Saints witness to Jesus, the source of joy

Today Jesus invites us to return to the source of joy, which is the encounter with him, the courageous choice to risk everything to follow him, the satisfaction of leaving something behind in order to embrace his way. (Pope Francis, Canonization of Seven Saints, October 14, 2018)

Since he became pope in 2015, Francis has called our attention to “the source of joy,” which is the personal encounter with Jesus Christ. The pope has written about, preached about and, through dramatic gestures, practiced the joy of the Gospel.

The saints canonized by Pope Francis last month were witnesses to joy. That doesn’t mean they were without sorrow or fear. It means that the human emotions that they experienced as we all do were handed over to Jesus with complete confidence in the Lord’s ability to transform them by the power of his passion, death and resurrection.

Just as Jesus was mocked, scourged and crucified, the saints all share in his suffering in their own ways. Some, like St. Oscar Romero, were brutally martyred. Others, like St. Paul VI, suffered internally from external criticism and internal anxiety and doubt. None was a perfect human being. All sinned, and all turned to the Lord, overcome with sorrow and guilt, seeking his forgiveness.
All saints are sinners, and all sinners are called to repent, seek the Lord’s mercy, and resume their journey to holiness. As Pope Francis reminds us frequently, it is Divine Mercy that transforms sinners into saints and redeems all the “poor souls” we pray for especially during the month of November.

Reflecting on the Gospel reading for the Twenty-Eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time, the passage in St. Mark’s Gospel where Jesus is asked what must be done to gain eternal life, the Holy Father observed that the Lord invites the rich young man (and all of us) to pass from the observance of laws to the giving of self, from doing for oneself to being with God. This is radical conversion. It requires giving up much more than worldly goods. It requires us to give ourselves wholeheartedly to love of God and love of neighbor.

The young man in the Gospel story couldn’t do it. But Nunzio Sulprizio, the young man who was declared a saint last month, did exactly what Jesus asked. He surrendered everything to Jesus, the source of joy.

Many articles have been written about the personal connection that existed between the two most well-known saints, Pope Paul Vl and Oscar Romero. They were very different personalities, and their paths to holiness were quite different.

“Even in the midst of tiredness and misunderstanding, Paul VI bore witness in a passionate way to the beauty and the joy of following Christ totally,” Pope Francis said. Oscar Romero gave up “the security of the world, even his own safety, in order to give his life according to the Gospel, close to the poor and to his people, with a heart drawn to Jesus and his brothers and sisters,” the pope said.

As Pope Francis observed—about all seven of the new saints, “Without a leap forward in love, our life and our Church become sick from complacency and self-indulgence. All these saints, in different contexts, put today’s [Gospel] into practice in their lives, without being lukewarm, without calculation, with the passion to risk everything and leave it all behind. May the Lord help us to imitate their example.”

Many times, Pope Francis has reminded us that saint are not super-heroes. They are ordinary women and men who have responded with extraordinary courage and love to the demands that Jesus makes of all his disciples: Go, sell what you have and give it to the poor; then come, follow me (Mk 10:21).  “May the Lord help us to imitate their example.”

What must we do to gain eternal life? The answer is simple but not easy. We must be grateful, accountable and generous stewards who willingly return all God’s gifts with increase. We must be holy people who leave everything behind in order to follow him who is the source of our joy.
October 2018 was a challenging month for Pope Francis and for bishops throughout the world. Scandals, internal divisions and a crisis of confidence among lay people dominated the headlines. Thank God, the Holy Spirit always gets the last word. Thank God, there is reason for profound hope and great joy in the witness of all the saints!



   

When I was five years old, my grandmother, Anna May Bernet Callaghan, picked me up at my family home to take me to her house to spend the night. She had parked her car on our side of the street (the wrong side) and when we got to her car she found a parking ticket.

We got in the car and drove directly to the police station. Grandma went up to the Sargent at the desk and waved the ticket at him. “I’m a grandmother,” she said. “I’m not going to have my grandchildren cross a busy street to get into my car.”

With that, she gave the parking ticket to the Sargent, grabbed my hand, and we marched out of the police station.

I never knew what happened with Grandma’s parking ticket after this encounter but I’m quite sure that she continued to park on our side of the street.

I am a confirmed moderate in all things. I believe that the truth usually can be found in the middle between opposing sides, and I generally think that extremists on the right and the left are equally looney.

This is not a good time for moderates. We are constantly being challenged to take up one extreme position or another. We must either loathe Donald Trump or idolize him. We have to either be convinced that the current pope is the Anti-Christ or hail him as infallible in everything he says or does. We must either condemn Brett Kavanaugh as guilty unless and until proven innocent or conclude that he is the finest justice ever appointed to the Supreme Court.

It’s all madness.

I am especially disheartened by the attacks on Pope Francis and on other Church leaders I know personally. I do not agree with everything the pope and bishops say or do. I have witnessed first-hand serious mistakes in judgment made by both Church and civil leaders. That simply reminds me that everyone of us is human. No one belongs on a pedestal to be worshipped from afar.

But the vile, viscious, ugly attacks against our political and religious leaders are not only unjustified; they are signs of a deep soul sickness. Our Church and our nation are in desperate need of healing. The longer we continue on the current roads, the closer we will come to schism in the Church and a civil cold war in our nation.

The Lord prayed that we would be one—as he and the Father are one in the Holy Spirit. There is no more urgent need. Unity in diversity (e pluribus unum) must be our battle cry. As long as we are divided, we are weak. Until we set aside our differences, forgive one another’s sins, and begin to work together for the common good, we are lost.

Moderation in all things—but especially in politics and religion. It’s the only way to survive the madness.

Pope Francis makes it very clear that he has no tolerance for hypocrites or self-righteous people “who love to cry ‘scandal,’ to point out the failings of others and make themselves appear pure.”

In fact, the Holy Father aligns the cries of hypocrites with the devil who is working overtime to create chaos and confusion in families, in society and in the Church. “If we look at the world scene in our time,” the pope says, “more and more voices are sowing division and confrontation—often by exploiting insecurity or situations of conflict—and proclaiming that the only way possible to guarantee security and the continued existence of a culture is to try to eliminate, cancel or expel others.”

The Church is full of sinners. Sometimes they sin grievously. But if they repent and seek God’s forgiveness, they can experience Divine Mercy. The problem with hypocrites is that they are unrepentant. They denounce the faults of others but are in denial about their own sins.

During a homily at his residence on September 20, the pope said, “The devil doesn’t have anything to do with repentant sinners because they look to God and say, ‘Lord, I’m a sinner. Help me,’ and the devil is impotent. But with the hypocrites he is strong,” Pope Francis said. “He is strong, and he uses them to destroy, to destroy people, destroy society, destroy the church.”

While God’s holy Church is made up of sinners, it also has its share of hypocrites who love to cry “scandal” to point out the failings of others and make themselves appear pure, Pope Francis said.

The word “scandal” is taken from the Greek word, scandalon, which originally meant “trap.” Scandal occurs when a person’s words or example cause others to stumble morally, to fall into a trap that is an occasion for unbelief or moral lapse. Scandal is an obstacle to faith in God because it creates doubt about the credibility or authenticity of someone who is supposed to be God’s representative. Those who cry “scandal” to point out the failings of others often intensify the effects of scandalous behavior. They relish the destructive consequences of the moral lapses they claim to denounce.

Who are these hypocrites who love to cry “scandal”? It’s tempting to name some of those well-known critics of Pope Francis who publicly question, accuse or condemn his words and actions. But that kind of speculation would only play into the hands of the devil who seeks to divide the Body of Christ by diminishing and degrading its leaders.

The devil’s “battle horse is hypocrisy because he is a liar. He shows off as a powerful, handsome prince, but inside he’s an assassin,” the pope said.

Reflecting on the Mass readings for September 20, Pope Francis said, “St. Paul, in the first reading, and the woman who anoints Jesus’ feet in the Gospel reading both realize they are sinners, but they are moved by love for Jesus.” But Jesus, in spite of their sins, “forgives, receives, is merciful—words we often forget when we speak ill of others,” the pope said. “Think about this: We must be merciful like Jesus and not condemn others.”

The Pharisees are shocked, “scandalized,” that Jesus would allow his feet to be anointed by a woman the Gospel describes as “sinful.” In fact, they are the ones causing scandal by setting a trap for Jesus.

The Pharisees were self-righteous hypocrites who were always watching Jesus “to see if they could find him in error” or could “set a trap for him,” the pope said. “They had an attitude that hypocrites often use: They were scandalized.”

Theirs is “the hypocrisy of the ‘righteous,’ the ‘pure,’ those who believe they are saved through their own merits,” the pope said. But “Jesus calls the hypocrites ‘whitewashed tombs.’ They look like beautiful cemeteries, but inside they are putrid and rotten.”

These are harsh words from a pope who constantly extols God’s mercy and forgiveness. Like Jesus, however, Pope Francis cannot abide the hypocrisy of those who condemn others without mercy. He lashes out at those who cry “scandal” as a means of setting traps, causing chaos and destruction.

In the words of Pope Francis, “Let us ask Jesus always to protect our Church, which is a holy mother but full of sinning children like us. And may he protect each one of us with his mercy and forgiveness.”

The sun refuses to shine on our nation and our Church. 

Were you there when the sun refused to shine?  Were you there when the sun refused to shine? Oh! Sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble. Were you there when the sun refused to shine?

A dark cloud hangs over the Catholic Church and the United States of America. Our leaders have betrayed us and the atmosphere has been poisoned by anger, hatred and the most vile and vicious name-calling and character assasination. God forgive us. We are in a bad way. 

In such an atmosphere, the sun refuses to shine, and our only recourse is to tremble with shame, tremble with sadness and tremble with fear for the future our our nation and our Church. 

Angels serve as God’s messengers, protectors

The feast of Saints Michael, Gabriel and Raphael, who were God’s messengers as recorded in sacred scripture, reminds us that we are never alone. We have advocates (guardian angels) who stand with us and bring healing, reconciliation and the good news of our salvation in Jesus Christ. (Cardinal Joseph W. Tobin)

Saturday, September 29, we celebrate the Feast of Saints Michael, Gabriel and Raphael, three angels named in Sacred Scripture and associated with important moments in the history of our salvation. At this time in the Church’s life, when there is so much confusion, anger, anxiety and doubt, it’s good to step back a little and reflect on some of the more mysterious—and comforting—elements of our Catholic belief and practice. Church teaching on angels certainly fits in this category.

Reruns of the popular television program, Life is Worth Living, which featured Bishop Fulton J. Sheen, the first and some would say greatest Catholic television evangelist, often addressed the topic of angels. Bishop Sheen did this with humor. (He said it was an angel who erased his blackboard when it was off camera.) But he was also deadly serious in the way he discussed the existence of angels and their influence on our daily lives. 

Noting that the word “angel” comes from the Greek word for messenger, Bishop Sheen explained the angels are God’s emissaries and that they exercise two fundamental responsibilities in their interaction with us human beings: First, as messengers they help to illuminate our understanding of God’s will for us. Certainly that was the role played by the angel Gabriel in his appearances to Mary and Joseph. Following Gabriel’s disclosures, Mary understood (and accepted) her unique role in God’s plan for our redemption and Joseph assumed his rightful place as the guardian and protector of Mary and her divine son.

The second role that angels play in human affairs is that of protection and healing. St. Michael the Archangel and St. Raphael stand for the advocacy and the healing power of God’s grace. They testify to the fact that, when necessary, angels can be warlike in their defense of God’s truth and justice, but they are often equally kind and merciful in their dealings with those who are suffering any kind of hardship or abuse.

Everyone of us has a guardian angel. We don’t hear nearly enough about them these days. Even in the 1950s, when Life is Worth Living, was at the peak of its popularity on American television, Bishop Sheen had a hard time convincing his audiences that the doctrine of angels was more than just a pious, sentimental teaching. Why? Bishop Sheen’s explanation was the influence of materialism and secularism. After all, if you only believe what you can see and touch or place under a microscope, there’s not much room for beings who have a mind and will but no body.

And yet, Christians have always believed that what is invisible is in some ways more real than what is visible. When God took on human flesh, he forever united the spiritual world with the material world. He showed us the true miracle of human life is that we are much more than we appear to be. We are each made in the image and likeness of God which means that we are spirit and flesh incarnate.

Bishop Sheen speculated that the reason some angels turned away from God is because they could not abide the scandal of the Incarnation. It was too much for them to accept that God’s only son would so humiliate himself as to take on human flesh—not just the holographic appearance of humanity but the actual, messy, bloody reality. Certainly, it’s quite possible that the reason Lucifer and his companions fell from grace was because they were too proud to pay homage to one who was beneath them in the order of being, a man like us human beings in all things but sin. 

Pope Francis has repeatedly called our attention to the role played by the Evil One, a fallen angel, in the scandals that are shaking the foundations of our Church today. The sins of some priests and bishops and their further degradation by “hypocrites” who use the media (especially social media) to destroy reputations and enflame the legitimate hurt and anger of others.

Saints Michael, Raphael and Gabriel, and all holy angels, pray for us. We need your inspiration, healing and protection now more than ever! May your ministry as angels of mercy and guardian angels guide us, protect us and keep us from all evil. Now and forever. Amen.

Silence can speak louder than words

Express how you feel and then be quiet. Because the truth is humble, the truth is silent, the truth isn't noisy. It's not easy, what Jesus did; but the dignity of the Christian is anchored in the power of God. With people lacking good will, with people who only seek scandal, who seek only division, who seek only destruction, even within the family: silence, prayer. (Pope Francis, homily, September 3, 2018)

Pope Francis surprised many people when he refused to discuss allegations that he knowingly ignored—even covered up—abusive behavior by resigned cardinal Theodore E. McCarrick. When journalists asked him to comment on the allegations made by Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, former nuncio to the United States, the Holy Father said, “I will not say a single word on this.” He then invited journalists to use their investigative skills to determine for themselves whether or not the allegations are truthful.

We are so accustomed to public figures giving strong and often detailed statements in responses to allegations of every kind, that it’s jarring to have someone refuse to say a single word in his own defense. Why has Pope Francis chosen this approach? What does he hope to communicate with his silence?

It’s clear from remarks during a homily by the pope at his Santa Marta residence on September 3, that Pope Francis believes that the former nuncio’s allegations are intended to cause grave harm to the Church. “With people lacking good will,” the pope said, “with people who only seek scandal, who seek only division, who seek only destruction, even within the family: silence, prayer” are the only appropriate responses.

Is Archbishop Viganò someone who only seeks scandal or division? Without more information it’s impossible to know for sure. And, yet, Pope Francis prefers to treat what are grave charges against the pope and many other Church officials both in the U. S. and in the Vatican as the worst kind of scandal-mongering and, therefore, unworthy of comment.

To gain an insight into the pope’s thinking here, it’s helpful to read his public statement for the 2018 World Day of Communications. In it, the Holy Father said:

To discern the truth, we need to discern everything that encourages communion and promotes goodness from whatever instead tends to isolate, divide, and oppose. Truth, therefore, is not really grasped when it is imposed from without as something impersonal, but only when it flows from free relationships between persons, from listening to one another. Nor can we ever stop seeking the truth, because falsehood can always creep in, even when we state things that are true. An impeccable argument can indeed rest on undeniable facts, but if it is used to hurt another and to discredit that person in the eyes of others, however correct it may appear, it is not truthful. We can recognize the truth of statements from their fruits: whether they provoke quarrels, foment division, encourage resignation; or, on the other hand, they promote informed and mature reflection leading to constructive dialogue and fruitful results.

In other words, Pope Francis believes that intentions or motivation play an important role in determining the truth or falsehood of an accusation made against someone.

What Pope Francis is telling journalists (and all of us) in his 2018 World Day of Communications message is that both the intentions and the effects of our messaging can help us discern whether or not we are transmitting or receiving the truth. “Falsehood can always creep in,” the Holy Father says, “even when we state things that are true.” So, if our communication is factually accurate but intended to discredit another or cause harm to individuals or communities, we may well be guilty of spreading fake news. This is doubly true when the information being shared is not accurate or when it is a distortion of the truth.

Time will tell whether Pope Francis has made the right decision here—responding to serious charges of cover-up with silence and prayer. In the same homily, the pope prayed:

May the Lord give us the grace to discern when we should speak and when we should stay silent. This applies to every part of life: to work, at home, in society…. Thus we will be closer imitators of Jesus.”

May the Lord also give Pope Francis the grace to confront the scandals that are doing so much damage to our Church and lead us all to a renewed sense of what it truly means to be the one, holy and apostolic Church.