Mother Angelica can teach us to obey even when it seems unreasonable

In the first reading today, we heard the story about how Saul disobeyed the Lord by not destroying all of the sheep and oxen as the Lord had commanded.  The Lord said:  “Obedience is better than sacrifice and submission than the fat of rams.” 

Mother Angelica is a modern-day saint who, unlike Saul, did God’s will no matter how difficult or unreasonable it might have seemed.  Mother Angelica had a dream to build a monastery.  After raising some money by selling fishing lures, Mother Angelica and a few others went to Birmingham, Alabama and purchased the land.  They began construction almost immediately but had many problems.  One time, they had a large hole in the middle of the area where they intended to build.  The foreman complained that the area wasn’t suitable for building.  Mother responded:  “We just need someone with a hill they don’t need to fill in this hole.”  The next day a man came to Mother and said:  “You know, I’ve got this hill in my backyard.  Every time it rains it dumps a ton of water in my basement.  You want it.”  So, the construction of the monastery continued. 

One businessman donated all the blocks and concrete required.  Another gave his services to blast rock and move earth.  Two women provided the bricks for the exterior.   Shortly after completion of the work, a series of unexpected donations came in which were just enough to pay off the workers.  Once the monastery opened, Mother realized that she didn’t have any money for food.  Then, a local grocer came to her and agreed to donate all the food they needed for their first year of operation.

Then, Mother Angelica made a critical but difficult decision.  She decided that the sisters would no longer engage in commercial projects to meet their material needs.  She said that their work was to communicate the gospel.  They would trust God for all of their needs.   Mother Angelica told her sisters:  “Faith is having one foot on the ground and the other up in the air for the Lord to put the ground under it.” 

Mother Angelica began communicating the Gospel message on TV.  Soon, she realized that she needed to have her own broadcasting facility so that she could reach a broad audience with her orthodox Catholic message. She said:  “This is the really exciting part of any new ministry, just plunging in out of obedience without the full knowledge of where to begin – it’s wonderful!”  So they began working on the TV studio.  Sister Raphael, her right-hand person, said:  “Jesus never gives us more than we need – He demands faith week by week.  When God gives us an opportunity to do something for Him, and we have agreed that it is His apparent will, we must act in faith or the opportunity is lost.  It is better to appear foolish before men than to answer God for being afraid to step out and trust Him.  And God has always provided – just in time.”  Then, they ordered a satellite dish and applied for an FCC license to broadcast. 

Mother Angelica succeeded with her television network, EWTN, just as she succeeded in her publishing business.  She overcame continual obstacles to become the largest Catholic broadcasting network in the world.  Mother Angelica observes:  “I don’t know why God chose me.  I’m a nobody.  God just uses me to move ahead in stubborn, obstinate obedience.  It’s like David and Goliath – we’re taking on a major media world with a slingshot and a few stones, but we’re making it happen.” 

Occasionally, all of us find ourselves in a position where God calls us to build his kingdom.  I doubt that any of us will be asked to build a monastery or a TV station.  But, as children of God, we are asked to spread the faith to an unbelieving world.  I pray that we will follow the example of Mother Angelica and will faithfully do God’s will no matter how difficult it may be.    

Listen and then surrender

When she was visited by the angel Gabriel, Mary was a young teenager.  She was betrothed to Joseph, a much older man, but was not yet living with him.  Imagine how she might have felt when the angel told her that she would conceive and bear a son, Jesus, the son of God.  Mary questioned how she could bear a son since she had no relations with a man.  Then, the angel gave her a real shocker.  He told her that the Holy Spirit would come on her and that nothing was impossible for God. 

Mary surely realized that her life would never be the same.  She, a simple Jewish girl, had been chosen by God to conceive and raise Jesus, the son of God.  What an awesome responsibility!  And yet, God was not commanding her to become the Mother of Jesus.  He was asking for her consent to participate in the most important event in human history.  How would she respond to this incredible call?

I have friend named Chris.  When I first met him, Chris hadn’t been baptized and didn’t attend Church.   Then, a few years’ ago, one of Chris’s friends asked him to participate on a Christ Renews His Parish, or CFHP, weekend at St Francis.  This religious retreat was well outside of Chris’s comfort zone, but he decided to go anyway because he was looking for direction in his life. 

The CRHP weekend was very emotional for Chris.  It filled a void and was a life-changing experience.  Chris found Jesus in a group of guys who showed their love for him on the weekend.  Chris was determined to learn more.  He wondered if the Lord was calling him to a closer relationship. 

Mary quickly responded to the Lord’s call with her fiat, her acceptance.  She said: “May it be done to me according to your word.”  Mary placed her complete trust in the Lord.  She surrendered to his will.  In faith, she accepted his word that nothing is impossible for God.  With her simple “yes”, the son of God became man in the womb of Mary.  The world would never be the same.  This young Jewish girl had accepted the role that she was created for. 

The angel Gabriel spoke and Mary listened.  The angel told Mary of her role in salvation history and Mary accepted it.  She surrendered to the will of God for her.

Chris decided to attend RCIA classes to learn about the Catholic faith.  Then, several years ago, at the Easter vigil, he accepted the Catholic faith as he received the sacraments of Baptism, Confirmation, and Eucharist.  Chris was home.  Chris still had a lot to learn about his Catholic faith, but he was confident that he was following God’s will for him. 

I talked to Chris about his conversion to the Catholic faith several months ago.  I asked him if he struggled with any of the Church’s teachings.  I thought that I might be able to strengthen Chris’s faith.  Chris taught me what faith was all about.  Chris told me that while he didn’t fully understand all the teachings of the Catholic faith, he didn’t question them.  He didn’t have the time or the background to challenge these teachings.  He chose, in faith, to accept the Church’s teachings, lock, stock and barrel.    He didn’t need me to prove any of these teachings to him.  Just like Mary, Chris was given the grace, in faith, to accept what he didn’t fully understand.  He surrendered, in faith, to the will of the Father for him when he became a Catholic and accepted the teachings of Jesus Christ.

These two stories have a simple message for us.  The message is to listen so that we can discern God’s will and then to surrender to His will.  Of course, most of us won’t be visited by an angel who will tell us God’s will for us.  But, God is constantly trying to get through the noise and clutter of our lives to give us the direction to follow which leads to Him.  He may be whispering to us or maybe even shouting his will for us.  We should slow down our lives, take regular quiet time to pray, and spend time listening.  It may take a week, a month, or even a year before we get the message, but eventually God will speak to us.  And, when we get a message which we think may be from God, we should test that message to make sure that it isn’t from the great deceiver.  God’s will for us always bears good fruit and never contradicts the teachings of His Church. 

Once we discern that the message is from God, our task is straightforward.  We surrender to God’s will for us.  As Jesus tells us in the prayer he gave us, the Our Father: My kingdom come, my will be done.  If we want the peace and joy of building his kingdom, we follow his will.

When I reflect upon Mary’s willingness to become the mother of Jesus and Chris’s acceptance of the Catholic faith and its teachings, I hear two clear messages for all of us.   These are our call to action.  Listen.  Then, surrender to God’s will.  Do not be afraid.  For nothing is impossible for God.    

Will we get a two minute warning from God?

Quite a few years ago, my older sister and I used to chase each other around the house.  We especially did this when our parents were out.  There was a circular route thru my bedroom, the kitchen, the living and dining room, and the hallway.  When our parents left, we often chased each other around this circle.  We would mess up the rugs, move some furniture, and generally scatter things.  When we saw our parents pulling in the driveway, we had to run around the house and get things in order before they came in.  We were very good at this and usually managed to cover up our horseplay.

One time, when my sister was running through my bedroom, I threw a pillow at her.  But I hit the glass shade on the ceiling light which began spinning around and around.  We watched it spin until the nut which held the shade in place came off.  The shade crashed into the bedpost and broke.  Then, we realized that we wouldn’t be able to fix this before our parents returned.  I can still remember how afraid I was waiting for them to return.  I was relieved when my parents just made us pay for the new shade.  And I resolved that I wouldn’t throw a pillow at my sister again.  

My sister and I didn’t know when our parents would return.  But, we did our best when we saw them coming to make sure that the house was in order.   We got a two minute warning, if you will, to get the house in order.  But, life isn’t a football game; so we cannot rely on a warning that it is about to end.   Jesus says that we don’t know the day or the time for his return. 

When we broke the shade, the anticipation of punishment was very hard for me to bear.  This is familiar to some of us who wait for the coming of the Lord in a state of serious sin.  If we aren’t following his commandments, we will dread his coming and the anticipated judgment for our sins.   If any of us think that we might be in a state of serious sin today, we should go to confession and unburden our mind and our soul.  And after we confess our sins and receive absolution from a priest, we return to a state of grace and are ready for the end time, whenever it may occur.

The focus of the Gospel is the end times, either our end time after our short time on earth when we will each be judged, or the end time when Jesus returns for the final judgment and the elect are taken body and soul into heaven.  This is a scary topic for most of us and we deal with this in different ways.  Some strive to stay in a state of grace so that they will be prepared when he returns.  Some ignore the time of judgment and assume that in his mercy, Jesus wouldn’t condemn anyone, especially them, to hell.  Others despair that they aren’t worth saving so they ignore his return.  And some try to predict exactly when Jesus will return so that they can prepare just before it happens.  In the Gospel, Jesus tells us to be watchful and to be alert for we don’t know the time when He will return.  So, it would be foolish to either ignore his return or to try to predict it.

The Gospel parable is about a man who leaves home to travel abroad.  This traveler is Jesus who was here short time, was crucified, resurrected from the dead, and ascended into heaven with his Father.  The home in the parable is the Church, Christ’s house.  Its servants are all of us, who he places in charge.  This parable reminds us that the present situation, building Christ’s kingdom, his Church on earth, won’t last forever.  When the master, Christ returns, he expects all of us to be working hard at whatever task we have been assigned.

This world is not our home; it’s just our temporary residence.  That should be evident to all of us as we witness the passing of those close to us.  So, while we don’t know when Jesus will return at the end of time, we do know that our time on earth will be a short stay of at most eighty or ninety years.  We need to be watchful and vigilant during our short time as the gatekeeper of our souls.

Arturo Nogueira, a twenty one year old rugby player who didn’t believe in God, was a passenger on a plane which crashed in the Andes in 1972.  After over one month in cold, cramped quarters with little food, he died from injuries sustained in the crash.   Arturo wrote a letter to his parents and his girlfriend just one day before he died.   He wrote:

“In situations such as this, even reason cannot understand the infinite and absolute power of God over men.  I have never suffered such as I do now- physically and morally- though I have never believed in him so much.  Strength.  Life is hard but is worth living.  Even suffering.  Courage.”    

Arturo got a warning before his end time and found a new relationship with God.  Some of us will get this warning and some will not.  Some who do have an opportunity to set things right with God will squander their last opportunity.  Today, Jesus urges us to watch and to be alert for we don’t know if he will be coming in the evening, or at midnight, or at cockcrow, or in the morning.  May he not find any of us asleep.

Is there oil in my lamp?

Several years’ ago, when I owned a software company, I had a salesman working for me who often told the same joke when he was giving a demo of our software to a prospect. 

His joke went as follows: A salesman named Bob died and found himself at the pearly gates.  He was greeted by St Pater who told him that there was a special offer today.  Bob could watch a video of heaven and hell and then decide where he wanted to go.  So, Bob watched the video.  He saw a view of heaven where there were angels floating around and everyone seemed happy.  Then, he saw hell where they seemed to be having a big party and everyone was having a good time. And, Peter asked him if he wanted to go to heaven or to hell.  Bob responded that it seemed like hell would be more to his liking because he liked to party and have a good time.  Immediately, Bob found himself in hell where it was very hot and he was getting stuck with pitchforks by an evil looking devil.  Then, Bob told the devil that it wasn’t anything like the video of hell that he saw.  The devil responded: “You must have seen our demo.”

As with most jokes, there is some truth in this joke and there are some lessons in it.  Shortly after we die, we are judged based upon our life.  We probably won’t be shown a video of heaven and hell and we won’t have an opportunity at that time to choose where we want to go.   However, we do get an opportunity to choose whether we want to go to heaven or to hell.  We make this choice while we are living, by choosing good or evil each day of our lives.  And, the devil, the great deceiver, makes this decision difficult for us by making evil seem like it’s not so bad so that it becomes very attractive to us.  If the devil presented evil as it really is, no one would ever choose it.  So he must continually lie to us. 

The Gospel on November 6^th is a warning to alert us that the end is near for us and we should always be ready for it.  The five wise virgins with their lamps full of oil represent those who are prepared for the coming of the bridegroom.  Although they don’t know when the bridegroom is coming they make sure that they’re always ready for him.  The bridegroom represents Christ who will be there to judge us when our time on earth is over and will also be there on the day of judgment at the end of time.  Oil in the lamps symbolize our good works which have been done under the influence of God’s grace.  The five foolish virgins represent those who aren’t prepared for the bridegroom and won’t enter the kingdom of heaven with Christ.

What is clear in today’s parable is that when the critical moment of Jesus' entry into our lives arrives, it will be decisive. Preparation time is over. If we have lived vigilant lives we will enter the wedding feast with Christ our bridegroom. The foolish maidens arrived after the door was locked and when they knocked the door was not opened. It was too late. Poor choices were made, the time for preparation was over.

The Scriptures frequently use light as a symbol for goodness, God’s love, or following Jesus.  For example, Matthew’s Gospel tells us not to hide our light under a bushel basket.  Darkness is used to represent the devil, sin, or turning away from God.  John’s Gospel tells us: “For everyone who does evil hates the light, and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed.”

At the end of mass, I’ll dismiss everyone with the words: “The mass is ended, go in peace to love and serve the Lord.”  Then, we are all sent into the darkness of the cold, sometimes cruel world.  This world is confused and is searching for the Lord, even though, many don’t realize that is what they are looking for.  All of us are called to take the light of the Gospel, the light of Christ’s love, the light of our lamps which have been filled by good works and the sacraments into this darkness.  When we shine our lights in this darkness, it lights up the darkness.  And some will be drawn to the light while others will turn away from the light and will prefer the darkness.  When we shine our lights in the darkness, we will find that instead of using up the oil, the oil, the source of our light, will be refilled by our efforts.

This morning we have the men’s Christ Renews His Parish team with us for mass.  The giving team has been preparing for this weekend for the past six months.  They have been attending weekly formation sessions where they learned more about each other and about the love of the Lord.  Gradually, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, they have filled their lamps with oil during these weekly formation meetings, so that this weekend their lamps are shining brightly for all to see.  We also have seven men on the receiving team.  These seven men came here yesterday morning to participate in this weekend.  Many weren’t sure why they were here.  But all were called here by the Holy Spirit.  And all have come to experience Christ’s love through the witnesses and the sacrificial love of those on the giving team.  When the weekend is over, the members of the giving team will leave with their hearts full of love and their lamps burning brightly.  They will be filled with the Spirit and will feel the call of the Lord to a closer relationship with Him.   Over the weekend, the receiving team saw the light, that is, the power of the Holy Spirit working through those on the giving team.  This light will draw some, hopefully most, to a closer relationship with the Lord. 

Throughout history, there has always been a battle between the light, goodness, and the darkness, evil.  And due to original sin each of us must participate in this struggle during our short time here on earth.  St Paul tells us in his letter to the Romans:  “For I do not do the good that I want, but the evil I do not want is what I do.”  When we are honest with ourselves, we all must admit to this struggle.  So, today we need to reflect upon the message of the Gospel.  We must turn away from sin and darkness and towards the light and must let our light shine and be an example of goodness for others to see, especially our families.  Once we do this, we will find peace and joy in our lives and will be ready on  the day when the bridegroom will say to us “Well done my good and faithful servant, welcome into the joy of my heavenly kingdom.”

Saint Januarius and the persecution of Christians

Saint Januarius was bishop of Benevento during the persecution of Christians by Emperor Diocletian in 305 AD. When Januarius visited two deacons and two priests in prison, he also was imprisoned.  Then, they were all thrown to the beasts. When the beasts wouldn't attack them, they were beheaded.

This occurred during a most difficult time for Christians, when many were killed.  But, only a few years later in 312 AD, Emperor Constantine had a religious experience following his victory at the battle of Melvian Bridge.  In 313 AD, Emperor Constantine legalized Christianity throughout the Roman Empire and it shortly became the preferred religion of the empire.  In the short period of eight years, Christians went from being aggressively persecuted to being the favorite of the emperor.

Today, Christians are being persecuted in many countries, especially Muslim countries.  In these countries, Christians aren't free to practice their faith.  In our country, Christians are sometimes excluded from the public square.  In the recent memorial to 911 in New York, there were no Christian clerics included in the celebration.  This was amazing when you consider the heroic role that many Christian clerics played during on September 11^th, 2001.  At the 911 memorial in Washington, the only Christian clerics who were invited were Episcopal ministers.  Catholic and other Christian denominations were not included.  This exclusion is not an accident.  Often, we hear of various political and media figures speaking out against the Catholic Church.  Recently, during a CNN interview of Rick Santorum, a Catholic candidate for President, the moderator severely criticized Mr. Santorum for his support of traditional marriage.  In other countries, such as Canada, there are warning signs that soon proclaiming Catholic teaching in areas which aren't politically correct, such as opposing gay marriage, may soon be considered hate speech and cause for imprisonment.

For me, the message of today’s feast is that times do change. They can change for the better, as was the case going from Emperor Diocletion to Emperor Constantine.  Or they can change for the worse we see occurring in the US, Canada and Europe.  As Christians, we must always fight for our religious freedom including our freedom to follow our conscience in matters of faith.

We must never give up hope in God no matter what our spiritual circumstance may be. For, no circumstance is beyond God's power to turn to good and no person is too confused for God to use as His anointed.   In his first letter to the Corinthians, St Paul tells us of our hoped-for eternal destiny: "Eye has not seen, ear has not heard, nor has it so much as dawned on man what God has prepared for those who love Him".

Are we tolerant or truthful?

The Church celebrated the birthday of St. John the Baptist on June 24th and on August 29th it honors the anniversary of his martyrdom.  Besides our Lord and our Lady, St. John the Baptist is the only one whose birth and death are celebrated.   Mark chapter 6, verses 17 to 29, relates the circumstances of his execution.  John had the courage to blame Herod to his face for the scandal of his illegal union with his sister-in-law Herodias, whose husband was still alive.  Herodias contrived to make Herod imprison John and took advantage of an unexpected opportunity through her daughter Salome to have the saint beheaded.

August 29th marks "the second finding of his most venerable head." The body of the saint was buried in Samaria.  In the year 362, pagans desecrated the grave and burned his remains.  Only a small portion of his relics were able to be saved by monks and sent to St. Athanasius at Alexandria.

Blessed John suffered imprisonment and chains as a witness to our Redeemer, whose forerunner he was, and gave his life for him. His persecutor had demanded not that he should deny Christ, but only that he should keep silent about the truth.  Nevertheless, he died for Christ.  Does Christ not say: "I am the truth"?  So, because John shed his blood for the truth, he surely died for Christ.  Through his birth, preaching and baptizing, he bore witness to the coming birth, preaching and baptism of Christ, and by his own suffering he showed that Christ also would suffer.

John was a strong man who accepted the end of his life by being beheaded after a long imprisonment.  He preached the freedom of heavenly peace, yet was thrown into irons by ungodly men. He was locked away in the darkness of prison, though he came bearing witness to the Light of life and deserved to be called a bright and shining lamp by Christ.

St John the Baptist died because he told Herod that his union with his sister-in-law Herodias was illegal.  John was asked to ignore this illegal union of King Herod with his sister-in –law.  Herod even liked John and considered him to be a righteous and holy man.  But Herod could not accept it when John condemned his sin. 

Today, sometimes we witness behavior which we know to be sinful.  If we condemn the behavior, we are likely to lose a friend or to be criticized for our lack of tolerance.  If we keep quiet, we may keep the friend but will lose the opportunity to possibly save their soul and maybe even ours.  

As we celebrate the martyrdom of St John the Baptist, let us resolve to proclaim the truth whether convenient or inconvenient.  I doubt that any of us will have to die for the truth but we may have to die to ourselves and to accept humiliation and possibly even the anger of a friend.  Whatever this burden for us may be, it is truly a light one compared to the glory of eternal life in heaven.

Are you wise or foolish?

Today’s Gospel reminds me of our dependence upon propane to heat our house during the winter.  Several times in the last few years we have been very low on propane during the middle of winter.  Of course, we called our supplier and asked them to deliver propane.  But, they are always very busy at that time of the year.  So, we turned the temperature down in the house and prayed that they would come before we ran out. 

Now, my concern about being low on propane and maybe having to live in a cold house isn’t nearly as much of a problem as being a virgin at the wedding feast without any oil.  These virgins are locked out of the wedding feast for all eternity.   And, as Jesus says at the end of the parable, we don’t know either the day or the hour.  So we must be ever vigilant with our lamps always full. 

It’s interesting to me that there are five foolish virgins and five wise virgins.  So, five of these virgins, the wise ones, are taken into heaven and the other five, the foolish ones, are thrown into hell.  Does this mean that about half of the believers will make the cut and eventually reach heaven, while the other half will be condemned to hell?  I cannot answer this question.  All of us can only pray and work out our salvation with fear and trembling.

And then we look at the first reading from the letter of St Paul to the Thessalonians which tells us: “This is the will of God, your holiness: that you refrain from immorality”.  Then St Paul continues: “for the Lord is an avenger in all these things as we told you before and solemnly affirmed.”  

The Navarre bible commentary for this reading tells us that in St Paul’s time the word immorality had come to refer to any kind of sexual practice outside marriage or not in accordance with the aims of marriage.  Using this definition for immorality, there seems to be an excess of immorality in our culture today and a shortage of holiness. 

If you were to ask Catholics, how many people would reach heaven and how many would be condemned to hell, I expect that most would say that only a very few people would be condemned to hell.  They would cite God’s mercy and suggest that a merciful God wouldn’t condemn lots of people to an eternity in hell.  For me, it is interesting that Jesus had five wise and five foolish virgins in this parable.  It makes me think that this may be a toss-up for many of us.  I know it sure makes me want to work harder when I think that the odds may be 50/50 or less.  And by the time we know where our eternal future lies, we cannot do anything about it and we cannot come back here to warn our family and friends.  As Jesus says, we must “stay awake, for you know neither the day nor the hour.”

Lord, you tell us this parable because you love us.  You want us to know how to enter into your grace now and for all eternity.  Please pour that same love into our hearts, so each of us will be creative and courageous in spreading your good news.  With the love of your heart, Lord, inflame our hearts.