Homily for the Solemnity of All Saints

Fra Angelico, “The Forerunners of Christ with Saints and Martyrs” (c. 1423-24)

Revelation 7:2-4, 9-14
 1 John 3:1-3
 Matthew 5:1-12a


Today's feast day and holy day of obligation is a reminder to us all just what it is that we are called to be, and where we are called to make our ultimate destination. We know that the Church has quite literally canonized many thousands of Saints whose feasts have found their way into various places on the ecclesiastical calendar. For most of us, in our own time we have had the honor and the pleasure of seeing many great Saints recognized by the Church, and their holiness correctly placed as an example for all of us to follow. Most recently, we have seen the canonization of Saints John XXIII, Paul VI, John Paul II, and John Henry Cardinal Newman. Many of us have seen other great Saints canonized in our lifetimes, and these events have rightly made headlines in both the religious and secular world.


The Church officially declaring someone to be among the Canon of the Saints, however, is merely an official recognition by the church that this person lived a life with and for Jesus Christ and in His companionship and friendship, and as a result of that, the Church can officially declare because of the evidence, that this person is among the saints, they are among the holy who are in Heaven with God.

Not every saint will be canonized, however. The reality is that most will not. The reason for this is because being a saint is not some special dignity conferred upon someone by the Church after they are dead-that's merely a recognition of the obvious. Being a saint of God is what you and I are called to be right now, in this life, among our neighbors in the world today. A life of Holiness-a life of saintliness-is the life of a Christian. The Latin word for saint, sancte, literally translates as "holy," and the early Christians understood that this kind of holiness is what should distinguish all Christians. "Saint" is what they called one another.


In more than one of St Paul's Epistles, he refers to the believers in Christ as "the saints." St Jude, in his General Epistle or Catholic epistle, calls on believers to "earnestly contend for the faith once delivered to the saints." (cf. Jude 1:3) When the Lord spoke to Ananias and told him that Paul was coming to see him, his first reaction was to say "Lord I have heard how much evil he man has done to your Saints at Jerusalem…" (cf. Acts 9:13) in the epistle to the Romans, Paul tells believers to "contribute to the needs of the saints." (cf. Romans 12:13) When Paul is warning fellow Christians against filing lawsuits against each other, he tells them that it is better to go before the saints then before the law of the unrighteous. (1 Corinthians 6:1) He warned the Ephesians against immorality because that is not behavior befitting saints. (cf. Ephesians 6:18) The writer to the Hebrews tells the Christians in Palestine to greet their leaders "and all the saints." (cf. Hebrews 13:24) To the early Christians, being a saint, holy one, wasn't just something that the Church recognized of people after they died-although that absolutely did happen-but being a saint and living as one is something that all Christians are called to be and to do. If the apostles were here with us today, they would refer to us as saints, that is how they referred to their fellow believers.


Pope Saint John Paul II wrote and spoke repeatedly about the universal call to Holiness. That great Pope understood that Holiness is the call of every single Christian, it's not only reserved for a few, and certainly not only for those that the Church has officially recognized for their sanctity. Indeed, those people whose sanctity the Church has officially recognized are simply a sampling of the Holy people that have graced the lives of many through the centuries. Those who the Church recognizes in an official way seem to be a great number to us, but there have been many others who truly lived their lives for the sake of Jesus Christ and the spread of his Gospel message, many people who live the Christian Life in such a way as to be an example to those around them, but who may not be well-known to their local bishop or to the authorities of the Church.


 The book of Revelation refers to the number of the Saints as a number which no man could number, and so even taking into account Jesus' admonition to us that the gate to Heaven is narrow and few will find it, we know from Sacred Scripture itself that many people have made it to Heaven over the centuries whose names are not known to us, but they are saints nonetheless. These people lived out their baptismal call to Holiness as best they understood how to do it, and they lived their lives for Jesus Christ as we are all called to do.


Sainthood is not merely for those who are publicly declared by the church to be Saints, as great an honor as that is, and as much as those who have been so declared certainly deserve it. Sanctity is what we are all called to live as followers of Christ.


 This feast is the feast for all of those people which Sacred Scripture mentions who are part of the Kingdom of God, part of the Church triumphant in Heaven, but we will never find their names on the Church's calendar. In our hearts and minds, we might have some inkling of who some of them are, but none of us are in a position to say that for sure, but God knows each one of them by name, and today we honor them, today is their feast day.


It is a day for all of us as well, a day for us to be reminded of our call to live and be Saints. If we live as a friend of Christ, if we serve Him, if we are living the sacramental life, if we are striving to live out the call of God in this world today, the apostles call us saints. Let this great feast with a reminder to us of our baptismal call to live out the Holiness of Jesus Christ in our every day life.


 Holiness is not just for priests or deacons or bishops, and it's not just for those whose causes are approved by the congregation for the causes of saints, people who were and are holy before God, but can seem distant to us because we fail to see that all of them were recognized because they did exactly what we were called to do. According to their state in life, they lived the call to holiness.


 To quote the late Mother Angelica, "we are all called to be great Saints, don't miss the opportunity!"

On the Anniversary of My Ordination

Today I celebrate the third anniversary of my receiving the Sacrament of Holy Orders as a deacon. As I told one of my confreres the other day at a parish picnic, there is a very real sense in which the day passes as if it is any other day. I have to carry on with the responsibilities of my daily life, and my ministry carries on as well. 

The responsibilities of both ministry and family life are oblivious to the calendar. The next time I assist at the altar during the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass will not be substantially different than it was when I assisted this past weekend. The various formulae for blessing objects and people do not change because I have passed another year in ordained Ministry. There is a very real sense in which I am grateful to God merely to be able to carry on.

I love being a deacon, and I did not love it any less yesterday and did not love it any less on the day I was ordained than I do today. I will love it as much tomorrow and as much next week as I do right now. The one thing I do envy about my brothers who have passed many more years in the ordained service of the Church is that they have the added benefit of greater experience that can only come with time.

I placed my hands in Bishop Stika's hands to promise obedience
(Dan McWilliams/East Tennessee Catholic)

Ontological change happens with the simple act of the Laying On of Hands
(Stephanie Richer/Stephanie Richer Photography)

Just because I understand the reality that the anniversary of my ordination is just another day in both my ministry and my family life does not mean that the significance of the day lost upon me, or than I am attempting to shrug it off. Quite the contrary. There is a reason that those of us who are ordained remember the day that it happened, just as we remember our wedding anniversary. We understand that the day we were ordained we were changed forever.

When we vest, we kiss the cross on our stoles as a reminder of the sacrament and gift of ministry we have received.
(Stephanie Richer/Stephanie Richer Photography)

The change that myself and my brothers experienced that day was an ontological change. We all received a sacrament by means of the laying on of hands, the outward sign of the ontological mark on the soul.

Cardinal Rigali helps me put on my dalmatic, the vestment proper to a deacon, for the first time, along with my wife.
(Stephanie Richer/Stephanie Richer Photography)

The Graces we receive from this sacramental ontological change, however, are Graces which we must be open to and we must accept in order for them to have the effect that they need to have on our lives, our families, and our ministries. I know that I daily must be open to the Graces of God in order for my Ministry to be effective in the lives of the people that I serve.

Receiving the Book of the Gospels from Bishop Stika
(Stephanie Richer/Stephanie Richer Photography)

On the day I was ordained, Bishop Stika said to me (and my classmates): 

“Receive the Gospel of Christ whose herald you have become. Believe what you read, teach what you believe, and practice what you teach.”

I truly love to serve, and I hope that I have many more years to continue to do so. pray for me that God will grant me a double portion of humility, that I may be an effective servant, and a far better reflection of Christ to others.

Come and follow me

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.

Are we really doing that?

Never the same again

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.

Smokewatch 2013 Live!

When I saw that Vatican Television is live streaming the scene in St. Peter's Square, I couldn't help but think that I should insert that here.





Thank you CTV/Vatican Television for providing such an incredibly useful and historic service.

UPDATE: (2:17pm) If you are watching this, you know that HABEMUS PAPAM! We're waiting on the Holy Father's name to be announced.

A special time of prayer for the conclave

As I am writing this, the cardinal-electors are processing from the Pauline Chapel into the Sistine Chapel, and Conclave 2013 is about to begin-they are chanting the Litany of the Saints as they move from one place to the other. The cardinals take their individual oaths to be faithful to the deposit of faith if elected and to keep the secrecy of the Sacred Conclave.

As those in the Diocese of Knoxville may know, Bishop Richard Stika has called for a time of praying the rosary and a period of exposition of the Blessed Sacrament in our parishes today. A lot of parishes, including my own, are having these services of prayer, reflection, and adoration during the day today, and a lot of folks are working today or have other secular business that keeps them away from God's House during this important time for the Church.

This isn't a parish, but a blog. Nonetheless, to allow for those who can't be in a parish for a rosary and holy hour today, we're going to have virtual prayer for the conclave as it begins. Let's begin by invoking the Holy Spirit on the cardinal-electors just like they did for themselves. Right now they are hearing a reflection on the importance of the responsibility God has placed in front of them before they cast that first ballot.




This version of the Veni Sancte Spiritus is from the Taize Community, and it is one of my favorites.


Next, let's pray the rosary for our needs and intentions, those of our families and friends, the intentions of the Church, and for the conclave now sitting behind those chapel doors. I've chosen the Glorious Mysteries since the third Glorious Mystery is the coming of the Holy Spirit on the apostles at the beginning of the Church at Pentecost. We should pray that our new Pontiff might help usher in another Pentecost.


Finally, we'll end with Eucharistic Benediction and devotions. This happens to be the recording of the benediction from this past Sunday at the Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament in Hanceville, Alabama.  The Litany of the Sacred Heart and the prayers have a special focus on the conclave.

A journey through Paul

In deaconate formation, we've had a number of very special instructors who are holy people and who have a heart for the Church, and many of these people have had a deep influence on me personally and on my spiritual growth. I feel it would be wrong to say that I have a favorite, since I believe that each such person has a special gift that they bring to help us in our formation. This month, however, I was moved by a very special instructor and his devotion to the Scriptures, especially to St. Paul.

Father Andreas Hoeck is the Dean of Faculty at St. John Vianney Theological Seminary in the Archdiocese of Denver. His plane was late in arriving because of the weather, which initially turned out to be good for us since members of the formation class had a long-overdue discussion about where we all are in terms of discerning our call. I later told Father Andreas that his uncontrollable tardiness had a purpose for us, and without it we could not have had a much needed time of sharing.

I think I learned more about Paul and his writing this previous weekend then I have ever previously known or been taught, and St. Paul is one of my favorite figures from Scripture and Church history. Father Andreas pointed out, for example, that while we speak of Paul's conversion on the road to Damascus, Paul doesn't seem to speak of it that way. Paul would likely have thought of his experience on the road as a kind of correction from God, and his acceptance of and willingness to preach the Good News of Jesus as a continuation of his being a good Jew. After all if Jesus is the Messiah, Paul would be a poor Jew if he didn't accept that reality if he knew it to be true. Father Andreas also pointed out to us that Paul was very proud of his Israelite heritage-he spent a good part of Romans (Chapter 10 and part of 11) dealing with the issue of the salvation of Israel.

Without dwelling too much on the mystery of it, we also talked about Paul's discussion of the Man of Lawlessness, the Son of Perdition (2 Thess. 2:2-5), commonly called the Antichrist (CCC 675-677), which would have been very alarming to the Greco-Roman audience to which Paul was writing-a society where the law and its protections meant everything.

I think what impressed me most about Father Andreas was the humble and holy way in which he carries himself. He doesn't just teach the Scriptures, he has a real reverence for them and that shows in the way that he presents them. His love for Our Lord comes pouring out of every word of his mouth. His love for the Eucharist shines through when watching the way that celebrates Mass.

We increasingly hear bad news about the Church in the secular (and even sometimes the Catholic) press, but it is when I meet prayerful and zealous clergy like Father Andreas and others that I know that whatever happens, the Church will both survive and thrive because of the prayers and work of holy people who often do God's business in this world in an unassuming and relatively quiet way. Clergy like this not only preach the Good News, they are good news.

Be not afraid

Yesterday was one of those days when I needed the readings that were presented, and I believe the Holy Spirit spoke to me through them in a special way. As you might have figured out by reading my posts, there have times when I have struggled with my own worthiness to be in formation. I have questioned, as I am sure many men have on the road to the deaconate, my own worthiness to be there. There are times when I have thought "I am not as holy as others, Lord, why choose me," or even (in honesty) "I am a cripple, Lord, what can I do to minister to others in your name that brings the Church to them." I have struggled with this at times with a full understanding that no small part of this comes from the devil, who delights at bringing discouragement to us. Even knowing that, however, it helps to be reminded that God's ways are not our ways, and that he doesn't work in the same way that we do, not even remotely-though he often uses human agents to do his work.

I thought of those times I have been discouraged about my own ministry when I heard the readings yesterday, and the thought of God's goodness overwhelmed me nearly to the point of tears as I listened to the vision of the Prophet Isaiah in Isaiah 6:6-8:

Then I said, “Woe is me, I am doomed! For I am a man of unclean lips, living among a people of unclean lips; yet my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!” Then one of the seraphim flew to me, holding an ember that he had taken with tongs from the altar. He touched my mouth with it, and said, “See, now that this has touched your lips, your wickedness is removed, your sin purged.” Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? Who will go for us?” “Here I am,” I said; “send me!”

The real a-ha moment came in the second reading, when St. Paul described his own unworthiness to exercise his special calling as an apostle when, unlike the other apostles, he didn't walk and talk with the Lord when he was personally present, and he persecuted the Church in his zeal, but he told the Corinthians in 1st Corinthians 15:8-11 that God put him in his office entirely because of his mercy and grace:

Last of all, as to one born abnormally, he appeared to me. For I am the least of the apostles, not fit to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me has not been ineffective. Indeed, I have toiled harder than all of them; not I, however, but the grace of God that is with me. Therefore, whether it be I or they, so we preach and so you believed.

At this point, I felt like the Lord was hitting me over the head with a proverbial frying pan, as if to say: "Is this clear enough for you?" He was telling me that his concept of worthiness and mine might be quite different, even as I struggle with whether I am humble enough to be a deacon-but Paul struggled with humility too, and he was an apostle-far more important than I ever want to be. Then there was the Gospel, and the part that struck me was Peter and the Lord's words to him in Luke 5:5-11:

“Master, we have worked hard all night and have caught nothing, but at your command I will lower the nets.” When they had done this, they caught a great number of fish and their nets were tearing. They signaled to their partners in the other boat to come to help them. They came and filled both boats so that the boats were in danger of sinking. When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at the knees of Jesus and said, “Depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man.” For astonishment at the catch of fish they had made seized him and all those with him, and likewise James and John, the sons of Zebedee, who were partners of Simon. Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men.” When they brought their boats to the shore, they left everything and followed him.

In Peter's words I could hear myself saying that very thing to Jesus "depart from me, for I am a sinful man." I could also hear Jesus' words in reply back to me "do not be afraid..." That may have been the most important thing Jesus said to Peter...it might have been the most important thing I heard in the readings yesterday, something that the Lord knew I needed to hear.

I woke up this morning to the news that the Holy Father will resign, effective February 28th. Perhaps that is one of the many reasons why I needed to hear "be not afraid" yesterday, because today my first thought after hearing the news was "Lord, what are we going to do now?" Yes, I know the canonical procedure quite well, I know we'll have a conclave and a new Pope, and the Church will role on. It doesn't make the situation any easier for those of us who love and appreciate Pope Benedict XVI, but I am open to the reality that the Holy Spirit may be doing something new. The Holy Father has, I believe, acted under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, and we should continue to pray that the Holy Spirit guides the Church through this time and that the College of Cardinals meets with the power of the Holy Spirit very active among them under the protection and intercession of Mary, Mother of the Church.


Finally, I have a request for those of you who are regular readers of this blog. As you may be able to see, I've placed a clock on the left hand sidebar of this blog. I'll have more to say about the clock and why it is there in a special entry I am composing for Ash Wednesday, but the clock used in the widget is not my first choice of a clock. There are a couple of other clock widgets I would prefer (one is from Clocklink), and I could insert one of them by incerting the HTML code in the proper place-but blogger has changed its HTML code since I have worked with it, and I can't figure out where in the code the sidebar is located! I need a hand with this. Feel free to e-mail me if you can be of assistance.

A reflection on diakonia via Law and Order

Nicole and I made the choice some time ago that we would not have cable television in our home, largely due to the fact that we got tired of having to pay for channels upon channels worth of spiritual, physical, social, and intellectual poison to come into our home just so that Nicole could watch her favorite cooking programs on the Food Network and I could watch football and baseball on ESPN. The internet allows us to acquire news just as we would with cable TV, and we can watch many of the same programs we like free via the internet. Most importantly of all, to me, is that we resist the temptation to spend all of our free time watching television when we can pray, read, cook, or otherwise enjoy one another's company. Indeed, I find that on most days I wouldn't have much time to watch television in the normal sense anyway. If I want to watch a football game, for example, I know the fire chief doesn't care if I go down to the fire hall to watch that game, and doing so usually means I have a chance to get some other work done aside from just watching sports.

We do have a few favorite television programs we watch via the internet by wiring the computer to the TV so that we can view them when we have the time to do so, as opposed to when they normally come on television. A favorite of Nicole's are the various incarnations of the Law and Order series. Since she happened to have the day off today,  earlier I watched an episode with her of Law and Order: Special Victims Unit which got us both talking and caused me some reflection. The basic plot was that a priest was returning to his "old neighborhood" at Christmastime, and the show began with the priest accepting a homemade Christmas card from a little girl, who turned out to be a young parishioner at a parish where this priest used to be assigned. All of a sudden, a group of boys comes up and bashes the window of the priest's car in and begins to beat the priest. Father is rescued by a homeless man who turns out to be on probation, and since few saw the initial attack, the first part of the episode is spent clearing the name of the homeless man since, when Father came to he confirmed that the man was not his assailant, as other witnesses had alleged, but had rescued him. As the plot evolved, it became clear that the person who was doing the beating was the brother of a girl that the priest had allegedly molested over a decade prior, and in order to formally clear the aforementioned homeless man, the priest was going to have to confirm in court that the homeless man didn't beat him, but that this young man did, and that he knew the young man-and of course it was going to come out how he knew him.

The episode ends with a priest who had been beaten nearly to death being the bad guy, the child molester, the pervert.

We would deceive ourselves not to admit openly that the Church has done its fair share to earn its "bad reputation" in this regard. For years, we know that there were bishops who covered for those who abused children. Often this was based on bad psychological or other advice, but it happened nonetheless. Further, in the Diocese of Knoxville we know the pain of having a very real sexual abuse victim come and call out his abuser, as well he should have. Thankfully, Bishop Stika wasted no time in removing that priest from ministry as soon as the truth was confirmed by the abuser himself.


Near the end of that Law and Order episode, Nicole looked at me and said "somehow, I knew it was going to go in a direction like this." I said "just once, I wish Hollywood would portray the priesthood in a positive light."

As we have known the shock and pain in the Diocese of Knoxville of how sexual abuse can corrupt ministry and do harm to children as well as the Church that seems irreparable, we've also known of at least one member of the clergy-a deacon-who was wrongly accused and who was cleared. I personally know of a religious priest who ministered in another diocese, and who I have known for many years now, who was also falsely accused of sexual abuse and was exonerated. Unfortunately, when this priest was exonerated, the news didn't make the front pages like an allegation of abuse would do...the false allegation will follow him for the rest of his life.


We have gone from one extreme to the other as a Church and as a society. Decades ago, we often put members of the clergy on an unrealistic and other-worldly pedestal, exalting them as somehow holier or better than the people they serve. Now, the bad apples have ruined the barrel, as it were, and we have gone to the other extreme-the clergy are mocked, scorned, portrayed as perverts or worse in the popular media. Many, if not the majority, of people who consume today's American popular media aren't Catholic. They don't know, as we do, that not only are most clergy not abusers of children but that when the scale of the sexual abuse scandal in the Church became known, so many holy clergy were absolutely horrified. 


What has become clear to me, though, is that Jesus' warning about those who proclaim his message being persecuted for the sake of his Name seems to be something that could be very real in America in the near future. I'm not under any illusion that life as a deacon will be a cup of good Irish Breakfast tea. I have often told my brother Aspirants (as well as Deacon Tim) that one of my favorite Scripture passages is Philippians 2:6:11, which is the normal canticle for First Vespers of Sunday "he emptied himself, taking the form of a slave (diakonia)." I sometimes may write here of the trials-the headaches, really-of formation...but that is a real part of the formation process. I have to learn how to empty myself, and take the form of diakonia.


UPDATE 11:50 pm: Nicole pointed out to me that the very end of that Law and Order episode I was talking about took place while I was letting the dogs out and that I didn't see the very end. Turns out the priest who was beaten was not the molestor-that person was the Monsignor he worked with and the beaten priest was the Monsignor's confessor. The little girl who gave the beaten priest a Christmas card was, it turns out, the man's daughter as the result of an affair. The latter priest was visiting and taking an interest in a little girl that he knew (but she did not know) to be his daughter.

Knowing that, I have to be fair to the show's producers in making this correction, and the sense of responsibility the priest felt for his daughter does give the end story some redeeming value. However, I still think the storyline reflects poorly on the priesthood, and I still think it a shame that there are so few shows that portray the priesthood positively. Remember Father Dowling Mysteries?  Just my thoughts...I do have to wonder, are there men out there that would respond to a call to priesthood if it were not for the extremely negative stigma now attached to it?

The Holy Innocents

Lullay, Thou little tiny Child, 
By, by, lully, lullay. Lullay, 
Thou little tiny Child. 
By, by, lully, lullay.


 O sisters, too, how may we do,
 For to preserve this day; 
This poor Youngling for whom we sing, 
By, by, lully, lullay. 


Herod the King, in his raging, 
Charged he hath this day; 
His men of might, in his own sight, 
All children young, to slay. 


Then woe is me, poor Child, for Thee,
 And ever mourn and say;
 For Thy parting, neither say nor sing, 
By, by, lully, lullay.


Today the Church remembers some of the most innocent blood ever shed, the blood of little babies who were killed by the order of King Herod the Great when he, on hearing of the birth of the Messiah, became fearful and jealous for his own power. Herod's reaction was to have every newborn boy in the vicinity of Bethlehem killed by his own soldiers, because to his reckoning any of those little boys could have been the Christ. Herod sacrificed the blood of innocent children in order that he might save his own political fortunes. In this way, Herod wasn't unlike some of our so-called "leaders" today who think it good political policy to allow for the massacre of the unborn in the name of "choice." Some of these same leaders then wonder why our society has become so prone-and in such a deadly way-to violence, especially violence aimed at children (sometimes coming, God help us, even from other children).


Some historians and archaeologists question the Scriptural account of the massacre of the Innocents, but the Roman historian and politician Macrobius records it in his Saturnalia, saying that Herod had ordered a massacre of Jews two years old and younger, and that Herod had also, as part of this order, ordered that one of his sons also be killed (apparently because he was a threat to Herod). Upon hearing this, Macrobius records that Octavian Augustus said that "it is better to be Herod's pig than his son."


It is especially apt today to pray for children who have died or who are suffering as victims of abortion, war, famine, abuse, or needless disease. Today is especially a memorial and a remembrance for them.

Matthew 2:13-18:


When the magi had departed, behold,
   the angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said,
   “Rise, take the child and his mother, flee to Egypt,
   and stay there until I tell you.
Herod is going to search for the child to destroy him.”
Joseph rose and took the child and his mother by night
   and departed for Egypt.
He stayed there until the death of Herod,
   that what the Lord had said through the prophet might be fulfilled,
   Out of Egypt I called my son.

When Herod realized that he had been deceived by the magi,
   he became furious.
He ordered the massacre of all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity
   two years old and under,
   in accordance with the time he had ascertained from the magi.
Then was fulfilled what had been said through Jeremiah the prophet:

   A voice was heard in Ramah,
      sobbing and loud lamentation;
   Rachel weeping for her children,
      and she would not be consoled,
      since they were no more.





 This version of The Coventry Carol is sung by the choir of the Cathedral of the Most Precious Blood, commonly called Westminster Cathedral, which is the seat of the Catholic Archdiocese of Westminster in England.

The Feast of Stephen

It is no accident that the feast of the very first martyr for the faith falls on the day after we begin to celebrate the Lord's birth. For deacons-and for those of us who are Aspirants to the deaconate-it is a most significant feast because it celebrates the martyrdom of one of the first deacons-Stephen-who was stoned to death for preaching in Jesus' name.

Stephen was not afraid to meet death for the sake of the Holy Name, and the freedom to preach in Jesus' name. We live in a country where we have enjoyed that freedom for many decades and, by and large, been able to take it for granted. In other parts of the world, especially in places like the Khartoum region of Sudan, or in parts of Nigeria, or in Indonesia, or North Korea, churches are burned, Christians  are hunted down, many are forced underground, a great many are killed for the sake of Jesus' name. We read the account of Stephen's stoning-it is the first reading at Mass today, and the lengthier reading of the account can be found in the Office of Readings for today-and we laud the great martyrdom and heroism of Stephen and we might speak of his willingness to give everything for Christ, even his very life. The reality, though, is that we are called to the same spirit of sacrifice for the sake of Christ-even unto our life. We may never have to give our life, as Stephen did, but it is a legitimate question: Are we willing to, because Jesus himself said we might have to (cf. Matthew 24:9-10). On most days of the year, the Church commemorates a saint who died that day, and very often is this notation next to that person's name "____, martyr." The word martyr means "witness."

Stephen was a great witness for the faith in its earliest days. His witness causes me to ponder...am I a great witness, how can I be a better witness?

_________________________________________________

Nicole got me the most awesome Christmas present. It was the New Testament of the Ignatius Catholic Study Bible. The notes and commentaries in it are extensive and excellent-they are written by Dr. Scott Hahn and Curtis Mitch. I find myself reading some passage of scripture and then getting some insight from the notes that then causes me to cross reference some other passage where I will then find more information. My only problem with it seems to be that I spend so much time buried in it that I have to remind myself to finish the assigned reading for formation this coming month!

I'm not in formation to play dress-up

After our extended thoughts yesterday in defense of the Order of the Diaconate as a permanent order of the Church in response to a post of an e-mail by Deacon Greg Kandra from a priest in the Diocese of Lincoln about said priest's rather negative feelings about the diaconate, I got to exploring some deacon-related posts on Deacon Greg's blog as well as the highly potent thoughts of Father John Zuhlsdorf from some two years ago on the idea of permanent deacons sporting the Roman collar since-by virtue of their ordination-deacons are and will forever be clergy.  Some, like Deacon Greg and, it would seem, Father Z., have come to the conclusion that it is alright to do so. In a very raw and literal sense, I also have reached the notion that there is nothing illicit about deacons wearing the collar since deacons are clergy. In many dioceses, it is allowed for deacons to wear the collar, and in some it is not because the bishop does not want to confuse deacons and priests. Father Zuhlsdorf thinks such bishops may be acting silly, since un-ordained seminarians are encouraged and often expected to wear clerical dress, but a fully ordained and functioning deacon can't wear the collar...

I get and respect this point. If I am-by God's grace-ordained-I'll probably keep a set of clericals around should the bishop permit it. I think they are appropriate for certain special occasions. However, just because someone has been given the privilege and authority of wearing a Roman collar by virtue of their ordination or station in the Church doesn't mean that it is either always or normally appropriate, either. After seeing some of these posts and some of the comments about collar-wearing, I am actually quite disturbed by the militancy of some of these folks-I'll call them "collar people"-about deacons wearing a Roman collar. It made me wonder if some of these folks went through formation just so they can go around and say "look, I'm married, and I get to wear a Roman collar!" I didn't enter formation to wear collars, let alone to concern myself with whether the bishop would allow me to wear one. If a blacksuit and collar are your big obsession (One commenter even said deacons could/should be able to wear black biretta-I like birettas, I think they are really cool actually, but seriously...this is how some of you see your ministry?) It begs the question whether you entered formation for the diaconate for the right reasons in the first place.

After reading some of these various posts, I put the question of appropriateness of the collar to my spiritual director, I wanted his input from experience. He said that he had an issue in seminary with the seminarians wearing cassocks and collars because Joe Catholic on the street sees collar and says "priest!" I shared with him that I hung out for a few drinks with seminarians from time to time when I lived in Cincinnati as part of my role in the K of C in those days, and in that heavily Catholic area, priests do get stopped on the street and asked to hear confessions-I've stopped priests begging for Reconciliation myself. It puts a deacon in a very awkward situation to have to explain that he can't do that-better to avoid the problem altogether when possible.

The militancy of some of the collar people put me in mind of this post in which an Aspirant in formation somewhere complains that he is "bored to tears" because he knows more than most of the class, and he writes this bombshell:

I am currently in formation for the permanent diaconate.  I have often thought in the back of my mind that, at some point in the not-so-distant future, the door will open wider for a married priesthood in the Latin Rite, with permanent deacons an obvious source of potential candidates.  This post made me realize that I’m probably wrong.

[Note: He was referring to a different post he'd seen]


So this fellow thought that somehow Rome was going to allow married priests wholesale, and he wants in on the action? Talk about a wrong reason for being in formation...This is likely the kind of person who has scandalized that priest in Lincoln I talked about from Deacon Greg Kendra's blog yesterday.

I'm not sure this fellow gets it. Even I don't completely "get it" yet, that is what formation is for...discernment. It is all about understanding God's call to ministry, and the Holy Spirit's call for your life. It is not about what you know or don't know, it is about letting the Holy Spirit take you to school. It isn't about putting on a Roman collar or not, it is about putting on the whole armor of God. It is not about "will I get to preach or not," but it is being able to help when that child or that layperson comes to you as they did to Christ and says "teach us how to pray." It isn't about you...it is about the people God is sending you to.

April formation thoughts

I have to confess that I am going to miss His Excellency Bishop Joseph Martino. Admittedly, this is partly due to the reality that he has dealt largely in a subject that I love (history) and in a subset of that subject which could prove invaluable to any future teaching ministry I may have as a deacon-Church History. I have thoroughly enjoyed the last two months, and I have soaked it all up like a sponge. I left wanting more, and was pleased to learn that when the time comes for our teaching set on Ecumenism, that Bishop Martino will return to instruct us further.

We were also told quite a bit more about what next year's schedule would be like. Sister Mary Timothea Elliott, RSM will return-this time for what I am certain will be a spiritual extravaganza in two parts on the Old Testament. If Sister Timothea's teaching on the Old Testament is anything like her incredible knowledge and devotion to the Psalms, I won't want that to end, either, like I didn't want Sister's teachings on the Psalms and the Liturgy of the Hours to end-I left that weekend hungry and wanting more in a big way.

If there was one thing that I could say that I found disappointing about this past formation weekend, it was learning the news that after a great deal of anticipation, we won't be required to do pastoral work over the summer after all. This is because Deacon Tim Elliott, our Director of Deacons, was not able to land firm assignments for everyone. Initially, this news was greeted with the typical alleluias one would expect by virtually the entire class. However, almost immediately after hearing the announcement and even saying an alleluia or two myself, I became quite disappointed as I began to reflect on the fact that I wouldn't have a summer assignment. I spent some time in advance of class reflecting on what my assignment might be and how I would carry that assignment out with a mixture of excitement and what I might call "holy concern." In the end, not having a firm assignment left me feeling something of a void.

I was pleased that we are being given something of a summer option: If we can come up with appropriate pastoral work by means of our own initiative, perform that work 10-15 hours per month, and then be able to write a short description of the work we did, we will still receive credit for that pastoral work. If we are able to take this option, we are also free to take a future formation summer off of our choosing. I'm going to try and coordinate with the deacons, lay ministers, and pastor of my parish to see if there is any pastoral work that I might be able to undertake this summer (other than attempting to learn some passable Spanish, which seems to be an increasing necessity both in our parish and our diocese).

The first full weekend of May will be our final formation weekend of this academic year, and it will be taught by several of the current active Deacons of the Diocese of Knoxville, including my Spiritual Director Deacon Patrick Murphy-Racey. The topic: The Ministry of the Deacon.

Formation Weekend

Today I depart for Lenoir City for another weekend of formation, this one the final of two with His Excellency Bishop Joseph Martino, Emeritus of Scranton. It is regrettable, because if this month is anything like last month, I will greatly miss Bishop Martino and find myself hungering for more of his teaching on Church History. I really admire the holy commitment of this man to orthodoxy, and a willingness to stand up for, promote, and advocate for orthodoxy and for what we might call the Church's "big T" Traditional teachings.

Thanks to Scott Maentz for this great picture of Bishop Martino.

My allergies are really going haywire this week, so I really hope I can get to feeling a bit better through the weekend.



I am told that we may learn some more this weekend about what our summer service assignments will be. I am looking forward to mine, whatever it is, but I am a little nervous. I have no idea what it will be and I hope that whatever it is, the logistics work out. Then again, so far on this journey, the Lord has provided a way every time, and I know He will yet again.

Church History (Holy Thursday)

It has been awhile-over a month, since I have posted to this blog, and for that I apologize to those off you who are taking the time to read it. I've had a busy month, however, and with Holy Week (Holy Thursday) now having arrived, I think it prudent to share a little bit about what our formation weekend in March was like.

I was very much concerned when class began on Friday evening after we had originally been told that we might have a pop quiz, because Bishop Martino (by his own admission) talks quickly, but this isn't only a matter of habit-I think in his mind he had a good reason to move at a relatively brisk pace through the material. Not only was he being recorded, but he was also merciful enough to us to present us with two very good outlines-one for this past month and one for our session upcoming-of the material we would be covering. Deacon Tim Elliott, our Director of Deacons, told me not to worry about a pop quiz, but to listen to Bishop Martino...for this, I was much relieved.

Since I am admittedly a history nerd, I enjoyed the material greatly, and I just ate up getting a hold of new material that I hadn't previously been familiar with before (and getting a new spin on some things that I already knew. The most impressive and enjoyable thing about the entire weekends, however, was Bishop Martino himself. I was pleased to be able to sit near him (as were the rest of the fellas in the front row) during one of our breaks when His Excellency shared some of his experiences in ministry with us, including his belief-one that I share-that we need to do a better job keeping the interest of catechumens and potential candidates, as we often lose them in waiting for RCIA to begin as much as we might after the process is over. Of course the Obama Administration's ungodly HHS mandate on Catholic institutions was also a matter of discussion, with Bishop Martino saying that he believes we could be entering a time of persecution, or at least a time when it won't be a very popular thing to be a faithful Catholic.

The thing that most exuded from the way His Excellency carries himself is what I would call holiness in humility. He seems grateful that the Holy Spirit chose him for the ministry that he has, he blesses others by the exercise of that ministry, and is a good example of how someone who has been gifted with Holy Orders should be gift to others-in retirement, he is ministering to us in imparting knowledge as well as wisdom to us.

I really look forward to our next session with His Excellency this coming weekend.

I am praying for all of you who read, and all of my Brother Aspirants as I pray the Liturgy of the Hours each day. May you have a Blessed Paschal Triduum.

Church History and real support

I'm really excited about this month's deaconate formation. It will focus on a topic that has always been a personal favorite and a fascination of mine-Church history.

Our instructor is His Excellency Bishop Joseph Martino, the Bishop Emeritus of Scranton, Pennsylvania.

Since I learned last month that we would have a retired bishop come to instruct us, I've read up a bit on His Excellency. If any of the things I've read are even remotely true, then this man of God strikes me as a man of great zeal for the Church, as as a soldier of the Truth. I am eager to sit under his instruction, and I am wondering if this is going to be one of those classes where two months of this won't be enough to do anything but whet my appetite and I am going to be begging for more.

I want to thank everyone for their continued prayers, and again put in a good word for my wife, who has not only been extraordinarily patient with me throughout the discernment process, but she is eager to help. She enjoys our deanery workshops greatly, and afterwords has a lot to say to me. Nicole is often known for her very quiet demeanor-she doesn't stand out much, and tends to speak only when she has something she thinks is greatly important to say (yes, Brother Aspirants, that makes her my polar opposite!), but just as I couldn't continue in the program without the support of Steve Helmbrecht and Don Griffith, my fellow Aspirants here in the Five Rivers Deanery who are from St. Mary's in Johnson City who have made sure I make it to class, I would be even less able to do this without my wife.

We all know we need our wives' permission to enter deaconate formation and to continue in it. I have come to understand why that is in spades over the last seven months. Thank you sweetheart for accepting God's call for me, and for believing in me.