Dear Friends,

Today is Good Shepherd Sunday; it’s also World Day of Prayer for Vocations.  We pray for shepherds who imitate our Heavenly Good Shepherd.   And today I want to tell you about two different priests.  The first is Fr. Francis Grogan.  Fr. Grogan was born in 1925.  As a young man he served aboard a Navy destroyer during World War II.  And after the war he entered the Congregation of the Holy Cross and during those initial years he earned two degrees, one from Notre Dame, of course, and the second from Fordham University.  Fr. Grogan was ordained in 1955 and he spent the next 46 years working in education at the university and high school levels and on the weekends he went to work in various parishes.  Much of Fr. Grogan’s life was spent teaching and ministering at Stonehill College (a Holy Cross institution) in Easton Massachusetts.   He was described as being, well-educated but incredibly humble, he had no ego and he was a priest who really cared about people. 

On his 76th birthday Fr. Grogan received the gift of an airline ticket.  This ticket would allow him to travel to California so that he could visit his sister Anne, whom he hadn’t seen in decades.  He really looked forward to seeing her.  So on the morning of the flight he got a ride to the airport and at the ticket counter he received the surprise that someone has upgraded him to first class and as he boards the plane he finds that he is sitting in front of one of his former students, a man by the name of Jim Hayden.  When Jim was a student at Stonehill Fr. Grogan had introduced him to a woman by the name of Peggy. Peggy would eventually become Jim’s wife.  Fr. Grogan was their matchmaker and he was very special to them and it was a nice surprise for Jim that Fr. Francis Grogan was sitting in front of him.  So he called his wife Peg to give her the news.  It was a nice little reunion.  Fr. Grogan got to talk to Peg for a few minutes. 

Now Fr. Grogan boarded his plane in Boston at Logan Airport and the date was September 11, 2001.  His plane would soon crash into the World Trade Center.  Peggy Hayden was later interviewed and she spoke of Fr. Grogan and she spoke of what he had done for her family.  She was

greatly consoled by the fact that her husband’s final moments were spent in the company of this holy priest.  “The power of the presence of a priest can be a mystical and mighty comfort,” she said.   “I know that Fr. Grogan exercised all the powers of his priesthood in those last moments.”

The next day Pope St. John Paul II would say that “Evil, terror, suffering, and death will not have the last word.”  And it didn’t, on that plane, Fr. Grogan’s words of absolution and peace had the last word. 

The second priest I want to talk about is an un-named priest.  On September 21st, 1953 this particular priest happened to be praying in the Church of St. Joseph in Buenos Aires. In the Southern Hemisphere September 21st is the first day of spring and in Argentina it’s a National Holiday called Students’ Day.  It’s a day when students don’t go to school a day they can goof off.  A 16 year old boy named Jorge Bergoglio (Pope Francis) was planning to go out to celebrate with friends on that day.  Before going out, however, Jorge decided to go to his parish church of St. Joseph to pray a bit before beginning the day of fun.  When Jorge arrived at the church, he saw a priest he didn’t recognize but this priest seemed to radiate holiness.  And so he decided to approach him and ask him to hear his confession.  Pope Francis later recounts that he doesn’t remember what he said to the priest or what the priest said in response.  But he does know that that confession totally changed not only his plans for the day, but also the plans for the whole course of his life.  Pope Francis would later say, “For me, this was an experience of encounter:  I found that someone was waiting for me.  Yet I don’t know what happened.  I can’t remember. I don’t know why that particular priest was there, whom I didn’t know, or why I felt this desire to confess.  But the truth is that someone was waiting for me.  He had been waiting for me for some time.  After making my confession, I felt something had changed.  I was not the same. I had heard something like a voice or a call.”  “I realized that God was waiting for me.” 

Both Fr. Francis Grogan and the unknown Argentinian priest were good

shepherds, good shepherds after our own Divine Shepherd, they each laid down their life for the sheep in their care.  And they each did it in a different way, in different parts of the world and in the way God called them to lay down their life.    Pope St. John Paul II said, “Evil, terror, suffering, and death will not have the last word.”  Instead our Lord’s triumph over death, his peace and his mercy will have the last word.  And the graces of our Lord’s triumph, his peace and his mercy, all of these graces, are given to us through His priests.  We can encounter God through our priests.  God used Fr. Grogan and that unknown Argentinian priest in countless ways to reach his sheep and to shepherd them home to heaven.  Fr. Grogan helping that plane full of people at the end of their lives, the Argentinian priest inspiring a young man to consider the priesthood which would ultimately lead to the papacy.  Just two events in two lifetimes of priestly activity.

God is still calling young men to the priesthood.  However, I think that call sometimes gets lost in all the noise of our modern culture.  That call sometimes gets lost in the lack of support young men receive from parents, family, and friends.  So we not only pray for vocations but I think we need to pray that those young men have the time and place and silence to hear our Lord’s call.  In the Old Testament the prophet Elijah heard the voice of the Lord but he only heard the voice in a tiny whispering sound.   He didn’t and couldn’t hear our Lord’s voice in the noise of the world.  He only heard it in the silence. 

On this Good Shepherd Sunday and World day of Prayer for Vocations we pray for God to continue calling shepherds after his own heart, and we pray for those young men to have the support and space,  and time and silence to hear his call.

Peace and all good,

Fr. Christopher J. Ankley

Dear Friends,

Today we hear of the very first Mass celebrated after the Resurrection.  It’s celebrated on the evening of Easter Sunday.  There is a Liturgy of the Word as Jesus walks with the two disciples  he explains the Old Testament prophesies that refer to Him and there is the Liturgy of the Eucharist celebrated at the home where the two disciples were going to stay for the night.  Jesus is the celebrant of that first post resurrection Mass just as He is the celebrant of every Mass since that first Easter Sunday. 

Now in our Gospel today we heard that the two disciples were prevented from recognizing Jesus.  They were prevented from recognizing Jesus.  Now it’s not as if they forgot what he looked like, it’s only been three days; rather it was their faith that prevented them from seeing Jesus.  Jesus’ presence was veiled.  They lacked faith.  They lacked faith in three ways.  First, they referred to Jesus as a prophet, not as Messiah or God.  The scandal of the Cross was too much; they had hoped that Jesus would redeem Israel.  Second, the news of the empty tomb made no sense to them, just a bunch of hysteria they reasoned.  And third, they did not believe all that the prophets had spoken in the Old Testament, and our Lord rebukes them for that lack of faith, and so he explains. 

For the Liturgy of the Eucharist they go inside and just as he did at the Last Supper, Jesus takes, blesses, breaks, and gives the bread, he gives the Eucharist.  The exact same verbs are used for the Mass at the Last Supper, for the Mass on the Road to Emmaus, and for every Mass since then.  For two millennia Jesus has taken, blessed, broken and given, given the Eucharist.  And it’s at that moment that the disciples’ eyes were opened to the presence of Jesus, they recognized him in the breaking of the bread, and they recognized him in the Eucharist. 

And then he vanishes from their sight.  He vanishes.  Jesus hides himself until the moment He breaks the bread.  Why?  He wants them to see how He will be present to them from now on.  This is how he will be present to them, in the bread, in the Eucharist.  His risen body, blood, soul, and divinity is now present in the Eucharist.  He will be with us in the Eucharist until the end of time.

I have a story about a man who knew Jesus to be present in the Eucharist, his eyes were open, even though veiled by the appearances of bread and wine this man knew in great faith that Jesus was present in the Eucharist.  His name is Mark Ji Tianxiang, he was known to everyone as Ji.  For many years he was a respectable Christian, raised in a Christian family in 19th-century China. He was a leader in the Christian community, a well-off doctor who served the poor for free. Later in life after many years of practicing medicine he became very sick with a violent stomach ailment and so he treated himself with opium. Back then in the 19th century it was a perfectly reasonable thing to do, but Ji soon became addicted to the drug, an addiction that was considered shameful and gravely scandalous.

As his circumstances deteriorated, Ji continued to fight his addiction. He went frequently to confession, refusing to embrace this affliction that had taken control of him. Unfortunately, the priest to whom he confessed (along with nearly everybody in the 19th century) didn’t understand addiction as a disease. Since Ji kept confessing the same sin, the priest thought, that he wasn’t even trying and that Ji had no desire to do better.

After a few years of this, Ji’s priest told him to stop coming back for confession, to stop receiving the Eucharist, to stop until he was serious about quitting the opium.  They just had no understanding about addictions in the 19th century.  Ji just could not quit.   For some, this might have been an invitation to leave the Church in anger or shame, but for all his fallenness, Ji knew himself to be loved by the Father and by the Church. He knew that the Lord wanted his heart. So instead of receiving the Eucharist using the sense of taste, he received instead using the sense of sight.  And how he would stare at the Blessed Sacrament held aloft over the priest’s head at the time of the elevation, taking our Lord in through his eyes, receiving Him through the sense of sight. He’d also sit in the church in the presence of the Eucharist.  He couldn’t stay sober, but he could keep showing up.

And show up he did, for 30 years. For 30 years, he was unable to receive the sacraments.  God’s grace is not limited to the sacraments, the Mass made all the difference in his life. 

In 1900, when the Boxer Rebels began to turn against foreigners and Christians, Ji was rounded up with dozens of other Christians, including his son, six grandchildren, and two daughters-in-law.

Many of those imprisoned with him were likely disgusted by his presence there among them, this man who couldn’t go a day without a hit. Surely he would be the first to deny the Lord.

But while Ji was never able to beat his addiction, he was, in the end, flooded with the grace of final perseverance. No threat could shake him, no torture make him waver. He was determined to follow the Lord who had never abandoned him.

As Ji and his family were dragged to prison to await their execution, his grandson looked fearfully at him. “Grandpa, where are we going?” he asked. “We’re going home,” came the answer.  

Ji begged his captors to kill him last so that none of his family would have to die alone. He stood beside all nine of them as they were beheaded. In the end, he went to his death singing the Litany of the Blessed Virgin Mary. And though he had been away from the sacraments for decades, he is today a canonized saint.  St. Mark Ji Tianxiang

In our Gospel this morning, beginning with Moses, Jesus interpreted for the disciples all that referred to Him in the Old Testament.   In Genesis, Exodus, the Prophets, and the even in the Psalms Jesus is prefigured.  The Old prefigures the New, or we could say that the New is hidden in the Old and the Old is brought to completion in the New.  The connections between the Old and New is Divine providence, it’s not by chance or coincidence.  It’s part of God’s plan.   The Old and the New are always connected. 

In the Old Testament Adam and Eve ate of the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil.  And after eating that fruit, their eyes were opened to their sin.  Today we hear of the disciples who eat the Fruit of the new tree of Life, the Cross, and the fruit is Jesus and after they eat of that fruit their eyes are opened to their redemption.  The eyes of St. Mark Ji Tianxiang were totally open to the presence of Jesus in the Eucharist.  The Mass kept him connected to Jesus.  It made all the difference. 

My prayer for us today is that we always see Jesus in the Eucharist, although veiled under the appearance of Bread and Wine we see Jesus.  We see Jesus. 

Peace and all good,

Fr. Christopher J. Ankley

Dear Friends,

St. Vincent de Paul lived in 17th century Paris France.  And sometimes in the afternoon he liked to take a walk to clear his head.  On one particular afternoon a crying woman ran up to him.  She was inconsolable.  In between the outbursts of tears and sobbing he was able to piece together what had happened.  Her husband, that morning, had jumped from a bridge into the river.  He had taken his own life.  The woman was broken with grief.  She feared the worst for her husband’s soul.  But in a moment of Heavenly grace, St. Vincent de Paul was given a bit of knowledge of what had happened that morning on the bridge.  He said, “Madam, do not be afraid, in that time and distance from the railing of the bridge to the water’s surface your husband repented, he is saved.”  Go and pray for him!

On this Divine Mercy Sunday we are reminded that our Lord is always reaching out to us.   Even in that millionth of a second between life and death, he still reaches out to us. In that short span of time, in that millionth of a second this is what the conversation may have sounded like: 

Jesus speaking with a despairing soul:

Jesus:  O soul steeped in darkness, do not despair.  All is not yet lost.  Come and confide in your God, who is love and mercy. 

-But the soul, deaf even to this appeal, wraps itself in darkness. 

Jesus calls out again:  My child, listen to the voice of your merciful Father. 

-In the soul arises this reply:  “For me there is no mercy,” and it falls into greater darkness, a despair which is a foretaste of hell and makes it unable to draw near to God.

Jesus calls to the soul a third time, but the soul remains deaf and blind, hardened and despairing.  Then the mercy of God begins to exert itself, and without any co-operation from the soul, God grants it final grace.  If this too is spurned, God will leave the soul in this self-chosen disposition for eternity.  This grace emerges from the Merciful Heart of Jesus and gives the soul a special light by means of which the soul begins to understand God’s effort; but conversion depends on its own will.  The soul knows that this, for him, is final grace and, should it show even a flicker of good will, the Mercy of God will accomplish the rest. 

My omnipotent mercy is active here.  Happy the soul that takes advantage of this grace.

Jesus:  What joy fills My Heart when you return to me.  Because you are weak, I take you in My arms and carry you to the home of My Father. 

Soul:  (as if awaking, asks fearfully): Is it possible that there yet is mercy for me?

Jesus:  There is, my child.  You have a special claim on My mercy.  Let it act in your poor soul; let the rays of grace enter your soul; they bring with them light, warmth, and life. 

Soul:  But fear fills me at the thought of my sins, and this terrible fear moves me to doubt Your goodness. 

Jesus:  My child, all your sins have not wounded My Heart as painfully as your present lack of trust does – that after so many efforts of My love and mercy, you should still doubt My goodness. 

Soul:  O Lord, save me Yourself, for I perish.  Be my Savior, O Lord, I am unable to say anything more; my pitiful heart is torn asunder; but You, O Lord…

Jesus does not let the soul finish but, raising it from the ground from the depths of its misery; he leads it into the recesses of His Heart where all its sins disappear instantly, consumed by the flames of love. 

Jesus:  Here, soul, are all the treasures of My Heart.  Take everything you need from it.

Soul:  O Lord, I am inundated with Your grace.  I sense that a new life has entered into me and, above all, I feel Your love in my heart.  That is enough for me.  O Lord, I will glorify the omnipotence of Your mercy for all eternity.  Encouraged by Your goodness, I will confide to You all the sorrows of my heart. 

Jesus:  Tell me all, My child, hide nothing from Me, because My loving Heart, the Heart of your Best Friend, is listening to you. 

Soul:  O Lord, now I see all my ingratitude and Your goodness.  You were pursuing me with Your grace, while I was frustrating Your benevolence, I see that I deserve the depths of hell for spurning Your graces, Jesus (interrupting):  Do not be absorbed in your misery – you are still too weak to speak of it – but, rather, gaze on My Heart filled with goodness, and be imbued with My sentiments.  Strive for meekness and humility; be merciful to others, as I am to you; and, when you feel your strength failing, if you come to the fountain of mercy to fortify your soul, you will not grow weary on your journey. 

Soul:  Now I understand Your mercy, which protects me, and like a brilliant star, leads me into the home of my Father, protecting me from the horrors of hell that I have deserved, not once, but a thousand times.  O Lord, eternity will hardly suffice for me to give due praise to Your unfathomable mercy and Your compassion for me.  (From the diary of St. Faustina)

Give thanks to the Lord for He is good, His Mercy endures forever. 

Peace and all good,

Fr. Christopher Ankley

Dear Friends,

In the time of Jesus, the cross was a brutal and very effective sign of Roman power.  The message of Rome was this, “If you confront and challenge us, we will nail you to a dreadful instrument of torture and leave you to die in agonizing pain.  Then we’ll make sure that your body hangs there until it is eaten away by scavenging animals.”  The cross was state-sponsored terrorism, and it terrified people. 

After putting down the great slave uprising of Spartacus, the Roman government lined the Appian Way with hundreds of crosses so as to discourage any other would-be revolutionaries.  Pontius Pilate had much the same intention when he nailed dozens of Jewish rebels to the walls of Jerusalem.  That same Pilate arranged for Jesus to be crucified on Calvary Hill, a high point of land just outside one of the gates of Jerusalem.  This guaranteed that his horrific death would not be missed by the large Passover crowds moving in and out of the city. 

As we know all of the apostles, except John ran from Jesus.  They wanted with all their hearts to avoid the cross, to avoid the same fate.  And after Good Friday the friends of Jesus huddled in the Upper Room, terrified that they too would be nailed to a cross on Calvary.  The disciples on the road to Emmaus were, heading out of Jerusalem, away from danger, utterly convinced that Jesus’ movement had failed.  The cross meant victory of the world, and the annihilation of Jesus and everything he stood for.  But we as Christians understand something very different.

A few years later St. Paul would write something very strange, “I preach one thing, Christ and him crucified!”  The cross is the centerpiece of his message.  How bizarre this would have sounded to his first century crowd.  And there is some 1st century graffiti that shows this.  In Rome, archaeologists found a drawing of a crucified man with the head of a donkey.  And in the drawing there is another man standing near and looking to the crucified man.  Beneath it someone had written, “Alexandros worships his God!”  Someone was mocking this man Alexandros for worshipping Jesus.    St. Paul preached the resurrection of the crucified Jesus.  His exaltation of the cross is a taunt to Rome and all of its brutal descendants down through the ages:  “You think that scares us?  God has conquered that!”  And so even today, we are still bold in displaying and holding up an image of the humiliated and tortured Jesus, displaying him to the world.  We are not afraid.  The world killed Jesus but God raised him from the dead.  The wood of the Cross has brought joy to the world.  Jesus said to death, you shall die in me, He said to Hell you shall be destroyed by me.  Good Friday is followed by Easter Sunday.  All our Good Fridays are followed by Easter Sundays.  Easter is the celebration of the single event that has transformed the world.  And so an Easter celebration should make a lasting impression. 

On Easter morning in the city of Florence Italy a strange, and fascinating, and wonderful Easter tradition will be celebrated.  On Easter morning 150 soldiers, drummers, flag throwers, local leaders, musicians, and a team of white oxen decorated with flowers will gather at a place called the Porto al Prato.  Porto al Prato is one of the ancient gates that lead into the beautiful and historic city of Florence.  Once all are gathered, a 500 year old, 30 foot cart loaded with fireworks is hitched to the oxen and the Easter procession begins. 

The procession makes its way through the ancient and winding streets of Florence it ends in the Piazza del Duomo in front of the Cathedral of St. Mary of the Flower.  When the procession stops Easter Mass begins.  Now here is where things get interesting.  A wire is stretched from the cart loaded with fireworks to the high alter inside the cathedral.  Now while the Gloria is being sung at the high altar, a little mechanical dove is attached to the wire, it’s lit on fire. It then “flies” down the wire and out the front doors to the waiting cart.  That dove on fire is a symbol of the Holy Spirit.  The on fire dove then sets off the fireworks.  And for twenty minutes there is a display of bell ringing, fireworks, and the singing of the Gloria. 

That’s how you celebrate Easter!  That’s how you celebrate the single event that has transformed the world.  I’ll get Roger working on this for next year at St. Joseph’s☺. We’ll have our own show of fireworks and flaming dove. 

Christ is risen! He is truly risen! And if we believe this, if we believe that our Savior Jesus Christ defeated death, defeated the cross 20 centuries ago, and that we continue to reap the fruits of that saving act of grace, then we should light fireworks and ring bells and rejoice like on no other day!  Our Lord’s resurrection opened Heaven to us.  His triumph is shared in all our sacraments.  His triumphant grace is given to us in Baptism, the Eucharist, Confirmation, Reconciliation, Marriage, Holy Orders, and Anointing.  His resurrection is lived out by Christians every day. 

And So Easter is a day meant to be celebrated and celebrated big, full choir, flowers, new fire, and new water.  It is exciting, riveting, miraculous, and literally life-changing it’s something we are meant to share with others to run and tell others.  In all the gospels we get a sense of certain urgency in sharing the message of the resurrection.  There is an awful lot of running.  We run when we are excited to share good news.  Think of when you were a kid and had exciting news to share with your mom or dad, you ran to them. 

And so it is with the disciples.  Mary Magdalene runs to Peter to tell him of the empty tomb.  And then Peter and John they run to the tomb.  It all suggests a sense of urgency because nothing like this has ever happened before.  This is a joyful day!  Jesus conquered sin and death on the Cross and he rose from the dead.  And He shares the grace of His triumph with us!  Sin and death do not have the last word, our Lord does!  Light fireworks, ring bells, sing alleluia, and run and tell others!

Happy Easter!

Fr. Christopher J. Ankley

Dear Friends,

Today is Palm Sunday and these palms we hold are the ancient world’s symbol of triumph.  Christians see them as a symbol of our Lord’s triumph and definitive victory over sin, and death, and hopelessness.  That’s why we place them on our crucifixes.  Today is also known as Passion Sunday where Catholics throughout the world once again turn their hearts and minds to the suffering and death of Jesus.  Now all around us we see the different images of the passion.   In these fourteen Stations of the Cross we see the passion played out.  And right now I want to focus on station number six; Veronica wipes the face of Jesus.

Now in the movie, “The Passion of the Christ” by Mel Gibson the actress who imitated the actions of St. Veronica had a conversion experience, right there in the midst of filming the scene.  Sabrina Impacciatore is an Italian actress and although she had grown up Catholic, she had long ago stopped practicing her faith.  At the time when they began filming, she was at a spiritual low point in her life.  She later explained that she really wanted to believe in Jesus, but she just couldn’t do it. 

Her scene in the movie is quite memorable.  Jesus is carrying his cross to Calvary and he falls again for the third or fourth time.  The crowds surge in around him, abusing him as he lies on the ground.  Without much success the soldiers try to control the crowds.    And gliding through the middle of all this confusion is Veronica.  She looks at Jesus with love and devotion.  She kneels down beside him and says, “Lord, permit me.”  She takes a white cloth and wipes his face which is covered with blood, dirt, and sweat.  She then offers him a drink.  It’s a brief moment of intimacy in the middle of violent suffering.  Sabrina said it was a very hard scene to film.  The churning crowd kept bumping into her and disrupting the moment of intimacy.  And so they had to film it over and over again.  Twenty times they had to film it before getting it right. 

And that was providential.  Because after twenty times of kneeling before the suffering Christ, looking into his eyes, and calling him Lord, the actress felt something start to melt inside her.  She wasn’t seeing the actor pretending to be our Lord; she was seeing our Lord himself.  Later, she explained that while she looked into his eyes, she found that she was able to believe.  “For a moment,” she said, “I believed!”  That experience lit the flame of hope in her darkened heart. 

Sabrina finally understood the words Jesus spoke from the Cross when he said, “Father, forgive them, they know not what they do.” The brutality of the scene made a big impression on her.  She found herself thinking, “Jesus is someone I can trust, he went through this for me.”  Even when we reject him, scourge him, crown him with thorns, betray him, and finally crucify him, our Lord still continues to love us.  The Passion is God saying to us, I will keep loving you. 

The name Veronica comes from the two words vera and icon and these two words mean true image.   This true image refers to the image of Jesus’ face that was left on the cloth that was used to wipe his face.  This relic is kept at the Vatican and scientists can’t explain it.  Vera icon, the true image, eventually became Veronica, the name given to the anonymous woman who loved Jesus.  As Christians all of us are supposed to be a Veronica, a true icon, a true image of Jesus.  Because it’s only in Him, only when we live in His image, living as a true icon of our Lord, that we can truly be happy. 

When we pray the Stations of the Cross, right before station number six we sing of Veronica.  We sing, “Brave but trembling came the woman, none but she would flaunt the Roman, moved by love beyond her fear.”  So as we enter into Holy Week, like Sabrina that actress, like St. Veronica herself, let us look into the eyes of our Lord, giving ourselves to him in all things.  Praying for the grace to not be afraid to love.  To pray for the grace to not be afraid to bring Him all of our sins, to bring to him our hurts, our doubts, our troubles, our hardness of hearts, our everything.  Trusting Him in everything.  In doing this our Lord will transform us, making us into a true image of Himself. 

Pax et Bonum,

Fr. Christopher J. Ankley

Dear Friends,


From the beginning of John’s Gospel until now the magnificence of Jesus’ signs has been increasing: first we have the superabundance of good wine at the wedding feast in Cana, then we have the healing of a man paralyzed for thirty-eight years, the feeding of a crowd of over five thousand, the healing of a man born blind, and now Jesus performs the greatest sign of his public ministry; he brings Lazarus, who has been dead for four days, back to life. This sign reveals Jesus’ divine power over life and death, and many more come to believe in him as a result.


So picture the scene at the beginning of this passage. The messengers they arrive tired and breathless. Anxiously, they deliver their one-sentence message, a message composed by Martha and Mary, they say: “Master, the man you love is ill.” They then look earnestly and eagerly at Jesus, still breathing hard. The Apostles look back and forth from Jesus to the messengers. What’s our Lord going to do? They wonder. Then Jesus, looking warmly at the messengers, smiles and gives his answer. “This illness is not to end in death, but is for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified through it.”


This exchange gives us a privileged glimpse into Christ’s Sacred Heart, into our Lord’s charity. The message composed by Martha and Mary was the perfect prayer. “Master the man you love is ill.” They could have said, “Lord, the one who loves you is ill,” as if because Lazarus loved Jesus, he deserved to be healed. But who loves more, Lazarus or Jesus? Jesus loved Lazarus infinitely more than Lazarus could ever love Jesus! And so the appeal to Christ’s love was the wiser way to go.


Alternatively they could have said, “Lord, come and heal Lazarus, he’s very ill.” But that would have dictated what Jesus should do. And they wanted to leave it up to Jesus to decide himself, knowing that his love would do much, much more than they could ever think of – and they were right. And so, it was the perfect prayer. It plunged all their needs, hopes, and sorrows into the bottomless ocean of Christ’s love.


“Master, the one you love is ill.” Could Jesus’ heart ever resist a prayer like that? It expresses a total, uninhibited confidence in him, and it’s the exact confidence that his love wants to find in all of our hearts. The kind of confidence that unleashes his power and obtains the greatest miracle of his ministry.


This Gospel passage contains the shortest verse in the New Testament, two words: “Jesus wept.” If the resurrection of Lazarus from the dead isn’t enough to give us unlimited confidence in Christ, this verse should be more than enough. Jesus is God, all-knowing and all-powerful. And yet, in the face of his friend’s death, and in the face of the grief of those around him, his friends, his Martha and Mary, he is moved to tears. Jesus Christ is not a distant God. Jesus wept, and he weeps. He weeps with us when we weep. He stays with us even when everyone else abandons us. He’s always there in the Eucharist. Jesus wept with Martha and Mary before he raised Lazarus from the dead, because he wanted to assure us that he will always be with us in our sufferings too. When we are tempted to be angry at God or to feel abandoned by him, think of the shortest verse in the New Testament: Jesus wept.


All the saints learned this lesson. Fr. Dolindo Ruotolo who is on the road to canonization was a man with total uninhibited confidence in our Lord, the Lord who weeps with us. He understood the relationship between our neediness and God’s goodness. Fr. Dolindo was an Italian priest who lived from 1881-1970. Ordained at the age of 23, Fr. Dolindo spent his life in prayer, sacrifice and service. He heard confessions, gave spiritual guidance and cared for those in need. Fr. Dolindo was a contemporary of Padre Pio. When some pilgrims from Naples, where Fr. Dolindo lived, went to Padre Pio in Pietrelcina, Padre Pio would say to them: “Why do you come here, if you have Fr. Dolindo in Naples? Go to him, he’s a saint!”


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


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


Martha, Mary and Fr. Dolindo are three saints who trust. Their prayers express a total uninhibited confidence in Jesus. Martha and Mary prayed, “Jesus the one you love is ill.” They are saying the exact same thing as Fr. Dolindo, “Jesus you take over.” “You know what’s best, we abandon ourselves to you.” “You know what’s best, we abandon ourselves to you.”


Peace and all good,


Fr. Christopher J. Ankley

Dear Friends,

I begin with a few questions.  Why did Jesus come to us?  Why was he born into humanity?  Why did he become one of us?  He came so that we might see!  Jesus sees the Father always, and Jesus came, he was born, and he became one of us to reveal the Father, whom we can’t see.  But in Jesus’ humanity we can see the Father, as Jesus says in John’s gospel, “He who has seen me has seen the Father” (14:9).  The Christian life is about seeing Jesus and through Him; the Father. 

In our Gospel today we hear of the man born blind.  And that describes each one of us; we were all born into this world, blind, and unable to see the love of the Father through Jesus.  But then, shortly after our birth, we were baptized, made children of the Father, and as we matured we hopefully, learned how to see and love the Father, and to experience the Love of the Father. 

I know of a new Father whose wife gave birth to their first born about a year ago.  And this new Father dearly loves his new baby girl.  And from the moment of her birth, he would just stare at her, staring at her for hours, whether she was asleep or awake just staring at her, studying her face, studying all of her features, memorizing each one of them, the dimples, the fat cheeks, the tiny nose, the perfect little mouth, the beautiful blue eyes and so on.  His whole focus was on her.  The little baby, however, had a hard time focusing.  Like all babies, she stared off everywhere.  But the father continued his loving gaze, just waiting for her to return that look of love.  And she did, her eyes met the eyes of the one who loved her dearly.  She recognized the face of the one who loved her dearly. 

That baby is us sometimes, our eyes going in every other direction except towards Him.  Yet as our Father He is always looking upon us, He knows all of our features.  He knows them all.  He knows the number of hairs on our head.  He wants us to see Him, He wants us to recognize His love, and He wants us to understand that we are his dearly beloved children.  He wants us to see Him, seeing us.  He wants us to recognize how precious we are in His sight, precious not because of what we do, but because of who we are.  We are His beloved.  The Father loves us with the same love with which he loves his eternal son.

Jesus came to show us the Father.  And our end, our goal, is the Father.  We came from the Father and we go back to Him.  Jesus says, “In my Father’s house there are many rooms and I go to prepare a place for you.”  The Father’s love for each one of us is not some general concept, but rather very personal and particular.  And in this room we find a love of great intimacy.  This love of the Father is meant to set us free, free from fear, free from needing to be affirmed or praised or rewarded by others.  The Father’s love is enough. 

During Mass at the elevation of the Sacred Host and Precious Blood, the priest says, “Through Him and with Him and in Him O God Almighty Father in the unity of the Holy Spirit all glory and honor is yours forever and ever.”  Jesus offers himself to the Father and we are there too, offering ourselves to the Father, through Jesus, with Jesus, and in Jesus.  Giving everything to Him, looking to Him, returning that focused look of love. 

Right now we are gifted with the season of Lent, a season to help us refocus our sight on God, prayer, fasting, and giving to the poor re-orients us.  The Sacraments too re-orient us.  We go to the Sacrament of Reconciliation to get our eyes refocused on the Lord, no more staring off after idols.  What is important in your life?  God, Family, Faith, Mass, Eucharist, parish family? 

We heard in the Gospel that the newly sighted man sees Jesus and worships.  May we come back from this season of Lent with perfect vision for what is truly important, with perfect vision for the Father and His great and intimate love for each one of us.

Peace and all good,

Fr. Christopher J. Ankley

Dear Friends,


In his first letter to the Corinthians St. Paul, referring to our first reading, said this about the Israelites journey through the desert, “I do not want you to be unaware brothers that our ancestors were all under the cloud and all passed through the sea, and all of them were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. All ate the same spiritual food, and all drank from a spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was the Christ.” (1 Corinthians 10: 1-4) In this passage St. Paul refers to baptism symbolized and prefigured by the journey through the parted Red Sea, he refers to the Eucharist symbolized and prefigured by the manna a spiritual food, and he refers to Jesus as the rock, a rock that followed the Israelites through the desert. You probably don’t know this but Jesus was the original rolling stone.


Jesus as the spiritual rock refers to two instances where the Israelites were thirsty and grumbling. They grumbled against God and Moses. God hears their grumbling and he directs Moses to strike the rock once, this first instance is at the base of Mt. Horeb (Sinai) (Exodus 17). When the rock is struck, immediately water gushes forth, satisfying the thirst of the Israelites and their animals.


Now the second instance of where water is produced from a rock takes place at Kadesh (Number 20:2-13). And there God instructs Moses to “speak” to the rock, to say a word to the rock, and bring forth water. Moses only has to speak to the rock to bring forth the water. Just like the priest who says a word to bring forth the Body and Blood of Jesus. But Moses is in a bad way he is annoyed with the grumbling of the Israelites and he is suffering from a lack of faith in God. So instead of just speaking to the rock, to produce the water, he strikes it twice with his staff. Water is produced and it
satisfies the thirst of everyone, but God is not pleased with Moses’ lack of faith.


Now it’s very interesting to note that ancient Jewish rabbis when commenting on the rocks being struck by Moses’ staff teach that not only was water produced, but also blood. According to these ancient Jewish scholars, when the rock was struck both blood and water was produced.


The rock following the Israelites is Jesus prefigured, the rock is predicting Jesus, and fulfilled in Jesus. On the cross, blood and water flowed from his pierced heart, satisfying the thirst of his people for two millennia.
In our Gospel today we find that; Jesus is tired after his journey. So He sits down by the well, thirsty, hungry, and worn out. He was so thirsty that he skirted all social protocol and asked a Samaritan woman to give him a drink – Jewish men at that time just didn’t do that kind of thing. But Jesus’ thirst went much deeper. He was really thirsting to save her soul. His tiredness doesn’t hold back his love for a lost sheep that crosses his path. The Samaritan woman came to the well at noon, the hottest hour of the hot, middle-eastern day. The other women of the village would have come in the cooler hours of early morning and evening. The woman was a social outcast, avoiding contact with her peers. Jesus notices this, seeing in her eyes the anxiety that comes from an unstable life, but he also sees a spark of sincerity – her rocky path through life had worn down any façade of self-righteousness or self-delusion. Her wounded and suffering heart provides an opportunity for grace, and our Lord, forgetting about his own suffering, seizes it, changing her life forever.


And so he asks for a drink but what he is really thirsting for is her brokenness, her pain, her sinfulness, her doubt, and her darkness. He wanted it all. And the Samaritan woman could see that He saw it all and yet he still loved her. She would give Jesus a drink, and in return he would satisfy her thirst with mercy and love.


On the cross, Jesus our rock was pierced. He was struck once and blood and water flowed forth from His Heart. This is the wellspring of our salvation. It’s the grace, the love, the sacraments, the mercy, its everything. It’s the living water of his merciful love flowing always. And only this will truly satisfy us. On the Cross Jesus says, “I thirst.” And the drink we give to him is ourselves, all of our brokenness, darkness, pain, and sin. We give it all to him to satisfy his thirst. And in return the drink he gives to us is his love and mercy, his tenderness and friendship, himself, body, blood, soul, and divinity.


Our Lord says to us today, “I have created you for My Love and My Love alone can satisfy the desires of your heart. Enter then, the wound in my side, take refuge in my pierced side, penetrating even into my heart, drink deeply of the springs of love that will refresh and delight your soul and wash you in preparation for the wedding of your soul with me, for I am the bridegroom of your soul your Savior from all that would defile you, and your God who is love and mercy now and unto the ages of ages.”


Pax et Bonum,


Fr. Christopher J. Ankley

Dear Friends,

I want to begin with a lesson in architecture.  This is from a course on the Eucharist which we studied a few years ago.  In that course we learned about the arrangement of the Tabernacle of Moses.  The tabernacle was the portable temple of worship for the Jewish people while they wandered the desert.  God told them exactly how to design it; and later in history the permanent Temple in Jerusalem was arranged in the same way. This Tabernacle of Moses was meant to remind the Jewish people of what had happened on Mt. Sinai.  I hope you don’t get bored.  If you do, offer it up, it’s Lent after all.

The Tabernacle of Moses was divided into three courts.  First, one would enter the Outer Court of Sacrifice, in this space there was a bronze Altar where sheep and goats and oxen were sacrificed.  And next to it there was a bronze laver of water, a bronze basin of water, here the priests would wash before any ceremony could take place.  This outer court recalls what had happened at the base of Mt. Sinai. Moses had constructed a bronze altar and the blood of an animal was sprinkled upon it and the people.  This bloody sacrifice ratified the covenant bond between God and His people.  The Israelites and God became a family, a flesh and blood family.

Second was the Inner Court or the Holy Place.  A veil separated the outer court from the inner court.  This space contained a Golden Altar of incense, where the smoke of the incense as it rose symbolized the Israelites prayers rising to heaven.  There was also a 7 branched Menorah covered in flowers; this represented the Burning Bush that Moses encountered on Mount Sinai.  And last there was a Golden Table of the Bread of Presence. This inner court recalls the middle of Mt. Sinai.  The golden altar of incense and the Menorah recall the smoke and fire in which God descended upon the mountain.  The table of the Bread of Presence recalls the heavenly banquet that Moses, Aaron, Aaron’s two sons and the 70 elders enjoyed in the presence of God.  At that banquet they ate bread and drank wine. 

And finally the third area was the Holy of Holies.  Another veil separated the Holy of Holies from the second inner court.  Here was the Ark of the Covenant which contained the tablets of the Ten Commandments, a jar of Manna, and the Rod of Aaron.  This area could only be entered by the high priest.  To enter the holy of holies was to cross over from earth to heaven.  The Holy of Holies recalls the throne of God at the top of the mountain, and the Holy of Holies is where God was now present to his Jewish people. 

The Tabernacle of Moses was Mt. Sinai in miniature. 

I want to explain a little more about the Altar of the Bread of Presence.  On that golden altar every Sabbath the priest would place 12 loaves of bread along with flagons of wine.  This was an unbloody sacrifice offered to God reminding the people of their covenantal relationship with God, reminding them of the heavenly banquet that Moses, Aaron, his sons, and the 70 elders enjoyed on Mt. Sinai, where they feasted on bread and wine in God’s presence. 

Now the Hebrew word that is translated into the Bread of Presence is sometimes translated into “Bread of the Face.”  The Bread of the Presence is the Bread of the Face.  This is the bread of the face of God.  Now during the first century; Jewish priests had the custom, during Passover, of taking the Bread of Presence (Bread of the Face) out of the inner court and lifting it up to the pilgrims so that the pilgrims could look at the Bread of the Face.  And the priest would say, “Behold God’s love for you!” Looking at the bread, the priest would say to the pilgrims, “Behold God’s love for you!” Imagine the Holy Family coming to Jerusalem for Passover and nearing the Temple looking up to see a priest holding up the Bread, the Bread of the Face, and saying “Behold God’s love for you!” 

Christian Bible scholars often talk about how the New Testament is hidden and prefigured in the Old Testament, and how the Old Testament is fulfilled in the New Testament.  The Eucharist is the fulfillment of the Bread of the Face (Bread of Presence).  So maybe when I hold up the Eucharist I should also say, “Behold God’s love for you!” As we know Jesus is present to us in many ways, present in the Word of Scripture, the prayer of the Church where 2 or 3 are gathered in His name, the poor, the sick, the imprisoned, the sacraments, in the person of the priest, but Jesus is most especially present in the Eucharist, the Sacrament of all sacraments.  The whole of Jesus Christ is present in the Eucharist, really, truly, and substantially present is our Lord’s Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity.

The entrance antiphon for the 2nd Sunday of Lent is, “It is your face, O Lord that I seek; hide not your face from me.”  Today in our Gospel Peter, James, and John saw our Lord transfigured, all His glory and divinity revealed to them.  His face shone like the sun.  The apostles saw our Lord’s face revealed in all its glory and divinity.  His face was not hidden from them.  And the same is true for us today. Every time we come to Mass, the Eucharist is elevated and it’s like the transfiguration for us 2000 years later.  We see the Eucharistic Face of Jesus.  And the Father says to us, “This is my beloved Son; listen to Him.”

The one Tabernacle of Moses contained earthly bread, only a symbol of the Face of God.  Our tabernacle and all the tabernacles of the world contain the Heavenly Bread, which is the real Face of God.  A saint once wrote, “The Lord’s Holy Eucharistic Face is a light shining in the darkness, let the beauty capture your soul and fill you with a desire for union with Him.”

It is your face Oh Lord that I seek, hide not your face from me.

Peace and all good,

Fr. Christopher J. Ankley 

Dear Friends,

In our second reading St. Paul explains the very core of the Gospel, and he sums up all of human history in just a few sentences.  In the beginning God created the human family in perfect harmony, peace and prosperity.  But Adam, the leader of that family, sinned. And this original sin ruptured that harmony and created a world infected by sin and burdened with conflict, evil, and suffering.  But to all of this Jesus Christ was God’s response.  Helpless to help ourselves, we needed a savior, someone to reverse Adam’s rebellion and reestablish a right relationship between God and man.

Jesus Christ was and is that Savior. And only Jesus could do it, that gap (chasm) between us and God, after the Original Sin was too great for us to bridge.  No amount of prayer or good works on our part could repair that breach.  Only Jesus (both human and divine) could repair that breach.  And he bridged that gap between us and God with his cross. 

As we know Adam disobeyed God in the Garden of Eden, and all of Adam’s descendants have suffered the painful consequences.   Jesus obeyed God the Father in the Garden of Gethsemane and on the cross at Calvary, and his spiritual descendants have received from him the restoration of righteousness – a right relationship with God.  The gap has been bridged!

And this is something we need to be reminded of, to be reminded of what Christ has done for us, so that we don’t start taking it for granted.

There is a true story about a group of soldiers sitting around the barracks during a break, they are resting and letting off steam.  And during that time off the talk swung around to religion.  One of the soldiers, a fallen-away Catholic, claimed he no longer believed in the Sacrament of confession.  His friends dared him to go to the Catholic chaplain and make a mockery of the sacrament, to prove he didn’t believe in it anymore.  To prove he was done with it all. So he went to the confessional, knelt down, and began. I have taken the Lord’s name in vain a hundred times a day, and I couldn’t care less.  I haven’t been to Mass

in years, and I couldn’t care less.  He went through all the commandments in the same way.  The priest didn’t give the soldier absolution because it was a terrible, irreverent, and sacrilegious confession.   So when the soldier was through, the priest sensing something in the young man, said to him: For your penance, put a crucifix on a table and then, look at the crucifix, really look at Jesus on the crucifix and say, ‘You died for me, and I couldn’t care less.’ Say that five times.  When the soldier came out of the chapel, his friends were waiting for him.  They laughed and jeered, asking what happened. He laughed back, and told them all about it. They were enjoying themselves and insisted that he do the penance, since that was part of confession, and the dare had been to do a full confession.  So they pulled up a table and put a crucifix on it, and the soldier sat down and looked at it, surrounded by his buddies.  But all he could say was, You died for me He tried and tried, but he just couldn’t get himself to add, and I couldn’t care less.  Tears welled up in his eyes. Finally, he got up and ran back to the chapel to make a real confession.

The Garden of Eden was a paradise, a paradise filled with many trees, that as we heard, were delightful to look at and good for food.  But of all those trees only two of them are named.  The first is the Tree of Life.  Adam and Eve are allowed to eat of this tree; in fact the fruit of this tree would keep them alive forever.  The second is the Tree of the knowledge of good and evil.   Adam and Eve are not allowed to eat the fruit of this tree; because if they do they will die.  But wanting to be like God, they give in to temptation and eat the fruit.  The irony is however, that Adam and Eve were already like God.  They were created in His image and likeness.  As a consequence of the Original Sin Adam and Eve were banished from the garden, no longer able to eat from the Tree of Life.  This was a kindness because God did not want them living forever separated from Him by their sin.  And so they leave the garden, and they do eventually die, and then they wait.  They wait for the new Tree of Life and its fruit. 

Later in Salvation history we come to another garden, another tree and its fruit. 

This new garden is the garden of Calvary, the new tree is a Cross, and the fruit is Jesus.  And to eat of this fruit is to live forever.  The Eucharist is the fruit of the Tree of Life.  Jesus takes on the curses of Adam’s sin, and in the Garden of Calvary he offers himself on the new tree of life, the Cross, and the fruit of this new tree is offered to us in the Eucharist.  And to eat of this fruit is to live forever. 

Looking at that crucifix lying on the table I wonder what went through that soldier’s mind.  He had tried to make a mockery of the Sacrament of Reconciliation, but looking at the Crucifix everything was made clear to him.  Was it something of his childhood faith that he remembered?  Maybe it was something in these lines of a poem about the crucifix. 

You would like to know God?

Look at the crucifix.

You would like to love God?

Look at the crucifix.

You want to be happy with Him forever and forever?

Look at the crucifix.

You wonder what God is and what He is like?

Look at the crucifix.

You wonder what you are and what you are worth?

Look at the crucifix.

You wonder how merciful God is?

Look at the crucifix.

You wonder how much He wants you in Heaven?

Look at the crucifix.

You wonder how much He will help you to get there?

Look at the crucifix.

Pax et Bonum,

Fr. Christopher J. Ankley