4 days until we leave for World Youth Day!

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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?

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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.

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Recent Journeys!

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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

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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.

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