Homily for the 3rd Sunday of Easter

Acts 5:27-32;1:40-41

Revelation 5:11-14

John 21:1-19

Our readings today speak to us of the authority of Jesus Christ as Son of God and Risen Lord, and the authority he gave his apostles and His Church to teach in his name and pass down what He taught them. This authority, of course, is still with us in the Church today. While the Successor of Peter and the other Successors of the Apostles still have the authority given to them by Jesus Christ and they are the most obvious outward human expression of the Church's spiritual and temporal authority, these Scriptures have a message for every one of us about our duty to spread the Gospel. It isn't the duty of the clergy to spread the Gospel (the Good News of Jesus Christ), it is the duty of every believer.

In our first reading from the Acts of the Apostles, Peter and some of the other disciples were placed before the Sanhedrin, the Jewish temple Council that administered not only the Temple, but the Jewish law during that time period. Peter would have been well aware of the reality that sitting on that very Council would have been some of the men who took the decision to put Jesus himself to death. They didn't want to hear anything else about the Nazarene, and they certainly didn't want to hear that they were responsible for his death, let alone that he had risen from the dead. They tried telling the apostles not to teach in the name of Jesus, Acts tells us that they didn't arrest the apostles at first because they were afraid of the reaction of the people. The followers of Jesus were already growing in number, so it begs the question: Why were they growing in number when the persecution of believers was real? Because those early followers of Jesus were not afraid to spread the message, and it wasn't just Peter and the 12, it was the whole Christian community. Very early in the life of the Church, who's first believers understood exactly what the words of Jesus meant when he said go into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature, and they set about doing exactly that, and they weren't afraid to tell the world exactly who Jesus was. The world didn't always want to follow in return, in fact most of the time they didn't want to do that at all, just as they don't today. The world has other priorities that usually have little to do with the things of God, but in the early Church those first Christians made God the priority and they wanted to spread the Gospel everywhere, and they understood the risks they were taking to do it.

It wasn't just the Apostles or the notables among the early followers of The Way (that's what the very first Christians called themselves, followers of The Way) who concerned themselves with the responsibility of bringing the message of the good news of Jesus to the world, every believer concerned themselves with spreading the Good News, and indeed that is what the Church teaches us, spreading the Gospel doesn't just happen here in church, it happens every day when we are going about our lives, and it's our responsibility to spread the message, firstly and most importantly by the lives we lead.

Today's Gospel gives us one of the most important post Resurrection appearances of Jesus. Peter and some of the other disciples went fishing and Jesus was waiting for them on the shore, John tells Peter that it's the Lord after the man on the shore tells them to throw the net on the right side of the boat and they would find fish. Not only did they catch fish but Scripture gives us a number, it says that they caught 153 large fish. One commentary I've read about this passage said that during this time period, the known number of kinds or breeds of fish was 153. I've never been able to verify that, but if there is any truth to that, it tells us something remarkable about what Jesus is trying to illustrate in this whole incident. He's trying to show his fishers of men that the whole world is welcome to be a part of his body if they choose. The Gospel also tells us that this is the third time Jesus showed himself to the disciples after he had risen from the dead.

St. Peter, we know from the accounts of the Passion, three times denied Jesus on the night before He was crucified. Here, Jesus asked him three times "do you love me" and when Peter responds in the affirmative the first two times he says "feed my lambs,"and "tend my sheep," but the last time the response of the Lord was "feed my sheep." We often think of this passage as representative of the Lord's charge to Peter after he had risen from the dead, and that interpretation isn't wrong, but there's more to it than that. The question that Jesus asks Peter is one that he is asking all of us today. When Jesus asked Peter the question first, he asked him "Do you love me more than these?" What this means in the most literal and obvious sense is "do you love me more than you love the things of this world, or the esteem of others?" After Jesus died and rose, we can see in today's Gospel that initially Peter went back to his family business of running a fishing boat on the Sea of Galilee. There's nothing inherently wrong with that, of course, followers of Christ have to find a way to support themselves like everyone else, indeed St. Paul chided some of the early believers for using their faith and their love of the spiritual life in Christ as an excuse not to work or go about the business of their daily living when he told the Thessalonians "if any will not work, neither let him eat," but Jesus was calling Peter to something more, to abandon attachment to the things of the world for the sake of spreading the Gospel. In the same Gospel passage Jesus is calling all of us, as disciples and followers of His, to abandon an unhealthy attachment to worldly things, because we are all supposed to be witnesses to the Gospel and spread the message, something that it's very hard to do if we're worried about the way the world looks at us. 

Jesus' request to Peter is "feed my sheep," and there is a very real way in which this request applies to us. One cannot help but be drawn to our First Communicants last week. They are early in their journey of Faith, but we hope that we will be able to be an encouragement to them, whether we are a deacon or priest, or a catechist or helper, or just a parishioner that encourages the children to pray. Jesus told us that if we harm the faith of his little ones, it would be better for us if a millstone were tied around our neck and we were thrown into the sea. Whether it's the children just beginning their journey of Faith, supporting a new Catholic or someone showing an interest in the faith, or simply encouraging a fellow parishioner or visiting or calling a fellow parishioner who perhaps we haven't heard from in a while… We are all called to play a role in feeding the Lord's sheep and keeping the pasture well kept. 

Jesus is asking us "do you love me more than these?" He is asking all of us if we love him unto death, just as he loved us so much that he gave his life for us. We are all faced with having to answer the Lord's question. What answer shall we give him?

Homily for the Third Sunday of Easter

Acts 2:14, 22-33
1 Peter 1:17-21
Luke 24:13-35

Today's Gospel is perhaps one of the most consequential in the New Testament aside from the 6th chapter of John. In this Gospel, we see two disciples of Jesus walking along the road to a town called Emmaus, moving away from Jerusalem. they were not aware that Jesus had risen from the dead, but they knew that Mary Magdalene and her companion had claimed to see Jesus alive. It wasn't something they were quite yet willing to believe, and alongside them on the road comes Jesus, and the Gospel account tells us that at first they did not recognize Him.


He asks them what they are talking about, and they want to know if he's the only person visiting Jerusalem that has no idea what's been going on there over the last week. So they proceeded to explain to Jesus about Himself, and they are going on about what had happened during Holy Week, and Jesus's response to this was to give them perhaps one of the greatest homilies ever conceived. We get a portion of it, but we know that it moved these men, because when they get to Emmaus to the lodging where they had planned to stay for the night, they invited Jesus to come in with them.


They still hadn't figured out who this man was, but they knew that there was something different about Him and the message that he was bringing to them, because rather than dreading what had happened over the last week, he had a message of hope, a message that told them they could trust that Jesus was the Messiah because he had to undergo the sufferings that he did. We are told that he opened the Scriptures to them, and that certainly let us in on the reality that we do not get in on all of this teachable moment, but we do get it a few critical bits and pieces.


These disciples invite the man that they do not realize is Jesus in to have supper and to stay with them, they extend hospitality to Him, a man who they believe to be a stranger at that point, so they are behaving in the way that disciples of Christ ideally ought to behave. Jesus doubtless saw the intent of their hearts when he went in with those men to that inn.


When I was growing up, if we had a dinner guest it was the custom in our home to ask the guest to say the Grace over the meal, and this was especially true if we knew that dinner guest to be a believer. It seems that our travelers were following that custom. When did the two disciples figure out that it was Jesus? When, and more importantly how, did Jesus make himself known? They recognized him, we are told, in the breaking of the Bread. This was a Eucharistic moment, and so it was in the Eucharist that these followers of Jesus recognized Him. After recognizing Jesus in the Eucharist, then these two disciples run back to tell the Apostles that they have seen the Lord themselves.


If we look at the whole incident as it is recounted in Scripture, we can even see a very rudimentary sketch, as it were, of the two major parts of the Liturgy. Jesus opens the Scriptures to these men, we are told that their hearts burned within them when he opened the Word of God to them. After doing this, Jesus made himself known to them in a Eucharistic way when they were at table, and so we can see the Liturgy of the Eucharist represented as well.


Their hearts burned within them when Jesus opened the Scriptures to them, and then they recognized Him in the breaking of the bread, and then he vanished from their sight.


Do our hearts burn within us when the Sacred Scriptures are open to us and we hear them? Do we yearn for the Word of God? Do we read Sacred Scriptures regularly, or is the Sunday Lectionary the only time we get a glimpse of it, and then because we hear it from others without having read it ourselves?


When Jesus spoke to the travelers on the road to Emmaus, he was able to open up the Scriptures to them because they were familiar with these passages, as most observant Jews and that day would have been, mostly because they would have heard them repeated in the Temple or the synagogue, and their parents likely would have known these Scriptures by oral tradition, at least. Are we as familiar with it that the Holy Spirit could open up the Scriptures to us and speak to our hearts when we read them, just as Jesus spoke to the hearts of those travelers on the road?


This passage tells us that the disciples on the road to Emmaus recognize Jesus in the breaking of the bread, they recognized Jesus in the Eucharist. The question that we all must ask ourselves is… Do we recognize Jesus in the breaking of the bread, do we recognize Him in the Eucharist?


If we believe that Jesus Christ is truly, corporeally, and substantially present in the Most Blessed Sacrament of the Altar, are we preparing ourselves to meet Christ personally when we come to the house of God for the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass? If we believe that Jesus Christ is truly and substantially present in the Eucharist, can we recognize Him here? Can we see him not only in our brothers and sisters, but also in the breaking of the bread as those disciples on the road to Emmaus did?


If we do understand and recognize that Jesus Christ is present in the Most Holy Eucharist- Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity - do we grasp that this is the Second Person of the Trinity, that Jesus is God? If we do profess and believe and understand this, and we recognize the Lord Jesus in the breaking of the bread, as our disciples on the road to Emmaus did, do we treat Jesus as God when we receive Holy Communion? We all should prepare spiritually for Mass so that we can recognize the Lord. Beyond that, however, none of us should rush though the Communion line. If we receive the Lord Jesus in the hand, we should hold our hands completely open until we are presented with the Eucharist. If we receive on the tongue, we should open our mouths completely to allow the Lord to enter in.


No one should ever be afraid to take the time necessary to give the Lord His due in the prayer that is the Mass, and whatever we do, unless there is an urgency-such as dealing with babies or very young children, or an emergency- we shouldn't leave before the proper conclusion of the Mass. If we believe that Jesus is present in the Most Blessed Sacrament, we can certainly give Him an hour of our time. He gave His life for us… It's the least we can do.




Note: This is the homily I would have delivered at Holy Trinity this weekend if public Mass had been held. As public Masses are not being held in the Diocese of Knoxville at present due to COVID-19, our priests and deacons are sharing their homilies/sermons via electronic means of various kinds. A copy of the same homily can also be found on our parish website.

The Tomb Is Still Empty

As I write this, we have just last week completed the most bizarre and unusual Holy Week I have ever experienced, and I would venture to say that most Christians-and certainly most practicing Catholics-have ever experienced. While many of us have taken to a prayerful recollection of the Holy Week events, I know that many others continue to question why public Masses are presently prorogued while entire communities of people can be found at the local grocery store or Walmart. I know that seems to be the appearance in rural East Tennessee where I live. Social media gives the impression that there are many Catholics and other Christian people who are frustrated at the present state of affairs. 

I know that my heart particularly goes out to those people who have been preparing to be received into the Church this Easter and whose formal welcome to our Catholic ranks is being unceremoniously delayed by COVID-19. My prayers are with them, especially because most people who are in a situation of delay in receiving the Sacraments of Initiation have some idea of when it is that they will be received into the Church, but this year, the "Tiber Swim Team" doesn't know with certainty the day of the meet.

Despite the uncertainty and unease in which the present situation places our local and universal ecclesiastical affairs, one thing that we absolutely must remember is that God is in control. We may not know with certainty when the present crisis will end and when the quarantine measures will be relaxed in such a way that we can return to some modicum of normality, especially within the life of the Church. We can, however, say with certainty that these days have been given to us in accordance with God's will and we can use them for our sanctification.

We can choose to sulk about the fact that we have not been able to fully engage in the life of the Church, or we can use this time to more fully appreciate the spiritual gifts that we have and that the whole Church has, and hopefully we will return to a more complete sacramental life without taking these things for granted.

One thing we absolutely must remember is that Jesus Christ has died and is truly Risen. We can have absolute confidence that the Lord is Risen and that He will one day return to us as He said He would. The tomb is empty and the Church is still here.

Very often I think that too many Catholics take their access to the Sacraments for granted, and perhaps I myself have been guilty of this at various points in my life and spiritual journey. There are some who only come on Christmas and Easter. This year they couldn't come on Easter. There are many who simply come whenever they feel like it, not respecting the command of God to keep Holy the Lord's Day every week, but they might cut out on Mass when their favorite sports or recreation are happening and they want to be a part of that instead, people just don't have time for the things of God. I've even met a few folks who will readily admit that they quit observing the faith and coming to Mass because they have somehow been scandalized by their pastor or their Bishop, or other leadership within the Church. Friends, our pastors and our Bishops have a great deal of authority in the Church under God, but at the Resurrection on the Last Day they will not be our judges. We will be judged based on how we fulfilled God's commands in loving God and neighbor with humility and with an obedient spirit. Some of us understand that this is a daily struggle for ourselves and others.

It bears noting, however, that God does tend to use ordinary life events to get our attention, and perhaps we should listen more closely to hear God in the events of the present pandemic and all of the situations which are connected to it and surround it. So many of the things which we value as a society have been taken from us by the pandemic, and some of these things people tend to place ahead of the things of God. 

A microscopic virus is the tool that is showing us what it is that we worship. So many are concerned because the economy is collapsing beneath the weight of this pandemic. Rather than put money, monetary policy and economics in their proper place at the service of humanity, too many people worship money and economic gain, and we are concerned because that money and those gains are being severely tested, and many in society are panicking over the results.

Rather than put sports in their proper place as a gift from God for the service of human rest, exercise, and leisure, we often worship athletes and the sports they play. Now we can't attend any sporting events, and there are nothing but old replays to watch on the internet or on television.

These are terrible side effects of this horrible disease, but God can use them as a way to cause us to reflect on what's really important.

I've seen lots of people on social media and in person talk about slights to religious liberty in the midst of all this closure. There have been so many who did not use their religious liberty to observe the faith, and now they can't observe the faith in a public gathering.

The tomb is empty, and we need to make sure that our hearts are not. 

The Diocese of Las Cruces, New Mexico is the first diocese in the country to resume the public celebration of the Mass, and they do so under some very strict and special restrictions from their Bishop. As we eventually return, may we always remember that we are there because of the Risen Christ. Let us pray for the souls of all who have died and all of those affected by COVID-19, and may we never take the Sacraments for granted again.

The Gift of Holy Orders

A few days ago, I received a card in the mail from our Director of Deacons here in the Diocese of Knoxville, Deacon Tim Elliott. It was clearly sent to all of us who are commemorating the anniversary of our ordinations this month, but the artwork or iconography on the front of the card spoke to my heart and spirit in a particular way.

It is Christ washing the feet of the Apostles, and in this particular case it reminds me of a homily that I delivered on Holy Thursday, one in which I explained the particular significance of the washing of the feet in the ancient Near East. I also expounded upon the reality that this particular act by Jesus to his disciples was an especially overt diaconal act, a sign of servitude, humility, and abiding service in love.

I know that many of my brothers will be celebrating the anniversary of their ordinations this month, whether in this diocese or other parts of the country. I often wonder how many of us take the time to stop and reflect on what this has meant to our lives, and what the sacramental grace of ordination has brought to our faith life and our service to others. 

Several weeks back I showed up for a Saturday evening Vigil Mass in just enough time to vest. I had not been scheduled to serve that evening, but for some reason I just took to the notion that I needed to go into the sacristy and get vested for Mass. 

When I arrived at the church I saw Father Patrick and two of my brother deacons already vested. Father has an "open Sacristy door" policy, wherein any of his deacons may assist any Mass being celebrated, whether we are scheduled or not. Father Patrick does not mind having two or three or more deacons in the sanctuary during Mass. However, as far as I knew I was the only one who took advantage of this policy regularly, primarily because I personally find that I receive a great many Graces in my own spiritual life when I serve at the altar with frequency. 

When I noticed that two of our three other deacons were already in the Sacristy, the first thought that occurred to me (that I initially had left unspoken) was "I thought I was the only one who regularly did this..." Father Patrick spoke up and announced that he had a cold and he had asked for the help of at least one other deacon. I explained that I did not want to disturb or be in the way, but I just had it on my mind to serve that evening. He said that I certainly had time to vest and should know that I would always be more than welcome, especially under the circumstances. Brother Deacon Jack Raymond helped me to get vested, and I went on to assist the Mass.

Before we left the Sacristy to proceed down the aisle for the Mass to begin, Father Patrick said a prayer, which he began "Lord, we thank you for the gift of Holy Orders!"

That is what we have truly received from the Lord, a gift, and a very special one. I will reflect on my own ordination a little closer to the time that it happened, but I want to say thank you to every deacon and every priest (for they are also deacons) that I know. Thank you for answering the Lord's call, thank you for devoting yourselves in service to the Lord's Church, thank you for your service to the people of God, especially to the poor. Thank you to your wives (those who are married) for saying yes to your yes and understanding your call, and your families for the sacrifice that they make.

Most of all, thank you for the example that you have been to me in my own ministry. Thank you for your love of God and the Church. As you all celebrate and remember the ministry that God has given you in the sacrament of Holy Orders, know that I am praying for you that you will have many joyous years of service. 

Return to This Blog

It has been 6 years since I have posted on this blog. The chief reason why I have not is because I was asked to take over the official blog of the Diocese of Knoxville to celebrate its 25th anniversary, Life At 25.

I greatly enjoyed that work, and I enjoyed sharing my thoughts with a wider audience, but at the time I did not have the time or the energy to run two active blogs. In March of 2015 my daughter Riley was born. As you can imagine, she has taken up much of the time that I had previously devoted to write.

I was ordained a deacon for the Diocese of Knoxville in 2016, and assigned to the parish of Holy Trinity in Jefferson City.


As time has passed, it has become clear to me that I still don't have time to maintain two blogs, and the original purpose for the diocesan blog I was helping to maintain long ago passed. We just celebrated 30 years as a diocese.

I was extremely proud to do the work, but I think that the diocese is ready to move on from the blog business. The blogs are still on the website and I still have the ability to post to it but there's no direct link to the blogs that were there before.

Posting on my own personal blog again allows me to deliver my homilies to you, but also to post more personal content, which isn't always appropriate for the diocesan website.

It's good to be back. I hope you'll join me on this journey of faith!

Projects and praise

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.

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.

He is Risen!

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.





Genesis 22:1-18:

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."

Exodus 14:15-15:1:

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.


Isaiah 54:5-14:

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.


Isaiah 55:1-11:

 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.


Baruch 3:9-15, 32-4:4:

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!


Ezekiel 36:16 (17a)-28:

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.


Romans 6:3-11:

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.


Luke 24:1-12:



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.

Holy Thursday Chrism Mass reflection

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.

New Catholics will need hellos and examples of holiness

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."

A glipse of the life of the deacon

It is hard to believe that this weekend was our final formation weekend of the academic year. We won't quite be done just yet even after this weekend, as we'll still have our May deanery workshops to attend. I'm still actively hunting something that would serve as an acceptable summer assignment, but it is possible I might have at least successfully baited the hook in that regard. As it turns out, our parish Director of Religious Education is no longer going to be exercising that ministry as of the end of this month (she has done it for many years), and Deacon Jim Fage, who is not only our RCIA Director at St. Pat's, but also serves as the deanery youth coordinator. Now, Deacon Jim is about to become the new Director of Religious Education in addition to his other pastoral and liturgical duties, and he'll need a whole new slate of volunteers, since our previous DRE and her husband did nearly all the work.

Deacon Do-It-All needs a hand, and he needs it soon. I've already been told that I may be tapped (Nicole and I used to teach religious education in Cincinnati). Deacon Jim has to organize volunteers, decide who will teach what, and he may have to make some curriculum and text decisions, and I know that over the summer he will probably need help putting this together. I volunteered to assist him with anything at all that I can do to help meet a need as he takes the helm of parish religious education.

This weekend was sullied somewhat by the notable absence of our Brother Aspirant (and my friend) Steve Helmbrecht. Not only did Steve and his wife, Genae have to go to Genae's brother's funeral, but when they arrived, Steve received a call from his brother that his Dad, who was 92 years young, had passed away. Pray for the repose of the soul of Bobby Bohm and Hank Helmbrecht, and for the Bohm and Helmbrecht families, and for Genae and Steve-Steve has been an indispensable help to me and a wonderful friend thus far on our amazing journey together.

This past weekend may turn out to be equally indispensable to teaching and showing us what our ministry as a deacon just might be like. Deacon Joe Stackhouse from Immaculate Conception in Knoxville shared his thoughts about homilies and how terrified he was when he delivered his first one-and he is a professor at the University of Tennessee. Deacon Tim Elliott, who is our Director of Deacons in the Diocese of Knoxville, and who is overseeing our formation, talked about some of the faculties and canonical authority that a deacon has-and what he isn't empowered to do. Deacon Patrick Murphy-Racey, who is my spiritual director, talked about how being a deacon impacts his every day life as a professional photographer, and how he's been able to reach out in love to bring the Church's message of the healing, hope, and truth of Christ in some form to such varied people as his own Mom-a civil rights attorney-to Vince McMahon of WWE (yes, that Mr. McMahon). Deacon Mike Duncan from St. Albert the Great in Halls discussed how being a deacon has impacted both his family life and his role in his parish. I also learned that he has personal experience with the annulment process which could prove to be such a vital part of our ministry for so many individuals.

Deacon Tim further elaborated on the faculties we will receive if we are ordained, and some of the items we'll need that might make good ordination presents-we were encouraged to keep a list as we get closer to that time. He also told us to remember that our first responsibility-before our ministry as deacons-is to our wives and families. As a result, he said, we should not be afraid of the use of the word "NO." While we can't really say no to the bishop, it is also pretty clear that the bishop won't ask more from us than we can handle. The bishop, he told us, will give us his expectations for how much time our ministry is expected to take each month when we are ordained. However, our pastors and others who need us to serve them may ask for substantially more than the bishop does in his assignment. If that starts interfering with our ability to put family first, we can say "NO" to a certain degree in order to preserve that delegate balance between ordained ministry and family life.

Deacon Jim Lawson talked about his ministry as a chaplain for the Knoxville Police Department and the Knox County Sheriff's Office. He discussed how he's been able to reach not only Catholics but so many others because he has often had to be the person both the department and-by extension-to the many people of all denominations and faiths and none to whom he had to deliver unfortunate news about the fate of their loved ones, and do it in a way that somehow brings the comfort and the grace of Jesus into that situation.

This weekend was our first real look at the daily ministry of the deacon that will, if God wills it, become our own. Now we move from the introductory phase of formation into the spiritual meat and potatoes we'll need in the years to come.

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.

The Lord Is Truly Risen, Alleluia!

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.





Genesis 22:1-18:

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."

Exodus 14:15-15:1:

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.


Isaiah 54:5-14:

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.


Isaiah 55:1-11:

 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.


Baruch 3:9-15, 32-4:4:

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!


Ezekiel 36:16 (17a)-28:

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.


Romans 6:3-11:

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.


Mark 16:1-7:

When the sabbath was over,
Mary Magdalene, Mary, the mother of James, and Salome
bought spices so that they might go and anoint him.
Very early when the sun had risen,
on the first day of the week, they came to the tomb.
They were saying to one another,
"Who will roll back the stone for us
from the entrance to the tomb?"
When they looked up,
they saw that the stone had been rolled back;
it was very large.
On entering the tomb they saw a young man
sitting on the right side, clothed in a white robe,
and they were utterly amazed.
He said to them, "Do not be amazed!
You seek Jesus of Nazareth, the crucified.
He has been raised; he is not here.
Behold the place where they laid him.
But go and tell his disciples and Peter,
'He is going before you to Galilee;
there you will see him, as he told you.'"