Dear Friends,

Not long ago I had the privilege of attending Mass at a Franciscan Monastery, the Saint Clare Monastery.  This monastery had a beautiful and relatively new chapel, and across from my pew was a stained glass window with the words, “He who is like God.”  It was a window with the image of St. Michael the Archangel and Michael means one who is like God.  But before seeing the Archangel all I saw were the words and I took it as a question, “Who is like God?”  Answer:  you and I are like God, and we find this answer in the Bible.  In Genesis (1:27) it’s written, “So God created man in his image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.”  You and I are made in the image of God.

In today’s Gospel we hear about images, the first one being the image of Caesar on the Roman coin.  The Pharisees and the Herodians are trying to be clever.  They want to trap Jesus by trying to corner him into a catch-22.  These two groups the Pharisees and the Herodians are neither friends nor allies of each other.  They despise each other.  The Pharisees are religious patriots, bitterly opposed to Roman rule, whereas the Herodians are content to work together with the Gentile powers that be.  This present uneasy alliance is made solely for the purpose of bringing down the Messiah. They want to entrap him and get him out of the way.  They think their question, “Is it lawful to pay the census tax to Caesar or not?”   has only a “yes” or “no” answer.  If Jesus answers, “yes, pay the tax” the zealous Jews would run from him, and they had come to regard him as the Messiah.  Jesus would no longer have a following.  If Jesus answers, “no, don’t pay the tax” the Jewish priests of the temple could have the Roman soldiers arrest him for trying to overthrow the government.  With either response the Pharisees and Herodians think they can discredit Jesus and be rid of him.  Jesus would cease to have any influence. 

However, Jesus is wise to them and doesn’t answer their question with a simple “yes” or “no.”  He confounds and frustrates them when he holds up the coin and asks, “Whose image is this and whose inscription?” They must answer that Caesar’s image is on the coin.  Jesus then says something that has been quoted a million times throughout the centuries, “Repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God.”  Paying taxes, giving back to Caesar what belongs to Caesar, brings us roads, a school system, police and fire departments, a society of law and order and everything a good government should provide.  As Christians we have a duty to be good citizens and to fight for and promote a good government based on our faith. 

The second part of the quote is a little more difficult, Jesus was looking at the crowd, made up of men and women, when he said, “Repay to God what belongs to God.”  The coin has the image of Caesar so giving it back to Caesar is easy, but where do we find the image of God?  And this brings us back to the stained-glass window I saw in the St. Clare Monastery with its question, “Who is like God?”  We are like God.  We’re made in His image and like the coin that goes back to Caesar; we’re to go back to God because we’re made for God.   We give ourselves to Him, by spending our life getting to know Him, by loving Him, and by serving Him.  And at the end of our life, we hope to finally join Him in Heaven. 

Here on earth, there are two dimensions of going to God.  First, there is the worship of God where we strive to give ourselves to Him totally with our whole heart, soul, and mind.   At the beginning of the Liturgy of the Eucharist at the offertory the priest says, “Pray, my brothers and sisters, that my sacrifice and yours may be acceptable to God, the almighty Father.”  We’ll say it this way to remind us that the priest stands in the person of Christ.  When the priest says “my sacrifice” he is saying it as Christ.  Everyone in the assembly also participates in that sacrifice because of our baptism we are all a member of the mystical body of Christ. We join our sacrifice to His sacrifice.  So, we bring our gifts, both our material and spiritual.  We bring what we have and what we are, and we acknowledge that it all comes from God, and it all belongs to God.  So, we give it back, we bring Him our lives, our sorrows, our joys, our sufferings, everything we are and offer them in union with the sacrifice of Christ.  We give ourselves to Him totally.

The second dimension of going to God is the giving of ourselves to God through the service to others.  Because others are also made in the image of God, and we serve God by serving them.  All of us are expected to give ourselves to our neighbor, even the one who seems unlovable.  Maybe, all we can do is pray for them but whatever we do for our neighbor, good or bad, we are giving to God. 

As images of God, we have the opportunity to build God’s kingdom, because we can bring God’s kingdom into all the places we enter; the Church, the home, the workplace, the school, and even the town square with its voting booth.  Building God’s kingdom, giving ourselves to God, can’t be kept within the privacy our home, it must be everywhere. Don’t make faith a private matter. 

The 16th of October is the feast day of St. Margaret Mary Alacoque and I want to end with a quote of hers:

God gave me to understand that one cannot better show one’s love for him than by loving ones’ neighbor for love of him; and that I must work for the salvation of others, forgetting my own interest in order to espouse those of my neighbor, both in my prayers and in all the good I might be able to do by the mercy of God.

Peace and all good,

Fr. Christopher J. Ankley

Dear Friends,

William Holman Hunt was an English painter who died in 1910.  He was one of the founders of the Pre-Raphaelite school of painters.  His paintings are noted for their vivid color, great attention to detail, and elaborate symbolism.  Hunt for a time considered himself to be an atheist.  But at the age of 25 he had a reversion to the faith.  And to mark the occasion he painted a work of art based on two scripture passages, 1st Revelation 3:20, where our Lord says to us, “Behold I stand at the door and Knock.”  And 2nd from John’s Gospel 8:12, where the Lord tells us, “I am the light of the world.”   Hunt combined these two passages into the painting entitled, “Light of the World.”  You are probably familiar with one or another knock-off of this original work of art.  In 1900 the painting toured the world; it was a very popular attraction.  At the end of the tour, it was hung in St Paul’s Cathedral in London.  

This painting shows the large wooden door of a country cottage, which is located on the edge of a forest, far away from any other houses or town.  Around the door weeds have grown up, ivy clings and drapes across the top of the door.  The hinges are rusted.  This door has not been opened in years.  And the landscape is abandoned, uncultivated, and hostile.  It is nighttime. 

In the darkness, the full moon forms a halo around the head of Christ, who is standing in front of the door.  He holds a lantern in his left hand, and with his right hand he is knocking on the door.  William Hunt was part of the “Pre-Raphaelite” school of painters.  This school of painting was interested in complex symbolism.  Their paintings were filled with lots of symbolism. 

In this painting, the cottage symbolizes the soul, the door is human freedom, and Christ is the light that brings hope and meaning to the darkness within.  It’s a haunting painting.

First, it’s counterintuitive to have a stranger wandering the woods at night carrying a light.  Usually in these types of paintings from that time the light would come from inside the place of residence and the wanderer would be seeking relief from the darkness outside.  Another detail is even more eloquent; no doorknob or handle can be seen on the outside of the door.  This implies that the door can only be opened from within, again human freedom.  Christ is knocking on the outside, waiting patiently to bring his light and grace into the house, into the soul, but only those on the inside can let him in.  Only we can let him in.

And that’s how it is in all our lives.  God surrounds us with his good gifts, his grace.  But he will never force his way into our hearts, he simply knocks, invites, and waits patiently for us to open the door. 

And we prayed for this grace at the beginning of Mass in the collect, our opening prayer.  As you recall we prayed to God, “May your grace at all times go before us and follow after us.”  In other words, may we be surrounded by God’s grace at all times.  But first we have to say yes and open that door.  St. Therese of Lisieux was very good at recognizing grace.  She knew of course that grace was to be found in all the sacraments, but she was able to recognize God’s grace in all the everyday occurrences of life.  She once said, “Everything is a grace, everything is the direct effect of our Father’s love difficulties, contradictions, humiliations, all the soul’s miseries, her burdens, her needs, everything, because through them she learns humility, realized her weakness.  Everything is a grace because everything is God’s gift.”  Everything that happens in our life is an opportunity o grow closer to God, even a fall into sin gives us the chance to grow in repentance, humility and reliance on grace. 

In the Gospel today we hear of our destiny, the great wedding banquet, Heaven.  We have all received the invitation, and at our baptism we received our white wedding garment.  And it’s God’s grace and our cooperation to that grace that keeps our wedding garment white.    Our RSVP is a simple yes to God everyday of our life.  Yes, to the graces around us and yes to the graces found in the sacraments.

St. Patrick of the 5th century composed a prayer asking for God’s grace and protection.  It’s called the Breastplate, which is a protective armor against harm.  He composed the prayer right before approaching the Irish king Leoghaire.  This king was a fierce warrior and St. Patrick wanted to convert him and his people to Christianity.  He was a little afraid, but courage is just fear that has said its prayers.    So, he prayed, and I paraphrase, “Ok Jesus I opened the door of my soul to you, I need you all around me, I need your grace.  A portion of St. Patrick’s prayer goes like this,

Christ with me,
Christ before me,
Christ behind me,
Christ in me,
Christ beneath me,
Christ above me,
Christ on my right,
Christ on my left,
Christ when I lie down,
Christ when I sit down,
Christ when I arise.

Reminding us of our opening prayer that God’s grace always goes before us and follows after. 

We receive such grace in all the everyday occurrences of life, its showered upon us, it’s the grace we need for every moment of our lives.  We also receive that grace in the sacraments: in Reconciliation where Christ forgives us; in the Eucharist where Christ comes to dwell within us. At Communion time we say, “Lord, I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof, but only say the word and my soul shall be healed.” And you can say in your heart at that moment, “Lord, you have chosen me and called me. Give me the grace to answer that call, to say yes, to say yes every day of my life.”  To keep opening that door to you.

Peace and all good,

Fr. Christopher J. Ankley

Dear Friends,

October 7th is the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary.  Pope St. Pius V established this feast in 1573.  The purpose was to thank God for victory of Christians over the Muslim Turks at Lepanto.  A victory attributed to the praying of the rosary.

In early October 1571 the Turkish Armada was making its way through the Mediterranean Sea.  It was an armada of 300 ships and 100,000 men.  Their eventual goal was Rome.  They were out to conquer the Pope and Christianity.   On October 7th, the Christian fleet of 285 ships and 70,000 men went in search of the Muslim navy.  They met in the Bay of Lepanto (Present day Naupaktos Greece).  The Christian flotilla was in a bad way.  The wind was against them, and a heavy fog obscured everything.  The Muslims were sure to win.  But then things began to change.  The wind reversed course and the fog lifted enough for the Christians to see their enemy.

The battle lasted 5 hours.  In the end the Christians were victorious.  The Turkish navy had lost most of its vessels while the Christians lost only a few.  Pope St. Pius V attributed this victory to the Blessed Virgin Mary, Our Lady of the Rosary.  Why?  Before battle all the Christian soldiers went to confession, participated in the Sacrifice of the Mass and they all prayed the Rosary.  70,000 men prayed the rosary, which was their spiritual weapon.   In Rome Pope St. Pius V had all the citizens in the city and surrounding countryside pray the rosary.  They stormed Heaven with their Heavenly weapon of the rosary.

It is well known that, on the evening of the day that the Christians defeated the Muslims, Pope St. Pius V was in Rome in a meeting and received a vision of the victory.  While in the middle of discussions in the Vatican, he suddenly broke away from his companions and stared out the window in complete ecstasy as

if he were seeing something tremendous, then he turned back toward his companions with a radiant face to jubilantly yell, “Victory! Victory!”  He explained that a great victory had been won that day by the Christian forces.  This vision occurred more than two weeks before the official courier from Venice arrived in Rome with the news.  The Pope attributed the victory to the Rosary.  Pope Francis recently said the rosary is the best weapon against the great accuser, meaning Satan.  It is the weapon that wins all battles.

Pope St. John Paul II once said that to pray the rosary is to meditate upon the face of Jesus with Mary.   The soul that lives by the rosary makes her way quickly towards a life of union with Christ.  And what are, in fact, the mysteries of the Rosary?  They are the very mysteries of Jesus, the mysteries of His life, the mysteries of His grace, and the mysteries of His love.  The rosary is the

soul truly plunged into Jesus Himself.  And to meditate on the face of Jesus, to look into the face of Jesus, is to know you are loved, to know you are forgiven.

In the 2nd Eucharistic Prayer, we pray to live forever in the light of our Lord’s Holy Face. This devotion to the Holy Face of Jesus is a very old devotion instituted for First Friday devotions.

O adorable face of Jesus hidden in the Eucharist – Have Mercy on us.

O adorable face of Jesus which will appear at the end of time in the clouds with great power and great majesty – Have Mercy on us.

O adorable face which will fill the just with joy for all eternity – Have Mercy on us.

With the aid of the Holy Rosary may we always contemplate the Holy Face of our Lord.

Pax et Bonum,

Fr. Christopher J. Ankley

A commentary on Isaiah by St Jerome

Ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of Christ

I interpret as I should, following the command of Christ: Search the Scriptures, and Seek and you shall find. Christ will not say to me what he said to the Jews: You erred, not knowing the Scriptures and not knowing the power of God. For if, as Paul says, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God, and if the man who does not know Scripture does not know the power and wisdom of God, then ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of Christ.

  Therefore, I will imitate the head of a household who brings out of his storehouse things both new and old, and says to his spouse in the Song of Songs: I have kept for you things new and old, my beloved. In this way permit me to explain Isaiah, showing that he was not only a prophet, but an evangelist and an apostle as well. For he says about himself and the other evangelists: How beautiful are the feet of those who preach good news, of those who announce peace. And God speaks to him as if he were an apostle: Whom shall I send, who will go to my people? And he answers: Here I am; send me.

  No one should think that I mean to explain the entire subject matter of this great book of Scripture in one brief sermon, since it contains all the mysteries of the Lord. It prophesies that Emmanuel is to be born of a virgin and accomplish marvelous works and signs. It predicts his death, burial and resurrection from the dead as the Savior of all men. I need say nothing about the natural sciences, ethics and logic. Whatever is proper to holy Scripture, whatever can be expressed in human language and understood by the human mind, is contained in the book of Isaiah. Of these mysteries the author himself testifies when he writes: You will be given a vision of all things, like words in a sealed scroll. When they give the writings to a wise man, they will say: Read this. And he will reply: I cannot, for it is sealed. And when the scroll is given to an uneducated man and he is told: Read this, he will reply: I do not know how to read.

  Should this argument appear weak to anyone, let him listen to the Apostle: Let two or three prophets speak, and let others interpret; if, however, a revelation should come to one of those who are seated there, let the first one be quiet. How can they be silent, since it depends on the Spirit who speaks through his prophets whether they remain silent or speak? If they understood what they were saying, all things would be full of wisdom and knowledge. But it was not the air vibrating with the human voice that reached their ears, but rather it was God speaking within the soul of the prophets, just as another prophet says: It is an angel who spoke in me; and again, crying out in our hearts, Abba, Father’, and I shall listen to what the Lord God says within me.

Dear Friends,

I begin with a very short and simple prayer from the 16th century.  “Jesus, Jesus, Jesus be to me a Jesus.”  “Jesus, Jesus, Jesus be to me a Jesus.”  In other words, be my Savior, Jesus.  This 8 word prayer was the favorite prayer of St. Ralph Sherwin.

St. Ralph was an Oxford University Scholar, very smart and talented.  Ralph impressed everyone with his intellect, even the Queen (Queen Elizabeth I).  He had a bright and promising future within the English Government or maybe even within the Church of England.  But all of that changed a year after graduation.  He had a profound conversion experience, studying history, and reading the writings of the early Christians he discovered the beauty of the Catholic faith.  He wanted it for himself and so he became a Catholic and as a Catholic he felt drawn to the priesthood.  So in secret he journeyed to France where he could study to be a priest.  You just couldn’t do that in England at that time.  All Catholic seminaries were suppressed and destroyed.

Once he was ordained Ralph made his way back to England and he did this in secret.  He came ashore at night disguised as a workman.  Once in England he made his rounds ministering to those who still practiced the Catholic faith.  But after a year of many near misses he was caught and charged with treason.  He was sent to the tower of London.   In prison he was tortured on the rack.  And after one bout on the stretching device he was tossed outside into the snow.  There Queen Elizabeth I was waiting for him.  She admired his talent and intelligence.  So she made a deal with him, if he would recant his Catholic faith she’d make him a Bishop in the Church of England.  He’d have money, power, honor, and comfort.  He refused; that was his last chance.  At his trial he vigorously denied any attempt to raise a rebellion against the Queen.  He’s quoted as saying, “The plain reason of our standing here is religion, not treason!”  He was found guilty and sentenced to be hung and drawn and quartered.   The next day was set for his execution.

As he made his way to the gallows he kissed the bloodied hands of his executioner, forgiving him.  Right before dying the last words out of St. Ralph’s mouth was his favorite prayer.    “Jesus, Jesus, Jesus be to me a Jesus!”  These too are our words; they should be the words of everyone.

Not long ago I read some very sobering statistics.  I read that 58% of Michigan’s residents have no religious affiliation.  They may go to church occasionally maybe at Christmas or Easter, but they don’t have a strong tie with any one religious faith.

From the Gospel we know that the harvest is abundant but that the laborers are few.  And in our second reading St. Paul in his letter to the Philippians speaks of this saying, “I long to depart this life to be with Christ for that is far better.  Yet that I remain in the flesh is more necessary for your benefit.”  St. Paul remained in the flesh to make the Gospel known, to make Jesus known and loved.  St. Ralph Sherwin remained in the flesh, for a time, for the benefit of others to make the Gospel known, to make Jesus known and loved.  We too remain in the flesh, we remain in the flesh for the benefit of others, to make Jesus known and loved.

“For it was to strengthen our hearts that He came to suffer and die, came to be spit upon and crowned with thorns, came to be accused of shameful things, came to be fastened to the wood of the cross.  All these things he did for us, and we did nothing.  He did them not for himself, but for us.”  “Jesus, Jesus, Jesus be to me a Jesus.”  Be my Savior Jesus!

I have a challenge for you this week, reach out to someone to make Our Lord better known and loved.  Invite them to Mass; maybe even teach them the St. Ralph Sherwin prayer.  Nothing pleases our Lord more than when this prayer is prayed with confidence and from the depths of the heart.

The Harvest is great but the laborers are few.

Pax et Bonum,

Fr. Christopher J. Ankley

Dear Friends,

When I was five my dad hit me in the head with a corn shovel.  Dad was out in the corn crib shoveling corn into the back of the truck.  He was taking a load of corn to the elevator to have it ground up for the cows.  Being five I knew dad needed my help so I went into the corn crib, climbed to the top of the pile of corn and once there just started kicking corn down to him.  I got a little too close and bang! The shovel hit me just to the right of my nose.  There was lots of blood and lots of crying and dad almost passed out.  He could never handle blood.  Dad carried me into the house and Mom fixed everything.  I think Dad felt worse than I did (I know he did). 

Now following that accident, I had a linear scar next to my nose about an inch long.  It’s very visible in all my elementary school photos.  With time, however, it faded and now you can barely see it.  But when I was younger every time, I saw that scar in the mirror I was reminded of that accident in the corn crib.  I’m sure many of us have scars that remind us of some past incident. 

Now just as our body may be marked by permanent scars that last a life time our soul too is marked, permanently marked, for all eternity, a mark lasting long after our life here on earth has ended.  Everyone who has been baptized in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit has had their soul indelibly marked, marked as belonging to Christ for all eternity.  You could also say that this indelible mark is a mark of the Cross of Christ; we, the baptized, are marked with the sign of Triumph.  But unlike a scar on our body that we can see, this indelible, permanent mark on our soul isn’t something visible.  So, to remind us of this baptismal mark of the Cross the Church gives us fonts of holy water by all the doors. And as we enter, we dip our fingers into the water and mark ourselves in the sign of the cross saying, “In the name of the Father, and the Son, and Holy Spirit.” As we pray this simple prayer, we remember our baptism we remember the triumph of the Cross and its direct impact on the life of our soul.  In baptism we die with Christ on Calvary but we also rise with Christ in the Resurrection.  We are made sons and daughters of God.  All sin is forgiven both Original and personal.

Now as another reminder the Church has decreed that above each of her altars there should be a crucifix.  So that whenever we enter a Catholic Church the crucifix will be one of the first things we see.  And it has to be a crucifix, not an empty cross, but a cross being used to crucify to crucify the one man who never sinned, the one man who didn’t deserve to die.  For the first nine centuries of our Church artists rarely depicted the Cross, it was just too brutal.  But on that Brutal Cross we see the divine light. 

St. John in his gospel often refers to Jesus as the light of the world and on the cross this divine light shines fully on all of humanity’s sinful ugliness. On that cross we see betrayal by a friend; we see cruelty, scapegoating, fear, stupidity, anger, mistrust, murder, and corruption.  On that brutal cross we see all of humanity’s sinful ugliness.  The cross revealed and brought to the divine light all human dysfunction.  In the light of the cross all sin is revealed. 

The cross is a sign of judgment on the world, but on the cross we also meet Divine Mercy.  Our Lord is just but also merciful and loving.  Taking all sin upon himself our Lord swallowed it up and rising from the dead conquered it.    The instrument of His death is the cause of our eternal life.  God is able to bring good out of evil, even the greatest good out of the greatest evil. 

St. Andrew of Crete once wrote, “Had there been no cross, Christ could not have been crucified.  Had there been no cross, life itself could not have been nailed to the tree. And if life had not been nailed to it, there would be no streams of immortality pouring from Christ’s side, blood and water for the world’s cleansing.  The legal bond of our sin would not be canceled, we should not have obtained our freedom, we should not have enjoyed the fruit of the tree of life and the gates of paradise would not stand open.  Had there been no cross, death would not have been trodden underfoot, nor hell despoiled.” 

In all the sacraments we receive, the healing grace of the Triumph of the Cross is given to us.  In baptism our souls have been beautifully and eternally marked by the sign of the Cross.  This is not a scar, but a beauty mark that we must never hide. 

Pax et Bonum,

Fr. Christopher J. Ankley

From a discourse by Saint Andrew of Crete

The cross is Christ’s glory and triumph
 
We are celebrating the feast of the cross which drove away darkness and brought in the light. As we keep this feast, we are lifted up with the crucified Christ, leaving behind us earth and sin so that we may gain the things above. So great and outstanding a possession is the cross that he who wins it has won a treasure. Rightly could I call this treasure the fairest of all fair things and the costliest, in fact as well as in name, for on it and through it and for its sake the riches of salvation that had been lost were restored to us.

Had there been no cross, Christ could not have been crucified. Had there been no cross, life itself could not have been nailed to the tree. And if life had not been nailed to it, there would be no streams of immortality pouring from Christ’s side, blood and water for the world’s cleansing. The legal bond of our sin would not be cancelled, we should not have attained our freedom, we should not have enjoyed the fruit of the tree of life and the gates of paradise would not stand open. Had there been no cross, death would not have been trodden underfoot, nor hell despoiled. Therefore, the cross is something wonderfully great and honorable. It is great because through the cross the many noble acts of Christ found their consummation – very many indeed, for both his miracles and his sufferings were fully rewarded with victory. The cross is honorable because it is both the sign of God’s suffering and the trophy of his victory. It stands for his suffering because on it he freely suffered unto death. But it is also his trophy because it was the means by which the devil was wounded and death conquered; the barred gates of hell were smashed, and the cross became the one common salvation of the whole world.

The cross is called Christ’s glory; it is saluted as his triumph. We recognize it as the cup he longed to drink and the climax of the sufferings he endured for our sake. As to the cross being Christ’s glory, listen to his words: Now is the Son of Man glorified, and in him God is glorified, and God will glorify him at once. And again: Father, glorify me with the glory I had with you before the world came to be. And once more: “Father, glorify your name”. Then a voice came from heaven: “I have glorified it and will glorify it again”. Here he speaks of the glory that would accrue to him through the cross. And if you would understand that the cross is Christ’s triumph, hear what he himself also said: When I am lifted up, then I will draw all men to myself.‘ Now you can see that the cross is Christ’s glory and triumph.

Dear Friends,

We read today’s gospel in continuity with last week’s gospel.  Last week we heard that Jesus will build his Church on the rock foundation of Peter’s confession; Peter said to Jesus, “You are the Christ the Son of the living God.”  And this Church founded by Christ will be a militant Church, invading the sinful world with the power of God’s grace; the gates of Hell will not prevail.  And today Jesus lays out the cost of doing this; He must go to Jerusalem, suffer, be killed, but then be raised on the third day.  He will go to Jerusalem as a bearer of Divine Love; He goes to the capital with a hard and true message. 

But as we read in the Gospel Peter won’t have any of this; he treats Jesus like a little kid in need of instruction.  You know you’re in a bad place spiritually when you begin to tell Jesus what to do.  In a world injured by Original Sin, Divine Love is met with resistance.  The world will try to block it.  But our Lord is always willing to lay down his life in the divine struggle and if we are to be a bearer of that same love then we too will suffer.  Christian life cannot be lived without the Cross; Christian life cannot be lived without suffering love.  To love another sometimes hurts. 

St. Jane de Chantal founder of the Visitation Order of Sisters lived in 17th century France.  Before founding her order, however, she was a wife and mother.  And in her life like all the saints she lived with suffering love.  Jane married a man named Baron Christopher de Chantal.  He was a soldier and courtier in the service King Henry IV.  And even though Jane and Christopher came to love each other dearly, the marriage began with a few problems.  From the outside looking in everything looked fine.  They were rich, they had lots of land and a castle but Christopher had some rough edges, he was a spender with large debts and he was a bit of a ladies man.  Soon after they were married, Christopher conceived a child with his mistress. 

Now Jane loved her husband and her response to this affair can tell us a lot about suffering love.  She could have given Christopher the cold shoulder, she could have left him, she could have taken a lover of her own, she had no lack of suitors.  She could have given voice to a great anger, venting to everyone she knew.  But she chose a different path, she chose the way of the cross and strengthened by her prayer life and daily Mass, she chose to forgive.  She leaned into that Cross and forgave her husband, even going one step further and taking the illegitimate daughter into their home raising the little girl with her own children.  Instead of making life miserable for her husband, Jane won his heart.  Her forgiveness and kindness, in fact, laid the foundation for a home so happy that Christopher took an early retirement from active service.  He wanted to be with Jane.  He’s recorded as saying worldly splendors paled beside the virtues of his beloved wife. 

Soon after retiring Christopher went hunting with a neighbor.  And this neighbor accidently shot Christopher.  It was nine agonizing days before he died.  Now Christopher quickly forgave the neighbor and asked that Jane do the same.  But Jane had a hard time in forgiving this neighbor, she had finally gotten her husband back, their marriage was back on track.  And she just couldn’t do it.  It took her four years before she was able to forgive.  Her spiritual director told her not to seek out this neighbor but if you happen to see him by chance, “Forgive him,” he told her ,“I want your heart to be gentle, gracious, and compassionate, even though I know without any doubt that your heart will be distressed, and that your blood will boil.”    After four years Jane found herself in a room with this neighbor and she was able to forgive him.  Jane leaned into the Cross and forgave with gentleness, graciousness, and compassion even going so far to be the Godmother of this neighbor’s newborn baby.

Christian life cannot be lived without the Cross; Christian life cannot be lived without suffering love.  Everyone reading this is meant to be a bearer of Divine Love into the world.  That is our mission, to be bearers of Divine Love.  And this always involves suffering because it involves self-denial and self-denial hurts.  It would have been so much easier for Jane to give into anger, revenge, and self-pity.   But instead, she leaned into her Crosses and learned charity, forgiveness, magnanimity, gentleness, graciousness, compassion, and much more.  When the cross comes our way we can ask our Lord, “What are you teaching me Lord?  What virtue must I grow in?  Where do I need healing?  What am I to learn from this cross?”  “Is it Patience, forgiveness, mercy, fortitude, faith, trust, or is it love?”  Sometimes a cross is such a terrible burden, we ask ourselves, “How can God allow this?”  In those moments we pray for help and then reach out for help reach out to a Simon or a Veronica.  Our Lord had help on the Way of the Cross.  Simon of Cyrene carried his cross for a time and Veronica wiped his brow offering some comfort.  Those around us may not even be aware of how much we are hurting and in need of help.  Ask for help, we don’t have to do this alone.  And we too need to be aware of those around us.  Is there someone close by who needs me to be a Simon or a Veronica?

The Cross does not last forever; the Cross is our bridge to Heaven.  At the end of our days when we have laid down our cross our Heavenly Father will meet us and call out to us in the words of the Song of Songs:

“Come then, my love,

My lovely one, come.

For see, winter is past,

The rains are over and gone. 

The flowers appear on the earth,

The season of glad songs has come…

Come then, my love,

My lovely one, come.

Show me your face,

Let me hear your voice;

For your voice is sweet and your face is beautiful (Song of Songs 2:10-14)

Pax et Bonum,

Fr. Christopher J. Ankley

Dear Friends,

We all remember that famous Gospel passage where Jesus says, “Unless you turn and become like little children, you shall not enter the Kingdom of God” (Matthew 18:3).  What Jesus means by this seems obvious: salvation involves a return to a state of moral innocence, like children.  Yet, are children as innocent as their reputation makes them?  Don’t infants show signs of selfishness and self-centeredness from the very beginning?  Don’t toddlers give their parents’ constant headaches with their rebellious antics?  Don’t kindergartners need to be disciplined so that they stop lying and tormenting their siblings?  Over at our school I’ve seen the kids line up outside the principal’s office.  They got sent to the office because they misbehaved. 

So maybe Jesus was referring to a different kind of innocence when he made that statement.  Referring instead to, the innocence of wonder.  For children, the world is a new and wonder-filled place.  Sea shells, pine cones, bugs, worms, the stars; all of it wonderfully mysterious.   God’s creation inspires fascination and excitement.  And that’s how it should be.   That’s the way Adam and Eve would have seen the world before the original sin, they would have seen the world as an inspiring collection of magnificent gifts given to them by their Creator.

Creation is an awe-inspiring gift from an all-powerful God a wise and loving Father.  An attitude of wonder and awe in the face of God’s gifts is something shared by all the saints.  Sometimes this wonder and awe is called a fear of the Lord.  And this fear of the Lord, this wonder and awe, applies not only to natural gifts, but even more to the supernatural gifts of salvation and redemption.  That is why St Paul, after spending three chapters of his Letter to the Romans analyzing and explaining the complex twists and turns of salvation history, breaks out in a hymn of wonder and awe, as we heard in our 2nd reading St. Paul shouts out:  “Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God!”  This is the cry of a childlike, grace-filled, healthy Christian heart.  The majesty of God fills him with amazement. 

St Paul tells us that God’s judgments are “inscrutable” and his ways are “unsearchable.” Not in a bad sense, but in a wonderful sense.  God is always using creative ways to bring about his magnificent plan of salvation. As we often hear, God can write a straight line out of the crooked lines we give to Him.    We should always pray that God brings some good out of our failures.

The actor who played Judas in Mel Gibson’s movie The Passion of the Christ is a good example.  Lucca Lionello grew up Catholic, but after confirmation he stopped going to Mass and left his faith behind.  By the time he started working on The Passion, he was a confirmed and convinced atheist living in an irregular marriage and having an un-baptized daughter.  He enjoyed working on the film, but he made sure that the other cast and crew members knew he didn’t believe in Jesus.  I’m an atheist he would say over and over, I don’t believe in all this stuff. 

Then they filmed the scene where Judas gave in to despair and took his own life.  During that scene, Lucca was forced to think deeply about what it meant to have a soul that was torn apart by sin and separated from friendship with God.  What is it like to have one’s soul separated from God?  He had to think about that, because he had to portray it on screen.  He had to act it out on screen for everyone to see.  And he couldn’t get it out of his mind, even after the scene was finished – even after all the filming was done.  He kept thinking about that separation from God.  A few months later, he was back on the set to re-record some of his lines.  While he was waiting around, he saw a priest near the sound studio, he was the movie consultant. Lucca went over and started up a conversation.  The conversation ended up going much longer than he had anticipated.  Soon afterwards, Lucca returned to the sacraments, had his marriage sanctified, and had his nine-year- old daughter baptized.  In all His wonder God used the role of Judas as a way to bring a prodigal son back home. 

A healthy sense of wonder and awe in the face of God’s natural and supernatural gifts helps us grow in wisdom and peace of mind. This healthy sense of wonder and awe increases a peace of mind because it reminds us that God really can guide history towards that eternal happy ending he has promised – in spite of all the tragedies and sufferings that our sins cause along the way.  He can always bring good.  In overturning the original sin of Adam, God the Father has given us his Son Jesus and Heaven. Out of the happy fault of Adam we have received so much more, so in spite of all the tragedies and sufferings that our sins cause along the way, God can always bring good.   Nothing escapes his providence: as St Paul writes, “From him and through him and for him are all things.”  “To Him be glory forever.”  St. Paul has a sense of wonder and awe before God and that lead him to give great glory to God. 

This week for homework we pray for the grace and we work at increasing our wonder and awe, our Fear of the Lord.  And maybe a good place to begin is to contemplate your own soul. You soul was created by God with a one-of-a-kind love.  He knew you and loved you from before all time.   And at baptism your soul was washed of Original Sin and branded, indelibly marked, as forever belonging to God, it became His dwelling place.  The God who created 200 billion galaxies and 200 billion stars in each of those galaxies, knowing each one by name, chooses to dwell in your soul, chooses to be your Father.  I hope that fills us with wonder. 

St. José Maria Escriba in a meditation writes about how God should first and foremost reign in our soul.  He writes, “But in order for him to reign in me, I need his abundant grace.  Only in that way can my every heart beat and breath, my least intense look, my most ordinary word, my most basic feeling be transformed into a Hosanna to Christ my King.” 

Like St. Paul may we have a well-developed sense of awe and wonder before God so that we can’t help but give God great glory. 

To Him be glory forever. 

Pax et Bonum,

Fr. Christopher J. Ankley

Dear Friends,

In the middle ages when a young man wanted to join a Benedictine Monastery he’d show up on their doorstep and ask to join the community.  Many times, the young man would be turned down and the door would be shut in his face.  If he was persistent, however, he’d sit by the door and wait.  He’d wait in the cold and rain or whatever the weather threw at him.  Maybe a day or so later a brother would open the door and tell him to, “Go away, we have no room.”  But if the young man really wanted to join the community he’d stay right there by the door.  This might go on for quite some time, days or weeks, with a brother opening the door every few days to discourage the young man telling him, “You’re not wanted,” or “You’re unfit for monastic life,” or “Come back next year,” or “We’re not accepting applications right now, thank you for your interest.”  If that young man persisted and stayed by that door eventually he’d be let in to become a novice.  That community of monks knew, by his persistence, that the young man waiting by their door was truly hungry for God.    Many of the young men waiting by the door walked away becoming discouraged by the test.  Only those who were really starving for God were let into the community.  Those starving for God persisted.

In today’s Gospel we see a model of persistence, a model of persistence in prayer.    This Canaanite woman is met with rejection three times before our Lord acquiesces to her request.  She is met first with silence, “Jesus did not say a word in answer to her.”   I’m sure we’ve all had a similar experience.  We’ve asked God for something, something that isn’t trivial or selfish and we are met with silence.  We can identify with this woman.  This woman, however, does not give up she’s not put off by our Lord’s non-response, she continues to call out him.  The disciples say, “Send her away, for she keeps calling out after us.”

In the second rejection our Lord tells her, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”   The Canaanite woman is not fazed by this rejection.  It’s not her fault she’s not an Israelite.  So, she prostrates herself acknowledging Jesus as Lord saying, “Lord, help me.”  She says something many Israelites aren’t willing to say.   Again, our Lord rejects her, a third time, saying, “It is not right to take the food of the children and throw it to the dogs.”  Again, the woman is not put off by the rejection; she is humble not disagreeing with Jesus, saying, “Even the dogs eat the scraps that fall from table of their masters.”  I’m sure our Lord had a smile on his face when he heard this clever comeback, telling her, “O woman great is your faith!  Let it be done.”   

What do we make of these three rejections and then the granting of her prayer?  Theologians tell us Jesus is testing the woman so she can know how great her faith is.  In this seeming three-fold rejection our Lord is preparing the Canaanite woman to receive the gift, the healing of her daughter.  When we are inspired to persevere in prayer, when prayer is not answered right away, our Lord is giving us time to let our hearts and souls expand in faith and trust so that we are one day able to fully receive the gift. So that we’ll be in a position to properly appreciate what we are given.   Seeming divine resistance strengthens faith, just as resistance training strengthens a muscle.

Spiritual masters will say that not a single one of our prayers is ever lost.  Sooner or later, each will be answered; perhaps not at the time or in the way we imagine, but when and as God wants, in his plans that surpass our understanding.  Our prayers are not always answered as we would want, but the act of expressing them, giving voice to them, always brings us closer to God and attracts a certain grace that we will one day see very clearly and that will fill us with wonder.  What is most important about praying for something is not the something but the connection with God that’s established and developed by means of it. 

We look to St. Monica as an example of one who prays well.  A woman who established that connection with God.  Her feast day is later this month on August 27th.  If we go to Mass on that day in the collect we’ll hear, “O God who console the sorrowful and who mercifully accepted the motherly tears of St. Monica for the conversion of her son Augustine.”  Monica prayed over 15 years for the conversion of her son.  St. Augustine, her son, in his autobiography wrote that God graciously heard her and did not despise the tears that watered the earth in whatsoever place she prayed.   St. Monica in persisting in this prayer of petition became a saint. Faithfully praying for her son expanded Monica’s heart and soul expanding her humility, her faith, and her trust.  She needed 15 years of expansion.  And that prayer connection to God bore fruit, she became a saint.  Praying for her son was her path to sanctity.  A prayer connection to God will always bear fruit, both for ourselves and for the people for whom we pray.    Bearing fruit in ways we would never imagine.  So, we never give up on prayer, even if God seems to be responding in silence.      

My prayer for us today is that we imitate both the young would be Benedictine and the Canaanite woman, always persistently standing outside the door calling to our Lord.  In faith we know the door will open.

Pax et Bonum,

Fr. Christopher J. Ankley