Franciscan Cardinal Switching From Brown to White?

This morning, the National Catholic Reporter posted on their website a story by John Allen about the “buzz” amongst the Italian press about Cardinal Sean O’Malley, OFM CAP, Archbishop of Boston.  The Italian media is hinting that an American being elected as the new Pope is not beyond the realm of possibility, and that Cardinal O’Malley may be a strong candidate.  The story was picked up by the local Boston media, like WCVB, and by the national media.

As much as I admire and respect Cardinal Sean, I think the possibility of him being elected as Pope is remote.  John outlines in his article, the points that would not be in the Cardinal’s favor.  And to be honest, as much as I would really think it would neat to have a Boston man as Pope, he is needed here in Massachusetts.  The Archdiocese is about to begin a process of reorganizing it’s parishes into collaboratives.  It is a process that will be taking many Boston Catholics into uncharted waters.  There will be anxiety, there will be uncertainty, as parish members will be struggling to re-configure themselves into a new type of community.  We will be looking to the Archbishop, Cardinal Sean, to be there for us, guiding us, and encouraging us.  So I am glad that the Cardinal has a round trip airline ticket.

First Sunday of Lent 2013 Homily

Deuteronomy 26: 4-10

Romans 10: 8-13

Luke 4: 1-13

Note:  The Catholic parishes of Beverly, MA, are part of the first phase of reorganizing the parishes of the Archdiocese of Boston into 2 to 3 parish collaboratives, under one pastor and pastoral team.

Today’s Gospel reading continues the story after the baptism of Jesus by John the Baptist.  Jesus has experienced the Holy Spirit coming upon Him, has heard the Father confirming that he is the Son of God.  He must have been on a spiritual high; he is “the man.”  Now we see the Spirit leading him into the desolation that is the desert.  We are told that Jesus fasted for forty days, and was “hungry.”  Now, those of us who are dieters, or failed dieters, we may think we know what it means to be hungry, but that is nothing compared to the hunger Jesus must have experienced, and what the effects it must have been to his body.  This combination of hunger and surviving the desert, must have definitely taken him out of his comfort zone.  It is then that the devil challenges Jesus, tempts Jesus.  He first tempts Jesus to change a stone into bread.  Then he tries to have Jesus doubt his own power as the Messiah, by accepting power from the devil, at the price of worshiping him, rather than the Father.  Finally, the devil tries to have Jesus get the Father to confirm that He is the Son, by saving him from a fall.  All these actions, changing stone into bread, accepting power from another, seeking the Father’s reaffirmation; these are all self-centered actions.  And Jesus came not for himself but for others.

So Jesus drew on the divine power that was in him all the time, which was and is at the center of his being.  The Evangelist Luke expresses this power by having Jesus quote the Hebrew Scriptures.  It is the power of the Word of God that will drive the devil away.

Now, all of us experience temptation at different times, and in different ways.  We are tempted to reach for that cookie on the plate, even when our mother says not to.  We are tempted to reach for the game boy, rather than doing our homework.  We are tempted to join in the gossip about a coworker, rather than defend him or her.  And sometimes we are tempted to give in to despair, because life has gotten so hard, so dark.  In moments of temptation, great or small, we all need to turn to Him who has experienced it himself, who knows what we are going through.  If we open ours hearts to Him, if we let His word take hold of us, have faith in Him, we will ignore the temptation, have hope and not be put to shame.

Lent is a time when the Church challenges us; through fasting, increased prayer, and almsgiving, giving of ourselves for others; to leave our comfort zone, to set sail on uncharted spiritual waters.  And now this year, as a parish community, as a community of Catholic believers here in Beverly, we are being asked to go on into even more uncharted waters.  Some of us may be tempted to withdraw within ourselves and not participate in the process.  As the process moves on, for whatever reasons, some of us may be tempted to jump ship.  And on top of all that, we hear that Pope Benedict is resigning, and now the way forward looks even more uncertain, the horizon more shrouded in fog, in uncertainty.  What I ask of all us to do is to trust in Him, who built the Bark, the Ship of St. Peter, trust in him who gave St. Peter the keys of the kingdom, and asked him to care for the Lord’s sheep; believe in Him who at a word, calm the winds and the waves.  He will bring us to safe harbor.

Ash Wednesday 2013

Today is Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent.  Some Catholic bloggers have expressed the concern that the news of Pope Benedict’s resignation would take away from the Lenten observance.  I do not think so, but we will see how many will show up to have their foreheads marked with ashes.

I am coming to realize that Lent can be a time to deepen one’s spiritual life.  When we enter more intensely into the spiritual practices of prayer, fasting and almsgiving; we can find ourselves out of our comfort zone.  It is then that God can enter in and transform us.

There are a couple of links I would like to share, that can help us get a good start this Lent.  One is from Father Austin Fleming, author of “A Concord Pastor Comments.”  And another is from Mary DeTurris Poust, who writes the “Not Strictly Spiritual” blog.

Pope Benedict XVI Resigns!

I was up before the crack of dawn this morning, and was about to start getting ready for my commute.  I turned on the television, and was watching one of the local Boston stations when they announced the breaking news of Pope Benedict XVI’s announcement of his resignation.  To be honest, my immediate reaction was: “What the !@#$%$!”  I immediately changed the channel to the BBC World News for details on this event.  To say the least the Catholic and religion blogospheres have positively humming over this news.  The Catholic News Service, the Religion News Service, and the Vatican Insider have all posted reports.  Contributors to the Jesuit America Magazine Web site, like Father James Martin SJ, have posted their commentaries.  Some Catholic bloggers on the Patheos web site have also weighed in on this news.  The National Catholic Reporter has created a special page on their web site, on the resignation, and the events that will follow. 

Again, to be honest, I was not too thrilled when I heard that Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger had been elected Pope.  Over the years of Pope Benedict’s papacy, there have been actions and themes I have not cared for.  I wish he had been more open to the concept of collegiality, on all levels of the Church, more transparency of how decisions and actions were made in the Vatican.  I have always felt that he had focused too much on Europe, to the detriment of the Church in Africa and Asia.  Except for the last consistory, most of his selections for new cardinals have been Europeans, specifically Italians.  That being said, it is true that he has made several journeys to Africa, Latin and South America.

I was not a big supporter of his attempts to reintroduce pre-Vatican II liturgical practices, including the vestments.  I am, and always will be a supporter of the post-Vatican II liturgy. 

Now, after all that, I have to say that it filled my heart with joy when Pope Benedict met with the victims of sexual abuse by priests, when he visited the United States.  He surprised many when he arranged for more women attend the Synod of Bishops on Evangelization as experts and observers.  And I have enjoyed some of his books, most recently “Jesus of Nazareth, The Infancy Narratives.” 

So there has been much that has dismayed me about this papacy, and much that has given me joy.  I know that the papal mantle has weighed heavy on him, and I hope that he will find peace and rest in the coming years.

HNP Franciscans Help Youth To Challenge City Hall

The National Catholic Reporter has a story on their website, concerning a group of seventh and eight grade students who lobbied the local government of Camden, NJ, to clean up and repair a local park.  They are students at St. Anthony of Padua School, which is attached to St. Anthony Church, staffed by Franciscan Friars of Holy Name Province, OFM.  It is an inspiring little story of how the friars helped these young people take an interest in their community; and how to go about improving it, one step at a time.

Homily For 2nd Sunday In Ordinary Time

Isaiah 62: 1-5
1 Corinthians 12: 4-11
John 2: 1-11

Recently, I have learned the meaning of a new phrase, and that phrase is “back story.”  One definition is that it is a literary device used by some writers, to create a history or biography for a character, or events that lead up to the current incident the author is writing about.  The back story may be just for the author’s benefit, to help in writing about a present moment in the story. 

After going through today’s Gospel reading, I find myself wondering as to what was the back story for the wedding feast of Cana.  The passage hints that the wedding party had a good number of waiters or servants in attendance, with a head waiter in charge.  The size of the water jugs seems to indicate that there were a lot of guests invited, who would be using them for the ceremonial washings.  So I am speculating that somebody in the wedding party had, as saying goes, “a lot of brass!”  So how does it come about that Mary, the mother of Jesus, a simple woman from Nazareth, gets invited to this wedding?  It could be that she was a relative from the poorer side of the family.  She must have been loved and respected to be invited, and of course, they would have to invite her son, Jesus, who was developing a reputation as an itinerant preacher

Mary is observant, she notices the distress among the servants responsible for pouring the wine; she sees the wine is running low, and she knows what dishonor it could bring to the married couple.  She turns to her son, who tells her that this is not the moment.  But Mary knows; deep down in her heart, where she has reflected on everything that has happened up to this moment, that now is the hour.  And the rest is, as they say, history.

However, I think we should notice something, the groom and the head waiter are clueless as to what has happened.  It is not to the people who live “Upstairs” that this miracle is revealed; but to the ones who are “Downstairs.”  And we can imagine these servants, the ones who prepared the water jugs, going to their families and telling them of what they had witnessed.  And soon the word gets out throughout their neighborhood.  And soon, all of Cana is abuzz, as is the rest of Galilee.  And everyone is talking about this country rabbi, by the name of Jesus.  And his disciples are now aware that there is something more to this Jesus of Nazareth.

We all know what the something is; we know that Jesus Christ is the promised Messiah, the Son of God, who died and is risen, who has freed us from the power of sin and death.  If we know this, then we cannot keep this a secret; “For Zion’s sake I will not be silent, for Jerusalem’s sake I will not be quiet.” (Isaiah: 62: 1)  We are entering a process to reorganize the Catholic communities of Beverly into a collaborative. The aim of this process is more than just preserving the status quo; their ultimate goals is to give us the resources to go out and be evangelizers, to got out and proclaim the Good News.  We are all called, by virtue of our baptism into Body of Christ, to participate in the prophetic role of Jesus.  Does this mean that we all become street corner preachers?  Maybe!  However, what I would ask all us to do is to reflect on the words of St. Paul from the second reading.  We all receive different gifts from the Holy Spirit, which are meant to be used in building up the Body of Christ.  This means taking the time for prayer and reflection, to become aware of the gifts we have received and what opportunities present themselves to us to use these gifts. Sometimes, the best evangelizers are those who strive to live those two great commandments of Christ, to love God with all of our heart and soul; and to love others as ourselves.  One act of charity can be like a stone dropped into a pond; the ripples will go out and spread through our families, our neighborhoods, our city, the world. 

“For Zion’s sake I will not be silent, for Jerusalem’s sake I will not be quiet.”  Let us not be timid, let us not be quiet, but boldly go out, in whatever way the Spirit calls us, and proclaim the Good News, that Jesus Christ is Lord and Savior.

Texting For Prayers

St. Francis of Assisi took a new approach in reaching out to the common people of his age.  Where Sunday sermons of that time had developed into intellectual dissertations, often spoken in Latin.  Francis preached very simply, in the language of the people.  His friar sons continued that approach, even into our Internet driven era.  The National Catholic Reporter's website is carrying a CNS story about Franciscan Friars of Holy Name Province, accepting prayer requests via text.  Cool!