Category: Pastor’s Corner

Dear Friends,

In our first reading from the Book of Job we heard of these human conditions, drudgery, slavery, misery, troubled, restlessness, anxiety, hopelessness, and sorrow.  All these in a very short reading; a real downer, but I’m sure that most everyone can relate.  We’ve probably experienced each of these states; they are part of the human condition.  As we know our Lord experienced all things human, he experienced everything we have, but without sin.  In His true humanity he knows how it feels to be miserable, troubled, restless, anxious, and sorrowful.  But he did come to heal us of all that, to heal us of all that afflicts us. 

In our gospel today, Peter’s mother-in-law is sick, and the disciples demonstrate the Christian response to troubles:  they immediately tell Jesus about it.  They go to Jesus.  That is their very first instinct, they don’t even know what he’s going to do, but they go to him first.  This is what a disciple does.  St. Basil, a fourth century doctor of the Church wrote that a disciple is one whoever draws near to the Lord, to follow him, to hear him, to believe him, and to obey him, obeying him as Lord, and King, and Doctor, and Teacher of all truth.  Complete abandonment to Him.

Fr. Dolindo Ruotolo was such a disciple.  He understood the relationship between our neediness and God’s goodness.  Fr. Dolindo was an Italian priest who lived from 1881 -1970.  Ordained at the age of 23, Don Dolindo spent his life in prayer, sacrifice, and service. He heard confessions, gave spiritual guidance, and cared for those in need. Fr. Dolindo was a contemporary of the more widely known saint, Padre Pio.

When some pilgrims from Naples, where Don Dolindo lived, went to Padre Pio in Pietrelcina, Padre Pio responded: “Why do you come here, if you have Don Dolindo in Naples? Go to him, he’s a saint!”

As scholars begin to study his many written works this simple priest is becoming most known for his spirituality of surrender. He was aware of the depth of human weakness and neediness, and Fr. Dolindo saw this as a way of fostering continual union with God.  While inviting us to continually bring our worries and concerns to the Lord, Fr. Dolindo would teach that the focus doesn’t stay on our needs. Give it to God and let go! He would encourage his people to bring their needs to God and to then be at peace, leaving God free to care for them in his own way and his own wisdom. Don Dolindo told his people that the Lord has promised to fully take on all the needs we entrust to him. In his own words:  a thousand prayers do not equal one act of abandonment; give yourself to Jesus, and don’t forget it.  Everything we suffer is an opportunity for trusting in the love of Jesus.  Give it to God and let go.  And there is no better prayer than this he would say:  Jesus, I abandon myself to you.  Jesus, you take over.

Fr. Dolindo knew suffering, his body was crippled with arthritis, his legs were always covered in ulcers that were always becoming infected, and for the last ten years of his life he was completely paralyzed.  In each of these sufferings and every day of his life he too would pray:  Jesus you take over.  This always filled him with joy. 

We know that Jesus is the Divine Doctor; he healed the mother-in-law of a fever.  And like any good doctor he is attracted to a wound.  Have you ever noticed how doctors will sometimes talk about different cases they may have seen.  And they will sometimes talk about the wounds they have seen, in great gory detail sometimes, they are attracted to them because they want to heal them.  In the same way our Divine Doctor wants to heal our wounds, he’s attracted to them.  He wants to heal us; sometimes physically, but he also wants to heal us of our spiritual wounds of drudgery, slavery to sin, misery, troubledness, restlessness, anxiety, hopelessness, and sorrow, all the things of Job.  He wants to heal.  God is not attracted to our gifts and virtues, but rather to our weakness, brokenness, and sin.  This is the very definition of Mercy.  He wants to heal. 

God loves like a doctor, he loves like a doctor loves a wound, and we are wounded.  And God rushes to our wounds.  Every time we make the sign of the cross, he rushes to our wounds.  As his disciples, go to Jesus, let him minister to the wound, abandoning everything to Him saying, Jesus you take over, Jesus you take over, Jesus you take over. 

Let us be great Saints,

Fr. Christopher J. Ankley

Dear Friends,

January 31^st is the Feast day of St. John Bosco, and he happens to be the patron of schoolchildren. He was born in Italy on August 16, 1815, into a poor family of farmers. His father, Francis, passed away when John was only two years old, leaving his mother, Margherita, to raise John and his two older brothers on her own. John worked very hard on the farm to help support his family.

When John was nine years old, he had several vivid dreams that would influence the rest of his life. In one of those dreams, he was fighting with a group of boys who were cursing and acting unruly. He tried to stop them, but they wouldn’t listen. In the dream, Jesus and Mary appeared to John. Jesus told him, “Not with blows will you help these boys, but with goodness and kindness!” The boys turned into growling wild animals and then into lambs when Mary put out her hand. She told John, “This is the field of your work. Be humble, steadfast, and strong!” St John Bosco would later say that he realized that God was calling him, calling him to a vocation, calling him to action to stop standing on the sidelines and to get involved.

St. John Bosco would eventually become a priest and founder of the Salesians, an order dedicated to educating and forming young men.  He would teach them the same message he had received, not to stand on the sidelines but to get involved, to be faithful, industrious, and virtuous.   He was a very successful educator.  Our school here at St. Joseph’s strives to do the same for our kids.  Our motto being, “We will know the faith, share the faith, and live the faith.”  In other words, like St. John Bosco we will not stand on the sidelines but get involved.  Not long ago our school gave witness to the sanctity of life with two marches.  The elementary students marched and prayed a rosary in support of life while the middle schoolers carried signs and marched through the neighborhood.  “We will know the faith, share the faith, and live the faith.” 

In our gospel today we got a view of the spiritual battle that is waged between good and evil.   And as long as we are here on earth we cannot avoid being involved in this spiritual battle.  The devil is just too interested in making our lives miserable, both now and forever.  He works hard to separate us from God.  But as we heard in our gospel Jesus can expel the demon from the possessed man easily and definitively.  And still today our Lord gives us the same grace and strength to be victorious in the spiritual battle. 

There are three things that we can do and practice that will help this strength flow more freely in our lives.

First, stay close to Jesus.  It was because this possessed man in our Gospel was close to Jesus, that our Lord was able to expel the demon.  The same goes for us if we stay close to our Lord, especially through daily prayer and the worthy reception of the Eucharist.  Second, stay close to truth. Know especially the truths of your Catholic faith.  The devil’s main weapon is deception.  He manipulates our selfish tendencies by spreading lies and half-truths. This is one reason he fights to keep us out of the confessional.  Confession is the gift of truth:  We face the truth about ourselves.   By confessing our sins, our failures, and our weaknesses, we face the truth about ourselves.  And God, through the priest, reminds us of His truth: mercy, forgiveness, unconditional grace.  The devil loves the darkness; but confession unleashes the light.  Third, stay close to others in need.  The devil is the lord of selfishness, while Christ is the Lord of self-gift.  When we resist our selfishness by serving others, whatever their need may be, we weaken the devil’s influence in our lives.

These three practices can be summarized as “Know the faith, share the faith, and live the faith.” 

I want to end with a story I read on Church Pop earlier this week.   It’s about a priest by the name of Fr. Cepada and he had recently been assigned to a new parish.  After Mass on his first day, he was approached by a couple with a young boy and they asked him if their son Gabriel could serve Mass as his altar boy.  Fr. Cepada said sure, bring him back tomorrow.  Next day Gabriel was there in the sacristy dressed in his new cassock and surplice.  Fr. Cepada came to learn that Gabriel had never served Mass before so he told him, just do what I do, and after Mass I can teach you how to serve.  That was a mistake.  When Fr. Cepada entered the sanctuary and kissed the altar so did Gabriel.  And during the homily Fr. Cepada made hand gestures and so did Gabriel.  He mimicked every hand movement of Fr. Cepada.  The people in the pews just smiled and laughed through the entire homily. 

So, after Mass Fr. Cepada gave him some instructions and they practiced.  He also made sure to tell Gabriel not to kiss the altar and not to make those hand gestures.  But Gabriel asked, “Why do you kiss the altar?”  Fr. Cepada answered, “That kiss is for Jesus, the altar is a symbol of Jesus, and my kiss is a sign of my love and honor and respect for him.”  “I want to kiss the altar too; I want to kiss Jesus” said Gabriel!  “No, I’ll kiss the altar for the both of us,” said Fr. Cepada.

Next day, Gabriel did not kiss the altar; instead, he laid his cheek against the altar.  After Mass Fr. Cepada asked him why he did that, and Gabriel simply said, “I’m letting Jesus kiss me.”

Every Christian is a spiritual warrior. And we need all the help we can get.  So, every time we pray, receive the sacraments, worship at Mass, read scripture, and do good to others we are letting ourselves be loved by our Lord.  We are letting ourselves be filled with His grace.  It’s when we sin and forget to pray, avoid the confessional, avoid Mass, and avoid doing good that we reject that kiss of grace. 

I end with a question, “Is there something extra you will do this week in order to be a greater recipient of God’s grace?”  That you might be a stronger warrior in the spiritual battle.  (Extra prayer, a rosary, daily Mass during the week, adoration of the Eucharist, confession doing good for someone in need)

May we let God’s grace work in us, may we let ourselves receive that kiss of grace.  And like St. John Bosco may we always know our Catholic faith, share our Catholic faith, and live our Catholic faith.

Peace and all good,

Fr. Christopher J. Ankley

Dear Friends,

First:  God loves us as we are, He doesn’t love us for our achievements and He doesn’t love us for our successes, He loves us because He has chosen to adopt us, each of us as His children, and that’s that.  His love is unconditional. 

Second:  We are sure that out of our weaknesses, our limitations, and even our sins, God, in His astonishing wisdom, can draw some good.  In His great love for us, He doesn’t leave us where we are.  He calls us to be perfected, He calls us to be holy, He calls us to repent and believe in the Gospel.  To know and live these two facts attracts God’s grace very powerfully!

I have a story about a woman who forgot these two facts for a time.  St. Mary of Edessa was born in 4^th century Syria.  Her parents died when she was only 7, but she was adopted by her uncle, St. Abraham Kiduania, and from the age of 7 she began to live a remarkably holy life. 

For 20 years, Mary lived as a hermit; following the advice of her hermit-uncle she sought a life of deep prayer and sacrifice.  One day a monk caught sight of Mary as he was visiting Fr. Abraham.  He was not a good monk.  And he made it his goal to steal Mary away from her life of prayer.  He spent a year befriending her becoming more and more friendly and familiar with her.  Eventually Mary gave in, and afterward she was horrified at what she’d done.  She was ashamed and hid from her uncle, the one who loved her, “How can I even try to speak with my holy uncle?”  She asked herself.  “Seeing that I am already dead and have no hope of gaining salvation. I’d better leave here and go to some foreign land where nobody knows me.” And so, she left.  She ran from the only way of life she knew.  She ran from her uncle, and she ran from God. 

Mary of Edessa is one who should have known better.  After falling she should have remembered the infinite mercy of God and plunge herself into it.  To be a Christian, is to know that we are deeply loved by a God who sees us in all our sin and loves us anyway.  After falling Mary had only to turn to the Lord and ask for forgiveness; instead, she gave into despair.  Her despair convinced her that having fallen once, she could never again be holy.  So, Mary ran away from her home and took up residence in and began working in a house of ill-repute. 

Meanwhile, Fr. Abraham was oblivious to all that had happened. But that night he had a vision of a dragon consuming a dove; two days later, in another vision he saw the same dragon with its belly torn open. He reached in to pull out the dove, miraculously unharmed. When he called out to his niece to tell her about it but received no answer, Abraham realized that she was the subject of the vision.  She was the dove; the daughter of his soul was gone and all he could do in her absence was to pray for her.

He prayed for two years before a report reached him that his Mary was living and working in a brothel. Fr. Abraham: like the Good Shepherd, was off without a moment’s hesitation, eager to bring his lost lamb home.

Abraham hadn’t left his hermitage in decades, but he disguised himself as a soldier and began his journey. He made an appointment with Mary, who didn’t recognize him until he began to weep, begging her to come home. Moved by his powerful love, Mary returned to her hermitage and began again a life of prayer. Within three years, God testified to her true conversion by giving her the gift of miracles. Through her prayers to God there were many miracles.   More than just being returned to her original state of holiness, Mary was brought through wickedness to greater prayer, greater virtue, and greater power in Christ.  In His great charity God never leaves us where we are at.  He’s always drawing us onward and upward.  “Come after me,” he continually says to us.

While he spoke to Mary in her brothel, St. Abraham reminded her, “There is nothing new in falling down in the contest; the wicked thing is to keep on lying there.” St. Mary of Edessa is a powerful witness to what God is capable of when we offer him ourselves and our sin—and what we’re capable of when we don’t. 

Fr. Jean Delbee, a French Spiritual author, once wrote, “Even a fall strengthens us if we repent of it, since Jesus brings good out of evil.  Go to Him as to a fountain of living water, as many times as necessary, picking yourself up each time more humble and each time more overflowing with confident love.  If you make each sin an occasion for you to kiss the wound of His Heart with repentance and confidence, each sin will become a rung in the ladder by which you ascend in charity.  From misery to misery, we go from mercy to mercy.”

Remember you are little, little ones are not surprised when they fall, and when they fall they get right back up again, they keep trying and they keep trusting, trusting they will become the saint our Lord calls them to become.   

Two things. 

First:  God loves us as we are, He doesn’t love us for our achievements and He doesn’t love us for our successes, He loves us because He has chosen to adopt us, each of us as His children, and that’s that.  His love is unconditional. 

Second:  We are sure that out of our weaknesses, our limitations, and even our sins, God, in His astonishing wisdom, can draw some good.  In His great love for us, He doesn’t leave us where we are.  He calls us to be perfected, He calls us to be holy, He calls us to repent and to believe in the Gospel.   Over and over as long as it takes.

To know and live these two facts attracts God’s grace very powerfully!

Let us be great Saints,

Fr. Christopher J. Ankley

Dear Friends,

In our first reading we heard that Samuel was sleeping in the temple and today I have a story about a man who also slept while the Lord called to him, in fact spiritually speaking he slept most of his life.   His name was Andreas Wouters.  He was a Dutchman living in 16^th century Holland during the Protestant Reformation.  Andreas was a priest, but he wasn’t a very good priest.  He caused a great deal of scandal.  He was a drunkard and a prolific womanizer, fathering many children.  Not a good role model.  Needless to say the Bishop suspended him from actively serving as a priest.  He lived in disgrace. 

At that time, June of 1572, Andreas was living in a seaside town by the name of Gorkum.  And during that month a band of Dutch pirates captured the town.  They had no love for the Catholic Church and so they rounded up all the priests, they captured 18.  The pirates had plans of torturing and killing them.  The pirates ignored Andreas and given his history he should have run as far away as possible.  But he didn’t, he woke up, he woke up to the call of the Holy Spirit.  He went to his brother priests where they were being held and he volunteered to join them.  The pirates were amazed; they took him in and put him with the other priests.

The 19 priests were tortured and subjected to every type of humiliation and mockery, especially Andreas who was constantly reminded of what a disgrace he was.  At the very end all the priests were given a choice, they could save themselves if they would renounce their belief in Papal Supremacy and the Eucharistic Real Presence.  All of them refused.  So on July 9, 1572 all 19 priests were hanged.  Andreas was saved for last and as the noose was being fastened around his neck, his captors kept mocking him.  They mocked him to the very end.  His last words before entering into eternity were, “Fornicator I always was, but heretic I never was!”  The martyrs of Gorkum were canonized by Pope Pius IX in 1865.  St. Andreas Wouters woke up and gave great witness and glory to God. 

Now as we heard in the 1^st reading Samuel was asleep in the Temple, and to read this in the spiritual sense this is a sign of trouble.  To be asleep in the presence of the Lord is never a good thing.  Think of the 3 disciples who slept in the garden while our Lord prayed.  He asked them, “Could you not stay awake for even one hour?” 

Now at the time of our first reading Eli was the chief priest of the Temple in Shilo, this was before the time of the Temple in Jerusalem, it hadn’t been built yet.  In this Shilo Temple the Ark of the Covenant was housed.  Eli was not the best of priests, he was lazy, unfocused, and a bad supervisor of his sons Phineas and Hoffney who were also bad priests.  Eli was indifferent to what his corrupt sons were doing.  His sons abused the priesthood taking advantage of the people in their care.  And it’s in this atmosphere that Samuel sleeps.  And so the Lord called to Samuel 4 times and at that last call Samuel finally says “Speak Lord for your servant is listening.”  His eyes were wide open; he’s awake to the ways of the Lord.  Meaning he was ready to do the will of God. And he did, serving as a prophet to the people of Israel. 

So what about us?  Where are we asleep to the Lord’s presence, a Presence that calls to us.  Where do we not recognize His presence?  Because He is there!  Is it a temptation that we just can’t seem to overcome, an addiction, a place of shame, or maybe it’s a relationship we just can’t seem to mend, a loss, any suffering we don’t bring to him, or maybe we just don’t think God is there for us.  Spiritual theologians will sometimes say that these are our places of poverty.  And it’s in these places exactly that our Lord calls to us, because He knows we can’t do it on our own.  He meets us in our poverty.  And so we pray to be open to hearing our Lord in these places of poverty.  But it sometimes requires patience on our part and making time for quiet prayer every day.  God overcame the barriers of Samuel and St. Andreas.  He can overcome ours.  The saints, the martyrs, Samuel and St. Andreas came to know that God is always with them. 

Let us pray to have that same awareness, to be awake to this reality.  Our Lord meets us in the poverty of the crib, the poverty of the cross, the poverty of the altar, and our own poverty.   And in all these places he brings the riches of His healing and consoling Grace, let us be humble enough to receive. 

Peace and all good,

Fr. Christopher J. Ankley

Dear Friends,

“The Great War” (or World War I, as it was later known) was a global war fought predominately in Europe.   It began on July 28, 1914, and it ended on the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918.  It was the bloodiest and most brutal war the world had ever experienced.  Little did we know another more brutal world war waited?  During the First World War over 37 million men, women, and children – families – were killed, wounded, or missing in action. When the war began, the common thought was that it would be a quick and decisive war. “Home by Christmas,” was the common thought of leaders and soldiers. Four Christmases would pass before the hostilities would end.

The first Christmas, however, in 1914, something unusual, something unexpected and quite powerful happened. It later came to be known as the Great Christmas Truce. It was not an official truce, of course, but a truce all the same. On Christmas Eve, in NW Belgium, the British troops noticed that the German troops had begun decorating their trenches with candles and Christmas trees. Soon they heard the German troops singing Christmas Carols. (This was before the era of Frosty, Rudolph and the Chipmunks, so we can presume they were carols that sang of the birth of Christ.) Moved by this, the English responded with carols of their own. They followed this by shouting Christmas greetings across the land between the trenches, known as no-man’s land, and soon after, soldiers began to venture out to exchange gifts; gifts of buttons, food, tobacco, and hats and gloves. Each side allowed the other to retrieve their dead, too, to be able to give them a dignified burial. Even soccer games were held. The truce happened sporadically across the Western Front. It’s estimated that 100,000 soldiers were unofficially involved. Inspired by the birth of the Prince of Peace, peace briefly reigned. And then . . . someone fired the first shots, and the war was back on, to inflict its brutal, deadly, violent force on the world.

During this season of Christmas, we can’t help but think about how the world didn’t stop becoming a broken and bloody place for the Holy Family and us after Christ was born. We associate Christmas with shepherds, and Magi, angels singing, and a soft, heavenly glow coming from the manger, as well we should. Into the chaos and brutality of the Roman Empire, the Christ Child was born, to give hope and to bring peace and salvation, and for a moment, that happened. And then, almost on the heels of this great event, comes something quite terrible.

As we read further in Matthew’s Gospel Herod realizes that he’s been deceived by the Magi.  They don’t come back with the information he’s requested about the location of this Christ Child who is to be king.  So, in a furious rage Herod massacres all the Bethlehem boys two years old and younger.  Hoping this action will do away with the Christ Child.    But this is prevented, Joseph is awoken in the middle of the night, warned by an angel, to flee for his — and his family’s – life (the famous Flight Into Egypt) to a place, incidentally, which was almost no better than where they came from; Egypt, where the Jews had been enslaved for hundreds of years, still showed the Jews great antagonism. Like the Christmas Day truce, the Holy Family’s respite was brief. But not insignificant; the Peace that entered the world that day has been the only hope for peace since then.

Now Herod has faith in Christ’s divine power, he believes him to be a king.  But he doesn’t believe him to be a king of divine love and peace.  King Herod could have kept his crown, without fear, living in peace.  As with us, Jesus came to redeem Herod, to give him his peace. 

We tend to associate Christmas with one day, December 25^th. But Christmas is a season. A season that traditionally ends on the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord: January 8^th this year.  Imagine if the joy and the peace of this season, unlike that Christmas Day Truce, extended beyond just one day. Imagine if it extended even further. Not just until Epiphany, or the Lord’s baptism, but into Easter, the summer . . . every day. My friends, in the best way, every day should be a celebration of the Birth of our Savior into this world, into our hearts. Can this day change us beyond just December 25^th? How can the birth of the Prince of Peace make us more peaceful people throughout the year?

Can we call a truce in a relationship that is tearing us and another person apart? Can we put an end to hostilities that we harbor in our hearts, in our lives? World discord does not come from nowhere. It comes when we forget our own humanity, their humanity, when we forget that we are created in the image and likeness of God, when we forget that we are seekers and followers of the Prince of Peace.  As Christians, we are not supposed to act like everyone else. We forgive when others don’t. We show mercy when others don’t. We’re supposed to be Christ’s representatives on earth. There will always be war and violence in the world as long as there is sin in the world. But peace is not impossible. It always follows when the light of Christ is shone on a dark place, whether that dark place is in our hearts or in a war zone.  I wish you a happy, holy, peaceful and Merry Christmas.   May the peace of Christ reign in your heart this day, and every day.

Peace and all good,

Fr. Christopher J. Ankley

Dear Friends,

In 1916 an Angel appeared to three poor children in Portugal.  He identified himself as the “Angel of Peace.”  One of the children described him as a man of natural height; but seemed like a brilliant snow-white statue made of cloud.  The angel visited the children three times, and each time he taught them to pray. Prayers for both to adore God and praying for sinners.  And he also taught them to offer sacrifice on behalf of sinners, “whatever hardship befalls you, offer it up for sinners,” he said.  One prayer he had them memorize was this, “My God, I believe, I adore, I hope, and I love You.  I ask pardon for those who do not believe, do not adore, do not hope, and do not love You.” 

This angel of peace visited the children in the midst of the World War I, but the peace that he came to bring was based on union with God and intercession for others, reminding us of the greatest commandment of the Old Law; total and complete love of God and neighbor. 

In the following year those three children, Lucia, Jacinta, and Francisco would receive 6 visits from the Blessed Virgin Mary.  She would identify herself by saying, “I am the Lady of the Rosary.”  She told the children to devote themselves to the Holy Trinity and to pray the Rosary every day, to bring peace to the world. 

We all want peace. We want peace of mind, peace of heart, peace in our families, and peace in the world. Peace is the tranquility of order and equilibrium; it is the necessary condition for growth and prosperity.  A garden can’t grow in a tornado, nor can human hearts and societies flourish in the midst of violent conflict.

New Year’s Day is a day in which even the most pessimistic people feel at least a twinge of optimism, a whiff of hope.  We hope that this coming year will be better than last year – better for ourselves, our families, and the world.  It is with this natural sense of optimism in mind that, back in 1968, the Church established January 1 as the World Day of Peace.  Not only is this the solemnity of Mary Mother of God, but also the World Day of Peace. 

But a natural desire for peace cannot achieve true, lasting peace either in our hearts, our families, or our world.  Only Christ can bring true peace.  Only Christ can overcome the deepest divisions, antagonisms, and wounds that feed conflict from within.  As Pope Benedict XVI wrote in his encyclical, “Saved by Hope”: “God is the foundation of hope: not any god, but the God who has a human face and who has loved us to the end, each one of us and humanity in its entirety.” (Spe salvi, 31) Christ came to bring us the peace which we long for, because we cannot achieve that peace on our own.

Our Lady of Fatima, Our Lady of the Rosary told us to pray the Rosary every day to pray it for Peace, peace within our hearts, our families, our communities and our world.  Pope St. John Paul II said that to pray the rosary is to contemplate the Face of Jesus.    “God is the foundation of hope and peace: not any god, but the God who has a human face and who has loved us to the end.

For Christmas a friend of mine gave me a book about Elisabeth and Felix Leseur.  The Leseurs were a French married couple who lived during the late 19^th and early 20^th century.  They had a mixed marriage, she was a devout Catholic and he was a confirmed atheist, who left behind his Catholic faith during his time at medical school.  The Leseurs loved each other dearly.  They always supported the other.  Elisabeth would attend lectures and exhibitions and dinners with Felix’s friends who were openly hostile to the Catholic Church.  And Felix would go on pilgrimages with Elisabeth and warmly welcome priest visitors to their home.  They loved each other’s company but they each had the goal of reforming the other.  Felix tried to get Elizabeth to leave the Catholic faith, and sometimes in his weaker moments he was quite unkind with his belittling comments, while Elizabeth prayed, fasted, and offered sacrifices that her husband would return to the faith.   

Elisabeth was sick for most of their marriage and Felix was very devoted to caring for her, he even went with her twice to Lourdes where Elisabeth prayed for healing in the miraculous springs, but it wasn’t to be.  Elisabeth died at the age of 48, Felix was heartbroken.  He missed her dearly and for comfort he began to read her diaries.  And what he read greatly moved him. Elisabeth was a mystic. He discovered a depth of faith he hadn’t realized was present in his wife.  He read how his comments had hurt her and how she had offered her suffering for his return to the faith.  Those diaries are now a spiritual classic, reprinted many times in many languages.

Felix in his great sorrow began visiting all the places he had been to with his wife.  One of those places included Lourdes.  He wasn’t expecting anything from the trip other than to be in a place that was very special for his wife.  And so he found himself in front of the grotto where Mary had appeared to St. Bernadette, he was there with a crowd of people.  He would later write, “Little by little, I united my voice to that of the pilgrims who prayed by saying their rosary aloud.  It was the first time that this had happened to me; all my life I had proclaimed that the rosary was the recourse of the weak minded, and now, I was repeating with an unknown crowd those phrases that I had learned at my mother’s knee.  I felt overwhelmed by a great gentleness, a kind of tenderness from God that seemed to envelop me and little by little, it filled me with joy, a truly profound, inexplicable joy.  I wanted to cry, but this time it was no longer from despair and loneliness, it was from joy and peace; like the feeling of at last arriving in the harbor after such a long and tumultuous journey.”  Felix Leseur would return to the Catholic faith and eventually become a Dominican priest.

  “God is the foundation of our hope and our peace: not any god, but the God who has a human face and who has loved us to the end.  During this upcoming year if not already doing so, I invite you to make a resolution to pray the rosary every day.  Pray for peace, peace in your heart, family, Church, and world.  Pope St. John Paul II said that to pray the rosary is to contemplate the Face of Jesus.    “May the Lord bless you and keep you!  May the Lord let his face shine upon you and be gracious to you! And may the Lord look upon you kindly and give you peace!

Happy New Year!

Fr. Christopher J. Ankley

Dear Friends,

On behalf of Frs. Pius and Jacob I want to wish you a Merry Christmas!  I want to begin with a little bit of Church history.  Back in the 7^th century there was within the Church a group of people who wanted to get rid of all works of art that decorated Churches.  No more art in our Churches!  They especially wanted to remove all artistic representations of Jesus.  It was idol worship, they said, to have a painting or statue of Jesus grace the altar of a Church, it was idol worship.  This group of people who wanted nothing to do with art in Churches were called iconoclasts. 

And the Church responded emphatically saying “NO” to the iconoclasts.  It is entirely proper to make an artistic representation of Jesus.   His humanity is real.  Jesus is the image of the Father and for the first time in the history of humanity we have an accurate image of God.  And because of his true humanity, He like any other human can be portrayed artistically.  St. John Damascene of that time put it this way, “I am a man and I occupy a body, and I want to deal in a bodily fashion with the things that are Holy, and I want to look at them!”  I want to look at those things which are holy and beautiful.

“I want to look at them!”  Have you ever had an experience of beauty; maybe you met someone with great inner beauty, or listened to a beautiful piece of music or viewed an exquisite work of art or maybe you even had this happen upon viewing a breathtaking scene of nature.  Have you ever had an experience of beauty and in that beauty, were you moved by an awareness of something more; or better yet someone more.  Beauty can move us to go beyond what is taken in by our senses.  Beauty can move us to go beyond what is seen, touched, heard, tasted, or even smelled.     There is more here than what I see, hear, or touch.  Beauty can move us to go beyond and reach out to the One and only Creator of all the beauty that surrounds us.  God uses beauty to reach out to us.  The natural beauty of this church decorated for Christmas is meant to draw our heats, minds, and souls to the supernatural beauty of Heaven. 

St. Jerome of the 4^th century would often meditate on the Child Jesus.  He had a great devotion to the Child Jesus.  And in that devotion, he would contemplate often the birth of Jesus in the stable of Bethlehem.  So great was this devotion that St. Jerome moved to Bethlehem.  He wanted to be close to the birthplace of Jesus.  He wanted to look at and touch the birthplace of Jesus.  He lived in a cave right next to the cave where Jesus was born.  He even received as a gift the manger that Jesus was laid in after he was born. 

St. Jerome would sleep with his head resting in the manger.  He would lay the manger on its side, put his head in, and go to sleep. He meditated often on the rough simple beauty of that manger, and it lifted his heart to heaven. St. Jerome once said, “Nothing can draw me away from the Manger of Jesus.  There is for me no better place on earth.  It’s the very place which God gave to me, His Son from Heaven.”  

One time in a mystical moment of prayer St. Jerome said to the child Jesus, “Oh, Jesus how you tremble!  How hard is your bed for the sake of my salvation!  How shall I ever repay you?” 

And in that mystical moment the Holy Child replies, “From you Jerome, I ask only the song, Glory to God in the Highest!  Let that be enough for you.” 

But St. Jerome is not satisfied he says, “Dear little Jesus, I must give you something.  Let me give you all my wealth.” 

And Jesus the Holy Child replies, “From the beginning the Heavens and the Earth are mine.  I do not need your treasures.  Give them to the poor.  I shall receive that as if you had done it to me.” 

And St. Jerome replies, “Dear little Jesus, this I shall do, and do it gladly, but I must also give you something, something just for you, or I shall die of sorrow.”

And Jesus the Holy Child replies, “Dear Jerome, since you are so generous of heart, I will tell you what you may give to me.  Give me your sins!”

And a puzzled St. Jerome asks, “What will you do with my sins?”

The Child Jesus replies, “I want to take them upon my shoulders.  This shall be my glory, and my glorious deed, as Isaiah once said, that I shall take your sins upon myself and carry them away.” 

At this St. Jerome begins to cry saying, “O, Child, dear, Holy Child, how deeply you have touched my heart!  I thought you wanted something good, but you want everything in me which is bad!  Oh, take what is mine! Give me what is Yours!”

St. Jerome said to the child Jesus, “Take what is mine! Give me what is yours!”  This is the great Christmas exchange.  God became man so that we might become God.  We give to Jesus our humanity and in return He gives us His Divinity.  The entire purpose of the Christian life is not simply to make us better people, but to make us divine, to conform us to a participation the very life of the Blessed Trinity.  We will not be mere spectators in Heaven; we will live within the midst of the love of the Trinity.  God became man that we might become God. 

St. Jerome began his prayer by meditating on the simple rough beauty of a manger.  He looked at the manger and in that experience of beauty he was drawn into the supernatural beauty of a future Heaven that awaited him. 

At that first Christmas 2022 years ago, and every day since, God has been making a proposal to you, He wants you.  Through his son Jesus he is saying to each one of you: “You give me your humanity, I will give you, my divinity.  You give me your time; I will give you eternity.  You give me the bonds that tie you down; I will give you, my omnipotence. You give me your slavery; I will give you, my freedom.  You give me your death; I will give you, my life.  You give me your nothingness; I will give you my all.”

Merry Christmas!

Fr. Christopher J. Ankley

Dear Friends,

St. Maximilian Kolbe was a Polish priest, born near the end of the 19th century. He was a brilliant Franciscan; he had earned two doctorates by the age of 25. He did missionary work in Japan. He used technology in every possible way to spread the gospel. He founded a city in Poland dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary and over 800 monks lived there, many of them drawn by his example of joy and holiness. In 1941 he was arrested by the Nazis and sent to Auschwitz. The Nazis, it’s often forgotten, not only hated the Jewish people, but they also hated Christians. As the prisoners entered this hell on earth they were welcomed with this message: “You have not come to a sanitarium but to a Nazi concentration camp, from which there is no other exit except the crematorium. If there are Jews here, they do not have a right to live more than two weeks. If there are priests, they can live a month; the others, three months.”

In late July of 1941, a prisoner escaped somehow from the camp, or at least went missing and was never found. As punishment the commandant said that ten people from the cellblock out of which the man escaped would be executed by being locked inside a starvation bunker under the ground. The commandant had the prisoners stand at attention most of the day and then finally began walking through the lines picking the condemned. The tenth man he selected began to cry out, “Goodbye, goodbye, my dear wife! Goodbye, my dear children.” At this the unthinkable happened. Kolbe stepped out of the line and walked in front of the SS commandant, who said to him, “What does this Polish pig want?” Kolbe answered, “I am a Polish priest; I want to take his place because he has a wife and children.” And the commandant agreed to let Kolbe take the man’s place, a man who survived Auschwitz and was reunited with his family.

And so Kolbe, who was 47 at the time, was placed with the nine others condemned into the concrete starvation bunker to die. But an odd thing happened in that bunker. Out of it, heard both by the prisoners in the camp and the SS guards, came singing. In the middle of this place, a hell on earth, Kolbe was leading the others in prayer and song. So annoying did this become for the Nazis that after two weeks of this they finally entered the bunker and executed Kolbe by a lethal injection.

Now I bring up St. Maximilian today be-cause he is, I think, a more recent and pow-erful example of St. Paul and of his words to us in the entrance antiphon. St. Paul says to us, “Rejoice in the Lord always. I shall say it again: rejoice! Have no anxiety at all.” Now these may not be easy words to hear especially if we’ve lost a job, or we are worrying about the next house payment, or we are about to approach the holidays for the first time after the death of a loved one, or we are helping someone going through chemotherapy and all the hardships entailed with that, or maybe we’re going through that ourselves. Or maybe it’s something else entirely that makes us anxious, this pandemic maybe? We might be tempted to say to St. Paul, “Maybe if you knew the suffering I’m going through, or if you were in a situation like mine, you wouldn’t say words like “Rejoice!” And “Have no anxiety at all.” Come on St. Paul!

But when St. Paul wrote these words of rejoice and have no anxiety, he was sitting in a prison cell. Like Kolbe in that starvation bunker, Paul was confined to an under-ground prison when he wrote this. And just as Kolbe was able, by the power of the Holy Spirit, to sing hymns in Auschwitz, so Paul could say in prison awaiting his own execution, “Rejoice!”

How? Today’s Third Sunday of Advent, known as Gaudete Sunday, is all focused on joy. But Paul and Kolbe and all the saints powerfully remind us that joy isn’t dependent on and doesn’t come from the particular circumstance I find myself in whether that’s being in a concentration camp, prison, out of work, struggling with cancer, or having difficulties in my marriage. And neither Paul nor Kolbe were under the illusion God was going to swoop in and rescue them and “make it all better.” No. Their joy, their real joy, was rooted in what God had already done in their lives and for all the world, and in what He has said will happen when either He returns or I die, whichever comes first.

So, what has He done that causes such joy? There are three things. First, He has “Removed the judgment against us.” Our Lord forgives, we can repent, our past does not define us, our past does not define us when we come to Him in repentance in the sacrament of reconciliation. Second, “He has turned away our enemies. He has destroyed the hellish power of Satan and of death. Death has been conquered and lost its sting. There is now a divine hand to reach out to us in death. Third, He “Is in our midst,” as the prophet Zephaniah puts it. Or, in Paul’s words, “He is near.” He is near in the sense that He is always with us, always offering us the grace we need for whatever situation we’re in. And He is near in the sense that His return is closer than it was yesterday. We’re nearer today to going home than we were last year or five years ago or ten years ago. And these truths that forgiveness is there for the asking, that death’s power has been destroyed, and that God is both with us now, no matter the situation and will bring us home if we stay close is the cause of our joy, that nothing, not anxiety, not distress, not persecution, not the sword, and not even a starvation bunker in Auschwitz, can shake.

As we draw nearer to Christmas, may God help us all better understand what He has done for us. And may our joy draw others to Him.

Pax et Bonum,

Fr. Christopher J. Ankley

Dear Friends,

All of us have experienced pessimistic moments.  Sometimes we experience pessimism because no matter what we do we can’t seem to avoid suffering; painful things just keep happening to us and those we love.  Sometimes we experience discouragement because we can’t seem to avoid sin; we just keep falling into the same patterns of greed, lust, impatience, and laziness.  Sometimes we experience cynicism when we look at society and see so much that is wrong, so much injustice, degradation, and violence.  Maybe even sometimes thinking, “My God, my God why have you forsaken me?” 

Today, as we start the Second week of Advent, God has something to say about this pessimism, discouragement, and cynicism.  He is saying to us: pessimism, discouragement, cynicism will all come knocking at your door, but don’t let them in!  Do not let yourself be afraid, because I am your Lord and Savior.   I have not forgotten you!

This is the message of the Gospel, where we hear St John the Baptist’s voice ring out with hope in the wilderness of pessimism: the Lord is coming!

This is the message of Isaiah, who preaches comfort to God’s sinful people, reminding them that he is like a shepherd who gathers the lambs of his flock (us) in his arms.

This is the message of the Second Reading: even if it seems that God is absent, and has forgotten us, we know that he is simply waiting for the right moment to send in his grace.  St Peter reminds us, that for God, a thousand years are like a day, and a day is like a thousand years; what seems like a long wait for us is just the blink of an eye.  Advent is our yearly reminder that God has not forgotten us, no matter how we may feel.  He has not forgotten us.  In fact, he never stops thinking of us, and he is leading us with great care to our everlasting reward.  This is something we can trust.  Now sometimes we lack trust in God.  It’s what pains him the most, our lack of trust.  In the spiritual life this is something we can pray for.   We can always pray for an increase in trust;  because there’s always room for us to grow in trust.  And we look to Jesus as our example of one who prays with trust. 

The Gospels tell us that Jesus prayed the Psalms as he hung upon the Cross.  St. Matthew and St. Mark record the opening verse

of Psalm 22, “My God My god why have you forsaken me?”  And St. Luke records that Jesus also prayed, “Father into your hands I commend my Spirit” (Luke 23:46).  This was his last statement before he breathed his last.  This too is from a Psalm, Psalm 31.  This is a prayer of trust in God’s protection.  This psalm speaks of the suffering of one striving to be faithful to God and about the confidence with which he entrust himself to God’s protection.  Jesus placed his trust in the Father’s care. 

Every night before bed those who pray the breviary pray this same prayer of trust, “Into your hands Lord I commend my spirit!”  “Into your hands Lord I commend my spirit!”  This is our prayer of trust.  Borrowing our Lord’s own words we can also make this our prayer when things get hard. 

St. Francis Xavier Cabrini lived this prayer.  She is the first Canonized U.S. citizen.  There were many roadblocks and setbacks in her life, a lot of stress, yet Mother Cabrini trusted.   Born in 1850, she was the 13^th child born into a farming family.  She was born 2 months pre-mature, and she was small and weak as a child.   Her health remained fragile for the rest of her life. 

From an early age Frances felt called to religious life particularly that of a missionary.  She wanted to bring the Catholic faith to China.  As a child she would make boats out of paper and fill them with flowers.  The flowers were her missionary priests and sisters.  She would set the boats free into a river, sending her missionaries off to China.  She once fell into the water at the age of 7, almost drowning.  From then on, she was deathly afraid of open water.  Yet throughout her life she crossed the ocean over 2 dozen times.  So, she prayed, “Into your hands Lord I commend my spirit!” 

Frances was educated at a school run by the Daughters of the Sacred Heart.  She graduated with a teaching certificate and received the highest honors.  She wanted to join their order, but they turned her away because of her poor health.  So, she prayed, “Into your hands Lord I commend my spirit!”

Knowing of her credentials a priest asked her to come and teach at an orphanage for girls.  She and the other teachers formed their own religious community.  After a few years of working and praying together they made vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience and they began to wear a habit.  They became The Missionary sisters of the Sacred Heart.  They cared for children in schools and hospitals.  In 5 years, they had 7 homes, a school, and a nursery.  She went to Pope Leo XIII to see if he would allow her to go to China.  It was her lifelong dream. 

But the Pope told her no, you go to the USA instead.  Not to the East but to the West!  So again, she prayed, “Into your hands Lord I commend my spirit!”  On March 31, 1889, Frances arrived in New York City with 6 other sisters.  They were there to serve the growing number of Italian immigrants.  However, the house promised her was not available and the Bishop told her to go back to Italy.  We don’t need you.  So, she prayed, “Into your hands Lord I commend my spirit!”  She soon found housing and they were able to start running their first orphanage.  Over the years Mother Cabrini was faced with great difficulties and impossibilities.  But she had a deep trust in God’s providence.  And God continually sent her many resources and he worked through her deep prayer life and her natural gifts to bring about much good. 

After 35 years of caring for the poor, Mother Cabrini had founded 67 institutions.  These were orphanages, schools, and hospitals.  She died at the age of 67 in Chicago on December 22, 1917.  Mother Cabrini is a powerful example of trust.  Pope Pius XII said this at her canonization, “In the face of endless cares and anxieties of life, she never let anything turn her aside from striving and aiming to please God and to work for His glory for which nothing, aided by God’s grace, seemed too laborious, or difficult, or beyond human strength.”

One aspect of this season of Advent is to remind us that God has not forgotten us. So, when a cross or a roadblock comes our way and we are tempted to say “My God my God why have you forsaken me?”  Let us remember our Lord and his saint St. Francis Xavier Cabrini and pray with the same trust, “Into your hands Lord I commend my spirit.”  “Into your hands Lord I commend my spirit.” 

Peace and all good,

Fr. Christopher J. Ankley

Dear Friends,

Happy New Year, the first Sunday of Advent marks the beginning of a new Church year.  This year we’ll be reading from the Gospel of Mark.  Advent is a season that directs the mind and heart to await our Lord’s coming at Christmas but also our Lord’s Second coming at the end of time.  It’s supposed to be a period to heighten our devout and joyful expectation.   Now during this season of Advent we sing one of the most beautiful hymns, “O Come O Come Emmanuel.”  The word Emmanuel means God with us.  The next two lines of this hymn are, “And ransom captive Israel, that mourns in lonely exile here.”

Centuries ago, travel was very dangerous, especially if you were wealthy.  Criminals preyed upon the rich.  If they could the criminals would capture them and hold them for ransom, usually holding them and hiding them away in a foreign country.  And there they were, in this foreign country, captive, and exiled, and waiting and watching, and hoping, hoping that someone might pay for their release.

“O Come O Come Emmanuel and ransom captive Israel, that mourns in lonely exile here.”

We too, like Israel, are in exile; we live in a foreign country, we are on a pilgrimage through a foreign land, because Heaven is our true homeland.  Heaven is the place where we belong.  We were made for it.  And we too are held captive, captive to sin and captive to powers alien to God.  And so, in our captive exile we hope and we wait, and we watch.

“Until the Son of God Appear.”

I have a story.  In Scotland in the 1600s Catholics were persecuted, both priests and laity had to flee the country or go into hiding to avoid imprisonment or even death.  One day a Bishop wanted to explore his diocese to see who was left of his flock, and to see how they were faring.  And so there he was walking from village to village in the mountains, dressed like a poor farmer to escape capture.  It was winter, and as the sun went down, he became lost among the snow-covered hills.  Almost exhausted with wandering, he finally saw a dim light in the distance, and made his way towards it.  It was a poor cottage on the edge of the woods; he knocked on the door.  The family welcomed him, warmed him at their fire, and prepared him some food.  He didn’t see any crucifix or image of Mary in the house, so he concluded they weren’t Catholic.  They were extremely kind and hospitable, and as he ate their delicious food, they conversed politely and pleasantly.  He didn’t bring up the topic of religion.

As the Bishop sat there he noticed that the family seemed sad underneath their good-natured hospitality.  And so he asked about this, and the mother explained that in the back room, on a bed of straw her father lay dying, but he refused to admit it, and so he was not preparing himself well for death.  The visitor offered to speak with him, and he was led to the back room.  Sure enough, the old man lay there, feeble and clearly dying.  The bishop offered words of sympathy, but the old man seemed to regain strength and said, “No sir, I am not yet going to die.  That is impossible.”  The disguised bishop asked why he was so sure, and after hemming and hawing, the old man asked quietly if the visitor was Catholic.

Assured that he was, the dying man gave this explanation.  “I also am a Catholic.  From the day of my first Communion until now I have never failed even for a single day to pray to Our Blessed Lady for the grace of not dying without first having a priest at my bedside to hear my confession and give me the Last Sacraments.”  “Now sir, do you think that my heavenly Mother will not hear me?  Impossible! So I am not going to die till some priest comes to visit me.”  Tears rolled down the bishop’s face as he realized that he was God’s faithful answer to this man’s humble and confident prayer.  The old man, in a faithful Advent spirit, hoped and waited, and watched.  And our God was faithful to him and ransomed him from his captivity.  Sending him his longed-for priest to give him the sacraments.

Our God is a faithful God.  He fulfills his promises.  God didn’t abandon the human race after the Original Sin.  He promised to send a Savior, and he fulfilled his promise on the very first Christmas.  And God has also promised that this Savior, Jesus Christ, will come again to bring our earthly exile to its completion, just as he brought his Chosen people out of their exile.  God is faithful, he will keep his promises.  And with his grace we too can be faithful.  Just like that old man in Scotland.

St. Paul from our second reading writes, “He will keep you firm to the end, irreproachable on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.  God is faithful, and by him you were called to fellowship with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.”

And now for the last line of our hymn’s first verse, “Rejoice!  Rejoice! Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.”

Let us be great Saints,

Fr. Christopher J. Ankley