It has admittedly been quite some time since I have posted here at Operarius, largely because my summer work has taken me to the Diocese of Knoxville's official blog Life At 25, which has meant that I have had less time to post here. However, it is worth noting that as our diocesan Eucharistic Congress approaches this coming weekend, so does the Rite of Candidacy that will "officially" make me a candidate for ordination. That Rite will happen on October 12th, God willing.
If there is one thing that I have learned over the past few months, it is that some people are slowly starting to notice that there have been a lot of changes in the way that I do things. My daily Examiner column has taken on far more religious content and far less political content. It isn't that I have lost interest in the political world (that is what my degree is in, after all, so I have an abiding personal interest in, and a certain enjoyment of, politics), but there is a genuine realization that now, my personal views could be wrongly taken for the views of the Church at large.
"Now Oatney," you may say, "that is silly. Why on earth would anyone take your opinion for the point of view of the diocese, or the bishops' conference, or the Church as a whole." There are some well-meaning people out there who do not necessarily grasp how the Church functions internally as a body, and so the opinions of one small potato can be blown into the official Yukon Gold Source of Truth.That doesn't mean I'm not entitled to my opinion, but it does mean that I must be increasingly more careful about when and how it is expressed. I should point out that, at least to some degree, I have learned this reality "the hard way."
I don't say all that with a sense of trepidation, lest anyone think that might be the case, but instead with an understanding that my journey of formation is about to enter a new phase. Candidacy means that the Church will recognize publicly, for the first time, that there is a strong possibility that I may be ordained. It means that I will be a "man of the Church," and may be seen as such by some already.
Perhaps most important of all, though, I see a change in myself, one that I believe comes from the Holy Spirit. I am increasingly comfortable that the Holy Spirit has placed me where I now find myself, and even though I don't yet know what ministries I will have if I am ordained, I am confident that if the Lord allows me to be ordained, that he will give me the gifts that I need to carry out what I am called to do, if he hasn't already.
Most of all, though, myself and the men of our formation class need your prayers. Remember us as you remember your pastor, and all the clergy. I know that so many of my brother Aspirants are thankful for all the prayers they can get. I know that I am.
Last weekend Father Joseph Hammond, CHS, spent his last weekend as the pastor at my parish, St. Patrick in Morristown. This weekend, our new pastor, Father Patrick Brownell, said his first Sunday Mass, and it happened that Nicole and I attended the Vigil Mass Saturday. We had the advantage of also attending the Wednesday evening Mass (which we often do) and I had attended the Knights of Columbus Officers' Installation, and Father celebrated the Wednesday evening Mass and he had attended the officers' installation the day before, where he was installed as Chaplain of Council 6730.
If his earliest days are any indication, Father Patrick could be a welcome and refreshing change for our parish, and I don't mean because he is a new face on the altar. He seems to have a gift for good (and humorous) homiletics. He also
appears to be a very motivated pastor, and he wants us to be motivated too. It strikes me that Father Patrick could be a great evangelizer, especially since he made a comment in his homily this past weekend about the parish seemingly having plenty of room for more people.
As the lone diaconate Aspirant in the parish, I am praying that Father Patrick and I can build a good relationship. Right now, his head is still spinning, he is still learning who is who, and the first time we were ever introduced was Tuesday evening. Pray for Father Patrick, and for all of our priests in new assignments as of this past week, I know I will be.
In a little over four hours from now I will be leaving for another deaconate formation weekend, the second of our classes on the Synoptic Gospels. I do so with something approaching mixed emotions, firstly because the end of our classes will apparently not mean the end of class work (it appears that we will have at least one more paper to write, but that's okay, it goes with the territory), but moreso because I found last year entering into the summer recess that I missed many of my Aspirant brethren tremendously. I think that a bond has formed between many of us from all over the diocese, and certainly between myself and the other two Aspirants in my deanery, Steve Helmbrecht and Don Griffith. I find that I look forward with a great deal of anticipation each month to our class sessions and meetings as much for the communio and (sometimes very deep) discussions we have outside of class as for the learning I get in the classroom. It is wonderful to be among men who love the Lord and the Church as much as you do, and who aspire to devote their lives more fully to the service of God. There are times when the joy seems infectious when we are together.
It is also interesting to note how close we seem to have become to many of the hotel staff. Last month we learned of the departure from the staff of the dear lady who has taken care of us from the beginning of our journey together. I cannot speak to the feelings of the others in the class regarding this development, but I was very sorry to hear of it. She remembered all of us by name and took such care to see to it that our needs were met. I have always gotten the same accessible room on the first floor because she saw to it, and I've always gotten an automated e-mail, usually a couple of days before we were due to be there, letting me know that my room would be ready. I noted that this month I have not received such an e-mail, and I told Nicole that I hope that I have a room!
This month I will submit the letters from Nicole and from myself requesting that Bishop Stika admit me to candidacy for Holy Orders, which if he does so, will happen in October. My mentor told me that it was his experience that the men who make it to candidacy together will likely be ordained together, so it is now that I will ask for everyone's prayers for my own continued discernment, for my growth in charity, and that the Holy Spirit will guide me and conform me into what God would want me to be, and that hopefully when others see me, they will come to see Christ in me.
On this feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, pray with me the Litany of the Sacred Heart for all of our Aspirant class, for all of the Deacons of our Diocese, for Father Christopher Manning, our newly- ordained priest, for all of our seminarians, priests, religious, and those who spend their lives in God's service.
It was around 10:00AM this morning that I got the e-mail. It was sent at around 10 PM last night. It was a note from one of my brother Aspirants, Scott Maentz, congratulating me on our new pastor at St. Patrick Church. Until I opened that e-mail, I didn't know we were getting a new pastor. We have only had our current pastor, Father Joseph Hammond, CHS, for a little over three years, although he had been our Associate for a much longer period of time.
Father Joseph, CHS
Early last month on this very blog, I wrote that several of us in the Aspirant community were aware of a series of priestly reassignments in the Diocese of Knoxville that would soon be upon us, and that indeed because of these reassignments some would have to change spiritual directors. Others would be very directly impacted because they would be seeing a change in pastor. I did not know then that Father Joseph would be among those reassigned to new ministries...I don't know whether Father Joseph knew by then or not, and that is, of course, absolutely none of my business.
I do know that I would not be in the deaconate formation program today, approaching candidacy if God and the bishop are willing, were it not for Father Joseph. Every potential Aspirant must have a letter of recommendation from their pastor. We have to have certain other letters of recommendation as well, and it probably doesn't hurt to have a couple of extra, which I did. Father Joseph is the one which contents I do not know, but I know he wrote it because I could not have been accepted without it. That is the one recommendation every man in the class must have, and it humbles me greatly that I received Father Joseph's good word.
I was humbled because Father Joseph seemed to keep a certain distance from many in the parish, and I think this may have been because some parishioners moaned and complained that they could not understand him (this was, as a matter of personal observation, because some people didn't want to take the time to understand him better). Yet Father Joseph had enough trust and confidence in me to recommend me for deaconate formation, and for that will be eternally honored and grateful to him. I am sorry to see him go, primarily because I think that he is a living example of Christ's humility that our parish continues to be in very sore need of. He was doing all of us a great deal more good than he may have realized. I will say that in going back into what appears to be full time ministry with the Hispanic community, Father Joseph is returning to a ministry where he has many talents and gifts and where it is known that those gifts are deeply appreciated. He and his ministry will continue to be in my thoughts and prayers in the years ahead.
So now we will have a new pastor. He's visited St. Pat's before and many parishioners know who he is, and some know him better.
Father Patrick Brownell
A great many have known that Father Patrick has served our country as a chaplain for our military personnel. Many of us have prayed for him in that vitally important role. Now he'll be joining my parish family as our new pastor. I have not had the privilege to come to know Father Patrick in the way that some others in our diocese have, but I have never heard anything but good about him, and I know that he has visited St. Pat's before in the time that I have been a member there. It is my prayer, however, that I will come to know him, I hope well, and I hope that he will pray for me in my formation as I strive to help him in his new pastoral ministry through prayer, and in whatever meager way that I might serve. I am praying that we might be able to develop a relationship that can bear fruit for God's Kingdom for many years to come.
As I wrote last month, the reassignment of priests, and sometimes even of deacons, is a reality of life in the Church, and people who are active in the Church know this, but it doesn't always make it easy on the clergy or the parishioners involved. We should pray for both Father Joseph and Father Patrick, and try to make it as easy and as welcoming for Father Patrick as we can, and to remember that he will be our shepherd. Let us strive for a spirit of joyful obedience to him as he follows God's will in coming to us.
Well, we had a very good (if very "loaded") series of formation classes with Dr. Sherri Brown on the synoptic Gospels, and I had my long-awaited meeting with Deacon Tim Elliott and Deacon Jim Lawson. At first, I was quite nervous and I didn't know what to expect, although in hindsight, the meeting itself wasn't much to be worried about.
As everyone knows who reads this blog, I have been concerned for some time to find a summer project that would fulfill the 30 hours of service which is being asked for by the bishop. I am grateful to God that a project has been given to me, and while I don't know if that project will fulfill a full 30 hours, I know it will fulfill a good chunk of it considering how long it takes me to research and write a good post. I have been asked to be the primary (certainly not the only) blogger for a few months on the Diocese of Knoxville's blog dedicated to our 25th Anniversary, Life at 25. (You can see my first two posts in that assignment here and here). I asked Deacon Tim if I could use the time that I put into Life at 25 as a summer project, and he said that he would accept that. I am thrilled to have the assignment, but I also know that in this case, my strength is my weakness, because I have taken on a project that is all about the use of words, long an admitted strength.
As Deacon Tim has very rightly pointed out to me, however, the "third leg" of the mission of the diaconate is charity, and he made it rather clear, I think, that the ability to render charity in some form is something that he is looking for, and he should-one of the things we are reminded of in the Ordination Rite is that we are to be conformed to Christ, who came not to be served, but to serve. Hence, I am actively looking for a way to render some charity, and not merely because it is being asked of me, but because I know that as a deacon, it will be an integral part of my ministry and I want to reflect Christ's love to as many people as I can.
I am hoping that my writing this summer will bless a lot of people, and that the Lord might give me another opportunity to give people who need it a blessing also.
The time has come to begin searching in earnest for our summer service projects for formation. I am still unsure exactly what my summer service will entail. Deacon Tim Elliott, who is our Director of Deacons and Deaconate Formation, has e-mailed us a list of suggested places that we might go to minister, but I thought the list for our deanery was a bit thin. The good news is that we don't have to follow that list, we are at liberty to find our own service project, but we have to verify that we've done the good works we set out to do by writing Deacon Tim a one-page summary of our work and the contact information of the person or people who can verify that we did what we have said we would do, and for the amount of time that we are pledged to do it. That is neither an unreasonable request, nor is it undoable once I do find something.
At this point, I still have no idea what my summer service project will be, but I am open to suggestions and I am going to operate under the assumption that if it is something radically different that I might need to clear it with Deacon Tim or with the bishop, even though I have been told in an e-mail that we do not necessarily have to clear our projects beforehand. I'd certainly feel more comfortable doing so in order to make certain that whatever I find (or come up with) meets the intentions that Deacon Tim and Bishop Stika have set out for a proper service requirement, not just a case of "I like this, so I think I will do it." Nicole suggested that it may be possible to find something to do at Daily Bread, which is an ecumenical ministry in Morristown that feeds hungry people-anyone who comes-every day. Many area churches serve there, including our own parish. My spiritual director has suggested that I might consider offering some classes of supplemental instruction at the parish over the summer on topics such as different forms of prayer, the liturgy, or the Eucharist after I expressed a concern to him about some of our RCIA neophytes being "left hanging" a bit (not on purpose, mind you, they just kept right on coming!). I couldn't help but notice that this year, unlike what I have often observed in previous years, we didn't see much of a drop-off in attendance after Easter. Most of our new Catholics stayed with us right up to the very end. To me, this indicated a spiritual hunger and interest, so I might like to try and address some of that (of course, were I to offer these informational sessions, they'd be open to all, not just former RCIA participants). Father Joseph would have to approve of that project, too...
I am also actively seeking to assist the parish in new ways. There are a couple of committee positions on the parish council at St. Pat's that I have a genuine interest in. One is spiritual life, and the other is parish life. Since prayer and spirituality are what I would call a strength of mine (albeit a developing strength), perhaps I can also be of service in this way. A ministry of prayer and the teaching and spreading of prayer to others is one that I would hope to have if I am-God willing-ordained.
Even though I am still perplexed about what my summer project might be, I have decided to take the advice of a commenter to this blog back in January when I first expressed honest concern and some apprehension about what my summer project might be. Everything about my formation up to this point I have entrusted to Jesus through Mary, and I have told the Lord that I trust in him to provide what I need, and he has so far done that through the wonderful and prayerful support of my brother Aspirants, in a unique way through Steve Helmbrecht and Don Griffith, who have been generous to provide me a ride to formation each month, and have therefore had to put up with me! The Lord sent them to answer my prayer that if this was the Lord's will, the Lord would provide a way.
I am going to approach my summer project with the same spirit and with that prayer brought to us by St. Faustina: "Jesus I trust in you." It is our bishop's episcopal motto (Iesu Confido in Te) and it has become my personal prayer throughout my formation process...and so I trust in Jesus to show me the way in summer service the way he has shown me the way in everything else.
And I am going to praise God for his goodness to me in allowing me to be formed in this way. In that spirit, here is another of my favorite Taize hymns.
If you don't know the Latin, it roughly translates:
Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord! All Nations, Alleluia!
Finally, pray for me. This coming weekend is our formation weekend, and on Saturday I am scheduled to meet with Deacon Tim, Deacon Jim Lawson, and <??????> to answer whatever questions they may have about where I am in my call, to submit my canonical impediments form, and to receive instructions on how to formally request candidacy from the bishop. Nicole will also have to join me in this request.
I recently engaged in an internet discussion with a very nice lady who has shown some rudimentary interest in the Catholic faith. I don't yet know enough about her, other than just a little about her personal faith background, to know how best I might help her in her faith journey or whether I am the one to help at all. The exchange has gotten me to thinking, however, of the importance of our lives acting as witnesses to call others to Jesus Christ, who would call all people to himself.
Pope Francis has said in a recent homily that without evangelization, the Church doesn't act as our Mother, but as "a babysitter." The Holy Father said that when we evangelize others “the Church becomes a mother church that produces children (and more) children, because we, the children of the Church, we carry that. But when we do not, the Church is not the mother, but the babysitter, that takes care of the baby – to put the baby to sleep. It is a Church dormant." Pope Francis called on all Catholics “to proclaim Christ, to carry the Church – this fruitful motherhood of the Church – forward."
The Holy Father's call echos the very words of Jesus when he told the Apostles in Matthew 28:19-20:
Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age.”
The Holy Father also pointed out that the very first believers in the book of Acts had only recently been baptized, but had the courage to go out and proclaim the Gospel to others. Certainly we aren't called to do any less than the first Christians.
What we cannot do with any effectiveness is to be witnesses "in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth (Acts 1:9)” without our lives reflecting that which we proclaim and being the primary witness to the faith we profess.
My internet conversation with someone interested in our faith got me thinking seriously about how the words and actions that I use around others reflect on the faith that I profess with my lips. We are called to issue the same summons that Jesus did, to encourage others to follow him.
I just returned yesterday from another wonderful weekend (and they are wonderful) with my Brother Aspirants as we continued our journey through the epistles of St. Paul with Father Andreas Hoeck, who is Dean of Faculty at St. John Vianny Seminary in the Archdiocese of Denver, and he's also charge of deacon formation in that archdiocese. In such a short time, we have all come to love Father Andreas and we are looking forward to having him back next year to teach us more about the Johannine literature in Sacred Scripture. Several of us also think that Father Andreas would be a fine retreat master, but I am most impressed with his humility and obvious holiness. His prayerful way of teaching the faith is an example to all of us.
Over the course of the weekend, we learned a few details in discussions outside of class about a reshuffle in priestly assignments that is about to take place in the Diocese of Knoxville. These transfers will mean that a few of my brothers may have to find new spiritual directors, for example, since their current one either will be or may be moved to a location that will not make it practical to continue regular direction. Some of us have grown used to having Father Christian Mathis nearby at St. Thomas the Apostle in Lenoir City when we are on formation weekends, since Father Christian sometimes says Mass for us on occasions when we do not have a priest instructor, as we have our formation sessions within the geographical boundaries of that parish. From time to time we have been known to attend Mass at St. Thomas the Apostle as a group, but we learned that Father Christian will be moving to a new assignment as the Campus Minister at East Tennessee State University, while Father Michael Cummins, who currently holds that assignment and who serves as spiritual director for one of my brother aspirants in our own deanery, will be serving (we are told) as Chaplain at Notre Dame High School in Chattanooga. The clerical "shuffling" is causing some minor discomfort among some of my brothers as they will have to make adjustments in the process of their own formation. Several priests will experience reassignment in our diocese, and not a few deacons, aspirants, and laity might ask "why us and why now."
The reassignment of priests, and even of deacons from time to time, is a fact of ecclesiastical life. Learning that the reality of reassignment will impact several of our precious priests and the people of God in the parishes and ministries in which they are presently serving has caused me to reflect on the very nature of the Sacrament of Holy Orders, whether as a deacon, priest, or bishop.
When a man has answered God's call to serve the Church through the Sacrament of Holy Orders, he answers the same question from God that the Prophet Isaiah did, and when the bishop ordains a man who has answered that call, the bishop is affirming that the Church believes that the man who is asking to be ordained has given the same answer to the Lord that Isaiah gave him in Isaiah 6:5-8:
And I said: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!”Then flew one of the seraphim to me, having in his hand a burning coal which he had taken with tongs from the altar. And he touched my mouth, and said: “Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin forgiven.” And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” Then I said, “Here am I! Send me.”
Those who answer the call to Holy Orders are truly sent. This is true whether the man in question is a deacon who is ordained and sent to minister in his own parish (or in a parish or ministry he was not expecting), a priest sent to a parish or a mission far from home, a bishop sent to a mission diocese in some far-flung and isolated place, or Jorge Bergoglio being called to Rome for a conclave and never coming home again, not as the Archbishop of Buenos Aries.
When someone submits themselves in a spirit of prayerful obedience to God's will and they accept a life of service to the Church as a large part of that will, they are accepting a certain reality that in embracing God's call to ordained life, a man's life is truly not his own any longer. For a priest, that means that he should live his life in radical imitation of Christ. He has no bride except for the Church, and he goes where he is needed-where he is sent. That sometimes means leaving communities of faith and ministries that he has grown to truly love to take up new ones where he is needed.
Deacons also have a similar sense that their lives are no longer led at their whim. Those of us who are aspirants for the deaconate know that if we are ordained, our assignment or assignments are at the bishop's discretion. We have faith that he will place us in positions that are both good for the people of God and for ourselves. Unlike priests, most deacons have what we sometimes call "one foot" in the secular world, with secular jobs, businesses, interests, or engagements in addition to our ministry...but those secular things are what we do, being a deacon will be who we are. I have noticed in myself that since I began formation in the fall of 2011, I have changed a great deal. The things that are most important to me on a daily basis have changed, the things that most matter have changed, and the things that I most desire to spend my time engaged in...those things have all changed, in some cases dramatically. Needless to say, I have no regrets about these changes, because I think God is adjusting my life to where it needs to be in order to serve him more fully. My wife was among the first people to encourage me in my own call, and that remains the case. There is a realism on my part that if ordained, I will go where I am sent. I will accept the ministry I am given, no matter how tiny and insignificant it might be.
Both Nicole and I know that if I am ordained, I will truly be "the husband of one wife" (1 Timothy 3:12)-that if anything should happen to her and I am still alive, I will never marry again. Not only is it the strict requirement of canon law, but it is a part of the charism of an ordained man that he has pledged the rest of his life to God's service. Most permanent deacons are in a unique position in that we are already married when we come before the bishop for that laying on of hands, and our wives, well, they have to agree to all of this, because if they don't, we won't be ordained.
Deacons, priests, and bishops have pledged a life of service to God, but the people of God have to cooperate in that service. That can be hard when the time comes for God to call that ordained person to their next assignment in ministry, it isn't easy to let go of a beloved pastor, minister, spiritual guide, and friend. However, a priest, a deacon, a bishop does not belong only to us, but to the whole Church, which belongs to Christ, her Divine Spouse. We all must share the gifts that we have in order that the whole Church may benefit, more souls may be added to God's Kingdom, and we might reach heaven having done all that we could to help the Church in this divine mandate.
It means that sometimes ministries will change as needs arise, but the goal of the Church remains the same. We are here to bring the Kingdom of God more fully to fruition, even if it means sacrificing for the sake of that Kingdom
The above video of the Diocese of Knoxville's Chrism Mass, which I wrote of from my own personal perspective on Holy Thursday, comes to us via the photographically talented and video-inclined Deacon Patrick Murphy-Racey. The perspective in this video is one that I appreciate in a special way, because it tells us what this annual reaffirmation of priestly promises and of the ministry of service means to men who are studying for the priesthood themselves, and many will soon be serving us in our parishes.
Even though the priesthood and the deaconate are different ministries that often require men with different charisms, there is no priest in the world who was not first and remains still a deacon. It was Bishop Joseph Martino, Emeritus of Scranton, who was our instructor in Church History, who reminded us that he is a deacon and will always be a deacon. Father Randy Stice also reminded us of that reality in our Liturgy section. With that in mind, when I listen to these seminarians I am also reminded of how my own discernment of a calling to the Sacrament of Holy Orders is impacting me and the way I see and view the Church and the People of God, even though my calling differs from the seminarians who reflect in the video. I identify with the seminarians in a very real way because my formation to the deaconate has changed how I see my faith and my relationship to God and my call to serve his people.
A person cannot experience this discernment and this call and ever be the same again, just as Moses was never the same again after he'd seen the burning bush or the Apostles were never the same again after Jesus called them.
Genesis 1:1-2:2: In the beginning, when God created the heavens and the earth,
the earth was a formless wasteland, and darkness covered the abyss,
while a mighty wind swept over the waters.
Then God said,
"Let there be light," and there was light.
God saw how good the light was.
God then separated the light from the darkness.
God called the light "day," and the darkness he called "night."
Thus evening came, and morning followed-the first day.
Then God said,
"Let there be a dome in the middle of the waters,
to separate one body of water from the other."
And so it happened:
God made the dome,
and it separated the water above the dome from the water below it.
God called the dome "the sky."
Evening came, and morning followed-the second day.
Then God said,
"Let the water under the sky be gathered into a single basin,
so that the dry land may appear."
And so it happened:
the water under the sky was gathered into its basin,
and the dry land appeared.
God called the dry land "the earth, "
and the basin of the water he called "the sea."
God saw how good it was.
Then God said,
"Let the earth bring forth vegetation:
every kind of plant that bears seed
and every kind of fruit tree on earth
that bears fruit with its seed in it."
And so it happened:
the earth brought forth every kind of plant that bears seed
and every kind of fruit tree on earth
that bears fruit with its seed in it.
God saw how good it was.
Evening came, and morning followed-the third day.
Then God said:
"Let there be lights in the dome of the sky,
to separate day from night.
Let them mark the fixed times, the days and the years,
and serve as luminaries in the dome of the sky,
to shed light upon the earth."
And so it happened:
God made the two great lights,
the greater one to govern the day,
and the lesser one to govern the night;
and he made the stars.
God set them in the dome of the sky,
to shed light upon the earth,
to govern the day and the night,
and to separate the light from the darkness.
God saw how good it was.
Evening came, and morning followed-the fourth day.
Then God said,
"Let the water teem with an abundance of living creatures,
and on the earth let birds fly beneath the dome of the sky."
And so it happened:
God created the great sea monsters
and all kinds of swimming creatures with which the water teems,
and all kinds of winged birds.
God saw how good it was, and God blessed them, saying,
"Be fertile, multiply, and fill the water of the seas;
and let the birds multiply on the earth."
Evening came, and morning followed-the fifth day.
Then God said,
"Let the earth bring forth all kinds of living creatures:
cattle, creeping things, and wild animals of all kinds."
And so it happened:
God made all kinds of wild animals, all kinds of cattle,
and all kinds of creeping things of the earth.
God saw how good it was.
Then God said:
"Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.
Let them have dominion over the fish of the sea,
the birds of the air, and the cattle,
and over all the wild animals
and all the creatures that crawl on the ground."
God created man in his image;
in the image of God he created him;
male and female he created them.
God blessed them, saying:
"Be fertile and multiply;
fill the earth and subdue it.
Have dominion over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air,
and all the living things that move on the earth."
God also said:
"See, I give you every seed-bearing plant all over the earth
and every tree that has seed-bearing fruit on it to be your food;
and to all the animals of the land, all the birds of the air,
and all the living creatures that crawl on the ground,
I give all the green plants for food."
And so it happened.
God looked at everything he had made, and he found it very good.
Evening came, and morning followed-the sixth day.
Thus the heavens and the earth and all their array were completed.
Since on the seventh day God was finished
with the work he had been doing,
he rested on the seventh day from all the work he had undertaken.
God put Abraham to the test.
He called to him, "Abraham!"
"Here I am, " he replied.
Then God said:
"Take your son Isaac, your only one, whom you love,
and go to the land of Moriah.
There you shall offer him up as a holocaust
on a height that I will point out to you."
Early the next morning Abraham saddled his donkey,
took with him his son Isaac and two of his servants as well,
and with the wood that he had cut for the holocaust,
set out for the place of which God had told him.
On the third day Abraham got sight of the place from afar.
Then he said to his servants:
"Both of you stay here with the donkey,
while the boy and I go on over yonder.
We will worship and then come back to you."
Thereupon Abraham took the wood for the holocaust
and laid it on his son Isaac's shoulders,
while he himself carried the fire and the knife.
As the two walked on together, Isaac spoke to his father Abraham:
"Father!" Isaac said.
"Yes, son, " he replied.
Isaac continued, "Here are the fire and the wood,
but where is the sheep for the holocaust?"
"Son," Abraham answered,
"God himself will provide the sheep for the holocaust."
Then the two continued going forward.
When they came to the place of which God had told him,
Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it.
Next he tied up his son Isaac,
and put him on top of the wood on the altar.
Then he reached out and took the knife to slaughter his son.
But the LORD's messenger called to him from heaven,
"Abraham, Abraham!"
"Here I am!" he answered.
"Do not lay your hand on the boy," said the messenger.
"Do not do the least thing to him.
I know now how devoted you are to God,
since you did not withhold from me your own beloved son."
As Abraham looked about,
he spied a ram caught by its horns in the thicket.
So he went and took the ram
and offered it up as a holocaust in place of his son.
Abraham named the site Yahweh-yireh;
hence people now say, "On the mountain the LORD will see."
Again the LORD's messenger called to Abraham from heaven and said:
"I swear by myself, declares the LORD,
that because you acted as you did
in not withholding from me your beloved son,
I will bless you abundantly
and make your descendants as countless
as the stars of the sky and the sands of the seashore;
your descendants shall take possession
of the gates of their enemies,
and in your descendants all the nations of the earth shall find blessing—
all this because you obeyed my command."
The LORD said to Moses, "Why are you crying out to me?
Tell the Israelites to go forward.
And you, lift up your staff and, with hand outstretched over the sea,
split the sea in two,
that the Israelites may pass through it on dry land.
But I will make the Egyptians so obstinate
that they will go in after them.
Then I will receive glory through Pharaoh and all his army,
his chariots and charioteers.
The Egyptians shall know that I am the LORD,
when I receive glory through Pharaoh
and his chariots and charioteers."
The angel of God, who had been leading Israel's camp,
now moved and went around behind them.
The column of cloud also, leaving the front,
took up its place behind them,
so that it came between the camp of the Egyptians
and that of Israel.
But the cloud now became dark, and thus the night passed
without the rival camps coming any closer together
all night long.
Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea,
and the LORD swept the sea
with a strong east wind throughout the night
and so turned it into dry land.
When the water was thus divided,
the Israelites marched into the midst of the sea on dry land,
with the water like a wall to their right and to their left.
The Egyptians followed in pursuit;
all Pharaoh's horses and chariots and charioteers went after them
right into the midst of the sea.
In the night watch just before dawn
the LORD cast through the column of the fiery cloud
upon the Egyptian force a glance that threw it into a panic;
and he so clogged their chariot wheels
that they could hardly drive.
With that the Egyptians sounded the retreat before Israel,
because the LORD was fighting for them against the Egyptians.
Then the LORD told Moses, "Stretch out your hand over the sea,
that the water may flow back upon the Egyptians,
upon their chariots and their charioteers."
So Moses stretched out his hand over the sea,
and at dawn the sea flowed back to its normal depth.
The Egyptians were fleeing head on toward the sea,
when the LORD hurled them into its midst.
As the water flowed back,
it covered the chariots and the charioteers of Pharaoh's whole army
which had followed the Israelites into the sea.
Not a single one of them escaped.
But the Israelites had marched on dry land
through the midst of the sea,
with the water like a wall to their right and to their left.
Thus the LORD saved Israel on that day
from the power of the Egyptians.
When Israel saw the Egyptians lying dead on the seashore
and beheld the great power that the LORD
had shown against the Egyptians,
they feared the LORD and believed in him and in his servant Moses.
Then Moses and the Israelites sang this song to the LORD:
I will sing to the LORD, for he is gloriously triumphant;
horse and chariot he has cast into the sea.
The One who has become your husband is your Maker;
his name is the LORD of hosts;
your redeemer is the Holy One of Israel,
called God of all the earth.
The LORD calls you back,
like a wife forsaken and grieved in spirit,
a wife married in youth and then cast off,
says your God.
For a brief moment I abandoned you,
but with great tenderness I will take you back.
In an outburst of wrath, for a moment
I hid my face from you;
but with enduring love I take pity on you,
says the LORD, your redeemer.
This is for me like the days of Noah,
when I swore that the waters of Noah
should never again deluge the earth;
so I have sworn not to be angry with you,
or to rebuke you.
Though the mountains leave their place
and the hills be shaken,
my love shall never leave you
nor my covenant of peace be shaken,
says the LORD, who has mercy on you.
O afflicted one, storm-battered and unconsoled,
I lay your pavements in carnelians,
and your foundations in sapphires;
I will make your battlements of rubies,
your gates of carbuncles,
and all your walls of precious stones.
All your children shall be taught by the LORD,
and great shall be the peace of your children.
In justice shall you be established,
far from the fear of oppression, where destruction cannot come near you.
Thus says the LORD:
All you who are thirsty,
come to the water!
You who have no money,
come, receive grain and eat;
come, without paying and without cost,
drink wine and milk!
Why spend your money for what is not bread,
your wages for what fails to satisfy?
Heed me, and you shall eat well,
you shall delight in rich fare.
Come to me heedfully,
listen, that you may have life.
I will renew with you the everlasting covenant,
the benefits assured to David.
As I made him a witness to the peoples,
a leader and commander of nations,
so shall you summon a nation you knew not,
and nations that knew you not shall run to you,
because of the LORD, your God,
the Holy One of Israel, who has glorified you.
Seek the LORD while he may be found,
call him while he is near.
Let the scoundrel forsake his way,
and the wicked man his thoughts;
let him turn to the LORD for mercy;
to our God, who is generous in forgiving.
For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
nor are your ways my ways, says the LORD.
As high as the heavens are above the earth,
so high are my ways above your ways
and my thoughts above your thoughts.
For just as from the heavens
the rain and snow come down
and do not return there
till they have watered the earth,
making it fertile and fruitful,
giving seed to the one who sows
and bread to the one who eats,
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.
Hear, O Israel, the commandments of life:
listen, and know prudence!
How is it, Israel,
that you are in the land of your foes,
grown old in a foreign land,
defiled with the dead,
accounted with those destined for the netherworld?
You have forsaken the fountain of wisdom!
Had you walked in the way of God,
you would have dwelt in enduring peace.
Learn where prudence is,
where strength, where understanding;
that you may know also
where are length of days, and life,
where light of the eyes, and peace.
Who has found the place of wisdom,
who has entered into her treasuries?
The One who knows all things knows her;
he has probed her by his knowledge—
The One who established the earth for all time,
and filled it with four-footed beasts;
he who dismisses the light, and it departs,
calls it, and it obeys him trembling;
before whom the stars at their posts
shine and rejoice;
when he calls them, they answer, "Here we are!"
shining with joy for their Maker.
Such is our God;
no other is to be compared to him:
He has traced out the whole way of understanding,
and has given her to Jacob, his servant,
to Israel, his beloved son.
Since then she has appeared on earth,
and moved among people.
She is the book of the precepts of God,
the law that endures forever;
all who cling to her will live,
but those will die who forsake her.
Turn, O Jacob, and receive her:
walk by her light toward splendor.
Give not your glory to another,
your privileges to an alien race.
Blessed are we, O Israel;
for what pleases God is known to us!
The word of the LORD came to me, saying:
Son of man, when the house of Israel lived in their land,
they defiled it by their conduct and deeds.
Therefore I poured out my fury upon them
because of the blood that they poured out on the ground,
and because they defiled it with idols.
I scattered them among the nations,
dispersing them over foreign lands;
according to their conduct and deeds I judged them.
But when they came among the nations wherever they came,
they served to profane my holy name,
because it was said of them: "These are the people of the LORD,
yet they had to leave their land."
So I have relented because of my holy name
which the house of Israel profaned
among the nations where they came.
Therefore say to the house of Israel: Thus says the Lord GOD:
Not for your sakes do I act, house of Israel,
but for the sake of my holy name,
which you profaned among the nations to which you came.
I will prove the holiness of my great name, profaned among the nations,
in whose midst you have profaned it.
Thus the nations shall know that I am the LORD, says the Lord GOD,
when in their sight I prove my holiness through you.
For I will take you away from among the nations,
gather you from all the foreign lands,
and bring you back to your own land.
I will sprinkle clean water upon you
to cleanse you from all your impurities,
and from all your idols I will cleanse you.
I will give you a new heart and place a new spirit within you,
taking from your bodies your stony hearts
and giving you natural hearts.
I will put my spirit within you and make you live by my statutes,
careful to observe my decrees.
You shall live in the land I gave your fathers;
you shall be my people, and I will be your God.
Brothers and sisters:
Are you unaware that we who were baptized into Christ Jesus
were baptized into his death?
We were indeed buried with him through baptism into death,
so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead
by the glory of the Father,
we too might live in newness of life.
For if we have grown into union with him through a death like his,
we shall also be united with him in the resurrection.
We know that our old self was crucified with him,
so that our sinful body might be done away with,
that we might no longer be in slavery to sin.
For a dead person has been absolved from sin.
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.
At daybreak on the first day of the week
the women who had come from Galilee with Jesus
took the spices they had prepared
and went to the tomb.
They found the stone rolled away from the tomb;
but when they entered,
they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus.
While they were puzzling over this, behold,
two men in dazzling garments appeared to them.
They were terrified and bowed their faces to the ground. They said to them,
“Why do you seek the living one among the dead?
He is not here, but he has been raised.
Remember what he said to you while he was still in Galilee,
that the Son of Man must be handed over to sinners
and be crucified, and rise on the third day.” And they remembered his words.
Then they returned from the tomb
and announced all these things to the eleven
and to all the others.
The women were Mary Magdalene, Joanna, and Mary the mother of James;
the others who accompanied them also told this to the apostles,
but their story seemed like nonsense
and they did not believe them.
But Peter got up and ran to the tomb,
bent down, and saw the burial cloths alone;
then he went home amazed at what had happened.
Queen of Heaven, rejoice, alleluia.
For He whom you did merit to bear, alleluia.
Has risen, as he said, alleluia.
Pray for us to God, alleluia.
V. Rejoice and be glad, O Virgin Mary, alleluia.
R. For the Lord has truly risen, alleluia.
Jesus went out with his disciples across the Kidron valley
to where there was a garden,
into which he and his disciples entered.
Judas his betrayer also knew the place,
because Jesus had often met there with his disciples.
So Judas got a band of soldiers and guards
from the chief priests and the Pharisees
and went there with lanterns, torches, and weapons.
Jesus, knowing everything that was going to happen to him,
went out and said to them, "Whom are you looking for?"
They answered him, "Jesus the Nazorean."
He said to them, "I AM."
Judas his betrayer was also with them.
When he said to them, "I AM, "
they turned away and fell to the ground.
So he again asked them,
"Whom are you looking for?"
They said, "Jesus the Nazorean."
Jesus answered,
"I told you that I AM.
So if you are looking for me, let these men go."
This was to fulfill what he had said,
"I have not lost any of those you gave me."
Then Simon Peter, who had a sword, drew it,
struck the high priest's slave, and cut off his right ear.
The slave's name was Malchus.
Jesus said to Peter,
"Put your sword into its scabbard.
Shall I not drink the cup that the Father gave me?"
So the band of soldiers, the tribune, and the Jewish guards seized Jesus,
bound him, and brought him to Annas first.
He was the father-in-law of Caiaphas,
who was high priest that year.
It was Caiaphas who had counseled the Jews
that it was better that one man should die rather than the people.
Simon Peter and another disciple followed Jesus.
Now the other disciple was known to the high priest,
and he entered the courtyard of the high priest with Jesus.
But Peter stood at the gate outside.
So the other disciple, the acquaintance of the high priest,
went out and spoke to the gatekeeper and brought Peter in.
Then the maid who was the gatekeeper said to Peter,
"You are not one of this man's disciples, are you?"
He said, "I am not."
Now the slaves and the guards were standing around a charcoal fire
that they had made, because it was cold,
and were warming themselves.
Peter was also standing there keeping warm.
The high priest questioned Jesus
about his disciples and about his doctrine.
Jesus answered him,
"I have spoken publicly to the world.
I have always taught in a synagogue
or in the temple area where all the Jews gather,
and in secret I have said nothing. Why ask me?
Ask those who heard me what I said to them.
They know what I said."
When he had said this,
one of the temple guards standing there struck Jesus and said,
"Is this the way you answer the high priest?"
Jesus answered him,
"If I have spoken wrongly, testify to the wrong;
but if I have spoken rightly, why do you strike me?"
Then Annas sent him bound to Caiaphas the high priest.
Now Simon Peter was standing there keeping warm.
And they said to him,
"You are not one of his disciples, are you?"
He denied it and said,
"I am not."
One of the slaves of the high priest,
a relative of the one whose ear Peter had cut off, said,
"Didn't I see you in the garden with him?"
Again Peter denied it.
And immediately the cock crowed.
Then they brought Jesus from Caiaphas to the praetorium.
It was morning.
And they themselves did not enter the praetorium,
in order not to be defiled so that they could eat the Passover.
So Pilate came out to them and said,
"What charge do you bring against this man?"
They answered and said to him,
"If he were not a criminal,
we would not have handed him over to you."
At this, Pilate said to them,
"Take him yourselves, and judge him according to your law."
The Jews answered him,
"We do not have the right to execute anyone, "
in order that the word of Jesus might be fulfilled
that he said indicating the kind of death he would die.
So Pilate went back into the praetorium
and summoned Jesus and said to him,
"Are you the King of the Jews?"
Jesus answered,
"Do you say this on your own
or have others told you about me?"
Pilate answered,
"I am not a Jew, am I?
Your own nation and the chief priests handed you over to me.
What have you done?"
Jesus answered,
"My kingdom does not belong to this world.
If my kingdom did belong to this world,
my attendants would be fighting
to keep me from being handed over to the Jews.
But as it is, my kingdom is not here."
So Pilate said to him,
"Then you are a king?"
Jesus answered,
"You say I am a king.
For this I was born and for this I came into the world,
to testify to the truth.
Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice."
Pilate said to him, "What is truth?"
When he had said this,
he again went out to the Jews and said to them,
"I find no guilt in him.
But you have a custom that I release one prisoner to you at Passover.
Do you want me to release to you the King of the Jews?"
They cried out again,
"Not this one but Barabbas!"
Now Barabbas was a revolutionary.
Then Pilate took Jesus and had him scourged.
And the soldiers wove a crown out of thorns and placed it on his head,
and clothed him in a purple cloak,
and they came to him and said,
"Hail, King of the Jews!"
And they struck him repeatedly.
Once more Pilate went out and said to them,
"Look, I am bringing him out to you,
so that you may know that I find no guilt in him."
So Jesus came out,
wearing the crown of thorns and the purple cloak.
And he said to them, "Behold, the man!"
When the chief priests and the guards saw him they cried out,
"Crucify him, crucify him!"
Pilate said to them,
"Take him yourselves and crucify him.
I find no guilt in him."
The Jews answered,
"We have a law, and according to that law he ought to die,
because he made himself the Son of God."
Now when Pilate heard this statement,
he became even more afraid,
and went back into the praetorium and said to Jesus,
"Where are you from?"
Jesus did not answer him.
So Pilate said to him,
"Do you not speak to me?
Do you not know that I have power to release you
and I have power to crucify you?"
Jesus answered him,
"You would have no power over me
if it had not been given to you from above.
For this reason the one who handed me over to you
has the greater sin."
Consequently, Pilate tried to release him; but the Jews cried out,
"If you release him, you are not a Friend of Caesar.
Everyone who makes himself a king opposes Caesar."
When Pilate heard these words he brought Jesus out
and seated him on the judge's bench
in the place called Stone Pavement, in Hebrew, Gabbatha.
It was preparation day for Passover, and it was about noon.
And he said to the Jews,
"Behold, your king!"
They cried out,
"Take him away, take him away! Crucify him!"
Pilate said to them,
"Shall I crucify your king?"
The chief priests answered,
"We have no king but Caesar."
Then he handed him over to them to be crucified.
So they took Jesus, and, carrying the cross himself,
he went out to what is called the Place of the Skull,
in Hebrew, Golgotha.
There they crucified him, and with him two others,
one on either side, with Jesus in the middle.
Pilate also had an inscription written and put on the cross.
It read,
"Jesus the Nazorean, the King of the Jews."
Now many of the Jews read this inscription,
because the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city;
and it was written in Hebrew, Latin, and Greek.
So the chief priests of the Jews said to Pilate,
"Do not write 'The King of the Jews,'
but that he said, 'I am the King of the Jews'."
Pilate answered,
"What I have written, I have written."
When the soldiers had crucified Jesus,
they took his clothes and divided them into four shares,
a share for each soldier.
They also took his tunic, but the tunic was seamless,
woven in one piece from the top down.
So they said to one another,
"Let's not tear it, but cast lots for it to see whose it will be, "
in order that the passage of Scripture might be fulfilled that says: They divided my garments among them, and for my vesture they cast lots.
This is what the soldiers did.
Standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother
and his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Clopas,
and Mary of Magdala.
When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple there whom he loved
he said to his mother, "Woman, behold, your son."
Then he said to the disciple,
"Behold, your mother."
And from that hour the disciple took her into his home.
After this, aware that everything was now finished,
in order that the Scripture might be fulfilled,
Jesus said, "I thirst."
There was a vessel filled with common wine.
So they put a sponge soaked in wine on a sprig of hyssop
and put it up to his mouth.
When Jesus had taken the wine, he said,
"It is finished."
And bowing his head, he handed over the spirit.
Now since it was preparation day,
in order that the bodies might not remain on the cross on the sabbath,
for the sabbath day of that week was a solemn one,
the Jews asked Pilate that their legs be broken
and that they be taken down.
So the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first
and then of the other one who was crucified with Jesus.
But when they came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead,
they did not break his legs,
but one soldier thrust his lance into his side,
and immediately blood and water flowed out.
An eyewitness has testified, and his testimony is true;
he knows that he is speaking the truth,
so that you also may come to believe.
For this happened so that the Scripture passage might be fulfilled: Not a bone of it will be broken.
And again another passage says: They will look upon him whom they have pierced.
After this, Joseph of Arimathea,
secretly a disciple of Jesus for fear of the Jews,
asked Pilate if he could remove the body of Jesus.
And Pilate permitted it.
So he came and took his body.
Nicodemus, the one who had first come to him at night,
also came bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes
weighing about one hundred pounds.
They took the body of Jesus
and bound it with burial cloths along with the spices,
according to the Jewish burial custom.
Now in the place where he had been crucified there was a garden,
and in the garden a new tomb, in which no one had yet been buried.
So they laid Jesus there because of the Jewish preparation day;
for the tomb was close by.
The above is the 2011 Liturgy of the Lord's Passion from the Cathedral of the Holy Cross in the Archdiocese of Boston. The kind people at Catholic TV have seen fit to make it available for wider consumption, and I thought I'd post it here for the benefit of all who read this blog, but especially those whose hearts and minds may be in a church today, even if their bodies cannot be. Sean Cardinal O'Malley is the celebrant.
Finally, one of the great sorrowful hymns of Good Friday...O Sacred Head Surrounded.
Traditionally, the Mass of Chrism is held on the morning of Holy Thursday, although the liturgical rubrics now allow it to take place at another convenient time. The "convenient time" for the Diocese of Knoxville was Tuesday evening. I have to give thanks to my spiritual director Father Alex Waraksa, who was kind enough to give me a ride to the Mass. I actually didn't think I would be going, but Father Alex rang me at about twenty past two that afternoon to ask if I was still interested to go. Of course I was, and since I would be riding with Father and he was leaving "early," I had to get ready in a hurry...
As you can see, one thing I did not have time to do was shave! I do not think being unshaven becomes me in a picture. What's more, I'm sure you might be able to figure out that I had no idea that Scott Maentz was snapping my picture (he also got Deacon Pat Murphy-Racey, who was there unvested taking pictures of his own, and these photographs are Scott's). Nevertheless, I don't mind being photographed on such an occasion, because as far as I am concerned, the whole world can know I was at Sacred Heart Cathedral Tuesday night. Praising the Lord is certainly a prerequisite for Aspirancy to the deaconate, and I find I am at my happiest and most comfortable in the House of the Lord-there really isn't anywhere else in the world I would rather be.
That nice lady next to me had come all the way from Holy Spirit in Soddy Daisy to take pictures. I was pointing out to her the other photographers who I knew were there.
While the Mass was going on, there were several times when I nearly burst into tears, although not from sadness, but joy. The Chrism Mass is a wonderful expression of the unity of the Church, because every able priest in the diocese was there and a great many of the deacons were there. There were religious there, too-Dominican Sisters and Religious Sisters of Mercy. The music was exceptionally fine, and not only did all of the priests concelebrate with Bishop Stika, but it was the first time that I had ever had occasion to see Bishop Stika and his mentor Justin Cardinal Rigali concelebrate a Mass together (I'm not counting Bishop Stika's episcopal ordination, Nicole and I were at that event). Since coming to East Tennessee, Cardinal Rigali seems to have fit right into the pastoral life of the diocese. He seems so at home here that you'd never know that he was new, you'd think he was our retired bishop, not Philadelphia's. With due respect to Archbishop Chaput, who is also a great shepherd, I think we got the better part of the deal when Cardinal Rigali retired and Chaput was appointed from Denver to replace him, since Cardinal Rigali fulfilled an apparently long-held promise that he would go wherever his friend Monsignor Stika was when he retired. Philadelphia got Chaput, and the State of Tennessee got the first Prince of the Church in its history. It is a silly thing, but if I could ask one favor of His Eminence, it might be to bless my personal Roman Missal.
The reason I nearly wept at the Mass was that I found myself in awe and gratitude at what the Holy Spirit is doing in this diocese. I'm sure that people in every diocese in the world feel blessed, but we have reason to thank God every day. Other places have severe shortages of priests and are forced to close parishes that cannot sustain themselves, but we have enough priests for every parish, and many parishes have more than one priest. We currently have 19 men in priestly formation. I have personally been blessed by the Holy Spirit to be in deaconal formation with some of the finest men I have ever had the pleasure to know. Bishop Stika announced that soon, an order of cloistered Sisters will be coming here. I looked at all of our priests and deacons and religious and the people of God who literally filled our humble but beautiful cathedral and said to the Lord in thanksgiving "thank you Jesus-what a wonderful thing is your Church." I was happy to see all of our priests, but on a personal level I was happy to see Monsignor Xavier Mankel, OP, who was quick to ask me if I was behaving myself in my old age!
The Mass of Chrism, where the bishop blesses the sacred oils (Chrism, the Oil of the Infirm, and the Oil of Catechumens) used to anoint people sacramentally throughout the year is tied in an intimate way to tonight's Mass of the Lord's Supper, because the Eucharist, the sacred priesthood, and the apostolic ministry of the episcopacy all had their beginnings on that first Holy Thursday. Bishop Stika said in his homily that more than anything else, the Eucharist is what draws new people into the Church. What he said sounded a lot like the lesson on the Eucharist I gave for our parish's RCIA class when I explained to them that we are a people of the Eucharist, and that without the Eucharist, there is no Church, no conclave, no Bishop Stika, no Pope Benedict, no new Pope (Francis had not been elected yet), no RCIA, and no reason for them to be there. Since I know that at least one of our RCIA candidates was at the Mass, I was pleased that the bishop said what he did about the Eucharist-thank you Holy Spirit.
Holy Thursday is, more than anything, all about the Body of Christ. It is about his Body and Blood that he gave us for the first time that Thursday night in an Upper Room, and the sacrifice of his Body for the sake of our salvation, and the reality that he gives us his Body that we may become the Body of Christ which we receive. So tonight at Mass, take some time to adore Our Lord's Body. It is also about service, as we learn to humble ourselves and wash feet as Jesus washed his disciples' feet.
As we ready ourselves to commemorate Our Lord's last night before his crucifuxion, it might be good to meditate on one of my favorite Eucharistic hymns, Pange lingua gloriosi. If you don't know what the words mean, I have put a rough translation below the video.
Sing, my tongue, the Savior's glory, of His flesh the mystery sing; of the Blood, all price exceeding, shed by our immortal King, destined, for the world's redemption, from a noble womb to spring.
Of a pure and spotless Virgin born for us on earth below, He, as Man, with man conversing, stayed, the seeds of truth to sow; then He closed in solemn order wondrously His life of woe.
On the night of that Last Supper, seated with His chosen band, He the Pascal victim eating, first fulfills the Law's command; then as Food to His Apostles gives Himself with His own hand.
Word-made-Flesh, the bread of nature by His word to Flesh He turns; wine into His Blood He changes; what though sense no change discerns? Only be the heart in earnest, faith her lesson quickly learns.
Down in adoration falling, This great Sacrament we hail, Over ancient forms of worship Newer rites of grace prevail; Faith will tell us Christ is present, When our human senses fail.
To the everlasting Father, And the Son who made us free And the Spirit, God proceeding From them Each eternally, Be salvation, honor, blessing, Might and endless majesty.
Amen.
Those of you who celebrated Morning Lauds this morning sang or chanted the 42nd Psalm as the first chant, a psalm which has opening words in verses one and two that may be familiar to many Catholics, and certainly set me in a Holy Week mindset. The Grail translation, which is generally what is used in the English-speaking world for the psalter in the Liturgy of the Hours, renders Psalm 42:1-2 in this way:
Like the deer that yearns
for running streams,
so my soul is yearning
for you, my God. My soul is thirsting for God,
the God of my life;
when can I enter and see
the face of God?
Although this psalm repeats in the four-week psalter at various times throughout the year, it is always to be found at Lauds on Monday morning of Holy Week. Another time you might hear these words is at the Easter Vigil Mass during baptisms of catechumens or on Easter Sunday morning if anyone is baptized at that time. Reciting these words this morning reminded me in a very real way that while the entire Church is invited to join Christ in ascending the mount of Calvary this week and in waiting and celebrating at the Empty Tomb, catechumens and candidates for full communion with the Holy Catholic Church are waiting with anticipation for the opportunity to receive Jesus in the Holy Eucharist. Throughout Lent, we've prayed for catechumens and candidates, and I've had the opportunity-as I do each year-to assist in the formation of catechumens who will be baptized and candidates for full communion-I know how much they are looking forward to becoming a part of the Church at the weekend.
I can also speak with some experience about the excitement many of them feel knowing that their baptisms or reception into full Communion with the Church are now but days away, because some years ago, I was in their shoes. I wasn't baptized at Easter-because of scheduling issues, I had to wait until Pentecost Sunday-but I do remember how I couldn't wait to receive the Eucharist. The opening words of today's first psalm at Lauds are an apt description of how I felt, and I think is probably an apt description of how many catechumens feel around our diocese, and around the country and the world. They are eager, but there is a question that hangs over some of them.
After Easter, and after the formal mystagogia phase of their formation is over, what is to become of them? I know that we still have a few from years' past that I see at Mass, and that are active in the parish. I'm also sure that some move to other parishes and become active where they live. There is a third group, however, that I have always felt particularly burdened in prayer for, and that group are those people who come to Mass for a few months but then fall away. Often, they do this because no one other than the people on the RCIA team seem to them to display any friendship or interest in them. Indeed, I've heard that complaint from at least one former candidate that I know. I am certain that while those who say these things might be looking at things superficially from time to time, more often I think that it is not unreasonable for new Catholics who have willingly joined the Church of their own accord under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit to expect that members of their parish community will befriend them and seek to include them, not merely to boost membership numbers in a parish group, but out of a real interest in that person's spiritual development.
I firmly believe that I took such a keen continued interest in the Church in my early days as a Catholic because some holy clergy and laypeople took an active interest in me and my spiritual development, and encouraged me to become involved with things in the Church that they saw I was interested in and good at, and encouraged me to develop a prayer life and a real relationship with both God and with the people around me. In short, I was very heavily encouraged to begin living out the faith into which I had been baptized and was willing to publicly profess. Because there were people around me at the time within the Church who encouraged me in this way, I believe that the spiritual road which the Holy Spirit put me on was leading me to where I am today in deaconate formation, though I couldn't have seen or understood it at that time in my life.
Obviously, not everyone who participates in the RCIA process is going to feel called to deaconal or priestly formation or to life as part of a vowed religious community. New Catholics are all called, however, to be a part of the most important priesthood of all, and that is the royal priesthood of all the baptized, a chosen nation, St. Peter tells us, who are called to "declare the wonderful deeds of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light." (1 Pet. 2:9) There is what Blessed John Paul II rightly called a "universal call to holiness" which new Catholics (and all Catholics) are called to live out-being the Body of Christ present in a world that is often skeptical of that Body and hostile to it. It can be difficult for new Catholics to live out that call to holiness if they don't have holy people around them ready to help them in their faith.
If you have adults in your parish who are being baptized or received into the Church this coming weekend, watch closely to see who they are. Say hello to them. Invite them to prayer groups, adoration, or Bible study. Seek them out just to introduce yourself, most of the time a friendly word just to know that the parish community still cares about them may mean the world to them and open their hearts to allowing the Holy Spirit to work even more deeply in their lives. In a few weeks, the formal part of their formation will be ended, but they need that continuing formation that we all need in order to make our faith the very center of our lives that God calls us to make it. Those who will come into the Church this weekend need our prayers and our support, so that they will always long after the Lord "like the deer that yearns for running streams."
Not this past weekend, but the one prior (March 9th and 10th), I had an opportunity to attend a retreat at our parish called Christ Renews His Parish. Our parish's lone remaining deacon, Deacon Jim Fage, was also there for much of the time. The retreat was largely given to us by some wonderful members of St. Francis de Sales parish in Lebanon, Ohio. They came and gave of themselves for us that we might in return give a similar retreat to others in the near future (hopefully in about six months). It was a wonderful and spiritually enriching weekend for everyone. I was most heartened that the deacon from St. Francis, Deacon Jay Rettig, came to help with the retreat because we had a wonderful time of exposition of the Blessed Sacrament, at the beginning of which Deacon Jay preached a wonderful homily based on John 6. Deacon Jay also preached the Sunday homily for the 11:30 Mass, and was kind enough to pray Vespers with me Saturday night (because I was by that point finding it hard to keep my eyes open, finding a prayer partner was a real help).
For me, there were several "a-ha" moments during the retreat, especially on Sunday. However, for me the most important thing that happened occurred outside of our retreat sessions. On Saturday night our lay retreat director, Scott Shafer, had organized a social hour after many of us had finished adoring the Eucharist and praying the rosary. I intended to go, as I had thought it would provide an opportunity for me to get to know some of the men from our parish who were on the retreat that I did not know as well. After all, I reasoned, if I am going to be ordained, I may be serving some of these men and their families. En route to the place of the social I stopped by the basement chapel where a group of men-some from St. Francis and some from St. Pat's-were praying for and over one another and each other's needs and intentions. I had prayer intentions as well, so I figured that I would go in and ask for prayer, and I did so. When my turn requesting and receiving the prayers of those assembled was finished, I thought that I would leave their presence and go to the social, indeed I headed for the door...
...But something...someone...stopped me, and I believe that someone was the Holy Spirit. I heard clearly.
"You will not go to the social and have a beer. You will not do so until you have stayed in this place and prayed for, with, and over every one of these men."
I did what I was told by the Holy Spirit, and I was glad that I did. I learned people's needs and intentions and added many to my personal prayer list. Most importantly, I gained a spiritual treasure by gaining the prayer partnership of some very wonderful human beings. As they helped me by their prayers, I pray that I was able to be of some comfort to them with mine, and that I continue to be.
By the time we were finished, I was exhausted, which is why it was so hard for me to stay awake for the Office, but after Deacon Jay and I prayed it I was ready to retire for the night.
A special thank you should be given to Father Joseph Hammond, who allowed me to use the episcopal apartment for the night that night. I didn't request this, it was volunteered. This apartment is part of the rectory and was added for those occasions when the bishop might visit our parish. When Monsignor Garrity was with us, and his late mother came to stay with our parish family, Ms. Sylvia lived in the bishop's quarters. It was comfortable and certainly spacious, although I had no time to enjoy that. I think I got four hours of sleep that night, if that...but it felt like holy deprivation!
I knew the moment that Pope Francis stepped out on the loggia that there was something I really liked about him. I was first struck by the way he appeared on the balcony, and asked that before he imposed the Apostolic Blessing, the people should pray for him. He led people in an Our Father, a Hail Mary, and a Glory Be for him and for Benedict XVI. For awhile he bowed his head in silent prayer-the massive rain-soaked crowd was silent. His entire first appearance to the world was centered on prayer.
Since his election yesterday, I've learned quite a lot about Pope Francis. I've learned that as Archbishop of Buenos Aries, he was offered a permanent post in the Roman Curia by Blessed John Paul II, but he politely and respectfully turned it down. Instead, he remained Archbishop of the Argentine capital, and eschewed the well-appointed episcopal residence for a sparse apartment. He turned down the car and driver which the Archdiocese provided for him and took the bus and the subway instead. One person from Buenos Aries said in a news interview that if you wanted to have an audience with Cardinal Brogolio, you just needed to know which train or bus he was taking. Oh, and in addition to his ecclesiastical duties, he apparently cared for a fellow Jesuit priest with a disability who stayed with him at his little apartment. I identify with the Holy Father, because when I was a single man, I lived in the city and I took the bus everywhere-I had to because of my own disability (the Holy Father obviously identifies with disabled people since he was close friends with and cared for a disabled person).
He apparently turned down his official Vatican car and decided instead to take the bus with the cardinals back to Casa Santa Martha. He took the Vatican's equivalent of a taxi to the Basilica of St. Mary Major this morning, and celebrated the Mass to close the conclave at the Sistine Chapel where he said in his homily “we can build so many things but if we don’t confess Jesus Christ, then something is wrong. We will become a pitiful NGO [non-governmental organization], but not the Church, spouse of Christ.”
In formation, we are taught about the meaning of diakonia, from which we get the word "deacon." That word, in the Greek, means "servant" or "slave." One of the most obvious uses of the word is to be found in Philippians 2:7-8, where we are told that Jesus "emptied himself, taking the form of a servant [diakonia], being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even death on a cross."
In his homily today, Pope Francis talked a lot about the cross and the need for believers to take it up. In fact, he said that to claim Christ but be unwilling to take up his cross doesn't make us believers at all. It has struck me that we talk a lot about diakonia and servanthood, and with good reason, because that is part of the calling of a deacon. In Pope Francis, it seems that we have a living example to the whole world of what diakonia is really all about.
