Author: Christine Jordan

Dear Friends,

Our first reading this morning comes from the Book of Deuteronomy.  Deuteronomy is the fifth book of the Old Testament.  It rehashes in a summary form the forty years that Israel spent in the desert after they had been freed from Egypt but before they entered into the Promised Land.  Before wandering in the desert for forty years Israel had been in Egypt for 430 years.  And in six short verses our first reading sums up what had happened in those years.

At the beginning the Jewish people enjoyed a place of privilege in Egypt, but for most of those 430 years they lived as slaves.  They were maltreated and oppressed.

But then Deuteronomy reminds us that God brought the Israelites out of slavery.  “With His strong right hand and outstretched arm, with terrifying power, with signs and wonders God freed the people.”  One day they had no life, no future, no hope, and the next day God rescued them and gave them a future, gave them hope, and gave them their lives.  And this wasn’t just a story that they read about; they lived it!  They saw the Red Sea split!  They ate the manna in the desert!   They experienced God rescuing them in a way that seemed impossible to dream of.  One day they were slaves and the next day they were free.

But then something happened.  And what happened can be summed up in two words, “They forgot!”  They forgot what had happened.  They forgot where they had been.  They forgot what God had done for them out of His great love.  They forgot His faithfulness.  They forgot His mercy.  They forgot that they owed everything to Him.  They forgot that all they had was a gift from Him.

And that brings us to the basket that we hear about in the first line.  “The priest shall receive the basket from you and shall set it in front of the altar of the Lord, your God.”  Moses tells the people that after they enter into the Promised Land, after the crops they plant bear fruit, they are to put the first fruits that grow in a basket and bring the basket and place it in front of the altar.  And the ultimate point of this gesture is to remember.  To call to mind that they have food, that they have land, that they have freedom, and that they are alive because God has chosen them as His very own.  We have our own basket too where our first fruits are offered, although these days it’s in the form of currency that we offer.

So what does all of this have to do with Lent?  The point of Lent in many ways is simply to remember.  The praying, the fasting, the Stations of the Cross, and Adoration of the Eucharist help us to remember, because like the Israelites we too can all too often forget all that God has done for us.   For many of us the temptation is to, either forget what God has done or to take it for granted.  Just as the Israelites forgot about their dramatic rescue from tyranny and oppression we can often let the cares and distractions of the day take our minds off of all that Jesus has done.

And so the Church offers us these 40 days to remember, to remember the details of the single most important event in the history of the world.  The Church calls us to remember, to think about, to pray with, and to stare at our Lord’s Passion, to take it all in – the agony in the garden, the scourging by the soldiers, the crowning with thorns, the ridicule and mockery that He endured, the carrying of the cross, the shedding of His blood, and finally His death on the cross, the price he paid – all so that you and I could be rescued not from some earthly tyrant like a Pharaoh, but from the devil, not from slavery to an earthly master, but from slavery to sin and death, and not so we could enter into an earthly Promised Land but heaven itself.  And all of this simply because he loves you.   St. Louis de Montfort once said that God brings into play more power and wisdom in leading a single soul to salvation than he used in creating the whole universe.  That’s Divine love.  I want to share a story I often told, I really like it.  It’s an analogy to help us remember that we were bought at great cost.  Our Lord gave his life for us, shedding every last drop of blood for us.

It was the 1800s and a young miner who had recently struck it rich in the gold rush was on his way back East.  As he stopped in New Orleans to rest, he noticed a crowd of people gathering for some kind of event.

He approached the crowd and quickly learned they were there for a slave auction.  He heard a gavel bang on wood and a man shouted, “Sold!” just as a middle-aged black man was taken away.

Next, a beautiful young black girl was pushed onto the platform and made to walk around so everyone could see her.  The miner heard vile jokes and comments that spoke of evil intentions from those around him.  The bidding began.  Within a minute, because of her beauty, the bids surpassed what most slave owners would pay for a black girl.  Finally, one man bid a price that was beyond the reach of the other.  The girl looked down.

The auctioneer called out, “Going once! Going twice!”

Just before the final call, the miner yelled out a price that was exactly twice the previous bid, an amount that exceeded the worth of any man.

The crowd laughed.  The miner opened up the bag of gold he had brought for the trip.  The auctioneer shook his head in disbelief as he waved the girl over to him.  The girl walked down the steps of the platform until she was eye-to-eye with the miner.  She spat straight in his face and said through clenched teeth, “I hate you!”

The miner, without a word, wiped his face, paid the auctioneer, took the girl by the hand, and walked away from the still-laughing crowd.

Stretching out his hand, he said to the girl, “Here are your freedom papers.”  The girl looked at the papers, then looked at him, and looked at the papers once again.

“You just bought me…and now, you’re setting me free?”

“That’s why I bought you.  I bought you to set you free.”

The beautiful young girl fell to her knees in front of the miner, tears streaming down her face.

“You bought me to set me free!  You bought me to set me free!”  She said over and over.  The miner said nothing.  Clutching his muddy boots, the girl looked up at the miner and said, “All I want to do is to serve you, because you bought me and set me free!”

Our Lord rescued us, gave us a future, gave us hope, and gave us our lives.  On Good Friday we were slaves but three days later on Easter morning we were set free.  May we always live in gratitude, never forgetting the saving Passion of our Lord.

Let us be great Saints,

Rev. Christopher J. Ankley

Light is sweet, says Ecclesiastes, at the sight of the sun the eyes are glad. Take away light, and the world is without beauty. Take away light and life itself is without life. Moses, a man who saw God, says God saw the light and said it was good. So it is right for us to contemplate the great, the true, the eternal light that enlightens every man that comes into the world – that is, Christ the savior and redeemer of the world, who was made man and lived the human condition to its very end. Of him the prophet David says in the Psalms,

Sing to the Lord and celebrate his name!

Make a road for him who rides upon the clouds –

“The Lord” is his name.

Rejoice in his sight!

He called the light sweet and foretold that it would be good to see with his own eyes the Sun of glory, he who as God-in-man said I am the light of the world. Anyone who follows me will not be walking in the dark: he will have the light of life. And again: This is the judgement, that light has come into the world. In this way he used the light of the sun, which we perceive with our eyes, as a prefiguration of the coming of the Sun of justice. That Sun was sweet indeed for those who were found worthy to be taught by him and to see him with their own eyes just like any other man. He was not just any man, he was also the true God, and this is why he made the blind see, the lame walk and the deaf hear, this is why he cleansed people afflicted with leprosy and by his sole command called the dead back to life.

Moreover, even now, in the present, it is a most sweet activity to look on him with the eyes of the spirit, to contemplate his divine beauty and ponder it in our hearts. Thus through communion and togetherness we are enlightened and adorned, our spirits filled with sweetness and we ourselves wrapped in holiness as in a cloak. We attain understanding and finally we are filled with exultation in God which will last all the days of this our present life. As the wise preacher Ecclesiastes said, However great the number of years that a man may live, let him enjoy them all. Obviously the Sun of justice makes all who gaze on him rejoice. As the prophet David says:

The righteous are glad and exult in God’s sight;

they rejoice in their gladness.

and

Rejoice in the Lord, you just: it is good for the upright to praise him.

A treatise on charity by St. Maximus the Confessor

Without love everything is in vain

Charity is a right attitude of mind which prefers nothing to the knowledge of God.  If a man possesses any strong attachment to the things of this earth, he cannot possess true charity.  For anyone who really loves God prefers to know and experience God rather than his creatures.  The whole set and longing of his mind is ever directed towards him.

For God is far superior to all his creation, since everything which exists has been made by God and for him.  And so, in deserting God, who is beyond compare, for the inferior works of creation, a man shows that he values God, the author of creation, less than creation itself.

The Lord himself reminds us:  Whoever loves me will keep my commandments.  And this is my commandment:  that you love one another.  So the man who does not love his neighbor does not obey God’s command.  But one who does not obey his command cannot love God.  A man is blessed if he can love all men equally.  Moreover, if he truly loves God, he must love his neighbor absolutely.  Such a man cannot hoard his wealth.  Rather, like God himself, he generously gives from his own resources to each man according to his needs.

Since he imitates God’s generosity, the only distinction he draws is the person’s need.  He does not distinguish between a good man and a bad one, just a man and one who is unjust.  Yet his own goodness of will makes him prefer the man who strives after virtue to the one who is depraved.

A charitable mind is not displayed simply in giving money, it is manifested still more by personal service as well as by the communication of God’s word to others:  In fact, if a man’s service towards his brothers is genuine and if he really renounces worldly concerns, he is freed from selfish desires.  For he now shares in God’s own knowledge and love.  Since he does possess God’s love, he does not experience weariness as he follows the Lord his God.  Rather, following the prophet Jeremiah, he withstands every type of reproach and hardship without even harboring an evil thought towards any man.

For Jeremiah warns us:  Do not say:  “We are the Lord’s temple.”  Neither should you say:  “Faith alone in our Lord Jesus Christ can save me.”  By itself faith accomplishes nothing.  For even the devils believe and shudder.

No, faith must be joined to an active love of God which is expressed in good works.  The charitable man is distinguished by sincere and long-suffering service to his fellow man:  it also means using things aright.

Dear Friends,

As many of you know I went to seminary in Boston.  I studied at what is now called St. John XXIII National Seminary.  Now Boston is home to some very beautiful churches.  In particular there’s one church I remember.  The name escapes me but what I do remember about it is its expertly restored stained glass windows.  They were stunning.  On one side of the nave there were seven windows with each one depicting a sacrament.  And at the bottom of each window there was a quote from scripture.  There was, however, a problem with one of the windows. The window illustrating the sacrament of penance always caused a bit of a scandal during the hot summer months.  Because during the summer the windows are opened making it impossible to see the whole scripture quote.  During the summer the sacrament of penance window reads, “Go and sin more.”  The word “No” is on the part of the window that’s folded down and out of sight.  It’s an unfortunate accident of art.

That phrase, “Go and sin more” is the message of the world.  The message of the world tells us to place all our trust in money, possessions, power, and pleasure.  The message that we read in the Gospel and our first reading of today, of course, is the exact opposite.  That message tells us to trust in God.  This is going to be a letter filled with questions and the first one is this; whom will you trust; God or the World?  I hope everyone reading this letter will choose to trust in God, but as we know the world can be a very tempting place and Jesus gives us the beatitudes to contemplate our life in the world.

In the beatitudes Jesus tells us, “Blessed are you who are poor.”  They are blessed who do not root their lives in money and material things.  So we ask ourselves.  How central is wealth to us?  Do we spend too much time thinking about making money?  Do we compare our wealth to that of others? Are we never satisfied with the amount of money we have?  How tenaciously do we hold onto money?  Do we tithe or give until it hurts just a little?

In the beatitudes Jesus tell us, “Blessed are you who are now hungry and blessed are you who are now weeping.”  They are blessed who do not root their lives in sensual pleasures.  Pleasures are a good but we don’t root our life in the constant pursuit of them.  So we ask ourselves.  How much of our budget is given to pleasure?  How do we react when life becomes painful?  Do we go to God?  Do we shrink away from doing things we know we should, but don’t, because they’re painful?

In the beatitudes Jesus tell us, “Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude and insult you, and denounce your name as evil on the account of the Son of Man.”  They are blessed who don’t put their faith in the approval of others.  How concerned are we about what others think of us?  Do we crave the honor, the glory and the attention of others?  Are we bothered when we are passed over for an honor?  Are we bothered when someone gets more attention?  Are we more concerned about what others think rather than what God thinks?

This has been a letter of twenty questions and I end with just two more, but I also give the answer.  What does life look like when we put our faith and trust in something other than God?  Jeremiah tells us it looks like a barren bush in the desert.  It is dried up.  It has no vitality and enjoys no change of the season.  That bush, a stunted tree, is rooted in power, money, possessions, and pleasure.  It bears no fruit.  And the last question, what does life look like when we put our faith and trust in God?  Jeremiah tells us it looks like a tree planted beside the waters where there is no fear of drought.  A tree rooted in God has roots that go down deep to where the water is plentiful.  Drought and heat will always come into our lives, we can’t escape it, but when we live the beatitudes, when we are rooted in the Lord we are still fruitful even in the midst of trials.

Let us be great Saints,

Fr. Christopher J. Ankley

Dear Friends,

There’s a very old story about a man who went in search of our Lord.  He looked and looked and looked.  He searched everywhere, in cities, in the countryside, in deserts and in forests.  And everywhere he went he would ask the people he met, “Do you know where I can find my Lord?”  No one could answer him until one day an old woman said, “You can find him in a small hut at the edge of the forest.”  And so, very excitedly, the man went to the hut and knocked on the door.  From the other side of the door our Lord asked, “Who’s there?”  And the man answered, “It’s me.”  To which our Lord said, “There’s not enough room in here for both of us.” The man left very sad, going into the forest and there he stayed, and prayed and meditated upon what he’d heard.  A few months later he goes back to the hut and again he knocks on the door.  And again our Lord asks, “Who’s there?”  This time the man answers differently saying, “It’s you!”  To this answer the door opens and our Lord receives him.

To focus on the other is to “put out into deep waters.”  To focus on the “you” of God and neighbor instead of focusing on the “me” is to put out into deep waters and to let grace invade.

2000 years ago there’s a man sitting on the beach at the Sea of Galilee.  He’s very tired he’s had long night of work and he’s frustrated.  He’s got to be, he’s worked all night and has nothing to show for it.  No fish.  It’s not easy for a man to come home to his wife after an exhausting day and say, “Honey, I worked hard all night long but I have nothing to show for it.”   So here he is, cleaning his nets, and along comes this guy named Jesus.  And behind Him is this huge, massive crowd of people.  The crowd is so large that He stops in front of Peter, points to the boat off shore and asks, “Is that yours?  Can I get into it and talk to the crowds from there?”  “Sure,” Peter says.  And so Jesus talks to the crowd from Peter’s boat for a while, as Peter continues to clean his nets.  And then, when Jesus is done speaking, He turns to Peter and says, “Why don’t you put out into deep waters for a catch?”

Now at this point, you’ve got to believe that Peter’s a bit put out.  Maybe even thinking, “Hey buddy, I didn’t tell you how to preach; don’t tell me how to fish!”  What do you even know about fishing!  Not much obviously, because no one fishes in the middle of the day, and especially not in deep waters!  But there was something about Jesus that moved him, something about His voice and His expression that makes Peter think, “Okay, we’ll try one more time.”  So out they row.  And they throw out their nets, more out of duty than with any expectation, and he’s just about to haul them back in when, all of a sudden this school of fish, hundreds of fish, just pour into the net.  Peter can’t believe it.  He’s never seen this many fish before, and he’s lived on the lake for years. He and his brother Andrew, fill the nets and throw them onto the boat, which begins to sink, there are so many fish!  And so they yell to their partners James and John, “Get your boat out here!  There’s more fish than we’ve ever seen!”  And they fill that boat too.

And then all of a sudden, in the midst of his euphoria, Peter turns and looks at Jesus in the back of the boat.  And Jesus is just sitting there with His hands folded with a huge grin on His face.  Like He knew what was going to happen.  He knew the fish were there.  And something comes over Peter, something he’s never experienced before, some awareness that he’s not just in the presence of a man, and he drops to his knees in front of Jesus and says, “Depart from me Lord. I am a sinful man.”  In other words, “I don’t think I’m the kind of guy you’re looking for, Lord; I have one heck of a past.  But Jesus just totally ignores that.  And He looks Peter in the eye and reaching into his soul He says, “Do not be afraid.”  Peter leaves everything behind and follows Jesus.

Peter has spent most of his life in the shallows of the spiritual life but with Jesus he is taken to the deep, an abundance of grace has invaded his life.  One of the most important decisions we will ever make is whether or not we will cooperate with Jesus when he gets into our boat.  Will we let him take us into the deep waters of His grace?  And if we let Him, where might our Lord want to take us?

Is it to a deeper relationship with Him?   Maybe we’ve had a thought in the back our mind for a long time now that we should spend more time praying.  Maybe God has been nudging us to come to confession, and we’ve been ignoring Him.  Or maybe he’s been gently inviting us to study our faith more, to get to know Him better, and we’ve been resisting.

If we let Him where might our Lord want to take us?  Is it to a deeper and more meaningful relationship with others?  Maybe there is someone we need to forgive, or ask forgiveness from.  Maybe we need to cut off or pull back from a relationship that’s dragging us astray.  Maybe we need to renew our commitment to someone we’ve been neglecting or taking for granted.

If we let Him where might our Lord want to take us?  Is it our own character he wants us to deepen?  Maybe we need to leave behind a hidden habit of dishonesty or self-indulgence.  Maybe God is asking us to discipline a particular area of our life.  Maybe we need to leave behind mediocrity and strive again for excellence in one of our responsibilities.

Pope St. John Paul II once said, “Put out into the deep. The command of Christ is particularly relevant in our time, when there is a widespread mentality which, in the face of difficulties, favors personal non-commitment… Whoever opens his heart to Christ will not only understand the mystery of his own existence, but also that of his own vocation; he will bear the abundant fruit of grace… Trust Christ; listen attentively to his teachings, fix your eyes on his face, persevere in listening to his Word. Allow Him to focus your search and your aspirations, all your ideals and the desires of your heart.” Message for World Day of Prayer for Vocations, 2005

Jesus is asking each one of us to put out into the deep water of His grace.  He wants to live in a deep infinite relationship with each of us.  With less focus on the selfish “me” and more on the “you” of God and neighbor.  He wants to take you to the depths of His grace!  And as He said to Peter, our Lord right now is reaching deep into your soul telling you, “Don’t be afraid.”

Let us be great Saints,

Rev. Christopher J. Ankley

Dear Friends,

In our second reading today our Lord through the writing of St. Paul is telling us what is essential for life, for your life, for my life, and for every life to flourish: it’s love.  Love is needed for every life to flourish.  Matthew Kelly in his book, Rediscovering Catholicism writes that, “There are two simple truths:  people are made to be loved and things are made to be used.  But too often we get it backwards where we love things and we use people.”  And we end up with a culture where human dignity is degraded over and over and over, whether through abortion, or pornography, or neglect of the poor, or the plight of those in places of the world where the basics of life are missing.  This is not love.

I have a conversion story about a man who went from using people to loving people.  It shows the great power of God’s grace.   In 1902 an Italian by the name of Alessandro Serrenelli murdered a 12 year old girl.  This young girl resisted his advances as he tried to attack her with impure motives.  This resistance angered him so much that he stabbed her 14 times in the abdomen.  She died a few hours later.

Alessandro was an eighteen year old who was very much addicted to pornography and in his own words said, “My behavior was influenced by pornography and the bad examples of friends which I followed without even thinking, I was not worried and looking back now at my past, I can see that in my early youth, I chose a bad path which led me to ruin myself.”  After being captured and tried, and still being considered a minor, he was sent to prison for thirty years of hard labor.  He began his sentence in an unrepentant rage.  He attacked anyone who entered his prison cell.

After three years of anger and hard labor Alessandro was finally willing to let a priest visit with him.  He later sent this priest a thank-you note and in it he wrote about a dream that he had had.  He wrote that he had dreamt of the young girl he had murdered and in this dream she had given him a bouquet of white lilies, which in the dream, immediately turned black and disintegrated as soon as he touched them.  This dream marked the beginning of Alessandro’s conversion.  Peace began to invade his heart, he began to live a constructive life, and he began to live in repentance.  After twenty seven years of his sentence Alessandro was released three years early for good behavior.

After leaving the prison the very first person he visited was the murdered girl’s mom, he asked her to forgive him.  Which she did saying, “If my daughter can forgive you, who am I to withhold forgiveness?”  They went to Mass together and they received the Eucharist together, kneeling side by side at the communion rail.   He went from using people to loving people.

Alessandro eventually became a Third Order Capuchin and spent his remaining days working quietly as a gardener for The Brothers of St. Francis Monastery.  Toward the end of his life he wrote, “I feel that religion with its precepts is not something we can live without, but rather it is the real comfort, the real strength in life and the only safe way in every circumstance, even the most painful and difficult ones of life.”  This story of Alessandro is an amazing conversion story a testament to God’s grace.   God’s grace is always at work in our lives helping us to love more purely.  Helping us to love more purely without using.  It gives us hope.

In a series of teachings that became known as the “Theology of the Body” Pope St. John Paul II said that one of the key essentials to keep a marriage thriving, in fact, to keep all relationships thriving, is piety.  Now piety is not a word we often use today.  So what is piety?  Piety is a gift of the Holy Spirit.  Piety is that which helps us choose to love even when the feelings of love aren’t there.  And often in life, maybe even most of the time in life, the feelings aren’t there.  But we still choose to love.  Piety is an attitude of reverence, wonder, and awe in the face of the other person, whether that person is my spouse, my child, my parent, the kid in the classroom, the player on the other team, the co-worker, the woman in an ad on TV, the homeless man or the child in the womb.  This reverence, wonder, and awe stem from the fact that whenever I look at or talk to another person, no matter how big or small, how rich or poor, that person is someone God Himself has created personally, someone for whom God became a man, someone for whom Jesus shed His blood, someone who is a temple of the Holy Spirit, and someone destined to be divinized and share in God’s own life and glory forever.   Piety reminds us there are no unimportant people.

Most of our culture, as we know, is a culture of impiety.  That’s how it justifies abortion, so called mercy killings, pornography, the degradation of women in so many ways, a lack of attentiveness to the situation of those less fortunate, and so much more. How does this change?  In so many ways over much time, to be sure, but one way to start is simply by practicing piety.  This week, let’s make it a point to do something concretely to honor other people in our lives,  making it a goal every day to show reverence, wonder, and awe to each other,  watching how we treat and speak to our spouse, our children, our parents, our co-workers, those we don’t like, and even our enemies.

The love that God has for us personally, the love that God has personally for you and for me, as our Creator and Father is the whole basis of our identity, each of us is a beloved child of God.  God’s love is personal and individual.  Each of us has every right to say, “God loves me as he loves nobody else in the world!”  God does not love two people in the same way because it’s actually his unique love for each of us that creates our personality, a different personality for each of us.

Now God’s unique love for each of us includes the gift of a unique response in return.  We can give God and our brothers and sisters, the Church and the world a love that nobody has ever yet given them.  We can give them the love that belongs to us, in accordance with our personality.  We love in a way that no one ever has or ever will.  Each of us has a unique place, a unique and irreplaceable role, a fruitfulness that is all our own and cannot be taken on by anyone else.   When we don’t love, where we are meant to love, that void is not filled by another person.  When we don’t love, where we are meant to love, that void is not filled by another person.

May the Lord’s grace help us always to love.   May the Lord’s grace help us to love with reverence, awe, and wonder.

Let us be great Saints,

Fr. Christopher J. Ankley

Dear Friends,

In his book, Jesus of Nazareth, Pope Benedict XVI asks a surprising question. He asks, “What did Jesus actually bring?” We still have wars, we still have famine, people still suffer, and people still get sick and die. He asks again, “What did Jesus actually bring?” Pope Benedict then answers his own question by saying, “Jesus brought us God. Jesus brings us God.” He is God made visible. He came to bring us life and to free us from whatever enslaves, so that we can be truly alive. He is so much more than a social worker. He’s not a nice guy who came to teach us a few useful things about living in harmony. He’s not a philosopher who gives us a theory about life. And He’s not a politician who promises to fulfill every wish we could ever have. He is the Savior, anointed “To proclaim liberty to captives and to let the oppressed go free.” In the Bible, anointing meant that you were chosen and given a special power by God. Jesus is the Savior who brings us to the Father. He does something that we can never do on our own.

In our Gospel Jesus reads from Isaiah 61:1-2, he reads, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring glad tidings to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to captives and recovery of sight to the blind, and to let the oppressed go free.” This was considered a very hot text; it was a predictor of the Messiah. And so Jesus reads it, sits down, which is a sign of authority and he begins to preach basically saying, “I fulfill this passage. I am the Messiah, I am your Savior.”

As Christians we know that we can’t save ourselves. Sometimes we find ourselves wondering why we seem to commit the same sins over and over again. Sometime we say with St. Paul, “I don’t do the good I want to do, but I do the evil I don’t want to.” Caryll Houselander tells the following story in the Reed of God. “Through sin we forget what God looks like…I once saw an old, old woman shaking the photograph of her long dead husband, while tears, which seemed literally to hiss from her eyes, blistered it. ‘It won’t speak to me,’ she said, and I have forgotten his face.” Sin is like that. We forget what God looks like. But Jesus came to show us the way to the Father, to bring us into the light of his face. Bringing us in from the darkness, and doubt, and fear.

I have a Paul Harvey story and it’s mostly told during the Christmas season. It’s a story about how God meets us where we are, walking and point-ing us to where we need to go. It goes like this. There was a kind, decent, and mostly good man. Generous to his family, upright in his dealings with others. But he just didn’t believe all that Incarnation stuff that the churches proclaim at Christmastime. He just couldn’t swallow the Jesus Story, about God coming to earth as a man. “I’m not going with you to Church this Christmas Eve.” He told his wife, stating that he’d feel like a hypocrite. And so he stayed and his family went to Midnight Mass.

Shortly after the family drove away, snow began to fall. He watched the flurries getting heavier and then went back to his fireside chair to read his newspaper. Minutes later he was started by a thudding sound. Then another. Sort of a thump or a thud. At first he thought someone must be throwing snowballs against his living room window. But when he went to the front door to investigate he found a flock of birds huddled miserably in the snow. They’d been caught in the storm and, in a desperate search for shelter, had tried to fly through his large picture window. Well, he couldn’t let the poor creatures lie there and freeze, so he remembered the barn where his children stabled their pony. That would provide a warm shelter, if he could direct the birds to it.

Quickly he put on a coat and tramped through the deepening snow to the barn. He opened the doors wide and turned on a light, but the birds didn’t come in. So he hurried back to the house, fetched bread crumbs, sprinkled them on the snow, making a trail to the yellow-lighted wide open door-way of the stable. But to his dismay, the birds ignored the bread crumbs, and continued to flap around helplessly in the snow. He tried catching them. He tried shooing them into the barn by walking around them waving his arms. Instead, they scattered in every direction, except into the warm, lighted barn. And then, he realized that they were afraid of him. To them, he reasoned, I am a strange and terrifying creature.

If only I could think of some way to let them know that they can trust me. That I am not trying to hurt them, but to help them. But how? Any move he made tended to frighten them, confuse them. They just would not follow. They would not be led because they feared him. If only I could be a bird, he thought, and mingle with them and speak their language. Then I could tell them not to be afraid. Then I could show them the way to the safe, warm barn. But I would have to be one of them so they could see, and hear and understand.

At that moment the church bells began to ring. He stood there listening to the bells, playing “Adeste Fidelis” and pealing the glad tiding of Christ-mas. And he sank to his knees in the snow.

Jesus said, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring glad tidings to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to captives and recovery of sight to the blind, and to let the oppressed go free.” Maybe we’re captive right now, or oppressed. But there is hope; Jesus came to change that, to reconcile us with God the Father, to show us his Father’s mercy. He came that we might know personally the Father’s love. He came so that we could share in the Divine nature. Jesus came to show us the merciful face of the Father.

In the first centuries of Christianity monks had a prayer that they would pray throughout the day. It’s called the Jesus Prayer, and it’s a way for us to stay in contact with Jesus, to not forget God. It goes like this, “Jesus, Son of the Living God, have mercy on me a sinner.” It’s just 12 words, but when repeated often, they will change the rhythm of our day. “Jesus, Son of the Living God, have mercy on me a sinner.”

As we prepare to receive Jesus in the Eucharist, let’s speak these words from our heart, “Jesus, Son of the Living God, have mercy on me a sinner.” And during the week when we’re in the car, waiting in line, or in an elevator we can say these words, “Jesus, Son of the Living God, have mercy on me a sinner.” When we’re frustrated or filled with doubt, when we’re weighed down by our own sins or the sins of others we can pray these words, “Jesus, Son of the Living God, have mercy on me a sinner.”

And he does.

Let us become great Saints,

Fr. Christopher J. Ankley

Dear Friends,

Back in 1988 an older cousin of mine got married. I had looked forward to this wedding and wedding reception for some time. So I bought a new pair of pants and a new blazer. And since it was the late eighties and the era of Miami Vice I tried to dress just like Don Johnson. For those of you who remember the eighties you can imagine what I looked like in my white pants and powder blue blazer. I cringe now. Thankfully there aren’t any photos that I know of.

My cousin Bill and his future wife Virginia had a beautiful wedding but they did something, at that point in time, that I don’t ever remember seeing at other weddings. Right after the vows and exchange of rings, while a woman sang Ave Maria they walked over to the side altar dedicated to Mary. And while the woman sang they prayed and placed a bouquet of roses on the altar. They had consecrated their marriage to Mary. Not only was Jesus an important part of their marriage, but Mary too, was an invited guest. Thirty-one years and eight kids later our Lord and his mother have been an important part of their lives.
Today in our Gospel we hear of the famous Wedding Feast at Cana. A marriage in the Middle East was always a time of great rejoicing. For the ceremony the bride was veiled from head to foot, because they veiled those who were to be cherished. And on the day of the marriage ceremony both partners fasted and confessed their sins in prayer. The ceremonies always began at twilight with the groom making his way to the bride’s house. Sometimes these wedding feasts lasted for seven days, but in the case of poorer people they probably only went for two days. Whatever was the case at Cana, at some point in the festivities the wine ran out. For the Middle Eastern couple this would have been very embarrassing, they would have been mortified to find out that the wine was gone. Not only were the Middle Eastern people known for their hospitality, but wine was also a symbol of God’s presence in their lives. What would it mean for this newly married couple to run out of wine? To run out of wine at the very beginning of their marriage.

One of the curious features of this marriage feast is that it wasn’t the head waiter, (whose business it was to serve the wine,) who noticed the short-age first, it was Mary who noted the shortage first (she always knows our needs even before we do). She then makes a simple prayer to her Son saying, “They have no wine.” Hidden in these words is not only the knowledge of her Divine Son’s power, but also an expression of her desire to fix a potentially embarrassing situation for the newly married couple. Perhaps the Blessed Mother had already seen Jesus work miracles in secret, although he hadn’t yet worked a single miracle in public.

Now there are two lessons from Cana that we can focus on, first God helps those who help themselves. Jesus could have produced wine out of noth-ing, as He had made the world out of nothing, but he asked the servants to fill the stone jars with water. We can’t expect God to transform us with-out our bringing something to be transformed. We may pray, “Lord help me overcome my evil habits, let me be pure in thought and word and deed.” But this prayer is no good unless we bring at least our own weak efforts. God will make us peaceful and happy but we have to bring our own weak water of feeble efforts. We can’t remain passive while waiting for God to act. We have to try. We have to work at it. Working with God is essential if we are to be his sons and daughters.

The second lesson from Cana is that Mary intercedes to gain for us what we need, sometimes without us always even knowing what we need. As we heard neither the headwaiter nor the diners knew that the wine was running out; therefore, they didn’t ask for help. In the same way we don’t always know what is best for our soul, and if we don’t know what is best, how can we put this in prayer? In his letter St. James writes, “You ask but do not receive, because you ask wrongly.” Even with Jesus sitting in their midst the people at the table didn’t know what they needed in order to keep the joy of the marriage feast. So Mary asks, making the prayer, “They have no wine.”

No one will ever call on Mary without being heard or without being led to her Son Jesus Christ. She knows our need, so we ask her to make them known to Jesus. We ask her to pray to Jesus for all our known and unknown needs.

Now just a few weeks ago we heard that Mary laid her “first born” in the manger. Some may ask does this mean that Mary was to have other chil-dren. The answer is yes, it did but not according to the flesh. Jesus was her only Son according to the flesh. But Mary was to have other children, not according to the flesh, but according to the spirit. We are those children, we are her spiritual children. And just as she did at the wedding feast, she will present our needs to Jesus, sometimes even before we know of the need ourselves. Keep her always in your life.

Let us be great Saints,

Fr. Christopher J. Ankley

Dear Friends,

Today, the Feast of the Baptism of our Lord, is the very last day of the Christmas season.  The last day to wish someone a Merry Christmas.  On Monday the 14th we enter into Ordinary Time.  Now in the days leading up to the Christmas season there was a radio station in Grand Rapids that after Thanksgiving began playing Christmas music 24/7.  And when in the car that’s what I listened to.  And it sometimes seemed that they played the same five songs over and over all day long. And one song in particular caught my attention, they played over and over, different singers but the same song.  That song was “Santa Claus is coming to Town.”   We probably all know this song by heart, “…He’s gonna find out who’s naughty or nice.  He knows if you’ve been bad or good, so be good for goodness sake!”

Now when listening to this song this song seems to imply that Christmas is only for the good.   That Christmas is only for the nice.  But that’s just not right, it’s bad theology, it’s the exact opposite, Christmas is not for the nice.  Christmas is for the naughty, Christmas is for the sinner.  One of the charges laid against Jesus was that He ate with sinners.  And in many of the parables our Lord always seeks out the sinner leaving the good behind.  The Good Shepherd leaves the 99 in the field to go in search of the lost sheep and when found, with great joy is placed on His shoulders.  The lost coin when found is the cause of great rejoicing.  There was no party, however, for the other nine coins, which were never lost.   Scripture tells us there is great rejoicing in Heaven over the return of the fallen.

Now there would have been no need for Christmas if our first parents in the Garden had not committed the original sin.  There would have been no need for Christmas if they had remained sinless and nice.  But that Happy Fault of Adam gave us Jesus in the flesh, God incarnate, born on Christmas, born for sinful me and sinful you.  He became our bridge to Heaven.  And today on this very last day of the Christmas Season we hear of the Baptism of our Lord.  When Jesus enters into perfect solidarity with sinful humanity.  In the words of St. Paul, “He who knew no sin became sin for our sake” (2Cor. 5:21).

The Sacrament of Baptism is pure gift.  A gift of salvation not offered to us because we are nice, but offered because we are naughty, we are sinful.   A gift offered to even the most sinful. We could maybe think of baptism as Christmas for the soul.  The baptized soul becomes the new Bethlehem receiving our Lord, becoming his dwelling.

With baptism the Christian is grafted onto Jesus and drawn into the inner life of God, sharing in the very life of God, not only following and imitating Jesus but becoming a member of his mystical body sharing in his priesthood, his prophetic role, and his kingship.  As a priest we offer sacrifice and worship through prayer, sacraments, and Mass.  As a prophet we study the faith our whole life and bear it witness in our families and communities.  As a king we lead and direct others to God.  This is our mission as baptized Catholics; to worship God, to study everything we can about God knowing him not only in our mind but in our heart too, and finally to lead others to God.  This is our mission.

With the gift of Christmas Heaven can become our future home.  With the gift of Christmas our future can become a life totally immersed in the Trinity.    Cardinal Rigali once wrote that the goal of the baptized is to become more and more like Jesus.  And the highest compliment paid to any Christian it to be mistaken for Jesus.  At death we are greeted by God the Father and for the Christian faithfully following the mission of Jesus he or she is greeted and complimented with the words, “My Jesus, my beloved, welcome home.”

As baptized Christians may we too hear these words one day addressed to us, “My Jesus, my beloved, welcome home.”  Merry Christmas.

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 was Hindu, he didn’t really know anything 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.  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.”  Now as we know 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.  St. 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.   I think that today our Lord is offering each of us a challenge.  That challenge is to become more and more 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 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, all the hours of the whole week.   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 a light of Christ.

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 2019.  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.

Let us be great Saints,

Fr. Christopher J. Ankley