Author: Christine Jordan

Dear Friends,

Not long ago at a confirmation retreat, a priest asked all the students to name their favorite part of the Mass.  Of course one smart aleck said it was the closing hymn that was his favorite part.  The other more serious answers included the readings, the homily, receiving Holy Communion and finally one serious young woman by the name of Mary said it was the Creed, the Profession of faith that was her favorite part.  And when asked why, she said that years earlier her family had experienced a great tragedy.  A tragedy that filled her dad and siblings with hate but it was her mom that changed everything.  And she did it by reciting the creed everyday out loud in front of everyone.  Before eating, as they all sat around the table, Mary’s mom recited the creed.  And she did this day after day to remind them, first, that God was there, He was there in their midst, second, He loved them, God loved them ecstatically, and finally and most importantly, if they believed in God, if they believed that he was there and that he loved them, then this belief had some serious implications for their lives.

Our Gospel today began with the words, “The Apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith.”  What we didn’t hear was the verse before it.  It goes like this, “If your brother sins, rebuke him; and if he repents, forgive him.  And if he wrongs you seven times in one day and returns to you seven times saying, ‘I am sorry,’ you should forgive him.”  It was after hearing this seemingly impossible command that the apostles ask for an increase in faith.  They wanted more faith so that they could forgive as they were told to forgive.

When Mary was a baby, her family lost everything they had.  This happened because Mary’s older brother, John, had been kidnapped.  The leader of the gang that had kidnapped John demanded a large sum of money in return for John’s life.    Mary’s family sold everything, the house, the car, anything of value was sold.  And after they had given the man everything, all they received in return was a bag containing John’s lifeless body. They’d been double-crossed. As you can imagine they were devastated.  A couple of years later, unannounced, the gang leader showed up at their home, and he asked them to forgive him for what he had done.  “I’m dying of an aggressive cancer,” he told them, “and I want to be reconciled with you before I die.”

Mary’s father wanted nothing to do with the man.  Mary’s brother refused to even acknowledge the man’s request for forgiveness.  Mary’s sister spoke of her intense desire for the man to die a painful horrific death so that he would pay for what he’d done to John and to them.  This kind of talk went on for days.  Mary’s mother, however, kept silent, carefully listening as her family uttered over and over hateful-thing after hateful-thing against the man who had been responsible for the murder of her beloved son.

One night, while the family discussed again the man’s request for what felt like the thousandth time, Mary’s mother got up from the table and went into her bedroom.  After a while, she came back into the dining room, sat down, and with a broken yet firm voice, started reciting:

I believe in God, the Father Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth; and in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord:  who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary; suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died and was buried.  He descended into hell; the third day he rose again form the dead; he ascended into heaven, is seated at the right hand of God the Father Almighty; from thence He shall come to judge the living and the dead.  I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Holy Catholic Church, the communion of Saints…

At this point, Mary’s mother made a long pause.  And almost in a whisper, she continued:  the forgiveness of sins…and then she repeated in a louder voice…I believe in the forgiveness of sins…and a third time, she shouted:  I believe in the forgiveness of sins!  After a long silence, with everyone staring at her, Mary’s mother finally said:  Forgive if you want to be reunited with our beloved John.  Forgive if you want to take part in the resurrection of the body.  Forgive if you want to enjoy life everlasting.  And she repeated:  Forgive if you want to be reunited with our beloved John.  Forgive if you want to take part in the resurrection of the body.  Forgive if you want to enjoy life everlasting.

Every night sitting at the dinner table, in reciting the creed, a profession of faith, Mary’s mom reminded her family that God was there in their midst, He loved them and then finally she was reminding them, if you believe in God then this belief has serious implications for your life.

It was not easy, but with time, persistent prayer, and the repeated sacramental graces of Reconciliation and Eucharist they were able to forgive.  And they found peace.

The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith.”  Mary’s family said to the Lord, “Increase our faith.”  We say to the Lord, “Increase our faith.”

Let us be great Saints,

Fr. Christopher J. Ankley

Dear Friends,

I have three stories about the ignored.

First story, There once was a rich young man by the name of Alexis.  He was Catholic and lived in Rome during the fourth or fifth century and he lived at a time when it had just become legal to be a Catholic.  People could finally practice the Christian faith out in the open.  When Alexis was a teenager, he decided that he wanted to give up everything, give up his wealth and give up his place of privilege in Roman society.  He wanted to live a life of poverty and prayer, and he wanted to do this all for God, but his parents had other plans for him.  They had arranged for him to marry a rich young woman.  And because it was their will for him he went along with it.  He really listened to his parents.  Yet on his wedding day when he saw his bride for the first time, he had second thoughts, and it’s not what you think☺.  This woman was smart, loving, and beautiful, and she would be a great wife, but even so, he asked for her permission to leave her for God.  She gave him the permission.   So he left.

He made his way to Syria, where he lived the life of a beggar.  Any money he received he first shared with the many poor people around him using only what was left over for himself.  When he wasn’t begging he was praying in the various churches of the city.  After living this way for several years people began to recognize him for his extraordinary holiness.  People would come to him for advice and to ask for his prayers.  They called him the living saint.  And this made him very uncomfortable.  So after seventeen years in Syria he made his way back to Rome and to his parents’ house.  He came as a beggar to his own house where he’d grown up.  His parents didn’t recognize him and so he started living under the stairs leading up to the front door.  His parents allowed him to live there not knowing who he really was.  And there he stayed spending his time begging for food, praying in the churches of Rome, and teaching the homeless about God.  With his parents never realizing who he was, even though they passed him and looked at him every day as they went to and from their house.

Now the servants of that house were quite cruel to Alexis and though he could have ended all these sufferings just by telling his parents who he was, he chose to say nothing.  Alexis lived this way for 17 years.   It was a hard way of life.  And one morning the servants found him dead under the stairs.  But before burying him they went through his few possessions even going through the pockets of the jacket he was wearing.  And in one of his pockets they found a note.  The note explained to them who he was and how he had lived this life of penance and prayer from the day his wedding was supposed to take place until then, a total of thirty-four years.  Writing that he did it all for the love of God.  Praying and sacrificing for the people of God.

When Alexis’ mother came to look and to hold the dead body of her son she cried out, “My son, my Alexis, I have known you too late! You were there all the time and I never really saw you.” She was heartbroken.  This woman had seen her son every day for seventeen years yet she didn’t really see him.  She had heard her son every day for seventeen years yet she didn’t really hear him.  She had invited her son into her home yet she didn’t really invite him in.   He got only as far as the space beneath the stairs.  It was a superficial relationship.  Alexis’ parents looked at their son every day for 17 years without ever seeing him.  And then it was too late.

Second story our parable in the Gospel.  In our parable too the rich man ignores the man living on his steps. He totally ignores Lazarus, stepping over him every day without helping him.   In no way does the parable condemn the man for being rich.  Being wealthy was thought to be a blessing from God, an outward sign that God had favored a person.  On the other hand, the poverty of a person like Lazarus was thought to be a curse from God.  The belief at the beginning of the parable for the people listening to Jesus would have been that the rich man would have been carried off by angels to the bosom of Abraham and that Lazarus would have been the one sent to the netherworld.  Our Lord’s parables usually destroy expectations, and with this parable Jesus radically reversed expectations.

The sin Jesus pointed to is the fact that not only did the rich man not assist Lazarus, the rich man completely failed to notice Lazarus.  Even in death, the rich man saw Lazarus as nothing more than a servant.  For God, failure to notice the suffering of a fellow human being is inexcusable and merits torment.  It’s curious that the rich man is nameless while the poor man is given a name and his name Lazarus in Hebrew means, “God comes to help.”  By giving him a name Jesus points to the poor man’s significance he is not just a nameless nobody.

The parable states, “When the poor man died, he was carried away by angels to the bosom of Abraham.”  This mention of Angels being sent to poor Lazarus was a powerful signal.  The presence of angels signaled the presence of God.  The presence of angels also signaled God’s protection.  The role of the angels was so important that the parable could have stopped right there with the mention of the angels and it would have had the same impact on its first century audience.  The angels came for Lazarus.

Third story, Twenty eight years ago I lived in Detroit and every morning I had to walk three blocks and most every morning I passed the same gentleman sitting in a doorway with his hand extended asking for change.  He wasn’t very clean, he didn’t smell too good, and he must have been injured in a fire because his face was severely scarred.  I wish I could tell you that I gave him money every day but I don’t even remember if I ever did.  Excuses, however, I do remember the excuses that would come into my mind, like, “Oh he’ll just use the money to buy beer or maybe drugs,” or maybe I’d think, “Why doesn’t he just get a job?”  Sometimes I would walk on the other side of the street to avoid him, his presence made me uncomfortable.

Have you ever been in a similar situation?  Were you uncomfortable?  If you were that’s good.  We should be uncomfortable.  We should be uncomfortable seeing our brothers and sisters in need. Today’s Gospel is meant to bother us, to get under our skin and to maybe even irritate or sting and that’s good because like an oyster that’s irritated by a grain of sand produces out of that irritation a pearl of great value and in the same way when our conscience is stung or irritated something of great beauty can be produced in our souls.

We live in a country of great wealth, and even if we are not the wealthiest, compared to most of the world we live in abundance.  And so there are two questions we can ask ourselves:  Why has God permitted me this wealth, whatever level that might be?  And what does he want me to do with it?  Cardinal George once said, “The poor need the rich to get out of poverty, and the rich need the poor to get to Heaven.”  The next time we encounter a man sitting in a doorway asking for change, look at him, really look at him, and see him.  We can ask ourselves, I can ask myself, “Why has God placed him in my path.”

Let us become great Saints,

Fr. Christopher Ankley

Dear Friends,

Today’s parable about the crafty steward is meant to wake us from a spiritual slumber.  It’s a wakeup call.  The steward squanders his master’s property and he gets caught.  He knows he’s going to lose his job and he’s desperate.   There’s no social security and no unemployment check waiting for him.  He’s too weak for manual labor and he’s too proud to beg.  He’s frantic and needs to act quickly so he comes up with a scheme.  A scheme that’s immoral, pathetic, and far from foolproof but it is a decisive action.  The steward moved when the situation called for action.  And the rich master is impressed.  He calls the steward prudent and even though it was immoral the steward knew what to do to save himself.

Jesus uses this story about material wealth as a metaphor for our spiritual life.  We are motivated to take action when we have failing bank accounts, we are motivated to take action when we have broken cars, and we are certainly motivated to take action when we have failing physical health.  But are we just as motivated to care for our spiritual life when it’s in jeopardy?  The unjust steward realized his desperate situation and acts.  What is our spiritual situation like?  Are we ready to act?

I want to share with you a story about a man who, when faced with a desperate situation, took action.  And the action he chose was to grow closer to God.  John Newton was born in 1725.  His devoted Christian mother hoped that he would one day become a minister.  But she died when John was six and John’s life took off in a very different direction.  At the age of 11 he went to sea to be with his dad who was a sailor.  John worked on merchant ships with his dad and he gained quite an education on board those ships growing farther and farther away from God, until one day he stopped believing.  Eventually John’s dad retired and they went their separate ways.  John eventually found himself as a captain of a ship used in the slave trade.  Slaves were picked up in West Africa, where they were crammed into the hold of the ship with barely enough room to breathe.  Receiving little food or water many died before ever reaching North America.

In 1748 sailing to England John experienced a profound spiritual wake up call.  His ship the Greyhound encountered a severe storm off the coast of Ireland.  As massive amounts of water poured into the ship, threatening to sink it Newton amazed himself by crying out, “Lord have mercy on us!”  Spending the next 11 hours at the ship’s helm battling the storm he reflected on his life and his rejection of God.  This experience marked the beginning of his conversion.  That date was March 10, 1748, the day of his turn around, and from that date forward John avoided profanity, gambling, drinking, and womanizing.  It was a few years later, however, before he gave up the slave trade.  On his last trip as a slave trader he turned back when at the half way point to America.  He returned the slaves to Africa and gave them their freedom.

John Newton did eventually become a minister as his mom had hoped.  He became an Anglican priest and a strident abolitionist, but I think most of us today know him as the author of the hymn, “Amazing Grace.”  Now you know the rest of the story.

This story of John Newton is a story of one of God’s children returning back to Him, opening the door to Him, opening that link to eternity.  John Newton had the opportunity, (like we do, right now, today) to look at his life before he died, to see things that he wanted to change and to change them.  He had those eleven hours to reflect on his life.  He had the opportunity to welcome God back into his life and make Him the Biggest part of it and he did.  John took action and reconnected with his faith.  He responded to God’s amazing grace.  He realized at that point, I think, that he like the rest of us was not meant for this material world, but meant for the eternity of Heaven.  We have that same opportunity to respond to God’s grace.  If we’re feeling a little distant from God, we can invite Him back into our lives.  If something is gnawing at us or unsettling us, we can reconcile with Him.

God is patient and always calling us back to Himself, always waiting for us.  In the days of the Old Testament He spoke through the prophets to call back his Israelites.  Today He speaks to us through Christ His Son, He speaks to us through His Church and He speaks to us through our Pope.   Pope Francis once wrote of an encounter with God that changed his life.  On September 21, 1953, a 16-year-old boy named Jorge Bergoglio was planning to go out to celebrate with friends an Argentinian national holiday called Students’ Day, which is always held on the first day of spring in the Southern Hemisphere.  Jorge decided to start the holiday by going to pray at his parish church dedicated to St. Joseph.  When Jorge arrived at the church, he saw a priest he didn’t recognize but one who seemed to radiate holiness. He decided to approach him and asked him to hear his confession.  We don’t know what Jorge said to the priest or what the priest said in response.  But we do know that that confession totally changed not only the teenager’s plans for the day, but for the whole course of his life.  Pope Francis would later say, “For me, this was an experience of encounter:  I found that someone was waiting for me.  Yet I don’t know what happened.  I can’t remember. I don’t know why that particular priest was there, whom I didn’t know, or why I felt this desire to confess.  But the truth is that someone was waiting for me.  He had been waiting for me for some time.  After making my confession, I felt something had changed.  I was not the same. I had heard something like a voice or a call.”  “I realized that God was waiting for me.”

God is ever faithful even when we’re not, God is always waiting.  None of us knows when we’ll see God face-to-face, but all of us will and all of us want to be sure we’re ready for that moment.  Let’s not wait for tomorrow.

The unjust steward was very quick to take action when his material world was in jeopardy.  Let us always be quick too, but quick to take action when our spiritual life is in jeopardy because it profits us nothing to gain the whole world if in the process we lose our soul.  Our Lord was waiting for John Newton, he was waiting for the 16 year old Jorge Bergoglio and he’s waiting for us too, waiting to receive us with open arms.

Let us be great Saints,

Fr. Christopher J. Ankley

Dear Friends,

In our Gospel today we are reminded of two truths of our faith.  First, God created us in love, He created us in an ecstatic love, and in this love He created us to participate in his divine life by being in friendship and union with him.  Second, with our God-given free will we sinned and rejected God’s love choosing instead to trust in ourselves rather than trusting in Him.  However, God constantly reaches out to us, to bring us back, into a right relationship with Him.

A few years ago I read the book, Brideshead revisited.  It was written by Evelyn Waugh a British Catholic convert from the first half of the twentieth century. This book is about a wealthy British Catholic family, the Marchmains.  And a few members of this family, if they had been living at the time of Jesus, they’d be eating at the table with him in today’s Gospel.  They were sinners spending their lives trying to get as far away from God as possible. Eventually, however, these wandering Marchmains responded to God’s ever pursuing grace because as we heard in the second truth; God constantly reaches out to us.  And a priest character in the book describes this grace of God reaching out to us, in a way that I’ve never forgotten.  This is God talking about someone who finally responded to his grace, (using God voice) “I caught him with an unseen hook and an invisible line which is long enough to let him wander to the ends of the world and still to bring him back with a twitch upon the thread.”

God lets us live in freedom and sometimes in that freedom we wander away maybe even far away, but He always pursues, tugging on that line and hopefully we eventually respond to that tug of grace.  In today’s Gospel we heard three examples of God’s grace at work.  And this grace has a logic that is so very different from the logic of this world.

The logic of the world is about control and division. It’s about who’s in and who’s out.   This logic of the world tells us, if you hurt me I’ll hurt you back and if you do something for me I owe you.  But the logic of God’s grace is totally different because grace is a free gift.  And if we were to think with the logic of grace we’d have to say instead, “Even though I don’t owe you anything I’m going to give you something,” and “Even though you’ve hurt me I’m not going to seek revenge,” and “Even though you won’t forgive me, I’ll forgive you and give you a gift.”  It’s this logic of grace that we see in today’s Gospel, a logic that looks to the other instead of looking inward at self.  The shepherd leaves ninety-nine valuable sheep in search of one whom he may not even find.  This goes against the logic of the world.  Why risk so much for one sheep worth so little compared to the rest?  And then there’s the woman who diligently tears apart her house in search of a coin that’s only worth about a penny.  Would we do the same?  Do we think with the logic of grace, seeking the lost and the estranged, giving and forgiving without expecting anything in return?

Our Gospel today ends with the famous parable of the prodigal son but it could also be called the prodigal sons because both sons have turned away from their father.  They think with the logic of the world.  The younger son says in effect, “I’m unwilling to wait for you to die, so give me what is due to me.”  And the older son says to the Father, “I’ve been like your slave all these years and you owe me.”  These two sons think only of themselves and the father responds to this greed not with the logic of the world he instead responds with the logic of grace telling them, “Everything I have is yours.”

The younger son eventually comes to repentance and there’s a line that always moves me.  “While he was still a long way off, his father caught sight of him, and was filled with compassion.  He ran to his son, embraced him and kissed him.”  An elderly wealthy man, at the time of Jesus, would never run out to meet his son, especially one who had left him and squandered all his money.  It wouldn’t be dignified he would lose all respect and social standing in the community.  But the father loves his son and as we heard in the second truth, God always reaches out to us to bring us back into a right relationship with Him.

Father Hoppough one of my professors at the seminary used to tell us that we are like the prodigal son whenever we stand at the threshold of the confessional.   At the sight of us God the Father is filled with compassion, He sees our heart, and He is ready to forgive, He runs to us, He embraces us, and He kisses us.  This is a consoling thought that comes to me whenever I go to confession because going to confession is not fun even for a priest.  It’s a humbling experience, but also a very good experience.

Two truths, God created us in love to participate in his life, and if in sin we stray from that love he pursues us and when we turn back to him in repentance there is much rejoicing among the angels of God in Heaven.   

“I caught him with an unseen hook and an invisible line which is long enough to let him wander to the ends of the world and still to bring him back with a twitch upon the thread.”

Let us be great Saints,

Fr. Christopher J. Ankley

Dear Friends,

Our gospel today begins with the phrase, “Great crowds were traveling with Jesus.”  They were following because they had found someone who was many things.  He was a miracle worker, he was a charismatic presence, and he was a great preacher; he spoke in a way they had never heard before.  He set their hearts on fire.  And they all wanted to follow him and it was easy to follow him.  All was going so well.  And so Jesus challenges this group and in a sense he says to them, “Will you follow me to the bitter end, you’re here now, but will you follow me to the bitter end.” As we know only a few were there at the bitter end.

Our Lord then lays out the cost of discipleship.  He tells them how to follow.  And he gives them the great challenge of detachment.  Detachment is the heart of the spiritual life Detachment is loving God first and then loving everything and everyone else for the sake of God, to love God and to love everything else for the sake of God.  And when we get this right we have found the narrow path.

Writers of Spirituality will say that detachment is an attitude of the heart. God calls a few people to give away all their possessions. Think of St. Francis of Assisi.  He allows the rest of us, however, to keep some of what we own, but not cling to it. Detachment means getting rid of our “selfish clinging” clinging to things or clinging to people.

Spiritual writers will also say that detachment is a response to God’s love for us. For example when we fall in love with someone, everything and everyone else in our life begins to pale in comparison to this beloved. We change our schedules we change our priorities. We spend money and time on this person without feeling like it’s a sacrifice.  If, on the other hand, a young man were to always watch football with the guys rather than have dinner with his girlfriend, she would rightly question his feelings for her.

What about us? Would we rather watch football (or go shopping, or spend time with friends, or read, or do whatever).   Would we rather do all these things rather than pray and spend time with God? Would we pray even if we didn’t “enjoy” it? What if God allowed us to lose all our loved ones and possessions, as happened to Job in the Old Testament, would we still love Him and follow Him? Would we have inner peace?

Our Lord calls us to put love for Him above everything else. When we can truly do this, then we are detached and on the narrow way.  And to describe this spirit of detachment Jesus uses the word “Hate.”  He says, “If anyone comes to me without hating his father and mother, wife and children, brother and sister, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple.” This word hate that Jesus uses is not aggression; this word hate is used as a Jewish exaggeration, used to make a point.  We “hate” our family members in the measure they become little gods to us.  They become little gods to us when their opinions and expectations become our ultimate goal or where pleasing them becomes the ultimate goal.  We “hate” them in the measure they become little gods to us. If they have become little gods to us, we don’t “hate” them enough.

When we look at the life of Saint Francis, we can see this spirit of detachment, we see a man who made a break from his family his father especially.  He still greatly loved his family but he loved our Lord more.  Francis’ father wanted him to enter into the family business.  And that was a good thing but Francis had to follow God’s plan instead, putting God’s plan ahead of his own father’s plans.  At one point Francis’ father had locked him in the house because he was selling things from the warehouse and then giving the money to the poor.  He was selling off his father’s things.  Francis escaped and again began selling his father’s inventory.  Eventually the father brought legal charges against Francis.  The case was brought before the local Bishop, who sided with the father ordering Francis to return all that he had taken.  Francis agreed and he made plans to restore everything he’d taken and he even went a step further giving back the clothes he was wearing.  So that he was totally naked in the church square.  And standing there naked he said to his father, “I have called you father on earth; but now I say, ‘Our Father, who are in Heaven’.” He still loved his earthly father but God was his number one.

The Bishop then gave Francis an old woolen coat to wear. Francis found a piece of chalk so that he could draw a cross on the old coat, he put it on and he began his work.  Working with the sign of the cross on his coat Francis began in earnest to carry his cross.

Now when Jesus tells that great crowd of followers that they must, carry their cross  they would have been shocked.  We today think of the cross in spiritual terms but that crowd would’ve seen the cross as death in utter agony, and humiliation, and nakedness.  Our Lord was telling them unless you crucify your ego, your selfish wants, you cannot be my follower.  Our Lord was telling them unless you love me first, and first, and first, and then love everything else including your own life for the sake of me, if you don’t do this you cannot be my disciple.  This is the foundation of our spiritual life.  Something we always work at with God’s grace.

At the beginning of his conversion St. Francis prayed often in the Church of San Damiano and on one occasion he heard a voice coming from the cross saying to him, “Francis go and repair my Church, which you see is falling down.”  Every time we carry our cross putting Jesus in first place we, like St. Francis, help to build up the Church.  Let us always follow Jesus, even to the Cross.

Let us be great Saints,

Fr. Christopher J. Ankley

Dear Friends,

In 13^th century Italy there was a woman named Margaret.  She was a very beautiful woman.  And growing up she learned to appreciate her looks in a prideful way, using her looks to her advantage.   She used her looks to gain the praise and attention of men.  She used her looks for the gain of material gifts.  She used her looks as a way of controlling men and this she found worked with the poor man as well as with the wealthy man.    And being poor herself she set her sights on a wealthy man named Arsenio.  By the age of 17 Margaret found herself living in Arsenio’s castle as his mistress, they never married.  Margaret left behind any concern for God or neighbor. She gave up the faith of her childhood.  She gave up prayer, Mass, and the Sacraments.   It was all about her and her wants.

Living in that castle Margaret had the best food, the best clothing, the best entertainment.  She had the best of everything there was no pleasure she didn’t indulge. For ten years all was well until one day Arsenio failed to return home.  Margaret grew concerned so she went in search of him.  And she found him eventually out in the woods under a pile of brush.  Someone had murdered him and hidden the body.  That moment was a turning point in Margaret’s life.  She began to wonder, “What happened to the soul of Arsenio?”  He had the same attitude she did, focused more on pleasure and self than on anything else.  Where is his soul?  Margaret then began to wonder what would happen to her if she were to die at that moment.  This moment became her moment of conversion.

Margaret spent the next 33 years trying to humbly put her focus on God and her neighbor; she did this by working with the Franciscans helping the poor.   She worked at learning humility.   Margaret’s long conversion process was not always easy; as we can imagine, there were still moments of great temptation when she wanted to return to her old way of life.  She was still beautiful and it could’ve happened.  But, with God’s grace we now know Margaret as St. Margaret of Cortona, a patroness to invoke against temptations.

In our Gospel today Jesus tells us to be humble, to take the lowest place, and the one who humbles himself will be exalted.  Spiritual writers will often write that humility is the queen of all the virtues.  It is the foundation of the whole of our spirituality. St. Bernard of Clairvaux was once asked to name the four Cardinal virtues and instead of answering prudence, justice, fortitude, and temperance he said instead, “The four cardinal virtues are humility, humility, humility, and humility.”  He then went onto say that the word cardinal means hinge and everything hinges on humility.  Humility opens the door to the hearts of others and humility opens the heart of God.

St. Paul once asked the question, “What do you have that you have not received?”  In order to truly pursue truth and goodness it’s necessary to let go of the ego and to realize that everything we have, everything, is a gift from God.  And one of those gifts I want to focus on right now is the Sabbath.  As Mark’s gospel says the Sabbath was made for man, a gift for each of us.  And one way Catholics can practice humility is to go to Mass every Sunday, putting God ahead of everything else at least for one hour out of 168 hours in a week.

In my twenties, for a whole decade I went to Mass every Sunday.  But I didn’t do it out of humility or love; I did it out of fear.  I was scared to commit a mortal sin, because it is still a mortal sin to willfully miss Sunday Mass.  A sin that must be confessed in the sacrament of reconciliation before Holy Communion can be worthily received.  No, for that decade of my twenties, I went to Mass out of fear of committing sin.  I didn’t dwell on this fear, but I reasoned; what’s an hour out of a whole week.  I wasn’t there to fully praise God; I wasn’t there to fully thank God,   I wasn’t there to repent, and I rarely received our Lord in Holy Communion.  Sometimes I’d go to Mass with a friend and we’d just talk and whisper throughout the entire Mass.  I didn’t fully appreciate and receive the gift of the Mass.  There was no conscious and full participation.

However, the commandment to keep holy the Sabbath, and the precept to attend Sunday Mass kept me going to Church week after week, month after month, year after year.  And during that time God was working on my soul without me even noticing.  The rule was good for me; it kept me going to Mass every Sunday until finally love took the place of fear.  Without the incentive of a rule I wouldn’t have gone to Mass and I’m sure I wouldn’t be here now.    I don’t need the rule now but it was helpful in its time.

Despite the great accomplishments we may achieve we are still dependent on the goodness and generosity of others-parents, teachers, friends, and most importantly we are dependent on God.  We receive His life, we receive His love, and we receive His forgiveness.  And we receive all this, not because we deserve it, because we don’t deserve it, but because He is infinitely generous.  And that should always keep us humble.  And in this humility and love let us attend Mass every Sunday praising God, thanking God, repenting of sin, giving Him our problems, giving Him everything, and then receiving Him in the Holy Eucharist.

We need the grace of God that we receive at Mass we need the holy friendship of those around us.  Because we can’t do it alone; God doesn’t want us to do it alone.

Pax et Bonum,

Fr. Christopher J. Ankley

Dear Friends,

In first century Middle East, at night, sheep would sometimes be gathered together in a sheep pen, a high walled pen, a sheep fold.  This was a way to keep them safe, safe from thieves, and animals that might want a midnight snack.  These pens were so constructed that there was only one gate there was only one way in and one way out.  And in this gateway entrance the shepherd would spend the night.  He’d sleep right there in the gateway.  Hopefully, waking up if anyone tried to enter to steal a sheep or eat a sheep.  To get into the sheep pen you’d have to go through the narrow gate and through the shepherd.   The shepherd was the narrow gate.

And in our Gospel Jesus tells us, “Strive to enter through the narrow gate.”  Jesus is that narrow gate; he’s that gate into the sheepfold of heaven.  And right here at St. Jerome’s we see that narrow gate symbolized in three different places.  First we have the gate of 72 inches leading us into the area of the baptismal fount, where once baptized we are washed clean we are made members of our Lord’s mystical body, made members of his flock.  Second, we have the door, a gateway of 12 inches, opening into the tabernacle, which keeps for us, the holiest of holies, our Lord, our Lord who is our food, food to keep away the weariness, food to strengthen us, food for the journey home to Heaven.  Third, we have the door leading into the confessional, a gateway of 36 inches, a gateway leading to a place of healing and cleansing.  The journey home to Heaven can be rough and we sometimes stumble and fall.  We need a place of healing.  The narrow gate leading to the confessional is where we can more fully enter into the life of Christ, receiving his healing touch.  The good shepherd heals us.

I want to talk a little more about this gateway to the confessional; I want to give you a view from my side of the screen.  The confessional I think is a joyful, humbling, and inspiring place a place where people let God’s love win.  So what do I see during confession? First, I see the mercy of God in action.  I  regularly come face to face with the overwhelming, life-transforming power of God’s love.  I get to see God’s love up-close and it reminds me of how good God is.  Not many people get to see the way in which God’s sacrifice on the Cross is constantly breaking into people’s lives and melting the hardest of hearts.  Jesus consoles those who are grieving their sins…and strengthens those who find themselves wanting to give up on God or on life.

Second, in the confessional I see a person who is still trying.  I see a saint in the making.  It doesn’t matter if this is the person’s third confession this week; if they are seeking the Sacrament of Reconciliation, it means that they are trying.  Going to confession is a sign that you haven’t given up on Jesus.

Now sometimes people will ask if I remember people’s sin from confession.  As a priest, I rarely, if ever, remember sins from the confessional.  That might seem impossible, but the truth is, sins aren’t all that impressive.  They aren’t like memorable events in our lives, like the birth of a baby or a wedding…sins are more like garbage.  And if sins are like garbage then the priest is like God’s garbage man.  If you ask a garbage man about the grossest thing he’s ever had to haul to the dump, maybe he could remember it.  But the fact is, once you get used to taking out the trash, it ceases to be noteworthy, it ceases to stand out.

When we begin to realize that the Sacrament of Reconciliation is less about the sin and more about Christ’s death and resurrection having victory in a person’s life, the sins lose all of their luster, and Jesus’ victory takes center stage.  In confession we meet the life-transforming love of God…freely given to us every time we ask for it.  We meet Jesus who reminds us, “You are worth dying for…even in your sins, you are worth dying for.”  Whenever someone comes to confession, I see a person who is deeply loved by God and who is telling God that they love Him back.

Third, the third thing a priest sees when he hears a confession is his own soul.  I am humbled when someone approaches Jesus’ mercy through me.  Hearing someone’s humility breaks down my own pride.  Jesus trusts me to be a living sign of His mercy.  Archbishop Fulton Sheen once told priests that we scarcely realize what is happening when we extend our hands over someone’s head in absolution.  We don’t realize, he said, that the very Blood of Christ is dripping from our fingers onto their heads, washing the penitent clean.  The confessional is a powerful place.   I offer God’s mercy, love, and redemption…and I don’t want to get in Jesus’ way.  The priest stands in judgment of no one.  In the confessional, the only thing I have to offer is mercy.

Confession is always a place of victory.  Whether you have confessed a particular sin for the first time, or if this is the 12,001^st time, every confession is a win for Jesus… and I, a priest, get to be there.  I get to sit and watch Jesus win His children back.

Our Lord wants a relationship with each one of us.  He wants us to know Him. And to regularly enter the narrow gate of the confessional is to know His merciful love and His deep forgiveness; it was for this that he died.  Through the narrow gate we find Jesus, at the baptismal font, the Holy Eucharist within the Tabernacle, and the confessional. The sacraments are our gateway home.   Let us stay within that narrow gate of his Divine love.

Let us be great Saints,

Fr. Christopher J. Ankley

Dear Friends,

Jesus tells us, “I have come to set the earth on fire, and how I wish it were already blazing!”  Now this is not the fire of a warm cozy fireplace, nor is it the fire of the stake for burning opponents of the faith.  This fire is the fierce love of the Holy Spirit and in those who are receptive it burns away the sin of the heart.  Jesus then tells us, “Do you think that I have come to establish peace on the earth?  No, I tell you, but rather division.”  Why is there division?  There’s division because we have to decide for ourselves:  are we for Christ or against Christ.  Do our hearts belong to Him or to the world, the flesh, and the devil?  Our heart cannot belong to both sides, we have to choose.  And that can bring division, even within a family, when one person decides in favor of Jesus and the Church, and another against.

As we know God is love.  God is love through and through but that love is perceived by us in the context of a fallen world with fallen minds.  In those who hate sin and are trying to rid their life of sin God’s love is perceived as gentle, forgiving, and always there.  However, for those who love sin, and want to justify it they see God’s love as demanding and judgmental.  “Who is God to tell me what sin is they may say.”  It’s the same love but perceived differently.

Just at the turn of the 20^th century in Paris France, Elizabeth Arrighi and Dr. Felix Leseur married.  Both had been raised in the Catholic faith.  However, at the time of their marriage Elizabeth was at most a lukewarm Catholic. And Felix while studying to be a doctor had abandoned the faith totally.  He was an atheist.  Their marriage was a happy one.  The Leseurs were well-to-do and they were part of a social group that was very cultured, very educated, and very antireligious.  Dr. Leseur eventually became the editor of an atheistic newspaper that was very anti-Catholic Church.

At the age of 32, Elizabeth felt that something was missing from her life, everything seemed so shallow and so she went searching.  And that search ended with the rediscovery of her childhood faith.  She had a reversion to the Catholic faith.  From that point on she organized her spiritual life around a disciplined pattern of prayer, meditation, Mass, the sacraments, and writing.  She kept a spiritual journal, writing down everything.  But with this new found faith Elizabeth’s friends and her husband Felix especially ridiculed her mercilessly.  They teased her and talked down to her.  But she always responded with patience and a gentle smile.  She wouldn’t let their comments dissuade her.  And every time her husband tried to convince Elizabeth of her errors it only made her more determined to go deeper into the faith, to study it more, and to strive for greater holiness.  Even with this division in their life they still loved each other.   But they always tried to persuade the other of his or her side.

For the last nine years of her life Elizabeth’s health deteriorated.  She was in constant pain and was mostly confined to a chair or her bed.  But even with this, she still received visitors and she kept to her disciplined spiritual life and she grew in holiness.  Many people would visit because they were drawn by her peace and love and they wanted her advice and spiritual guidance.   As Elizabeth was dying she said to her husband, “Felix, when I am dead, you will become Catholic again and a Dominican priest.”  His response was, “Elizabeth you know my sentiments that will never happen!” He dismissed this as the whims of a dying pious woman.  Elizabeth died of cancer in 1914.  She died in her husband’s arms.

Later as Felix was going through his wife’s papers he came across a letter.  It was addressed to him, and in it she wrote, “In 1905, I asked almighty God to send me sufficient sufferings to purchase your soul.  On the day that I die, the price will have been paid.  Greater love than this no woman has than she who lay down her life for her husband.”  Elizabeth had offered her pain to God over the past nine years.  She did this for the conversion of her husband.  Again Felix passed it off as the fancies of an overly pious woman.

Following Elizabeth’s funeral Felix was scheduled to visit Lourdes where he was planning to write an expose for his newspaper. Lourdes is the place where the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared to St. Bernadette.  It’s a place of many miraculous healings.  He planned on writing of the fraudulent nature of the place; he reasoned that there were no true miracles taking place at Lourdes.  But once there standing in the grotto, in an instant, he received the great gift of faith, a miracle.  Felix quickly reverted to the faith of his childhood.  When he got home he began to read all of Elizabeth’s many journals and as he read them he understood for the first time the divine source of her love, peace, and silent endurance of physical and emotional pain which she offered for his conversion and the conversion of non-believers.  God made it all possible.

Dr. Leseur did become a Dominican priest.  Fr. Leseur died in 1950.  All of Elizabeth’s diaries are now available in a book and her cause for canonization is underway in Rome.

Elizabeth once wrote, “Our outer life is the reproduction of our inner life, and the visible part of us reflects what is unseen; we radiate our souls, and when they are centers of light and warmth, other souls need only to be brought into contact with them in order to be warmed and enlightened.  We give out what we carry within.”  A soul that is burning with the fire of Jesus will try to enkindle others.

Our Lord came to set the earth on fire.  My prayer for us today is that our souls become ever brighter and warmer and that other souls around us will be warmed and enlightened by us, breaking down divisions in both family and community.

Let us become great Saints,

Fr. Christopher J. Ankley

Dear Friends,

At our baptism we each received a small candle.  It was lit, by our Godfather, from the larger Easter candle.  And after it was lit we were told, “…this light is entrusted to you to be kept burning brightly.  You have been enlightened by Christ, and are to walk always as a child of the light.  Keep the flame of faith alive in your heart; when the Lord comes, may you go out to meet him with all the saints in the heavenly kingdom.” 

A saint once said that on that day of our baptism a flame was lit in our heart:  a flame that chased away the darkness of sin, a flame that thawed the ice of disbelief, and a flame that warmed our heart to the love of God.

Through that sacrament, Christ, our Savior, united us to himself, making us members of his own body, the Church.  He claimed us for his own, forgave the debt of our sin, and made us his brothers and sisters, the sons of faith burning until we meet our Lord.  To be prepared for our Lord at an hour we do not expect.  Now that hour could be our death or the end of time.  And daughters of his own Heavenly Father and co-heirs with him to the kingdom of heaven; our souls were given a completely different kind of life.   A life completely different from the life we received by nature.  At Baptism the life of God was poured into our souls.  And this new life, or sanctifying grace, gave us the power to know God in faith, to desire to be with him in hope, and to love him, both now and in heaven.  At baptism like the good servants of today’s Gospel we were told to keep the flame

In the 17^th century there was a French Carmelite monk by the name of Brother Lawrence, who was always prepared and always kept his baptismal flame lit by living what he called “The practice of the presence of God.”  At the age of eighteen Lawrence had a profound conversion experience that would affect the rest of his life.  It was winter time and he found himself staring at a bare tree.  It was winter and of course the tree had no leaves.  But Lawrence began to think that in just a few months the tree would have leaves and buds and then blossoms and from the blossoms there would be fruit.  This simple awareness of the change of seasons made Lawrence aware of the presence and power of God in his life. By the grace of God a lifeless soul could be made fruitful.  After a short stint in the army Lawrence entered a Carmelite monastery in Paris.  He remained there until his death at the age of seventy-seven.

Brother Lawrence spent the first 15 years of religious life working in the kitchen.  He was responsible for preparing meals for 100 men.  He really hated this job.  So it was in this setting that he began to practice the presence of God.  Always trying to remember that God was there even as he was doing everything he detested, washing dirty dishes, dealing with smoky stoves, and doling out the morning gruel to sometimes grumpy monks.   But with time and practice, even in the midst of that kitchen, he was able to perfect his prayer of the presence of God. So that even in the most hectic of times he wouldn’t forget God, he knew that God was there.

When asked for advice on his way of prayer Brother Lawrence would say that his way of prayer was to take delight in and become accustomed to God’s divine company.  God is there, present, no matter what we are doing.  “He’s there whether you realize it or not” he would say.  It is so very good for us to acknowledge His presence.  It would be shameful to trade such a relationship for a trivial foolishness.  This way of prayer is a habit formed by frequently bringing our mind back into God’s presence, over and over throughout the day.  He would tell people to be patient; you don’t become a saint in a day.  Don’t become discouraged if you fail to remember God’s presence at some point in the day, that’s what confession’s for.    He gave examples of simple prayers beginners could use when working and doing chores, prayers that could be repeated many times throughout the day, prayers to remind themselves of God’s ever presence prayers such as, “My God, I’m completely yours” or “God of love, I love you with all my heart.” Or simply, “Thank you God.”  It doesn’t matter what the words are, he would say, just make yourself aware of His presence.  This simple awareness of God is the holiest, surest, the easiest, and most efficacious form of prayer and with time faith increases and becomes more intense.  So while serving grumpy monks he was praying, “My God, I’m completely yours,” or “Thank you God,” or “God I love you.”

Brother Lawrence found great joy in doing little things for the love of God.  Doing all the smallest of chores just for the love of God, “The Lord doesn’t look so much at the greatness of our works as at the love with which they are done.”  Lawrence said, “Our sanctification depends not on changing our works, but on doing for God what we would normally do for ourselves.”  Change the focus, offer it to God.  In practicing the presence of God, something we can all do, Lawrence was prepared like the good servant of today’s Gospel.  He was ready to open the door when he heard the knock of his master.  The Lord’s coming, of course, can mean one of two things:  either the moment of our death, which we all know can be very sudden; or, it can mean the Lord’s return in Glory at the end of time, which can also happen at any moment.  Were the Lord to return right now, this moment, would he find us ready to welcome him?  Would he find the flame ignited in our hearts at baptism still burning steadily and maybe increasing in its brightness?

After receiving the last sacraments as he lay dying, Brother Lawrence was asked what he was doing, what he was thinking about.  “I am doing what I will be doing throughout eternity,” he replied, “I am blessing God, I am praising God, I am adoring God, and I am loving him with my whole heart.  This is what our vocation is all about, brothers, to adore God, and to love him without worrying about anything else.” 

My prayer for us today is that we are able to do the same in preparation for our Master’s return.  Let us remember our Lord throughout all the hours of every day prepared for that final knock.

Let us be great Saints,

Fr. Christopher J. Ankley

Dear Friends,

A few years back during one of those gigantic East Coast storms there was a multi-car accident.  Many people were injured and a few even died.  This news program I was watching interviewed the daughter of one of the women who had died in the pile up.  The daughter talked about how short life is and how sometimes death can sneak up on us without warning.  The accident, “really moved her” she said.  I thought she was going to go on and say how we need to be spiritually prepared and how we always need to be ready for death so as not to be taken by surprise.  But instead the daughter went in the other direction saying, “life is so short I need to go and buy those things I’ve always wanted.”  “I need that big screen TV; I need to buy those things that I want, before it’s too late.”  There was no mention of God at all.

Today’s readings remind us that we can sometimes get caught up in idolizing the things of this world, idolizing all the goods and products that surround us and when taken to an extreme it’s called hedonism, an idolizing of the world.  At the other end of the spectrum is Puritanism a demonizing of the world, saying that all that is of the world is evil.   The proper Catholic response is a balance of both extremes.  It’s both a yes to the world and a no to the world.  A yes to the world taken too far is hedonism while a no to the world taken too far is Puritanism.  We should enjoy the world; it’s good because God made it and gave it to us, while at the same time understanding that it’s not as important as the God who gave it to us.  Everything in moderation.

In our first reading Qoheleth (King Solomon) is someone who had it all.  He had knowledge, material wealth, fame, power, influence, and sensual pleasure.  And he called all of these vanities.  To put our trust in these things is vanity.  To obsessively pursue these things is vanity.  They are good, because God made them and gave them to us, but they are not God.  Only God is the ultimate good, only in God is ultimate infinite joy to be found.

In the narthex of the Old Cathedral in Saint Louis Missouri there hangs a painting which depicts King Louis IX (the future St. Louis).  He’s kneeling before an altar on the night before he’s to be named king of all France.  On the floor beside him is the golden crown and scepter that he’ll be given the next day.  On the altar in front of him, however, is a crown of thorns.  St. Louis had a life-long devotion to our Lord’s crown of thorns, a relic which he himself had received as a gift.  To house this relic he built La Sainte-Chapelle (Holy Chapel), a masterpiece of architecture and even today a popular tourist destination.  We can’t help but wonder what anxiety King Louis may have felt that night.  He the future king of France, someone who wanted to be holy, was to carry upon his head a crown of gold while the King of kings, carried upon his head a crown of thorns.  Could he, be rich and powerful and, yet at the same time, remain a disciple of the Lord?

In the Gospel today Jesus warns us “To guard against all greed, for though one may be rich, one’s life does not consist of possessions.”  Our Lord does not say that the Christian cannot be rich; he says, rather, that the rich must be careful, not letting their wealth and possessions become the reason for which they live.  It’s very difficult to keep focused on loving God when we are preoccupied by the thoughts of owning more and more possessions, and by the constant determination to be as comfortable as possible in this life.  Materialism steals our attention from God and distracts us from our principle concern; the salvation of our soul.    If we are too preoccupied with material things, then we are not going to pay enough attention to the spiritual life, which requires detachment from things so that we can attach ourselves to God.

St. Francis de Sales in his book Introduction to the Devout Life teaches us detachment from things and possessions and how to exercise a real poverty of spirit even though we may be materially rich.  First he says, we need to remember that nothing that we own, really belongs to us.  Nothing belongs to us.  Everything belongs to God.  And, God has been pleased to give more to some, than to others, because he expects those who have more, to use what he has given them for his greater honor and glory.  Second, this means that those who have must be generous with those who have not.  Christ was poor, and the poor reflect his face.  Third, he recommends seeking out the poor, serving them in some capacity, feeding them, cleaning their houses, caring for them in some way.  And fourth, as a test we can measure our own attachment to material things, and material comforts, de Sales asks us to consider our reaction when we find ourselves inconvenienced in some way, by a storm, power goes out, a theft of some sort, or maybe we received bad service or bad food at a restaurant or maybe the hotel where we stayed had an uncomfortable bed.   If we find ourselves agitated, impatient, frustrated, and angry, we would know, then, that we are not as detached as we ought to be.

By following these four concepts King Louis IX became a saint, even though very rich King Louis lived a poverty of the spirit.   Everyday St. Louis invited 120 poor people into his own house, and he fed them personally (bread, wine, meat, and fish), also giving them money as they left.  Before dying St. Louis wrote a letter of advice to his son who would succeed him.  It’s good advice for us today.  Here are a few excerpts, he wrote:  my dear son love the Lord your God with all your heart and all your strength.  Without this there is no salvation.  If the Lord bestows upon you any kind of prosperity, thank him humbly and see that you become no worse for it, either through vain pride or anything else, because you ought not to oppose God or offend him in the matter of his gifts.  Be kind hearted to the poor, the unfortunate, and the afflicted.  Give them as much help and consolation as you can.   And finally everyday thank God for all the benefits he has bestowed upon you, that you may be worthy to receive greater.

“Let Christ be your possession and your strength, don’t get drunk on other things.”  Pope Francis

Let us be great Saints,

Fr. Christopher J. Ankley