Light

All this week, the Octave of Christmas, at Mass, we have been hearing one word over and over again, in the 1st Letter of John (which we have been reading from every day this week), in the Alleluia, and in the Gospel of the day.  Let's recap.

 

Monday 

"God is light, and in him there is no darkness at all."

"But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, then we have fellowship with one another."

Tuesday

"For the darkness is passing away, and the true light is already shining."

"Whoever says he is in the light, yet hates his brother, is still in the darkness."

"Whoever loves his brother remains in the light, and there is nothing in him to cause a fall."

"A light of revelation to the Gentiles, and glory for your people Israel."

Wednesday

"Today a great light has come upon the Earth."

Thursday

"And this life was the light of the whole human race."

"The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it."

"(John) came for testimony, to testify to the light."

"(John) was not the light, but came to testify to the light."

"The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world."

 

"Light" is indeed one of many words used in Scripture and Tradition in reference to Our Lord.  Why is it proper to call Him "light"?

1) Light makes things knowable.   We can know Jesus   He knows us.  In Him, can we find and come to know ourselves. Without Jesus, we have no way to know the fullness of Truth about life in general, or ourselves.

2) Light makes something radiant.  When we see something radiant, we think of it as heavenly. Jesus is heavenly, the Second Person the Blessed Trinity. By uniting to Him, we become sharers in His Divine Life, just as by the Incarnation, He became a sharer in our humanity.

3) Light comes from above.  The sun is in the sky and radiates its rays down on us. The Son of God came down like a ray from the sun, spread the light of His Truth while among us, died and rose for us, ascended into heaven, and now shines on us from His Father's side.

4) Light is not matter; it is more spiritual than physical.  Jesus was all about the spirit, more so than the flesh, and we are called to be the same.

5) Light helps us see.   Jesus helps us see things as God sees them.  Without this light, as the Scripture says, we are in darkness, because we only see things from our limited human perspective, which is wounded by sin.

6) Light illuminates the inside of something.  Without light, we cannot see inside anything. We need a match to go in a cave, a surgeon needs a light to see inside a body.  Jesus illuminates our soul.  He also illuminates the soul of the world, allowing us to assess its true condition.

7) Light is of the day.   In Jesus' coming, a new day has dawned.  This day will have no end, because this light cannot be extinguished.  Death found that out the hard way on Easter Sunday.  If death cannot extinguish it, nothing can.

 

This time of year, when the days are shortest, we depend seemingly more than ever on light, and are grateful perhaps more than we are during other times of the year, for it.  This is the time of year when we treasure lights of all types; Christmas lights, candles, fireworks (especially tonight on New Year's Eve), fireplace fires.  This is a sign of the deeper, ultimate yearning we all have for Christ, the Light of the World.

 

As we ring in the New Year tonight, let us look at the lights all around us wherever we may be, and think of Christ our Light.  May He light our path forward as we begin 2016.  Let us resolve to never allow the light to be extinguished in us.   Let us keep it burning with prayer, sacrifice, and good works.   May Our Lord shine His face upon all of us in 2016.

 

Saint Joseph, pray for us.

 

 

 

 

 

Pictures of Christmas at Saint Joseph the Worker Shrine

The Shrine at Christmas is very beautiful.  Here are some pictures from this year.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Holy Innocents

Yesterday was the Feast of the Holy Innocents.  I alluded to this feast day in my post a few days ago.  The Gospel reading for yesterday (Matthew 2: 13-18)  involved our holy patron Joseph.  Here it is:

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.

Here are a few reflections.

1) This is the second time in the Scripture where Joseph receives instruction in a dream.  I did a post devoted to the subject of dreams back on August 1.  If interested, you can just click on the "Saint Joseph the Worker Blog"  banner at the top and it should allow you to see all posts, and you can then choose that one, or any other ones from this blog's early days that you may have missed.
2) It was interesting reading some of the commentary in the Catholic blogosphere yesterday.   What would be termed the more "progressive" or "liberal" commentators highlighted how Mary and Joseph were refugees, and that we need to be compassionate towards refugees today.  The more "conservative" or "traditional" highlighted the slaughter of the infants, and how we are still today killing infants via abortion.   The priest at the Shrine yesterday fell into the latter camp.  I felt a certain release in my soul yesterday as I heard his words.  It was so surprising and refreshing to hear a priest speak on the topic.  The topic of abortion seems to be rarely discussed at all from the pulpit.  I am not sure if it because we are trying to be sensitive and do not wish to alienate anyone, or what it is.   I do understand our Holy Father has said we should not be talking about this topic all the time, but we have to sometimes, for several reasons.  We need to try to be saving lives.  We need to make sure we understand that the Church teaches that the taking of innocent life is always a sin.   Finally, we need to try, especially in this Year of Mercy, to make people aware that God's mercy is available for those who have been involved with an abortion(s) in any way.

So, the Gospel for yesterday's Mass can teach us about dreaming, about respect for refugees, and about respect for the little ones.

I want to close this post by addressing those reading who may have had an abortion, or encouraged someone to have one.  

1) Abortion is a sin, and it does need to be repented of before you can have divine life in you in this life and eternal life in the Kingdom of heaven.  Please do not let anyone inside or outside the Church tell you, or try to convince yourself, that it was "OK" with what you did.  It is a sin.
2) I am a sinner as great as you are, and I need to repent myself of the sins I have committed.  I am no better or holier a person than you. 
3) God's Mercy is greater than any of our sins.  He loves you, as He does me, and wants you to share in His Divine Life.   Whether you have had one abortion, or one hundred, His Mercy knows no bounds, no limits, and He is ready and willing to forgive you in the Sacrament of Reconciliation.  As I said before, the Shrine offers Confession six days a week.  I am sure a priest nearby would be happy to hear your confession, as well.
4) If you have already confessed the sin of abortion, God can use what happened for a greater good.  God permits evil and suffering to allow for a greater good.  Christ's awful death opened the pathway to eternal life for everyone who accepts it.  Your suffering, likewise, can open the floodgates of mercy and grace to many others.  You can speak of your experiences, and help spread and build up a Culture of Life, instead of the Culture of Death we see today on the nightly news.  Do not dwell on your sin, God has forgiven it.  In fact, you could say, He has forgotten about it.   Focus on His message of mercy, love, and life that you especially are now called to preach by words and deeds.

Back on August 19, I did a post about Joseph as patron of the unborn.   Again, click on the banner above and you can access that post.   I will re-post here in closing a prayer of healing that can be said by those who have been involved with an abortion. 

O St. Joseph, after your most holy spouse, our Blessed Mother, you were the first to take into your arms and heart the baby Jesus. From the first time you gazed upon him and helped him, your heart and soul were forever bonded to him. You caressed the Holy Child with fatherly love and affection, and you committed yourself always to love, protect, and care for this Son.

Look now with similar love and affection upon this child of mine, who has gone from this world. I place my child, as well as my grief and guilt, into the eternal embrace of your arms. Hold and caress my child for me with the love of my arms and sweetly kiss my child with all the tender affection of my heart.

As God the Father entrusted the care of His most precious Son into your most loving and confident hands, so too do I entrust into your fatherly care this child of mine. Please present him to the merciful hands of Our Lord, so that one day, when I too leave this world, my child may greet me into eternal life. Amen

 

Joseph, patron of the unborn, pray for us.

 

The Holy Family

Yesterday was the Feast of the Holy Family.  Each year, on this feast day (almost always the first Sunday after Christmas), the Church widens our gaze from the infant Jesus to His entire family.  Next weekend, in the Feast of the Epiphany, the Church widens our gaze even further to make the point that Christ is the light for all nations, and how all people can now enter "the family of God". 

 

Family life is not easy and I doubt it ever has been. We have also spoken in this blog before on some of the events in the life of Joseph and Mary and Jesus, and how they involved faith and sacrifice.  One event we have not really discussed was one that was mentioned in yesterday's Gospel (Luke 2:41-52)  and that was an event from Our Lord's adolescent years, the only time Scripture unveils an event from that stage of His life.  Mary and Joseph become separated from Jesus in a caravan on their way home from a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, and they returned to Jerusalem to find him teaching in the Temple.

 

Check out this selection from yesterday's Gospel.

 

After they had completed its days, as they were returning,
the boy Jesus remained behind in Jerusalem,
but his parents did not know it.
Thinking that he was in the caravan,
they journeyed for a day
and looked for him among their relatives and acquaintances,
but not finding him,
they returned to Jerusalem to look for him.
After three days they found him in the temple,
sitting in the midst of the teachers,
listening to them and asking them questions,
and all who heard him were astounded
at his understanding and his answers.
When his parents saw him,
they were astonished,
and his mother said to him,
“Son, why have you done this to us?
Your father and I have been looking for you with great anxiety.”
And he said to them,
“Why were you looking for me?
Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?”

 

 

Some of this may make modern parents incredulous! Jesus remained behind in Jerusalem, and Mary and Joseph did not know it?  They "thought" he was in the caravan and journeyed for a day before deciding to return to Jerusalem?  Then, after returning to Jerusalem, it took them three days to find Him?  For our modern eyes, at first glance, all this sounds ridiculous,  like Joseph and Mary were bad parents.   To me, however, this story gives us several important lessons.

 

1) This story speaks to the power of extended families and friends.  Mary and Joseph thought Our Lord was simply among their family and friends in the caravan with them.   Larger families are not in existent as much as they have been.  Our circles of not just families, but friends in general, is much smaller than it perhaps has ever been.  In those days, one could trust one's child to roam around because it was safer, we had a bigger safety net.  Parents could trust people to not do harm to their children.  Sadly, that is not the case anymore.

2) It also speaks to the power of trusting our children.  Mary and Joseph could trust Jesus to roam around.  Sometimes parents today wish to obsesses over every detail of their child's life and not give him or her the space and independence to grow into the person they are called by God to be.   There are situations where not giving our children the benefit of the doubt is the right thing to do, but maybe sometimes more often than we think, we should.  This leads to the final point next.
3) It also speaks to the primacy of God's call to everyone.  Our Lord understood that while he loved His earthly mother and father,  He had to do His Father's will first.  Family ties are important. but not absolute.  Each of us has a unique vocation from God, that while indeed nurtured in the family, is given and decided by God, and thus, our priority must be Him first, and our loved ones second.

 

At the Shrine yesterday, I saw a large family.   There was a mother, and father, and five children.  The family stayed after Mass for several moments to give thanks and spend time with Our Lord while He was still sacramentally present to them in the Body they had just received in Communion.  Large families are so rare these days that when one does so see them, we often cannot help but often stare at them for a few seconds.   How would our world be better, be safer, if we had more large families.  More large families lead to more support structures, more children alive and feeling safe, and thus, a more stable, safe society, one in which our children could more freely roam and explore like Our Lord did.

 

I eagerly await the Holy Father's Post-Synodal exhortation on the Family due out sometime in 2016.  Family life is tough these days, and sadly as a result, some are not even attempting to start down that road.  We need to encourage people to start families.  To be quite frank, we need more people in the world.  We have spoken before about how we have contracepted and aborted our populations and birthrates down to alarmingly low numbers, and this is part of the reason the world is in the shape it is in.   Strong family life is an antidote to the isolation, loneliness, and fear so prevalent in the modern world.  We need a renewal of family life today.  Let's pray to Our Lord, His Mother, and Saint Joseph, to help us begin that renewal.

 

Joseph, Head of the Holy Family, pray for us.

 

 

 

Blood and wood

 

 

The attached picture is one of the decorations at the Shrine during the Christmas season.  It is the baby Jesus lying in a manger and underneath it, is a cross.   I feel it is very appropriate that both these images were placed together under the lectern.  The lectern is where we proclaim the Word of God.   The message the Church is announcing this season from the Word is the message I have been speaking about in my recent posts.  The message is this; Christ incarnated Himself for us, so that He could be sacrificed for us.  Both elements of that message are symbolized here.

 

Christmas is indeed a joyous season because of this message, but it should not be a sappy one.  There is blood, sweat, and sacrifice involved every step of the way.  We have spoken of this already.  The Church is aware of this.  Almost as if to prevent Christmas from becoming too sentimentalized, the Church has the Feast of Saint Stephen, the first Christian martyr, today, the day immediately after Christmas.  Two days later, which for us will be Monday, She has the Feast of the Holy Innocents.   Stephen and the Holy Innocents both spilled blood for Our Lord.   What is the color of Christmas?  Red.  What is the color of blood?  Red.  As we see the decorations around us this week, when we see the red, let us remind ourselves that Christmas must be in our blood. 

However, as Archbishop Sheen once said, sin is in the blood, too, and that is why Christ had to bleed for our salvation, and why we have to fight a battle, as well.   There is a war inside us between sin and Christmas, in our blood, and we have no choice but to wage it.   To "reign with Christ", to live in His Kingdom, we have to die to ourselves, and some of us maybe even have to die physically as a martyr.   (We know there are plenty of people dying for the faith throughout the world today, so we should never think it is a remote possibility.)  To accept Christ as King, we have to accept His teachings, His values, and above all, His Holiness, which forces to us to choose things the world may not think highly of, things like loving the sinner, but hating the sin, simplicity, control of our appetites, and so forth.   None of this is easy for anyone to accept or live out.  Therefore, for most of us, it will be an ongoing battle in our blood until the day we die, and some of us may have to spill some blood to achieve final victory.

 

There is internal struggle, yes.  However, there may be external struggle, as well, like it was for Stephen and the Holy Innocents, whose stories show us that there may be a price to pay for believing in Our Lord.  There are Christians being martyred still today, too, and Our Holy Father prayed for them today.  Many in the word today, including unfortunately some rulers of nations, are like Herod and want to be their own kings and queens, instead of accepting Jesus Christ as Lord and King.  They are making life difficult for people to practice their Faith to various degrees.  We need to pray for them daily, especially on a today such as today, devoted to the first Christian martyr, and during the Christmas season.

 

Finally, going back to our original picture, there is something else in common between the two components of the scene.  What was the manger made of?  Wood.  What was the Cross made of?  Wood.  The manger scene, the infant Jesus laying in a manger,  is a foreshadowing of Christ giving His life for us, laying on a Cross.   Yes, the manger scene cannot ever be all tender and sappy.  It involves sacrifice, and foretells sacrifice, sacrifice that involves the shedding of blood.  There is nothing sappy about that.

 

Saint Joseph, Diligent protector of Christ, pray for us.

 

 

Saint Joseph, the Eucharist, and Christmas

In the last several posts, we have been reflecting on Christmas and its deep connection to the Mass, because Christmas is "Christ's Mass".   We have reflected on the Eucharistic elements of Jesus and Mary.  Now we will do the same for the patron of this blog, Saint Joseph.  Again, here, as I did last time, I will post a selection from a previous post I did back in August on the Eucharist.  At that time, one of things I spoke of was how Joseph shares Mary's qualities of faith and sacrifice, two vital dispositions that we need, with God's help, to bring to and develop in our celebrations of the Eucharist.

Where is our friend Saint Joseph in all this?  Well, Joseph had his own moment of faith when an angel appeared to him and told him to take Mary as his wife (Matthew 1:20), as we have discussed.   Later on in his life, an angel appeared to him again and told him to take his family and flee to Egypt (Matthew 2:13).  This involved both faith and sacrifice.   He was with Mary at the Presentation when she made her offering of Jesus (Luke 2:22) .  Joseph, we can say, shared in the same sacrificial and faith dispositions as the Blessed Mother.    Therefore, he can be a role model and an intercessor to help us have a greater love and devotion for the Eucharist, the Bread of Life.

Saints, the ones who live closest to the Lord, sometimes come up with the most profound of sayings that can only come from a life deep in reflection and prayer, and close union with Him. Here is a great quote from a Saint that speaks of Joseph and his relationship with the Eucharist. 

"At Nazareth Joseph's days were filled with work which necessarily took him away at times from his Infant God. During these hours Mary replaced him, but when evening brought him home again, he would pass the entire night in adoration, never tiring, only too happy for the chance to contemplate the hidden riches of Jesus' divinity. For he pierced the rough garments the Child wore, until his faith touched the Sacred Heart. In profound adoration he united himself to the special grace of each one of the events in the life of Jesus. He adored our Lord in His hidden life and in His Passion and Death; he adored in advance the Eucharistic Christ in His tabernacles: there was nothing that our Lord could hide from Saint Joseph. Among the graces which Jesus gave to His foster-father -- and He flooded him with the graces attached to every one of His mysteries -- is that special to an adorer of the Blessed Sacrament. That is the one we must ask of St. Joseph. Have confidence, strong confidence in him. Take him as the patron and the model of your life of adoration."

- St. Peter Julian Eymard

As with Mary and Jesus, loving Joseph will necessarily lead one to a greater love of the Eucharist, and vice versa.   Through their example, we not only learn to contemplate the Eucharistic Christ at Mass, but also in His Real Presence in the tabernacles throughout the world where He sits and waits for us to visit.  I pray this Christmas season, everyone finds time to do just that.   It is good to spend time with family and friends, but please spend some time visiting Our Lord, as well.  Please go to Mass, and also try to spend some quiet time with him in the Blessed Sacrament.   Remember, He incarnated Himself to offer Himself as a sacrifice, so we could be saved.  That is what this season is all about!  And He remains incarnate in His Real Presence, both at Mass, and outside of Mass in the tabernacle.  Let's show our gratitude for all that by giving Him a little bit of our time this Christmas.

I wish all the readers of this blog, and all of your friends and families, a very Merry Christmas!

Joseph, diligent protector of Christ, pray for us.

Mary, the Eucharist, and Christmas

Yesterday, I spoke of how central the Mass is to a proper understanding of what Christmas is all about because Christmas is "Christ's Mass" . One must go to Mass to experience Christmas in its fullness.

"Mass" is just one of several terms that are used to refer to the Sacrament of the Eucharist.  The Eucharist is so full of inexhaustible meaning that there are many terms used to refer to it ( "Lord's Supper", "Holy Sacrifice"," Memorial", just to name a few).  "Mass" is just one of those terms.   A list of all those terms and their meanings can be found in paragraphs 1328-1332 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church.  

Eucharist means "thanksgiving" and Mass means "sent forth" (missio).  At Mass, we give thanks by participating in the one sacrifice of Christ for our salvation and because we unite ourselves to Him in that Sacrifice, we also rise with Him into heavenly glory.  We are then sent forth (missio)  from this Sacrifice to live the Paschal Mystery by our dying to self and rising to Him in our daily life, and to announce this Mystery to others, and invite them to experience the realness of it in the Eucharist, where it is experienced in a way it is not anywhere else.

 

As I said yesterday, all this wonderful stuff would not be a reality if Christ did not incarnate Himself among us so He could be sacrificed.   We cannot exclude the reality of the sacrifice on the Cross from our celebration of Christmas, (which Catholics do not because they go to Mass on Christmas). We are not just throwing a birthday party for His birthday.  We are celebrating the reality that He incarnated Himself for us, so He could sacrifice Himself for us.     Archbishop Fulton Sheen once said that Christ was the only person ever born to die.  The rest of us were born for life, but Jesus was born to die.  This is what Christmas is all about, Christ coming down to be sacrificed, His Mass!

 

The Blessed Mother, whose Magnificat (Luke  1:46-55) ,we heard at Mass today (and which I have rendered in its fullness at the end of this post) , is another figure we all know is tied intimately with Christmas.  However, just like I said yesterday regarding Christmas and its Eucharistic symbolism and connection,  I also do not think the Eucharistic character of Mary is fully understood and appreciated.  Back in August, I wrote a post that discussed a little bit the connection between Mary and the Eucharist.  I feel it fitting to repost a portion of it here.

 

There is a tremendous connection between Mary and the Eucharist.   Saint John Paul II in 2003 in his Encyclical Ecclesia de Eucharistia (Church from the Eucharist)  wrote:

"Mary is present, with the Church and as the Mother of the Church, at each of our celebrations of the Eucharist. If the Church and the Eucharist are inseparably united, the same ought to be said of Mary and the Eucharist" (n. 57).

The Holy Father pointed out three specific ways there is a connection between the two.

1) The Eucharist in an invitation to obedience in faith, and there is no one better than Mary to help us acquire this disposition.   Mary had to take a leap of faith when the angel told her of her pending giving of birth (Luke 1:30).  She also told the people at the wedding at Cana  "Do whatever he tells you." (John 2:5)  (They were doubting that Our Blessed Lord could provide wine, but she told them to have faith.)   It takes a measure of faith to believe in the Real Presence and Mary can help us with that better than anyone.

2) The Eucharist is a sacrifice, a re-presentation of the Passion, and Mary was more intimately tied to the Passion than anyone.   From the beginning of Our Lord's life, when Mary offered him at the Temple (Luke 2:22) , to being at the foot of the Cross (John 19:19), to being a recipient of Our Lord in Communion at the first Eucharistic celebrations of the apostles, Mary lived a life of sacrificial desire and offering, and she can help us more than anyone to unite ourselves with the Sacrifice of the Mass.  On Calvary, Our Lord told John "Behold, your mother!" (John 19:27) .  Since the Mass is a representation of Calvary, you can say He says the same thing to us at every Mass.

3) The Eucharist means "thanksgiving" and the perfect prayer of thanksgiving is Mary's Magnificat; she can help us with this disposition better than anyone.   The Magnificat refers to that hymn of praise Mary proclaimed at the Visitation (Luke 1:46-55).  It is said every evening by the Church. The most relevant line from that beautiful hymn, in my eyes at least, is "He has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty."   What better thing could He fill us with than His Own Body and Blood?

Devotion to Mary, then, will naturally lead one to the Eucharist.   Going to Mass, and participating in the sacrificial offering that is the Eucharist, can only lead one to appreciate Mary more and more.  If anyone says that he or she has a love for one, but not the other, I ask that you be open to the Lord to develop your faith more deeply, or perhaps the faith you have is not authentic and you need to start over down a better path.

 

So, if you really want to love Christmas, you must learn to love the Mass.  If you really want to love Mary, you must learn to love the Mass.   Love the Mass, and watch the many other "loves" of your life grow and blossom like they never have before.

 

I will conclude this post with a full rendering of the beautiful Magnificat.  

 

Saint Joseph, Spouse of the Mother of God, pray for us.

 

“My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord;

my spirit rejoices in God my savior.

for he has looked upon his lowly servant.

From this day all generations will call me blessed:

the Almighty has done great things for me,

and holy is his Name.

He has mercy on those who fear him

in every generation.

He has shown the strength of his arm,

and has scattered the proud in their conceit.

He has cast down the mighty from their thrones

and has lifted up the lowly.

He has filled the hungry with good things,

and the rich he has sent away empty.

He has come to the help of his servant Israel

for he remembered his promise of mercy,

the promise he made to our fathers,

to Abraham and his children for ever.”

 

 

 

 

 

"Christ's Mass"

Christmas means something for everyone.  It means something for people of all faiths, and no faith.  However, and I apologize if this does not sound ecumenical, but I speak the truth.  If you are not Catholic, or are Catholic and do not practice your faith, you are missing out on the full meaning of Christmas.

Let's take a look at a few things:

 

1) Christmas literally means "Christ's Mass".    If one does not go to Mass at Christmas, he or she misses the center of the entire day.   It would be like visiting a beautiful scene of nature, but on a cloudy day.  There is something there, but there is no light to illuminate the fullness of it.

2) Christ was born in Bethlehem.  Bethlehem literally means "City of Bread".  Christ is the Bread of Life.  He says that whoever does not eat His flesh and drink His blood, has no life in him. (John 6:53).   If one does not consume the Eucharist on Christmas Day, again he or she misses out on the full meaning of the day.

3) Christ was born in a manger.  A manger is where animals eat from.  There is some symbolism to this.  This points to the reality that we are all destined to eat from Our Lord's Body and Blood.  We are called to consume Him.  We are called to the Sacrifice of the Mass.

 

I heard a homily tonight at the Shrine in which the priest politely challenged us to re-think the accuracy of the phrase "Jesus is the reason for the season."   He said that rather, we are the reason for the season.   At first, that sounds a little selfish, but if you think about it, Our Lord became man for us, not for Himself.  He had all His glory.  He desired to share it with us.  We needed Him, He didn't need us, but He loved us anyway, and became man to draw us into His Divine life.  So, really, the season is about us because Our Lord did what He did 2000 years ago for us.

 

So let's go back to the first point above.  Christmas does not mean Christ's birth, it means Christ's Mass.  So, really we are celebrating going to Mass today to honor our Lord's birth, not so much the birth itself.   What happens at Mass?  We go to heaven!  Through the Mass, we enter the glory of the eternal Kingdom, where there is always praise and worship of God.   Through the Mass, the Sacrifice of Christ on the Cross is represented, and we participate in that Sacrifice.  Our Lord became man so that He could be sacrificed, to pay the price for our sins, and in doing so, raise all human nature to glory. 

Again, Our Lord comes down to become man, and in the Mass, we rise up to His glory! What an exchange!   And really, despite what seems the contrary, it is really the latter we celebrate at Christmas more than the former.  Christmas is Christ's Mass!  Christ's Mass is for us!  Therefore, Christmas is about us!  We, the redeemed by the Blood of Christ, are indeed the reason for the season!

 

In what humility we must recognize this truth.  This is Catholic truth.  Catholic means "universal".  This means this truth is universal for everyone.   Christ becomes bread for us, and we must eat His bread and drink His blood to have life.

 

Come to Mass this Christmas!  

 

Saint Joseph, Protector of Holy Church, pray for us.

 

 

 

Pilgrimage

One of the blessings of my life now is, as I have posted previously, being able to walk to Mass from where I live, which is under a mile away from the Shrine.   I like walking to Mass.  It is like going on a pilgrimage.  A "pilgrimage" is a spiritual journey.  The word "pilgrim" derives from the Latin word "peregrinum" which conveys the idea of wandering over a distance.  However, a pilgrimage is a wandering with a purpose, to find and honor God.

"Pilgrimage" can refer to when one makes a journey to a sacred space, and it can also refer to our life journey in general to the Father's House.   Spiritual writers often refer to our lives as a pilgrimage.  Making smaller, tangible pilgrimages to holy places such as the Shrine can help remind us of that reality, and thus, they can help our lives be a successful in reaching our end goal, the Father's House.

As part of this Year of Mercy, all Catholics are being encouraged by the Holy Father to make a pilgrimage, to again, remind us of our overall life journey to the Father.  Pilgrimages teach us values that we need on the overall life journey. When we make a pilgrimage, we have to make sacrifice.  When we make a pilgrimage, it takes time and effort.  All good things in life take time and effort.   Pilgrimages teach and remind us of those realities.  Therefore, there is value in making a pilgrimage. 

However, in this Jubilee of Mercy, there is more.  By making a pilgrimage to a holy place, such as the Shrine, and doing a few other things which I specified last post, one can not only attain the usual fruits of a pilgrimage (conversion, growth in the Lord), but also, an indulgence (which I spoke of last post).  The attached picture shows a sign advertising that the Shrine is a designated Center of Mercy this year, and it is one place that one can make a pilgrimage to, that helps fulfill the conditions for an indulgence.

I encourage everyone to make a pilgrimage this year for all the above reasons.

 

When we make our pilgrimages, we may have opportunity to practice the corporal works of mercy along the way.  Around the Shrine, there are many poor people who ask for things.  About half the time I go there, I am approached by someone asking for something.   Also at the Shrine, there is a Saint Anthony Fund box for the poor where one can donate money that goes directly to them.  Every trip to the Shrine, because of all this, there are opportunities to feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, shelter the homeless, and clothe the naked.  In all our life journeys, there are opportunities to do those, plus the other corporal works of mercy; visit the sick, ransom the captive, and bury the dead.  This Year of Mercy, in addition to making a pilgrimage or two, we should consider how we can better serve the poor in our midst.  Our Holy Father, as I have spoken previously, wishes us to be a Church of the poor, for the poor.  His example last week of opening a Holy Door, not just in his Cathedral church, but also at a local shelter, is an example of his devotion to the poor, which we all should seek to emulate.

 

Christ not only humbled Himself to come as a man, not only Humbled himself to come as an infant, but also humbled Himself to come as poor.  Saint Joseph and Mary were not rich.  If they were, Our Lord would not have been born in a stable.  Our Lord, Saint Joseph, and Mary, were poor, but look where they are now; exalted.  If we cling to them, and make ourselves poor, our destiny can lie with them, which would fulfill all our desires, hopes, and dreams.

Mary and Joseph made many pilgrimages in their lives.  They traveled to Judah, to Nazareth, to Bethlehem, to Egypt, and to Jerusalem.  As we know, transportation was not easy in those days, so while they may not seem long distances to us now, they were then, and so, we can say, the Holy Family were frequent makers of pilgrimages. 

We need to get of our own comfort zones sometimes ourselves, and make a pilgrimage.  Let's resolve to do so during this Year of Mercy.  In doing so, let us make ourselves poor, see the poor, and in doing so, see the face of Christ.

 

Saint Joseph, Head of the Holy Family, pray for us.

 

 

 

 

The Year of Mercy

This past Tuesday was a joyous day in the Church.  I sensed a permeated joy that I had not experienced in the Church overall for some time.  It was the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception, which is always a joyful day, but this year, it was also the start of the Jubilee of Mercy, which the Holy Father has set this liturgical year to be.  The Holy Father sensed that the world was in need of mercy, and even in the Church, he sensed perhaps we needed to practice and understand mercy better, and so he decided to make God's Mercy a special focus this year. 

During this year, ideally we will hear a lot about the different aspects of mercy from the pulpit from our priests.  We will hear how God is merciful, how it is demonstrated by Him in the Old Testament, by Christ in the New, by the Blessed Mother (who is the "Mother of Mercy"), by the Saints, in the life of the Church, and how we should receive and live it, especially in the spiritual and corporal works of mercy, and by going to Confession.   However, our priests cannot do it all; we need to become better educated and merciful ourselves.  We need to study the Bible and the Tradition of the Church on Mercy (plenty of resources available), commit ourselves to go regularly to the Sacrament of Reconciliation, practice the works of mercy, to forgive ourselves and others, and seek to be reconciled to God and our neighbors.  

Also during the year, indulgences (which mean some or all punishment for sin is remitted) will be granted to those who, between one and 20 days, do all of the following; pass through a designated Holy Door (I am happy to say Saint Joseph the Worker Shrine in Lowell is one such place in the Archdiocese of Boston!), perform one of the seven spiritual and/or seven corporeal works of mercy, go to Confession, receive the Eucharist, and pray for the intentions of the Holy Father.   All of this must be done with a firm resolve not to sin, even the most venial of sins.  Again, more information on this is available out there which I encourage everyone to avail themselves of.

 

Besides all of what I just mentioned, it is also the liturgical season of Advent, which is always a season of hope. (I have attached a picture of the Advent candles at the Shrine.)  In a certain sense, Advent is more real to us than Christmas, because here in life as live it, there is often more waiting and yearning (Advent focus) than there is receiving and fulfillment (Christmas focus). In Advent, we focus both on Christ's coming at the end of time, as well as the Christmas mystery of Him becoming man,  and plan to receive Him in our hearts as we focus on both mysteries. 

 

So right now, there is a understandably, and rightly, a lot of joy in the Church.

 

Now, as one might expect this blog to do, I have to add my own two cents to this, my own sense of sober realism.  I pray, though, that as I do so, that none of the joy of the Jubilee nor of Advent will be taken away in those who read this.  That is not the intended effect.  But here it goes, here is my thought. 

 

This may be our "last chance".  I  just have a sense that God, through this Jubilee, is giving humanity one final chance to turn to Him and be saved before the necessary purification begins, faith is shaken, and those who are not strong in the faith are lost forever.

 

Some could say the chastisement has already begun seeing all the tragedies in the world recently.  Scripture and the Tradition of the Church are clear that an Antichrist will arise.  Paragraph 675 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church says that the Church "must pass through a final trial that will shake the faith of many believers". 

I feel that after this Jubilee, there will be real tough times for the Church.  It could very well be the final trial that the Catechism speaks of, or it might just be another age of persecution.  I do not know, and anyone who pretends to should not be heeded because Our Lord said that no one knows the hour except the Father (Matthew 24:36) .  

I could be wrong.  I pray I am, and that any chastisement or purification will be withheld until the whole Church and the whole world receives the mercy of God, and is living it.   I just do not feel that will be the case.  I guess, we shall see.

 

In closing, I will once again turn to Saint Joseph.  I have spoken in many previous posts about lines from the Litany to him.  Any litany, though, in the Catholic tradition, begins with lines that seek the intercession and mercy of God.  It is these beginning lines of the Litany with which I will conclude this post.   May this Jubilee year be a year of grace and growth for all of us.

 

Lord, have mercy

Christ, have mercy

Lord, have mercy

Jesus, hear us; Jesus, graciously hear us

God, the Father of heaven, have mercy on us

God the Son, Redeemer of the world, have mercy on us

God the Holy Spirit, have mercy on us

Holy Trinity, One God, have mercy on us

Holy Mary, pray for us

Saint Joseph, pray for us

 

 

 

 

 

Work of the devil

There was another shooting this week in California, and it appears there may be another one now going on in Wisconsin. There was also the shooting in Colorado, the bombing in Paris, and the spree of shootings in Chicago. 

There is evil in the world.

There is a movie out now that is forcing us to relive the tragedy of the priest sex abuse scandal in the early 2000's. 

As the movie shows, there is evil in the Church.

Satan is at work, but I fear we are not noticing it.

 

There has been debate about other things besides the devil.  For example, there has been debate about gun control.  This blog does not have a strong feeling one way or the other on that issue. I respect those who want more gun control.  I do not feel that will really solve much. ( Perhaps that is a topic for another post.)   However, I do respect and will listen to any legislative push for more gun control, even if I may not support it.  There has been debate about religion, and this blog has and will continue to express thoughts on that.   There has also been debate about immigration, and as stated in a previous post, this blog does not have strong feelings one way or the other on that issue.

However, there has not been a lot of discussion about the devil.   There should be.

There are four common tactics the devil likes to use, and they can be easy to remember because they all begin with the letter "d".   They are deception, division, diversion, and discouragement. 

Deception. Think of how he worked with abortion and homosexual sex.   He deceives people into thinking they are good things.  Instead of "murder", he teases us by calling abortion a "reproductive right".  Instead of "sodomy", he calls homosexual sex "gay", which, in other meanings, means happy.  Now, perhaps, he is the one who is alluring people to militant Islam,  deceiving many with the promise of the 72 virgins for the male martyrs, and a faithful husband forever in heaven for the female martyrs.

Division.  Instead of fostering patience and fortitude to work through issues, Satan instead says, "The Church is corrupt, look at all the scandals; leave the Church.  Your family is boring; leave your wife and children. Your nation with its materialism and corruption is flawed; leave it, or fight against it from within."  He promises an easy way out.   When people leave a noble group or cause struggling to persevere, it is a sign that the devil is successfully fostering division.  Where are these people leaving going?  Many places, but surely, many of them are going to militant Islam.

Diversion. The devil may be successfully diverting our attention, using these tragedies, to really smaller issues, like gun control and immigration, when in fact, we should be focusing on the big picture, and be turning to Almighty God and strengthening our moral and spiritual lives as individuals, families, and as a nation.  The more we are distracted on smaller issues, the more he can work undetected.  The larger issue is a relaxation of our moral standards, a lack of a spiritual life, and a lack of reverence and awareness of the just, yet merciful God.

Discouragement.  He wants us to give up.  He wants us to give up on each other, give up on family life, and give up on the Church.   All these tragedies may be tempting some of us to give up on humanity.  That is exactly what he wants.  He wants us to be anxious.  He wants us to fear raising children in a world such as this, and not even consider starting families.   He loves the fact that our birthrate is so low (reasons discussed in a previous post), and we are being left defenseless against these acts of terror. 

Yes, the devil is at work.  We cannot defeat him by our own power.  We need, rather, to turn to Christ, especially Him in the Most Blessed Sacrament.   The attached picture was taken at the Shrine yesterday.  As I mentioned in a previous post, every First Friday (in addition to every Saturday), they have Eucharistic Adoration.  

Only the light of Christ can cast out the darkness of the devil.

Devotion to Saint Joseph can also help.  Think of some lines from the litany to him:

Light of patriarchs  (his light, joined with that of Christ, can cast out the darkness of the devil)

Diligent protector of Christ  (he can protect us from the devil who wishes to harm us)

Joseph most prudent  (the devil definitely does not want us to act prudently, he rather wants us to act rashly and impulsively; Saint Joseph can help us not give in to his temptations)

Joseph most strong (we need to be strong in faith to fight the devil)

Mirror of patience (when times are tough, we need to be patient, and not just give up on things as the devil tries to tempt us to do)

Pillar of families (family life is a big target of the devil, as is the Church and our nation; Joseph can help us remain rock firm)

Terror of demons  Satan has his army of demons; if we cling to Saint Joseph and Christ, we can scare them away from us

Now is not the time to give up on the Church, to give on family life, to give up on humanity, to give up on our nation.   The devil wants us to.   Let's not ignore him, and let him do so.   Let's, rather, in humility, recognize his presence, but at the same time, recognize the presence of God the Father, His Son Jesus Christ, and the One Church that He founded, whose protector is Saint Joseph (another line in the Litany).  Let's fight the devil with the tools of real religion. 

Saint Joseph, pray for us.

Evangelization

I really feel we are missing an opportunity here in the Church.  Or maybe put a better way, we may not be reading the signs of the time right.  

 

With all the news recently inside and outside the Church;  the Paris bombings, the Holy Father's visit here and to Africa, the shooting at Planned Parenthood, and the upcoming beginning of the Jubilee Year of Mercy, there seems to be a bending over backwards in the Church to talk about mercy, forgiveness, and understanding, and yes, that is good and necessary.

However, at the same time, there needs to be something else in addition to all that.  We need evangelization!  Evangelization means to "preach the Gospel".   The Gospel is the Good News of Jesus Christ, that He is the Son of God, and He has saved us from our sins, and in Him, we can live triumphantly in this life, and forever with Him in the next.   Jesus founded a Church as the means and the goal of that divine life that can live within us thanks to Him.  There is no hope for individuals, nor for humanity as a whole, without Christ and His Church. 

Why are we not looking at the world as it is, and see that it is crying out for an authentic religion and authentic humanity?   Jesus is the perfect Man; fully God, and fully human, without sin.   It is crying out for a faith that is credible.  Jesus is the Logos, the Eternal Word of God.   It is crying out for something that can unite and give hope to humanity.  Jesus is Savior.   It is crying out for peace.  Jesus is the Prince of Peace.  It is crying out for life, truth, and love.  Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life.  It is crying out for a leadership.   Jesus is the King of Kings.

Yes, this is the time to be talking about Jesus and the one Church He founded.  We need to respect people of all faiths, and no faith, but we must proclaim louder than ever that only in Jesus Christ will anyone's life find fulfillment.   There is no hope for any of us, nor for the entire human race, other than in Jesus Christ.

 

We need to remember this, I think, above all about Jesus.  He professed to be God.  ("The Father and I are one."  (John 10:30)  No other founder, or leader of any other world religion, professed to be God.  This is critical, and makes Christianity unique among all religions. 

No, we cannot force anyone to convert.  No, we must allow freedom of religion, something Christians have had to fight for a lot recently in our country, and it would be wrong for us to deny that right to any follower of any other religion.  We cannot follow the examples from other countries where people are being forced to convert to Islam.

However, there is only one religion that can give hope to the human race, and that is Christianity lived in its fullness without error in the Catholic Church.   We need to live it, and talk about it, more than ever now.  It is time now to show Her glory, both by seeking to understand Her if we do not, and then explaining Her teachings, and living them in our own lives, so that each of us reflect the splendor of Christ and His Church, and therefore, make Him and Her attractive for the world to see, a world that desperately needs to see once again the face of the authentically human, the authentically holy, and the authentically sacred.

 

Saint Joseph, Light of Patriarchs and Diligent Protector of Christ, be our light in this time of darkness and help lead us to the Light of the world, Jesus.

 

 

 

 

 

Reflections on events this week

Our Holy Father was in Africa this week, and one day while he was there, he visited a parish called Saint Joseph the Worker in the slums of Kenya. (The name got my attention obviously.)   There was also the tragedy in Colorado this week.  I feel I would like to speak on them both, and strangely enough, I can connect them, as well as make a connection between this tragedy and the one in Paris.

(On a personal note, I also came home one day this week and found a man and a young girl, no more than 10 years old, who I presume was his daughter, sifting through the dumpsters behind my complex.  This, too, in addition to the Pope's visit to Africa, got me thinking about the poor.)

I condemn the killings at the Planned Parenthood clinic in Colorado the other day.  While the motives of the killer remain unclear, the acts are wrong, and it is never appropriate to respond to violence of any type, both to the born and unborn, with violence.   Yes, "violence begets violence", but that is in the natural order.  Christians are called to respond to violence supernaturally with the grace of the Prince of Peace, to be "channels of peace", as the popular hymn of Saint Francis exhorts us to.  In the litany to him, we discover Saint Joseph is "most patient" and "most prudent".   One can get frustrated with what goes on inside Planned Parenthood clinics, but instead of responding as this man did, we need to respond with those aforementioned virtues of Saint Joseph and all the saints who imitated Our Lord so well.

To say that anyone in the pro-life movement would welcome this development is not logical.  With all the undercover videos that have recently been released, there was momentum, at minimum, for investigations into this organization, and possible defunding of them.   This tragedy will certainly slow the momentum on that. 

I mentioned last week with the tragedy in Paris that I saw a connection between the loss of practice of the Catholic Faith and the conditions that make it more possible for tragedies like that to occur.  There is some truth to that, as well, with this tragedy, and the pro-life movement in general.  Specifically with this tragedy, have any of the shooters at Planned Parenthood clinics over the years been practicing Catholics?  No.  If they have been "religious", they have usually been self-professed "Christians", when in reality they are loners who read the Bible on their own, and don't look for authoritative teaching (such as the Magisterium) on it.   This is a real danger when the Bible is allowed to be interpreted by individuals, which is permitted in the Protestant world (I say this with all due respect to my Protestant brothers and sisters).  When we all become our own "magisterium", and interpret the Bible as we want to, the more unstable among us can come to the conclusion that the sin of abortion can be dealt with violently.

Now, moving away from this specific tragedy, and speaking of the pro-life movement in general, I would like to state something else.  I believe it is because the fullness of Catholic teaching (which includes teaching against all forms of birth control, in addition to teaching against abortion ) has not been embraced, and promoted by the pro-life movement, is one of the reasons why the movement, despite legal successes here and there, has generally not been successful since it really got going after the Roe v Wade decision in 1973.  The abortion laws on a national level pretty much remain the same as they were since then.  My feeling is that keeping the dialogue on the level of the personhood of the fetus, as opposed to also raising the prior issue of whether the sexual act that created the fetus is sacred or not, is hurting us.   If we looked at the sexual act as a sacred one, which cannot be tampered with by contraceptive devices, then the fruits of that would obviously be sacred too.  If we inject more of the fullness of Catholic truth into the whole pro-life discussion,  I think we would see better fruit.   I may be able to get more into this in future posts.

Whenever I see discussion on the abortion issue, I think of Blessed Mother Theresa.  She said that her order would take in ANY baby that was not wanted.   She laid it out there for everyone.   "Anyone, if you are thinking of aborting your baby, do not, I will take it!  "   Those were not her exact words, but that is the gist of her message.   That alone, in my opinion, is reason enough to give legal protection to the unborn. Mother Theresa knew that abortion was not the answer to helping the poor.  She spent her life ministering to, in her words, the "poorest of the poor".   She was a hero to me, as she is to many. 

I thought of the saint this week because of the aforementioned tragedy, and also the fact that Our Holy Father visited the poor this week in Africa.  He spoke of the need for basic rights to be respected for all people which includes (awful he even had to say this) " toilets, sewers, drains, refuse collection, electricity.."   Yet, it is interesting that he also noted a certain wisdom that can be found often in these poor neighborhoods.  He said they were able, in his words,  “to weave bonds of belonging and togetherness which convert overcrowding into an experience of community in which the walls of the ego are torn down and the barriers of selfishness overcome."

Now here is the connection between the Pope's words, and the tragedy in Colorado.

Think of these words: belonging, togetherness, experience of community.   Abortion does the opposite.  It divides, and most definitely does not unite.  People who are part of a strong community are not inclined to abort their child.  They know a support mechanism is in place.  At the same time, it seems to me any of the shooters at these clinics over the years definitely did not feel a sense of belonging to anything.  They were not part of any community.  They were loners.  People who are part of a strong community do not shoot people for their sins.   They try to encourage them to convert by other means.

The poor have something to teach us.  Mother Theresa, who ministered to them, has something to teach us.   Our Holy Father is calling the Church to be a Church of the poor for the poor.  Maybe if we heed his words, as well as the fullness of the Church's teaching, we can do better in the fight against abortion, see better fruit, and see less rotten fruit such as we regrettably saw this past week.

Joseph most strong, pray for us.

 

On refugees

There has been a lot of talk recently, in the aftermath of the tragedy in Paris, about refugees.  This blog does not have passionate feelings one way or the other on the issue.   I respect the opinions of those who feel, for security reasons, that his or her nation or state should not allow any Syrian refugees in.  I also respect the opinions of those who feel that that is not an option for a believing Christian, who is called to welcome the stranger and clothe the naked. To what extent we should continue, stop, or modify our welcome of refugees is a matter worthy of debate in these times.  All sides should be listened to.

Saint Joseph was a refugee.  He had to flee to Egypt to protect the life of his earthly son, the Son of God, Our Lord Jesus Christ.  I am sure he would urge people of today to try and find a way to welcome refugees, but I think he would also respect legitimate security concerns.  That is only me speaking, though, and my opinion on this is not to be taken as gospel truth.

However, this blog IS passionate about something else.  I am passionate about us being consistent in what we say, and what we do, on anything, not just this issue.  If we are going to welcome all refugees, and say we will not exclude anyone, than how do we square that with our liberal abortion laws that close the gates to life here on the unborn?  Are they not refugees, as well?   While we may rightly open our national borders to those fleeing persecution, it is entirely inconsistent of us, at the same time, to close our doors to the infants in the womb who would want to flee another type of persecution, namely death by the various means abortion is carried out. 

The land where the unborn live, the mother's womb, because of very liberal abortion laws, is far from the safe place that it should be.  In many ways, it is as unsafe as many places in the world are now, due to there being no legal protection for them in there.  We have to be their voice!  They have no one to cry out for them besides us.  They often are crying out for help and nobody is listening.  They are saying "Help me flee this land, danger is in the lurks!  I need to "cross over" to a safer place; please help!"  

Are we listening?

Abortion, as well as contraception, have led to very low birth rates across Europe, and because of this, governments have had to liberalize their immigration policies in order to keep up their economies because they simply do not have enough people to keep it going.  When that happens, there is naturally less screening of the character of people coming over the border.  I will not say that I know for sure that this happened here, that people of suspicious character and background got into France because of this, but it is worth thinking about.   It may be happening here in the United States, as well.  While bad economics is not the most important negative side effect of abortion (compared to its effect on our bodies, our souls, and our relationships), it is something worth noting.

Whenever we have a problem, we need to turn to the Lord and ask Him to help us solve it, not try to do it on our own, as we are learning the hard way what happens often when we do. The attitude of Saint Joseph was always for life, and that must be our attitude, as well.   The answer to a low population is to be more open to life, as God, the Author of Life, is.  This openness must exist in our own hearts, and in our own lands, which will not force as much to turn to other lands or other peoples to provide that life for us.   We need as, Saint John Paul II said, to foster a Culture of Life.  We need to encourage things like adoption and having large families.  We need to strongly discourage and ideally, stop, abortion and birth control.

Each of us was given the responsibility for life by God. We should not turn to others to do that job for us.  We cannot expect to continue aborting and contracepting, and then think we can turn to others to solve our problems that are directly or indirectly caused by those acts.  I believe France found that out the hard way, unfortunately, too late; I pray we here in the United States learn our lesson before it is too late.

Saint Joseph, Foster father of the Son of God, and diligent protector of Christ, pray for us.

 

Come to the altar!

Let me get right into it.

Do I believe there is a connection between the loss of the practice of the Catholic Faith in France and other places makes those places more subject to these kind of attacks?  Yes.

Do I believe, though, that anyone is responsible for this tragedy other than the terrorists who planned, coordinated, and/or executed these evil acts?  No, absolutely not.  

No one is responsible for these evil deeds other than those aforementioned individuals.  However, these acts, combined with 9/11, and other incidents of terrorism we have seen, should make us all look in the mirror and say, "What is it about the world now that is setting the conditions for these kinds of things to even be possible?"   I can say without any fear of being incorrect that the beauty of the Catholic Faith, and awesomeness of a life lived fully as a believing Catholic, are not seen as much today as they have been in the past, and as a result of that, Islam and other religions are filling that void, giving purpose and meaning to many in its absence.
I will state that while I absolutely do not believe that Catholics and all Christians are any better people than those who follow Islam, I will state, and this is in line with Church teaching, that Catholicism is a superior religion to Islam, and all other religions.  All religions have some degree of truth in them in their teaching, but only Catholicism has the fullness of Truth, and no falsehood in its teaching.  (Again, I am only talking and comparing the religions themselves, not the people who practice them. )  So, what is happening now is a superior religion being pushed aside for an inferior one, and we are seeing the fruits of that.
Therefore, if we are not living our Catholic Faith as fully as we can be, which really none of us are, then while we cannot and should not hold ourselves responsible for these evil acts, then we need to at least consider ourselves a small part of the problem why evil is spreading today, and change what we need to in us and in our lives to make us less culpable.

At Mass today, something extraordinary happened.   The priest said the words of Consecration and the bread and wine that was on the altar became the Body and Blood of Christ.  You may, say, extraordinary, but does not that happen every week, or even every day?  Yes, and that is one of the many things that make Catholicism what it is.  Every week, something supernatural happens.  Every day, on the altars of Catholic churches all over the word,  God becomes substantially present in a way He is not anywhere else.
The Mass is a representation of Our Lord's sacrificial offering for us on the Cross.  On the Cross, He gave us His Body and Blood for our salvation, and we are now eating and drinking the fruits of that Sacrifice. 
If God comes us to us this way, and we all believed that, we would any of us feel a need to kill ourselves to go to God as these terrorists did?   Receiving Christ in the Eucharist; Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity, makes our days bearable. 
If God made the ultimate and only necessary sacrifice for our salvation, why would any of us feel a need to make a sacrifice of ourselves as these terrorists did?   As today's second reading from the letter to the Hebrews said, Christ offered one sacrifice for sins, and took his seat forever at the right hand of God; by one offering he has made perfect forever those who are being consecrated.   We do not need to sacrifice ourselves to achieve perfection as these terrorists believed. 
If we believed as fully as we could, and more people believed the truths of the Catholic Faith, then there would be less people willing to do what we saw the other evening.

I hope and pray this commentary is taken the right way.   I have respect and love all Muslims.  I respect and love my Protestant brothers and sisters.  I respect and love people of all faiths, and no faith. 
However, the answer to this problem is not in discarding Truth, and trying just to love one another.  We, rather, need to all seek and live the fullness of Truth like never before, and that fullness of Truth is found in the Catholic Church.  I invite all, in the words of Our Lord, to "Come and you will see!"
(John 1:39)

In closing, there is not a lot of tradition around Saint Joseph in praying for the deceased.  There is a lot of tradition around praying to him in advance for a happy death, but not around praying for those who have already died.  However, I am sure Joseph, during the killing of the Holy Innocents, prayed unceasingly for those many infants who died at the hand of Herod, which makes that tragedy at least as reprehensible as this one since it involved mostly young children.  Thus, one can conclude, he knew tragedy and prays for those who experience tragic deaths.  We can ask him to do the same today for those who died in this tragedy, so that they can be purified of their sins, and enter into the fullness of the Father's glory.

Joseph, patron of the dying and solace of the wretched, pray for us.

Praise the Lord, my soul

I am very fortunate where I live that I can walk to Mass.   It is a beautiful day here in Lowell, a day that the Lord has made!  I thought of that as I walked to the house of the Lord today.  Then, what I got in to His house, I found out, again, that He is pretty incredible!  Did we hear what the Psalmist said today? Check out all the things he said today that the Lord has done and continues to do.

-He keeps faith forever  (we may forget or give up on him, but He never does on us)
-He secures justice for the oppressed (in His Kingdom, all is right and just, and that Kingdom is here, inaugurated by Christ, and it will come to be all in all in due time)
-He gives food to the hungry  (again, in His Kingdom, all are fed and nourished; if we learn to trust in Him, we will never be dissatisfied)
-He sets captives free (when we abide with the Lord, no person or no thing of this world can chain us)
-He gives sight to the blind (being in a relationship with the Lord allows us to see things that we might not otherwise, we see how He is acting in our lives, in the world, and in the Church)
-He raises up those who were bowed down (kneeling, prostrating ourselves before Him in the Blessed Sacrament, and just being poor in spirit, will allow us to be raised up with Him into His glory, as Jesus was on the Cross)
-He loves the just (if we respect others, give to Caesar what is Caesar's, and God what is God's, we will have the peace of His love ever in our hearts)
-He protects the strangers (those in this world whom no one knows, either because they are humble, and/or because others choose not to learn about them, are especially loved and protected by God)
-He sustains the fatherless and the widow (the Lord can make up for the absence of a father figure in our lives because He is the ultimate Father, our Heavenly Father)
-He thwarts the way of the wicked (in His Kingdom, the wicked do get punished; it may not seem that to be the case, but that is looking at things from an earthly perspective only; remember, His Kingdom, while unseen usually, is real and growing)
-He shall reign forever (He is the King who will never give up His throne, and all the baptized can share in that reign because through Baptism, we share in His victory over sin and death)

Wow, what a God!  There is no better response than what we said today at Mass for the Responsorial Psalm,  "Praise the Lord, my soul!"   Why don't we try saying that everyday?

Joseph, most just, pray for us.