Category: Pastor’s Corner

Dear Friends,

In Charte Cathedral, 50 miles SW of Paris France there is a statue of Adam asleep and he’s resting his head on the lap of God the Father.  To look at it one is struck by an overwhelming sense of peace.  Adam is asleep; he has not a care in the world.  He’s asleep in the safest place in the whole universe and beyond.  To look at that scene one gets a sense of peacefulness, safety, prayerfulness, and above all a sense of quiet.  Adam’s asleep there is no noise or a worldly cacophony to awaken him.  To sit in the quiet presence of God is to sit in peace. 

Cardinal Sarah, Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship, once wrote that silence and prayer are the strongest weapons against evil.  God works in silence and evil never has the last word.  In our first reading we heard of a strong and heavy wind, where rocks were crushed, then an earthquake, and then a fire, all the noises of the world.  But the Lord was not in any of them.  Not the wind, not the earthquake, not the fire.  Not in any of them.  The Lord was only heard in a tiny whispering sound.  A sound only heard in an atmosphere of silence. 

As we know the devil and his minions sow discord and hatred.  They make a lot of noise and racket.  They create a lot of societal wind, and quakes, and fire.  Just look at our news.   All of these things just to prevent us from resting in God, however, the devil will not be able to reach us in the stronghold of silence. 

I have a story from the life of St. Clare of Assisi; her feast day was on Friday the 11^th. St. Clare found our Lord in Silence and she would not let go.   St. Clare was 18 when she first heard St. Francis speak.  He was giving a Lenten mission and what she heard set her heart on fire.   In secret she went toSt. Francis to ask his help so that she too could live the Holy Gospel like he did.  On Palm Sunday that year, in the middle of the night, St. Clare ran away from home.  St. Francis and his brothers met her at the door of the Chapel of Our Lady of Angels.  She was received into their community.  Her hair was cut short and she received a veil and a tunic of sackcloth which was tied about her with a cord.  Since she was the first woman to enter that community, they didn’t yet have proper housing.  So she was taken to a nearby Benedictine Convent. 

The next day when St. Clare’s family realized what had happened, they were not happy.  She was spoiling their plans for an advantageous arranged marriage.  And so they stormed the convent breaking down the front door.  Once inside, they searched for her and after a while they found her in the quiet darkened chapel.  She was kneeling in front of the altar praying, praying before the exposed Blessed Sacrament.  And so they went for her, to grab her, and to drag her out.  But St. Clare resisted, she grabbed onto the altar and would not let go.  With all her God-given strength she held on.  She held onto that privileged and sacred place where our Lord is made present.  She had found her Bridegroom and nothing would separate them.   Her family could not drag her away.  All the powers of the world, all the promises of the world could not drag her away.  All the noise and discord of the world couldn’t drive her or pull her away from our Lord.  It was a mystical moment.  Her family gave up and left.

Every Friday from 9:30 to 5:00 we have Eucharistic adoration in the Church, and every week from Sunday 2:00pm until Wednesday 8:00am we have adoration in the Parish Center Chapel (St. Cyril Chapel).  Time set aside for peace and silence in the presence of Jesus.   Come sit and pray in the stronghold of silence, away from all the winds, earthquakes, fires, and noises of the world.  Come listen for that still small voice, that tiny whispering sound.  If you fall asleep, that’s ok; there is no better place to sleep. Our Lord once said this to a mystic who was worried that he wasn’t spending enough time in Eucharistic adoration.  Our Lord said, “Give Me the little moment of adoration and of love and I will multiply it, making it possible for you to give me hours of adoration and of love, as they become available in your life.  Too many souls try to do too much, and end up doing nothing.  It is better to begin by doing what is very little, and by entrusting the little offering to Me, confident that I will receive it and turn it to My glory and to the glory of My Father.” 

Even if you can only spend a few minutes in adoration, come and pray, come and look upon our Lord in peace and silence, even if only for a few minutes.  St. Peter only begins to sink into the water when he takes his eyes off of Jesus.  He sinks when he begins to focus on the noise of the world, to focus on how strong the wind is.  But when looking on Jesus, who is peace personified, he walks on water.  Like St. Clare may we find our Lord in silent adoration, never letting go, never looking away.

Pax et Bonum,

Fr. Christopher J. Ankley

Upon Mount Tabor, Jesus revealed to his disciples a heavenly mystery. While living among them he had spoken of the kingdom and of his second coming in glory, but to banish from their hearts any possible doubt concerning the kingdom and to confirm their faith in what lay in the future by its prefiguration in the present, he gave them on Mount Tabor a wonderful vision of his glory, a foreshadowing of the kingdom of heaven. It was as if he said to them: “As time goes by you may be in danger of losing your faith. To save you from this I tell you now that some standing here listening to me will not taste death until they have seen the Son of Man coming in the glory of his Father.” Moreover, in order to assure us that Christ could command such power when he wished, the evangelist continues: Six days later, Jesus took with him Peter, James and John, and led them up a high mountain where they were alone. There, before their eyes, he was transfigured. His face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as light. Then the disciples saw Moses and Elijah appear, and they were talking to Jesus.

  These are the divine wonders we celebrate today; this is the saving revelation given us upon the mountain; this is the festival of Christ that has drawn us here. Let us listen, then, to the sacred voice of God so compellingly calling us from on high, from the summit of the mountain, so that with the Lord’s chosen disciples we may penetrate the deep meaning of these holy mysteries, so far beyond our capacity to express. Jesus goes before us to show us the way, both up the mountain and into heaven, and – I speak boldly – it is for us now to follow him with all speed, yearning for the heavenly vision that will give us a share in his radiance, renew our spiritual nature and transform us into his own likeness, making us forever sharers in his Godhead and raising us to heights as yet undreamed of.

  Let us run with confidence and joy to enter into the cloud like Moses and Elijah, or like James and John. Let us be caught up like Peter to behold the divine vision and to be transfigured by that glorious transfiguration. Let us retire from the world, stand aloof from the earth, rise above the body, detach ourselves from creatures and turn to the creator, to whom Peter in ecstasy exclaimed: Lord, it is good for us to be here.

  It is indeed good to be here, as you have said, Peter. It is good to be with Jesus and to remain here forever. What greater happiness or higher honor could we have than to be with God, to be made like him and to live in his light?

  Therefore, since each of us possesses God in his heart and is being transformed into his divine image, we also should cry out with joy: It is good for us to be here – here where all things shine with divine radiance, where there is joy and gladness and exultation; where there is nothing in our hearts but peace, serenity and stillness; where God is seen. For here, in our hearts, Christ takes up his abode together with the Father, saying as he enters: Today salvation has come to this house. With Christ, our hearts receive all the wealth of his eternal blessings, and there where they are stored up for us in him, we see reflected as in a mirror both the first fruits and the whole of the world to come.

Dear Friends,

Graham Greene was an English Catholic novelist.  He died in 1991 and almost everything he wrote had a Catholic theme.  He once wrote a short story entitled, “A Hint of an Explanation,” which in summary goes like this.  David is a young boy growing up as a Catholic in a small village in Scotland in which nearly everyone goes to Church.  The exception is a man by the name of Blacker.  He is both the village baker and the village atheist.  He is widely known to detest Catholics and the Catholic Church. 

There’s a toy shop in the town and in the window of that toy shop there is a long and beautiful train.   David stops to look at it every day.  Blacker has seen David looking into that window and how he is obviously dying to have that set of trains.

One day Blacker meets David in the street and says that he has a deal to propose.  If David would only pretend to receive communion one Sunday and to put the host in his pocket and later deliver the host to him, he would deliver the train set to his front doorstep the next morning.  “It’s got to be consecrated!  It’s no good if it’s not consecrated,” Blacker said.  “Why do you want the Host?”  David asked.  Never you mind.  That’s my business,” said Blacker.  Blacker even threatened him with a razor, saying he had a master key to all the houses in town.  If David didn’t help him he’d make him bleed in the middle of the night.

David actually started to do the terrible thing Blacker suggested.  He took the host out of his mouth and placed it in his pocket.   He later wrapped it in a bit of newspaper.  And he spent one terrible day and one terrible sleepless night with what, he was becoming more conscious of by the hour, was the Blessed Sacrament, our Lord himself present in his divinity and present in his betrayed, sacrificed, and risen humanity. 

Morning came.  Blacker appeared beneath his bedroom window.  “Have you got it, boy?” “Give it to me” he said, “Quick!” “You shall have the train in the morning.” “You can’t have Him,” “Go away!” yelled David.  “I’ve got the razor,” threatened Blacker.  David reasoned that the only safe place for the Host was inside of him and so he consumed the host, paper and all. 

Until that moment David had been bored by Mass and he had received Communion more out of routine than anything else.  It’s just what you did.  But in that moment, with Blacker standing beneath his window, David realized what a treasure he held all wrapped in newspaper.  This was our Lord, this was Jesus.  David found his treasure, he came to his senses, and he was willing to give up something he dearly wanted.  That train set just didn’t matter anymore. 

Today’s Gospel invites us to make our Lord and His Kingdom the number one priority in our life.  One way to grow more and more in making Him and His kingdom number one is to spend more time with Him.  Spend more time with Him here in the Church.  He’s in the tabernacle just waiting for a visitor.   Come sit with Him at some point during the week.  The farmer sells all that he has in order to obtain the treasure.  The merchant does the same, selling everything to buy the pearl.  What would you be willing to give up in order to spend extra time with our Lord here present in the tabernacle, the treasure of our Church. 

Our Lord’s heart beats with love in the Sacrament of the Altar, and his heart is wounded, sliced open, always ready to receive us, to receive our petitions, our pleas, and our desires.  Go to His Heart wounded by love and present in the most Holy Sacrament.  Be bold and confident in what you ask.  His heart is open and ready to receive you and all your petitions. 

Pax et Bonum,

Fr. Christopher Ankley

Dear Friends,

Not long ago I went to the hospital to see a woman who’s dying.  I went there to anoint her.  And when I entered the room I said, “Hello, you’re on our hospital list.”  But she wasn’t hearing so well and she thought I’d said you’re on our impossible list.   She smiled after saying this, but it got me to thinking.  Nobody’s on an impossible list, everything is possible with God.

Back in the 3^rd century there was a Roman priest by the name of Hippolytus.  He was a brilliant theologian with a huge ego.  He was a gifted preacher but also one of the least forgiving men the Church has ever known.  He caused great harm to the Mystical Body of Christ, the Church.

In 217, a Roman priest named Callixtus had been elected pope.  Callixtus was a man with a past:   He had been an embezzler, a brawler, and a convict.  But he had repented and reformed his life, and the change was so complete that the majority of the clergy of Rome (who elected the pope at this time) considered Callixtus a worthy successor to St. Peter. 

It wasn’t just Callixtus’ past that galled Hippolytus, it was also his policies.  Pope Callixtus absolved penitent adulterers and fornicators, and readmitted to the Church heartbroken Christians who, out of fear of torture and death, had renounced their faith and sacrificed to the pagan gods.  Hippolytus insisted that such sinners should be cut off forever.  He was all justice and no mercy.  Priests who took the same hard line met and elected Hippolytus as their pope.  Historians call him the anti-pope.  He was a rival to the true pope and he led many people away from the Church.  He caused a great schism in the Church.

The split dragged on for 19 years.  Even after the martyrdom of St. Callixtus, the election and martyrdom of the next pope, Pope St. Urban I and the election of Pope St. Pontian.  Through all of this Hippolytus still insisted that he was the true pope. 

In 235 Rome got a new emperor, Maximinus.  And almost immediately the emperor launched a new persecution of Christians, taking special care to target the leaders of the Church.  Pope Pontian and the antipope Hippolytus were both seized in the roundup and deported to the mines in Sardinia.  For the sake of the Church, Pontian resigned the papacy so a new pope could be elected.  This act of selfless concern for the good of the Church appears to have pricked Hippolytus’ conscience.  In Sardinia he repented his schism and begged Pontian to reconcile him to the Church.

Both men died of harsh treatment in the mines.  Christians were able to recover their bodies and give them decent burial in the catacombs.  To the Christians of Rome, Hippolytus’ repentance and martyrdom wiped his schismatic past, and they venerated him as a saint, along with Pontian and Callixtus. 

Why have I told this story?  I’ve told it because I think because it’s a story that gives hope, because in the eyes of God nobody is a lost cause. Nobody’s on the impossible list.  The Gospel always calls us to repentance.  Repentance and conversion are always possible and sometimes they’re even miraculous.  An early Christian once commented on this Gospel about the weeds and the wheat by saying, “See the unspeakable love of God for man!  He is prompt to bless them and slow

to punish.” This call to repentance is also combined with divine patience.  We are given more time to bear fruit. God is patient. The weeds are allowed to live in the field until the harvest.  They are given time to repent and time to cease being a weed.  There is great hope here. 

We have friends, we have family members who maybe aren’t living as close to the Lord as we would like.  So like St. Monica we storm Heaven with prayers.  We pray for them, we fast for them, and we gently speak the Gospel to them sometimes using words when the right opportunity arises.  We can’t force them to accept the Gospel but because our God is so very good and patient there is always hope.  And with our rationalizations and stubbornness in not wanting to always follow the narrow way or the good path we need a God who is patient.  Because we are all, at one time or another a little weed like.  But God lavishes us with his grace waiting for us to produce abundant fruit.  Nobody’s on the impossible list.

Peace and all good,

Fr. Christopher J. Ankley

Dear Friends,

There is an expression that says, the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church.  In the middle of the 17^th century nine years after the Jesuits Isaac Jogues and John de Brebeuf were tomahawked by Iroquois warriors, a baby girl was born near the place of their martyrdom, that place is now known as Auriesville, in upstate New York.

That baby girl would one day be known as St. Kateri Tekakwitha.  Her feast day was celebrated on Friday July 14th.  Kateri’s mother was a Christian Algonquin, taken captive by the Iroquois and given as wife to the chief of the Mohawk clan.  The Mohawks were the boldest and fiercest warriors of the Five Nations of Native Americans.   Kateri’s mom taught her children the prayers and the basics of the Catholic faith.  When she was 14 a small pox epidemic swept through her village, many people died including her entire family.  Kateri was very sick and after recovering her face was left disfigured with pock marks and she was left half blind from the disease.  She was adopted by an uncle who succeeded her father as chief. 

When Kateri was 19 the Jesuits (black robes) finally made their way to her village.  They were amazed to find a young woman among the Mohawks who knew about Jesus and the Catholic faith.  Kateri remembered and practiced all that she had been taught, very impressive for the culture in which she lived.   She loved Jesus and wanted to learn more.  

Her uncle and many of the Mohawks hated the coming of the Black robes – Jesuit missionaries- but they could do nothing to them because of a peace treaty with the French that allowed their presence in the villages with native Christian captives.  Kateri was moved by the words of the Black robes and she soon got up the courage to ask for baptism.  On Easter Sunday when she was 19 she was baptized and given the name of Catherine, Kateri in her language.  With her baptism and refusal to take a husband, life got very hard for her.  She was treated as a slave and because she would not work on Sunday, she received no food on that day.  But even with these difficulties her life in grace grew rapidly.  She told a missionary that she often meditated on the great dignity of being baptized and was powerfully moved by God’s love for human beings and saw the dignity of each of her people, even though they treated her terribly. 

Because of her conversion Kateri was in great danger.  At times stones were thrown at her and she was beaten with sticks.  To get away from the abuse each day, she would go into the woods to pray before a cross she had made out of twigs.  Eventually Kateri escaped to a Christian village near Montreal.  And it was 200 miles of walking to get there.  In that village her faith bloomed.  She made her first communion and made a private vow of virginity.  Kateri lived a simple life of prayer and charity caring for the sick and the orphans.  Every day she went to the chapel to pray in front of the Blessed Sacrament.  The chapel opened at 4:00am and she was always the first one there.  It’s said that during adoration her face would take on an almost angelic glow.  It was very powerful, so powerful, that people would come to the church just to watch her pray.  She inspired many people with her devotion and her penitential practices and her charity in caring for the sick, aged, and orphaned.  Their faith was strengthened by her example. 

So what about us?  Is the faith of others, the faith of those around us, strengthened and edified by our example?  The majority of us in the pews this Sunday don’t need to worry about being the “seed on the path” or the “seed on the shallow soil.”  if we were that kind of seed, we probably wouldn’t still be coming to Mass.  I think that the majority of us need to watch out for the third type of soil:  “some seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it.”  Our Lord tells us that the seed among the thorns does not die, it just becomes unfruitful.  In the same way we may show up for Mass on Sunday but the rest of the week is lived disconnected from Sunday.  We might be getting caught up in the distractions of American culture.  Spiritual writers will say that the greatest threat to Christians in Western countries is the constant allure of a culture of comfort and ease, where Christians are more concerned about their 401k than about eternal life.  Is there evidence that we are living this life with the Next Life in view? 

St. Kateri, every day, spent some time in front of the Blessed Sacrament, the practice kept her fruitful.  That’s probably not possible for everyone, but I would challenge everyone, to at some point this week make a visit to a Church. Sit before our Lord present in the Tabernacle. Maybe even mediate on the following:

O my beloved Jesus, I am happy to be in Thy presence.  Thy psalmist said it:  “To be near God is my happiness.”  There are no words to describe what it is to have Thee – God from God, Light from Light, Very God from Very God – so close. 

Thou art hidden, but I see Thee.

Thou art silent, but I hear Thee.

Thou art immobile, but Thou reachest out to draw me in and hold me against Thy Heart. 

One, who possesses Thee in the Sacrament of Thy love, possesses everything.

Because Thou art here, I lack nothing.

Because Thou art here, I have nothing to fear.

Because Thou art here, I cannot be lonely.

Because Thou art here, heaven itself is here and myriads of angels adoring Thee and offering Thee their songs of praise.

Because Thou art here, I need not search for Thee anywhere else.

Because Thou art here, my faith possesses Thee, my hope is anchored to Thee, my love embraces Thee and will not let Thee go. 

Bring our Lord your stress, your anxieties, your problems, and then in silence, listen.  Let Him till the soil of your heart, let Him pull the weeds and thorns choking your heart.   To sit before the Eucharistic Face of our Lord is to become ever more fruitful. 

St. Kateri died at the age of 24 and the last words out of her mouth were, “Jesus, I love you.”  These were also her first words the moment she stepped into eternity, “Jesus I love you.”  May these words always be ours as well, seven days a week, bearing fruit a hundredfold.

Pax et Bonum,

Fr. Christopher J. Ankley

Dear Friends,

Some Bible scholars call today’s Gospel St. Matthew’s most precious pearl.  In this passage Jesus addresses his father revealing his identity within the Trinity.  He says, “I give praise to you Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for although you have hidden these things from the wise and the learned you have revealed them to little ones.  All things have been handed over to me by my Father.”  The essence of God’s life, the essence of the Trinity, is this play of giving and receiving.  The Father forgetting himself gives to the son.  And the Son forgetting himself gives to the Father.  And that gift of self is so strong and charitable we call Him the Holy Spirit.  God’s own life is the looking toward the other with infinite charity.  And we are called to live in the midst of that charity.    And all of this has been revealed to little ones.  Little ones get it because little ones are always dependent.  Little ones always look to another to have their needs fulfilled.  Little ones wait to receive.  Little ones can’t run their own show.  Little ones look to another for direction.  This is our Lord’s spiritual program, the heart and soul of his teaching; to be little, to be humble, is to receive everything from the Father.  And Jesus wants to live his life within in us; he wants to live his life within each one of us, where he will continue to receive from the Father.  As St. Paul once wrote, “It is no longer I who live but Christ who lives in me.”  Are we little enough to receive?  Humble enough to receive everything the Father wants to give. 

By the world’s standards the little ones are the unskilled and ineloquent.  But as Psalm 18 says, “Thou hast made the tongues of these infants eloquent, so that their sound is gone out into all the earth, and their words unto the ends of the world.”  In other words, the voice of the humble is heard everywhere. 

I have a story about one of those humble voices heard everywhere.   I’ve written of her before because she’s one of my favorites, Maria Goretti. July 6^th was her feast day and so I have to mention her.   Maria was born in 1890 in Northern Italy.  She was born into a poor farming family and her father died when she was very young.  Her mom struggled to put food on the table for Maria and her five siblings.  Even though young, Maria worked hard to help her mother.  On a hot July day in 1902 Maria sat outside mending a shirt while looking after two sleeping babies, everyone else was in the field working.  A neighborhood boy by the name of Alexander came to the house.  This boy had been in the habit of always pestering Maria with unwanted advances.  She always resisted and told him to go home.  On this day, however, he dragged her into the house and because of her resistance he attacked her with a knife stabbing her repeatedly.     

An ambulance brought Maria to the hospital and it was seen at once that she couldn’t possibly survive.  In those next few hours Maria, while enduring a lot of pain, showed more concern for her family and the man who attacked her than she did for herself.  She prayed for Alexander and she forgave him, hoping to one day “See him in Heaven”, she said.  “I want him in Heaven with me.”  Maria Goretti is a saint today not because she resisted her attacker but because she forgave him.  She offered forgiveness at a moment of deep physical pain when no one would have blamed her if she had thought only of herself.  She was only 11.  She didn’t want revenge.  She thought of the other.  She was merciful instead of being hardhearted.  And for this she is a saint. 

By the world’s standards the little ones are the unskilled and ineloquent.  But as Psalm 18 says, “Thou hast made the tongues of these infants eloquent, so that their sound is gone out into all the earth, and their words unto the ends of the world.”  In other words the voice of the humble is heard everywhere.  The voice of the saint is heard everywhere.

Little ones are not dominated by ego; everything does not depend on a little one.  Little ones are quick to forgive.  Think back to when you were a kid and how quickly you forgave your sibling after a knockdown drag-out fight.  Maybe you didn’t have to say a word, you just started playing together again.  The fight was soon forgotten.  Little ones respond to promptings of God without the ego getting in the way.  They cooperate with grace. 

In the Gospel our Lord says, “You have hidden these things from the wise and the learned.”  The wise and the learned that Jesus was referring to are those who rely on themselves.  Depending on themselves to complete their own agenda.  Living life on their own terms, instead of God’s terms, with the mindset of, “My life, my rules.  My body, my rules.”  They are not like children receptive and obedient to the Gospel.  When we live this way it can be  a burden, because everything depends on me.

Our Lord then said, “Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you.”     Now Jesus is the ultimate little one.  He is the son who receives everything from the Father. And to be yoked to Jesus means that we too receive from the Father.  We receive from the Father through Jesus.  We don’t have to be burdened by trying to do it on our own.  Our Lord then says, “And you will find rest.”  This rest is not the rest we find while reclining in a lazy boy, this rest is fulfillment and joy and peace.  To be yoked to Jesus means living in intimacy with the Father where we find fulfillment, joy, and peace. 

I want to end with an analogy about what it means to live in this yoke to live in this divine joy and fulfillment and peace.   Have you ever gone with your father to a place where you’ve never been, maybe on a vacation or to attend a sporting event in a big city like Detroit or Chicago?  And then at the end of the day when you’re tired you come back to the car.  Your dad tells you to get into the backseat.   And there you are in the back seat, you don’t know where you are, you don’t know the way home, but you trust, you trust that your father will get you home safely.  And your trust is so complete that you fall asleep, knowing you’ll arrive home safely.  To be yoked with our Lord means living in intimacy with the Father, sitting in that backseat, knowing he’ll bring us home safely. 

Pax et Bonum,

Fr. Christopher J. Ankley

Dear Friends,

For a number of years I was able to be a part of the St. Phil Senior Class trip to Rome and Assisi.  And the last year I went, during some free time in Assisi, when everyone had scattered, I visited St. Mary Major.  It wasn’t part of our tour and I wanted to go in for a look and for some prayer and for some cool air.  As I entered I saw a new grave, it was a simple mausoleum covered in notes and prayer requests that people had left in cracks and crevices.  It was the grave of Blessed Carlo Acutis.   And he had recently been moved from a cemetery to the Church.  They say his body is incorrupt.  I’d heard of Carlo Acutis but I had no idea he was buried in Assisi.  It was a graced find.  And so I added him to my litany of Holy Helpers, my own litany of Saints, my friends in Heaven, who I ask to pray for me.  We should all make our own litany of saints, our own list of friends in heaven that we are always asking to pray for us. 

Carlo was 15 when he died of leukemia in 2006.  He’s known for being a computer genius and for creating a website devoted to 196 Eucharistic miracles.  It’s still in operation today.  Carlo was a great proponent of Eucharistic adoration.  He once said, “To sit in the presence of the Sun you become tan.  To sit in the presence of the Eucharist you become a Saint.”   His mother Antonia told a reporter that Carlo had developed a devotion to Jesus at a very young age, such that he wanted to enter every church we walked in front of. 

This devotion to Catholicism did not come from his parents; they were not practicing Catholics when Carlo was born.  His mother readily admits that by the time Carlo was born, she had been to Mass just three times in her life.  Carlo seems to have been introduced to Jesus by his Catholic Pre-School.  What a difference a Catholic school can make.  Carlo began asking his parents deep questions about God that they could not answer.  His mom said, “He pushed me

to do research and to read.  I began to take theology courses and reflect on life.  I discovered the beauty of my faith.  We are all on a journey in the spiritual life, but because of Carlo, I was inspired to start that journey.”  “Carlo saved me,” she added. 

Carlo lived in the presence of God.  He knew that he lived in the presence of God.  Wherever he went he knew he was in the presence of God.  Do we live in the presence of God; do we know that we live in the presence of God?  Now I bring up this story about Blessed Carlo Acutis, because he was one who realized he was a little one.  Our Gospel said, “Whoever gives only a cup of cold water to one of these little ones to drink because he is a disciple – Amen, I say to you, he will surely not lose his reward.”   To be a little one is to be a disciple, to take Jesus at his word, to have simplicity of spirit, to be like children.  This does not necessarily mean innocence, it mean incompetence.  Little kids are not always innocent; they can sometimes lie, cheat, and bully each other.  But, little kids they are incompetent.  They are incompetent in taking care of themselves, they can’t take care of themselves, they need adults, they need someone to lead them. 

In the spiritual life the little ones are the ones who know they are incompetent; they are incompetent in getting to Heaven on their own.  They can’t do it.  They cannot find their own way to Heaven.  They know they need to be led there, to be led there by our Lord.  They know they need Jesus. And so despite their sins, they are precious to our Lord because, unlike the clever and learned, they’re ready to take our Lord at his word.  This is what thrills our Lord.  The little one welcomes Him and since they welcome him he dwells with them.  He lives in their heart and soul.  And their lives begin to resemble His.  The little one, the incompetent one lives in the presence of God, and knows it.  And

on top of all of this our Lord rewards those who are good to his little ones. 

If you haven’t yet realized your own holy incompetence, of not being able to do it on your own, pray for that grace, that grace of total dependence on God.

Pray for that holiness of being set apart for God, making the Lord #1 in your life, praying not just to be good, but to be holy.  When we love Him above all we find ourselves loving mom, dad, sister, brother even more. 

If this seems like a lot then maybe the best place to begin is sitting here in front of the Eucharist.  Blessed Carlo Acutis often said, “To sit in the presence of the Sun you become tan.  To sit in the presence of the Eucharist you become a Saint.”  

“To sit in the presence of the Eucharist you become a Saint.”

Pax et Bonum,

Fr. Christopher J. Ankley

The voice of one crying in the wilderness

The Church observes the birth of John as in some way sacred; and you will not find any other of the great men of old whose birth we celebrate officially. We celebrate John’s, as we celebrate Christ’s. This point cannot be passed over in silence, and if I may not perhaps be able to explain it in the way that such an important matter deserves, it is still worth thinking about it a little more deeply and fruitfully than usual.

  John is born of an old woman who is barren; Christ is born of a young woman who is a virgin. That John will be born is not believed, and his father is struck dumb; that Christ will be born is believed, and he is conceived by faith.

  I have proposed some matters for inquiry, and listed in advance some things that need to be discussed. I have introduced these points even if we are not up to examining all the twists and turns of such a great mystery, either for lack of capacity or for lack of time. You will be taught much better by the one who speaks in you even when I am not here; the one about whom you think loving thoughts, the one whom you have taken into your hearts and whose temple you have become.

  John, it seems, has been inserted as a kind of boundary between the two Testaments, the Old and the New. That he is somehow or other a boundary is something that the Lord himself indicates when he says, The Law and the prophets were until John. So he represents the old and heralds the new. Because he represents the old, he is born of an elderly couple; because he represents the new, he is revealed as a prophet in his mother’s womb. You will remember that, before he was born, at Mary’s arrival he leapt in his mother’s womb. Already he had been marked out there, designated before he was born; it was already shown whose forerunner he would be, even before he saw him. These are divine matters, and exceed the measure of human frailty. Finally, he is born, he receives a name, and his father’s tongue is loosed.

  Zachary is struck dumb and loses his voice, until John, the Lord’s forerunner, is born and releases his voice for him. What does Zachary’s silence mean, but that prophecy was obscure and, before the proclamation of Christ, somehow concealed and shut up? It is released and opened up by his arrival, it becomes clear when the one who was being prophesied is about to come. The releasing of Zachary’s voice at the birth of John has the same significance as the tearing of the veil of the Temple at the crucifixion of Christ. If John were meant to proclaim himself, he would not be opening Zachary’s mouth. The tongue is released because a voice is being born – for when John was already heralding the Lord, he was asked, Who are you and he replied I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness.

  John is the voice, but the Lord in the beginning was the Word. John is a voice for a time, but Christ is the eternal Word from the beginning.

With you is the source of life

You who have been redeemed, consider who it is who hangs on the cross for you, whose death gives life to the dead, whose passing is mourned by heaven and earth, while even the hard stones are split. Consider how great he is; consider what he is.

  In order that the Church might be formed from the side of Christ as he slept on the cross, in order that the word of scripture might be fulfilled – ‘They shall look on him whom they have pierced’ – God’s providence decreed that one of the soldiers should open his sacred side with a spear, so that blood with water might flow out to pay the price of our salvation. This blood, which flowed from its source in the secret recesses of his heart, gave the sacraments of the Church power to confer the life of grace, and for those who already live in Christ was a draught of living water welling up to eternal life.

  Arise, then, bride of Christ, be like the dove that nests in the rock-face at the mouth of a cavern, and there, like a sparrow which finds its home, do not cease to keep vigil; there, like a turtle-dove, hide the fledglings of your chaste love; place your lips there to draw water from the wells of your Saviour. For this is the spring flowing from the middle of paradise; it divides and becomes four rivers, then spreads through all devout hearts, and waters the whole world and makes it fruitful.

  O soul devoted to God, whoever you may be, run to this source of life and light with eager longing. And with the power of your inmost heart cry out to him: ‘O indescribable beauty of God most high! O pure radiance of everlasting light! O life that gives life to all life! O light that illuminates every light, and preserves in its undying splendor the myriad flames that have shone before the throne of your godhead from the dawn of time!

  ‘O water eternal and inaccessible, clear and sweet, flowing from the spring that is hidden from the eyes of all mortal men; the spring whose depths cannot be plumbed, whose height cannot be measured, whose shores cannot be charted, whose purity cannot be muddied.’

  From this source flows the river which makes glad the city of God, so that with glad shouts and songs of thanksgiving we sing to you our hymns of praise, and by experience prove that with you is the fountain of life; and in your light we shall see light.

Dear Friends,

Servant of God Dr. Takashi Nagai was born in 1908 in a small Japanese village.  He spent the first half of his life as an atheist.  In medical school he spent his time studying, he was a good student, but he also liked drinking and carousing.  He would later write that it always seemed like something was missing in his life. 

While still a medical student he was called home one weekend because his mom was dying.  He was at his mother’s bedside as she died.  He wrote down his experience saying, “I was so sure there was no such thing as a soul.  But my mother’s eyes told me that the human spirit lives after death.  I could not but believe this.” 

In medical school Takashi discovered the writings of Blaise Pascal, a famous Catholic Scientist who passionately believed in God and prayer.  Takashi was intrigued.  Here was a man of science who believed in God.  But Takashi fretted, “How do I pray to a God I don’t even think exists.”  Providentially the next semester he rented a room from a Catholic family.  The Moriyama family had been Catholics for 300 years.  The atmosphere of joy in their home touched him. 

When the Moriyama’s daughter, Midori, came home for Christmas she invited Takashi to Midnight Mass.  At that Mass Takashi felt instinctively that there was a living presence within the community.  There was something more in that Church, something more he couldn’t see.  The author that Takashi loved reading Blaise Pascal once wrote, “In faith there is enough light for those who want to believe and enough shadows to blind those who don’t.”  Takashi wanted to believe. 

In a very short time he graduated from Medical school, was baptized, and married to Midori, this was 1934 and they lived in Nagasaki.  Takashi was a radiologist and in those days radiologists died very young due to radiation poisoning.  In the early 1940s Takashi was diagnosed with Leukemia, it was predicted that he would die very soon.  In a dream he was inspired to ask a Fr. Maximilian Kolbe to pray to God for him.  He’d met the future saint a number of times when Kolbe was a missionary to Japan.  His prayer was answered.  Takashi lived another 10 years. 

On August 9, 1945 Takashi was at work in the hospital that was the day an atomic bomb was dropped 700 meters from where he worked.  He was badly injured.  But still he was able to find his home.  It had been totally destroyed; he found his wife’s charred bones and in her hand was a melted and mangled rosary.  At her funeral a month later he gave a speech filled with faith, he compared the victims to a sacred offering to obtain peace. 

The following year he wrote a book entitled the “Bells of Nagasaki” it was a best seller and was made into an award winning movie.  In 1948 he planted 1000 cherry trees at the site of the bombing; some of them still live today.  On May 1^st 1951 Takashi died.  His last words were, “Jesus, Mary, Joseph, into your hands, I entrust my soul.”  And to his children he said, “Please pray.”  Today Takashi Nagai is on the path to canonization, an atheist who moved from unbelief to a deep Catholic faith.

The scientist and author Blaise Pascale, who inspired Takashi Nagai, once wrote, “In faith there is enough light for those who want to believe and enough shadows to blind those who don’t.”  Today we celebrate the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ. Today we celebrate the Solemnity of the Eucharist.  It is said that only 30% of us believe that the Eucharist is the Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Jesus.  It’s my prayer today that the other 70% of us would be drawn to the light of Eucharistic faith, because there is enough light for faith. 

St. Thomas Aquinas once said something very interesting about the Eucharist, “Sight, taste, and touch in Thee are deceived; the ear alone most safely is believed; I believe all the Son of God has spoken:  Than Truth’s own word there is no truer token.”  Do we believe Jesus’ words at the Last Supper and John chapter six or do we believe our human senses?  Do we believe the Eucharist is the Body and Blood of Jesus because he told us, or do we believe our own senses? 

Now sometimes to bolster our faith a Eucharistic miracle is given to us.  In 1996 there was a priest in Argentina who at the end of the day was walking through his church making sure everything was in place before locking the doors for the night.  But as he walked down one of the aisles he noticed on the floor a host.  Someone had dropped a Sacred Consecrated Host onto the floor.  The priest took the host and placed it into a cup of water.  The cup was then placed into the tabernacle.  Over the next few days the host would dissolve.  And after it had dissolved into the water the entire contents of the cup would be poured into the ground.  And so the priest placed the cup of water with the Sacred Host into the tabernacle. 

He went out of town for a few days and he forgot all about the incident.  When the priest got back to church a few days later and looked into the tabernacle he saw something that didn’t make sense.  The host, instead of dissolving into the water looked very unusual.   It hadn’t dissolved at all; instead it was fleshy in appearance and blood red in color. 

The priest took the transformed host to a friend who was a histopathologist.  A histopathologist is a scientist who is specialized at examining microscopic tissue samples.  They are experts at identifying tissue samples and disease processes.  They know how to make a diagnosis based on a microscopic tissue exam.  The scientist was told nothing of where the sample came from. 

The histopathologist reported that the tissue sample was that of cardiac muscle, it was heart tissue.  And the sample was taken from the part of the heart that initiates the beat, the beat that gives life to the heart and body.   The sample was also infiltrated with white blood cells.  The white blood cells were there because the heart was suffering.  The scientist said he sees this type of white blood cell infiltration in people who are beaten severely in the area of the chest. 

This is not the only Eucharistic miracle where the host has been transformed.  In all the many Eucharistic miracles, where human tissue is present, it’s always distressed heart muscle that is found, the heart, that ancient symbol of love.

On this great Solemnity of the Eucharist may our faith deepen in our Eucharistic Lord and like Servant of God Takashi Nagai may we follow where He leads.  In faith there is enough light for those who want to believe and may we all want to believe.

Pax et Bonum,

Fr. Christopher Ankley