To my sisters in Christ... your reflections on modesty?

+ J. M. J. +

Five years as a priest and I haven't even come close to figuring this out....

Summer is here, even in the Keweenaw, and as the pastor of a campus ministry parish, and working with young people of all ages, I'm still trying to hone my skills around preaching and teaching modesty.  As a flesh and blood man, I'm also still trying to hone my skills around custody of the eyes and seeing hearts and souls rather than body parts...

In that context, I've been thinking for years about how modesty hits men and women differently.  In terms of dress, I think guys more often struggle with being sloppy, while women are tempted to dress such that attention is focused on their bodies in a way that doesn't contribute to their dignity.  I think men and women struggle to understand each other in these areas because we are so different, and it's not an easy conversation to begin, much less carry on to a fruitful conclusion.

I have been blessed with many good and holy women as friends and family members, and very many of them carry themselves with great dignity and beautiful modesty, for which I am deeply grateful!

I just read these two blog posts from Simcha Fisher and Jennifer Fulwiler, two of my favorite Catholic bloggers, and I would love to hear people's thoughts.  In all of this, please work against our shared tendency to make assumptions, to hastily judge, and to assign motivations to others without knowing them!

Let the conversation begin, God-willing, prayerfully and lovingly!

Standing Out or Blending In? by Simcha Fisher

Modesty is an Opportunity to Love by Jennifer Fulwiler

+ A. M. D. G. +

"I wish to clarify inaccuracies that have appeared in the media over the past several days." St. Michael's pastor offers clarifiction

Fr. Larry Van Damme with me the summer I was ordained.

This letter was recently published in area newspapers, but unlike the story told by Bobby Glenn Brown, it's not in their headlines, and is often behind the subscriber wall where it is conveniently difficult to access!  Please share the rest of the story! - Fr. Ben Hasse

St. Michael’s pastor offers clarification

I wish to clarify inaccuracies that have appeared in the media over the past several days. Among our members at St. Michael Catholic Church in Marquette we have valued parishioners with same sex attraction who serve in many capacities, including liturgical ministries. As their pastor, I love all of my parishioners whatever their circumstance. At no point have I instructed anyone to stand at the back of the church, the cry-room, or in the vestibule. Reports of this having occurred are a misunderstanding.

In the Catholic Christian Church there is a well-known, biblically-based teaching that those who are attracted to the same sex live a life of chastity, and that marriage is to be between one man and one woman. Jesus himself is our exemplar of chaste love. Chastity applies to everyone: the married and the unmarried, the divorced and widowed, those who have chosen a single life and those unable to get married. Within marriage, chastity means being faithful to one’s spouse, being open to life, and treating one’s spouse with dignity. For the unmarried, chastity means abstaining from sexual relations. This expectation is consistently made known to new members of the Catholic Church, and is freely chosen when they make the decision to become Catholic. With God’s grace and the prayerful support of others, living chastely can be a life of rich vitality, deep loving relationships and generosity.

All Christians struggle and sometimes fail to live up to the teachings of Christ, myself included. Distinct from this is the case in which someone makes a deliberately thought-out life-decision to live in a manner which runs contrary to the teachings of their faith and of Scripture. When it becomes a matter not of failing to live up to the teachings of Christ, but of actively opposing them and celebrating their contrary, the situation calls for a particular pastoral response. More specifically, if a parishioner has chosen to celebrate and promote views contradicting the words they would sing in the choir, or proclaim from Scripture as a lector, then they are asked not to lead in the singing or proclamation of those words. However, they are still welcome to worship in the church with fellow members of the Body of Christ.

As a Catholic Christian, I recognize my own unworthiness; I, too, fail to live up to the Word. All the same, I must not deliberately oppose It. As I strive to remain steadfast in faith, one of the most loving things I can do for my parishioners is ask them to be similarly faithful, and prayerfully help them strive for integrity when their personal choices and actions clearly contradict the faith we profess as Catholic Christians.

In all sincerity, my prayers are with anyone who is confused or feels hurt by the misunderstandings that have taken place in the past several days. With many concerned parishioners, I don’t want to see anyone separated from our parish family or the Church.

Rev. Larry Van Damme
Pastor of St. Michael Catholic Church in Marquette

Here also is Bishop Doerfler's public statement made a few days after the initial story hit the press.

Christ calls us to His Mission: Who is God calling you to love?

 +J. M. J. +

Draft Homily for the Solemnity of the Ascension, Year A

This Sunday, in most to the United States, we celebrate the Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord. Although this feast properly takes place 40 days after Easter on a Thursday, here it is transferred to Sunday. As we draw near the end of the 50 days of Easter, the momentous work of Jesus in rising from the dead is completed… first He ascends into heaven to the Father’s Right Hand, and then They breathe forth the Spirit upon the Apostles and the Blessed Mother, and upon the Church. Without the Ascension and the Descent of the Holy Spirit, Easter would be incomplete.

What are we to make of the Ascension, what should we do with it? To the apostles witnessing it, it must have seemed like another disappointment… once again Jesus was leaving them, even if this time it was in victory. We know they do not yet fully understand, because their question to Jesus indicates they are still expecting an earthly kingdom, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?” Jesus instead tells them about the mission with which they are being entrusted:

It is not for you to know the times or seasons that the Father has established by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, throughout Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.

Once empowered by the Holy Spirit, they are to become Jesus’ witnesses… they are to give testimony by their lives and their word unto the ends of the earth.

If the Church has us celebrate Lent, and Holy Week, and the Easter Season, and if the Church has us celebrate the Ascension and Pentecost, it is really for the same reason that Jesus had His Apostles present at those events, for their mission is our mission.

We have walked day by day with Jesus is penance, in suffering, in His death, in His tomb, and in His glorious rising so as to be renewed, reminded, and empowered for this mission… to be His witnesses. As members of Christ’s Body, the Church, we are meant to proclaim Jesus by our lives and words. Do people see Jesus in you, or in me? Do they hear Jesus when you speak, or I speak? Do they encounter God’s love and mercy and truth in us? We all need to grow in ways large and small in living this mission, and all that we have shared together since Lent began way back in March (it’s hard to remember March right now, isn’t it!), all that we’ve shared together is meant to strengthen us in this mission.

St. Paul is speaking to the Ephesians of his heartfelt desire for them, and the Church desires this for us just as much:

May the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, give you a Spirit of wisdom and revelation resulting in knowledge of him.
May the eyes of your hearts be enlightened, that you may know
what is the hope that belongs to his call,
what are the riches of glory in his inheritance among the holy ones,
and what is the surpassing greatness of his power for us who believe…

God hasn’t stopped working in us since that time… this isn’t just old news! I want to share with you two expressions of this mission so that we may take heart and know the hope and riches and greatness for us who believe!

On Friday morning I picked up 2 of the 8 Totus Tuus missionaries (our Diocese of Marquette Totus Tuus FB page) and brought them down to Precious Blood Parish in Stephenson where we celebrated Mass and then had lunch together before they headed for Immaculate Heart of Mary Seminary in Winona, MN where they will be in training until next Friday. This

program began in the late 1980’s, started by a seminarian, now a priest, of the Diocese of Wichita, Kansas.

2014 Diocese of Marquette Totus Tuus Team Selfie

Teams of four college-age missionary teachers, two men and two women, travel from parish to parish putting on a weeklong program of catechesis and faith formation for all the kids K-12. Last year I recruited and organized our diocese’s first team, and this year we have two teams serving 10 different locations, including the program at Resurrection Parish in Hancock and Sacred Heart Parish in L’Anse. This program operates in dozens of dioceses around the country, and brings the faith and joy to children, families, and parishes! These young missionaries are answering Jesus’ call in a beautiful and direct way!

On another front, I just received very joyful news this week, that in August we will be receiving a mission team from FOCUS, the Fellowship of Catholic University Students. Back in the 1990’s, Curtis Martin, had come back to the Catholic Faith after drifting away during high school and college, and he longed to help other young people come into, or back into, the life of the Church. 1n 1998 the first team of FOCUS missionaries began working on the campus of Benedictine College in Atchison, Kansas… this past year they served over 80 campus nationwide and have fostered the deeper conversion of tens of thousands of young people, as well as nearly 400 religious vocations! This fall they’ll be coming to work at MTU, reaching out to the hundreds of non-practicing Catholics, and the thousands of other students that God is certainly calling into the Church! The missionaries not only dedicate themselves full time for several years of service, but they also fundraise the great majority of the cost of the program!

Now… most of us here aren’t in the position to go running off as missionaries somewhere far away… but notice that the call and mission is still vibrantly alive in our midst! This call comes also to us, in whatever walk of life we find ourselves, with just as much urgency, and with just as much promise and potential. It begins with hearing, recognizing, and acknowledging the call… this mission isn’t just for specialists, its’ for you and me. Here are some concrete suggestions:

• Do you have a parent, sibling, child, or grandchild you’ve been meaning to pray for or call? How about one with whom you need to be reconciled? 
•  Have you noticed a classmate or co-worker who needs support, encouragement, or help?
•  Who has God been nudging you to invite to a parish event or to Mass?

I believe that everyone here has faces before our minds’ eye right now! These people, these faces we love, or struggle to love, are our mission. Recognizing that is the first step! This is Jesus’ call to us as He ascends into heaven… next week we will examine how He empowers us to act on this knowledge through the Fire of the Holy Spirit!

Jesus Christ will be among us once again on this altar in just moments, offering us His Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity. May we prepare our hearts to approach this altar, and receive this Gift, holding in our hearts the faces the Lord has placed before us!

 +A. M. D. G. +

"If you love me, keep my commandments," ... or, "How wrestling shows us how to love Jesus!"

+ J. M. J. +

Draft Homily for the 6th Sunday of Easter

It is already the Sixth Sunday of Easter! Next Sunday, not only will it already be June, God save us all, but we will also celebrate the Ascension of the Lord, and after that, Pentecost! Our 50 days of Easter are drawing to a close, and the readings are shifting towards preparing us for the celebration of the gift of the Holy Spirit. We hear in the first reading of ministry of the Apostles, and the way that even the Samaritans received the gift of the Holy Spirit.

The central mystery of our Christian Faith is the Trinity, because this mystery gives us a glimpse into the reality of God Himself, God in Himself. The mystery of the Trinity is both the hardest to think about, and the most important! However, for that reflection to bear fruit, it has to go from speculation to application in our lives!

In the Old Testament, we see God often represented as Creator, Lawgiver and Judge, but also as Husband. The most common Old Testament metaphor for God’s relationship to His People Israel is marriage… God, as it were, marries His people, takes them to Himself in fidelity and love. In calling His the Chosen People to Himself, though, God wasn’t finished!

Rublev's Trinity

In the fullness of time, God came Himself ; the 2nd Person of the Trinity, the Word, took on flesh and dwelt among us, Jesus Christ, both God and man. The Law and Word that God had spoken to His people dwelt with them as one like them in all things but sin. We can think of God the Father giving the Law, and God the Son living the law in perfect fidelity. That authentic living came to its climax in all that we celebrate in Lent and Holy Week and now Easter.

As amazing and transformative as the Incarnation, Passion, Death, and Resurrection of Christ are, that’s still not it, not the end of what God has done and is doing… we’re beginning to prepare for this mysterious gift of the Holy Spirit as we hear in our readings of the Paraclete, a Greek word meaning helper, comforter, advocate. Risen from the Dead, Jesus doesn’t simply stay put back where He began with His Apostles, because soon He ascends into heaven to the Father’s Right Hand.

The Father gives the Law, the Son lives the Law, and the Holy Spirit sets the law on fire in the hearts of believers. The Holy Spirit brings the bold fire of love, of generosity, of self-control, of self-giving. Filled with the Holy Spirit, the followers of Jesus Christ, men women and children from then until now have faced every obstacle and overcome every fear, facing even death itself in martyrdom and persecution, giving of themselves in beautiful and fruitful ways.

Let me give you a simple analogy… as I think I’ve shared before, I wrestled in high school. I also ran and enjoyed track and cross-country, but not with the intensity with which I loved wrestling. Nothing I’ve done is quite so pure and distilled as stepping out onto the mat face to face with one other man. As you begin to learn how to wrestle, you start out with rules… you have to wear a headset, you can’t have long nails, you can’t have razor stubble (it’s really the only time in my life I’ve really shaved regularly). You can’t punch or hit, you can’t use a Full Nelson. Now… learning those rules, that law, is hardly the fullness of wrestling, but without it you’ve just got a brawl, a bloody fight. After the basic rules, you also have to learn the moves… don’t stand up straight, don’t lean forward too far, keep your elbows in… And you’ve got to learn the different holds, how to escape from them, etc. You drill and sweat and lift weights and run… and still you’re nowhere near the pinnacle. Once you know the rules, once you are putting them into practice… what’s make the difference between a mediocre wrestler and a great one? There has to be a spirit of competition, of not giving up, a spirit of speed and resolve. A very good wrestler has internalized the rules and moves and holds and postures, and begins to initiate and respond without even thinking.

Do you see what I’m getting at? Wrestling isn’t very important compared to life, compared to our families, compared to our work and homes and schools. But like all other sports, this basic pattern applies to life and to our Christian faith, and Jesus speaks of it in the Gospel:

If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate to be with you always, the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot accept, because it neither sees nor knows him. But you know him, because he remains with you, and will be in you.

Jesus is really straightforward… “if you love me, you will keep my commandments.” That includes the 10 commandments, the Beatitudes, most essentially loving God and neighbor. There’s no authentic following of Christ that ignores God’s commandments, however marketable such an idea may be. Jesus doesn’t love sin, even though He loves sinners! Jesus understands how hard it is to turn away from sin… and so he tells us of this Advocate, this Spirit of Truth, the Holy Spirit who is not accepted by the world, but who will remain with us and in us. We have to know the Truth, which includes the rules, we have to live them…. But that’s not all! A beautiful life, a fruitful life, involves the fire and the power of the Holy Spirit, a creativity and joy and freedom which always rejects sin, but always embraces authentic self-giving! Only in relationship with the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit can we authentically live the Law of Truth and Freedom… only with the burning power of love that the Spirit gives can we reject what is false and embrace what is true. The wrestler who spends all his time trying to figure out how to bite his opponent while the ref isn’t looking isn’t going to be much of a wrestler, though he may be a jerk! The Christian who spends a bunch of time looking for loopholes or pretending that our Loving Father doesn’t want us to stop sinning isn’t going to be a saint!

Let me close with St. Peter’s beautiful words from our second reading:

Sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts. 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, keeping your conscience clear, so that, when you are maligned, those who defame your good conduct in Christ may themselves be put to shame.

Do we know why we hope? Do we live hope? Can we tell others why we live filled with hope? If we haven’t received the gift and attempted to live it, we’ll never have any gift of faith to give others! We can’t do this on our own, but we can do this empowered by the Holy Spirit! In moments we’ll receive the Lord Jesus at this altar, this Infinite Gift… may we open our hearts now to receive, so that we can live, and living, give this gift to others.

+ A. M. D. G. +

+ J. M. J. +

Homily Outline for the Easter Vigil

On this most beautiful of nights, our liturgy began with the Paschal Candle which burns beside me, this beautiful image of Jesus Christ, the Light of the World. It sheds light into darkness, light that comes from the burning, the sacrifice of the wax and the bees. That light spreads and fills the whole world, even as it fills our eyes and hearts..

Having carried the Paschal Candle ahead of us, Deacon Tom chanted the Exsultet, this most beautiful hymn which proclaims Jesus’ Victory over sin and death. The Exsultet speaks of this night, it says:

This is the night,
when Christ broke the prison-bars of death
and rose victorious from the underworld.
….
O truly necessary sin of Adam,
destroyed completely by the Death of Christ!
O happy fault
that earned so great, so glorious a Redeemer!

These ancient lines speak a great mystery, the mystery which occupies us here tonight, on this night of all nights. One very compact phrase, three words, beautifully captures this mystery: O felix culpa, translated, “O Happy Fault.”

What could possibly be meant by this poetic expression… O happy fault, on truly necessary sin of Adam? We live the brokenness and consequences of this original sin every day in our unruly passions, in temptation and sin, in sickness and death… In our 7-stop journey through the Old Testament, we encountered human failure in many forms, even as we heard of God’s work, and this is just a selection! How could Adam’s sin with all its consequences be happy or necessary? The phrase is poetic, but what can it mean?

We understand this phrase, O Felix Culpa, O Happy Fault, as a paradoxical expression of the great joy of this night! Jesus Christ is risen from the dead, conquering death by death… all that causes us grief, sorrow, and shame has been vanquished… every suffering Christ took upon Himself, and having been laid in the tomb, He rose victorious, the Paschal Lamb!

Jesus did not simply balance the scale or pay the tab… His Infinite Victory has completely overthrown the reign of the Enemy! The beauty and grace of Christ’s victory overwhelms all the sorrow that made it necessary!

Paul summarizes this teaching in our Epistle:

If, then, we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him. We know that Christ, raised from the dead, dies no more; death no longer has power over him. As to his death, he died to sin once and for all; as to his life, he lives for God. Consequently, you too must think of yourselves as being dead to sin and living for God in Christ Jesus.

United with Christ in a death like his, we are united with Him in his victory… accepting His mercy and grace poured out for us, choosing Him, death no longer has power over us! We can even say with Paul, “O Death where is your victory? O Death where is your sting?”

Do we believe this? Do we believe that God’s grace poured into the world, that Jesus’ victorious rising from the dead, can overthrow the reign of sin? Do we perhaps often settle for so much less, even as we practice our faith? Do we hope only to survive, to squeak into eternal life? Aware of our weakness, do we seek only forgiveness without also seeking holiness? On this night, of all nights, Jesus invites us to hope for more, to expand our dreams and aspirations such that we can begin to receive what only HE can give… victory, eternal life, eternal joy! And if we struggle to trust and believe this gift… well, then, we ask God for help there, too! Jesus who broke the gates of Hell asunder, who rose victorious from the grave, this same Jesus can give us new hope, new faith, new love.

It is very beautiful that on this night, we accompany Benjamin Alan Hendrick as he enters full communion with the Church! The fullness of all the gifts Christ intended for His Church are found in the Catholic Church, and Ben begins to partake of that fullness in a new way tonight. The graces of his baptism are confirmed by the full gift of the Holy Spirit in Confirmation, and his unity with Christ’s Body is filled with grace as he prepares to receive the Lord’s own Body and Blood. Most of us here received those gifts for the first time as infants, perhaps long ago… may Ben’s reception of these sacraments fill him, and fill us, with new hope, new zeal, new joy!

In our Gospel, taken tonight from Matthew, we hear of the two Mary’s encountering at dawn the earthquake, the empty tomb, and the angel announcing Christ’s rising… In the mystery of that announcement, they responded. We are told:

Then they went away quickly from the tomb, fearful yet overjoyed, and ran to announce this to his disciples.

Knowing the presence of divine power, they were fearful; knowing Jesus’ rising, they were overjoyed; and in that fear and joy, they ran to announce the Good News! Encountering Jesus face to face, He told them not to be afraid, and to go and tell… We are offered this Good News, this gift once again tonight. If we realize the depth of joy we are offered, we should be a little afraid! If we realize the depth of the gift, we will be joyful… and as we encounter the Risen Lord, offering us the fruit of His Victory, His Body and Blood, we can be confident that He will send us to serve and announce Him. Jesus is Risen, He has conquered Death, His Victory is so much greater than all human sin, and so we rejoice!


 

+ A. M. D. G. +

This Friday is GOOD because...

+ J. M. J. +

Homily Outline for Good Friday

In our human experience, we often encounter places, circumstances, experiences, from which it seems God is absent, or at minimum very distant.

We grieve, we mourn, we are sad

We fail, we are discouraged, we despair

We sin, we hurt others, we hurt ourselves, we are hurt by others

We get sick, our loved ones experience illness, we encounter death

We struggle to believe, we doubt, God seems to be silent

We pray, we struggle to pray, we cry out and it seems no one is listening.

On Good Friday, every one of these mysteries, all of these dark places are present, in the liturgy, in the readings, in our hearts. Where is God?

This Friday is GOOD because God is here, He is in the midst of all of this with us, and the end of our liturgy today is not the end of the story.

In our solemn intercessions, we place before God the needs of the whole world, our own needs.

In our Adoration of the Cross we bow before the mystery of God made man encountering even our mortal death

In our Holy Communion we receive the fruit of the sacrifice, to sustain us through the coming hours of waiting, to sustain us in our fast, to prepare us for the joy that comes on the other side of death.

+ A. M. D. G. +

How Lenten Masses are like Braveheart!?!?

 + J. M. J. +

Things this priest thinks about...

Some time ago, I realized that sitting in the confessional, often on a Saturday morning, waiting for people to come reminded me of something... what was it?  I realized it was just like sitting in my deerblind, all my senses attuned, hoping to hear a leaf rustle or a stick crack.  And, then, often it would be a squirrel! Similarly, just when I would think someone was coming towards the confessional, I would realize it was just the building settling!

Well, recently, something like this happened again! We did a silent recessional during Advent at St. Al's and St. Anne's, a simple way to simplify the liturgy and create a sense of waiting and expectation during these preparatory seasons.  Singing is very good, and so is silence!  Frankly, during Advent, it didn't go so well! There was lots of rustling, lots of people who didn't realize what we were doing or why, and some people who were disgruntled about it!  Discussing it with the team, I decided that we would try it again during Lent, but with more effort to explain and remind people of it.  However, as we got started, it all just fell into place, and people have been really good about standing quietly in their places, with relatively little grabbing for jackets and purses and making noise!  If fact, I have felt a very beautiful stillness and quiet during those moments after the blessing as I kiss the altar, and genuflect at the foot of the sanctuary, and then quietly follow the altar servers out.  But, once again, it reminded me of something and I couldn't quite place it!

And, then, last Sunday, I placed it... that hush, that pause, that expectation... my own hope that nobody would make a break for it and spoil the moment... it reminded me of the scenes in movies where everybody's waiting in the ambush, or the attack, for the special signal!  A trumpet, a flare, and then the tumult is unleashed!  Oftentimes, someone will mess it up and jump the gun... or the general will say, "If anybody charges too early, I'll skewer them myself!"  Or, from the Battle of New Orleans, "Ol' Hickory said we could take 'em by surprise if we held our squirrelgun fire till we looked 'em in the eyes..."

That's what it feels like as I'm processing out in the hush, hoping no one jumps the gun!

One time I didn't time it right with the closing hymn, and the final verse finished while I was still only halfway down the aisle, and I could feel everyone just pouring out of the pews behind me, and I thought to myself, "Ol' Ben, don't stumble now, or you'll be a goner!"  I had the distinct impression I would be trampled down by the hoard!

+ A. M. D. G. +