Snowshoe Tracks

La viña de mi corazón, la viña del mundo

2011-10-02T10:34:00.000-07:00

+ J. M. J. +

Homily Outline for the 27th Sunday in Ordinary Time - St. Frances of Rome Parish, Cicero, IL

Hermanos y hermanas en Cristo, otra vez les quiero decir que es un gran placer poder estar aquí con ustedes para celebrar esta misa... de vez en cuando nos vamos a ver en los meses que vienen mientras que estoy estudiando en Mundelein. ¡Ojalá que nos entendemos en mi segunda lengua!

Hoy la Palabra de Dios nos presenta con un imagen muy bello y fuerte tanto en el Antiguo Testamento que en el nuevo... Es una viña... el dueño lo ha preparado con mucho cuidado, limpiándola, preparando la tierra, abonándola... tal vez algunos de ustedes han sembrado una milpa, o un frijolar. Yo viví durante tres años en El Salvador antes de entrar al seminario, trabajando como un voluntario del Cuerpo de Paz... en el cantón rural andaba muchas veces sembrando, chapodando, tapiscando... allí hablan de un terreno como un guatal... “Vamos al guatal a chapodar y a picar leña.” Si has sembrado así, con las manos, se sabe que es un gran trabajo... uno conoce cada pedacito de tierra. Tanto más con una viña... las matas de uva viven muchos años, puede producir durante más que un siglo... prepararlo, poner una buena cerca.... bien se sabe como el dueño quiere a su guatal, como está de esperanzoso por la primera cosecha!

Bien... pero la Biblia no nos está dando consejos sobre nuestros jardines! La primera lectura nos da la clave para interpretar este imagen: “Pues bien, la viña del Señor de los ejércitos es la casa de Israel, y los hombres de Judá son su plantación preferida.”

Con tanto más amor, el Señor llamó a Abrahan, Isaac, y Jacobo, llamado Israel... durante largos siglos los siguió llamando, a pesar de su infidelidad y idolatría... sembró amor, y cosechó uvas agrias... sembró la verdad, se reveló ante ellos, y cosechó infidelidad, idolatría, injusticia, odio. El profeta quiere despertar a su gente... imagínese sus sentimientos, su rabia, su rencor contra un terreno que le dio nada de cosecha, a pesar de su inversión de sudor y cuidado, a pesar de su ternura y esperanza.

Con lo que trata del Pueblo de Israel, sabemos que una manera fértil de interpretarlo es aplicarlo a la Iglesia... el nuevo Pueblo de Israel es la Iglesia... más bien, el llamado del Señor se amplificó y se abrió a todas las naciones a través de los apóstoles... En este nuevo Pueblo ha pasado lo mismo... el Señor nos ha bendecido con salvación en Jesucristo, con la inmensa bondad de los sacramentos, con su Palabra Viva... y desde el más poderoso al más humilde, como comunidades, como parroquias, como familias... hemos devuelto al Señor nada más amargura por su inversión. Tal vez parece materialista hablar de inversión, pero de cierto modo es así... el Señor no nos ofrece incluso a si mismo, Cuerpo, Sangre, Alma, y Divinidad, no nos ofrece todo su amor y perdón, para nada. El nos da su amor perfecta para cada uno de nosotros y quiere ver crecimiento, buenos frutos, en nuestras vidas.... Bien, podemos ver a nuestros corazones como viñas también, pero a veces viñas estériles, viñas amargadas, viñas que más bien dan vinagre que vino.

Hoy es el Domingo Respetemos la Vida y en todo nuestro país observamos a este mes de octubre como el mes Respetemos la Vida. Sabemos que es muy necesario poner atención al llamado de nuestra Iglesia. Hoy más que nunca se ve un ataque pleno en contra de la dignidad humana, y en contra de nuestra libertad religiosa. En la viña del Señor, su pueblo todavía hace falta luchar unidamente por el buen fruto de la dignidad humana. Entre muchos ataques a la dignidad humana, el más básico es el aborto, el matar a un niño antes de que nazca. En nuestro país hay un promedio de 3300 abortos todos los días. Ayer... hoy... mañana... Más niños y niñas matadas que todos los que estamos aquí para la Misa... Es una estadística terrible, dificil de entender... Y para cada aborto, una madre... a veces, un padre que sabe lo que ha pasado... una persona, dos personas que lleven esta culpa, este peso...

No hablo fuertemente de esta realidad para condenar los que han cometido este pecado... Dios sabe las circunstancias tremendas que muchas madres, y padres, encuentran. Su misericordia es eterna y infinita... pero para recibir el perdón del Señor, el primer paso es el arrepentimiento. Si hay alguien aquí que ha llevado esta tristeza en silencio, no quede lejos del confesionario ni un día más... allí el camino que te llevará a paz y sanación comienza... el Señor quiere hacer de tu corazón, de tu alma, una viña fértil, una viña bella, una viña llena de su gracia y perdón. Esta situación, esta tentación no se puede encontrar uno por uno: todos tenemos que examinar nuestras consciencias... si hay madres y padres jóvenes que se encuentran sin apoyo, aparentemente sin salida, somos nosotros, la Viña del Señor, somos nosotros, los bautizados, somos nosotros, el Cuerpo de Cristo... somos nosotros los que tememos que estar listos a echar la mano, listos a ayudar, listos a perdonar, tanto a nosotros mismos que a los demás. Tenemos un deber sagrado transformar nuestro mundo, nuestro país, nuestra ciudad... pero si la viña de nuestras almas es llena de maleza y fruto amargo, de ningún modo podemos ser buenos.

Las palabras de la segunda lectura nos ofrecen una visión bella y llena de luz; encontrando la dura realidad cultural en lo cual estamos, escuchémoslas: “No se inquieten por nada; más bien presenten en toda ocasión sus peticiones a Dios en la oración y la súplica, llenos de gratitud. Y que la paz de Dios, que sobrepasa toda inteligencia, custodie sus corazones y sus pensamientos en Cristo Jesús.”

Hermanos y hermanas en Cristo... en pocos momentos el Señor nos ofrecerá su Cuerpo, Sangre, Alma, y Divinidad, el mayor don, el mayor abono, la gracia más bella y eficaz que existe. Así Dios trabaja en la viña de nuestros almas. Preparemos, pues, nuestro corazones para recibir humildemente y con amor a Jesús mismo. Así estaremos listos seguir luchando por conversión personal, y la conversión de nuestro mundo entero.

4 days until we leave for World Youth Day!

2011-08-10T15:08:00.000-07:00

+ J M J +

The pilgrimage group from the Diocese of Marquette will be heading for World Youth Day in Madrid, Spain this Sunday, August 14th... we'll be joining hundreds of thousands of young people from around the world, and the Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI! Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers as we will also be praying for you!

We will be posting updates and hopefully pictures on the UP Catholic FaceBook page... you don't need a FB account to view it, so follow us there! Also, the Vatican webpage has information here.

God Bless,
Fr. Ben Hasse

Do we receive the gift?

2011-08-07T14:12:00.000-07:00

+ J M J +

Homily Outline for the 19th Week in Ordinary Time, Year A

The Apostle Paul longs for his own people to receive the Gospel, “I have great sorrow and constant anguish in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my own people.” Nearly all the first disciples were Jewish, but many Jews did not receive the Gospel in any full way. Having been a zealous Jew himself, Paul knew the rich gifts given to his people: the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises, the patriarchs. In light of such gifts, it is heartbreaking for St. Paul to see so many of the Jewish people walk away from Christ. They should have been the first to recognize and welcome Him. Paul speaks with great emotion – he could even wish to be himself cut off, if that would bring his people to Christ.

What might Paul say to us in Kingsford today? As Catholics, we too are heirs to a rich heritage of faith. Our Church, made up of imperfect people like us, people in need of redemption, has nonetheless received and preserved all the gifts Christ intended for His Church for 2000 years! We have the inspired Word of God, along with the living Apostolic Tradition. We have the great wealth of the 7 Sacraments, the principal means by which God offers us grace, healing, and life; and with them, the beautiful Liturgy of the Church, with finds its source and summit in the very Eucharist we are now celebrating. We have the successors to the Apostles, the bishops, who guide us in union with the successor of St. Peter, the Pope. We have the rich treasury of the saints, each one of them a living example of holiness and obedience to God. We have the cultural and artistic riches of Catholicism, even this very building built for us by our parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents in faith. Like Paul’s Jewish brothers and sisters, we have received a fruitful, and rich patrimony, and we are part of an enormous family of faith, over 1.2 billion Catholics throughout the world.

Not unlike the Jewish people, we haven’t always received our rich heritage joyfully. Our Church faces attacks and enormous challenges. Perhaps the biggest challenge is the drifting away of very many of our own people. Sadly every one of us here could make a long list of family members and friends who have ceased practicing their faith… perhaps some of us here right now have experienced this drifting away. Even more than outside attack, we have fallen victim to a slow erosion of faith. Even as the Jewish people had been given so much by God and yet did not always accept Christ, we too have been given rich gifts. God in His mercy does not force these rich graces upon us. He doesn’t barge into our lives like a SWAT team; he gently knocks at the door. Will we receive this reich heritage… will we receive Him?

We see this Divine Gentleness in our first reading. Elijah has encountered violent opposition; fleeing, God has led him to the desert, and to a cave. Notice well… God does not come to Elijah in crashing wind, nor in the ground-shattering earthquake, nor in the raging fire… but in the tiny whispering sound. Where is God whispering to your heart? Have family duties, work, the buzz of music, text messages, and TV kept you from hearing His voice? It is a DAILY challenge for me to quiet my heart and listen, and I suspect it may be for you too. But, if we will stop and listen, Jesus WILL speak to us as He did to Peter out in the midst of the sea and storm, “Take courage, it is I; do not be afraid.” He will call us out of the boat of our comfort and routine, and invite us to walk on water, to serve Him, maybe even in unexpected ways. “Come,” He said to Peter, and while Peter’s eyes were fixed on the Lord, he strode over the waves. “Come,” He says also to you and to me.

The Lord continues to speak in our time! I was on the Steubenville trip last weekend with 300 young people from our diocese. All told, there were over 2000 high-schoolers in that gym in St. Paul, and the Eucharistic Lord was present in our midst, and our hearts were opened to Him. I heard dozens of heartfelt confessions, and saw the Lord’s mercy. I saw many young people realize that they are not alone: Jesus Himself is with them, and He is with them in their many brothers and sisters, with them in the Church.

Our youth LONG for the Lord; LONG for the Truth; LONG for the Body and Blood of Christ. Their hearts will only be satisfied by the rich tradition of our faith… Indeed, we ALL long for Christ! Will we respond? If our practice of the Faith is sporadic, will we make God our first priority? Without the Sunday Eucharist and regular confession, we die inside, starving and drowning under the burden of our sins and boredom. If we are regular in our practice, do we have the courage to go deeper… to make time each day for silence with the Lord? God will call each one of us, will we listen? He speaks to us: “Take courage, it is I, do not be afraid.” We have been offered a vibrant heritage of faith, a precious gift – may we receive it with joy. May we now draw near to this altar to receive that MOST precious gift, Jesus Himself, Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity… having received Him, may we follow Him wherever He may lead.

Recent Journeys!

2011-08-06T11:46:00.000-07:00

+ J M J +

By God's manifold and abundant grace, I've had the joy of making two pilgrimages, the first to the 2011 Steubenville North Youth Conference on the campus of the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota, and the second our Third Annual Bishop Baraga March! In both cases, the Lord's generous work in the hearts of our young people was quite evident. Can you see that grace in their faces... check out the pictures!

Steubenville North Trip

The Return Journey Rochambeau Tourney

Baraga March 2011

God Bless,
Fr. Ben


The Baraga March 2011 Crew outside Bishop Baraga's Tomb

A Shrewd Merchant's Final Purchase

2011-08-06T11:39:00.000-07:00

+ J M J +

Homily Outline:

17th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A

What desires bounce around in our hearts? What do we desire, what do we seek? There are so many levels to this question… I want a new bike, I want a hamburger, I want to rest, I want a cold drink of water… I want a friend, I want to be happy, I want meaning in my life, I want love. From superficial physical needs to the deepest spiritual hunger, we are never fully content. Often we think we know what we want, while at other times we are a mystery even to ourselves. What will bring peace and satisfaction to our divided hearts? Only God who comes to us in the person of His Son, Jesus, Himself fully human and fully divine, only Jesus, sometimes given the title “Desire of the Everlasting Hills,” Jesus Christ alone can satisfy the eternal and infinite longing of our hearts.

This is what the image of the merchant is meant to help us realize: this merchant is searching for fine pearls, presumably to sell again later at a profit. A good and shrewd merchant, he is looking for a deal, a bargain. He is looking for quality, beauty, and marketability. And, he is ready to strike… when he finds a pearl of great price, he does not hesitate… he knows value when he sees it, and he acts decisively. He sells all that he has and buys this one superior pearl. Interestingly enough, there seems to be no mention of resale… to have acquired this pearl is sufficient, it is enough, it is the end of his seeking, his buying and selling, his shrewd deals and careful planning.

The only thing that will settle our hearts in peace is the kingdom heaven, Jesus Himself… can we learn from this merchant? Are we willing to look into the depths of our hearts, passing through the surface buzz of little desires, and moving into the deep currents of desire within, with God? To be a good Christian, to follow Christ, this does not mean simply to ignore our desires. We are not just to keep a firm grip on ourselves and pretend that the molten current of hunger and need is not there… in any case, this doesn’t work. If we ignore our desires, they tend to burst out, often in destructive ways. Neither is the Christian path one of simply giving in, acting on each passing whim, obeying each fleeting lust or pull. God will search us and know us, and help us to know ourselves, if we will venture within.

And this deepest desire of our hearts admits no half measures, no convenient compromises! Aristotle’s Doctrine of the Mean, formulated by him more than 300 years before Christ, is often summarized “moderation in all things.” For some reason my Mom has OFTEN quoted this phrase to me, I’m not sure why… but this maxim has its limits. We are to exercise no moderation in our love for God, no holding back in our surrender into the Father’s hands. We do not abandon prudence in answering this call, but there is no prudence in loving half-heartedly. In loving God we are to take up our crosses and follow Jesus who gave Himself to us beyond all measure, beyond calculation, even unto death, death on a cross.

Your patron here, St. Gregory of Nazienzus, often called St. Gregory Nazienzen, is a beautiful example of

St. Gregory Nazianzen

this. Some 700 years after Aristotle taught moderation, he followed Christ with generosity. As a young man he showed great promise as a student of rhetoric, and was given the rich opportunity of studying in Athens with the very best teachers. While studying, he became friends with St. Basil the Great, and St. Basil’s brother St. Gregory of Nyssa. Later the three became known as the Cappadocian Fathers, from the region where they served in what is now Turkey. A lucrative career lay before St. Gregory, but he heard God’s call and sought a life of monastic prayer and study. That is where the Church found him, and he was ordained a priest and set to serve the Church in the midst of difficult pastoral circumstances, becoming a bishop and struggling to navigate the tumultuous currents of heresy and politics. He faced even physical danger preaching the truth in Constantinople, but did not back down. Having found the kingdom of heaven, he gave all he had and all he was for it.

So, where does God find us? Most of us will not be called to some historic endeavor, although perhaps some of us will be. Paul tells us that “all things work for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose.” All things includes, especially, all the mundane details and small challenges of each day, along with the big events, both blessings and struggles. We are to surrender ALL of this, every last bit, into the Father’s hands. Will we, with Solomon, ask God for an understanding heart, for the wisdom to love God and to love our brothers and sisters?

Let me offer you a very modest and concrete proposal on how to acquire the Pearl of Great Price, the Kingdom of Heaven. Begin, today, to speak to the Lord of the desires of your heart and to offer them to Him. As you go out of Church you will find a stack of simple prayers called a “morning offering.” This prayer simply speaks of giving the Lord our whole day in advance, and uniting that offering to Jesus’ self-offering in the Eucharist. I try to make this prayer my first conscious act each day, rolling out of bed and kneeling next to it to pray. This is not a sufficient discipline of prayer for any Christian, but it is a good beginning. To give all we are to God is a lifelong endeavor, and to offer God our first waking moment is a good beginning each day. Please take one of these prayers with you… if you are willing to offer God that first moment, I suspect you will be surprised by how much He offers you in return! We see His Divine Generosity in the Eucharist He is about to give us. May we today receive the Lord’s Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity with joy, and respond by offering Him all that we are.

Link to some Morning Offering Prayers.

Link to the Apostleship of Prayer, who promote this devotion and praying with the Holy Father's monthly prayer intentions.

Baraga March 2011 is coming!

2011-07-19T15:01:00.000-07:00

Baraga March 2011 is coming,

the 3rd Annual!

We're up on the diocesan website: http://www.dioceseofmarquette.org/peacepizza.asp

If you're interested, contact me ASAP! benjhasse at yahoo dot com

It's going to be huge!

Last years pictures to whet your appetite: Baraga March 2011 pics on Facebook

God Bless,
Fr. Ben

Just AND Merciful... or, Don't Pull Out The Beans!

2011-07-17T15:44:00.000-07:00

Homily Outline for the 16th Week of Ordinary Time, Year A

We are in the midst of Ordinary Time. It has this name not because any lack of special grace, but because the Sundays are named with “ordinal” numbers… hence “Ordinary Time.” The color is green for growth. The 33 or 34 weeks of the year devoted to Ordinary Time are weeks devoted to our growth in grace, our growth and putting into practice of the mysteries celebrated during the special seasons of Advent, Christmas, Lent and Easter.

It is particularly appropriate, then, that we hear today of the planting, growing, and harvesting of a crop. I hope your gardens are growing… I have only a couple rows of sugar-snap peas back at St. Michael’s, but they’re flourishing. I suspect many of you have gardening on your minds in July. What does our parable tell us today about gardening, and life? There WILL BE a harvest, and the crop will be examined… God is just. And, God is patient and merciful… He has given us our entire lives to prepare and make ready for that harvest. He doesn’t strike preemptively… He harvests only in the fullness of time.

It is easy to come down hard on one side or the other of this question… to cry out, “Repent, judgment is near,” or to say, “no need to fear, God is merciful.” To take either piece by itself is to fall into error, because both are true! The opposition of God’s justice and mercy is a false dichotomy. The truth is often found in the dynamic tension between two claims that appear to be mutually exclusive: God is one and three, Jesus is fully human and fully divine, the Sacred Scriptures are God’s Word in human words, the Mary is both virgin and mother, and the Church is a human institution, but also divine, enlivened by the Holy Spirit. In each case, to resolutely affirm one thing seems to rule out the other, but the truth involves both together. God is bigger than our human categories, but works through them.

Our parable today imagines God as a gardener. Growing up, I was always the lieutenant gardener, and my mom was the commander-in-chief. One time I received orders to weed out our beans. We normally planted long rows that we would eat fresh as well as freezing. There’s NOTHING as rich and good as freshly picked green beans! I yanked out the weeds with great vigor and enthusiasm. By the time I was done, not a weed was left. However, I’d nearly uprooted all the bean plants. My mom thought they were all going to die, but eventually, after several weeks of extra tender care, many of them survived! I had exercised more justice than mercy!

God does not make this mistake. We hear in the first reading that God has perfect and complete power, and so is full of lenience. Jesus explains the parable and makes clear that God sows only good seed, but the evil one, our adversary, attacks and distorts. God wills only good, but the abuse of our freedom in sin has distorted us and damaged the entire created world. Whatever water has passed under our bridges, we are to repent of our sins and hope in God’s mercy. We will each encounter God face to face, whether at our death or at the end of time, whichever comes first. Our time now, today, is to prepare.

C.S. Lewis

This mystery of God's perfect justice AND perfect mercy is beautifully captured by C.S. Lewis. I’m a BIG fan of his… he has a marvelous ability to explain the truth with great clarity. One of his best books is very short, I recommend it to you, The Great Divorce. Despite the title, it’s not about marriage, but about eternity. In that book he explains judgment with great lucidity,

“Never fear. There are only two kinds of people in the end: those who say to God, ‘Thy will be done,’ and those to whom God says, in the end, ‘Thy will be done.’ All that are in Hell, choose it. Without that self-choice there could be no Hell . No soul that seriously and constantly desires joy will ever miss it. Those who seek find. To those who knock it is opened.”

The Lord, as it were, puts this ball very much in our court, that is the significance of the imperfect but real freedom that we are given: will we choose love, will we choose truth? To choose that which is good, true, and beautiful, to choose God and His will, that is the only real freedom. Any parable or image fails to capture every detail... in this parable, a weed cannot become a bean plant. We, however, are not stuck being thistles, even if we have planted many bad seeds ourselves, we can choose to repent and be healed, we can choose joy. The Holy Spirit comes to the aid of our weakness, helps us to pray and to open ourselves to God’s grace.

Our Mother the Church gives us not just the liturgical seasons, but also the individual feasts... July 16th, is the memorial of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, the patronal feast of the Carmelites.

Our Lady of Mount Carmel

We remember in a special way the cloistered Carmelite nuns who give their lives in hidden prayer for us! They imitate Mary's surrender in a special way and become vessels of intercession and grace for the whole world. The Carmelite monasteries of our country are mostly full! There are over 20 women in Iron Mountain, my home area, and regular new vocations there. Mary models for us in a particular way this trust in God’s mercy… she says, “Be it done unto me according to thy will.” The devotion to our Lady of Mount Carmel is accessible to anyone through the wearing of the brown scapular, given to St. Simon Stock in England on this day in 1251… the scapular is a sign of devotion to Mary and her protection, a sign of the desire to imitate her surrender to God’s will. I have worn one since high school, perhaps some of you also wear one. The scapular is not magic, it is not a charm or an amulet, but it can be a symbol and reminder to the one who bears it of devotion to Mary, and of the intention to stay close to her in prayer. It can be like a good yeast rising in our lives, a mustard seed reminder of God’s call to us.

God is perfectly just, AND full of patient mercy. Let us respond to both truths with joy, repenting of our sins and opening our hearts and lives to God’s grace. At this very altar God offers us not just truth, but the power to live in Him. We will receive Jesus Himself, Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity. Let us ask God for the grace and strength offer to Him the harvest of our lives.

A rather unusual gardener

2011-07-10T09:46:00.000-07:00

Planting corn in El Salvador

Homily Outline for the 15th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A

On this 15th Sunday in Ordinary Time, we hear a parable that presents us with a vivid image of the gospel… the sower and the seed. I suspect most of you have planted a garden at one time or another… a show of hands, how many have gardened or farmed? Drawing on that experience then, let’s look more closely at this parable, starting right at the beginning… There is something strange here that it might be easy to miss! When I have helped my mom plant a garden, and more recently when I’ve planted my own garden, a great deal of effort precedes the actual sowing of the seed! There’s the spreading of manure or compost in the fall, the roto-tilling or spading in the spring, the careful laying out of rows and raking the soil to break up large clumps. Finally the holes or furrows are made to accept the seeds… No gardener I know throws seeds on sidewalks or roads, or in the midst of rocks, or in the midst of a thicket of thistles! But God does!

What kind of gardener is God? Think about that… these seeds, representing “the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven,” are strewn about all over the place, almost indiscriminately. Not surprisingly, they suffer a variety of fates.

Although surprising, this is good news for us today. My heart is not always rich, deep, fertile soil, free of weeds and rocks… very often my heart is hardened or choked with busyness, and I suspect your hearts are often like that also. And yet, in Divine Generosity, God sows the seed of grace and life nonetheless, and entrusts the fruitfulness of that seed to our free response.

The 120 Chinese Martyrs

Today, July 9th, is actually the feastday of a new saint in the Church, St. Augustine Zhao Rong and his companions… this feast celebrates 120 Chinese Martyrs who were killed for the faith between 1648 and 1930. St. Augustine was a Chinese soldier who converted and became a priest. In 1815 he was imprisoned, tortured, and died rather than reject Jesus Christ. Catholic and other Christian missionaries have tried for centuries to bring the Gospel to China, but until recently, with little success. The seeds of truth and conversion did not appear to find fertile soil. However, in the last 50 years, in the midst of much persecution, the Gospel has begun to spread. Now perhaps 10%, or roughly 130 million people, are Christians, and about 1% or 13 million are Catholics. This may be a small percentage, but it is nearly half as many Christians as here in the United States! Humanly, it seemed that the seeds of faith found only rock and thorn, but in God’s time these seeds now seem to be bearing fruit! As God tells us through

St. Augustine Zhao Rong

the prophet, “So shall my word be that goes forth from my mouth; my word shall not return to me void, but shall do my will, achieving the end for which I sent it.”

When we look into our hearts and lives it is easy to be scandalized by our own weakness, our sins, our failures. It is easy to say to ourselves, “Well, I hope someone else will be faithful and good, because I’m just not cut out for it.” Or, perhaps, we might say to ourselves, “Well, I’m good enough… plenty of people are worse than me… no need to really do anything radical.” Both mistakes cut us off from the grace and life God wants to offer us. God in His generosity offers not just to plant the good seed of faith in our hearts, but also to till the soil there, to break up the big clods of unforgiveness, to throw out the hard rocks of bitterness, to pull up the weeds of sin and temptation. Will we cooperate; will we participate in this good work? Will we respond to this precious gift with the same courage that lead those Chinese martyrs… men, women, and children, young and old, priests, sisters, mothers and fathers… the same courage that led them to give up their lives rather than surrender or abandon their faith?

Make no mistake… the same spiritual combat that lead to their martyrdom is very much at work in our society, albeit in less obvious ways. As our second reading says, “All creation groans in labor pains even until now… we also groan within ourselves.” To allow this seed of faith to grow in our hearts, we are called to choose the good and reject evil. We are called to forgive our enemies, help the poor, to share all that we have been given. We are called to put God and family before career and pleasure. We are called to defend the dignity of every human person from conception to natural death. We are called to defend marriage between man and woman, to fight for the unborn, to fight for our own families and children against the attacks of pornography, addiction, and selfishness.

God will do this in us if we will open the door, if we will permit the seed of faith to be sown. His grace, His strength, His wisdom will work in us if we will allow it. At this very Mass we will draw near this altar to receive the Lord’s Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity. This food of life, this good seed, will be offered to us, planted in us as it were. God offers us this not because we’re such fertile soil, but because He is good and loving! Will we respond to love with love? Will we respond to God’s giving of Himself by giving Him ourselves? No other response is fitting… may we receive infinite love from this altar, and offer all that we are in return.

Bishop Baraga March is less than a month away!

2011-07-06T07:01:00.000-07:00

It's almost time for the 3rd Annual Baraga March, a bike pilgrimage from the shores of Indian Lake near Manistique, where Bishop Baraga first celebrated Mass in the UP, to his tomb at St. Peter Cathedral in Marquette.

There's a simple announcement up here: http://www.dioceseofmarquette.org/peacepizza.asp

The dates: Wednesday, August 3rd, starting with Mass at 10 am at the Baraga Park where the Indian River flows out of Indian Lake, to Friday, August 5th, when we'll close with Mass in the Baraga Crypt about midday.

Email me ASAP if you want to come! benjhasse@yahoo.com

God Bless,
Fr. Ben

Finally... some pictures from my recent trip to El Salvador and Nicaragua

2011-06-26T13:53:00.000-07:00

Here are links to some pictures from my recent trip with my sister Libby to El Salvador and Nicaragua:

El Salvador

Nicaragua

It was a great trip!

Planting corn with my good friend Franklin, he's the one plowing!

Highlights of Two Years at St. Michael Parish and Catholic Campus Ministry

2011-06-26T13:50:00.000-07:00

Here is the text of the letter I wrote for the bulletin insert this weekend:

“Rejoice always. Pray without ceasing. In all circumstances give thanks, for this is the will of God for you in Christ Jesus.”

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

Dear St. Michael Parish,

On my last weekend of service here at St. Michael’s, my heart is heavy at the thought of leaving, but also excited at the adventures that lie ahead. Above all, my heart is full of praise and thanksgiving for the rich gifts given to me here by our gracious and loving Father through each one of you.

My first thanks go without question to Father Larry Van Damme, our pastor. He has been a friend and mentor to me since he was appointed to St. Mary and St. Joseph Parish in Iron Mountain as a newly ordained priest in 1993, my home parish. To have his example, friendship, encouragement, and guidance during my first two years of priesthood has been a rare and precious blessing. Only a very few times have I been in the chapel to pray before him. He has had to live with me in the rectory, no small penance! Neither my room, my office, nor my schedule have been models of tidiness and order, but he has borne with me very patiently. We have celebrated Mass together, sat in adjacent confessionals, paddled our kayaks, and sat up for many long hours talking of life and ministry and God’s mercy. I forgive him for eating all my leftovers! I know I have learned a great deal and am a better man and a better priest because of his generous friendship.

After Father Larry, I have probably spent the most time working with Catherine Hardenbergh, our pastoral and campus minister. Cat also grew up in Iron Mountain, and we already knew each other from the Youth Encounter Movement. We have spent long hours late into the night with the NMU students. Cat has generously shown me the ropes and taught me out of her years of campus ministry experience, along with helping me navigate the many details of parish life. I admire her commitment and generous love for the students and parish, as well as her courageous balancing of family and ministry.

It has been a pleasure, too, to work and pray with Deacon Dennis Maki. He and Father Larry and I all share the same birthday! Deacon Dennis has been consistent in generosity and fidelity. I have been particularly struck by his devotion to the inmates of Marquette Branch Prison, and it has been inspiring to collaborate with him there.

Serving at St. Michael’s, Catholic Campus Ministry, and Fr. Marquette School means being part of a very large team of staff and volunteers, and a member of a large and varied parish family, far too many good and loving people and groups to list in any adequate way here. It is only the lack of space that keeps me from continuing this list for dozens of pages. You welcomed me, taught me, and were patient and forgiving. I have seen you offer generous and loving service without counting the cost. It is with you that I have experienced my first weeks and months of joy at celebrating the Eucharist, of awe at God’s infinite mercy in the Sacrament of Penance, of humility in the Anointing of the Sick. It is with you that I have discovered the enormous variety of needs in a parish, God’s generous grace, and the challenge of navigating such bountiful opportunities with wisdom and discernment.

Some of my greatest joy and fun has been with the youth of the parish and Catholic Campus Ministry. With the school, the middle school youth group, the Scouts, CCM, the Frassati Society, and in other ways I have had the privilege of praying, laughing, eating, and learning with you young men and women. Whether in Mass, retreats, trips, or on snowshoes, I see great hope for our Church in you. God is calling you to holiness and joy in His Church… do not be afraid!

To each and every member of this parish I offer my deepest and heartfelt thanks. It is hard to believe that two years have already passed by, yet they have been so very full. We will never outdo the Lord in generosity… but let’s keep trying! Know that you will be in my thoughts and prayers; please keep me in yours.

God Bless,

Father Ben Hasse

benjhasse@yahoo.com

Along with this letter, I included a number of photos highlighting the many blessings of these past years... this link will take you to those photos and quite a few more in a Facebook album (no need to have an account to view these photos): Highlight Photos on Facebook

Corpus Christi: Will we receive the nourishment we need?

2011-06-26T13:44:00.000-07:00

Homily Outline for the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ: Corpus Christi

26 June 2011

It is a joy to be preaching to you on the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ - Corpus Christi. By God’s generosity, yesterday was my 33rd birthday. Sometimes people get stressed out around their birthdays’, but I just like to think of it like a caveman… another year without getting eaten!

In these days after Pentecost, the Church puts before us a number of the key mysteries, the deepest and most beautiful truths of our faith…last Sunday, the Most Holy Trinity, and now, the Eucharist. This series will conclude with the celebrations of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus this Friday, and the Immaculate Heart of Mary on Saturday. They are connected: out of the dynamic and infinite and perfect love between the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, God’s grace overflows and He sends Jesus to save us through Mary’s self-surrender. From Jesus’ pierced side flowed out blood and water and the Church was born. From the Church we continue to receive the Eucharist, Jesus Himself, and we are drawn into the love of the Trinity. These feasts map out for us the very life of grace!

You very likely have heard the phrase before, but it bears repeating. The Second Vatican Council calls the Eucharist the very “source and summit” of our faith… the font from which all grace flows and the goal and peak towards which we bring everything in our hearts and lives. The Eucharist is to be our life and our joy. As we hear in the first reading, we do not live by bread alone, but by every word from the mouth of God… in the Eucharist real bread becomes the WORD MADE FLESH, Jesus, the Word of the Father. God in His mighty humility comes to us under the appearance of simple food and drink, and the spiritual nourishment He gives us is JUST as necessary as physical nourishment.

In our wealth and comfort, I think some of these images begin to loose their edge. When we hear of the Israelites hungry and thirsty in the desert, most of us have little context to understand this! When I returned to El Salvador recently, everyone commented appreciatively on my round belly, some even patted it proprietarily! The folks there are close enough to knowing real hunger to see my belly as a sign of regular meals! To say “¡Mira, que gordo!”, “Look at how fat you are!” isn’t meant to be derogatory… in a sense, it’s admiration!

Listen, then, to what Jesus says about His Body and Blood in the Gospel, “Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you.” Let that sink into your heart… The Eucharist is not a nice fringe benefit of the Gospel… it is not a nice ceremony to fill out the preaching… it is not merely a symbol of something that happened long ago. Somehow so many of our separated brothers and sisters miss this passage as they study the Bible with so much real love and zeal. The Eucharist is the essential Spiritual Food without which we starve to death. “Amen Amen…unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you DO NOT have life within you.” These are very strong words… do we take them seriously? Do we approach this altar with reverence, hungry to receive the grace we need? Do we prepare our hearts with prayer? Do we examine our hearts to see if we are disposed to receive communion? Do we attend Mass to receive the Eucharist only when it’s convenient? If we face life’s frequent trials and difficulties without the Eucharist, it’s as if we’re trying to run a marathon on an empty stomach… it DOESN’T work!

As I complete two years of service among you this week, I am full of gratitude for the gift of priesthood, and the great gift of beginning my priesthood here with you. I have tried to serve you generously, and I have received far more than I have given. First and foremost, a priest is ordained to provide the People of God with that which is not possible without him… the Eucharist, and the forgiveness of sins. It is an enormously humbling thing to speak the words of Christ, “This is my body,” and to know that Christ works through me to bring us His Body and Blood. It is an enormously humbling thing to hear a person confess their sins and to say those words, “I absolve you from your sins in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.” To serve in God’s name is a joy, and a constant invitation to gratitude and humility. God’s grace makes me very aware of how little I am before the Lord and how much I need Him.

Perhaps my greatest daily sorrow is to see so many people who do not receive - who do not seek - the enormous grace that God longs to give them in Confession and in the Eucharist. St. Paul tells us clearly what is offered to us… a participation in the body of Christ, in His Blood, and then unity with each other in Him. This is what our hearts most long for, God, and we are offered it at every Mass. Do we pause, do we wonder, do we grasp what we are offered! God HIMSELF! As I prepare, now, to celebrate this Sunday Eucharist for the last time among you, this then is my plea to you… do not receive these gifts in vain… do not approach this altar merely out of habit, do not approach without examining and opening your hearts to the healing and mercy that we ALL need. Do not take for granted the Bread from Heaven that comes to you now. God HAS NOT ABANDONED US in our distress, but we have OFTEN abandoned Him. We have chosen to be here and yet our openness can become deeper, wider, and more complete. Then we can bring this gift to the whole world. Jesus offers us infinite grace, if we will but receive it with open hearts. Listen again to Jesus’ beautiful promise, “Just as the living Father sent me and I have life because of the Father, so also the one who feeds on me will have life because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven. Unlike your ancestors who ate and still died, whoever eats this bread will live forever.”

A stiff challenge... and the FIRE to live it.

2011-05-29T20:50:00.000-07:00

+ J.M.J. +

Homily Outline for the 6th Sunday of Easter, Year A

Our Gospel today on this 6th Sunday of Easter puts before us a simple and very difficult challenge, but it also speaks of the means by which we can respond to this challenge with courage and hope. The challenge is in the very first line: “Jesus said to his disciples: ‘If you love me, you will keep my commandments.’” That is one tough line… it is easy to say that we love Jesus, and I suspect that most of us experience that movement in our hearts, at least from time to time… after all, he gave EVERYTHING for us on the Cross, and rose in victory of over sin and death. He will come to us at this very Mass Body, Blood, Soul & Divinity, under the humble appearance of bread and wine. What’s not to love! Jesus is a good, true, and beautiful Savior.

Very quickly, though, we are invited to reflect on what love really is…it is certainly not simple admiration or appreciation from a distance. What does loving Jesus look like? We will keep His commandments. He made the 10 commandments His own, but then He went farther… He upped the ante, ruling out not just murder but even hatred, ruling out not just adultery, but the lust of the heart, calling us to forgive 70 times 7 times, and even to love our enemies. These commandments are straightforward, easy to understand, but very difficult to live. Jesus did not say, “If you love me, keep some of my commandments…” He did not say, “If you love me, keep the commandments that come naturally, and you can fudge the rest of them.” He said it very simply, “Keep my commandments.” On this basis, it would be easy to get very discouraged. A careful examination of our hearts will indicate that in one way or another we have fallen short of this standard, casting the reality and authenticity of our love for Jesus, who loved us perfectly unto the Cross, very much in doubt.

That’s not the end of what Jesus tells us today, praise God! There’s more: “And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate to be with you always, the Spirit of truth… I will not leave you orphans, I will come to you.” Jesus knows perfectly how much we struggle to be faithful, even how much we struggle to desire faithfulness. He does not expect us to fly solo on this mission. He has sent His Spirit, the Holy Spirit of Love, Power, and Self Control, the Consoler and Fire of the Love between Father and Son. This Holy Spirit is sent to help and sustain us in the midst of this daunting invitation to love Jesus, and so to keep His commandments.

We see one aspect of this promise in our first reading. Philip is one of the first 7 deacons, and he was driven from Jerusalem with the other followers of Christ after his brother deacon Stephen was stoned to death for preaching Jesus Christ and Him crucified. He came to Samaria, a region north of Jerusalem and proclaimed Christ. The Lord worked miracles through him, casting out unclean spirits and healing many sick people. Hearing of this missionary fruit, the apostles sent Peter and John, and they laid hands on these newly baptized Christians, who then received the Holy Spirit. Notice that the Holy Spirit came down precisely through the intercession of the apostles, Peter and John. The Holy Spirit is the soul of Christ’s Body, the Church. Now, as then, this gift comes to us through human instruments, the apostles and their successors, the bishops. The full gift of the Holy Spirit is ordinarily given at confirmation by the bishop, who stands in an unbroken line with the Twelve. The power and courage to keep Jesus’ commandments doesn’t ordinarily come to individuals in isolation, but in and through the Body of Christ, the Church.

We see this call to be filled with the Holy Spirit made even more clearly in the 2nd reading. Peter says this to us, “Always be ready to give an explanation to anyone who asks you for a reason for your hope, but do it with gentleness and reverence…” Do we live in such a fashion that people see hope evident in our lives and ask us about it? Are we ready to explain the essential role that Faith plays in our hearts and lives? This is the challenge! On our own, we cannot do it! Enlivened by the Holy Spirit, we can transform the world.

In the years ahead, as in years and centuries gone by, our fidelity to Christ and His Church will be tested… what choice will we make? Will we call upon the Spirit’s aid and stand firm with the Gospel, with the Church, with the Truth, even when it’s inconvenient, even when it’s unpopular? Are we willing to suffer and lay down our lives for Jesus Christ, who suffered and laid down His life for us? Will we walk the broad easy downward road, going with the flow, following the teachings that are comfortable, and ignoring the rest? To walk against that current has never been easy, but we are not alone! The Gospel is bigger than our preferences and tastes, it is bigger than our strength… The Holy Spirit is fire, wind, breath, power, and life that God will pour into our hearts and lives and word and struggles. Do you love Jesus Christ who loved you unto death? Keep, then, His commandments by the power of the Holy Spirit poured out upon us through His Body the Church. Receive today His Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity, and be filled with fire, with love, and with truth.

¿Cómo participar?

2011-05-22T07:09:00.000-07:00

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Esbozo de una homilia para la Quinta Semana de Pascua, Año A

Durante estas semanas de la Pascua, seguimos celebrando la victoria de Cristo en la cruz. Esta victoria tan grande no se celebra adecuadamente en un día, ni en una semana… se celebra durante 50 días… poco a poco nuestra Madre la Iglesia nos invita a comprender ¡qué grande es el Señor! El venció a la muerte y el pecado a través de la muerte. Muriendo, derrotó a la muerte definitivamente y nos trajo la vida.

Nos juntamos aquí en esta bella iglesia para celebrar la Eucaristía, la fuente y culmen de nuestra vida católica. A la Santa Misa llevamos todo lo que somos, todo lo que experimentamos, tanto malo que bueno… llevamos todo a este altar. De la santa Misa fluye todo la gracia que el Señor nos ofrece… no es decir que el Señor no puede trabajar de otra manera, pero es precisamente por el sacrificio de Cristo que él eligió actuar. La puerta por lo cual entramos a este sacramento es el bautismo.

Hoy, en nuestra segunda lectura, San Pedro está enseñando sobre nuestra identidad en Cristo, la identidad que viene del bautismo. A pesar de nuestra debilidad, a pesar de nuestros pecados, a pesar de nuestra ignorancia, el Señor nos ha escogido y nos ame con perfecta fieldad. Según San Pedro, pues, ¿Quién somos? “Ustedes también son piedras vivas, que van entrando en la edificación del templo espiritual, para formar un sacerdocio santo, destinado a ofrecer sacrificios espirituales, agradables a Dios, por medio de Jesucristo.” A través del bautismo, somos configurados hijos e hijas del Padre, y somos sacerdote, profeta, y rey. Esta dignidad no pertenece a un grupo contadito, a unos cuantos los líderes, ni tampoco pertenece sólo a los hombres llamados al orden sacerdotal… esta dignidad viene con el bautismo. Cada persona bautizada ha sido transformada en sacerdote, profeta, y rey. Es precisamente por haber recibido este don del bautismo que pueden entrar a esta iglesia hoy. No vienen a observar algo, no vienen como espectadores, de ningún modo! Vienen a participar, a celebrar en raíz a su sacerdocio bautismal. Atiende otra vez a San Pedro, “Ustedes, por el contrario, son estirpe elegida, sacerdocio real, nación consagrada a Dios y pueblo de su propiedad…” San Pedro está hablando a todos nosotros, cada uno… escucharemos a su voz?

¿Cómo participarán? Por cantar? Por leer? Por escuchar? Si, en todas aquellas maneras, pero no es allí donde se encuentra su participación, su celebración, fundamental. Poder participar plenamente, poder celebrar plenamente en la Eucaristía no depende principalmente de tener algún trabajo… ni tampoco depende de poder hacer algo exterior. Una persona muda, una persona sorda, una persona coja… esta persona podría participar profundamente igual a cualquier otra persona… ¿Cómo? ¿De qué manera? San Pedro lo dijo: “…un sacerdocio santo, destinado a ofrecer sacrificios espirituales…” El corazón de la Misa es el sacrificio de Jesucristo, ofrecido a través del sacerdote. En raíz a su ordinación, un don que viene encima de su bautismo, el actúa en la persona de Cristo. El sacerdote es Cristo, el sacrificio es Cristo, y la congregación es Cristo. Tu participación se hace verdadera en el momento que te ofreces completamente en el altar con el pan y el vino. Cuando el sacerdote dice “Este es mi cuerpo,” no se habla principalmente por sí mismo, pero habla por Cristo. Más bien, Cristo habla por el! Además, habla de ofrecer a su propio cuerpo y vida. En este momento, los bautizados deben ofrecerse a sí mismo también. Ésta oferta deber alcanzar al lecho de su alma, su corazón, su vida. Debe alcanzar su gozo, su agradecimiento, su alabanza, pero también su dolor, su angustia, su ansiedad, sus dudas, cualquier dificultad. En la Misa no contamos al Señor lo que creemos que él quiere escuchar…. No es mantener la apariencia que todo está perfecto en nuestras vidas. Si acerquémonos al Señor de esta manera, prácticamente cerramos la puerta al Señor. Celebramos la Misa profundamente en el momento que llegamos honestamente al Señor con todo lo que somos, confiados de que El nos ame de verdad, así como somos.

Termino con las palabras tan bellas del Evangelio… Escuchan otra vez, “Jesús dijo a sus discípulos, “No pierdan la paz. Si creen en Dios, crean también en mí…. Yo soy el camino, la verdad, y la vida. Nadie va al Padre si no es por mí. Si ustedes me conocen a mí, conocen también a mi Padre.” Jesús nos mostró el camino cuando se ofreció completamente por nosotros en la cruz, y resucitó en el tercer día… Jesús nos enseñó la verdad y lo sigue enseñando a través de su cuerpo, La Iglesia… Jesús nos da vida, él mismo es la vida que nos da. Esta vida, gracia, fuerza y perdón nos llega especialmente en cada Misa, nos llega del altar… la mera vida de Dios, su gracia, su cuerpo, y sangre. Acerquémonos hoy conscientes del don del bautismo… acerquémonos conscientes de nuestro profundo hambre y necesidad por Dios, acerquémonos al altar ofreciendo al Padre todo lo que somos, dispuestos a recibir a Dios mismo, todo lo que El es, a Jesucristo nuestro Señor.

Heart's longing for the Father's Love

2011-05-22T07:07:00.000-07:00

Homily Outline for the 5th Sunday of Easter, Year A

Who are we in Christ? Each one of us in different ways is busy and does many things, but this is not who we are. We are not our jobs, we are not a bundle of tasks accomplished… St. Peter addresses this central and heartfelt question in our 2nd Reading, listen again to his answer: “…like living stones, let yourself be built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. …You are a ‘chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people of his own, so that you may announce the praises’ of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.” In Christ Jesus, risen from the dead, we are God’s people, created by Him in love, redeemed by Him in love, and called to be a royal priesthood. The Father desires to build us into a body, a spiritual house, each of us living stones, the holy edifice of the Church, the Body of Christ. God’s love, Jesus’ perfect sacrifice becomes concrete in us as we are enlivened by the Holy Spirit.

If we are to embrace this true identity offered to us in Christ, we must turn to the Father with love and confidence, allowing Him to shape and mold us. This is fearful and challenging… sin calls us to shape and mold ourselves, to be the tyrants and masters of our own destiny, to take the rudder of our lives and steer capriciously wherever our whims take us. To truly embrace our identity as beloved sons and daughters of the Father, we must walk the same path that Jesus walked, dying to self and placing ourselves into the Father’s hands.

I had a simple experience some days ago that makes this concrete. I was sitting out on the couch there in the Gathering Space talking to a family, and one of their little girls came flying up onto the couch next to me and immediately nestled herself up against my side, under the crook of my arm. She settled there and gazed up at me with a big smile! Now, some children find my beard frightening, and some want to use it as a rope swing! This little girl has always sought me out, and apparently sometimes refers to me as “her Father Ben!”

You can imagine that the trust and affection in this child’s face touched my heart. The heart of a priest is a heart called to spiritual fatherhood, to give life to many spiritual children, and sometimes that becomes very concrete. Some time after this experience though, I was struck by another angle… Do I approach our Heavenly Father with such confidence and affection? God who created and redeemed us is PERFECTLY worthy of our love and trust, but it is so easy not to approach Him in this fashion, but rather to keep our distance, to approach Him guardedly, to bargain with Him, or even to ignore Him in our daily lives. Do you approach God in prayer, in worship, with deep affection and trust? This is how God the Father wants you to approach, to open your heart to being chosen by Him, to being part of His royal priesthood, a member of His holy nation, a living member of His Body, the Church.

This intimate communion with the Father is exactly what Jesus invites us to in the Gospel… “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You have faith in God; have faith also in me. In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places.” There is no competition for God’s love, His heart is infinite, there is a place for each one of us. Whatever brokenness has affected our human relationships, whether that is with parents, with spouses, with children, we must open ourselves up to confidence in God, whose love is perfect.

How do we draw near to the Father? Listen again to Jesus, “I am the way the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you know me, then you will also know my Father. From now on you do know him and have seen him.” We draw near to our Loving Father through Jesus Christ His Son. Jesus models for us the way, He Himself IS the Way, the Truth, the Life. Jesus emptied Himself on the Cross completely for us, broke down the barrier of sin and death, and opened up the way to the Father. Will we open our hearts to that love, to that way, to that truth, to that life? It is offered to us freely, abundantly, generously.

Close your eyes for just one moment, and picture yourself nestled against the Father’s loving chest, hearing the beat of His heart which beats with love for you. Pour out to the Father all that is in your heart. Hear of His love and His mercy.

This intimate communion with the Father through His Son and in the Holy Spirit is offered to us most perfectly at this altar. As we prepare to enter into the deep and perfect mystery of the Eucharist, let us turn away from suspicion and fear, and open our hearts to the Father’s perfect love, which will transform us, and through us the whole world.

How can we hear the Shepherd's voice?

2011-05-15T04:43:00.000-07:00

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Homily Outline for the Fourth Sunday of Easter, Year A

“When he has driven out all his own, he walks ahead of them, and the sheep follow him, because they recognize his voice.” Jesus is revealed most perfectly as our Shepherd in the Paschal Mystery, the Mystery of Easter: His Suffering, Death, and Resurrection. As we begin this Fourth Week of Easter, our Mother the Church wants to direct our attention to our Risen Lord as our Shepherd. We hear from St. Peter twice today, and in the 2nd reading He says this about Jesus: “When he was insulted, he returned no insult; when he suffered, he did not threaten; instead, he handed himself over to the one who judges justly. He himself bore our sins in his body upon the cross, so that, free from sin, we might live for righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed. For you had gone astray like sheep, but you have now returned to the shepherd and guardian of your souls.” On the Cross Jesus is the Lamb of God, He is both Priest and Victim, and He is most perfectly our Shepherd.

Peter speaks of returning to the Shepherd… Where and how do we hear the voice of the Shepherd? If we desire to follow Him, to return to Him, we must listen for His voice, we must recognize His voice… How do we do that? There are three principal places where we can hear the Good Shepherd’s voice, and thus be lead to green pastures, out of danger, into peace. Christ the Good Shepherd speaks in our consciences, in the Living and Efficacious Word of God, the Bible, and in His One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church, which is His Body.

Let me begin with our consciences. The Lord has written His Law on our hearts… but to hear His voice speaking to us there, we must enter into the silence of our hearts, we must pause and listen. It takes courage and discipline to go within and so to encounter the Good Shepherd. How often do we have an inkling what our conscience might tell us if we were to listen! We can storm on at top speed, we can keep the music turned up, but if we want to hear the Shepherd’s voice, we must listen. Of course this happens principally in prayer… speaking to the Lord, but also listening. The day has 3 simple natural times built into it for prayer… when we rise, when we eat, when we lie down again. Do you keep these times for prayer? However brief or simple it might be, there is nothing more tranformative you can do than to begin to speak to the Lord, and if you already speak to Him, to do so with greater frequency. And not only to speak, but also to listen.

Our consciences are not always perfectly formed, and sometimes we can get confused. We need to be taught, we need to learn, our consciences and hearts need to be shepherded. God speaks to us powerfully and intimately in His Sacred Scripture. The Catholic Church gave us the Bible, discerning and collecting the inspired writings of the Apostles and their disciples… and yet, unfortunately, we Catholics have often become known for our ignorance of the very book that our mothers and fathers in faith handed down to us at such a great price! A short passage read in quiet and pondered, this is the way to begin. Two concrete suggestions… begin now to read the first Gospel, the Gospel of Matthew. Read a chapter or less a day, and allow God’s Word to soak into you. Alternatively, read the daily Mass readings each day, or just the passage of the Gospel assigned for each day. It’s listed ever week in our bulletin, it’s very easy to find online. God’s word can and will transform you if you open your life to it. The Good Shepherd will teach and guide your mind and heart, if you will listen.

Finally, whenever doubts and confusion afflict us, when we don’t understand how to apply the word of God, when we need guidance of any sort, especially to respond to the many contemporary challenges we face each day, we must turn to the living voice of the Shepherd, His Body, the Church. The Church gave us the Scriptures, and has handed them down to us. The Church teaches us today what it taught in the first century. As Peter proclaimed Jesus Christ and Him crucified, as we heard in the first reading, the Church proclaims Him still today. Without the Church, directly, or indirectly, none of us could have heard of Christ, His Good News, nor could we encounter Him in the sacraments. In our own time many people sneer at organized religion and walk away…. is disorganized religion is any better! Without the Church to teach and guide us, we so often follow our own preferences, our own convenience. We pick and choose the parts of the Gospel that are comfortable… but that is not the Gospel! The Sheepfold of Christ is His Body the Church. If we want to be part of His flock, we are called to listen to His Voice, to be conformed to His Sacred Heart, to be configured to His Passion, His Death, but also His Resurrection! Jesus speaks to us precisely through His Church, guided by the successor of Peter, the Pope.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, the Lord is very near to us, and wishes to shepherd and guide us to green pastures, flowing waters, and into the light of hope. He tells us in the gospel that He came so that we might have life, and have it more abundantly…May we listen to Him in our hearts, seek Him in His word, and may we listen to His voice, especially as it speaks to us through His Body, the Church!

With God's help....

2011-05-11T07:34:00.000-07:00

Wedding Homily for Jeff Page and Sarah Huffmeyer, 7 May 2011

Chapel of the Immaculate Conception, Oldenburg, IN

Jeff and Sarah, it is an honor, a privilege, but most of all a joy to be with you on this holy day! Let us not be alarmed by the rain… it is a symbol in the Scriptures of God’s grace and mercy which He pours out upon us to bring life, grace, and healing! As we come to these final moments leading up to the Sacrament of Marriage which you are about to enter, the Church calls us to turn to the Word of God to prepare our hearts. You have chosen these readings well and prayerfully, for which I thank you.

We begin, very appropriately, in the beginning! God made us! This was His first gift to us, life… not only did He make us in love, but He made the whole beautiful buzzing world for us! As farmers, engineers, and foresters, you and your families understand and experience daily what it means to use this gift well and wisely. Our lives and the world in which we live are not finally random, but an intentional and loving gift for which we give thanks.

From the VERY beginning, God created man and woman in His image and likeness…He gave us the ability to know, and the ability to love. From the very beginning, He called men and women to marriage. Marriage is not something we have created or imagined ourselves, not something we are free to define as we please… it is a gift from God. Like the very gift of life, like the gift of the world around us, it is to be received, cherished, and nurtured with love. As God calls you into marriage with each other, that is not a generic or general invitation, but a very specific call to each other… of all the infinite number of people God could create, He chose to create you, and to create you for each other… How He loves us!

These precious gifts of life were not enough… God has not only created each one of us with love, but in the midst of our brokenness and need, He redeemed us and gave the gift of new life in Christ. At your baptism, you became adopted children of God, members of Christ’s body the Church. In Christ, marriage becomes a sacrament, a visible sign of an invisible reality. Your second reading speaks to this very directly. I appreciate your boldness and courage in choosing this reading… it is the very heart of the Church’s theology of marriage, but many misunderstand Paul and the Church. The word “submissive” rings out, and anger flares, or hurt. Let us listen carefully, because what Paul actually says is very beautiful, and VERY challenging! Listen to the very first line… “Follow the way of love, even as Christ loved you. He gave himself for us. Defer to one another out of reverence for Christ.” This call to defer, to submit, comes to each of you. You are to imitate Christ who gave Himself for us, who loved us even unto death, death on a Cross. We have just celebrated that highest and most central feast of Christian Life, the Sacred Triduum, Easter. The gift of self that Jesus Christ made on the Cross, the gift of self that led Him into the tomb and even into the depths of Hell, that gift of self for us brought Resurrection, Victory, and Joy! The authentic gift of self, the surrender of one’s life and heart into God’s hands leads to true life.

If anything, Jeff, Paul puts you on the spot even more than your wife. Listen to his instructions to you! “Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the Church. He gave himself up for her…” You know what Christ did for His Church, for us… Remember Holy Thursday, remember Good Friday. Out of love for us, Jesus was condemned, mocked, beaten, crowned with thorns, burdened with the Cross, crucified. He shed every drop of sweat, every ounce of blood in Him for us, for His bride, the Church. This is your calling, to lay down your life, even unto death, to lay down every drop of sweat and life and blood in your veins for Sarah, who will be your wife, even unto death… to empty yourself in love for her, even as our Lord did for you, for us. Marriage will not be easy, life is not easy… the Church is very honest about this! You will be called to give in ways you cannot now imagine, but you will NOT be alone!

Sarah, as you place yourselves freely into your husband’s arms, as you entrust your very life to him, he is to entrust his very life to you, heart, body, mind, & soul. This is Christian Marriage, and this is a mystery, a sacrament, that teaches us about Christ’s love for us. Every sacrament is a visible sign of an invisible reality… the visible sign for the world is your love for each other, and it is meant to teach all of us who see it about Christ’s love for us… Husbands and wives, this is the challenge, the invitation… as you love each other, as you love your children, the world should say… ahhh, now I understand a little more how much God loves me!

This is a daunting challenge… to enter into this gift of self freely, to give yourselves totally, holding nothing back, to be faithful to each unto death, and to be open to the gift of life from God… this is Christian marriage, and humanly, it is implausible! It is not possible merely by human strength… but with God, all things are possible! To live this call is to be, like Christ, a sign of contradiction to a world that is very confused, very sad, filled with hurt and falsehood. To live this call is to be a beacon of hope… not because either one of you is perfect, not because you will not make mistakes, but because God’s love at work in you is stronger and more beautiful than any challenge or struggle you may face! We come, here, to our Gospel, to the beatitudes! These sayings are poetic, but in worldly terms, they are silliness, they are pipe dreams. In this world, the poor in spirit, the sorrowing, the lowly, the peacemakers often come up short. But in light of God and eternity, they chart for us the mysterious path of the Gospel. Jeff and Sarah, they chart for you the path of joy in your marriage… to be little and humble before your spouse, ready to admit your failures and ask forgiveness… to long for holiness as a deer longs for running streams, and to lead each other to that life of prayer and truth…to show mercy and to make peace. “Be glad and rejoice, for your reward in heaven is great!”

You begin your marriage here in this beautiful church, a place, Sarah, where you have worshipped, a place where the gift of faith given you by your family was strengthened and nourished. Jeff and Sarah, we have prayed together today, we have listened together to the word of God. Do not stop seeking the Lord in this way… they say that the family that prays together, stays together… this is true! We added a new clause when you visited me last month…the family that traps and prays together, stays together and is warm in their beaver hats! All jesting aside, stay together before the Lord… stay close to the Lord in prayer, in His Word, in the sacraments. In just a few moments, you will enter into the sacrament of marriage, and that sacrament will be sealed by the gift of the Eucharist, the gift of the Lord’s body, blood, soul, and divinity. Jesus who gave Himself to us on the cross, Jesus who calls you to imitate that gift of self in your marriage, pouring out your lives for each other, that same Jesus continues to come to us, Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity, under the humble appearance of bread and wine. He not only calls you to holiness, but He gives Himself to you, giving you all the grace and strength you need, if you will but receive it. Enter this sacrament today in humble joy, and receive the Lord once joined in marriage as one body, one love… be filled with Him who died for us!

My Lord and my God.... Jesus, I trust in you.

2011-05-01T16:59:00.000-07:00

Homily Outline for the 2nd Sunday of Easter, Divine Mercy Sunday

Happy Easter, brother and sisters in our Risen Lord! Jesus Christ is risen, alleluia, alleluia! He is risen, indeed! Although most of us are finishing off our Easter candy and almost through those delicious leftover ham sandwiches, today is just as much Easter as last Sunday… this evening we enter into the octave day of Easter, the 8th day! The Church gives us these 8 days of intense liturgical joy because we need more than one day to begin to wrap our heads around the truth of that proclamation… “The Prince of life, who died, reigns immortal!” Towards the end, the sequence says, “Have mercy, victor King, ever reigning,” and our opening prayer today says, “God of mercy, you was away our sins!” We also celebrate Divine Mercy Sunday. Jesus suffered, died, and rose again precisely because we needed, and need, to be saved!

The Apostles needed to receive the very life and grace of God poured out through the Cross and Resurrection, and so do we! This theme is repeated in our readings: “And every day, the Lord added to their number those who were being saved.” “I was hard pressed and was falling, but the Lord helped me.” “You rejoice…. as you attain the goal of your faith, the salvation of souls.” Jesus breathes the Holy Spirit upon His apostles, and immediately He says, “Receive the Hol Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained.” We are invited to believe, and we are filled with joy, precisely because we are so much in need of God’s healing and help, His Divine Mercy. Truly, we are each one of us beggars before the Lord.

It is difficult to admit this; it is difficult to receive this gift of faith. In the gospel we hear vividly of Thomas’ struggle. He will not believe unless he sees the Lord’s wounds. Upon seeing them he exclaims, “My Lord and my God.” Those wounds on the risen Lord speak of our need, His suffering, but also of the victory He offers to us!

We have not seen those wounds… Jesus offers us a blessing, “Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed!” But we have seen the fruits of that resurrection… before that gift of the Holy Spirit, the apostles are scared, they’re still holed up in hiding. But, after that, we hear of their courage in Acts, “They ate their meals with exultation and sincerity of heart, praising God and enjoying favor with all the people.” They were no longer scared, even by persecution, martyrdom and death. This truth and proclamation has come down to us through long centuries of faith and courage. Today there are 1.2 billion Catholics worldwide connected to that upper room by an unbroken chain of faith and grace. Even as it is difficult to believe in our skeptical and cynical world, even as it is difficult to trust a Church made up precisely of broken people like us, nonetheless we have GOOD reason to trust message, this truth! Jesus Christ is risen, indeed! His Body, the Church still lives and breathes with that same Holy Spirit He breathed upon his apostles.

And the Lord’s action in the world did not cease upon His Ascension into heaven… He continues to be at work in the world. As we celebrate Divine Mercy Sunday today, we remember the concrete impact of Christ’s resurrection in the life of St. Faustina Kowalska… she was born in a poor family in 1905 in Poland. She grew up in the midst of poverty, hunger, and the horror of World War I. She heard God’s call to the religious life, and as a young nun the Lord appeared to her as He is depicted in the Divine Mercy Image: From His heart, pierced on the cross, shine out rays of white and red, signifying water and blood, Baptism and Eucharist. Jesus asked St. Faustina to share this image with a very simple message, “Jesus, I trust in you!” It was a message much needed in her difficult life, much needed in her broken land. Poland would suffer much more after her death than it did during her life: World War II, and the long Communist regime. It is a message and invitation just as much needed in our hearts and lives, so often broken by sin and suffering. Jesus has risen from the dead, He has trampled death by death. He offers us the fruits of that victory, if we will but receive them! Let us make that pray our own, let those words be on our lips… with Thomas let us say, “My Lord and my God.” With St. Faustina let us say, “Jesus, I trust in you.”

TV link from the Vatican... this should show the beatification LIVE!

2011-04-30T20:03:00.000-07:00

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If you want to post this on your website go to: http://www.h2onews.org/form-web-tv-en.html

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Run to Him, Serve Him, He is Risen, Alleluia!

2011-04-24T09:34:00.000-07:00

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Homily Outline for Easter Sunday, Year A

Jesus Christ is risen, Alleluia Alleuia! Truly, He is Risen! Alleluia Alleluia!

Alleluia is Hebrew for “Praise God,” it is the Easter word par excellence, for on this day of all the days of the year we truly have reason to praise our God and Savior… Jesus has risen from the grave trampling death and sin! The stone which the builders rejected has become the corner stone! Most amazing of all, we are invited into and offered the fruits of this victory… Jesus rose precisely for us! God created us in love, now He has redeemed us in love by the blood of His Only Son.

We heard in the Gospel that St. Peter was the first to enter Christ’s empty tomb… listen to his testimony, the testimony of an eye witness, the testimony of one who denied the Lord and yet repented: “He commissioned us to preach to the people and testify that he is the one appointed by God
as judge of the living and the dead. To him all the prophets bear witness, that everyone who believes in him will receive forgiveness of sins through his name.”

Last night, after we had entered the church with only the light of the Paschal Candle, newly blessed and lighted from the Easter Fire, I proclaimed the Exultet, a song of rejoicing. One line of that most beautiful song captures the mystery of Christ’s resurrection, “O happy fault, o necessary sin of Adam, which gained for us so great a Redeemer!” The Church marvels, we marvel, that from Adam’s sin that sundered the tie between man and God, God has brought forth joy and beauty beyond measure. God Himself came and dwelt among us, Jesus Christ, fully God and fully man. He bore every price of our sin, was beaten and crucified, died and descended down into the land of the dead, and yet rose victorious! Alleluia, Praise God for His mercy, Praise God for His love, Praise God for the invitation made to each one of us, especially in our baptism, to respond to this love with love.

Paul tells us that our lives are hidden with Christ in God. When we were baptized, we descended into the depths of the water, dying with Christ, and we rose up out of the water reborn. “When Christ your life appears, then you too will appear with Him in glory.” We are drawn into this praise, into this victory, OUR weakness and sin is overwhelmed in Christ’s victory… This is a mystery, truly our lives are hidden with Christ… so often we do not see all, we do not understand… but Christ has won the victory! May we praise Him this morning in His hiddenness, even as we do not fully understand.

It is often the case that on Easter, like Christmas, many people come to Church who are not here every week… I just want to address some words to you this morning: Welcome! We are glad you are here with us! Of all the days of the year to go to Church, today is the most important day… for your presence here we say Alleluia, Praise God! In our joy that you are here, we also extend the Lord’s invitation… do not come today in joy, and then stay away! We want you to be with us every Sunday, we need you to be with us every Sunday, indeed, you need to be with us every Sunday!

For every one of us here, today, this morning, in this Easter Joy, there is an invitation… God has given us everything, even Himself… and He has won for us the victory… there is only one response that is fitting… to respond in joy, to give our lives to Him, to seek Him… not just today, on Easter, not just on Sunday, but every day of the week. We are to seek Him, to serve Him, to love Him at Church, at home, at work, at school, each day and in every moment. He offers us grace and strength and light. May we wait upon His love as Mary Magdalene did, may we run to Him as Peter and John, may we see the empty tomb and believe.

In just a few moments, we will renew our baptismal promises… this is our renewed response to the Lord. May our prayer be heartfelt, and may we in this way prepare our hearts to receive the Risen Lord Himself from this altar.

He died for our sins.... for love of us.

2011-04-22T12:40:00.000-07:00

Homily Outline for Good Friday, Year A

In many powerful ways, this Good Friday service speaks for itself… it places before us the Passion of Christ, His suffering and death. We will respond shortly by praying for the whole world, we will venerate the Cross, sign of our salvation, and we will receive the fruits of the Lord’s Sacrifice, His Body Blood Soul and Divinity. We will depart in silence, into the waiting and fast, lasting all the way through tomorrow evening, if possible. Only on Good Friday and Holy Saturday, of all the days of the year, is the Mass not celebrated. We wait in silence while Christ lies in the tomb. Tomorrow evening, having passed through this silence, as darkness falls and Saturday ends, we will gather again for the Easter Vigil, the most joyous of all nights.

I simply want to draw your attention now to the reason for all of this, the reason for our somber and sober liturgy today, the reason for Christ’s suffering and death. There is an immediate reason, a painful one, and a deeper reason, a joyful one.

Listen again to the prophet Isaiah “he was spurned and avoided by people…. the guilt of us all.” Christ died because He bore our offenses, He was crushed for our sins. This is not hyperbole, this is not immoderate or inappropriate guilt, this is simply the truth. Christ died for our sins. Every time we’ve been unkind to someone, every time we’ve used pornography or indulged a lustful thought, every time we’ve refused forgiveness, whatever sins we have preferred or been unable to overcome,… the lash of our sin strikes painfully into the Lord’s wounded back. Physically, the Roman soldiers and the Temple Guard beat and killed him, Pontius Pilate in his cowardice condemned him, people in the crowd that day yelled “Crucify Him,” but only our sins brought Him to the Cross. If we ignore this fact, if we fail to be sorry for our sins… if no ray of sorrow pierces our hardened hearts at the thought of the Lord of Glory ground to a pulp, we have not understood this day or the Gospel.

If in honesty we can gaze upon our broken Lord, if we can gaze upon our broken promises, the baptismal purity that we have sullied by our sin, then and only then are we open to the deeper and far more joyful reason for today.

Listen again to Isaiah, who dimly and through shadows foresaw this mystery and joy. “If he gives his life as an offering for sin, he shall see his descendants in a long life, and the will of the Lord shall be accomplished through him.” Christ gave His life for our sins… and he was motivated only by perfect love and obedience. “Father, into your hands I commend my spirit.” God loves us perfectly, faithfully…. although our sins often render us unable or unwilling to receive that love, nothing we do diminishes His perfect and faithful love for us. That love took on flesh and dwelt among us in Jesus who is Himself God, who is Himself Love. “Son though he was, he learned obedience from what he suffered; and when he was made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him.” Jesus, in His infinite power as God, is only held to the pillar to be scourged, He is only bound to the cross, by love for us. This is the irony when they mock him, “come down from there.” He could have come down, but out of love, he took our sins all the way to death, so that we could be saved.

So, this afternoon, let our hearts be pierced with sorrow at the pain and sorrow we have caused the Lord. In this sorrow, let us be filled with thanksgiving… He bore the lash for us. By his stripes we are saved…. and in the midst of that healthy and truthful sorrow, let joy be found, and awe and wonder. Jesus loved us perfectly, and was obedient unto death, death on a cross. All has been bought and paid for at the greatest price. Through our tears, as it were, let us see the unimaginable love, the infinite love that has conquered our grief. Let us fast and wait for the joy of the coming dawn.

Embrace healing or remain blind?

2011-04-03T18:50:00.000-07:00

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Homily Outline for the 4th Sunday of Lent, Year A

“Rejoice, Jerusalem! Be glad for her, you who love her; rejoice with her, you who mourned for her, and you will find contentment at her consoling breasts.” (Is 66:10-11)

Today is Laetare Sunday, Rejoice Sunday, named after the “introit” or entrance antiphon proper to this Mass, which I just read. Rejoice Jerusalem, rejoice O Mother Church, rejoice members of Christ’s Body, the Church… on this Fourth Sunday of Lent, we have come through over half of our 40 days of fasting, only 18 days to go until the feasting of Easter! We have been in the desert, but we draw nearer each day to the wellspring of our salvation.

God’s ways are not our ways; God’s power goes far beyond our own power. In our first reading, God chooses David, the youngest brother, despite everyone's expectations. God sees not just the exterior, but also the heart! We see Jesus using His divine power as He heals the man born blind. Physically, this is impressive. Spiritually, it is beautiful… this man can now behold the beauty of the natural world, the faces of his parents, even the face of our Lord Jesus Himself. As Paul speaks of us as “children of light,” this description is very tangible for that formerly blind man who sees light for the first time, and at the same time comes to know the Lord.

What might the Lord heal in your heart this Lent? Perhaps you harbor wounds or pain or grudges or fear that are not nearly so evident as that man’s blindness. Maybe they’ve been caused by your own sin, the sin of others, or by circumstances beyond anyone’s control. Jesus can heal your heart. It does not seem that the blind man expected to be healed that day, and so often God’s healing comes to us unawares, from unexpected quarters, in times and ways we cannot predict.

I suspect that many of you have already had this experience before today… perhaps it was kind words from someone you considered an enemy, maybe it was making a good confession after being away from the Lord. To receive God’s healing is beautiful, but do we embrace it? Does it continue to change our lives? As God pours out the healing water of His grace, are our hearts hard and frozen clay, or are they rich broken soil? To be contrite, to be sorry for our sins, this means to have a heart that is broken, but also a heart that is open to God’s healing. We can look at past healing in our lives, or healing in the lives of others with skepticism, with disbelief, with hostility as the Pharisees, or we can greet that healing with honesty as the blind man did. He doesn’t in any way fully understand what has happened. He doesn’t even recognize Jesus when he encounters Him again. But he is open, desiring the gift of faith that he cannot manufacture himself. Listen to that final dialogue: When Jesus heard…. and those who do see might become blind.”

If we can know and own our brokenness and sin, we are in a position then to receive healing and the gift of faith. This is precisely what Lent is about. We courageously enter into our hearts and lives and seek the sinful places, the painful places, the ugly places, not to wallow in guilt, but to know our need and then be ready to receive. Jesus is the Light, and in Him we can see the truth about our hearts. That may not always be pretty, but it can lead us to the true beauty of healing and reconciliation.

Karol Wotyla, the man who would become JP II

Today is the 6th anniversary of Pope John Paul II, soon to be beatified. I think we can see in his life and ministry this healing light of Christ in a particularly bold way. Karol Wotyla experienced every sort of pain and loss as a young man… he lost his mother, his brother, and his father by 22. He saw his country ravaged first by the Nazis and then by Communism. Many of his friends, both Catholic and Jewish, were killed. Out of this crucible of violence and hatred, by God’s grace he was not a man filled with hatred or anger, but a man filled with a visceral sense of God’s infinite capacity to heal and sustain us in the face of suffering. He was also deeply convicted of the need to speak the truth in the face of falsehood and deception.

To me, and perhaps in a special way to my generation, John Paul II tore away the blindness and lies of materialism, relativism, and individualism and spoke of love as the perfect gift of self for the good of the other. He rejected the culture of death, condemning attacks on human life and dignity from whatever direction. As the world slid into an abyss of sexual confusion and sin, he spoke clearly of the beauty and sanctity of the human body, of Christian marriage between a man and a woman, and of the gift of our sexuality. He said no to abortion, contraception, sterilization, capital punishment, and war. He said yes to truth, love, generosity, solidarity with those most in need, and reconciliation. He experienced God’s healing grace, and responded with unusual openness and generosity. The man born blind, once healed, encountered Christ, and believing in Him, worshipped. Six years after the death of John Paul II, I still marvel at the way he too followed this example.

We stand in the line and heritage of redeemed and healed sinners from every age. May we use well these 3 Lenten weeks that remain to go deep within and welcome Christ’s healing light.

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Pictures of the Sisters' Visit

2011-03-27T20:40:00.000-07:00

Who knew Jilly the cow was a Dominican?

I've posted a bunch of pictures from the sisters' visit on Facebook.... Check them out on the external links below.

High School Game Night

Middle School Event: Living the Prolife Message

Pizza & Ponder at Catholic Campus Ministry

Visiting Fr. jMarquette Elementary School ( and Jilbert's!)

Speaking to the Fr. Marquette Middle School

Theology on Tap at the Vierling

As you'll quickly see, it's been a busy, and joyful, four days!

Love in the Desert of our Hearts

2011-03-27T20:28:00.000-07:00

Homily Outline for the Third Sunday Lent, Year A

Are you satisfied? For whom do you long? Today Jesus tells the Samaritan woman, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again; but whoever drinks the water I shall give will never thirst; the water I shall give will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” This is His offer, His promise to us at every moment, above all during Lent, above all at every Eucharist, His offer to you NOW.

The Israelites have followed Moses into the desert, they saw God work great wonders, but now, when they’re out of water, they ask “Is God in our midst or not?” Does that question echo in your heart? When we face sickness, or a broken friendship… when we face our own weakness and sin, our own confusion, when we feel isolated and alone, with a thirst that nothing seems to quench, “Is God in our midst, or not?” God hears and answers this question, this prayer: water comes from the least likely place… a hot sun burnt desert rock. Moses strikes it with his staff and sweet water gushes forth. Could God do something like that to our dry and dusty hearts? Can His love pierce them and shower them with life-giving streams?

We thirst, for many things. We seek, and sometimes we are able to quench our thirst for a time with the things of this world. But the thirst returns. In our Gospel today we learn something astounding… not only do we thirst for God and seek Him, even when we don’t realize it, but God seeks us, mysteriously He thirsts for our love. In Jesus Christ, God has come to us; He has come for us. Paul says it very clearly, “God proves his love for us in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us.” God comes to us precisely in our thirst, in our need. He does not wait for us to get everything straightened out, but He comes to us wherever we are, even in the pew you’re sitting in this morning!

The Samaritan woman comes to the well as she does every day, but to her surprise she encounters a Jew, Jesus, and he speaks to her and even asks her for a drink. Jesus offers her living water. This seems to make no sense at all; he doesn’t even have a bucket. “Are you greater than our father Jacob,” she says. Indeed, He is greater… Then, Jesus speaks clearly of what He offers her, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again; but whoever drinks the water I shall give will never thirst; the water I shall give will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” Not fully understanding, but thirsty and desiring the gift He offers, her heart opens to the Lord and she says, “Sir, give me this water, so that I may not be thirsty…” She speaks for every one of us here… Lord, give us water, give us joy, give us hope, give us the grace we need to persevere. Even the good things of this world do not finally satisfy, we hunger and long and thirst for your love. Lord, give us this gift!

Dust and deception often swirl in our hearts, obscuring our knowledge of self. God’s grace pierces this storm. If we can look within our hearts and honestly see the desire that persists, we have reached a moment of opportunity, a moment of grace. But there is more, the journey has only begun, not ended. We come to the Lord thirsty, in need… but to truly receive the full grace He offers us, we need to be healed and reconciled. If we still grasp our bitter beguiling sins in our fists, we cannot dip our hands into the water of life and slake our ravening thirst. Jesus invites the Samaritan woman to repentance, and reveals to her the way she sought to quench her thirst with a broken rusty chain of relationships. She sought in human love that which only God can provide. Before she can drink from the spring, she needs to be healed. Jesus reveals her heart to her… it is painful, but He will do the same to us, He will speak to us in our consciences, showing us clearly where we have turned away.

It is hard to look clearly at our sin. It is easier to turn away, to rationalize, to pretend we do not see our sins. The woman is unsure… she challenges Jesus with some basic religious questions, areas where Jews and Samaritans did not agree. She speaks of the Messiah. Having laid bare her heart, Jesus also reveals himself. “I am he, the one speaking to you.” Her subsequent actions reveal her response. She has found the Lord, she brings the glad tidings to her people. Christ reveals her heart to her, He reveals Himself, and she responds by accepting the gift of faith, this living water, the Holy Spirit. This gift brings forth in her heart the courage to live and speak the truth.

Sr. Katty, Sr. Jessa, Sr. Francis Mary, Sr. Elizabeth John

It has been a real gift to work with these four sisters from the Dominican Sisters of Mary Mother of the Eucharist. In each of them you can see the joy of Christ that can fill one's heart. It is evident and visible! They have shared that joy so generously with literally hundreds of people since they got here on Thursday, from recess with the Pre-Kindergartners to Theology on Tap with the Marquette Frassati Society, even foosball with the high school group last night. Obviously we are not all called to be sisters, bu we can imitate their generosity in saying, "Yes" to God.

Jesus can work this same joy and healing in you and in me. He offers us living water; he offers us food that satisfies: His Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity. With His help we can look within. In the beautiful Sacrament of Penance, He offers us mercy beyond measure. What do you hold clenched in your heart that God longs to heal? Why have you stayed away from His Mercy? Trust Him, do not resist His love any longer. What better time to seek repentance and healing than now, during this Lent? Today is the day of salvation, Jesus will meet us in our thirst.

God so loved the world

Heaven in our eyes, on our lips?

2011-03-20T18:45:00.000-07:00

A glimpse of the basilica

Homily Outline for the 2nd Sunday of Lent, Year A

This Thursday I had the beautiful opportunity to spend my day-off at Holy Hill. This is the beautiful shrine with a long official name: The Basilica of the National Shrine of Our Lady, Help of Christians. It’s on a big round hill near Milwaukee and it’s run by the Discalced Carmelite Friars. If you’ve never been there, you need to visit it! I met one of my seminary classmates from Chicago. Thursday evening we were waiting in the hallway near the refectory for dinner to start. An elderly Carmelite Friar came up to us… after introductions he paused and said with wonder and excitement in his voice, “I wonder what heaven’s like?” We discussed this, and I could hear the awe and quiet joy in his voice. He questioned us on some points of doctrine as if we were back in seminary, and was content when we answered well!

Heaven is no theoretical question… it’s not something we should push off to the sidelines of our lives. Our gospel this Sunday complements last Sunday’s where we heard of the temptations of Christ in the desert. Three times he rebuffed Satan. Fr. Jamie spoke in his homily of the full reality of Christ’s divinity AND humanity. Jesus in His humanity was tested and found to be true during that trial in the desert. Unlike Adam and Eve, unlike each one of us, He NEVER fell to temptation. He felt the pain and fear and struggle of rejecting sin, and stood strong and true. In taking on flesh, Jesus raised and lifted up our humanity, and rejoined us to God. In Christ, we need never face temptation alone. So here is one piece of the pie: In Christ, we are given strength resist evil.

The Transfiguration shows us of the second piece. The trials and temptations here on earth are not the full story: to be joined to God in eternity is full and true joy… that is, heaven: eternal and perfect intimacy with the Holy Trinity, to know and be known, to see God face to face. When we are in the desert, assailed by temptations, it can seem VERY far away. But heaven is the joyful goal to which we lift up our eyes. This is the final homeland to which our earthly pilgrimage is directed. Jesus not only raised our humanity above sin and temptation, but He actually draws us right into heaven, if we are willing to accept this gift.

God’s call to us began long ago! When Abram is called by God in Ur, God begins to reveal this promise. He speaks of “ a land that I will show you,” and tells Abram He will make of him a great nation that will be a blessing to all the communities of the earth.” Abram probably understood this at first as an earthly and tangible blessing, but we see already foreshadowed our heavenly home. There is a land and a place prepared for us. We have here on this earth no lasting home. Paul encourages the young bishop Timothy, “Bear your share of hardship for the gospel with the strength that comes from God.” Strength comes to us “through the appearance of our savior Christ Jesus, who destroyed death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.”


The Church of the Transfiguration on Mount Tabor

That light shone with nearly full force upon the faces and into the hearts of Peter, James, and John. They saw those descendents of Abram, Moses and Elijah, conversing with Jesus in glory. They had glimpsed Jesus’ Godhead and power in His miracles, in the authority with which He taught, in the intimacy with which He spoke of being one with the Father. On that day, on the summit of Mount Tabor, this glory shone through clearly. Our earthen humanity, made of humble clay, had been assumed by the Son as He was conceived in the womb of Mary. Our humanity was lifted up, drawn away from sin and death, drawn into intimacy with the Father. On that day, Peter, James, and John were given a glimpse of this beauty, Peter wanted to stay there forever, and they fell prostrate in awe and fear. They heard with their own ears the voice of the Father, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him.”

The penance and discipline of Lent are meant precisely to prepare us and purify us and dispose us for the heavenly joy of Easter. We learn to say no to created things so that we can give our full and joyous yes to God. To live these days and weeks of Lent well in prayer, fasting, and almsgiving is our preparation. Not only does it dispose us to receive Easter joy, but even the very joy of Heaven itself! In His victory over temptation, Jesus empowers us to reject evil in all its forms. In this revelation of His glory, Jesus gives us joy and hope, a taste of what lies ahead. Do we live in light of this truth? Does heaven touch our daily lives? Do we speak and act in light of the promise and hope of eternal life? This is what the Gospel calls us to.

That elderly friar has heaven before his eyes and in his heart. Peter, James, and John were given a glimpse of heaven. God does not leave us on the sidelines either. In just moments, Jesus will be before us Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity. This presence will be veiled, but no less real. I will hold aloft the consecrated host, and each one here will behold with their eyes and hearts the God-Man. Truly we can say with Peter, “Lord, it is good that we are here.” May this glimpse and foretaste of heaven fill us with joy and lead us to persevere on this Lenten journey, and through this life to heaven.

Spring Break Missionary Trip and Pie Bonanza

2011-03-09T06:36:00.000-08:00

These last weeks have been busy and very blessed. I had the opportunity to spend last week with our Catholic Campus Ministry Spring Break Mission Trip... we worked at the Salvatorian Mission Warehouse in New Holstein, WI, and at Fr. Carr's Place 2B Homeless Shelter, Food Bank, and Free Clinic in Oshkosh, WI. In addition to our labors, we visited the Discalced Carmelite Monastery in Denmark, WI, the Manitowoc Franciscans, and Holy Hill. And, to top things off, we spent an evening at Catholic Youth Expeditions' Base Camp Coffee House in Appleton, and we stopped at the Marian Apparition Site and Shrine of Our Lady of Good Help in Champion, WI... A busy and joy-filled week: work, prayer, pilgrimage, fellowship, FUN!


The Spring Break Missionaries, and the CYE Mission Interns at Base Camp.

Spring Break Mission pictures are here and here.

Our World Youth Day Pilgrims also recently baked up close to 90 pies as a fundraiser!

A busy beehive of pie-making

Since we'd done it before, our team worked lickedy-split! And, early returns suggest the pies were tasty.

The rest of the pie-baking pictures are here.

The Final Results:

SOME of the pies!

Worship God or His gifts?

2011-02-27T07:12:00.001-08:00

Homily Outline for the 8th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A

Last week we heard from the preceding chapter in the aGospel of Matthew. Jesus told us to be perfect as our heavenly Father is perfect… this is a tall order, but it truly is our calling in Christ: holiness, perfection. I asked a bunch of rhetorical questions, but I think the most important was this: Are you satisfied? If we listen to the hunger God places in our hearts, we won’t shuffle our feet or shy away from God’s call.

This week St. Matthew continues by recounting the rich encouragement Jesus gives us to stay the course, to seek the Lord. We are not yet perfect, and sometimes our brokenness and weakness can be very discouraging. That was very vivid for me this morning – I went to check a beaver trap in a very large and thick swamp. As I strode away from the car on my snowshoes, the sky was blue, the air was crisp (about 4 º) and I was VERY content with myself, the mighty trapper! 40 minutes later I was at the empty trap with a broken snowshoe. I tried heading back without the snowshoes, and it was quickly apparent that would take me several hours as I floundered along breaking through the crust. I put both snowshoes back on, and ignoring further damage I got back to my car after missing my trail for an extra mile or so. As I struggled through the brush, I was reminded how precarious one can be… I did have a cell phone, signal, a knife, hot coffee, a lighter… and yet I realized how easy it would be to be lost and cold and afraid. I was also hoping there were no mountain lions or wolves noticing my uneven step and heavy breathing… I might have looked very vulnerable and tasty, not to mention filling!

What does God have to say to us when we’re vulnerable and afraid? Far more than being lost in a swamp, on any given day many of us may feel scared, or sad, or discouraged… perfection, if it’s still visible at all, seems a very distant glimmer. Our first reading reminds us that we’re not alone, “Zion said, ‘The LORD has forsaken me; my LORD has forgotten me.’ Can a mother forget her infant, be without tenderness for the child of her womb? Even should she forget, I will never forget you.” Since God called Abraham 4000 years ago it has often been the case that we feel as if God is far away. Speaking through Isaiah, God tells us that He NEVER forgets us.

Different things may lead us to feel far from God. Sometimes it may well be that we have walked away from Him. As we seek to find satisfaction and peace, we may attempt to fulfill that desire in ways that are doomed to fail. If we seek worldly peace and security, are hearts will continue to be restless and yearn for more. A friend once shared a dream he had with me… in the dream he was told that Jesus would come again in one week. He began to think of all the things he would do for his family: a shiny new SUV, some really sumptuous restaurant dinners, sparing no expense… then all of a sudden he realized how off base his heart was! Faced with the end of time, he was seeking to do good, yes, but in a way that was almost entirely material, and even superficial. Only in God will our souls be at rest! God is the rock of our strength, our refuge.

The worldly things we desire are not bad in and of themselves… but they must come after God, or they will lead us to hell, both here and in eternity… “Your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given you besides.” Food, drink, clothing, shelter, love, family, joy… God will give us what we need, but we turn our back on God if we seek His gifts instead of seeking Him! These gifts are good, but they must not be first!

Here’s some ways to test where your heart is: What do you spend most of your time doing? What do you think about most of the time? What do you talk about most of the time? How often do you turn to God in prayer? What are most of your emails, phone calls, or texts about? If God’s far down the list, or not even on it, it’s time to re-evaluate! Most of us have to spend a lot of time at work, but do we offer that to God as a gift, or do we strike out on our own? Many of you are responsible for your retirement, your children, your spouse… It is not true that this is only up to you! God will help you. Perhaps worldly success is the most dangerous of all, even more dangerous that discouragement. If we’ve found our place and built our barns, we might begin to believe that we don’t need God.

Jesus mentions the beauty and joy of the birds of the air and the flowers of the field. We cannot extend our lives by a single moment through worry and self-sufficiency. We CAN be filled with God’s joy and help if we will turn to Him and ask… that most joyful of men, St. Francis, had nothing and was filled with peace. Our various vocations may not lead us to follow this literally, but each one of us must surrender our lives and cares to God if we want to walk with Him. May the Eucharist we are about to receive fill us with an abiding knowledge of God’s love and presence, and help us to surrender all to Him.

Crossing the Chasm

2011-02-21T17:48:00.000-08:00

Homily Outline for the 7th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A

Leviticus 19:1-2, 17-18

Psalm 103:1-2, 3-4, 8, 10, 12-13

1 Corinthians 3:16-23

Matthew 5:38-48

Not this past week, but the week before I had the privilege of spending a week with the monks of Holy Transfiguration Skete up in the Keweenaw... these are the monks who make all the good muffins, cookies and jam at the Jam Pot! Unfortunately, they're not baking this time of year, so I didn't get to sample the goodies. I really enjoyed my time with them, and I wanted to join, but they said my beard was too short, so I had to come back! In all seriousness, it was a time of retreat, a time for prayer and reflection. They live a very counter-cultural life of prayer, poverty, chastity, and obedience. Not only do they live this out of the conviction that it is the vocation God calls them to, but they are also a sign of contradiction and a challenge to the world, and to us.

This past week at Catholic Campus Ministry, Fr. Larry gave a talk about what it means to be countercultural in light of our faith, the introduction to a series of presentations on ways that our faith calls us to stand up for truth. To be a Catholic Christian is not simply to counter or go against culture… in any time and place, in every generation, there are some aspects of the culture that are good, and others that are unhealthy. However, in every time and place Jesus Christ calls us to march to the beat of His drum, the drum of truth and goodness and beauty. This beat, which speaks to us in the Church, in the Scriptures, and in our own conscience, is what we are to use to measure our lives and decisions, to direct and guide our path.

The portions of the Word of God that we have heard at this Eucharist are particularly challenging, especially when taken together! What rhythm, what beat, what pattern does God call us to? Listen to three quick quotes: Leviticus, “Be holy, for I, the LORD, your God, am holy.” First Corinthians, “Do you not know that you are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?” The Gospel of Matthew, “So be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect.” This sounds like a sustained theme, a consistent message, an entirely radical and countercultural approach in any age: Be Perfect… even, be perfect as God is perfect!

God calls us to be holy, to be perfect… I don’t know about your life, or even an average day in your life, but in my life, that sounds rather like a pipe dream! When we hear this call from God, there is a great danger that the major disconnect between our brokenness and perfection can cause us to turn away, or to walk on past this call. To whatever extent we are capable of looking into our hearts with honesty, we can’t help but notice a pretty big chasm between the confusion, pain, or even boredom we find there, and God’s perfect beauty and joy.

What does this call to be perfect, to be holy, mean then? Why even try? I think we need to reject some common false images before we can zero in on holiness. First of all, this does not mean that God wants us to turn in the accumulated result of our good works, like a term paper, in hopes that we’ll get an A! To follow this call will cost us everything, but it’s not primarily our accomplishment… it is not so much work we do for God, but work God can do in us. Secondly, this is not a call to “be a good person.” Unfortunately, that can often imply, “hey, look, lots of people around me are worse! God should be grateful at all the bad things I could have done that I didn’t! Isn’t this enough, God, I mostly play by the rules…” This is not what the Word of God is saying, but rather we are actually called to perfection, not just to be graded on a curve, and to do better than average. Finally, the call to perfection and holiness is not a call to be spiritual perfectionist, to be obsessed with minutiae, to be judgmental towards ourselves and others. It is not a call to be harsh and unyielding in our adherence to the Law of God.

All three of these misperceptions stem from seeing this call primarily in terms of our own efforts. If we are “Temples of the Holy Spirit,” that suggests that the very life and love of God dwells within us! God knows to whom He speaks, He knows the mess in our hearts and lives, and yet He still calls us. We look honestly into our brokenness not to court despair, but to open up to our need for a savior, the very Lord Jesus Christ who suffered, died, and rose again for us. John Paul II, soon to be beatified, was very fond of quoting Gaudium et Spes #22 “Christ, the final Adam, by the revelation of the mystery of the Father and His love, fully reveals man to man himself and makes his supreme calling clear.” This is from one of the four principal documents of the Second Vatican Council. Christ reveals us to ourselves – as we gaze upon the Lord, we not only learn of God’s love for us, but we can begin to see the journey we are called to walk. We are not starry-eyed with false optimism: we are not now perfect, we are indeed weak, we will make mistakes, but that doesn’t mean settling for now, for today, for the status quo. Jesus Himself calls us deeper, and shows us what deeper looks like. Ask yourself… Are you satisfied? Ask God to give you a hunger and thirst for holiness. What is locked up in your heart? What old wounds are locked up that need to be unbound? What lust, or bitterness, or envy needs to be washed away and surrendered? Have you allowed yourself to believe that God still loves you in the midst of brokenness? His love for us is perfect, unfailing, and faithful, completely undimmed by our lack of faith. Can we embrace that love, receive it once again? It is God’s unfailing love that will transform us if we accept and receive it each day, each moment.

At this Eucharist we who are not yet perfect, we who hunger for holiness, we who are temples in need of sweeping will approach this altar. The one who is perfect and holy offers us once again His Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity. The power and grace to transform our hearts comes to us now… will we embrace it and be transformed?

Going to visit the monks with the middle-schoolers!

2011-02-15T06:36:00.000-08:00

This past Sunday we had a wonderful trip up to Holy Transfiguration Skete to visit the good monks there! There were 19 of us, and we had a wonderful day featuring monk chili, a tour of the monastery and church, and solemn sung vespers. On the way home we feasted on pizza at Irene's in Baraga!

Check out the rest of the pictures from the trip here: Pilgrimage Pictures

I also was able to spend last week with the monks on retreat, pictures of that HERE.

God Bless,
Fr. Ben

Retreat with the Monks!

2011-02-07T08:15:00.000-08:00

I'm heading up north this afternoon for some days with the monks at Holy Transfiguration Skete. I am eager for a time of prayer and rest! Please keep me in your prayers, as I will keep all you blog readers in mine.

God Bless,
Fr. Ben Hasse

From a pilgrimage to Holy Transfiguration Skete with Catholic Campus Ministry this past fall.

Shall we be salt and light?

2011-02-07T08:11:00.000-08:00

Homily Outline for the 5th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A

Some of you may have been at a recent Parish Leadership meeting that I regret being unable to attend. One reason I regret my absence is that some comment was made about my alleged impact on the priest food budget! Someone may have suggested that as the diocese currently pays my salary, and the parish my benefits, including the food allowance, it might be a better deal to switch!

Say what you want about my culinary habits, but the Holy Word of God seems to discuss food quite frequently! That’s not why I love God’s Word, but it doesn’t hurt. Today we Christians are told by our Lord to be the Salt of the Earth. We are to give flavor and savor to every place by our faith, hope, and love. As Catholics, we are to be the zip and pizazz in the world, intensifying all that is good. Is that how we live? Do we live up to that mandate?

Paul tells us that he came to Corinth proclaiming the mystery of God, knowing nothing but Jesus Christ and him crucified. Paul brought the Corinthians the TRUTH, without frills, a TRUTH that is compelling not because it is all dressed up, but simply because it is true. God came to save us Himself, He took on flesh and dwelt among us. He cast out demons, healed, and taught. He was imprisoned, beaten, judged, mocked, and killed on the Cross for our sins, and rose again in Glory, conquering Sin and Death. We are offered the fruits of this victory, a share in this resurrection at every Mass. We believe this and live this not because it is convenient, not because it is comfortable. As Paul says in another place, if Jesus did not rise from the dead, we are the greatest of fools. This is true, and because it is true, it can and should transform our lives.

When we ARE transformed by this, then we give flavor and savor to the world! When we are transformed by Christ, we fulfill Isaiah’s description of light breaking forth: we share our bread with the hungry, shelter the oppressed and the homeless; clothe the naked, and turn away from no one. Like the dawn, the light of Christ’s truth shows forth the beauty of faith, hope, and love, and wounds are healed.

Sunrise this past fall from Mt. Marquette

It is true that we live in a land where there is still plenty of hunger and nakedness, but it is also a land of prosperity, a land where the immense majority of people live in physical comfort incomprehensible in any other time and place. In any given day many of us may meet very few people who are starving physically, but there is still starvation all around us. What are most people in our land starving for? Precisely the truth Paul proclaims – the love and healing that Christ offers. As we respond in a real way to physical poverty, may we not neglect or ignore the much greater and more universal spiritual poverty into which our country is rapidly descending.

Spiritual poverty is especially found wherever lies and deceit become commonplace. For instance, “Just do what feels good.” Or, “If you acquire enough things your heart will be at peace.” Or, “Who knows if God exists, there are more important things to deal with.” Or, “Religion is just an opinion, we can’t really know what’s true.” These are shadows that are to be found all around us, this is the absence of salt that cause the good things of this life to be tasteless in the mouths of so many of our brothers and sisters.

So, this evening, let’s look into our hearts and see what’s there… Do we know Jesus and Him crucified? Do we listen to the prompting our consciences, formed in the light of Christ and His Church? Do we turn to the Lord in prayer every single day? Do we build our lives around Truth, or around convenience and comfort and expediency? No one here, and I put myself at the head of the line, have yet been fully conformed to the fire of truth and love that is Christ’s heart. But from right where we are at this moment, we are invited forward in the mystery and adventure of conversion. Jesus calls you and me to be salt and light, however improbable that might be! He doesn’t call us because we’re perfect, He calls us because He’s perfect, and He loves us perfectly! We are all beggars before the Lord, however much or little may be in our bank accounts or in our garages! Precisely as beggars we are able to respond to this call with joy.

The world around us needs flavor and savor and light to pierce the shadows and dullness of falsehood and un-loveliness. Jesus pierced these shadows and sharpened dullness into joy. In just moments we will be offered His Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity. May we offer to the Lord on this altar our hearts and lives. As we receive from this altar this MOST PRECIOUS EUCHARIST, may we be disposed and willing to be transformed into Salt and Light for a world that need us desperately!

Beyond the Beginning

2011-01-30T19:36:00.000-08:00

Homily Outline for the 4th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A

Today the details of God’s call to us are made more specific and more challenging. Before Christ, the prophet Zephaniah reminded the people of Israel to seek God, “Seek the Lord, all you humble of the earth, who have observed his law; seek justice, seek humility; perhaps you may be sheltered on the day of the Lord’s anger.” Judgment will come, we will stand before the Lord who sees all things, and Zephaniah encourages us to seek justice and humility. Notice that he directs himself to those who have observed the law… Having obeyed the Law, the journey is not complete.

In our second reading, Paul speaks to the Corinthians who have already been called by Jesus Christ. He reminds them that Jesus didn’t call them because of their worldly status, but in sheer generosity. He even emphasizes rhetorically that those who have been called are precisely the weak, the foolish, the lowly and despised. That’s us! Are we comfortable with that… do we see that about ourselves? God didn’t call us because we’re so great, but because He’s so great! Having called us, He wants to do beautiful things in us and through us, all in His mercy! We are not to boast in ourselves, but in the Lord.

So this is the pattern… having signed on, so to speak, with God, the journey is just begun, not finished. This brings us to the Gospel, the Beatitudes. These are poetic, familiar, but let’s listen to them very clearly and hear how paradoxical they are. Here are two examples: “Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the land… Blessed are the merciful for they will be show mercy.” Is this true empirically? Do we see these promises fulfilled clearly in this world? I don’t know… often it seems that the meek and the merciful get trampled, left in the dust. Quite a few of those who are meek and merciful seem to get the short straw! What is Jesus talking about?

These invitations and promises are being made not just in light of this world, but also in light of the world to come. To be part of Christ’s Body is not to guarantee worldly blessings in our lives, or worldly success. It is, however, to open ourselves up to eternal mercy and grace. We don’t see God’s justice played out completely in this life, but we are assured that His justice reigns in eternity. All that is hidden and unseen will come into the light. This is very clear in the last two promises: “Blessed are they who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when they insult you and persecute you and utter every kind of evil against you falsely because of me. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward will be great in heaven.” This is not the “so-called” prosperity gospel… follow God and everything in this life will go smoothly! This is the truth. God will reward us, and if our fidelity leads us into persecution, God will be faithful to us eternally.

Think of it this way… the Ten Commandments lay out for us the boundaries… that which must not be done, that which we must do. Surprisingly, this is the minimum. Jesus says, “If you love me, keep my commandments” “What must I do to gain eternal life” says the young man, Jesus says, “Keep the commandments.” But that’s not the whole project, just the beginning, and that’s already pretty tough. That’s why our Mother the Church offers us the beautiful gift of confession, entrusted to Her by Jesus. Our breaking of the commandments need not burden us perpetually – our sins can be forgiven.

However, to have avoided and turned away from flagrant sin is only the beginning. The Beatitudes chart the course from there… Not only do we reject sin, but we embrace poverty of spirit, we surrender our sorrow to the Lord, we seek to be meek, hungry for righteousness, merciful, and clean of heart. This is not a path calculated to bring worldly success, but rather eternal joy.

Jesus is very realistic… to walk this path will often bring opposition, a lack of understanding, even persecution. Do parents who really guide their children and place faith first meet with praise and adulation from other parents? Do medical professionals who are faithful to moral truth necessarily advance quickly? Does someone in business always get ahead the quickest by being scrupulously honest and fair? Is the most popular student in high school or college the one who avoids sin and seeks humility? There are many other examples. To seek Christ faithfully, to receive His teaching with joy and to use it to configure our lives will bring us blessings now… chiefly a peaceful conscience, the riches of divine grace, the peace of knowing we are seeking the Truth Himself. These blessings can sustain us in world that may or may not recognize and honor virtue and faithfulness. This is what Jesus calls us to… May we hear His call, and with the constant help of His grace, may we respond courageously and generously. We are offered eternal life, eternal joy, eternal blessings. May we have the courage to accept this gift!

those dwelling in a land overshadowed by death

2011-01-23T18:20:00.000-08:00

Homily Outline for the 3rd Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A

The essential mission given to Jesus Christ by the Father is to save us. He is the Light coming into darkness, casting aside the shadows and gloom. Matthew cites the promise made through the prophet that is fulfilled in Christ, “The people who sit in darkness have seen a great light, on those dwelling in a land overshadowed by death light has arisen.”

In every age, people have been overshadowed by sin and death. This had taken many forms, some of them common to every age. However, this weekend, we remember a particular shadow of death that has long covered our land.

Since 1973, abortion has been legal with few or no limitations in every state in the Union. The raw statistics, collected by the very people promoting abortion, are alarming, shocking, difficult to comprehend: At least 50 million abortions total… this past year, something on the order of 1.2 million abortions. That is about 3300 abortions a day, or over 2 abortions a minute, every minute, every day, every week, all year long. Shockingly, this is close to 30% of live births every year. And for every abortion, there is a mother who carries that knowledge with her for the rest of her life. In many cases the father also knows. There are doctors and nurses who are involved in the business. The impact spreads.

The numbers are so immense; there is no question that some of us here have been affected very directly by abortion. The point of preaching about this is not to condemn, not to pour salt into an already painful wound. Jesus came to save us, He offers us infinite mercy and healing. Notice what He did as soon as He called the apostles, “He went around all of Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, and curing every disease and illness among the people.” If we’ve had an abortion or helped someone have an abortion, if we’ve voted or promoted abortion or stood silent while others promoted abortion, we need the Lord’s mercy, and He offers it to us. It’s not automatic; we need to ask, especially, we need to seek that mercy in confession. There is no wound the Lord cannot heal if we but ask for His healing!

I am called to preach this not just because it has always and everywhere been the Church’s teaching. I am called to speak to you clearly and honestly about this not just because we need to be healed and we need to end the abortion regime in our country. This question is personal. From the moment abortion became legal, it skyrocketed. In the year I was born, 1978, there were at least 1.5 million abortions. My generation was thinned and mowed down by abortion. There are boys and girls I should have been in kindergarten with, friends I should have known in high school, hundreds of people who should have been at Purdue when I was there who never had a chance to be born. Why did God let me be born when so many were killed? Why did my parents choose life when so many chose abortion?

I don’t think it is inappropriate to liken the current situation to the Holocaust, on multiple levels. Every 3 or 4 years, the number of abortions in our country is similar to the number killed in Germany’s death camps. Like the death camps, those killed are defenseless and largely without a voice. Like the death camps, these deaths are largely hidden. However, there is a very great difference, an essential difference. For all the vaunted rhetoric about choice in our country, I strongly suspect that the average woman walking into an abortion clinic does not feel she has much choice. Unlike a powerful army, I suspect she feels powerless before a situation she doesn’t know how to navigate. Rather than being a member of a powerful army, she must often feel completely alone.

Most German citizens were not involved directly in the death camps, and neither are most of us directly involved in providing abortions. History, however, has not been gentle on Germany, and it WILL NOT BE GENTLE WITH US if we, like many of them, stand silent.

So, what are we to do? There are some simple steps open to everyone here this morning. On the national and state level, how do we vote? I’m glad there is no election looming. I’m not here to promote a particular candidate or party. What values inform our vote? Abortion is NOT the only issue. However, what balances 3300 abortions a day? What consideration can allow us to support someone who supports and promotes that death toll? We have a voice, if we will use it. Nationally, Catholics DO NOT vote in an overwhelmingly pro-life fashion. This is a scandal, and it needs to change.

Locally, we need to do our best to provide men and women with real choices. So many couples desperately desire to have a child, and cannot. Adoption is a real choice, a real option. The CareClinic just across the street does a marvelous job of helping young men and women get the support and help they need to make a choice for life rather than death. The need our prayers, our financial support, our involvement.

In our own families the situation of an unwanted pregnancy may well arise. How will we respond? Will we stand with the man and woman and encourage them to choose life? Will we spend our time and emotional energy in a way that is in keeping with our convictions?

Finally, we need to reconsider the way we have separated sexual intimacy and children. The two are intimately connected. We have ignored the clear teaching of the Church in every age by becoming a contraceptive culture. Not only are most chemical contraceptives potentially abortion-causing, but they help us to build lives and families where children are not welcome. When we are more and more sexually active with no intention of conceiving a child, we will more and more often be pregnant and vulnerable to abortion.

This is the challenge of our time. Will we be divided and silent, or will we speak for life? We come to the Eucharist this morning in need of healing and strength. Like Paul, Christ has sent us to preach the gospel, and not with the wisdom of human eloquence, so that the cross of Christ might not be emptied of its meaning. God can do this good work in us, in our families, and in our society, if we will cooperate. May we open our hearts to the grace we need today.

The Busy Person's Retreat!

2011-01-20T09:22:00.000-08:00

Starting last night, we've begun a Busy Person's Retreat with 17 NMU students! They'll meet with their spiritual director three or four times in the coming month, pray daily for themselves and for the other retreatants and directors, and make a weekly holy hour before the Blessed Sacrament. We tried this last year, and there has been much fruit!

So, please keep these young people and their directors in your prayers in the coming week.... what might God do in our hearts!?!?

Retreatants:

Alisa, Taylor, Matthew, Erin, Renee, Megan, Courtney, Erin, Amy, Lauren, Brittany, Phil, Emily, Jake, Dominic, Jamie, Ashley.

Directors:

Msgr. Michael, Sr. Colleen, Fr. John, Dcn. Dennis, Fr. Larry, Catherine, Fr. Ben

Thank you!

God Bless,
Fr. Ben Hasse

Who me? How? Prayer

2011-01-17T15:28:00.000-08:00

Homily outline for the Second Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A

In the Old Testament, we hear a lot about the people of Israel, their journey of being called by the Lord, of turning away from the Lord. They are obedient at times, and also idolatrous. They are sent into exile weeping, and brought home rejoicing.

The Old Testament tells us of this journey, and we see it fulfilled in Christ. It gives us Salvation History… the history of God bringing about our Salvation. This is one way of reading it. However, there is another way of reading the Old Testament… we can look beyond the history, and in the people of Israel we can see God’s Church, and even our own soul. If you’re reading a passage of the Old Testament, try interpreting it this way!

Let’s look at our reading from Isaiah in this light: “The LORD said to me: You are my servant, Israel, through whom I show my glory.” These aren’t just words to a Jewish Prophet 2500 years ago! These words are spoken to each one of us… God desires to show His Glory through us! “Now the Lord has spoken who formed me as his servant from the womb….and I am made gloriosu in the sight of the LORD, and my god is now my strength!” From before our birth God has loved each one of us personally, chosen us brought us into existence. We have been given so much… the very breath of life, our families, the Word of God, the Sacraments. This parish family is a gift to us, this church started by our grandparents and parents. Some of you, like me, have no family connection to this parish, at least by blood, but are given this gift by the family of faith. The very liturgy we celebrate is a precious gift handed down to us through many generations, often at a great price.

The formation and call God gave to Isaiah was not just to build up those already part of the family of God… it wasn’t just repair and maintenance! Listen to the last verse: “It is too little, the LORD says, for you to be my servant, to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and restore the survivors of Israel: I will make you a light to the nations, that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.”

Here is the big step, the challenge… here I think every one of us here tonight should get a little uncomfortable, a little unsure of ourselves! Our plans for ourselves are almost always too small, to limited. God has a big beautiful plan for each of us, just as He had for the prophet Isaiah, and it’s not just about the status quo, treading water, maintenance.

What is our mission as sons and daughters of God? It is just this mission of Christ, of Isaiah: to be a light to the nations, to bring Jesus’ salvation to the ENDS OF THE EARTH… or even to the ends of Marquette. There is a LOT of work to be done! On any given Sunday, here at St. Michael’s, and at most of the parishes in our country, less than 30% of the registered parisioners make it to Mass… That’s not a good figure! And that’s just the people who are still signed up! As Catholics, we’re the biggest organized denomination in the country… the next biggest group is former Catholics! I haven’t even mentioned all the folks who are relatively unafiliated!

Now, part of the job is mine as a priest… part of the job is for our wonderful parish staff. BUT… we can’t do even a small fraction of the inviting that needs to be done. Start making a list in your head… how many spouses, children, parents, aunts and uncles, grandchildren, neighbors, co-workers should be with us here right now? This IS NOT SOMEONE ELSES RESPONSIBILITY! LET ME REPEAT!

John the Baptist said, “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” Jesus comes to us not because we’re perfect, not because we’re worthy, but because we need his help. In that light, everyone of us can speak of Jesus, precisely because we need him too! Paul addresses the Christians of the parish in Corinth: “to you who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be holy… Notice he doesn’t say, you who are ALREADY HOLY! Called to be Holy!… Again, that’s us!

So how are we to hear this call? It’s very simple, but hard for us to do… we have to pray, and ask God to guide us. I suspect most of us are busy, and at the same time, have felt a little nudge from time to time inviting us to deeper prayer. I want to give you one very practical, very achievable challenge tonight. When you leave Mass you’ll find a little prayer sheet on the marble font with a short prayer called a Morning Offering… it’s a way of consecrating and offering the joys and sorrows of each day to the Lord as it begins. If you dare, try praying that every morning! I know God is calling each one of us to be apostles, to bring the Light of Christ to all nations… and if we speak to the Lord each day… He will begin to guide us!

This is simple, but it’s also dangerous! What might God ask of me, of you? But it is clearly what the Lord is calling us to. The Gospel is not a secret berry patch, it’s not the special spot where we find morel mushrooms… we don’t lose it if we share it… quite the contrary… we lose it if we don’t share it! May we share it with joy today!

+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +

Morning Offering Prayer:

Eternal Father, I offer You everything I do this day:
my work, my prayers, my apostolic efforts;
my time with family and friends;
my hours of relaxation; my difficulties, problems, distress,
which I shall try to bear with patience.

Join these, my gifts, to the unique offering which Jesus Christ, Your Son,
renews today in the Eucharist.
Grant, I pray, that, vivified by the Holy Spirit
and united to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary,
my life this day may be of service to you
and your children and help consecrate the world to you. Amen.

More on this spirituality:
A Simple, Profound, Way of Life: The Apostleship of Prayer

Snowshoeing with the Middle Schoolers!

2011-01-17T15:18:00.000-08:00

This Sunday we had a snowshoe outing with the middle-schoolers! It was cold and windy, but good clean fun! We put down a significant quantity of hot cocoa when we got back to the vehicle.


Our motley crew!

The rest of the photos are up here: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=612239&id=789055155&l=ad00a88b39

Liar, Lunatic, or Lord?

2011-01-02T12:46:00.000-08:00

Homily Outline for the Solemnity of the Epiphany of the Lord

“Rise up in splendor, Jerusalem! Your light has come, the glory of the Lord shines upon you. See, darkness covers the earth, and thick clouds cover the peoples; but upon you the LORD shines, and over you appears his glory.”

Our feast today, Epiphany, celebrates the Manifestation, the showing, the revealing, of Jesus to the world. God didn’t just come in a hidden way. He came to reveal Himself, to show Himself to us. The Arrival of the Magi at the manger is the first fruit of this. Isaiah’s promise begins to be fulfilled. Jesus is the Light who has come, the Glory of the Lord who shone upon those present at His Birth. Jesus Christ, the Savior of the World, has entered into the world, born of Mary, the Mother of God. His name, Jesus, means “God Saves.” He is Emmanuel, God with us.

Throughout the Old Testament there are small hints and clues that God would call all people to Himself. Even Abraham is promised that he will be a blessing to ALL nations. But, those hints and clues where largely overridden by the People of Israel’s strong awareness that THEY in particular were called by God. It was not always so clear that they were called precisely to bring forth the Messiah for ALL nations.

So, these three wise men have been seeking God, and they find Him. The acknowledge Christ, they fall down in worship, they pay him homage. To prostrate ourselves before the Lord, to bow or to kneel, is to imitate their good example! Jesus is God for us, for every nation, for the Gentiles. You can almost hear the surprise in Paul’s voice, “The Gentiles are coheirs, members of the same body, and copartners in the promise of Christ Jesus through the gospel.” Although I suppose some of us here may have some Jewish heritage, for the most part, that’s us! Even we are coheirs with our elder siblings, the children of Abraham!

In another place, Paul speaks of Jesus Christ and Him crucified as a stumbling block. For a long time, even after I began to pray and read the Bible more, I didn’t really understand that. How could our Lord and Savior who came to us so humbly and saved us at such a price be a stumbling block?!? It came into focus during my third or fourth year in college.

I’d been to some kind of debate, I don’t remember the exact topic, but I remember very vividly a conversation I had with a friend afterwards. He came to Mass regularly, and was an upright guy. We discussed the way Jesus brought salvation, but he balked at the idea that Jesus was the only way to God. I had encountered this idea from people who didn’t practice any faith, and, fairly or unfairly, it had always seemed like a weak excuse for their own laziness. I had never encountered it from someone who was regular, and even devout in their prayer. But, as our discussion continued, and as I reflected on it later on, I began to see the connections. To believe, and live and proclaim Jesus Christ, God’s unique self-revelation, the same Christ who said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life, No one comes to the Father except through me,” this requires us to reject some of the false assumptions that circulate around us. For instance, relativism… that there’s no truth, just your truth and my truth! Or the idea that religion is just opinion, that it’s enough to be spiritual, but not religious. Of course that’s a problem, because Jesus Christ taught something very clearly – HE is the path to the Father, the Way to everlasting life. This is precisely why it is such a big deal that these foreigners showed up at the manger! Jesus didn’t come just for one race or language or nation, but for ALL races, languages, and nations, and the Magi are the beginning of that!


C.S. Lewis

I mentioned C.S. Lewis last night in reference to the Narnia books, so let me mention a very helpful discussion from his wonderful book Mere Christianity. In it, he addresses the idea that Jesus is just another noble teacher or philosopher. Well, says Lewis, that’s pretty hard to square with what Jesus actually said and did! He claimed to be God, He forgave sins, He healed and cast out demons. If He did those things, and knew he wasn’t God, then he was a liar, a charlatan. If he didn’t realize it was lie, then he was a lunatic, delusional. Or, He was in fact the Eternal Son of the Father, the Way, the Truth, and the Life. So, is Jesus a Liar, a Lunatic, or the Lord? It is not plausible or reasonable to claim that He was just another figure, another teacher, another guide.

So that’s the challenge for us tonight! Like the Magi, we come to the manger, we come to this altar, and we encounter Jesus Christ, and Him Crucified. Will He be a stumbling block to us? Or will we embrace Him and walk another way, like the Magi? Will we simply cooperate with common opinion and go with the flow, or will we take up our cross and follow Him? May we not to try to muddle along some middle path, neither denying or accepting Jesus completely. We are called and challenged to accept Him with joy, to be transformed, and to bring His love and mercy to all those we meet. He guided those Magi, and like the star His light will guide us to truth and joy. Jesus is neither liar nor lunatic, He is the Lord of Heaven and Earth, He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life!

"God so Loved the World"

On the Solemnity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God

2011-01-02T12:39:00.000-08:00

Homily Outline for the Solemnity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God

Merry Christmas! This greeting is just as appropriate today as it was 7 days ago! January 1^st is the octave day, the 8^th day of Christmas. We gather tonight on New Year’s Eve, and we celebrate the Solemnity of Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God. It is still Christmas, and we pause again to marvel at our Heavenly Father’s great love and mercy in sending us His only begotten Son through Mary.

This is how God works! He doesn’t force His way into our lives; He doesn’t barge into our problems, our joys, our sorrows. He knocks, He offers, He invites. 9 months before Christmas, we celebrate the Annunciation of the Lord, when the Angel Gabriel brought God startling offer to Mary. We remember Christ’s Agony in the Garden of Gethsemane, where He prayed, “Father, may this cup pass from me, but not my will, but yours be done.”

Because of God’s great deference and respect for our freedom, He came to redeem us not at the head of conquering armies, not as a king filled with worldly power. Rather, He came as a baby, defenseless, in need of protection and nurture. That is what we believe, profess… has it lost it’s mystery to us? God, Creator of all things, was nursed and wiped and burped by His Mother Mary, and by his Foster Father, Joseph.

All this in the title of our feast today: Mary, Mother of God. It may seem unremarkable, we are accustomed to the idea of Mary being Jesus’ mother… but this title, in Greek Theotokos, literally, God-bearer, was the cause of great strife in the early centuries of the Church. Except for the mystery of the Incarnation, the mystery of Christmas, this title would be a contradiction, an oxymoron, a phrase without meaning. But, in Jesus Christ, the Word Made Flesh, fully human and fully divine, it is entirely true to say that God who has no beginning or end, God who created all things, had a Mother.

This is not just theological precision… Listen to our short but intense second reading from Paul’s letter to the Galatians, “When the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to ransom those under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. As proof that you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying out, “Abba, Father!” So you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son then also an heir, through God.”

By our baptism, we have become the adopted sons and daughters of God! We are not just God’s creatures, His slaves, His possession… we are now His sons and daughters, heirs to His Kingdom, part of His family, the Church. We have been born again into a great dignity, a great beauty, a great joy. And, if God is our Father, if Jesus is our brother, then Mary is our Mother. If we will not have Mary as our Mother, then we have cut ourselves off from the Trinity, because God Himself chose to bring about our redemption through Mary.

How does God break into our lives? The words of blessing from our first reading speak thusly, “The LORD let his face shine upon you and be gracious to you!” How did Mary conceive Jesus? She was overshadowed by the power of the Holy Spirit, the Lord’s Love shining upon her. How do we know we are God’s children? According to Paul, God sends the Spirit of His Son into our hearts… we too are to be overshadowed by the Spirit, so that the Life of Christ might be conceived in our hearts and brought to birth in our lives.

If you happen to see any of the Narnia movies, or far better, if you happen to read one of the books, notice how Aslan interacts with the characters, good and bad. The movies don’t entirely miss it, but in the books especially, C.S. Lewis depicts beautifully the way God waits on our freedom. He’s a good storyteller, but also a good theologian!

This is our dignity, our joy, our hope! We are worthwhile not because of what we have, what we earn, what we buy. We are, each one of us, immensely precious and valuable, but it is not first of all because of our own efforts, but because God first loved us. Mary is worthy of our praise, She is a powerful intercessor on our behalf because of what God did for her! She said it herself in response to Elizabeth’s praise, “My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord, my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has looked with favor on his lowly servant. From this day all generations will call me blessed: the Almighty has done great things for me, and holy is his Name.”

So, brothers and sisters in Christ, we enter this New Year of the Lord, 2011. God has sent His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, born of the Virgin Mary, who is rightly called the Mother of God. May we enter this new year with thanksgiving in our hearts, with praise and adoration for God who had done great things for us, and may we keep all these things, reflecting on them in our hearts just as Mary did. The Lord calls us no less than Mary. May we respond with similar generosity. May we too surrender all into the Father’s hands.

O Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God,

pray for us who have recourse to thee.

A Christmas Eve Homily: Manger and Ciborium

2010-12-25T12:28:00.000-08:00

Homily Outline for Midnight Mass on Christmas Eve

Today is born our Savior, Jesus Christ the Lord! Our hearts and minds swell with joy and wonder. God has taken on flesh and dwells among us! We were lost in sin and darkness, and the Light of the World leapt out of heaven down to earth to seek and find us!

Who are we to have been chosen by the Lord? Christ came for us, for each one of us particularly, personally. Our gospel tells us of the census of Caesar Augustus, when the people of the whole Roman Empire were counted. It was a worldly gathering for worldly reasons: power, money, fame. That is NOT why we gather tonight. If we are here in this church, it is because in some way, shape or form these joyful tidings have reached us: Jesus Christ is born in Bethlehem! Why us?

If God has called us to celebrate this feast, it is because of His immense and faithful love for us. We have been created in love, and in Jesus Christ we are to be redeemed in love. No one of us is an accident, a random occurrence. We were born and chosen because of God’s love for us.

The gospel for this later Mass speaks very explicitly of the shepherds who heard those tidings, “Do not be afraid; for behold, I proclaim to you good news of great joy that will be for all people. For today in the city of David a savior has been born for you who is Christ and Lord.” It is no small thing that these shepherds were among the first to hear this Good News. To be a shepherd was no great or honorable thing… it meant being out by yourself most of the year, wandering about in pasture lands, attacked by thieves and wolves, stinking as the sheep stank, cold in the winter, sweltering in the summer, wet when it rained, and no great pay at the end of all that trouble. People could smell you coming, and even if you were honest, you had the reputation of being a wanderer, a drifter, and a thief.

No shepherd thought of himself as being some great somebody. Yet it was upon the shepherds that the glory of the Lord shone and the angels spoke. Jesus did not come for those who needed no help, but precisely for us here tonight, who know, or should know, that we need God’s help very badly. We do not rejoice tonight because we are so great, but because God has loved us despite our brokenness. Listen to Paul again, “The grace of God has appeared, saving all and training us to reject godless ways and worldly desires and to live temperately, justly, and devoutly in this age…” This is the call of Christmas to each one of us: turn away from godless ways and towards Jesus Christ, who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. Those shepherds heard these tidings and came to the Manger. Will we follow their example?

Christmas is not just a time of generic cheer and family warmth. Nor is this the commemoration of something that is simply past history. Jesus was born of Mary to save us, and His birth set off a series of events that brought about our salvation and continues to offer each one of us a different path, the path of love and virtue. In what town was Jesus born? It was the town of David, Bethlehem. Do you know what Bethlehem means in Hebrew? House of Bread. No one could have predicted that the Messiah would be God Himself, but even less could they have predicted that Jesus Christ, fully God and fully man, would sustain and extend and continue His presence with us under the appearance of Bread and Wine.

What is our feast’s common name? It is Christmas, the Mass of Christ! Many in our time want to forget that Christ is the reason for the season, but we can also forget that the only fitting response to God being born as a baby child is to offer and receive the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, the Eucharist. Jesus was born in a town called “The House of Bread”, and that was no accident, no mere coincidence.

So, tonight, we have been called together by faith, by family, perhaps even by force of habit or nostalgia. Perhaps you are here tonight mostly because it seems like a nice thing to do on Christmas. Perhaps you are here because it pleases your spouse or your parents or your grandparents. Whatever human reasons have brought us here, there is a deeper truer reason, God’s reason for bringing us here. The prophecy of Isaiah was fulfilled 2000 years ago in a little cave-stable in Bethlehem, “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; upon those who dwelt in the land of gloom a light has shone…. For a child is born to us, a son is given us; upon his shoulder dominion rests. They name him Wonder-Counselor, God-Hero, Father-Forever, Prince of Peace.” That prophecy continues to be fulfilled, and at each Eucharist the Lord’s presence is just as real and surprising as it was in that little baby in the manger. How will we respond? Will we receive this unearned gift as the shepherds did? Will we continue about the eating and drinking and gift-giving without any deeper thought? A Child came down from heaven, and we still remember. Bread comes down from heaven, and it is that Child’s Body Blood Soul and Divinity. May we receive this gift with authentic joy. May it penetrate and change our hearts and lives.

How do we stand before the Lord? a passage from St. John of the Cross

2010-12-16T05:30:00.000-08:00

“The soul…has grown aware of her obligations and observed that life is short (Job 14:5), the path leading to eternal life constricted (Mt. 7:14), the just one scarcely saved (1 Pet. 4:18), the things of the world vain and deceitful (Eccles. 1:2), that all comes to an end and fails like falling water (2 Sam. 4:14), and that the time is uncertain, the accounting strict, perdition very easy, and salvation very difficult. She knows on the other hand of her immense indebtedness to God for having Created her solely for himself, and that for this she owes him the service of her whole life; and because he redeemed her solely for himself she owes him every response of love. She knows, too, of the thousand other benefits by which she has been obligated to God from before the time of her birth, and that a good part of her life has vanished, that she must render an account of everything—of the beginning of her life as well as the later part—unto the last penny (Mt. 5:26), when God will search Jerusalem with lighted candles (Zeph. 1:12), and that it is already late—the day far spent (Lk. 24:29)—to remedy so much evil and harm. She feels on the other hand that God is angry and hidden because she desired to forget him so in the midst of creatures. Touched with dread and interior sorrow of heart over so much loss and danger, renouncing all things, leaving aside all business, and not delaying a day or an hour, with desires and sighs pouring from her heart, wounded now with love for God, she begins to call her Beloved and say:

Where have you hidden,

Beloved and left me moaning?

You fled like the stag

After wounding me;

I went out calling you, but you were gone.”

(John of the Cross, The Spiritual Canticle, The Collected Works of St. John of the Cross, stanza 1, no. 1, pp.477-78, cited in Ralph Martin, The Fulfillment of All Desire, p. 65-66)

Ralph Martin comments immediately after quoting this passage:

“What John says here is so direct and so intense that it is easy to be startled. Or we might be tempted to pretend that we haven’t just read it, and move on. Maybe our emotional reaction will incline us to say, ‘I can’t deal with that!’ Hopefully we’ll resist the temptation and attempt to understand!”

Rejoice, the Lord is near! Do not be discouraged.

2010-12-12T20:10:00.000-08:00

Homily Outline for the Third Sunday of Advent, Year A.

Gaudéte in Dómino semper: íterum dico, gaudéte. On the Third Sunday of Advent, our penultimate week of preparation begins. From the Latin of today’s entrance antiphon we take this Sunday’s nickname, Gaudéte Sunday, that is, Rejoice Sunday. And it’s in the command form – you, over there, rejoice! The antiphon is drawn from Paul’s letter to the Philippians: “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I say rejoice! The Lord is near.” Every Mass has two proper antiphons that are just as particular to that Mass as the readings and other prayers are. You’ll see them in the missalettes, but they are often replaced by hymns. The beauty and value of these antiphons is that they help to summarize and set the tone and theme of each Mass. And, today, we are told to rejoice! The Lord is near!

The celebration of Christ’s birth in time is near… we’re over halfway there. Just as a runner in a race struggles to maintain the pace partway through, we are to stick to our preparations. Now is not the time to flag, to falter, to let up! Keep getting ready! Now is not the time to let prayer and confession, almsgiving and weekly Eucharist get snowed under! Now is not the time to let chances to reconcile with family and friends slip away! My high school cross-country coach Mr. Murv always yelled at us from the sidelines, “You’ve gotta go NOW!” I didn’t always appreciate it, but it was true! If you wait too long to make your move, the opportunity passes!

In our gospel, John the Baptist is already imprisoned, and he sends word to Jesus, wanting to confirm whether He is in fact the Messiah. Jesus sends this message – the promises are fulfilled! Isaiah’s prophecies have come to pass… truly, the Lord is near. Jesus affirms John’s ministry of preparing the way for his coming. He uses the strongest possible words, “Among those born of women, there has been none greater than John the Baptist!” But listen to what He says next, “Yet the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.”

To accept Christ, to follow Him, to be part of His body, the Church – these things can make us greater even than John the Baptist! The Lord wants to beautiful wonderful things in our lives! Will we receive Him? Do we call out His name? Will we persist against our own brokenness and inconsistency? God is perfectly faithful to us – will we be faithful to Him?

We are told to rejoice, but often we encounter situations that do not fill us with joy. One of the great spiritual dangers or traps once we’ve begun to walk with Christ is discouragement. Perhaps many of you here have experienced at one time or another some flush of spiritual enthusiasm. Perhaps it was a sunrise, the love in another eyes… perhaps it was a moment of prayer in the midst of terror, perhaps it was a retreat…perhaps it was even a homily! In that moment you knew God’s love and truth and beauty more deeply. It was immediate, and real. You were filled with the possibility in God… the possibility of renewal, of love, of faithfulness.

After a close encounter with the Lord, we are enthusiastic for a time… but then some of the immediacy and joy fades. We see our own flaws, or the flaws of those we love once again come into focus. Our confidence in ourselves, or even in God, wavers. We rejoiced, but then we are tempted toward discouragement, or even despair.

Listen in this light to James today, “Be patient, brothers and sisters, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for precious fruit of the earth, being patient with it until it receives the early and late rains. You too must be patient. Make your hearts firm.” God HAS planted the seed of life and love and conversion in our hearts… it WILL grow if we wait upon Him! When the whisper of discouragement sounds in our ear: “You’re no good, you’re too broken, you can never change,” may we recognize it for what it is… the lie of our accuser, the evil one. God does not speak to us with discouragement… Isaiah says today, “Be strong, fear not! Here is your God, he comes with vindication…”

Today is the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe. One aspect of this feast is the Lord’s tender mercy in sending His mother to the despairing people of Mexico right in the middle of their world being turned upside down by the arrival of the Spanish. She appeared to a humble and simple man, St. Juan Diego, and assured him of her maternal presence and protection. One account gives her words thusly, “For am I not here, I, Your Mother? Are you not in the cool of My Shadow? in the Breeziness of My Shade? Is it not I that am your Source of Contentment? Are you not cradled in My Mantle? cuddled in the Crossing of My Arms? Is there anything else for you to need?” So is the Lord close to us, in His own presence, through His angels and saints, through our Mother Mary.

We are told today to rejoice, that the Lord is near. May we surrender our discouragement, our doubts, and embrace this promise, and continue our preparations… Let me close then, with today’s second or communion antiphon: “Say to the anxious: be strong and fear not, our God will come to save us!”

Some recent parish events in pictures!

2010-12-12T20:08:00.000-08:00

On top of Hogsback in the blizzard

We've had some great events here at St. Michael's lately. I mostly post pictures on Facebook, so here are some samples and the Facebook links. You don't have to have a Facebook account to use these links! Obviously some of these pictures are just stuff I've been up to myself.

Pictures on Hogsback: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=589239&id=789055155&l=af445e0fd4

After the evening Mass for the Immaculate Conception, we had an Ice Cream Social hosted by our Middle School Youth Group.

Pictures of the Ice Cream Social: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=587369&id=789055155&l=783e54a024


These ladies are scooping with real dedication!

I was also able to help out with the confirmation retreat at American Martyrs Parish in Kingsford, my home parish, as I have for several years. It's a great retreat, I put together a team of high-schoolers and college kids to run the retreat for the candidates and their parents and sponsors. We had a great group this year, pretty big too!

The pictures from the retreat are here: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=585508&id=789055155&l=c534d55818

Finally, we also prepared some gift shoeboxes for the Great Lakes Recovery Center with the Middle School Youth Group... a lot of FUN!

Are we having fun?

The rest of those shots are here: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=583575&id=789055155&l=3992fab3f8

Thank you, Lord, for these good times, Amen!

God Bless,
Fr. Ben

What welcome will WE give?

2010-12-05T18:30:00.000-08:00

Blessed John XXIII

Homily Outline for the 2nd Sunday of Advent, Year A

In our Gospel today, John the Baptist say, to sum it up, “God is coming, get ready, repent!” This is the Advent message! Blessed Pope John XXIII was known for his happiness and charm, but also for his wit… One time a reporter asked him, “How many people work in the Vatican?” He thought for a moment and said, “About half of them!”

We know when a boss is coming, it’s time to look busy! But with Christ’s coming, we have more than a boss, He is our Lord and Savior, and He can see the depths of our hearts. We have to do more than look busy and be busy during Advent… we need to really be ready. Christ will come at the end of time in glory and judgment, we will commemorate at Christmas His coming as a baby child… will we actually be ready to welcome Him?

John the Baptist cries out, “Repent” and he speaks of a king and the Kingdom of Heaven. This is the King and Kingdom Isaiah describes in the first reading… a kingdom of justice, peace, and unity, of healing and joy, but also a kingdom of judgment and recompense. These promises fill us with hope, they challenge us. They speak words of beauty and truth. Yet, we know they were not well-received when they were spoken. How did John the Baptist end? Herod killed him. How were they prophets received? They were ignored, mocked, and many were killed. Even the Messiah Himself came to death on the cross! God’s messengers, and even God Himself were not given a warm welcome, at least by most of those who heard them.

As we prepare for the celebration of Christ’s birth in time, we see this same dynamic of coldness and rejection. Mary and Joseph couldn’t find room at any Inn in Bethlehem, and then they ended up in a stable. When Jesus was born, almost no one came… some dirty ragged shepherds and three foreigners. Where were God’s chosen people, the ones you would expect to be ready? It’s easy for me to be pretty judgmental here – what were those people in Bethlehem thinking, turning away Joseph and his pregnant wife?

And later, when Jesus preached and taught and healed, when He performed miracles, again, some followed, but many rejected Him, mocked Him, ignored Him. How could they reject their Lord and Savior? How could their doors and hearts be closed? How could they be too busy to listen!

If I take a deep breath, if I calm down for a moment, though, if I look at my own heart, my own life, it’s not so easy to stand in judgment on those people in that time. Do I really welcome the Lord when He knocks at my door? Do I have time to listen, to learn from Him? Sometimes I’m flying around on what I think is a mission from God, but I haven’t even had time to talk to God, who I’m supposedly serving!

So, as Christmas comes closer, and as we think about coming before the Lord in judgment at the end of time… What welcome will we give Him? We cook, shop, hang lights, send cards, fill our deer tag if it's still empty like mine is… these are good. But do we pray, fast, help others, listen? When we come to Christmas Eve, will we be reconciled with God and man? This is the invitation of Advent.

Let’s shift our focus from this season, and just think about this day… every Sunday the Lord who died on the Cross comes down upon this altar, a miracle of grace and humility, giving Himself to us Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity under the appearance of Bread and Wine. He seeks room in the Inn of our hearts… are we even here to receive Him? And if our body is here, what about our hearts and minds? If Christ comes and we’re too busy elsewhere, we are left empty. Do we pray, examine our hearts? Do we invite Christ into a dirty rough stable, or into a heart and life prepared to receive Him? We are never worthy to receive our Lord, we say as much moments before Communion. But we are called to dispose, to prepare ourselves. If we are aware of mortal sin, we have to go to confession first.

Listen to Paul, “Welcome one another, then, as Christ welcomed you, for the glory of God.” We are to welcome not just each other, but even Christ Himself! That’s what this time of Advent is for, to get ready, to repent and prepare a fitting welcome for Jesus… whenever He comes. At the end of time, at the moment of our death, on Christmas, and at this very Eucharist.

So, here are 5 ways to get ready in the coming weeks so we can welcome Christ with joy:

1) Pray every day, speak and listen.

2) Mass every Sunday and Holy Day (this Wednesday, Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception)

3) Confession, especially if it’s been a long time

4) Reconcile with friends and family

5) Give of what you have to those in need

20 days until Christmas! May we use them well, so that on Christmas, at every Mass, we may welcome Christ with Joy!

Sleeping in your blind? What about your life?

2010-11-28T19:02:00.000-08:00

Homily Outline for the First Sunday of Advent, Year A

What will God do in your heart this Advent? What will God do in your life? Will you notice His invitation? Advent is a time of joyful expectation, hopeful preparation, and a time for heightened alertness. It’s as if our Advent wreath is the Readiness Indicator in a military planning room. The Alarm is beginning! Only, in this case, it’s not a threat level, but a heightened level of salvation, conversion, expectation. Who is coming? It’s the Lord, Jesus Christ!

Our Mother the Church puts before us two comings of Christ: His coming in time as a baby child, the Incarnation, and His coming at the end of time to judge the living and the dead. He came in silence, hiddenness – He will come again in joy and glory. In this earlier part of Advent our readings focus primarily on His 2nd coming at the end of time. The Prophet Isaiah says, “In days to come, the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established as the highest mountain and raised above the hills. All nations shall stream toward it.”

So, if Christ is coming, what do we do? The Gospel puts it very pointedly, “Therefore, stay awake!” (If you just woke up, I’m sorry! The preacher isn’t helping the situation if his call to be awake is putting people to sleep!) Christ is coming unexpectedly, not just at the end of time, but every day. Now is the hour to wake from sleep, today is the day of salvation!

How many of you have ever sat in a deer stand? How are you supposed to sit? You have to be still, quiet, and ALERT! Deer move quietly, they can suddenly appear with little warning, and if it’s a buck chasing a doe, you might just have one glimpse, one shot. On Friday I went out with my dad and my brother-in-law to hunt. My mom graciously made us some nice turkey sandwiches. We got out to our blinds pretty early. The turkey was a big mistake! Even with a cup of coffee, three times I found myself slumped forward and I woke myself up snoring! I can’t imagine that helped bring in the deer! Finally, I drank another cup of coffee and prayed the rosary, that helped me to stay alert.

On the other hand, if you’ve sat in a deer blind, you know what happens when you do hear the leaves rustle, when you see the head bob behind a tree, when you hear a twig snap! Suddenly your heart races, your hands shake, every sense is focused and twitching! What is coming?

So, to stay in the analogy, Advent is meant to be a BIG twig snapping! Far more significant than any buck, Jesus is coming! Listen to Paul in Romans, “For our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed; the night is advanced, the day is at hand.” Are we awake, alert, ready? Christ will come suddenly; He comes daily in hidden ways. Are your eyes open for Him? Do you listen with your ears, with your heart for His voice? Are you focused on the touch of His grace in your heart, in your conscience? Spiritually, don’t be like me in my blind slumped forward snoring, when Christ calls!

What preparations, then, will YOU make during this time of preparation? The decorating, shopping, cooking, are good, but do they distract you from the real hunt, the hunt for holiness? The main event is spiritual – what preparations will you make? How will you get ready?

If Christ were to arrive tomorrow morning, and you knew He was coming at 6 am, what would you put in order? Who would you forgive? From whom would you request forgiveness? Who would you call, who would you visit? What would you say to your spouse, to your children, to your parents? If we were 24 hours from judgment, what would you do to put the house of your heart in order? This is what Paul speaks of, “Let us then throw off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light; let us conduct ourselves properly as in the day, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in promiscuity and lust, not in rivalry and jealousy.”

So, concretely, here are some ways to get ready this Advent: Make a good confession, especially if it’s been years. Why would you fight your sins alone, when God wants to do the heavy lifting? Go to confession. And don’t wait for the penance services! If anybody listens, there won’t be space! Pray every day during this Advent season. Use the Advent Wreath before dinner with your children, read the daily Gospel every day, it’s in the bulletin. Pray part of the Rosary every day, or just one decade. Use our blue Advent prayer books that are out in the Gathering Space. Finally, try to go to an extra Mass every week. We have 7 daily Masses here; there are others at the Cathedral and St. Christopher’s. Christ comes to us at each Mass, so prepare for His Final Coming by receiving Him with joy at each Eucharist.

Let me finish with the words of the Gospel, “Therefore, stay awake! For you do not know on which day your Lord will come. Be sure of this: if the master of the house had known the hour of night when the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and not let his house be broken into. So too, you also must be prepared, for at an hour you do not expect, the Son of Man will come.”

Our king enthroned on the Cross and crowned with thorns?

2010-11-21T18:17:00.000-08:00


God so loved the world.

Homily Outline for the Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ the King

Today we celebrate the last Sunday of the liturgical year. At this key moment, Holy Mother Church places before us Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of Heaven and Earth. We offer praise, glory, and honor be unto Him, our Lord and Savior.

When we hear of a king, who comes to mind? Do we think of Michael Jackson, the tarnished King of Pop Music? Or King George who unfairly taxed the 13 colonies? Do we imagine a cruel tyrant who commands all things according to his capricious will? Or, is it the romantic king of fairy tales, dispenser of justice, commander of knights, rescuer of damsels in distress? None of these images are all that helpful in understanding our solemnity today.

If our hearts and lives are to be converted once again by this liturgy, by this sacrament, we have to allow our image of “king” to be remolded and renewed. The Holy Word of God presents us with a more significant image of kingship. In our first reading, we hear of David anointed by the Northern Tribes, Israel. David is the anointed one, the “messhiac”, the cristos, the messiah. Now King of Judah and King of Israel, he has consolidated his rule over all the 12 tribes. God makes a promise to him later that his heir will reign forever on the throne. The People of God hope for stability, peace, and comfort. But this all falls apart quickly. With David’s son Solomon’s death, merely one generation later, the kingdoms split. In the coming centuries there will be war after war, faithless tyrant after faithless tyrant on the throne. The people had asked for an earthly king, and that’s what they got. For a thousand years they continued to hope in God’s promise that David’s son would reign forever. They sustained that hope through exile, apostasy, and tragedy. When, in the fullness of time, God did fulfill His promise, He sent a king, the son of David, but not the king they had imagined.

The Word took on Flesh and dwelt among us. God Himself came to be our king, our messiah, our savior. The expected and yet unexpected king was born in a little hick town, fostered by a simple carpenter. He gathered up some ex-fisherman and a reformed tax collector and began to preach the good news! Certainly he performed some impressive miracles, but what about the Romans? Where was his army? Where was the strong fist holding a sword that would restore power and glory to Jerusalem? How could He be the king? This sense of confusion and betrayal comes to a particularly sharp point in our gospel. The King is crucified. Isn’t it a strange image for celebrating Christ’s Kingship? He’s on the cross, suffering injustice, punished, bleeding, gasping, and mocked by the criminal beside him. Ignominy, betrayal, and defeat surround him. Our king is enthroned on a Cross crowned with thorns. And, yet, the good thief rebukes the other, and makes a startling request, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” What kingdom could this dying man offer? “Jesus replied to him, ‘Amen, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise.’”

Who can bring us to Paradise? It is God who took upon his own shoulders the sins of all the world. It is God who calls us to hope and trust even in the face of weakness and defeat. God sent no delegate, no special messenger, He raised up no merely human prophet. He sent His Son, the Second Person of the Trinity, His Very Word, the one who said, “I and the Father are One.” Listen again to our 2^nd reading:

"For in him were created all things in heaven and on earth, the visible and the invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers; all things were created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together….For in him all the fullness was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile all things for him, making peace by the blood of his cross through him, whether those on earth or those in heaven."

Paul leaves us in no doubt – Jesus is God, the alpha and the omega, the beginning and the end.

Today, then, we honor Christ the King, but a very different kind of king! Each one of us by baptism is another Christ. The Lord wants to shape and conform us in His image and likeness. We are priest, prophet and king in the world.

How do we live in light of Christ’s Kingship? First of all, is Jesus the Lord of our lives? Do we live by His commandments, by His example? Or, have we set ourselves up as kings? Do we march to our own drums? No matter what your TV tells you, we didn’t create ourselves, we don’t make the rules, we don’t get to shape right and wrong to our own tastes and comfort. Rather, we are called to follow the King, to be conformed to the image and likeness of Jesus, and Him Crucified.

If we follow the king, what are we to expect? Will everything be easy and sweet? That is NOT the Gospel. We face ignominy and defeat in big and small ways, but we know that our King conquered sin and death, and that He will conquer sin and death in us if we but open the door. In Christ we are victorious, but it is a victory that comes as we struggle through suffering, pain, and confusion.

For the Church, the year ends this week, and next week we will make a new beginning, begin a new waiting, a new preparation. For now, though, let us honor and glorify Jesus, Lord of Heaven and Earth, Lord of our Lives. May we honor Him by truly living as His disciples. May we receive today the King’s Body and Blood with open hearts.

A great retreat, in pictures, and How to Be Humble!

2010-10-24T18:02:00.000-07:00

We had an AMAZING Catholic Campus Ministry Retreat this weekend at BayCliff. Our first retreat at that beautiful place, 66 college students from NMU, MTU, LSSU, and for the first time, Bay College. Our retreat director was Fr. Eric Weber, a priest of the Diocese of Lansing who teaches at Sacred Heart Major Seminary in Detroit. He gave us 5 amazing talks, and a great closing homily. We had confessions, Mass, Eucharistic Adoration, and plenty of social time. The Lord was VERY generous this weekend!

Bishop Sample came to celebrate Mass and meet with the students on Saturday afternoon. We took a great group picture:

The whole kit and kaboodle: Bishop Sample, 4 priests, 3 campus ministers, 66 college students! AWESOME!

All the pictures I took are up here on Facebook: Pictures of Retreat. You don't need an account to view them.

I poached some good material from Fr. Eric from his talk on humility for my homily this evening. I hope you might find it helpful as I did:

How to be Humble

Homily for the 30th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C

Why is the Pharisee left unjustified? Is God so mad at him because he’s a hypocrite? We hear over and over again in the Scriptures that judgment is real. There are eternal consequences to our decisions hear on earth. It is possible to be damned. What about God’s love and mercy? If God loves us so much, how could He judge us or punish us?

We had a wonderful campus ministry retreat this weekend up at BayCliff in Big Bay, 66 students from NMU, MTU, LSSU, and Bay College. The biggest fall retreat every! Our retreat was led by Fr. Eric Weber, a young priest who teaches at the seminary in Detroit. One of his 5 talks was dedicated to humility, and I’m going to rely this evening on his talk, which really struck me to the heart.

The Pharisee is left in his sin, despite his visit to the temple. This is not because God is vengeful or capricious. It is the consequence of the Pharisee’s attitude. If we approach life as he does, the result of our decision will be deep pain and suffering on our part. We will not be healed. If we look around at the weakness of others, and count ourselves content as long as we can see somebody who’s messing up their life more than us, we will not experience happiness or joy or peace. We will be left out of right relationship not only with God, but also with all those around us. Essentially, as the Lord of Heaven and Earth sustains us in being out of love, as He offers us grace and joy and peace, as He offers us even His own Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity…. as we are offered everything, our hands will be clenched tight, our hearts and lives will be hunched in on themselves, our eyes will be too busy looking around to catch someone making a mistake to see the Lord RIGHT IN FRONT OF US!

So, how do we open ourselves up to the gift that God wants to give us? Humility. We must approach the Lord as the tax collector did, or the publican. Let’s be clear – the publican took out tax-contracts from the Romans, and any extra he could squeeze out of the poor was his to keep. Think Sheriff of Nottingham or a gang collecting “protection money” rather than IRS. The Pharisee is not inaccurate in judging the tax-collector. This man, who has very likely done a great deal of wrong, approaches the Lord in humility, deeply aware of his need for repentance and healing, and Jesus tells us his prayer is heard.

So, how do we attain humility? It is NOT a matter of running ourselves down or thinking poorly of ourselves. Here’s a definition of humility: the virtue (or habit) by which one attributes to God all the good one possesses. And this attribution is not a fiction – it’s true. What do we have that we have not been given by God? Even the fruit of our hard work and labor is also the fruit of the life and gifts that God has given us. Each moment, each breath is a gift. We are sustained in existence by the unwavering and faithful love of the Father. If we come to grips with reality, we will begin to enter into humility. To be humble is not to be a doormat, not to have low self-esteem. To be humble is to see what is, to recognize all as gift. The humble man, the humble woman, can then boldly and courageously give all.

Fr. Eric gave us 5 ways to cultivate humility – I hope you find them helpful as I have. First: We’re all airheads! We constantly blunder around making mistakes. I got up early Monday, said my prayers, and since I had 45 minutes until Mass, I decided to give myself a haircut. I haven't paid for one since 1997! But, after cutting a patch of longer hair off the front of my head, the trimmer stopped working! After disassembling and reassembling it 3 times with my pocket knife, I finally got it going, with 12 minutes to go before morning Mass. Yikes! Why would God entrust us with anything? And, yet, He has!

Second, Ask God for help in prayer. As we ask for help, we’re reminded that we need God. One simple lesson: There is a God, you’re not Him! As we step into the light of God’s love, He will show us our weakness little by little so that we can seek healing. He doesn’t crush us by showing it to us all at once! Windshield example.

Third: The Sacrament of Reconciliation This is an opportunity of great beauty and grace, and it is humbling. Mysteriously, Jesus entrusted the power to forgive sins to the Church, to the priests. When I think about my own weakness, this is pretty astounding! And yet, I have seen over and over again, even in just 14 months of priesthood, how the Lord can work powerfully even through me. We bring the Lord garbage, and He gives us healing and beauty in return! If you haven’t been to confession in a while, get into the box! Mercy and healing await, and humility.

Fourth: Thankfulness. We can approach life in two ways: I’m constantly getting ripped off, it’s not fair. Or – Everything I’ve got is undeserved, it is all gift. This second option has the great benefit of being true! And, so, we give thanks. If you find yourself slipping into bitterness, into judgment, into envy or jealousy: STOP, start giving thanks for what the Lord has given you. Build, then, thankfulness into your daily schedule.

Finally, fifth, Christian Service. We serve others for a different reason than the world. It’s not essentially to do something good, or to make a better world, although those are good reasons. It’s to serve Jesus Christ. In Matthew chapter 25 we’re told that we will be judged on how we treat the least among us. Whether this is someone homeless, or someone awkward, or someone lonely, whoever this is, our service to them is our service to Christ. Fr. Eric tells of a poster he saw at a house of the Missionaries of Charity, Mother Teresa’s order: JOY – Jesus, others, you. If we order our concerns in this way, we will experience the true joy of self-gift in Christ.

So: Remember that we’re airheads, ask God for help in prayer, seek forgiveness through Confession, be Thankful, and serve Christ in others. This will build in your heart the virtue of humility, and open your life to the Lord’s grace, guidance, and beauty.

Paul speaks the words from our 2nd reading, “Beloved: I am already being poured out like a libation, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have competed well; I have finished the race; I have kept the faith. From now on the crown of righteousness awaits me, which the Lord, the just judge, will award to me on that day, and not only to me, but to all who have longed for his appearance.” He speaks not out of pride, but out of wonder at what God has done in His life. May we bring that same gratitude and wonder, that same confidence in the Lord’s mercy to the altar this evening and receive from this altar infinite light and strength.

The Leaf Homily...

2010-10-03T17:46:00.000-07:00

Homily for the 27th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C

It has been gray outside, a day seemingly threatening to rain at each moment – a day of wind and even storms. This is where our prophet Habakkuk in the first reading is speaking from – a time of storms. In his case, it was much more dire than a bit of wind and rain. “I cry out to you, ‘Violence!’ but you do not intervene. Why do you let me see ruin; why must I look at misery?” Attack upon Israel seems imminent, and help from God is not evident. Habakkuk is crying out to God – have you ever felt this way? “God, where are you in the midst of this struggle?”

Today we celebrate Respect Life Sunday, and as we look around our world, we see many attacks on human life and dignity. The unborn are not safe in the womb; the elderly are sometimes abandoned and threatened. Human life is produced, manipulated, and often destroyed in laboratories, all in the name of science. The life of the family seems more and more up for grabs. War and violence rage in many places. In a difficult economy, some individuals and families see real hardship knocking at their door. The dignity and sacredness of the human person is cheapened and degraded from many directions. Often, the very pace of life seems to be threatening even individuals and families that are prospering materially.

Where is God in the midst of this? Do your hearts at times cry out? Does God respond? What answer does He give to us as we seek His face in the midst of many threats? Immediately before today’s gospel passage, the apostles were challenged to forgive, even 7 times a day. In the face of such a challenge, the apostles cry out to Jesus, “Increase our faith.” How often must we cry out to God as they did – God, in the face of such challenges, increase our faith!

Where does God respond? There are many answers to this, but I would like to highlight one. The Lord responds with beauty. The moral law, God’s very creation, speaks to us in beauty. Last night I was up at St. Albert the Great University Parish at Michigan Tech to speak to their college students there. As I drove home this morning, along Keweenaw Bay, the trees were on fire. Some rain had just blown through, and the sun was shining through the many-layered clouds. The stretch along the shore there is always dangerous driving for me because the view is so beautiful! The heights of the Huron Mountains and Mount Arvon constantly draw my eyes away from the road! It was certainly so this morning. In places, the sun shone down and set the leaves on fire. In other places the low clouds caught the reflected light off the leaves and were red and orange. My heart sang with praise and thanksgiving.

God’s response to brokenness and storms is often to be found in beauty. Goodness, beauty, and truth are mutually implicative. They go together, they suggest and lead to each other. The beauty of a kind act, the beauty of creation, the joy of discovering the truth about God’s love for us, the love He has placed in us – these things call to us, draw us, and guide us through the storms of life. The beauty in the natural world can be a spark, an invitation, for our lives also to be beautiful.

In the midst of many attacks on the sanctity of life and the dignity of the human person, one fruitful response is to seek to lead lives of beauty. Each act of kindness, each authentic gift of our self is a spark of beauty, a small flame of love. The beauty of which I speak has very little to do with outward appearance, and everything to do with the movements of the heart, the mind, and the will towards God. God whispers to us in silence, draws us gently into the fire of His love. He doesn’t want us to be self-righteous, waiting for our reward when we obey His voice, but rather to recognize that we are created to serve and give and love. The Lord’s work is often hidden, and often seems to be lagging behind. But listen to His words to Habakkuk: “For the vision still has its time, presses on to its fulfillment, and will not disappoint; if it delays, wait for it, it will surely come, it will not be late.

To commit small acts of beauty is to build a culture of life, where each human person is respected and cherished. This is necessarily a culture also of truth, where the moral law, as discovered by our reason and as revealed by God, the whole challenging and beautiful moral law taught by God’s Church, is respected and followed.

Listen now to Paul’s words to Timothy, “Beloved, I remind you, to stir into flame the gift of God that you have through the imposition of my hands. For God did not give us a spirit of cowardice but rather of power and love and self-control.” Timothy had been ordained a bishop – most of us here have been baptized and confirmed. We are invited not to a spirit of cowardice, not to be accomplices of the culture of death, but rather to be filled with the power of the Holy Spirit, to exercise self-control, and so to love.

Each one of us is given this spark of fire and grace. At each Eucharist, we receive again Christ Himself, who longs to set fire to the world, to fan into flame love and beauty in our hearts and lives, in our families and community. May we allow Christ’s beauty set our hearts and lives on fire.

The view NE from Hogsback this Saturday afternoon. Deo gratias!

The Fish Homily...

2010-10-03T17:43:00.000-07:00

As implausible as it may seem, someone wondered if they could get the text of my fish homily. So, since I normally post them on my Facebook page anyways, I figured I'd put up some homilies here as well. I don't think they're going to get any better the second time!

Homily for the 26th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C

I think if we’re willing to hear the Word today, this Gospel will strike us close to home. The rich man in the parable isn’t named, but traditionally he’s called “Dives,” which is Latin for “rich.” What is Dives’ problem? He has so many good things, and he ends up in torment, in flames.

The pike in question...

These past days that I’ve been away, I had the privilege to go on a canoe trip with my dad, my Uncle Tim, and 3 other guys on a canoe trip in the Quetico, the park in Canada just north of the Boundary Waters. We traveled about 150 miles in 11 days, paddling, portaging, cooking over an open fire. It was a beautiful trip, especially to be able to share it with my dad and my uncle. One of the guys, Scott, was a pretty accomplished fisherman, and along with my dad and one other guy, kept us supplied with fresh northern pike. One of the first pike Scott caught was about 25”. To our surprise, when he gutted it, he noticed the stomach was very full. He opened the stomach, and found inside an entire, intact, red squirrel! The pike had swallowed whole a squirrel about a third as long as he was! Not only that, but while full of this squirrel, he had still struck at the lure afterwards! I suspect you see the connection. Having bitten off more than he could chew, he kept grabbing for more, which ended him up in our frying pan!

In our first reading, the Prophet Amos speaks of the rich and complacent, stretched comfortably on their couches. “Improvising to the music of the harp, like David, they devise their own accompaniment.” Do we see the spiritual danger that wealth and comfort so easily present? We become content with ourselves, with our comfort, with our possessions. We devise our own accompaniment; we make our own plans. Our hearts draw back from God’s mysterious plans, and we chart our own course. Paradoxically, at the same time, we desire more. We want more comfort, a bigger house, more and bigger cars. Closer to my own heart, we begin to imagine a fleet of fine canoes, a nice over/under 20 gauge shotgun, or a pack of purebred beagles. Each of these things is good in and of itself. God created the material world and called it good. Then He created us, and called it VERY GOOD. In particular, it is a good and noble thing for parents to provide for their families, for their children. BUT, so easily, wants become non-negotiable needs, and soon our possessions own us.

I presume that you have been warned before of the dangers of wealth, comfort. I imagine that this is not the first time you have wondered if perhaps you have allowed what you have to have you. There is a broader message here – we are called to freedom. The Gospel calls us to have pure, undivided hearts, and it calls us to true and authentic freedom, which is always found in the complete and pure and entire gift of self, the laying down of our lives in love. This is why wealth and comfort can be dangerous – they draw us from freedom into slavery.

Freedom is a tricky category in the United States of America, it is bound up in our national history – the Land of the Free, Liberty, and Justice for all! Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness. Unfortunately, in recent generations, Freedom has often been stripped of its full meaning and become simply the absence of restraint. When someone says, “hey, it’s a free country,” they’re not normally defending virtue! Liberty has often become libertinism. Freedom is not merely the absence of constraint, the absence of coercion. In fact, oftentimes those who have lived the most freely have been prisoners, martyrs, beggars. Freedom always has a direction, towards God, towards the good, the true, and the beautiful. Whenever we chose away from God, we do not exercise our freedom, we abuse and degrade our freedom.

This is where having good things becomes dangerous. The more we have, sometimes, the more we want, and the harder it is to give what we have and what we are. Dives could EASILY have spared Lazarus food and clothing, even friendship. But, he grasped what he had, he took it for himself. He was a man of means, but he was a slave to them. The means he had became an end in themselves, rather than a means for doing good, for loving, for being free.

Listen to Paul’s worlds in our 2^nd reading, words originally written to Timothy, a young bishop: “But you, man of God, pursue righteousness, devotion, faith, love, patience, and gentleness. Compete well for the faith. Lay hold of eternal life, to which you were called when you made the noble confession in the presence of many witnesses.” May each of us hear these words addressed to us personally: People of St. Michael’s Parish, People of Marquette, pursue righteousness, devotion, faith, love, patience, and gentleness. Compete well for the faith. Lay hold of eternal life, to which you were called in the noble confession of baptism and confirmation.

This is the path to true freedom! This is the path to eternal life, this is the path where we will be filled by grace and light, buoyed up by the Lord’s presence and guidance. This is the path where we will won’t imitate that pike, this is the path whereby we avoid ending up in someone’s frying pan!

Little Dresses for Libby, pictures are now up, and the Canoe Trip

2010-09-29T08:25:00.000-07:00

This is sort of a grab-bag post. It's been too long, I'll try to post more frequently!

For now, some pictures. My little sister Libby has been sending me pictures of all the students who have received dresses, pants, and school assistance through the generosity of St. Michael Parish. The Christian Service & Evangelization Committee has coordinated this good work, especially the work of lots of volunteer seamstresses! Here is one of the little girls who received some support:

Paola Mendez, age 6, preschool

So, more pictures are up with captions here and here.

Clink on those links and check out the pictures! You can see the faces of a bunch of folks whose burden has been made a little bit lighter. Along with the clothing, each child received some help for school, mostly notebooks. The high schoolers in the second group of pictures received cash support to help pay for their school costs.

I've also posted some pictures from my recent canoe trip here. It was a beautiful with my dad, my Uncle Tim, and 3 of their buddies. Here's the picture of the pike Scott caught with the red squirrel in his belly. I wasn't joking, as some people thought:

A northern pike which swallowed a red squirrel whole!

I know it's kind of a gross picture, but a lot of people were curious!

So, it is a busy time here at St. Michael's, with parish activities, the Catholic School, Kids Being Catholic, and Campus Ministry all in full swing! If you were able to come to the Ministry Fair last weekend, you get some sense of all that good things that are happening here!

Finally, today is our patronal feast, the Feast of the Holy Archangels: St. Michael, St. Gabriel, and St. Raphael. May St. Michael continue to intercede for us and protect us as we seek each day to follow the Lord more closely.

Here are some varying images of St. Michael. He is cited in the Book of Revelation as being the one who did direct combat with Satan, casting him out of heaven:

Rv 12:7-12ab
War broke out in heaven; Michael and his angels battled against the dragon. The dragon and its angels fought back, but they did not prevail and there was no longer any place for them in heaven. The huge dragon, the ancient serpent, who is called the Devil and Satan,
who deceived the whole world, was thrown down to earth, and its angels were thrown down with it. Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say: "Now have salvation and power come, and the Kingdom of our God and the authority of his Anointed. For the accuser of our brothers is cast out, who accuses them before our God day and night. They conquered him by the Blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; love for life did not deter them from death. Therefore, rejoice, you heavens, and you who dwell in them."

This is one of the two options for the first reading for today's Mass.

I'll close with the Prayer of St. Michael the Archangel:

St. Michael the Archangel,
defend us in battle.
Be our defense against the wickedness and snares of the Devil.
May God rebuke him, we humbly pray,
and do thou,
O Prince of the heavenly hosts,
by the power of God,
thrust into hell Satan,
and all the evil spirits,
who prowl about the world
seeking the ruin of souls. Amen.

God Bless, Fr. Ben

Baraga March 2010

2010-08-06T19:09:00.000-07:00

The Baraga March 2010 riders on day one!

Praise God, Baraga March 2010 was AWESOME! We had beautiful weather, and despite a few mechanical problems, it went very smoothly! Oh, and I got us lost between Little Lake and KI Sawyer for about an hour this morning... we'll call that a learning experience! 19 riders on Wednesday, then 11 on Thursday, and 10 this morning! It was great to see so many people get involved! Hans and Matt brought a great crew from Escanaba on Wednesday,and Christy brought a the Scouts of Troop 473 in Flat Rock, along with Casey from Troop 302. A big thanks to EVERYONE who made this years Baraga March possible!

I'll tell you more soon, but here's a link to the PICTURES!

God Bless,
Fr. Ben

More pictures from El Salvador, and some pictures from our New Parishoner Welcome Picnic!

2010-07-29T05:27:00.000-07:00

I don't have time to write much, but here's some links to pictures from El Salvador, the second half of my Central American journey, as well as from our New Parishioner Welcome Picnic. I was VERY happy with the great turn-out on a busy summer evening.

Libby and I cross machetes at the weekly cattle fair.

El Salvador 2010

Merry-go-round Ministry

Pictures of New Parishioner Welcome Picnic

I hope you enjoy the pictures!

God Bless,

Fr. Ben

Greetings from Central America!

2010-07-18T16:52:00.000-07:00

It has been a good first week here in Nicaragua, very early tomorrow I head to El Salvador with my sister Libby, and her friend and fellow Peace Corps Volunteer, Adam.

Some pictures are up at Facebook... you don´t need an account to view them with this link!

Here also are pictures of the students in Libby´s village who received scholarships via St. Michael´s Christian Service Committee. The days are just packed, so Libby will distribute the dresses when she gets back in early August.

We had Mass three successive days in Libby´s village at three chapels: San Francisco, Cristo Rey, and Nuestra Señora de Perpetua Socorro. Each day I heard 2-3 hours of confessions before Mass! Many graces, but exhausting. We went to visit the sick, too.

We went to a wedding for her fellow volunteer, Molly, and we went to see a big canyon today!

See you back at St. Michael´s in a week!

God Bless,
Fr. Ben Hasse

Central America, here I come!

2010-07-05T18:51:00.000-07:00

This coming Monday, I'll be headed south for a visit to Central America. I'll go to Nicaragua, where my youngest sister Libby is serving in the Peace Corps, with an abundant supply of little dresses and britches made by folks here at St. Michael Parish, with the coordination and leadership of the Christian Service Committee!

After a week in Nicaragua, Libby and I will travel through Honduras to El Salvador, where I served in the Peace Corps from 2001 - 2004. We'll spend most of our time in Canton San Luis, Nueva Guadalupe, in the deparment of San Miguel. It will be VERY good to see my friends there.

To give you a little taste of what I'll be doing and seeing, here are links to pictures from my trip down there last year immediately after my ordination:

Pictures on Facebook (no need to have an account there)

Pictures on Picasaweb: El Salvador

Pictures on Picasaweb: Nicaragua

I hope to share pictures of this years trip when I return!

God Bless,
Fr. Ben

One year a priest...

2010-06-05T11:58:00.000-07:00

J.M.J.

June 5th, 2010

Memorial of St. Boniface

In just an hour or so, I will have been a priest for one full year! Deo gratias!

It's hard to believe a year has gone by, it's hard to imagine not being a priest, not celebrating the Eucharist, not hearing confessions, not being for all the people I serve. My life has been full and blessed in many ways leading to this past year, but I have a sense of it all flowing into and for this purpose, to be a priest of Jesus Christ and to serve His Bride, the Church.

I spent the last three days with 27 eighth-graders and their teachers and some of their parents on the Class Trip! Great America, Chicago: Shedd Aquarium, Museum of Science and Industry, Boat Tour, Pizza, musical, tour of Mundelein Seminary with Mass there, then shopping at Fox Valley Mall (the last being my least favorite! Not a single bookstore in that whole mall anymore! At least there's a sporting-goods store!). It was a wonderful exhausting trip and a deep draught of spiritual fatherhood...

It has been a year truly full of blessings, not least among them being here at St. Michael Parish and Catholic Campus Ministry and having Fr. Larry as my pastor and mentor and friend. Truly, it is good that we are here! It is a further blessing to be back in the UP, to be close to my parents and friends.

So, at this moment, my heart is full of gratitude and joy! There are MANY challenges ahead, I am VERY conscious of just beginning to learn what it means to be a priest, but I am also filled with confidence in the Lord Jesus who calls us into union with the Trinity, who empowers us with His Holy Spirit, who draws deeper into the fire of love. In God, ALL things are possible!

St. Boniface, bishop and martyr, pray for us!

Blessed Mother, draw us into your Immaculate Heart and closer to the Sacred Heart of your Son, Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

Blowing on sparks....

2010-05-29T11:10:00.000-07:00

"Fan into a flame the gift that God gave you when I laid my hands on you. God's gift was not a spirit of timidity, but the Spirit of power, and love, and self-control."

2 Timothy 1:6-7

This is the scriptural passage I chose to put on my ordination prayer card. I think it's a marvelous image for spiritual reflection... I know as an Eagle Scout and pyro it certainly speaks to my heart! There's a visceral sense of contentment and achievement and even joy when you blow gently and steadily on a smoldering little almost-fire and feel and hear and smell it grow into a merrily burning blaze, or even a bonified bonfire.

I'm coming up on celebrating one year of priesthood in a week, and what a year it's been! Very full, very challenging, very joyful. I like that quote even more now than when I chose it. There are SO many challenges that the Church faces in our increasingly broken and hostile world. There are SO many challenges each one of us faces as we try to hear and respond to the Lord's beguiling whisper in our hearts. And, at the same time, there are far more sparks of the Holy Spirit in hearts and minds, just waiting to be gently blown into a blaze.

What could be more fascinating than the care of souls? To be entrusted with shepherding and encouraging and challenging and cajoling God's adopted sons and daughters, one's own brothers and sisters in Christ! It is a fearful and joyful and awesome thing. I've just been given the tiniest taste of it in this first year, perhaps even a hearty helping, as I prefer.

And, at the same time, one's own soul is to be shepherded. To go within and encounter the Lord of Heaven and Earth... to be docile and listening and open in the midst of many duties and responsibilities, each one of them sacred, and at the same time, potentially, an obstacle to hearing the Lord's voice.

And what an arsenal! What tools, what means of grace! The big guns: Confession, the Eucharist, Prayer! So many saints and angels, such a cloud of witnesses and examples!

God, Father of Heaven and Earth, I thank you and praise you and glorify your name for the gift of your Son, Jesus Christ, for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, and for your call to me, and to all your sons and daughters. Set us ablaze with love for You and for one another. Help us to see the sparks of life and love in the midst of storms, and darkness, and confusion. Amen!

3 New Deacons for our Diocese!

2010-05-22T09:56:00.000-07:00

It was a great joy and privilege to concelebrate the Ordination Mass yesterday afternoon at St. Peter's Cathedral where Ryan Ford, Nick Thompson, and Terry Saunders were ordained deacons! Transitional deacons Ford and Thompson are now entering their last year of formation for the priesthood, while Deacon Saunders is a permanent deacon. There is a nice article about all three of them in the most recent issue of the U.P. Catholic. Thank God for such good and faithful men willing to lay down their lives in service to the Lord and His Church!

It was a particularly proud day for St. Anne's Parish in Escanaba, where both Deacon Ryan and Deacon Terry are parishioners. Deacon Nick is from Resurrection Parish in Menominee, MI.

Fr. Larry and I are VERY excited to have Deacon Ryan with us this summer at St. Michael's. He spent last summer at the Cathedral, so this will be a further chapter of pastoral experience and growth for him.

The three deacons had a nice reception here at St. Michael's in the Zyrd Parish Center for their immediate family. Towards the end, Deacon Ryan got up and had some kind words of thanksgiving to share.

Bishop Sample and his mother Joyce both came as well. After the reception, some of the Boy Scouts who are working on the Ad Altare Dei Religious Award (the name means "towards the altar of God") helped out with the clean-up. They had also been at the reception. Bishop Sample graciously agreed to take a picture with us:

We finished the day with a dip in Lake Superior! I don't have any pictures, I'm sorry to say! Fr. Tim Ekaitis had to make up for wimping out on Thursday when I jumped in off some rocks in the midst of a kayak trip and he didn't! So, Fr. Larry, Fr. Tim, Deacon Ryan and I went out to the beach in the moonlight and made three bold plunges into the lake. VERY refreshing! The swimming season has begun! One of Fr. Larry's and my pastoral goals for Deacon Ryan is that he fill out a little bit - it takes a little extra insulation to be able to "bear" swimming in Lake Superior!

How do Christians live in the world? Wisdom from the Early Church...

2010-05-05T18:04:00.000-07:00

Every year, the following reading is one of my favorites. It is a strange thing to be strangers and sojourners in a world that is good, broken, and passing. We are pilgrims, this is not our final home. At the same time, we hope for the restoration of all things in Christ. Read, enjoy, ponder, share your thoughts! - Fr. Ben

+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +

from Universalis

The 2nd Reading from the Office of Readings for Wednesday of the 5th Week of Easter.

From a letter to Diognetus

The Christian in the world

Christians are indistinguishable from other men either by nationality, language or customs. They do not inhabit separate cities of their own, or speak a strange dialect, or follow some outlandish way of life. Their teaching is not based upon reveries inspired by the curiosity of men. Unlike some other people, they champion no purely human doctrine. With regard to dress, food and manner of life in general, they follow the customs of whatever city they happen to be living in, whether it is Greek or foreign.

And yet there is something extraordinary about their lives. They live in their own countries as though they were only passing through. They play their full role as citizens, but labour under all the disabilities of aliens. Any country can be their homeland, but for them their homeland, wherever it may be, is a foreign country. Like others, they marry and have children, but they do not expose them. They share their meals, but not their wives. They live in the flesh, but they are not governed by the desires of the flesh. They pass their days upon earth, but they are citizens of heaven. Obedient to the laws, they yet live on a level that transcends the law.

Christians love all men, but all men persecute them. Condemned because they are not understood, they are put to death, but raised to life again. They live in poverty, but enrich many; they are totally destitute, but possess an abundance of everything. They suffer dishonour, but that is their glory. They are defamed, but vindicated. A blessing is their answer to abuse, deference their response to insult. For the good they do they receive the punishment of malefactors, but even then they rejoice, as though receiving the gift of life. They are attacked by the Jews as aliens, they are persecuted by the Greeks, yet no one can explain the reason for this hatred.

To speak in general terms, we may say that the Christian is to the world what the soul is to the body. As the soul is present in every part of the body, while remaining distinct from it, so Christians are found in all the cities of the world, but cannot be identified with the world. As the visible body contains the invisible soul, so Christians are seen living in the world, but their religious life remains unseen. The body hates the soul and wars against it, not because of any injury the soul has done it, but because of the restriction the soul places on its pleasures. Similarly, the world hates the Christians, not because they have done it any wrong, but because they are opposed to its enjoyments.

Christians love those who hate them just as the soul loves the body and all its members despite the body’s hatred. It is by the soul, enclosed within the body, that the body is held together, and similarly, it is by the Christians, detained in the world as in a prison, that the world is held together. The soul, though immortal, has a mortal dwelling place; and Christians also live for a time amidst perishable things, while awaiting the freedom from change and decay that will be theirs in heaven. As the soul benefits from the deprivation of food and drink, so Christians flourish under persecution. Such is the Christian’s lofty and divinely appointed function, from which he is not permitted to excuse himself.

Responsory

I am the light of the world. He who follows me can never walk in darkness; he will possess the light which is life, alleluia.

In me is all grace of way and of truth, in me all hope of life and of strength. He who follows me can never walk in darkness; he will possess the light which is life, alleluia.

Closing Prayer

O God, you love innocence and restore it.
Turn the hearts of your servants towards you:
let us be firm in faith and effective in good works.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,God for ever and ever.
Amen.

Jesus Christ is Risen, Alleluia!

2010-04-15T06:13:00.000-07:00

It's been a busy month since St. Patrick's Day! I've not been fulfilling my bloggerly duties! Since there's been no outcry, I can only imagine you have been holding in your loss! ;)

It is Eastertime, 50 days to focus on the resurrection!

Here's an excerpt from the Second Reading of today's Office of Readings, cut and paste from .

It was the Lord’s will that his gifts should remain with us, and that we who have been redeemed by his precious blood should constantly be sanctified according to the pattern of his own passion. And so he commanded those faithful disciples of his whom he made the first priests of his Church to enact these mysteries of eternal life continuously. All priests throughout the churches of the world must celebrate these mysteries until Christ comes again from heaven. Therefore let us all, priests and people alike, be faithful to this everlasting memorial of our redemption. Daily it is before our eyes as a representation of the passion of Christ. We hold it in our hands, we receive it in our mouths, and we accept it in our hearts.

It is appropriate that we should receive the body of Christ in the form of bread, because, as there are many grains of wheat in the flour from which bread is made by mixing it with water and baking it with fire, so also we know that many members make up the one body of Christ which is brought to maturity by the fire of the Holy Spirit. Christ was born of the Holy Spirit, and since it was fitting that he should fulfil all justice, he entered into the waters of baptism to sanctify them. When he left the Jordan he was filled with the Holy Spirit who had descended upon him in the form of a dove. As the evangelist tells us: Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan.

Similarly, the wine of Christ’s blood, drawn from the many grapes of the vineyard that he had planted, is extracted in the wine-press of the cross. When men receive it with believing hearts, like capacious wineskins, it ferments within them by its own power.

- From a sermon by Saint Gaudentius of Brescia, bishop

May we be united into one body by Christ! May the Eucharist we receive lead us into Christ, to become Christ, and to bring Him to the whole world!

God Bless,
Fr. Ben

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

2010-03-17T19:31:00.001-07:00

It's already over in Ireland, but here's a good St. Patrick's Prayer for every day.

The Breastplate of St. Patrick

I arise today

Through a mighty strength, the invocation of the Trinity,

Through a belief in the Threeness,

Through confession of the Oneness

Of the Creator of creation.I arise today

Through the strength of Christ’s birth and His baptism,

Through the strength of His crucifixion and His burial,

Through the strength of His resurrection and His ascension,

Through the strength of His descent for the judgment of doom. I arise today

Through the strength of the love of cherubim,

In obedience of angels,

In service of archangels,

In the hope of resurrection to meet with reward,

In the prayers of patriarchs,

In preachings of the apostles,

In faiths of confessors,

In innocence of virgins,

In deeds of righteous men.

I arise today

Through the strength of heaven;

Light of the sun,

Splendor of fire,

Speed of lightning,

Swiftness of the wind,

Depth of the sea,

Stability of the earth,

Firmness of the rock.

I arise today

Through God’s strength to pilot me;

God’s might to uphold me,

God’s wisdom to guide me,

God’s eye to look before me,

God’s ear to hear me,

God’s word to speak for me,

God’s hand to guard me,

God’s way to lie before me,

God’s shield to protect me,

God’s hosts to save me

From snares of the devil,

From temptations of vices,

From every one who desires me ill,

Afar and anear,

Alone or in a mulitude.

I summon today all these powers between me and evil,

Against every cruel merciless power that opposes my body and soul,

Against incantations of false prophets,

Against black laws of pagandom,

Against false laws of heretics,

Against craft of idolatry,

Against spells of women and smiths and wizards,

Against every knowledge that corrupts man’s body and soul.

Christ shield me today

Against poison, against burning,

Against drowning, against wounding,

So that reward may come to me in abundance.Christ with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me,

Christ in me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me,

Christ on my right, Christ on my left,

Christ when I lie down, Christ when I sit down,

Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me,

Christ in the mouth of every man who speaks of me,

Christ in the eye that sees me,

Christ in the ear that hears me.

I arise today

Through a mighty strength, the invocation of the Trinity,

Through a belief in the Threeness,

Through a confession of the Oneness

Of the Creator of creation

St. Patrick (ca. 377)

Monks @ St. Michael's

2010-03-17T18:54:00.000-07:00

It was a great joy to host the 5 monks of Holy Transfiguration Skete here at St. Michael's last night. They gave a great Lenten program, weaving together their distinctive Ukrainian Byzantine prayer with scripture, a homily, and a conference, introducing us to "Eastern Catholics," their monastic life and discipline, and applying it to our daily lives. Most of all, the encouraged to keep the Lenten Fast, in all it's many aspects, and so to prepare for the joy of Easter.

I cooked dinner, which was a little nerve wracking, since the monks support themselves by their culinary wonders at the JamPot! It turned out pretty good, even though about 45 minutes late - I still don't have that timing thing down. We had some amazing fresh lake trout from Thills, potatoes, broccoli, and red cabbage. Lots of good leftovers for lunch today, and several lunches to come!

Pictures are up on Facebook, here's an external link you can use to get to them: Monks @ St. Michael's.

Tomorrow is the Marquette Frassati Society's first Theology on Tap... 8:00 pm at the Landmark. Fr. Sean will be speaking on "Our Spiritual Journey: Climbing the Mountain of God."

See you there!

God Bless,
Fr. Ben

Climbing the Spiritual Mountain: Theology on Tap this Thursday

2010-03-15T06:47:00.000-07:00

Friends, countrymen, all those over 21...

The Marquette Frassati Society will be hosting Marquette's first-ever Theology on Tap this Thursday, March 18th, at 8:00 pm at the Landmark Inn. There's a private room right across from the pub, that is where we'll be!

Fr. Sean Kopczynski, C.P.M. (Fathers of Mercy) is the chaplain at the Disclaced Carmelite Monastery of the Holy Cross in Iron Mountain, MI. He is a gifted preacher and catechist, and a faithful priest.

So, come enjoy a yeasty beverage (with appropriately Lenten moderation) and join the conversation on spiritual growth and renewal.

It's going to be HUGE!

God Bless,
Fr. Ben

A Mixed Metaphor: Stay in the Ring, the Dawn is coming! up on www.workingtobeathell.org

2010-03-15T06:27:00.000-07:00

I just had a little article "published" on http://www.workingtobeathell.org/.

Similar in theme to a post here, but further developed.

There are some other good articles there, too!

God Bless,
Fr. Ben

One Step to Sunrise

2010-03-15T06:24:00.000-07:00

Homily Outline for the 4th Sunday of Lent, Year C

Brothers and Sisters in Christ, we have passed over the “hump!” We are more than halfway to Easter! Holy Week, the heart and center of our liturgical life, is just two weeks away. Today I read the Introit, the verse that the Mass has traditionally begun with, now typically replaced by an opening hymn… Isaiah begins “Rejoice” – Laetare in Latin. This is Laetare Sunday, Rejoice Sunday, and I am vested in rose, as if I were a rosebud not quite ready to burst into bloom (I know, I’m a little furry to be a rosebud, this may be hard to picture, but work with me!). It is the early rose of a new dawn. The sun is still below the horizon, but we know it will be here soon.

Yesterday I had the chance to hike of Hogsback with a friend of mine. It was a little soggy, but everywhere you could hear water moving, dripping off the hemlocks, flowing in the streams and gullies at full spate. We even had to get over the biggest stream by walking on the railing of the bridge that was under water. Up on Hogsback you could barely make out the big lake, but the mist and fog drifted beautifully over the treetops. Spring is coming, you can taste it in the air.

This is where the Church wants us to be liturgically – tasting in the air at this moment the closeness of Easter. Rejoice – we still have three weeks of penance, but the goal is in sight!

The Church puts before us readings of great hope and encouragement today. We have been seeking penance and self-knowledge in the Lenten desert, to know ourselves honestly and to seek forgiveness and conversion. Paul gives us great hope – God is reconciling the world to Himself in Christ. We are ambassadors of Christ, of this reconciliation. “We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.” Have you built up your courage so far, to look at some real pain or difficulty in your heart? Bring it to the Lord, especially in the Sacrament of Penance. We’re entering high season for Confessions – opportunities abound! The Church encourages every Catholic to go to confession at least in preparation for Easter. The next two Mondays and Tuesdays there will Reconciliation services in each of the city parishes. Be reconciled to God! Take courage; trust in His mercy.

This brings us very naturally to our beautiful and hopeful Gospel – the Parable of the Prodigal Son, of the even more Prodigal Father. I want to focus on a core moment. The son has realized his sorry condition and makes a decision. “So he got up and went back to his father. While he was still a long way off, his father caught sight of him and was filled with compassion. He ran to his son, embraced him and kissed him.”

While he was still a long way off! As Paul said, God is reconciling the world to Himself, He is doing the heavy lifting, He is taking the big step. We need only turn to Him, take the smallest step, open the door of our hearts the smallest crack, and He runs to us. Do not despair, do not give up – God desires to heal you and receive you with joy. Take that little step, a small step that can change you, change your heart, change your life. Come back to our Heavenly Father.

Let’s look at the Offertory in this light. We bring forward the bread and wine, small humble simple gifts. We would not even have them without the soil, sun, and seed the Lord has already given us. We are meant to offer in our hearts along with these simple gifts all our joys and sorrows, our whole selves. The Lord takes these gifts and by grace transforms them into Himself, His Body Blood Soul and Divinity. We take a small step, and He runs to us. Just as the People of Israel in our first reading prepared to receive the food of the Promised Land, we prepare to receive the fruits of Heaven. In a few moments we will take a few small steps toward this Altar to be given everything. Let us open our hearts with confidence. Let us get up and go back to our Father.

Catholic Diocese to Open Investigation into Alleged Miracle Attributed to its First Bishop, Frederic Baraga

2010-03-10T06:09:00.000-08:00

DIOCESE OF MARQUETTE
N E W S R E L E A S E
For Immediate Release

March 10, 2010

Catholic Diocese to Open Investigation into Alleged Miracle Attributed to its First Bishop, Frederic Baraga

    The cause for sainthood of the Catholic Diocese of Marquette’s first bishop will take a major step forward this week when the diocese opens an official inquiry into an alleged miracle being attributed to the Servant of God, Bishop Frederic Baraga.

    Bishop Alexander K. Sample announced the development in the nearly 60-year old cause during a news conference held on Wednesday, March 10, 2010 in Marquette.

    “Since my first days as a seminarian studying for the priesthood, I have had a great devotion to Bishop Baraga,” Bishop Sample said. “As his eleventh successor, I am thrilled at the prospect of a miracle that will advance his cause.   With all the priests, deacons, religious and lay faithful of the diocese, I give thanks to God for his holy, priestly example.”

    The diocese will form a canonical tribunal that will investigate the potential miracle, which took place in the U.P. “We have a case involving what was thought to be a tumor on a patient’s liver that showed up on various tests, including a CT scan and an ultrasound. However, when exploratory surgery was done, there was no tumor to be found,” Father Ronald Browne, diocesan moderator of the curia, explained.

    In this instance, the patient, the patient’s family and their parish priest had prayed for healing by invoking the intercession of Bishop Baraga. In addition, Bishop Baraga’s stole had been placed on the patient’s abdomen, after which the patient reported that the pain went away.

    In order to be affirmed as a miracle, the event being investigated must be one that science cannot explain and be attributable to the intercession of the person whose sainthood is being sought.
    Bishop Sample has appointed Fr. Browne as episcopal delegate to lead the work of the canonical tribunal. Other members of the team will include Father Ben Paris as promoter of justice, Elizabeth Delene as notary, Judy Jason as copyist (transcriptionist) and Dr. John G. Kublin, M.D. as the medical expert.

The bishop has also appointed Father Michael Steber, pastor of St. Peter Cathedral in Marquette, to serve as chancellor in this case, but he is not part of the team. Father Steber will open the inquiry process, obtain the signatures of the tribunal members on the key documents that need to be signed and close the process when it is finished. The opening session is scheduled to take place on Friday, March 12, at 2 p.m. EST at the Diocesan Office Building.

    In investigating the alleged miracle, the tribunal will determine whether an event has occurred that cannot be explained by science and whether it can be attributed to the intercession of Bishop Baraga. After a complete investigation into the potential miracle, two independent physicians must testify as to the physical condition of the person who was the beneficiary of the alleged miracle.

    The cause for Bishop Baraga’s sainthood was opened in 1952. Since that time, the Congregation for the Causes of Saints has reviewed documentation, called a positio, (pronounced peh-ZEET-see-oh) that detailed Bishop Baraga’s life and virtues, as well as documents written by or about him. Bishop Baraga carries the title, “Servant of God,” since the congregation has formally admitted his cause for consideration.

    The diocese is currently at the next step in the sainthood process, which is to determine whether any miracles have been attributed to Bishop Baraga’s intercession. The congregation informed the postulator of the Baraga Cause, Dr. Andrea Ambrosi (pronounced Ahn-DRAY-a Ahm-BROH-zee) of Rome, that the alleged miracle soon to be looked into had the semblance of being a miracle attributable to Bishop Baraga and that it merited further investigation.

    The Congregation for the Causes of Saints will again review the positio and make a recommendation to Pope Benedict XVI regarding Bishop Baraga’s heroic virtue. The Holy Father will then decide whether the title of “Venerable” can be bestowed on Bishop Baraga.

    Once a miracle attributable to Baraga has been verified and the proper documentation submitted to the pontiff, Pope Benedict will decide whether Bishop Baraga is to be beatified, which would give him the title of “Blessed.” This would allow him to be publicly venerated in a limited sense.

In order for Bishop Baraga to be canonized, that is, declared a saint, the diocese would need to verify another miracle attributable to his intercession that occurred after his beatification. Pending a positive result, Bishop Baraga would be known as Saint Frederic Baraga and be subject to public veneration throughout the worldwide Church.

    Bishop Baraga was born in Slovenia in 1797. He came to the United States to be a missionary to the Odawa and Ojibwa of the upper Great Lakes region in 1830. Bishop Baraga traveled throughout the 80,000 square mile territory by canoe, boat, horse, snowshoes and even dog sled. He was consecrated a bishop and appointed vicar apostolic of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan in 1853.
When the vicariate apostolic was established as the Diocese of Sault Ste. Marie (now called the Diocese of Marquette) in 1857, Baraga served as its first bishop until his death in 1868. His work includes an Ojibwa English dictionary, which is still in use today. The Bishop Baraga Association was established in 1930 to promote the cause for sainthood of the “Snowshoe Priest,” as Bishop Baraga is called. For more information regarding the Bishop Baraga Association, please contact Elizabeth Delene at 906-227-9117/800-562-9745, ext. 117 or edelene@dioceseofmarquette.org.

Not success, but faithfulness!

2010-03-07T20:10:00.000-08:00

We had a particularly great opening prayer for Mass this weekend, the 3rd Sunday of Lent. You may not get excited about opening prayers, (traditionally called the "Collect"), but this is the bread and butter for a priest! And, since this is the first year I'm the one leading the praying of them, I'm hearing them in more detail than in the past (which is to say, I'm not sure I really focused on them or that they sunk in before I had them right in front of me.)

Father, you have taught us to overcome our sins
by prayer, fasting and works of mercy.
When we are discouraged by our weakness,
give us confidence in your love.
We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.

Certainly this is where many of us are at... we made certain commitments to God and ourselves for Lent, and already we have struggled. Even if we've kept those promises, those small penances, those small commitments, it's been difficult. They put before us our own inconstancy and weakness. This is as it should be. Lent is not a time for spiritual body-building. God isn't calling us to be spiritual Hulk Hogans or MacGyvers. He does want us to be strong and resourceful, but in Him, not in ourselves.

I have a poster I love which shows JPII and Mother Teresa... two of the brightest lights of the last dark century so full of lies and suffering and violence. Asked if she got discouraged by the many obstacles she faced, she replied “No, God doesn't call me to be successful; God calls me to be faithful.”

I didn't intend to write a homily... if you're in the midst of struggles, if you're having a hard time... that doesn't keep you from God. If it looks like your own brokenness and the brokenness around you isn't getting fixed anytime soon, that doesn't necessarily keep you from God. God walks with us through difficulty. We gaze upon the crucified Christ, not because we've forgotten that He rose, but because we need to be constantly reminded how He saved us. In HIM, all things are possible. In HIM, our perseverance in the face of difficulty leads to eternal glory.

A busy day at St. Michael parish...

2010-03-02T18:17:00.000-08:00

Some things that happened today: 8:00 am Mass, well attended today, then the Coffee Social (there IS a connection!), Morning Prayer with a parishioner who is going through the struggle of learning to pray the breviary, worked on taxes, Boy Scout group at the school working on the Ad Altare Dei award, 5:15 pm Mass (just one parishioner, it's not normally at this time on Tuesdays, but she was a very good sport!), visit to the hospital, re-run of the first session of A Quick Journey through the Bible, the 8-segment version of The Bible Timeline.

Whew! And not an abnormally busy day, no major crises...

If there was every any doubt that prayer is essential, the core, the foundation for ministry, busy days make it both clearer, and sometimes hard to make time for! Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of us your faithful, and kindle in us the fire of your love.

I think I'll go pray the rosary!

Good Night!

God Bless, Fr. Ben

Pope Benedict says... "Go Blog!"

2010-02-27T18:44:00.000-08:00

So, I'm getting this new blog up and running for two main reasons. First of all, it will be linked to the St. Michael Parish website, so it will be a way to communicate with parishioners. Second of all, for two years running, (2010 & 2009) Pope Benedict has encouraged all the faithful, and particularly priests, to venture forth into this digital portion of "reality" that is all too often given over to smut and secularism.

The founding bishop of the Diocese of Marquette, Bishop Frederic Baraga, boldly ventured into wild and inhospitable lands starting in the 1830's, first as a priest, then as a vicar apostolic, and finally as the first ordinary of the Diocese of Sault Ste. Marie, now the Diocese of Marquette. Known as the "Snowshoe Priest," he was not afraid to use unfamiliar technology, the snowshoe, to get to places where the Gospel was little known. Many times he brought the sacraments through the wintry weather on snowshoes.

Bishop Baraga has been an inspiration to me since high school, and in some small way I desire to follow his example of courage and fidelity to the Gospel. So, "Snowshoe Tracks." Many new dangers, challenges, and opportunities.... less chance of frostbite!

God Bless,
Fr. Ben

A new blog...

2010-02-27T18:07:00.000-08:00

So just getting this up and running. It is the descendant of YooperPilgrims, the blog Fr. Mike and I ran while we were seminarians on pilgrimage in the Holy Land. The title is reference to the founding bishop of the Diocese of Marquette, the Servant of God Frederic Baraga, often known as the "Snowshoe Priest" due to his wide and wintry travels in this diocese in the mid-1800's.

More to come!