Wrestling, Plowing, Serving

+ J. M. J. +

Homily Outline for the 13th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C

Jesus challenged us last week to take up our crosses and follow Him, to lose our lives for His sake so as to save them, offering them in service and in truth. He doesn’t pull the punch as He continues the challenge, “No one who sets a hand to the plow and looks to what was left behind is fit for the kingdom of God.” These words are very apt in light of our celebration this week of the 4th of July, the anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, our nation’s birthday. 237 years ago our Founding Fathers declared that our nation was free, using the familiar words, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” From that moment to the present, our nation has proudly proclaimed itself a nation of liberty and of freedom.

From the beginning, though, that idea of freedom has always been in peril of decaying into the simple absence of restraint, a lack of limits, or even a denial any limits or boundaries exist. Sadly, the Supreme Court’s two decisions last week bring us closer to a national redefinition of marriage, a redefinition that focuses on the desires of adults at the expense of the protection and nurture of children. [For basic facts on those decisions: 12-things-you-need-to-know-about-the-courts-homosexual-marriage-decisions ] It seems that our culture imagines we can make our own rules for everything, and that our own impulses and desires set the standard for all things. In stark contrast, our Scriptures this Sunday call us to an authentic freedom, an authentic liberty, which is always freedom for what is good, true, and beautiful, a liberty oriented toward God.

In our first reading, Elijah is about to be taken up into heaven, his prophetic service to the Lord nearly complete. God calls him to anoint a successor, Elisha, who will carry on the work of calling the People of Israel back to God. He throws his cloak over Elisha’s shoulders as he is plowing, symbolizing the yoke and burden of authority that Elisha will bear. Elisha surrenders his livelihood and his past… he takes the tools of his trade, the yoke and the oxen, and uses them to provide a feast for his people.

Authentic freedom does involve surrendering the past, whatever it contains, into God’s hands. We must be rooted in tradition and history, otherwise we are blown about rootless by whatever storms happen to come along. Nevertheless, this rootedness, being grounded, must also leave us free to embrace God’s often-surprising call, free to follow His voice. Jesus calls us forward into service, into conversion, into growing freedom as we imitate His self-emptying.

Let me give you a simple image. I was a wrestler in high school, and I can vividly remember the nervousness and excitement I always felt stepping out on the mat to do battle. Although you often warm up in several layers of clothing, you wrestle only in a singlet, a very simple one-piece garment that leaves you completely free to use whatever moves, strength, speed, or stamina that you have developed. You step out onto the mat grounded in long hours of practice and drill, but also free move and respond in any way necessary. There are very specific and concrete rules governing a match. Without them it would be an ugly brawl, no sport. And, yet, within those boundaries, there are infinite possibilities.

On some level, the image of a wrestler might help us to grasp what true freedom is. St. Paul emphasizes that this is at the heart of the Gospel:

Brothers and sisters: For freedom Christ set us free; so stand firm and do not submit again to the yoke of slavery. For you were called for freedom, brothers and sisters. But do not use this freedom as an opportunity for the flesh; rather, serve one another through love.

Christ went resolutely to Jerusalem, to the Cross, and He calls us to follow Him. He sets us free, free from sin, and this freedom is for service in love. In Christ, with the aid of the sacraments, in our daily prayer, we are equipped to embrace the truth and to serve. We are progressively freed so as to struggle against temptation and selfishness. We are freed for Christ, for truth, for goodness, and for beauty. We are freed and equipped to seek God’s will for us, and then to embrace it and follow it, wherever it leads. In the word of the Psalm, ‘I say to the LORD, “My Lord are you. O LORD, my allotted portion and my cup, you it is who hold fast my lot.”’ God must finally be our choice… God is our portion, our cup, our target, our standard. When we choose towards God, our freedom deepens. When we choose away from God, we abuse our freedom, and become progressively enslaved to sin.

This vision of authentic freedom, freedom in Christ, freedom for service and truth… this has never been easy to live, it has never been easy to embrace. In our own time it goes almost entirely against the grain. Our world is allergic to commitment, allergic to self-emptying and self-gift. We WILL NOT LIVE THIS CHRISTIAN VISION BY DEFAULT! We will not put our hands to the plow and keep them there by accident. If we do not resolve and choose today, and again tomorrow, and each day for the rest of our lives, we will be carried along by the desires of the flesh that St. Paul warned us about. That current leads not to freedom, but to slavery; it leads not to peace and a heart full of joy, but to bitter emptiness.

We prepare our hearts now to approach this altar from which we receive Him who set us free. We receive the Body and Blood of the God-man who said, “Lord, may this cup pass from me, but not my will, but your will be done.” May this infinite and precious gift of Jesus’ Body and Blood bring us to true freedom, and to everlasting life.

+ A. M. D. G. +

Our Desired Fulfilled, Taking up our Cross...

+ J. M. J. +

Homily Outline for the 12th Sunday of Ordinary Time, Year C

In the Word of God we encounter a clear recognition of the deep roots of desire in the human person… every man, woman, and child finds in their heart a desire unquenchable here in this mortal world. We hear it spoken of very beautifully in our psalm, “O God, you are my God whom I seek; for you my flesh pines and my soul thirsts like the earth, parched, lifeless and without water.” This desire in our hearts resonates with the eternal desire of God that we be fulfilled and united with Him. Nevertheless, on the surface, the path that leads us to peace and joy is deeply counterintuitive. It often seems that we must play along to get along, going with the flow of popular culture and world events. If we respond to the constant prompting of the media, we acquire, buy and achieve, if we can, thus hoping to get what we need, that which we desire.

Throughout history, down through the long ages, the world has always been full of restless striving people… men and women of skill and force who have sought and acquired the good things of this world. Ironically, though, among these who have apparently succeeded in conquering and achieving, we find the deepest restlessness, often taking those who have most to the very brink of despair, and not infrequently to self-destruction.

What does God offer us? It is He who created us with this restless longing and need, this never-quite-satisfied hunger… He didn’t do this capriciously or cruelly, but rather He put in our hearts a desire that points beyond us, beyond this limited finite world, a desire that points to God, He who is infinite goodness, truth, and beauty. Because God has created us for Himself, the things of this world, however good, never satisfy us!

In our first reading we hear a prophecy of Zechariah… first he tells us that God will pour out an abundant spirit of grace and petition, then surprisingly in the next breath we hear that God’s people will look upon “him whom they have pierced,” mourning and grieving him. With a certain degree of whiplash, we are back to abundance, and Zechariah tells us of a fountain which will be opened, a fountain to purify “from sin and uncleanness.”

This certainly resonates with Jesus’ strange message, “If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.” We follow Jesus because He is the Christ of God, that is to say, the Anointed One, the Messiah, the one who was foretold… this is what Peter professes. Jesus has unlocked the fountain of grace, the fountain of Baptism in faith. We are no longer under the old law of circumcision and ritual purity. We are marked as the sons and daughters of God by baptism, not by any mark in our flesh… not by washing our hands a particular way, or avoiding the flesh of the pig. Our souls are marked out for Christ by baptism, by the gift of faith, and we are drawn into His dying and rising.

How, then, does Jesus desire to unlock the fountain of grace that flows from His wounded side? That fountain is open to us when we pick up our crosses to follow him. This happens in mundane and daily decisions: Children, have you asked forgiveness of your parents for disobedience or ingratitude? Parents, have you placed your marriage and your children first in your life? Nothing else will bring you peace! Spouses – are you investing in your husband or wife? Have you sought their forgiveness or offered it to them? Neighbors – have you extended the olive branch to those people next door? Every time we follow Christ, we open the door, we unlock the fountain of grace. It is not easy to follow Christ, it necessarily involves dying to ourselves and placing our lives in God’s hands… and yet this is the path that leads to the Fulfillment of All Desire!

This struggle takes place first and foremost in daily life, but also on a larger scale. On Friday we began the Fortnight of Freedom, leading up to the Fourth of July, and today (Saturday) we celebrated the Memorial of St. John Fisher, bishop and martyr, and St. Thomas More, martyr. They refused to sign off on Henry VIII’s capricious divorce with his Queen, and they refused to acknowledge the king as the head of the Church. After trying to threaten, bribe, and torture them into submission, they were both shamefully slaughtered for their faith.

Right now, our federal government has decreed that any Catholic hospital, school, or nursing home MUST pay for abortion-causing drugs, sterilization, and contraception, or face fines of thousands of dollars per employee. This goes into force this August 1st. Throughout our country it is true that there are many Catholics who do not follow or fully understand the Church’s teaching in these areas, but even if is true, I challenge you to ask yourself if it is right for the government to force us to pay for these things. Also in the weeks ahead, the Supreme Court is going to rule on several marriage cases that could possibly result in a national redefinition of marriage. Should the federal or state government be allowed to treat me as an agent of discrimination, with all the civil and criminal penalties, if, following Christ’s and the Church’s teaching, I refuse to celebrate a wedding for two men or two women? They are already trying to put this in force in England, the very same country that 500 years ago put St. John and St. Thomas to death.

It is true that unlike St. John Fisher and St. Thomas More, we do not face physical torture or death. Our nation was founded on the principal of religious liberty, but suddenly it seems that abortion and sexual preference are far more important. Many of our ancestors came to this country seeking religious freedom.  For well over a century, our Catholic institutions have served anyone who was in need, regardless of their beliefs… now we are begin told that this means our Catholic hospitals, schools, and nursing homes are not considered religious, and so will receive no protection from the force of these unjust laws.

As Americans and Catholics we now face the difficult decision of how to face this attack on our faith, and this attack on our religious freedom. It seems that it is not going to get any easier to live our lives faithful to Christ and the Church, but that was never what Jesus promises. This must be rooted FIRST in how we live each day, but it also must impact our decisions and actions on a larger scale.  Rather, He said, “Take up your cross and follow me.” We ask God to give us the wisdom and courage to follow Him, whatever the cost, especially in the face of these new attacks on our Catholic faith.

+ A. M. D. G. +

A Club for the Perfect?

+ J. M. J. +

Homily Outline for the 11th Sunday of Ordinary Time, Year C

God loves you perfectly! He doesn’t love you because you’re here at Mass today, although that is good! He doesn’t love you because you’re struggling to forgive your mother or your brother or your boss, although it is good that you’re struggling to do what’s right. He doesn’t love you because you’re beautiful or handsome, or because you work hard, or because your yard is properly mown! In this world we are rewarded to some extent on the basis of results, to some extent on the basis of luck, to some extent on the basis of connections… if you work hard, if you’re lucky, if you know the right people (not necessarily in that order!) you get ahead! That is the world we live in, and we have to deal with that world as honestly and effectively as possible.

But the reality of this broken world, this fallen world, is not by itself a very good indicator of how things are with God. He doesn’t love us because of what we’ve achieved… nor does He love us less when we fail. He doesn’t love us less when we are unkind, or when we hold grudges, or when we use pornography, or when we cheat on our spouses, or when we steal. God doesn’t hold our faults and failings against us, however small or large, however public or private. It’s not that He doesn’t care… He cares far more than we do, and He sees ALL the repercussions of our sin and falsehood. But He doesn’t love us any less, because of who He is. God is Love… and He loves perfectly, with perfect faithfulness, perfectly steadfast. Even if we acknowledge that this is true in our minds, I believe that most of us struggle mightily to live out of this truth.

In our first reading, King David has behaved in an utterly despicable manner. He has lusted after Bathsheba, He has committed adultery with her, taking advantage of his power as king. He has conspired to kill her husband in battle, using Uriah’s honesty, bravery, and loyalty against him. It is hard to imagine a less kingly, a less Godly man. Nathan the prophet comes before him and he tells him the truth… all that David has is a gift from God. David comes face to face with his sin, with his own darkness. He says to the prophet, “I have sinned against the LORD.” We said it all together during the penitential rite, “I have greatly sinned.”

We do not come to Mass as a club of the perfect… we do not come before God as those people who have it all together… we do not gather here to gloat about all those people “out there” who don’t go to church. Uproot those lies from your heart! We gather here, like David, in the only true hospital for the unclean, the sick, the wounded, the diseased… we can only honestly be here because we know, at least in some small way, how desperately we need God’s help.

Perhaps none of us here have been involved in such drama, perhaps some of us have… but do you recognize that place where David finds himself? He is face to face with failure, brokenness, his own utter poverty and ingratitude in the face of God’s manifold blessings. The psalm, traditionally attributed to King David, gives words to this place, “I acknowledged my sin to you, my guilt I covered not. I said, ‘I confess my faults to the LORD,’ and you took away the guilt of my sin.”

Perhaps surprisingly, this grim place of self knowledge, of looking in the mirror and noticing the wounds, this place can also be a place of profound grace. God’s love is completely free… His desire is always and only to save us, to heal us, to bring us deep peace and joy. Out of that perfect love, God respects our freedom… He does not force us to love Him, to follow His true and beautiful law. He does not force us to accept His mercy. God does not save us without us… He does not redeem us without our accepting and embracing that gift. We are not objects to be snatched out of the fire by force… we are His adopted sons and daughters, welcomed back into the fold.

Our 2nd reading from Galatians finds St. Paul grappling with the teaching of the Judaizers: a group of Jewish-Christians who believed that a Gentile, a non-Jew, had to become a Jew by begin circumcised and by following the whole dietary and purity law, in order to be saved. St. Paul rejects this out of hand; it is by baptism, by being incorporated into Christ by faith that we are saved. He says more, though: this gift is not merely theoretical, but it necessarily involves us in a journey of transformation. God’s grace and redemption is offered freely, but it’s not cheap! God does not save us without us:

“I have been crucified with Christ; yet I live, no longer I, but Christ lives in me; insofar as I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God who has loved me and given himself up for me.” 

Christ desires to live in and through us, to fill us with His grace and power, so that we may, like St. Paul, live in and through and by Him.

This brings us to our dramatic Gospel. Jesus is with a Pharisee, Simon, part of a Jewish group that dedicated itself to scrupulous faithfulness to the Law. The Pharisees looked out at a world gone mad, not unlike ours… the Romans were in power, and many Jews were abandoning their faith. But in this very rigor there was a potential trap, one into which Simon fell, one into which perhaps we ourselves have fallen at times! A woman walks in, a notorious woman, very likely a prostitute of some sort… she approaches Jesus directly and exhibits the three marks of hospitality, signs of respect that Simon had NOT shown Jesus: she bathed his feet, she kissed them, and she anointed them with ointment… and she does this in profound humility, weeping for her sins. If we truly look with honesty upon the ways we have failed God, ways we have failed to respond to His perfect love, this is how we should approach God: sorry for our sins, but also confident, not in our own strength, but confident in His love. She does not hesitate, she must have guessed how Simon would perceive her, but she approached Jesus without hesitation, knowing that He could give her what she needed, perhaps what she had sought in sinful ways: peace, joy, forgiveness.

As the Gospel passage ends, Jesus continues to seek the lost, going from town to town, and he is accompanied by the twelve, and by som4e women who had been cured. In time the Twelve also would be cured… forgiven of their weakness and cowardice and rejection, forgiven for having abandoned Christ in His time of need.

From that time until now, the Church has journeyed from town to town, offering Jesus Christ: His preaching, His forgiveness, His Body and Blood. Do we want to accompany Christ? Do we want to accompany the Church? The authentic foundation for joining this motley crew is an awareness of our own radical poverty, our deep need for God’s mercy… and along with this, a deep confidence, not in our strength, but in God’s perfect strength, His perfect love. He offers us Himself now on this altar… may we receive Him aware of our deep need.

+ A. M. D. G. +

God has visited His people: Healing in our midst!

+ J. M. J. +

Homily Outline for the 10th Sunday of Ordinary Time, Year C

This Sunday we hear of two distinct but related kinds of healing… in our First Reading and in the Gospel, paired as they normally are, we hear of physical healing… indeed we hear of two dead people being brought back to life! First, Elijah heals the widow of Zarephath’s son, and then Jesus heals the young man in Nain. Then, in the second reading, St. Paul tells the Galatians of his checkered past, and of God breaking into his life suddenly and unexpectedly:

For you heard of my former way of life in Judaism, how I persecuted the church of God beyond measure and tried to destroy it, and progressed in Judaism beyond many of my contemporaries among my race, since I was even more a zealot for my ancestral traditions. But when God, who from my mother’s womb had set me apart and called me through his grace, was pleased to reveal his Son to me, so that I might proclaim him to the Gentiles…

Paul was not physically ill, rather he labored in darkness of opposing God, of opposing the Gospel, until he encountered God’s Son on his famous journey to Damascus.

At first glance, it may seem to us that the physical healings are more remarkable… and indeed we see the people who witnessed those miracles responding immediately: the widow of Zarephath says to Elijah, “Now indeed I know that you are a man of God. The word of the LORD comes truly from your mouth.” Similarly, when Jesus raises the young man of Nain, the Gospel describes the witnesses, “Fear seized them all and they glorified God, exclaiming, ‘A great prophet has arisen in our midst,’ and ‘God has visited his people.’” And, nonetheless, however spectacular those physical healings were, we hear no more of the two men who were raised from the dead, and yet the whole world has heard of St. Paul! A spiritual conversion, a spiritual healing, is more difficult to measure, and perhaps at first glance less spectacular, but it also has enormous potential to impact the world.

Paul was healed of his blindness and his opposition to Jesus Christ by encountering Him face to face, and he clearly understood that this gift was given him to be shared, so that he could proclaim Christ Jesus and Him crucified.

God desires to do this same work in us, indeed He is doing it every day, every week. I think of my own journey, and the way that a powerful experience of confession when I was seventeen set me on the course towards hearing a call to the priesthood. I see that healing at work each time I hear confessions, and very often when I anoint the sick. I’m not sure I’ve seen a physical healing first hand, but I know a number of people healed physically by prayer, and I know countless people healed in their hearts and souls. Very likely some of you here have felt God touch your heart and soul with His healing grace… and I hope that as you remember that right now, I hope you also hear the invitation to share and to serve and to extend that healing love.

This past week I had the very joyful experience of driving down to Winona, MN to spend a day with our Totus Tuus missionaries. They have been in training this past week with 6 other teams from Wisconsin and Minnesota. These two young men, Luke and Andrew, and two young women, Jamie and Brigette, have committed themselves to serve 8 different communities around our diocese with the Totus Tuus summer program. It’s kind of like Vacation Bible School on steroids! Each week they’ll meet with the 7-12 graders in the evenings, and with the K-6 graders from 9 am to 3 pm. The younger kids will have confessions and Mass each day, along with games, and skits, and lots of solid teaching about the faith. Along with teaching and prayer, the older kids will get to hear each of our missionaries’ testimony, the way that God has touched their lives.

One of our missionaries, Jamie, only entered the Church a couple years ago. She was raised without any particular faith in Ishpeming, but the influence of her Catholic grandma as a small child bore fruit when her college roommate persistently invited her to Mass! Finally she gave in, and God has been beautifully at work in her life ever since! As I was down at training, I got to hear many of the missionaries give their testimony, both to inspire each other, and also to prepare for their summer sharing. Very many of them experienced God breaking into their brokenness and struggles through the witness of friends and family, and through the sacrament of Confession. The second evening I was in Winona, 4 other priests and I heard the Totus Tuus missionaries confessions for nearly two hours. God was continuing to break into our midst with healing and grace!

How has God healed you? 

How does He want to keep healing you? 

Have you asked for the healing you know you need? 

Have you asked God to show you where you may need healing that you’re not even aware of?

God has not stopped healing, He has not stopped bursting forth into our world with the grace and mercy we so desperately need. And when that grace touches us, God always invites us to share and serve out of that gift. In just moments we will receive the Lord Himself… just as He touched that Widow’s son and called him to arise; He will come to us on this altar. May we receive Him with open hearts, with joy, and with a deep longing for the healing we need.

+ A. M. D. G. +

A Eucharistic Center of Gravity?

+ J. M. J. +

Homily Outline for Corpus Christi, Year C

As we move back into Ordinary Time, having completed the great journey of Lent and Easter with Pentecost, the Church places before us 4 solemn and beautiful feasts to highlight some of the most basic mysteries of our faith. On the first Sunday after Pentecost, The Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity, which we celebrated last week, and then today, the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ, popularly known as Corpus Christi. Then this coming Friday we celebrate the Sacred Heart of Jesus and on Saturday the Immaculate Heart of Mary. You can see a trajectory here from the most intimate mystery of God, the Trinity, to the place that we encounter Him most intimately, the Eucharist, to the profound humanity of Jesus’ burning love for us, as well as Mary’s pure love. Our Christian faith teaches us of God who searches for and calls us!

During the course of the liturgical cycle, we encounter the Mystery of the Eucharist in many different ways… in every Mass, on Sunday in a particular way, as every Sunday is a little Easter… and then very intensely on Holy Thursday, as we remember Jesus instituting the Eucharist and the Priesthood at the Last Supper. The Eucharist is at the very heart of who we are and who God calls us to be. One short paragraph from the Catechism, #1324, summarizes the clear teaching of the Second Vatican Council:

The Eucharist is "the source and summit of the Christian life." "The other sacraments, and indeed all ecclesiastical ministries and works of the apostolate, are bound up with the Eucharist and are oriented toward it. For in the blessed Eucharist is contained the whole spiritual good of the Church, namely Christ himself, our Pasch."

In the Eucharist we find the source of all life and grace, and the goal and summit of our earthly journey to which we are to bring all that we are. Jesus placed the Eucharist at the very center, the place where we receive Him, and following Jesus, the Church has always placed the Eucharist at the very center of her life.

Here we encounter the challenge, the invitation, to us today… Do we place the Eucharist at the center of our lives? Often we desire strength, and in the Eucharist it is offered to us. We long to be in intimate relationship with God, and in the Eucharist we find Him. We need healing and medicine for our brokenness, and in the Eucharist we find healing. We long to be united in our family, our community, our parish, and our world, and in the Eucharist we are made one. We endlessly seek happiness, joy, and peace, all too often in mere created things, and yet the deepest joy possible is offered to us in the Eucharist.

Here we are at this moment, those of us who have chosen to come to Mass today, and we perhaps most of all need to be awakened and made aware once again… we for whom the Eucharist can become routine, a mere practice or habit or duty… We need to be awakened to the infinite mystery and joy of that which we are about to receive… He whom we are about to receive!

Since May 20th I’ve been down in Nicaragua and El Salvador, visiting the village where my sister Libby served in the Peace Corps, and then the village where I served in the Peace Corps. As I have done almost every summer since I was ordained, I baptized, heard confessions, and celebrated Mass. My sister Libby lived in a much more remote area… her village of Sisle is part of the Parish of Our Lady of the Angels based in Jinotega, Nicaragua, and that parish with it’s pastor and two associates serves some 30 different chapels scattered around the countryside… it makes my job here seem pretty manageable! The biggest chapel where Libby lived gets Mass nearly every month, but the smaller chapels may only have it a couple times each year. When I come, Libby schedules Masses for me in each place, and this year Mass was at 10 am. That meant that around 10 am Libby and I walked several miles to the chapel, and then I started hearing confessions. The first two days it was four hours of confessions, and on the third day it was two and a half hours… and then we celebrated Mass! People there are very poor, materially, and the face the same temptations and weakness that we do. And yet, it seems to me that many of them recognize the deep hunger of their hearts for God more readily than we do! How many of us would wait four hours to go to confession, or for Mass to begin? If the Eucharist is indeed what we believe it to be, why wouldn’t we? Is Jesus worth our time? What gets in the way for us in the midst of wealth and comfort and routine?

How, then, are we to deepen our love for this deepest mystery of our faith? Let me propose to you just one

practice that I think leads us into deeper love with the Eucharist and with Jesus Christ. In Eucharistic Adoration, we prolong and extend, we dwell in that moment of communion, in silence and in prayer. Jesus is present everywhere at all times, sustaining all things in being, but His presence is particularly concrete, and real, and tangible, in the consecrated host… As He Himself said, “This is my Body, this is my Blood!” My own journey of faith has been profoundly intensified in prayer before the Blessed Sacrament, and a very large part of the impact on our young people who go each summer the Steubenville North Conference comes in Adoration there. Each week in our communities, there is opportunity for Eucharistic adoration… both the simpler form, simply stopping at Church to pray before the Tabernacle, and the more solemn form, with Jesus’ Body exposed in the monstrance. After the 6:15 pm Mass at Immaculate Conception each Monday, and after the 6:15 pm Mass at St. Sebastian each Tuesday, the Eucharist is exposed on the altar, and I spend some time waiting for you in the confessional! On each First Friday we have adoration all day long, praying especially for vocations to the priesthood, closing with Benediction. This has already been a great blessing for me, and yet VERY VERY few people come… sometimes just one or two, while Jesus waits for us on the altar! In silence He shines upon us, warming our chilled hearts and salving our aching wounds. Do you desire peace? Do you desire healing and a deeper knowledge of yourself? Do you long to pour out your troubles and joys and gratitude to the Lord? There is perhaps no more powerful way than to enter into His Eucharistic Presence in silent adoration.

At the end of Mass, I will expose the Blessed Sacrament on the altar in the Monstrance, and we will all adore together silently for just 5 minutes. At the end of that time I will bless you with the monstrance. Please do not leave until final blessing, please open your heart to linger for just a few moments in the Lord’s presence!