Category: Pastor’s Corner

From the Homily of Blessed John Paul II, Pope,
for the Inauguration of his Pontificate

Do not be afraid. Open wide the doors for Christ.

Peter came to Rome! What else but obedience to the inspiration received from the Lord could have guided him and brought him to this city, the heart of the Empire? Perhaps the fisherman of Galilee did not want to come here. Perhaps he would have preferred to stay there, on the shores of Lake of Genesareth, with his boat and his nets. Yet guided by the Lord, obedient to his inspiration, he came here!

According to an ancient tradition, Peter tried to leave Rome during Nero’ persecution. However, the Lord intervened and came to meet him. Peter spoke to him and asked. “Quo vadis, Domine?” — “Where are you going, Lord?” And the Lord answered him at once: “I am going to Rome to be crucified again.” Peter went back to Rome and stayed here until his crucifixion.

Our time calls us, urges us, obliges us, to gaze on the Lord and to immerse ourselves in humble and devout meditation on the mystery of the supreme power of Christ himself.

He who was born of the Virgin Mary, the carpenter’ Son (as he was thought to be), the Son of the living God (as confessed by Peter), came to make us all “a kingdom of priests”.

The Second Vatican Council has reminded us of the mystery of this power and of the fact that Christ’ mission as Priest, Prophet-Teacher and King continues in the Church. Everyone, the whole People of God, shares in this threefold mission. Perhaps in the past the tiara, that triple crown, was placed on the Pope’ head in order to signify by that symbol the Lord’ plan for his Church, namely that all the hierarchical order of Christ’ Church, all “sacred power” exercised in the Church, is nothing other than service, service with a single purpose: to ensure that the whole People of God shares in this threefold mission of Christ and always remains under the power of the Lord; a power that has its source not in the powers of this world, but instead in the mystery of the Cross and the Resurrection.

The absolute, and yet sweet and gentle, power of the Lord responds to the whole depths of the human person, to his loftiest aspirations of intellect, will and heart. It does not speak the language of force, but expresses itself in charity and truth.

The new Successor of Peter in the See of Rome today makes a fervent, humble and trusting prayer: Christ, make me become and remain the servant of your unique power, the servant of your sweet power, the servant of your power that knows no dusk. Make me a servant: indeed, the servant of your servants.

Brothers and sisters do not be afraid to welcome Christ and accept his power. Help the Pope and all those who wish to serve Christ and with Christ’ power to serve the human person and the whole of mankind.

Do not be afraid. Open, I say open wide the doors for Christ. To his saving power open the boundaries of states, economic and political systems, the vast fields of culture, civilization and development. Do not be afraid. Christ knows “that which is in man”. He alone knows it.

So often today, man does not know that which is in him, in the depths of his mind and heart. So often he is uncertain about the meaning of his life on this earth. He is assailed by doubt, a doubt which turns into despair. We ask you, therefore, we beg you with humility and with trust, let Christ speak to man. He alone has words of life, yes, of life eternal.

Dear Friends,

Sometimes when the topic of religion comes up its sometimes stated, “It doesn’t really matter what you believe as long as you’re good.”  I’m sure we’ve heard this before, when I hear it, it always makes me cringe inside.  What luke-warm sentiment, how boring!  It misses the point completely.  This statement reduces our faith to just a list of ethical practices, and our faith is so, so much more than that.  Our faith is about relationship, relationship with our Lord and all the good that we do is the fruit of that relationship.  The purpose of our existence is not to be good.  It’s so much more than that.  And the rich man in the Gospel helps us to see the more.

The rich man came to Jesus, asking life’s most important question, he asks, “What must I do to inherit eternal life?”  In other words, “How do I get to Heaven?”  But it doesn’t only mean that.  He’s also asking, “How do I live the fullness of life now?”  “How do I find the answer to the restlessness in my life?” Jesus answers him by telling him to keep the commandments, to be faithful to what God has taught us.  This is the God who is infinitely happy and who made us for eternal happiness.  But the man has kept God’s commandments and is still not satisfied.  He’s still restless.  He’s still hungry.  He’s still looking for something more.  He’s restless, hungry, and looking for something more because the purpose of life, the goal of life, the reason why God created us and brought us into existence is not just to be good.  The purpose of life, the goal of life, and the reason why God brought us into existence, as some might remember from the Baltimore Catechism is “To know God, love God, and serve God in this life and to be happy with Him forever in Heaven.”  Or maybe today we might simply put it this way:  God made us for true friendship with Himself.  He is the purpose of life.  To know Him is the goal of life.  The reason why He brought us into existence is to experience His love and to love Him (and each other) in return, in that order.

The rich man of the Gospel, despite his keeping the commandment, despite being good, is still wanting more.  And the more, is Jesus.  That’s why he came running up to Him.  He sensed Jesus to be the answer to his restlessness and the answer to all his deepest questions and desires.  But there is a problem. The man is rich and he’s unwilling to part with his wealth to follow Jesus despite the fact that his money didn’t and couldn’t satisfy his restlessness and he knew it.

The first commandment in part says, “You shall not bow down to or serve idols.”  It can also mean, “You shall not let idols make you bow down and serve them.”  In this man’s case riches had become his idol, his little god, despite the fact they didn’t satisfy his restlessness and couldn’t.  He was a slave to his riches; they kept him from real happiness, because they kept him from following Jesus.  This man was attached to his things.  They became an obstacle to his friendship with our Lord.  Nothing wrong with possessions, money, hobbies, or activities but they shouldn’t come between us and our friendship with God.

October 4^th was the feast day of St. Francis and he too was a rich man.  But over time he learned not to let his possessions own him.  Before his conversion Francis would think nothing of spending large amounts of money on parties, buying the best food, the best wine, and the best music.  But with his conversion he began to divest himself of anything that might be a roadblock to his relationship with God.  So he began ridding himself of all the trappings of wealth knowing them to be his temptation.  The problem was, he was also getting rid of all of his dad’s property as well.  Going into his Dad’s warehouse, loading up the cart with all sorts of things and then selling it all and giving the money to the poor.  Dad was not amused; this was his livelihood being given away.  So he brought a law suit against his son.  In those days civil law cases were decided by the Bishop.

The father brings Francis before the Bishop explaining the situation.  And the Bishop sides with the father telling Francis to return everything to his father.  Francis promises to return everything and he even goes one step further.  Removing all the clothing he’s wearing and giving it back to his father.  So there he is standing in the Church courtyard in all his nakedness.  If you go to the Basilica of St. Francis in Assisi you can see this scene depicted in a PG rated fresco.

Not everyone is called to a life of radical poverty like St. Francis.  In his case possessions would have been too great a temptation; keeping him from full friendship with Jesus.  That’s not the case with everyone.  And so today we ask ourselves; is there something that I value more than a relationship with the God who made me and who loves me so much that He would rather die than live without me?  Is there something keeping me from following Jesus?  Is there something that gets in the way of our friendship?  We know that possessions, activities, and gifts we receive in this life can bring us legitimate joy.  But it is the ultimate giver of these possessions, activities, and gifts who is able to bring us much more joy.

To be a friend of Jesus means to become a saint.  And so we work at this friendship:

1. Spend time with each other, prayer and adoration
2. Share a meal, Eucharist
3. Saying sorry when we need to, Act of contrition, Sacrament of Reconciliation
4. Getting to know his family, St. Joseph the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Saints.

With God’s grace we can all achieve deep friendship with Jesus and become a saint.  May the Body and Blood of Jesus we receive at Mass give us the wisdom to distinguish the truly important things in life from the not so important, and the courage to choose wisely.

Peace and all good,

Fr. Christopher J. Ankley

A letter from St. Francis of Assisi to all the faithful

We must be simple, humble and pure

It was through his archangel, Saint Gabriel, that the Father above made known to the holy and glorious Virgin Mary that the worthy, holy and glorious Word of the Father would come from heaven and take from her womb the real flesh of our human frailty. Though he was wealthy beyond reckoning, he still willingly chose to be poor with his blessed mother. And shortly before his passion he celebrated the Passover with his disciples. Then he prayed to his Father saying: Father, if it be possible, let this cup be taken from me.

Nevertheless, he reposed his will in the will of his Father. The Father willed that his blessed and glorious Son, whom he gave to us and who was born for us, should through his own blood offer himself as a sacrificial victim on the altar of the cross. This was to be done not for himself through whom all things were made, but for our sins. It was intended to leave us an example of how to follow in his footsteps. And he desires all of us to be saved through him, and to receive him with pure heart and chaste body.

O how happy and blessed are those who love the Lord and do as the Lord himself said in the gospel: You shall love the Lord your God with your whole heart and your whole soul; and your neighbor as yourself. Therefore, let us love God and adore him with pure heart and mind. This is his particular desire when he says: True worshippers adore the Father in spirit and truth. For all who adore him must do so in the spirit of truth. Let us also direct to him our praises and prayers saying: Our Father, who art in heaven, since we must always pray and never grow slack.

Furthermore, let us produce worthy fruits of penance. Let us also love our neighbors as ourselves. Let us have charity and humility. Let us give alms because these cleanse our souls from the stains of sin. Men lose all the material things they leave behind them in this world, but they carry with them the reward of their charity and the alms they give. For these they will receive from the Lord the reward and recompense they deserve. We must not be wise and prudent according to the flesh. Rather we must be simple, humble and pure. We should never desire to be over others. Instead, we ought to be servants who are submissive to every human being for God’s sake. The Spirit of the Lord will rest on all who live in this way and persevere in it to the end. He will permanently dwell in them. They will be the Father’s children who do his work. They are the spouses, brothers and mothers of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Dear Friends,

Everyone loves babies, especially the baby’s Mother and Father.    However, no matter how much they love their tiny baby, as he or she is at that moment, they expect and want that baby to grow and mature.  God our Father loves us too.  He even loves us more than our own earthly parents.  And in the same way that parents expect their babies to grow and mature God our Father also expects us to grow and mature.  However, the area of growth and maturity he’s looking for is in our spiritual life.  He doesn’t want us to stay where we are at.  It’s a pity that so many adults have the spiritual life of a second grader.

Today’s Gospel is quite graphic and it really gets our attention, its meant too, millstones around necks, the cutting off of hands and feet, and the plucking of eyes.  In a literal sense it’s not a body part that causes sin.  It’s the human will that’s responsible for sin.  Before sin ever happens it first occurs in our will, when we consent to sin.   Sin happens first within our will.   Jesus isn’t advocating physical self-mutilation what he is advocating, however, is a ruthless action against all our sinful drives, a ruthless action against our temptations, and a ruthless action against our attachments.  Sin is not to be entertained; it’s to be rooted out of our spiritual life.  Our Lord is advocating a deep conversion; he’s advocating a call to holiness.  And so strong is his call to holiness he uses this graphic language to get our attention.

At the Second Vatican Council, in one of their documents, the Council Fathers devoted a whole chapter on our call to holiness, our call to be saints.  They wrote, “Each of the faithful must willingly hear the word of God and with the help of his grace carry out his will with good and just deeds; each of the faithful must also take part in the weekly liturgy; they must constantly apply themselves to prayer, self-denial, active brotherly service and the practice of all virtues, each of the faithful must also frequently partake of the sacraments.”  Especially the sacraments of Eucharist and Reconciliation.  Sometimes we refer to this call to holiness as a battle, a spiritual battle.

And it is a battle, but we don’t do it alone.  We have the grace of the sacraments, the very life of God within our soul.  We have the Church; we have our brothers and sisters, in the Confiteor we ask for each other’s prayers.  And we have the heavenly aid of angels.  This week we celebrate two great Angelic feasts of our church calendar.  Thursday is the Feast of the Archangels and Saturday is the Feast of the Guardian Angels.  The Catechism tells us that, “The Church benefits from the mysterious and powerful help of angels.  In her liturgy, the Church joins with the angels to adore God.  The Church invokes their assistance in the Eucharistic prayer; in the funeral liturgy we call on the angels to lead the deceased into Paradise.  And from infancy to death human life is surrounded by their watchful care and intercession.  Beside each believer stands an angel as protector and shepherd leading him to eternal life.”

As we know the angels are spoken of often in Holy Scripture.  At the birth of Jesus all heaven breaks loose.  A multitude of angels bursts into ecstatic song and praise, extolling the goodness of God who has descended not only to forgive the sins of humanity but to even raise humanity up to God’s own divine life.  They must have marveled at how low God stoops to save man and woman, their song of praise and adoration rose to Heaven with the words, “Glory to God in the highest!”  Words we sing at every Sunday Mass.  These words remind us of that marvelous moment of the angels’ joyful wonder at our salvation.  God raises us up to His own divine life and glory, to a place that’s even higher than the angels.

That the angels rejoice in the gift of salvation given to us is a testimony to their great humility.    In saving us, God raises us higher than the angels.  According to the natural order of creation, angels are vastly superior to us.  As pure spirits, their intellects far surpass our own.  Yet God wants to divinize us, and not the angels, he has destined us to partake of his own divine nature.  We receive the Eucharist, Angels do not.  We take God into ourselves, the Angels do not.

Some theologians believe that our glorious destiny was a scandal.  They say that the revelation of man’s destiny is what caused at the beginning of time, the fall of one-third of the angels.  Theologians speculate that before the creation of humanity, the angels were given a test.  They were shown that the Word would become flesh, that he would become man, and that by doing so, he would raise up human nature even higher than that of the highest angels.  This struck the pride of the greatest of the angels, we know him as Lucifer.  Isaiah in the Old Testament writes:

“How have you fallen from the heavens,

O Lucifer, son of the dawn! 

How are you cut down to the ground,

you who mowed down the nations!

You said in your heart:  I will scale the heavens;

Above the stars of God I will set up my throne: 

I will take my seat on the Mount of Assembly. 

I will ascend above the tops of the clouds:

I will be like the Most High!

Yet down to the nether world you go to the recesses of the pit!” (Isaiah 14: 12-15)

In this passage from Isaiah Lucifer keeps repeating in his Heart, “I…I…I.”  He is saying not humanity but me!  I want to be the one to ascend to the divine nature, I want to exalt my throne above the angels, and I want to be the raised up to take part in the divine action.  And then according to one tradition of the Church, Lucifer made one further “I” statement before being banished to hell:  “I will not serve.”  He wouldn’t humble himself to serve a creature of a lower order of creation than himself, even if that creature were really the Incarnate God himself.  And a third of the angels (who are now demons) went down with Lucifer (who is now Satan).

The lesson of the fallen angels is a gift for us.  It should help us realize just how good and generous God is to us fallen human beings.  It should remind us that Satan and his demons hate us with hellish envy.  It should remind us that in their rebellious rage, they would like nothing more than to have us lose the gift that they once coveted.  It should remind us that they would like nothing more than to drag us down with them “into the depth of the pit,”  that they’d like nothing more than to get back at God by preventing him from raising us up to the thrones of glory.  It is part of Satan’s strategy to make us never realize the good that God offers us.

Our call to holiness is a spiritual battle, and our Lord wants us to grow in our Spiritual life, to grow in holiness, to root out sin, but we don’t have to be afraid, we have God on our side, we have His grace, we have His Mass, we have His sacraments, we have His Scripture, we have His saints as examples and intercessors, and we have His angels.  Develop a relationship with your Guardian Angel.  Your Angel is right there with you, always.  Talk to him, ask for advice, ask for guidance, and ask for prayers.  They are our companions forever.  I call my angel, “Angelo.”  The very first prayer I learned was the “Angel of God” prayer.  I was probably 3 or 4 when I learned it.  Every night after reading to us Mom would kneel us down, me and my brothers, in front of the crucifix and we prayed it together.

Angel of God

My Guardian dear

To whom God’s love

Commits me here

Ever this day be at my side

To light

To guard

To Rule

And Guide.

Amen.

Let your Guardian help you grow in holiness.  They are our friends and they will see us home safely.

Peace and all good,

Fr. Christopher J. Ankley

20 Tips from Padre Pio for Those Who Are Suffering

Religión en Libertad – published on 05/20/15

If your hope is weakening and slowly dying, you should read this

Every now and then, God sends extraordinary people to our world who act as a bridge between earth and heaven, and they help thousands of people to enjoy eternal Paradise. The twentieth century gave us an especially unique one: the Capuchin friar Padre Pio of Pietrelcina, who was born in that small town in the south of Italy and died in 1968 in San Giovanni Rotondo. Saint John Paul II raised him to the altars in 2002 during a canonization ceremony that beat all attendance records. Today, it can be said that he is the most venerated saint in Italy.

Padre Pio received special gifts from God, such as the discernment of souls and his capacity to read consciences; miraculous healings; bilocation; the gift of tears; the fragrance of roses that he gave off; and, above all, the stigmata in his feet, hands and side that he suffered for 50 years.

Throughout his life, he wrote thousands of letters to those to whom he gave spiritual direction. Those letters are a source of practical Christian wisdom that is very relevant today.

Ideas to help in the face of suffering

We offer our readers this small selection of ideas from Padre Pío regarding suffering, taken from those very letters. They go straight to the point. They give us hope and lift up our soul:

1. “If you can talk with the Lord in prayer, talk to him, offer him your praise; if, due to great weariness, you cannot speak, do not find displeasure in the ways of the Lord. Stay in the room like servants of the court do, and make a gesture of reverence. He will see you, and your presence will be pleasing to him. He will bless your silence and at another time you will find consolation when he takes you by the hand.”

2. “The more bitterness you experience, the more love you will receive.”

3. “Jesus wants to fill your whole Heart.”

4. “God wants his omnipotence to reside in your powerlessness.”

5. “Faith is the torch that guides the steps of the spiritually desolate.”

6. “In the uproar of the passions and of reverses of fortune, we are upheld by the comforting hope of God’s inexhaustible mercy.”

7. “Put all your trust only in God.”

8. “The best consolation is that which comes from prayer.”

9. “Fear nothing. On the contrary, consider yourself very fortunate to have been made worthy to participate in the sufferings of the Man-God.”

10. “God leaves you in that darkness for his glory; here is a great opportunity for your spiritual progress.”

11. “The darkness that sometimes clouds the sky of your souls is light: by means of it, when it arrives, you believe you are in darkness and you have the impression that you are in the midst of a burning briar patch. It’s true that, when brambles burn, it gets smoky all around and the disoriented spirit is afraid of not seeing or understanding anything anymore. But then God speaks and makes himself present to the soul, that glimpses, understands, loves and trembles.”

12. “My Jesus, love is what sustains me.”

13. “Happiness is only found in heaven.”

14. “When you feel despised, imitate the kingfisher, who builds its nest on the masts of ships. That is to say, raise yourself up above the earth, elevate yourselves with your mind and heart to God, who is the only one who can console you and give you strength to withstand the trial in a holy way.”

15. “Be certain that the more the attacks of the devil increase, that much closer is God to your soul.”

16. “Bless the Lord for your suffering and accept to drink the chalice of Gethsemane.”

17. “Be capable of bearing bitter sufferings during your whole life so you can participate in the sufferings of Christ.”

18. “Suffering born in a Christian way is the condition that God, the author of all grace and of all the gifts that lead to salvation, has established for granting us glory.”

19. “Remember that we cannot triumph in battle if not through prayer; the choice is yours.”

20. “Prayer is the best weapon we have; it is a key that opens God’s heart.”

Article originally published by “Religión en Libertad.” Translated by Matthew Green.

Dear Friends,

Every Friday all the priests of the diocese receive an email from the Bishop.  Bishop Bradley calls it the B-mail.  In one of those B-mails he once talked about visiting St. Mary’s school in Bronson.  He visited on the Feast of the Exultation of the Holy Cross.  Now Bishop Bradley always likes to ask the students questions during his homily so he asked them for the definition of “Exultation.”  And they came up with a good answer they told him it meant “Yeah for God, Yeah for God’s love of us.”  That’s pretty good, not what you’d find in the catechism, but pretty good.

This Tuesday’s feast commemorates the discovery of the relics of Christ’s crucifixion.  These relics of the true cross were discovered by the Roman Empress, St. Helena.  Early in the fourth century St. Helena, mother of the Roman emperor Constantine went to Jerusalem in search of all the holy places of Christ’s life.    She wanted to build churches at all the holy sites.  When she got to the site of Christ’s tomb she found that a pagan temple to the goddess Aphrodite had been built over it.  And being the empress she had the power to have the temple destroyed.  And so she did, as Mel Brooks might say, it’s good to be the empress, and below the temple wreckage according to Tradition the True Cross of Christ was found.

This feast of the Cross celebrates the event of Christ’s Passion, that awe filled event in which God, in Christ, accepted the experiences of suffering and death, allowing himself to feel what we feel, even the terror of the sense of being abandoned by God.  Jesus accepts death on the cross so that he might use it as the means by which he would unite his divine life to us in all things, even in suffering and in death.  He died in body through a love greater than anyone has known.  For Christians, because of God in Christ, suffering and death are not just sad and inevitable facts of human existence, but they have become, in Christ, potential routes of access to God.  Even in these experiences, God is present and working, and even through these experiences; God can accomplish his will to save and to redeem.

Through the Cross Christ shows us the willingness of God to forgive us in the most astounding way.  The cross reveals that the great covenant that God makes with us in Christ offers us the possibility of another chance.  The grace is not deserved, but it is still given.  Now we receive this grace in all of the sacraments, which are the fruits of the crucifixion.  And once we have received this grace Christ asks that what we have been given, we pour into the relationships we have with others, imitating what Christ has done for us in the forgiveness and the charity we share with one another, forgetting about ourselves and focusing on the other.  As our Lord said in the gospel, “Whoever loses himself for my sake and that of the gospel will save it.”

 In our second reading St. James says that we demonstrate our faith from the good that we do, we demonstrate our faith by the way we love.  As we know faith is the door to the spiritual life.  It’s a gift from God and it comes first from God’s own initiative.  Our response, our good works, comes second, all of which is inspired and supported by his grace.  St. James is telling us that faith is perfected by love; faith is perfected by the gift of our self.  When we help someone, we – if only for a moment – deny our own importance, acknowledging the other person’s importance.  When we help someone, we are giving our life – if only a small portion of it – for them.  Perhaps, this seems exaggerated to say that I gave my life to someone, but what is life other than a series of minutes?  To give a few minutes to help someone is to give a little bit of your life for them. To give years to a spouse, a child, a church community is to give your life for them.  This is how we imitate Jesus, who gave his life for us.  This is how our faith is perfected, by our practice of love.  And it takes a lot of practice and if we mess up we go to reconciliation and start again, and again, and again.  God is so good.

St. Catherine of Siena describes our faith, as expressed in love in three stages.  And she uses the image of Christ’s body hanging on the Cross as the image of our spiritual faith journey.  These three stages are not exclusive of one another and all three stages can be present in the same person.   At the first stage our affections begin to undergo a conversion we begin to turn away from sin.  At this stage we embrace  Christ’s feet.  At this point our love for God and others may still be self-centered and maybe fear based.  A major motivation for our conversion is to save ourselves and to avoid the pain of sin and eternal damnation.  This is a great place to start.  And even if we’ve made great strides in our spiritual life we sometimes fall back to His feet.

The second stage of the spiritual journey is where we begin to understand important truths about God and ourselves and this is symbolized by the wounded side of Christ.  The purification of the soul continues and there is growth in virtue and understanding.  Our love at this stage is that of a servant.  We love the Lord and are willing to serve Him, but we very much expect a reward both now and in eternity; there is still self-centeredness to our love.

The third stage is symbolized by the mouth of Christ.  At this stage there is a profound and abiding union with Christ.  Our love has grown and become purified to that of a truly loving, faithful son or daughter, or friend, or spouse.  We see our Lord face to face.  At this stage we love the Lord and others with a purified and unselfish love that truly cares for the well-being and interests of the other.  The focus now is not on what we are getting from the relationship but on what we can give.  Our focus is on the other and how to please Him.

Whoever loses his life for the sake of Jesus and the gospel will save it.  The only way to preserve oneself to attain the ultimate fulfillment for which we are created- is to be willing to give oneself away in love.

Let us be great Saints,

Fr. Christopher Ankley

Dear Friends,

I begin with a rhetorical question posed by St. James, “Did not God choose those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom he promised to those who love Him?”

At this time, late summer, 21 years ago two women died.  And their deaths dominated the news throughout the world.  These two world-renowned women were about as unlike as any two persons could be.  An article in the newspaper captured the contrast well when it wrote:  “Diana, tall, glamorous, rich and young, was a romantic figure who won the affections of first a prince and then finally a playboy.  Mother Teresa was short and plain; purposefully poor, dressed always in a cheap cotton sari, and pledged to a man who died 2000 years ago.”

Now it’s very easy to understand why the British princess achieved such fame.  She had all the qualities needed to fascinate us:  wealth, youth, and stunning good looks.  But how do we explain Mother Teresa’s appeal to a worldwide audience from heads of State, to people of all faiths and no faith, to the poor and to the powerful?   She was old and frail, wrinkled and worn, a woman who vowed to be chaste and celibate, obedient and poor.  She had been born to wealth, but chose to be poor.

And yet this tiny woman wielded more influence than many presidents, parliaments, and politicians who work hard to project a perfect image.  Ironically, Mother Teresa never tried to project an image or to give a spin to what she did with carefully crafted words.  Both she and her message were genuine, authentic and consistent.  When she spoke, her words were not “tailored “to suit the audience. She never watered down her opposition to abortion, doctor-assisted suicide, or contraception, in case anyone in her audience might take offense.

But neither did she ever insult, demean, or vilify those who disagreed with her.  Her strong respect for all human life wouldn’t permit her to treat with disrespect those who did not share her convictions.  Mother Teresa had the rare ability to promote a cause without alienating, and to disagree without demeaning or insulting.

On February 3, 1994, Mother Teresa addressed an audience of 4000 at the National Prayer Breakfast in our nation’s capital.  The audience included President Clinton, Vice president Gore, their wives and many members of congress.  She spoke plainly about the evils of drug abuse, abortion, violence and contraception.  She spoke strongly in support of adoption and natural family planning.  She spoke simple words to the leaders of the richest, most powerful nation in the world.  She said, “The great destroyer of peace today is abortion, because it is a war against the child, a direct killing of an innocent child, murder by the mother herself.  And if we accept that a mother can even kill her own child, how can we tell other people not to kill one another?  By abortion the mother does not learn to love, but kills her child to solve her problems.  And by abortion, the father is told that he does not have to take any responsibility at all for the child he has brought into the world…Any country that accepts abortion is not teaching its people to love, but uses violence to get what they want. This is why the greatest destroyer of love and peace is abortion…We cannot solve all the problems in the world, but let us never bring in the worst problem of all, and that is to destroy love…The poor are very great people.  They can teach us so many beautiful things.”

How did Mother Teresa get away with such plain speaking without offending or insulting?  Perhaps it results from her being such an authentic advocate of the weak, the poorest of the poor, the most vulnerable.  She together with other Missionaries of Charity, the religious community founded by her, have taught the world the true meaning of compassion by their quest for the poor, the dying, the victims of AIDS, the unwanted children.

Compassion is from two Latin words that mean “to suffer with” and Mother Teresa shared the suffering of the poor, the world’s rejects.  She and her followers lived in poverty even as they alleviated the poverty of others.  They told desperate mothers considering abortion, “Come to us, please don’t destroy the child, we will take the child.  Come to us we will take care of you, we will get a home for your child.”  And even to hurting post abortive women she would say the same thing, “Come to us, we will take care of you, our good God is rich in love and mercy.  He knows your pain, he knows your sorrow, and he forgives.”

One of the dying, abandoned, unfortunates she took from the slums of Calcutta to her home for the dying told Mother Teresa, “I have lived like an animal in the street, but I am going to die as an angel, loved and cared for.  Sister, I am going home to God.”  He died with dignity and a smile on his face.

With such practical love and caring Mother Teresa answered St. James rhetorical question, “Did not God choose those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom he promised to those who love Him?”

Let us be great Saints,

Fr. Christopher J. Ankley

Dear Friends,

Both Pope St. John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI preceded Pope Francis in beatifying and canonizing saints who were martyred during the Mexican Cristero War (1926-1929). The courage and holiness of these saints was proven in the circumstances of a religious persecution.

The Catholic Church was severely weakened by the Mexican government in the Cristero War. Church properties were seized, schools and other Church institutions were closed, and priests and sisters were exiled or murdered. But not just priests and sisters were martyred during this tragic period of history.  Many laypeople also suffered death  defending  the right to religious freedom, and one of the Church’s newest saints was among them — St. José Sánchez del Rio, canonized five years ago.

At first Jose was denied permission to join the Cristero rebel movement.  He was too young, but the boy wouldn’t give up.  When his mother expressed her opposition, he said, “Mama, do not let me lose the opportunity to gain heaven so easily and so soon.”  José’s persistent desire to give his life for Christ and for others won out, and the general permitted him to be the troop’s flag bearer.  Members of his troop gave him a nickname — Tarcisus — after the young early Christian saint who sacrificed his life to protect the Eucharist from sacrilege.

In late January 1928, José was captured by government officers. He had given his horse to the general of his troop, and he sought shelter to hide from the enemy, but he was found and captured.

The young prisoner of war was taken to a makeshift jail cell in the sacristy of a nearby church. According to the witness of childhood friends, while there, he prayed the Rosary throughout the day and prepared for his impending death. He was ready to do God’s will, emphasizing this in a letter he wrote to his mother.

My dear mother:

I was made a prisoner in battle today. I think I will die soon, but I do not care, mother. Resign yourself to the will of God. I will die happy because I die on the side of our God. Do not worry about my death, which would mortify me. Tell my brothers to follow the example that their youngest brother leaves them, and do the will of God. Have courage and send  me your blessing along with my father’s.

Send my regards to everyone one last time and finally receive the heart of your son who loves you so much and who wanted to see you before dying.

— José Sánchez del Río

His father attempted but failed to secure his release.

José never had a trial but was offered the chance to live if he would renounce his faith. He refused.  Hoping to weaken him in his determination, his persecutors brought him to witness the hanging of a fellow prisoner of war.  But instead of scaring him into recanting his faith in Christ, José encouraged the condemned man telling him, they’d soon see each other in heaven.

On the night of Feb. 10, 1928, only 14 years old, José was forced to walk through town in his own Way of the Cross. His Calvary would be the local cemetery. Before he set out, they cut off the bottoms of his feet, and as he walked, they inflicted several wounds upon him with a large blade. It was torture. He shouted in pain. He left a trail of bloody foot prints.  He shared in Christ’s passion and death, offering himself for the good of others and love of God. Again they tried to cause him to renounce his faith, “If you shout ‘Death to Christ the King,’ we will spare your life.” José had nothing of it. “I will never give in.  He said, Viva Cristo Rey!”

Finally, they reached the cemetery — the place of his death — and, with bayonets, his persecutors stabbed him repeatedly. Their commander, however, shot him, frustrated with the slow, agonizing death his soldiers had inflicted upon the boy. Just before dying, José traced a cross into the dirt, to which he bent down and kissed.

This is the story of a boy who knew Jesus.  This is the story of a boy who had a relationship with Jesus.  He was ready and willing to die for our Lord whom he knew and loved, who he knew and loved him.

Do we know Jesus?  Do we have relationship?  Is he someone we talk to and readily go to?  Many spiritual writers will say that until we meet him what we do here can end up becoming just an outward show, without heart.  Just words, external observances and no heart, just following the rules.

I think there is this perception out there that we are given a set of rules: here are the rules keep them, obey them, and that’s what it means to be a good Catholic.  Now don’t get me wrong we do need the rules.  They are a gift from our Lord.  Our Lord who is life, who is beauty, who is the happiest of all beings.  Who made us in his own image and likeness so that we too could be happy.  The rules are a gift and we need them because you and I have a problem, we’re born with a bent will and a rebellious heart.  We are inclined to put ourselves first.  And so we need our Lord to give us direction on the way to go.  He points us to the way of eternal life.

But our faith is more than just following the rules and saying the right words.  It’s also about a relationship with Jesus.  Without relationship the rules and words are empty and not the fullness of Christianity.  We need our Lord’s direction, we need our Lord’s guidance, and we need a relationship.  It’s both.

So our solution if we haven’t already, is to meet Him, to meet the one who is literally dying to be met.  And there are so many opportunities here at St. Joseph’s and St. Jerome’s for meeting our Lord. Daily Mass during the week, Eucharistic adoration, men’s group, CCW, Legion of Mary, K of C, Agape Latte, Lucernarium, small Christian communities, and book clubs, I’m sure I’m missing something but there are many opportunities in our parishes to join a small community, which are a great aid in meeting our Lord.

Our Lord wants to meet us, to have an encounter with us, to break into our lives, to help us understand why we’re restless, and thirsty, and unhappy.  He wants to encounter us in the Eucharist, to give himself to us so that he and I become one flesh, so that he and you become one flesh.

Now we don’t have to wait for an encounter by joining a group.  Ask for the grace to meet him right now, ask for the grace to be aware of his presence right now, ask for the grace to hear his voice, saying to him, “Lord I want to know you now.”  “I can’t find happiness on my own; I want you to show me the way.”

Peace and all good,

Fr. Christopher J. Ankley

Dear Friends,

I want to write about two soon to be saints, a married couple, Blessed Charles of Austria and his wife, Servant of God Zita, both are on the pathway to canonization.  Blessed Charles was the very last Emperor of Austria.  Born in 1887 he was raised in a very devout royal family. They instilled in him a deep devotion to the Holy Eucharist and to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.  He learned to always turn to prayer before making any important decision; it was one of his defining characteristics.   He married Zita on October 21^st 1911 and over the next 11 years, they had 8 children.

In 1916 after a series of tragic deaths in his family he became the emperor.   This was not something he expected.  He was way down the line of succession.   This happened in the midst of World War I.  And as Emperor, world peace became his ultimate goal.  He was the only political leader of that time who wanted peace.  As we know the war wreaked havoc on Europe, millions died.  It also wreaked havoc on Blessed Charles and his family, in 1921 he was exiled to the Island of Madeira; he died a year later from pneumonia.

Charles and Zita were widely recognized for their good and holy marriage.  In fact Blessed Charles’ feast day is the day of his wedding.  Most saints’ feast day is the day of their death.  So there is something special about how they lived their married life.  Their hearts are reserved together in a reliquary in a small chapel in a Switzerland Monastery.   And so here are 5 points of advice based on their life.  Don’t worry about remembering the 5 points; I have a laminated copy for you to put on your refrigerator door.

1. The primary goal of marriage is to get your spouse to heaven (children too). The day before their royal wedding, Charles said to Zita, “Now let’s help each other get into Heaven.”  As we know marriage is a sacrament and God grants married couples special graces to fulfill their state in life, aimed at the ultimate destination of Heaven.  Not always easy but with God all things are possible.  You don’t do it alone.

2. Entrust your marriage to God and to the Blessed Mother. We need all the help we can get.  On the inside of their rings, Charles and Zita had this inscription “Sub tuum praesidium confugimus, sancta Dei Genitrix” (“We fly to thy protection, O Holy Mother of God”).  Before going on their honeymoon they made a pilgrimage to the Shrine of Our Lady of Austria, entrusting their marriage to her.  We should never be afraid to ask God and his Mother for help.

3. After the wedding day, it is no longer “me,” but “we.” Charles and Zita viewed themselves as a team.  They worked together as a royal couple, they worked together in governing the state, they were not afraid to give or ask advice of the other.  They both took an active role in raising and educating the children.  They took seriously the biblical ideal of “becoming one flesh” in all things. 

4. Continually fan the flame of love. Charles became emperor during World War I and that meant he had to travel and be away for long periods of time and this pained him a great deal.  And so he had a telephone line installed reaching all the way from his military headquarters to the imperial palace.  You can do this if you’re the Emperor. He called her many times to stay close to her and the children.   Charles’ marriage and family was his top priority.

5. Love each other with an everlasting love that endures through any trial. Their love was more than a feeling; it was a choice to love each other, they willed it, they willed the good of the other.  After their exile they clung to each other stronger than ever.  Charles’ last words to his wife were, “I love you endlessly.”

That’s advice from two saints of the 20^th century and now advice from a saint of the 1^st century.  In our second reading St. Paul also gives us some marriage advice, “Wives should be subordinate to their husbands.”  I know that when I was a kid and this reading came up my dad would always elbow my mom, and my mom would just roll her eyes.  And to our 21^st century ears the word subordinate does sound oppressive, offensive, patriarchal, and just plain old-fashioned.  But many theologians will say that this passage is a sheep in wolf’s clothing.  It looks ferocious on the surface but it is in fact very beautiful on the inside.

St. Paul uses the word subordinate, he doesn’t say obey your husbands, he doesn’t say subject yourselves to your husbands.  He says wives subordinate yourselves to your husbands, meaning as someone absolutely equal in dignity to your husband, choose freely to entrust yourself to his loving care, that’s what it means.  And then the rest of the passage occupies itself with the husband.  The husband is commanded to love, and the original Greek uses the agape form of love.  This is a total selfless love.  Husbands must love their wives totally and selflessly.  The husband must love as Christ loves his Church, not as a boss, not as an oppressive master, and not as one who barks out commands, but loving at Chris loves.

For a husband to love as Christ loves is to take the initiative in being the Chief Servant.  Christ handed himself over for his bride the Church.  When the groom hands himself over for the bride, it is a joy for her to entrust herself into his loving care.

Marriage just like priesthood is a sacrament of service.  When a Harry marries a Sally he should be saying to himself, “I want to serve Sally, like no one else, I want to serve Sally like no one else can, I want to pour my life out for her.” In doing that he will find fulfillment.  For everyone, single, married, widowed, priest, sister, all made in the image and likeness of God, when we serve, when we pour ourselves out for the other, we find fulfillment.

If I want happiness I find it and get it in serving.  I find happiness by serving.  If I go looking for happiness I’ll never find it.  Happiness comes from loving and loving looks like laying down our lives.  And we never have to do this by ourselves; our Lord gives us the grace to do it.  So ask for the grace, we don’t do it by ourselves, stay connected to our Lord.

During Mass, lets beg God to pour out His grace on all our married couples at St. Joseph’s, especially those finding it hard to serve each other.

Pax et Bonum,

Fr. Christopher Ankley

Dear Friends,

St. Francis de Sales was a bishop and he’s a Doctor of the Church.  He lived in France and Switzerland during the 16^th and 17^th centuries.  He is the author of the classic book, “Introduction to the Devout Life.”  A spiritual director once told me to read it every five years.  Every five years we are in a different place spiritually and re-reading it you’ll draw something different form it.  St. Francis de Sales was very gentle with the souls he worked with.  His way of teaching brought many back to the faith after having left during the wave of Protestantism that swept through Europe.  He was gentle because of what he experienced as a young man in college.  At that time he was filled with anxiety and doubt, he was very hard on himself.  He was convinced he was destined for hell, even though everything about him said otherwise.  This anxiety and doubt plagued him for months and months.  He received some relief when at Mass and by receiving the Eucharist.  But the anxiety came right back to him as soon as he left church.

One morning during this time he entered a church to pray and he found himself in front of an image of Our Lady of Good Deliverance.  He prayed the Memorare and when finished with the prayer he felt his soul flooded with peace.  The anxiety and dread were gone.  A miracle.  He never forgot this moment, and because of that time of anxiety and dread he would often say, “God has good in store for us, for He is Love.”  It was in this state of mind he wrote his famous prayer on trust.  I’ve handed this prayer out many times.  It’s a longer prayer but it can be summarized in 8 words.

I can’t

You can

You promised

Please do

Addressing this prayer to God we say to

Him, I can’t. You can. You promised. Please do.  In this prayer we not only see trust but also humility, faith, hope, and charity.

1^st line, I can’t.  In praying this we are saying to our Lord, “I can’t figure this out, I can’t do this alone, I can’t deal with all of this, I can’t.

2^nd line, You can.  In praying this we are saying to our Lord, “Your power can do anything, you can love me right now, you can bring light, you can strengthen me, you can protect me.”

3^rd line, You promised.  In praying this we are saying to our Lord, “You promised your love, you promised to protect me, you promised to send your Holy Spirit to help me, you promised to be with me always.”

4^th line, Please do.  In praying this we are saying to our Lord, “Lord I know you can do anything, do what is your will, help me feel your comfort, do a mighty work, do what leads me and others to your.”

I can’t

You can

You promised

Please do

This is the prayer of a Christian, a Christian who puts his/her trust in God and is docile to the will of God.  Mary the Blessed Virgin is the first Christian, the first to receive the Sacred Body and Blood of Jesus, the first to receive the Eucharist.  She heard the word of God and observed it.  She lived this prayer.

We know Mary pondered many things in her heart.  She pondered the many mysteries of Christ that happened right before her, the Annunciation , the birth of a King in a stable, the quiet life of the Messiah hidden at Nazareth, the three public years of our Lord’s teaching, preaching, and miracles, and our Lord’s crucifixion, death, burial, and resurrection.  She pondered all of these things.  Probably thinking over and over, “I can’t understand this right now I don’t know what all of this means.”  I can’t.

But then in great faith our Lady would also pray, “But I know that one day I will understand, because you can do all things Lord.  You can.

 And in our Lady’s Magnificat found in Luke’s Gospel at the Visitation she sings of our Lord’s promise, “Has had come to the help of his servant Israel, for he has remembered his promise of mercy, the promise he made to our Fathers, to Abraham and his children forever.”  You promised. 

And finally the last line of the prayer, “Please do.”  Our Lady is very docile to the will of God.  At the Annunciation she says, “Let it be done unto me according to your will.”  Please do Lord.  And at the Wedding Feast at Cana she makes a request of Jesus.  So filled with trust in how he will respond she tells the waiters, “Do whatever He tells you.”  Please do.

I can’t

You can

You promised

Please do

In moments of contradiction, anxiety, stress, or fear let us pray in the way of Mary and the Saints, praying with trust, humility, faith, hope, and charity.

I can’t

You can

You promised

Please do

Let us be great Saints,

Fr. Christopher Ankley