Author: Christine Jordan

 Tom Hoopes – published on 01/17/19

 If you were to marry a fabulously wealthy person, you would expect your life to change. That’s what you’ve done.

 

This Sunday at Mass, the Gospel explains how Jesus turns water into wine. But that’s just the beginning of what Jesus does. Consider everything Jesus transforms this Sunday.

First, Mary is transformed into a heavenly advocate.

When his mother says “They have no wine,” Jesus answers, “Woman, how does your concern affect me? My hour has not yet come.”

This sounded less harsh in its original culture than it does to us, but its meaning is the same. Jesus is not calling his mother by name, but calling her by a category, “Woman,” much as Eve was called by God after she ate the apple.

He knows that she is asking him to do a miracle, and to start on the road to the cross, which will reverse what Eve did long ago. He knows that this miracle will change everything about his life: His identity will go from private to public, from a messiah-in-waiting to the messiah, from safely ignored to targeted by the authorities.

But in asking him, Mary changes too. She becomes an Advocate for those whose needs she sees — at Cana and in your home. It is because “her constant intercession continues to bring us the gifts of eternal salvation” that the Second Vatican Council called her “Advocate” and “Mediatrix.”

Second, the servants at the wedding are transformed into models of the lay apostolate.

Despite Jesus’ apparent hesitation to do what she is asking, Mary charges ahead. She turns to the servants at the wedding and gives what St. John Paul II calls  “the great maternal counsel, which Mary addresses to the Church of every age: ‘Do whatever he tells you.’”

The servants do exactly what Jesus asks them, filling large stone jars with water and bringing them to him. At some point as they do this, Jesus changes the water into wine.

They therefore become models for lay Christians everywhere.

We don’t transform the world. We don’t do extraordinary things. We do ordinary work that looks like drudgery, but by doing it for Jesus and by bringing it to him, we play an integral part in his transformation of the world — starting with our work.

Third, he transforms marriage into a sacrament.

Jesus could have chosen any location for his first public miracle. That he chose a wedding is significant.

If Jesus is the divine Son of God, and he is, then his very appearance at a wedding changes the event.

The God who became man in the family of a married couple now begins his ministry at a wedding. He will later call himself the “bridegroom.” St. Paul will later stress how deeply the mystery of Jesus and the Church is like a marriage in its very essence.  Marriage is central to salvation history from the first book of the Bible to the very last. The Church sees Cana as a sign that marriage is a sacrament through which Jesus transforms the relationship of husband and wife. But that’s not the only relationship he transforms.

Fourth, Jesus “marries” all of us.

The bridegroom in the story goes unnamed, perhaps because the Gospel wants us to focus on Jesus, who called himself our bridegroom.

You can see what this means in the first reading, a love poem that strains ordinary language in its attempt to describe how much God loves his people:  “You shall be called ‘My Delight and your land ‘Espoused.’ For the LORD delights in you and makes your land his spouse.”

We are all familiar with the concept that we should “love all people.” But no one suggests we should love all people like a groom loves a bride. Yet that’s how God loves us.

“As a young man marries a virgin, your Builder shall marry you,” says the First Reading, “and as a bridegroom rejoices in his bride so shall your God rejoice in you.”

Fifth, this new relationship transforms our lives throughout.

If you were to marry a fabulously wealthy person, you would expect your life to change. If you join a Church married to one rich in spiritual wealth, most importantly God, you would expect your life to change also.

It does. The second reading from St. Paul explains. When we enter the Church, “To each individual the manifestation of the Spirit is given for some benefit,” he says. Then he lists the gifts we might receive: healing, mighty deeds, prophecy, discernment of spirits, and tongues.  These will mean different things in different lives, but you can see how it works in today’s Gospel.

We saw how Jesus transformed the servants who carried jugs. Look how he transformed the steward.  “The headwaiter called the bridegroom and said to him, ‘Everyone serves good wine first, and then when people have drunk freely, an inferior one; but you have kept the good wine until now.’”  This man’s words are quoted by the greatest theologians in history. In this utterance, he becomes a prophet, whose words reveal how the New Covenant follows the Old — simply by participating in Christ’s act.

It is always the same equation: Our reality + Jesus = a new reality.

This is how Christ shares his power through his bride, the Church every day.  If we stay close to him we can see our lives with Christ’s vision: A vision that transforms everything.

 

Dear Friends,

St. Peter Claver a Spanish Jesuit of the 16th century took very seriously the words of our Lord at the end of St. Matthew’s Gospel.  At the end of that Gospel Jesus says, “Go therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.”  As a student at the University of Barcelona, Claver was noted for his intelligence and piety, after two years of study he wrote in his notebook, “I must dedicate myself to the service of God until death, on the understanding that I am like a slave.”

Claver joined the Jesuits and they sent him to the port city of Cartagena in Columbia.  It was in that city that he completed his studies for the priesthood.  Living in that city he observed and was greatly disturbed by the harsh treatment and living conditions of the slaves who were brought from Africa.    Cartagena was the slave-trading hub and 10,000 slaves came into the port every year.  While in seminary Claver learned all he could about the languages and customs of the slaves who entered that port city.  At his solemn profession St. Peter Claver signed his document with these words, “Peter Claver, servant of the Ethiopians forever.”  With his ordination Peter Claver began his work with the slaves.

When the slaves disembarked, they were unwashed, starving, and covered in sores.  And so Peter met them with medicine, soap, disinfectants, food, bread, brandy, lemons, and tobacco.  And with the help of interpreters and pictures he also gave basic instruction in the faith.  And in the off season he would visit the slaves at the plantations, going from village to village, giving them more instruction and spiritual consolation. One of the simple prayers he taught to the slaves was this; and this one makes me smile, “Jesus, I love you very much, much, much.”   During his 40 years of ministry it is estimated that St. Peter Claver personally catechized and baptized 300,000 slaves. They called him a man filled full of God.

The word baptism comes from a Greek word which means to immerse or plunge.  Baptism is a sacrament, which is an outward sign instituted by Christ that gives grace. Baptism is a sign that points to a reality beyond itself.  It’s a special sign that causes to happen what it signifies.  In Baptism the outward sign is the body being washed, while at the same time the soul is cleansed and made whole.  And it is Jesus who works through the sign.  Jesus is one who baptizes.  Even though I pour the water, Jesus is the one who baptizes; he’s the one who celebrates all the sacraments using me as his instrument.

So what can water do?  First, it destroys; think of the devastation caused by Tsunamis and Hurricanes.  St. Paul writes in Romans 6:3, “Or are you unaware that we who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?”  Baptism sacramentally connects us to the Cross.  Baptism destroys sin, both personal and original.  And second, water gives life.  Without water there is no life.   St. Paul when speaking of baptism says that a new life is poured out onto and into us.  The Holy Spirit begins to dwell in us, and we are reborn.

Baptism means we have access to an extraordinary power, a Divine Power.  We can change.  We are not stuck in our habits, and fears, and anxieties, and struggles.   Living the Christian life means I can change.  I can change because the One, who raised Jesus, lives in me.  If I surrender to him I can be different.

Baptism gives us a new identity.  You are a daughter of the King; you are a son of the King.  To know this with conviction changes everything.  Our God is not distant.  The prophet Isaiah writes, “Fear not to cry out, here is your God! Here comes with power the Lord God…like a shepherd he feeds his flock; in his arms he gathers the lambs, carrying them in his bosom, and leading the ewes with care.”  Our God is not distant.

St. Gregory of Nazianzus once said this about baptism, “Baptism is God’s most beautiful and magnificent gift… We call it gift, grace, anointing, enlightenment, garment of immortality, bath of rebirth, and most precious gift. It is called gift because it is conferred on those who bring nothing of their own; grace since it is given even to the guilty; Baptism because sin is buried in the water; anointing for it is priestly and royal as are those who are anointed; enlightenment because it radiates light; garment since it veils our shame; and bath because it washes.”

In today’s Gospel we heard God the Father say to Jesus, “You are my beloved.”  Every baptized person should know and hear these words, every baptized person is made a member of the mystical body of Christ should hear and know these words, God the Father says to you, “You are my beloved, my beloved son, my beloved daughter.”  So the next time you come into Church and dip your fingers into the Holy Water, remember these words, “You are my beloved.”  As you make the sign of the Cross repeating the words of your own baptism, In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, remember the words of God our Father, “You are my beloved.”  “You are my beloved.”  To which we might respond, “I love you very much, much, much!”

Let us be great Saints,

Fr. Christopher J. Ankley

 

Dear Friends,

There is a story that the Missionaries of Charity tell of Mother Teresa.   The story is about a Hindu man that Mother Teresa saw lying in the streets of Calcutta and whom she took home to one of the many houses they have for people who are dying.  She cared for him for many days, feeding him, bathing him, and simply talking with him as one person to another, giving him the respect that he deserved as a child of God.  As it became clear that he was soon going to die, she would say to him often, “You have nothing to be afraid of; soon you are going to be with Jesus, soon you are going to be with Jesus.”  As the man had spent most of his life as a Hindu, he didn’t really know a lot about Jesus and so, moments before he died he looked at this woman who had taken him in off the streets, provided him with food and shelter and clothing and dignity and asked her, “Is this Jesus anything like you?” 

Today we celebrate the Feast of the Epiphany, also known as the Feast of the Manifestation. When Jesus made himself known to the whole world, not just to the Jewish people but to the whole gentile world as well.  In today’s Gospel there are a few key figures that we could focus on; there’s Jesus, His mother Mary, King Herod, the Magi.  And there’s the star.  It was the star that the Magi followed from some far away country.  The star led them to Jesus, God born in the flesh for the salvation of all the world.  Mother Teresa led that Hindu man to Jesus, just as the star led the Magi to Jesus.   Without the appearance of that star, presumably, the Magi would never have left their homeland, would never have met Jesus, and would have remained in ignorance not only about who God is but about the ultimate purpose of life and what it truly means to be human and how to be happy.

As God once provided those Magi with that star so as to lead them to His son, so in every age He provides “stars” so as to help draw people to Jesus.  In his letter on “Hope” Pope Benedict wrote, “Human life is a journey.  Life is like a voyage on the sea of history, often dark and stormy, a voyage in which we watch for the stars that indicate the route.  The true stars of our life are the people who have lived good lives.  They are lights of hope.”  “Certainly,” the Pope continues, “Jesus Christ is the true light, the sun that has risen above all the shadows of history.  But to reach Him we also need lights close by, people who shine with His light and so guide us along our way.”  The greatest of all those close by stars is our Mother Mary.  But there have been countless other stars who have shown us the way, who have lived good lives, and have made Jesus known to us.  Blessed Teresa of Calcutta was one of them.

As we celebrate the Feast of the Epiphany, as we reflect upon the stars in our lives.  The stars that have helped us to know Jesus and how to truly live.   Today our Lord is offering each of us a challenge.  That challenge is to become a star ourselves.   Not a pop star, not a Kardashian type star, but a star of divine light.  The baptismal call, the mission, given by God to each of us is to, in some way, be intentional about helping others come to know Jesus.  We do this by the witness of our lives and by our words.  We can’t be silent about our faith.  It can’t be hidden.

The mission is simply this:  to know Jesus and to make Him known.  The mission is to let the light of Jesus shine through us, not for an hour once a week but in all things.  The mission is to be stars.  The mission is to have the intention in every situation, wherever we are, to bring Jesus by the witness of our lives and the words we speak. This was Mother Teresa’s intention; it’s why she made such an impression on the whole world.  She was the light of Christ.  She had the aroma of Jesus as St. Paul would say.

Hundreds of years before Mother Teresa there was another star who single-handedly, not in legend but in fact, converted all of Ireland.  St. Patrick is famous for many things and there is a prayer that he prayed at the start of each day.  In it he prays to be so conformed to Jesus Christ that when others see him they see only Jesus Christ.  This is the ultimate goal of Christianity; to be another Christ.  It might be a great prayer for us as we begin 2022.  It goes like this:  “Christ be in the eyes of all who see me, in the ears of all who hear me, on the lips of all who speak of me, in the minds of all who think of me, in the hearts of all who love me.  Christ be before me, behind me, above me, beneath me; Christ on my right and my left.  Christ be my all.”

May our lives, like the Star of Bethlehem, Mother Teresa, and St. Patrick, help lead others to Jesus.

Pax et Bonum,

Fr. Christopher J. Ankley

 

Dear Friends,

In Rome on August 5th in the year 352 AD a man had a dream. And in that dream our Lady, the Blessed Virgin Mary, told him to build a church in her honor. He would know the place it was to be built by the appearance of snow. So when the man woke up the next morning he found the Esquiline Hill covered in snow. This was a miracle, because Rome in the month of August is hotter than heck.

And so the man and his wife used their immense wealth to build a church in honor of the Blessed Virgin Mary. That church still stands today. Throughout the centuries it’s been repaired, rebuilt and made more and more grand. And every year on August 5th white rose petals are showered down from the dome, remembering that miraculous August snow so many centuries ago, remembering the miracle of Our Lady of the Snows.

Today that beautiful church is a basilica and it’s known as St. Mary Major, the oldest Church in the West dedicated to Our Lady. This is a church we visited during our St. Philip High School pilgrimage. When you walk into St. Mary Major you’ll notice a ceiling with gold medallions, you’ll see beautiful statues, paintings, mosaics, you might notice a side chapel where St. Jerome is buried, and you’ll see a beautiful marble altar covered by a baldacchino. And up high above that altar on an arch you’ll notice an original 4th century mosaic that depicts something unusual; it depicts a lavish gorgeously decorated throne, a big fancy chair which is completely empty. It’s a mosaic of an empty heavenly throne.

And as you walk closer to the altar you’ll notice steps leading down directly beneath the altar. The entrance is surrounded by ornate banisters. And if you were to walk down those steps to the crypt beneath the altar you’d find a beautiful reliquary of gold and glass and inside that fancy container you’d see the rough wood of a manger. The Basilica’s most famous relic is the crib that Mary and Joseph used for the infant Jesus on the night He was born.

Out of infinite love for us Jesus the Son of God, left his heavenly throne to come and dwell among us here on earth to fight for us and become our salvation. With God becoming man God invades the kingdom of darkness, with His own much more powerful Kingdom of Light. The prophet Isaiah writes, “Those who walk in darkness have seen a great light.” Jesus is that great light. C.S. Lewis put it this way, “Christianity is the story of how the rightful King has landed, you might say, landed in disguise.” God became man that we might become God. In this great exchange we give Jesus our humanity and in return He gives us His divinity.

St. Francis of Assisi had a great devotion to the Nativity of Jesus, he would meditate often on the birth of Jesus meditating on this great exchange where Jesus fights for us, by taking on our humanity. Knowing of this devotion artists through the centuries have painted St. Francis into their renderings of the Nativity, even though he lived 13 centuries after the birth of Jesus. “What’s St. Francis doing there at the birth of Jesus?” Great was his devotion to the birth of Jesus.

I know that St. Francis visited Rome on a number of occasions, sometimes as a pilgrim, sometimes on official business. And when you go to Rome you visit all the great churches. You go to pray and to take in all that great beauty and history which just lifts the heart, mind, and soul to heaven.

I wonder how the sights of the Basilica of St. Mary Major affected St. Francis. The empty throne up high in the Heavens, and the rough wood of the manger way down below? How did that inspire him? I have no proof that St. Francis ever visited St. Mary Major but he did capture the simple grandeur and humility of our Lord’s nativity one Christmas eve in the year 1223.
On Christmas Eve that year St. Francis found himself in the small town of Grecchio. This was a small Italian town built on the side of a mountain. And St. Francis wanted Midnight Mass to be celebrated in a place large enough so that all of the people in town could attend. Their Franciscan chapel was much too small. So St. Francis went looking for a larger place to celebrate Mass. And he found the spot. He found a cave like niche in the side of the mountain near the town square. “Perfect” he thought, so in this niche within the rock of the mountain he placed an altar. And then he was inspired, this cave like niche reminded him of the very first Christmas where our Lord was born in similar circumstance. He said to his brothers, “I want to make a memorial to the Child who was born in Bethlehem and in some sort behold with our eyes the hardships of His infant state, lying on hay in a manger with the ox and donkey standing by.” And that’s what they did. He found a manger for a crib and filled it with hay. He then found both a donkey and an ox and tied them up next to the crib. There were probably even a few sheep running around. And that’s where the people of Grecchio celebrated Midnight Mass in the year 1223. They celebrated Mass in a stable with a rough wooden manger in their midst and with the townspeople crowding in and around animals. At that Christmas in a very profound way the townspeople of Grecchio mediated on the descent of God form the Glory of Heaven into the hardships and messiness and humility of a manger.

It’s no accident that our manger crib is placed directly beneath our altar. Our Lord left his heavenly throne 2021 years ago to enter into humanity, and now at every Mass he continues to come down from His throne in Heaven to dwell among in the Eucharist.

During the Eucharistic prayer I will call upon the Holy Spirit as I hold my hands over the bread and wine. And while my hands are held over the bread and wine I will pray: “Be pleased, O God, we pray, to bless, acknowledge, and approve this offering in every respect; make it spiritual and acceptable, so that it may become for us the Body and Blood of your most beloved Son, our Lord Jesus Christ.” This is the incarnation, this is Christmas made present to us now in the 21st century, God becomes Body and Blood, and this is Christmas, right there on the altar. And then we receive Him, body, blood, soul, and divinity. To receive him is to allow ourselves to be rescued and to live in His divine love.

At the first Christmas and every day since, God has been making a proposal to you. Through his son Jesus he is saying to each and every one of you: “You give me your humanity, I will give you my divinity. You give me your time, I will give you eternity. You give me the bonds that tie you down; I will give you my omnipotence. You give me your slavery; I will give you my freedom. You give me your death; I will give you my life. You give me your nothingness; I will give you my all.”
Jesus came down from Heaven 2021 years ago to fight for you with His divinity hidden by human flesh He came to fight for you. And every time Mass is celebrated Jesus comes down from Heaven to the altar, His divinity hidden by bread and wine He comes to fight for you. Let Him fight for you, let Him fight for you against the kingdom of darkness, you don’t have to do this alone.

Merry Christmas!

Fr. Christopher J. Ankley

Dear Friends,

I recently read an old story entitled, “The three Godfathers.”  It was written in 1912 by Peter Kyne.  It takes place in the desert of Southwest United States during that “Wild West” period of history.  It begins just a few days before Christmas and four men are robbing a bank.  But before escaping with the money one is shot dead and another is wounded in the shoulder.  They lose the stolen money but the three remaining men escape into the desert.  They have very little water.

At first these three men are not identified by name, they have no humanity.  They’re only known as The Worst Bad Man, The Wounded Bad Man, and The Youngest Bad Man.  They are in trouble, they need water and so they make their way to a known water hole.  It takes them a whole day to get there and when they arrive they are greeted by a dying woman in the back of a covered wagon.  She is pregnant and about to give birth.  Plus there is no water; the watering hole is totally empty.

With the three men’s help the woman gives birth to a baby boy.  And knowing that she’s not going to survive she asks them to take her baby to a little town called New Jerusalem.  There are relatives there that can care for the baby she says.  It would be a 3 day journey through the desert.  After much discussion the men promise to deliver the child to safety.  The dying woman then asks for their names.  The worst bad man is Tom, the wounded bad man is Bill and the youngest bad man is Bob.  “I’m going to name by baby after the three of you,” she says.  His name is Robert William Thomas.  She then asks, “Will all three of you be my Baby’s Godfather?” They answer yes and with that peace of mind the woman soon dies.

The men search the wagon and find baby clothes, condensed milk and a Bible.  Ready, they now begin their trek through the desert and at the same time they begin their conversion.  The baby becomes their priority.  He gets the water.  It’s not about them.  It’s about the baby.  While resting at the hottest part of each day they read the Bible and are drawn back to the faith of their childhoods.  They are drawn by grace, they remember.

At the end of the first day the wounded man, Bill, succumbs to the hostile desert.  On the second day the worst man, Tom, succumbs to the hostile desert.  Both die contrite and reconciled.  The third day the youngest man, Bob, is very close to New Jerusalem.  He stumbles and falls many times but each time he manages to keep the baby safe.  He has a hard time seeing and thinking.  It’s so very hard!  He eventually stumbles into town.  He finds a woman and hands her the baby, safe and sound.  He then collapses at her feet.  He too dies contrite and reconciled.  It is Christmas day.

Those three bad men were saved by a little baby.  A baby saved them.  That baby reminded them of their humanity, reminded them of goodness and selflessness and love.  Through a little baby God drew the three men back to Himself.

It’s Christmas and through a baby God draws us back to Himself, to draw us into His love.  The early Church Fathers talked and preached often of the incarnation of Jesus. And when speaking of God becoming man they spoke and taught of the great exchange. The great exchange is this:  “God became man that we might become God.”  We give Him our humanity through our singular boast the Blessed Virgin Mary and He in return gives us His Divinity.  That we might live in the midst of Divine love.

Bishop Barron wrote a book entitled, “The strangest way, walking the Christian Path.”  And in that book he writes of a conversation he had with an elderly theologian by the name of Godfrey Dickman.  Barron asked him, “What would you fight for in the Church today, what would you make people aware of?”  He said, “Deification, becoming divine.  The entire purpose of the Christian life is not simply to make us better people, but to make us divine to conform us to a participation the very life of the Blessed Trinity.  We will not be mere spectators in Heaven; we will live within the midst of the love of the Trinity.  God became man that we might become God. 

Because Jesus is divine, time and place cannot contain Him.  He is not confined to the Middle East of 2000 years ago.  Every Mass makes present to us, as if by time machine, our Lord’s incarnation, life, passion, death and resurrection.  We might say that every Mass is Christmas and Easter all rolled into one.

During the Eucharistic prayer I call upon the Holy Spirit as I hold my hands over the bread and wine.  This calls to mind the Annunciation where Mary was overshadowed by the Holy Spirit and Jesus was conceived.  He began life as a man.  And while my hands are held over the bread and wine I will pray:   “Be pleased, O God, we pray, to bless, acknowledge, and approve this offering in every respect; make it spiritual and acceptable, so that it may become for us the Body and Blood of your most beloved Son, our Lord Jesus Christ.”  This is the incarnation, made present to us now in the 21st century, God becomes Body and Blood, and this is Christmas, right there on the altar.  And then we receive Him, body, blood, soul, and divinity.  To receive him is to live in His divine love.

To come to Mass every day would be to celebrate Christmas every day. God always wants to share all that He is with us. At that first Christmas 2000 years ago, and every day since, God has been making a proposal to us.  Through his son Jesus he is saying to each and every one of us:  “You give me your humanity, I will give you my divinity.  You give me your time, I will give you eternity.  You give me your bonds; I will give you my omnipotence. You give me your slavery; I will give you my freedom.  You give me your death; I will give you my life.  You give me your nothingness; I will give you my all.”

“The Son of God became man so that man might become God”.  We are saved by a little baby.

The best Christmas gift ever.

Pax et Bonum,

Fr. Christopher J. Ankley

Dear Friends,

I recently read an old story entitled, “The three Godfathers.”  It was written in 1912 by Peter Kyne.  It takes place in the desert of Southwest United States during that “Wild West” period of history.  It begins just a few days before Christmas and four men are robbing a bank.  But before escaping with the money one is shot dead and another is wounded in the shoulder.  They lose the stolen money but the three remaining men escape into the desert.  They have very little water.

At first these three men are not identified by name, they have no humanity.  They’re only known as The Worst Bad Man, The Wounded Bad Man, and The Youngest Bad Man.  They are in trouble, they need water and so they make their way to a known water hole.  It takes them a whole day to get there and when they arrive they are greeted by a dying woman in the back of a covered wagon.  She is pregnant and about to give birth.  Plus there is no water; the watering hole is totally empty.

With the three men’s help the woman gives birth to a baby boy.  And knowing that she’s not going to survive she asks them to take her baby to a little town called New Jerusalem.  There are relatives there that can care for the baby she says.  It would be a 3 day journey through the desert.  After much discussion the men promise to deliver the child to safety.  The dying woman then asks for their names.  The worst bad man is Tom, the wounded bad man is Bill and the youngest bad man is Bob.  “I’m going to name by baby after the three of you,” she says.  His name is Robert William Thomas.  She then asks, “Will all three of you be my Baby’s Godfather?” They answer yes and with that peace of mind the woman soon dies.

The men search the wagon and find baby clothes, condensed milk and a Bible.  Ready, they now begin their trek through the desert and at the same time they begin their conversion.  The baby becomes their priority.  He gets the water.  It’s not about them.  It’s about the baby.  While resting at the hottest part of each day they read the Bible and are drawn back to the faith of their childhoods.  They are drawn by grace, they remember.

At the end of the first day the wounded man, Bill, succumbs to the hostile desert.  On the second day the worst man, Tom, succumbs to the hostile desert.  Both die contrite and reconciled.  The third day the youngest man, Bob, is very close to New Jerusalem.  He stumbles and falls many times but each time he manages to keep the baby safe.  He has a hard time seeing and thinking.  It’s so very hard!  He eventually stumbles into town.  He finds a woman and hands her the baby, safe and sound.  He then collapses at her feet.  He too dies contrite and reconciled.  It is Christmas day.

Those three bad men were saved by a little baby.  A baby saved them.  That baby reminded them of their humanity, reminded them of goodness and selflessness and love.  Through a little baby God drew the three men back to Himself.

It’s Christmas and through a baby God draws us back to Himself, to draw us into His love.  The early Church Fathers talked and preached often of the incarnation of Jesus. And when speaking of God becoming man they spoke and taught of the great exchange. The great exchange is this:  “God became man that we might become God.”  We give Him our humanity through our singular boast the Blessed Virgin Mary and He in return gives us His Divinity.  That we might live in the midst of Divine love.

Bishop Barron wrote a book entitled, “The strangest way, walking the Christian Path.”  And in that book he writes of a conversation he had with an elderly theologian by the name of Godfrey Dickman.  Barron asked him, “What would you fight for in the Church today, what would you make people aware of?”  He said, “Deification, becoming divine.  The entire purpose of the Christian life is not simply to make us better people, but to make us divine to conform us to a participation the very life of the Blessed Trinity.  We will not be mere spectators in Heaven; we will live within the midst of the love of the Trinity.  God became man that we might become God. 

Because Jesus is divine, time and place cannot contain Him.  He is not confined to the Middle East of 2000 years ago.  Every Mass makes present to us, as if by time machine, our Lord’s incarnation, life, passion, death and resurrection.  We might say that every Mass is Christmas and Easter all rolled into one.

During the Eucharistic prayer I call upon the Holy Spirit as I hold my hands over the bread and wine.  This calls to mind the Annunciation where Mary was overshadowed by the Holy Spirit and Jesus was conceived.  He began life as a man.  And while my hands are held over the bread and wine I will pray:   “Be pleased, O God, we pray, to bless, acknowledge, and approve this offering in every respect; make it spiritual and acceptable, so that it may become for us the Body and Blood of your most beloved Son, our Lord Jesus Christ.”  This is the incarnation, made present to us now in the 21st century, God becomes Body and Blood, and this is Christmas, right there on the altar.  And then we receive Him, body, blood, soul, and divinity.  To receive him is to live in His divine love.

To come to Mass every day would be to celebrate Christmas every day. God always wants to share all that He is with us. At that first Christmas 2000 years ago, and every day since, God has been making a proposal to us.  Through his son Jesus he is saying to each and every one of us:  “You give me your humanity, I will give you my divinity.  You give me your time, I will give you eternity.  You give me your bonds; I will give you my omnipotence. You give me your slavery; I will give you my freedom.  You give me your death; I will give you my life.  You give me your nothingness; I will give you my all.”

“The Son of God became man so that man might become God”.  We are saved by a little baby.

The best Christmas gift ever.

Pax et Bonum,

Fr. Christopher J. Ankley

 

Dear Friends,

Cardinal Dolan of New York City tells a story from his younger days when he was studying in Washington D.C.  He said that during that time he would sometimes have the privilege of assisting at the Gift of Peace House, it was a hospice for dying AIDS patients.  This house was run by Mother Teresa’s Missionaries of Charity.  On Good Friday, 1989, Fr. Dolan was celebrant of the Liturgy of the Lord’s Passion for the sisters, volunteers, and the patients.  After everyone had venerated the cross, two sisters led Fr. Dolan upstairs so that the patients confined to their beds could also kiss the feet of Our Lord on the Cross.

As he went from bed to bed, he noticed one emaciated man in the corner who seemed agitated, and kept beckoning for him to come to his corner bed.  As he began to approach the man’s bed, the sister grabbed him, and stopped him, warning him that the man was unusually violent, hateful to everyone, and had actually attempted to bite the attending sister a number of times.  So filled with rage was this man that with his biting he was trying to infect other people with HIV.  However, the poor man kept signaling for Fr. Dolan to come near.  “What was I to do” he thought?  What would any priest do?  So slowly and cautiously he approached, and carefully extended the crucifix, which the man grasped and kissed, not the feet, but the face of the crucified Lord.  He then lay back down, very exhausted.

The next day, Holy Saturday, the sister called to tell Fr. Dolan that the same man had asked for him.  So he went, and, again, in company with two of the sisters as his “bodyguards,” he approached the man.  As Fr. Dolan got nearer the man whispered, “I want to be baptized!”  Fr. Dolan moved a few inches closer and asked, if the man could explain why he desired to enter the Church.  “I know nothing about Christianity or the Catholic Church,” the man said, “In fact, I’ve hated religion my whole life.  All I do know, is that for the three months that I’ve been here dying these sisters are always happy!”  When I curse them, they look at me with compassion.  Even when they clean up my vomit, bathe my sores, and change my diapers, they are smiling; when they spoon-feed me, there’s a radiance in their eyes.  All I know is that they have joy and I don’t.  When I ask them in desperation why they are so happy, all they answer is Jesus.  I want this Jesus.  Baptize me and give me this Jesus! Give me joy!

Fr. Dolan baptized him, confirmed him, and gave him his first holy communion.  The man died a few hours later on Easter Sunday.  Because of the witness of true Christian joy a soul was saved.  So what is this joy and how do we find it?  First let me begin by saying what joy is not.  Joy is not giggly, unrealistic and Pollyannaish.   True joy, is a fruit of the Holy Spirit, is realistic, responsible, prudent, deep, and reasonable.  And this joy can even be present in the midst of sorrow.

So how do we find this joy?  This joy comes first from the knowledge that God loves you.  The first step is the recognition of God’s overwhelming love for you.  His love for you is personal, ecstatic, and infinite.  He’s interested in every detail of your life.  There can be no one so ugly, there can be no one so tragic, and there can be on one so miserable as not to be loved by God.  And that is something extraordinary!  To have the profound conviction that God loves me can cause nothing but joy.

This joy comes second, from the belief that God actually dwells within your soul through the gift of sanctifying grace.  God loves you so passionately that he actually dwells within your soul.  He will never extinguish that life, only we can do that, but it can be restored in the confessional.

This joy comes third from trust, a hope in Divine Providence.  It’s our rock-sure belief that the Lord is omnipotent, everything is in His fatherly hands, Jesus has conquered sin, Satan, and death.  He will bring good out of tragedy, he’s not the cause of tragedy, but he can bring good out of it, we may not understand it, we may be tempted to doubt, we may be tempted to run away in disbelief, but to trust in His Providence can give rise to joy, can give rise to a tranquility, a peace, that no sorrow can dispel.  So if you want to grow in trust; do this at the end of the day, first, thank God for all the blessing received that day, and second, praise Him.  Could be as simple as praying, “I praise you Lord, all glory and honor is yours.”

And fourthly the final font of joy is prayer.

The language of trust in God is prayer.   The Catechism writes that personal prayer

strengthens trust and hope.  We bring him all our unhappiness, our worries and our anxieties.  In prayer we give them to the Lord leaving them to his care.  At Mass put them directly into the chalice on the altar.  Put all your fears, anxieties, sorrows right into the chalice.  We can approach him with anything.  And if we lack in faith, or trust, or joy we ask for it, we pray for it.  How good God is to allow us to call him Father, to be able to bring him anything and everything.

Joy comes from, 1st:  God loves me

2nd:  God dwells within me.  Got God in my Soul!

3rd:  Trust

4th:  Prayer

Today we celebrate Gaudete Sunday and Gaudete means rejoice.  The Church directs all of us to rejoice because “the Lord is near.”  But as we know some of our hearts are burdened by sorrow, anxiety, and suffering.  And yet, we are still called to “rejoice” not only because “the Lord is near” as we prepare Christmas and the coming of the Prince of Peace, but also because our faith assures us that the Lord is present with us, here and now, especially to those in the midst of suffering.  Our Lord is with us through it all, and gives us the assurance that His Peace will always prevail over sorrow, anxiety, and suffering.  His peace has the last word.

There is a lot of fear, and hate, and hurt in this world.  My prayer for us is that our faith and our true joy, like the Missionaries of Charity, can be a route of conversion for the world.  I end with what St. Paul tells us in the second reading and this is from a man who was shipwrecked, starved, stoned, and beaten yet with all these hardships he tells us, “Rejoice in the Lord always.  I shall say it again:  rejoice!  The peace of God that surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.”

Let us be great Saints,

Fr. Christopher J. Ankley

 

Dear Friends,

Fairy tales usually begin something like this, “Once upon a time there was a princess or a frog, or an ugly duckling…”, or they might begin, “A long, long time ago there lived a widower, or a woodcutter, or an old lady…” No precise details are ever given about the date or the time in which the fairy tale takes place. Nor are we told where the action is happening. The story usually takes place in a land far far away. Time and place play no great part. Fairy tales tell a story, usually a story about fundamental human experiences, they don’t tell history.

It’s quite a different thing with today’s Gospel. Today’s Gospel is reporting history; it’s not just telling a story. It talks about a particular moment in the history of the world; it talks about a particular place in the history of the world. It doesn’t speak in generalities it doesn’t speak of a time long long ago or of a place far far away, but it speaks of an exact date and place.

The fifteenth year of the reign of the Emperor Tiberius was the year A.D. 28. At that time, Pontius Pilate was the Roman governor of Judea; Herod the Great’s two hated sons, both immoral and equally cruel, were local princes. Now for us these are probably just names. But for first century Jews there is an agonizing history of oppression behind these names. They were a ruthless, hateful, and violent group of men. And then we have the two high priests, Annas and Caiaphas, who are known to us from Jesus’ trial, they have corrupted the Temple. They’ve turned the Temple, which should be a place of prayer, into a political battlefield for power.

The year 28 was not a good year; things were not looking rosy and peaceful. For the first century Jew these were bad times filled with affliction, poverty, and hardship.  It was a struggle to survive. But then in the year 28 God intervened in the history of mankind. The word of God was spoken to John in the desert. God didn’t speak to the high and mighty, the ones who oppress. This is judgment against them. God spoke to John, a humble man outside the political and religious system. He’s not a part of the palace or the Temple.

As we heard, “The word of God came to John.” God intervenes in history by calling men and women. And whenever men and women answer his call, God can work great things through them. So it was with someone like Francis of Assisi, or Mother Teresa. They heard God’s call and they obeyed. But we might ask ourselves, “How did those people hear God’s call?” How did they know that is wasn’t something they just imagined, just a self-deception? After all God doesn’t call us up on the phone. How can His voice be distinguished from all the babble of voices and noises around us.

God’s call went out to John “in the desert.” In order for God to speak to us, we must hear him. That makes sense. We must hear him. But in order to hear, we need a certain degree of quiet. That’s why John was in the desert, the silence there is so complete that one’s heart is quieted and it starts to hear. In our world today, silence has become a rare thing. That’s why it’s so important that churches be kept open during the day. Anyone looking for peace in the middle of a hectic day will find it in the space of God’s house, saturated as it is with prayer. Many people find that God speaks to their hearts in this space. They come to an inner clarity; they find consolation and help in making decisions. If peace then comes into our hearts, and it’s consistent with our Catholic faith and morals, we can be sure that it comes from God.

What did God say to John in the desert? Above all God gave John words of hope. And in return John was to give his people, and us, words of hope. He was to prepare the way for the Lord, what was crooked would be made straight, any difficulties would be cleared away, the valleys filled and the mountains leveled. John’s job was to build the highway that would help the arrival of our Lord.

John speaks to his people and to us saying, the world of Tiberius, Pilot, and Caiaphas has stunted our hope, the world has stunted our hope, so hope against all hope, because you are remembered by God, because you are remembered by God. God will act so prepare yourself. Prepare yourself with repentance. It’s time for a new mind; it’s time for a new heart, it’s time for a new set of eyes, and it’s time for a new set of expectations. God is about to act, so wake up! God is about to act, so get ready! God is about act, so make way the path for him.

John is the precursor. His story is not a fairy tale. By the path that he prepared, God really did come to us: he came to us as the little child at Bethlehem, as the Redeemer of all men and women. He comes to us now in prayer and the sacraments, Eucharist, Reconciliation. And this true history all begins with Christmas.

Peace and all good,

Fr. Christopher Ankley

Dear Friends,

In the first quarter of the twentieth century there was a young man, Pier Giorgio Frassati, and he loved climbing mountains.  It was his number one hobby.  On weekends and school vacations he’d be in the Italian Alps practicing his climbing skills.  And he didn’t go alone he always brought a cohort of friends.  To the top, verso l’alto was his motto, always climbing as high as his skill and ropes would take him.  Now this young man was also a great man of prayer and he brought his rosary with him on these mountain treks and as he made his way to the top he would stop multiple times on the craggy ledges to rest but to also contemplate the greatness of God.

Pier Giorgio was born in Turin Italy in 1901.  He was born into a very wealthy and influential family.   His parents were not too religious but they made sure that their children went to Mass every Sunday and that they learned the catechism.  Very early on Pier Giorgio showed a great compassion for the poor.  Walking home from school he’d sometimes give away his coat and sweater and shoes, so that by the time he reached home he was almost naked, his mom was not amused.  Or if poor people knocked on their front door he’d give away dinner and empty the pantry of food.   As he got older his philanthropy grew.  He joined the St. Vincent de Paul Society and any allowance he received went to helping those in need.  His dad never knew that the allowance he gave Pier Giorgio was going to help the poor.

Pier Giorgio received communion every day, confession every week, and many nights he would spend in adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, with his skis lying next to him.  They say he loved to sing, although he sounded awful, so he would have to sit in the back so as not to distract too many people.  He has been described as athletic, handsome, and bounding with charisma, he also had a reputation as a practical joker.  His pranks included short-sheeting priest’s beds. In 1925 Frassati died after contracting polio from a man he was helping.  He was only 24.  As the funeral procession left the Turin Church his family was surprised to see the numbers of poor people lining the street to honor their son.  The poor were just as surprised to see that their benefactor came from such a rich and powerful family.  Frassati’s story became well known it inspired Catholics across the world including a young Polish student Karol Woytjla, future pope.  In 1990 Pope St. John Paul II beatified Frassati calling him a man of the beatitudes.  Pier Giorgio’s body is incorrupt and he’s a patron of the youth.

As I stated earlier Pier Giorgio loved climbing mountains, “To the top” was his motto.  In many of the photos we have of him there are often mountains in the background.   The prophet Isaiah once spoke of a holy mountain, we heard of it in the blessing of our Advent wreath, he said, “In days to come, the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established as the highest mountain and raised above the hills.  All nations shall stream toward it.” Two questions:  Is the mountain of the Lord’s house the highest mountain in our life?  Is praise and worship of God more important to us than anything else?  Pier Giorgio climbed the mountain of the Lord.  He came from a wealthy family; and he could have climbed the mountain of wealth.  He came from a powerful family; and he could have climbed the mountain of power.  He was handsome and charismatic; and he could have climbed the mountain of pleasure.  Yet even with all these blessings he chose the mountain of the Lord.  He used every blessing he received, money, influence, and charisma in service to climbing this most important mountain.  Experts in spirituality often tell us, if we don’t have the love of God first in our lives then we won’t know what to do with the other goods and blessings in our lives.  These other goods and blessings could very easily become the mountains we end up climbing.

Now after telling us that the mountain of the Lord’s house will be established as the highest mountain Isaiah goes on to say that people will climb this mountain for instruction.  “Come let us climb the Lord’s mountain, to the house of the God of Jacob that he may instruct us in his ways and we may walk in his paths.”  Isaiah is saying to us, come to the temple to be instructed.  Where do people get their instruction today?  There are many different venues to instruction today; TV, internet, movies, magazines, newspapers, and music.  We need news of what is going on in the world around us, but when these sources become the determiner of value in our lives then something is wrong.  Where do we go for instruction?  75% of our Catholic brothers and sisters stay away from weekly Mass.  Where do we go for instruction?  People used to go to Church for the answers; going to Church is our version of going up the mountain of the Lord.  We go there (here) seeking the wisdom of our ancient religious tradition, because truth is timeless.

This is our mountain; you could call it Mount St. Jerome. Pier Giorgio used to encourage his friends as they climbed with a phrase, they always lagged behind, and so he would shout down to them, “Higher and higher there, you can hear the voice of Christ!”  We could say to our friends, “Come to St. Jerome; come to the mountain and you will hear the voice of Christ!

I want to end with a question that Pope Francis once posed, “Do I adore the Lord?  Do I adore Jesus Christ the Lord?  Or is it half and half, do I play the play of the prince of the world?”  To adore Jesus till the end, to adore with loyalty and faithfulness; this is the grace we should ask for this advent.

Let us become great Saints,

Fr. Christopher

Dear Friends,

Whenever we hear the name of Mark Twain, we usually think of Tom Sawyer or Huckleberry Finn, or maybe even Joan of Arc, which he said was his best book.  Mark Twain wrote prodigiously but today I want to focus on his book called The Prince and the Pauper.

It’s a story about two boys born in England on the very same day.  The first boy was born to the royal family and was the direct heir to the throne of England.  He was given the title of The Prince of Wales, and eventually he would become King Edward VI.  Commenting on his birth, Mark Twain writes, “England had so longed for him, and hoped for him, and prayed to God for him, and now that he was really there, the people went nearly mad for joy… Everybody took a holiday, the high and low, the rich and poor, they feasted and danced and sang.”

Now on the very same day that the prince was born into the royal family in the palace of London, another boy was born, but born to a very poor family in the slums of London.  He was given the name of Tom Canty, and eventually he would become a beggar boy.  Commenting on his birth, Mark Twain writes, “He was an unwanted boy.  Nobody longed for him; nobody hoped for him; nobody prayed to God for him.  And now that he was in the world, nobody feasted, nobody danced, and nobody sang.”

Both boys grew up in totally different surroundings.  They grew up with totally different views of the world.

Now one day Tom Canty finds himself outside the gates to the royal palace.  And he is awestruck by its beauty.  As he edges closer to the gates to get a better look, the royal guards charge towards him and brutally throw him to the ground.  The young prince happens to see the incident and comes running to Tom’s defense.  And then to the surprise of the guards, the prince invites Tom inside to visit the royal palace.

Tom is flabbergasted.  He’s never seen anything like this before.  And the prince is charmed by the genuineness of his new friend.  Now as the prince was showing Tom the huge mirror in his room, the prince notices something, except for Tom’s rags and dirty face, he is a perfect look-alike for himself.  He said to Tom the pauper, “You have the same hair, the same eyes, the same voice, and the same face.  If we were wearing the same clothes there is none who could say which was you and which was me, the Prince of Wales.”    And so they got the idea to switch places and play a trick on everybody.  The prince put on

Tom’s beggar clothes and wandered off through the slums of London and rubbed elbows with the poor.  While Tom put on the prince’s clothes and rubbed elbows with the rich and famous.

After a time, however, the boys tired of their game.  And the prince returned to the palace and tried to enter, but the guards seized him, because they didn’t recognize him.  And when he refused to go away, he was thrown into the palace prison.  No amount of persuasion would convince them that he was really the Prince of Wales.  Even Tom’s attempts to set things straight failed.

With time the situation resolved itself, but as a result of the “trading places” the prince knew first-hand what it meant to be poor and to be treated harshly.  The prince would eventually become king and he became one of the most merciful and best-loved kings ever to reign on the throne.  He looked after the poor.

Our Lord, the real King, the King of the Universe, in that Great Exchange, in that greatest of Trading Places, like the prince made himself poor, but he made himself poor so that we might be made rich in divinity.  This Solemnity of Christ the King was given to us in 1925 by Pope Pius XI.  It was given to us at a time when certain secular rulers were launching dictatorships which would become vehicles of hate and destruction.  Through this solemnity the Pope wanted to reassert the ultimate and universal Kingship of Jesus Christ and his law of love and truth.

On this great Solemnity of Christ the King I offer three points.  First:  what is a King supposed to do?  Second:  how does Jesus fulfill this?  And Third:  what does all this have to do with you and me today?

First, what are kings all about?  Many of us probably picture a king as someone clothed in luxury, sitting on a throne, being waited on hand and foot, and not having to really do much of anything.  But speaking Biblically, a king has three primary responsibilities:  1. to look out for widows and orphans, 2. to care for the poor, and 3. to go to war to protect his people.  Not merely to send troops out to battle, but to lead the battle himself, to be on the front lines, to risk his own life for the lives of his people.

Second point, how does Jesus fulfill all of this?  Let me focus on that third responsibility; to do battle for us.  The second reading tells us that Jesus, “The ruler of the kings of the earth, loves us and has freed us from ours sins by His blood and has made us into a kingdom.”  Why is Christ the King?  He’s the King because He has gone to war for us.  He didn’t sit at home in Heaven and send angels to fight for us.   To save us from sin, to conquer death and to destroy our ancient opponent, the devil.  He did it Himself!  He came here, born of the Virgin Mary, to do combat for us.  It was most fitting that He become man, become one of us,  so that He could take up arms against our oppressors; against sin, against death, and against the devil himself.  He fought for us in the flesh.

Jesus taught, he told parables, and he performed miracles.  But those aren’t the reasons He came.  He came to get His hands dirty, to get them bloody!  Out of His extraordinary love for you and me he came to do battle for us, to fight for us, to wage war for us.  The cross is not the tragic end, but the reason he came.  Rescuing us from the stronghold of death and the guilt of sin.  And in doing so He has shown us what a real King does:  a real king protects, a real king defends, and a real king fights for others, He has His eyes open wide to those around Him who are defenseless, helpless and in most need.

And, finally our third point, what does all this have to do with you and me?   With baptism all of us have become sharers in Jesus’ Kingship.  It means that we, as the Body of Christ, are called to have what the Church often refers to as a “preference for the poor.”  We are challenged to ask the Holy Spirit to help us to look out into the world in which we live and with which we interact each day and to see those who are most in need and then to do something for them.  It means defending human life and working to ensure the protection of every human being, especially those who are most in jeopardy, the unborn, the elderly, and the sick.  It means to be involved in efforts to feed the hungry and to cloth the naked.  It means getting out of our comfort zones, maybe making a phone call to someone who is grieving or to visit a friend in the hospital, a nursing home, a hospice, or even a jail.  It means reaching out to the kid in school who doesn’t seem to have many friends, or is struggling somehow.  It means, having our focus on the other and their needs and not on me and my needs.

This week, let us ask our Lord to help us see someone who in some way needs to be defended or cared for, this might be at work, in school, or at home.  And then let’s pray for the grace to exercise our kingship and to do something for them,  to do something.

Peace and all good,

Fr. Christopher Ankley