Sometimes we must be courageous enough to undertake this task at the beginning of the new church year, even if it takes extra energy and a generous amount of determination to be not what was or will be, but what is.

Perhaps, the story of Zachary can be a good example for all of us. Little Zachary was doing very badly in math. His parents had tried everything…tutors, mentors, flash cards, special learning centers. In short, everything they could think of to help his math. Finally, in a last ditch effort, they took Zachary down and enrolled him in the local Catholic school.

After the first day, little Zachary came home with a very serious look on his face. He didn’t even say “hello.” Instead, he went straight to his room and started studying. Books and papers were spread out all over the room and little Zachary was hard at work. His mother was amazed. She called him down to dinner. To her shock, the minute he was done, he marched back to his room without a word, and in no time, he was back hitting the books as hard as before.

This went on for some time, day after day, while the mother tried to understand what made all the difference. Finally, little Zachary brought home his report card. He quietly laid it on the table, went up to his room and hit the books. With great trepidation, his mom looked at it and to her great surprise, little Zachary got an “A” in math.

She could no longer hold her curiosity. She went to his room and said, “Son, what was it? Was it the nuns?” Little Zachary, looked at her and shook his head, no. “Well, then, was it the books, the discipline, the structure, the uniforms? What was it?” Little Zachary looked at her and said, “Well, on the first day of school when I saw that guy nailed on the PLUS sign, I knew they weren’t fooling around.”

I wonder if it is possible to look at Jesus on the cross and still refuse his love.