Fr. Leo's Benevolent Blog!

Hey there, Church Fans! Here’s the latest text. The vid of the homily will be up when my helpers send it down the line.

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   I have a buddy who is a real life, honest-to-God survivalist/prepper. I’m not talking about your basic preparations for a long power outage or natural disaster. This man is planning for the end of civilization as we know it.  He has a bugout bag, a bunker in an undisclosed remote location, and enough food, water, ammo, and gold to last three years.  

   On one level you can think he’s kind of nutty, but on another you’ve got to admire the guy. He’s ready for anything. Furthermore, the skills he possesses makes him very like to survive just about any situation the Alaskan wilderness can come up with.

   On that note, most of us would not think of going into the wilderness for any length of time without making at least the most basic preparations. As we say, “There is no such thing as bad weather, just bad gear.” Making the proper preparations can make all the difference from having a trip in the wilderness be a fun experience with a few minor inconveniences turn into a full-blown catastrophe. 

   If this is true for us in the practical sense, why would we think it would be any different in the spiritual sense? This weekend we stand on the threshold entering into the spiritual wilderness of Lent. If we have prepared well, we will emerge better for the experience, renewed in mind, body, and spirit. If we don’t, then the results will be at best disappointing or at worst, catastrophic. Don’t go into Lent unprepared. 

   So, where do you start? Well, when all else fails, read the instructions. In the bulletin and all our media, we have this lovely little flyer, an instructions sheet for what the opportunities are in the parish this Lent.  The two themes of Lent are Repentance and the journey to the sacraments of initiation: Baptism, Confirmation, and Eucharist. Its hallmarks are prayer, fasting and almsgiving. 

   How is your prayer going to be different this Lent? Are you willing to try something new or different? Will you return to a previous discipline that bore fruit in the past?

   For fasting, what will you give to God this Lent?  Is it a favorite food? An unhealthy habit? An attitude?

   Who will receive the benefit of your fasting? Remember fasting without giving alms is called a “diet.” Start with what you have given to God and then take the money you would have spent on that and give it to the poor. 

   The time to prepare for Lent is now. How we do so will make all the difference.

So many things in life are about attitude and perspective. Let’s take light and darkness for example. Three men are walking down a tunnel.

A pessimist sees a dark tunnel.

An optimist sees the light at the end of the tunnel.

A realist sees a freight train.

The engineer on the train sees three idiots standing on the tracks.

   This week, Jesus give three images that describe a missionary disciple. The first is that we are salt of the earth.

   We don’t think much about salt these days, but in the ancient world, it was so important that it was used as currency. The “soldier” comes from the Latin word “solidus” as the Roman legionnaires were paid in salt. Salt was life. In a time when there was no refrigeration, salt acted as a preservative for meat and fish. Salt is also a flavor enhancer.  It brings out the best in just about everything. No surprise then that Jesus would use salt as an image for a missionary disciple. We are the stewards of a great treasure trove of spiritual and intellectual wisdom. Through the apostolic succession from the apostles we pass on the Catholic Faith that we have received whole and entire. We not only preserve the Faith, but if we are missionary disciples we give it new life in the present age so that others may come to know the Good News of the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body and the life of the world to come.

   This is what it means to be a city set on a hill, a beacon of hope in a world of chaos.  Our job as a parish to become so much of a part of the neighborhood around us that they cannot imagine life without us.

   We Alaskans are very sensitive to darkness and light. Already you can feel peoples’ moods improving as we are all able to go home from work and it is still light out. Light brings joy.  It allows us to see the reality of the world around us without illusion. Light allows the true state of things to be seen and dealt with. Nasty things hide in the shadows.  They cannot do that in the light. As a parish, we are best when we light for others so that they may see their own reality and the possibilities of the life of grace. 

   Let us then be salt, and light.  Let us be a beacon of hope for those who seek a better way.

Hey, Church fans! I had a great vacation and am back in the saddle. NB, I think you want to watch the video on this one. There is a whole second section that is not in the text. Blessings.

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I’ve been truly blessed in my life. I was privileged to be able to attend the University of Notre Dame College of Business and ended up getting a degree in Organizational Theory and Labor Relations. 

   When one enters the College, you spend the first year in introductory classes including Finance, Management, Accounting, Statistics and such. It’s a very challenging and competitive environment and everyone wants to do well. Our first mid-term exam in the Introduction to Business Management course was 10 essay questions, each worth ten points.  Most of the questions where variations of what had been covered in the course.  Except the last question.  It simply read: “What is the name of the man who cleans this building? – 10 points.” 

   When grades came back the next week, most of the students were furious. This was not part of the material covered, they protested. How could they be held accountable for information like this?

   Our professor was a pretty cagey fellow. He listened patiently until they had all had their say, then he replied, “Ladies and gentlemen, this is a Catholic University and the values of our faith are part of everything we do. Chief among those values is the life and dignity of the human person.  If you succeed here, once you leave, you will be using the tools of management which we will endeavor to teach you. But you must never forget that you will be doing so within an organization that made up of people, each of whom has a dignity given to them by God and none of whom are insignificant. The people who clean your building are some of the most important people in the organization. The first impression that anyone gets of your company is what the campus looks like. Facilities that are well-maintained and clean, grounds that are well-groomed and inviting – all of this sends a message as to what kind of organization you are. Everyone in your organization is important.

   Incidentally, the janitor’s name was Phil. The only reason I knew that for the exam is because I was chatting with him the day before as he was headed in to clean the restrooms. I had been a janitor in high school and so we were able to talk shop, so to speak.

   There’s a little bit of that going on in today’s gospel. To the religious mindset of the people of Jesus’ day, the signs that one was righteous before God were the blessings of health, wealth, and lots of male children to carry on your name. The poor in spirit, the meek, those who mourn, the persecuted did not come to mind as those blessed by God. But there it is. One of the things that Jesus is pointing out to them is that there are no insignificant people in the Kingdom of God. Leo the Great once told the newly baptized, “Christian, remember your dignity!”  As Christians we are at our best when we remember the dignity of those around us, especially when we uphold that dignity in the public square.

   I’m not sure about you, but it has always struck me as odd that John the Baptist says that he did not recognize Jesus at first. Come on! This is the one who leapt for joy in his womb at the visitation.

   I haven’t found a good explanation in any of the biblical commentaries on this. St. John Chrysostom and St. Cyril of Jerusalem each point out that according the Gospel of Luke 1:80, that John “grew up in the desert.”  So maybe he never grew up with Jesus and knew what he looked like.

   The discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls in 1947 confirmed the presence of the Essenes in the desert hills along the southwest shore. Like all monastic communities, they took in children and raised them in the monastic life. Modern scripture scholars speculate that it is possible that if John was raised in one of the Essene communities and would not recognize him on sight.

   However, John does recognize Jesus when he sees the Holy Spirit descend on him like a dove from heaven. At that point, he proclaims him to be the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. The presence of the Spirit makes all the difference.

   It’s the same for each of us. All too often we go through life not recognizing Jesus acting in our lives and in our world. The presence of the Spirit makes all the difference.

   With the Spirit, we recognize Jesus present with us in our parish family as we gather for worship, for “wherever two or three are gathered in my name, there I am in their midst.” (Mt. 18:20)

   With the Spirit, we recognize Jesus in the Word of God as the scriptures are proclaimed in the midst of the sacred assembly.

   With the Spirit, we recognize Jesus in the person of the priest who by virtue of his ordination presides in the person of Christ as another Christ, an “alter Christus.”

   Finally, with the Spirit, we recognize Jesus in the breaking of the bread in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. His true and substantial presence is effected in the prayer of the Church invoking of the Holy Spirit upon the people and the eucharistic elements.

   Like John we may not recognize him at first, but with the Spirit we not only come to know him, but help to make him known. 

(Hey, Church fans. Busy times here in the Far North. Posts are a bit delayed. Here is the one from the Baptism of the Lord. As always, if you want the joke, you have to watch the vid…or at least the first three minutes of the vid. Enjoy.)

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     Have you ever walked by something that you see all the time and one day you pass by and say, “Wait a minute! That’s doesn’t make sense at all!” There’s a bit of that in the Baptism of the Lord that we celebrate today. We’ve heard the story since childhood and sort of take it at face value. But really, if you think about it, why did Jesus get baptized?  Even John the Baptist thought it was a little out of sorts. At first glance, it doesn’t make sense for a couple of reasons.

       First, John’s baptism was a baptism of repentance. But Jesus was without sin. So why did he need to repent? It doesn’t make sense on that level.  Second, baptism as we understand it today involves the washing away of Original Sin and initiation into the Church. Again, Jesus was conceived without Original Sin and at that time, the Church had yet to be founded. It doesn’t make sense on that level either. 

       So how does the Baptism of the Lord make sense? Well, one of the amazing things about Jesus is that whatever he encounters, he transforms. For example, when he entered fully into human existence at the Incarnation, he not only restored all humanity to our original dignity, but raised us to a state even higher than the angels.  Imagine that. At the wedding at Cana, he took the jugs of water and transformed them into the best wine the head steward had ever tasted. At the Last Supper, he took the Passover and transformed it into the Eucharist. The list goes on and on. 

       In the same way, at the Jordan River, Jesus entered into the waters in the baptism and transformed them into the means of sanctifying grace. In baptism Christ encounters us, and we encounter Christ. Thus, when we enter the waters of baptism, we are forever changed. Our sins are washed away in the Blood of the Lamb and we become members of the Mystical Body of Christ. As John the Evangelist says later, “See what favor the Father has bestowed on us by letting us be called children of God.” 

The baptism of the Lord inaugurates the public ministry of Jesus.

From here he will go into the desert for forty days to prepare himself and to be tested.

Then he will give the sermon on the mount. Then he will teach and preach and heal and exhort and suffer and die and be raised and ascend to the Father and send the Holy Spirit to found the Church.

The public life of Jesus began with his baptism.

So too the public life of every Christian begins with our baptism. 

What have you done, what will you do with the grace that has been given to you? 

       For those of you who live in the marvel universe…will you use this power for good or for evil?

May the grace given to each of us in baptism continue to grow and mature.  

       Because at the at the end of this life, we must all stand before the judgment seat of Almighty God, in the presence of all the saints and all the angels and all the heavenly host. 

       And what a marvelous thing it will be, should gaze upon you and say to the celestial multitude in that same voice that came from the heavens on the banks of the Jordan so very long ago:

“This is my beloved son

       This is my beloved

              With whom I am well pleased.” 

Hey, Church fans! Merry Christmas, Day 13! We had lots of fun this weekend with the Magi. The vid and the text are below. As always, if you want to hear the joke, it is in the vid, not the text.

   The magi are interesting characters in Matthew’s infancy narrative. For one, we don’t really know how many of them there were. The sacred text simply doesn’t say. But based on the number of gifts, pious tradition holds that there were three of them. Three is a complete number, so it fits nicely.

   The thing I want to concentrate on is the significance of the gifts themselves. Remember that Matthew was a pious Jew writing his gospel for other Jews to proclaim to them, “This is the guy! This the Messiah!”  True to form, he uses the gifts to of the magi to reinforce his point.

   Most pious Jews would have been familiar with the text from Isaiah 60, that says all the gentile nations would come to pay homage to the Messiah in Israel. One of the signs of the coming of the messiah would be gifts of gold and incense. 

   It helps to remember that in the minds of the people, the Messiah would be a great priest-king who would re-establish true worship in Israel as well as the very political Kingdom of Israel. Gold was the traditional gift given to a king as acknowledgment of his sovereignty and as tribute signifying one’s fealty to him. Incense was proper to the priesthood. Offered by the priest on behalf of the people, it was burned before the Holy of Holies, it represented the prayers of the people rising up to Almighty God as a pleasing fragrance. 

   The addition of the myrrh seems a bit out of place at first. Myrrh was an aromatic spice used to prepare bodies for burial. Matthew emphasizes the presence of the myrrh to signify the saving passion and death of Jesus on the Cross.

   Matthew’s points is at once subtle, but very clear. Jesus is in fact the long awaited Messiah…but his mission and message are far beyond the people’s expectations. He is the great high priest, who offers himself as the acceptable sacrifice for the forgiveness of sins. His is not a single, political earthly kingdom.  Rather, as sovereign lord of heaven and earth, Jesus brings into the being the Kingdom of God. The twist is that he did not just conquer the enemies of Israel. But by his own death, he conquered sin and the price of sin, which is Death itself. 

   The fact that these gifts are brought by Gentiles shows that like all previous prophecies, the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled in the person of Jesus Christ. He is the great priest-king who brings salvation to all the world.

   Let us pay him homage by the gifts we bring before him. Let us lay before him the most precious gifts; a broken heart, a contrite spirit, an ear that listens to his voice, a hand that gives generously to those in need.

If you did not figure it out from the gospel reading today (or the little sign on the Ambo) the theme from the Gospel today is REPENTANCE.   It reminds me of a story…

In all the gospels there are few figures more compelling than John the Baptist.  He is at once a prophet and a herald.  As the last and greatest of the prophets, he is a bridge to the coming of the Age of Grace, calling people to repentance and faithfulness to God. As herald of the Messiah, he prepares the way of the Lord. This week I’ll concentrate on his role as prophet.  Next week, I will explain his role as herald. 

     Let’s talk about prophets. To be a prophet in Israel was a unique and often difficult task. Their principal task was NOT to predict the future. Rather, their primary role was to be the messenger of God, calling the people to return to the fidelity to the Lord and their covenant with him. 

     As the messenger of the Lord, a prophet had access to the highest levels of civil and religious authority. A true prophet spoke only what the Lord had instructed him. (A false prophet would not, saying what would gain him favor with those in power.) Most often we see the words of the prophets addressed to those in authority, since they were the ones who had been entrusted with the welfare of the people. In this week’s gospel, we see John doing exactly that when he calls the Pharisees and Sadducees to task.  It’s a good reminder for all of us who seek to follow Christ not to get too full of ourselves. God can raise up good Catholics from the very stones. We are in need of repentance. 

How does it work?  Let’s look at the various elements of the Sacrament of Reconciliation to guide our discourse.

1) Conversion,

       This is when we look honesty at our lives, realize that we need to get our lives in order and turn back to God.  It is that moment when you realize that your life is out of whack and you need to get it back in whack.  It is there that we stand at the foot of the cross and say, “Lord Jesus, have mercy on me a sinner.”

       I spoke about this in great detail on the 32^nd Sunday of Ordinary Time.  You can check it out on Fr. Leo’s Benevolent Blog (https://frleowalsh.com

       In the Sacrament of Reconciliation, this usually takes the form of a good examination of conscience. 

2) Confession – in the confessional or penance service

       No doubt you have heard the question, perhaps you have asked the question: “Why do I have to confess to a priest?  Why can’t I just tell my sins to God and be forgiven?”  This is a very good question and it has a very good answer. 

       First, you can respond by saying, “Yes!  Absolutely, you should tell your sins to God, but that is only the beginning.”

       Why?  Because there is no such thing as a private sin. The scripture that helps us is the story of the Prodigal Son in Luke 15:11ff.  Remember, in the story, the son says, “Father, I have sinned against God and against you.”

       Just as the great commandment has two elements, love and God and love of neighbor, so too sin is against God and neighbor.

       St. Paul tells us in 1 Cor 12, “If one part of the body suffers, all the other parts feel its effects.”

       Don’t believe me? Try this little spiritual exercise that you can do in the comfort of your own home: Take off your shoes, stand at one end of your living room, close your eyes, and then walk briskly across the floor.  As your little, pinky toe intersects with the leg of the coffee table and you jump up and down probably saying some things that good Christians should not say, tell me then is not true that if even the smallest part of the body is injured the rest of the body suffers with it. 

       In the same say, there is no such thing as a private sin.  My sin affects you and your sin affects me. 

       The early church had a keen sense of the communal nature of sin and the need for reconciliation with both God and the Church. Confession was done in front of the congregation and the penances were quite strict, sometimes lasting years before one was readmitted to communion. 

       But then in the 7^th century, from the north came the Irish monks.  Now, the Irish being a great and noble race, and also a monastic Church, brought with them the practice of individual confession to the abbe’, the father, the priest.  This made sense because it was the priest who could speak for both Christ and the Church. Indeed, in every sacrament, the priest acts in persona Christi/in the person of Christ and in persona ecclesiae/in the person of the Church. 

       This works in the temporal order as well. This past week we finally closed on the purchase of a house to serve as the rectory.  As pastor, with the authorization of the bishop, I signed the documents and the parish was obligated. 

       In similar way, when the priest says your sins are forgiven, he is speaking on behalf of Christ and on behalf of the parish and the Church universal.

       Confession to the priest allows for both of the offended parties, God and the community of faith.

3) The next part of the rite is some instruction and the giving of a Penance

       A penance is a token act. You can’t earn God’s forgiveness won for you on Cross.  It is a gift.

       You cannot earn it, but you can be grateful. 

       In a way, your penance is like a little thank you card that helps to restore the moral order.  

       One note, it needs to be reasonable. If the priest gives you a penance that is physically or morally impossible for you to complete, you should ask him for another one. 

       I’ve actually had people ask me for more difficult ones and I’m always happy to oblige.

       John Vianney, who would hear confessions for up to sixteen hours a day was once chided by a colleague that he gave out penances that were too easy.  He responded, “Oh, I give them very strict penances, but I only make them say a little part of it, and I say the rest of it later.”  You can see why he is the patron saint of parish priests.

4) Contrition – is the matter of the sacrament. As the confessor, the only thing I need to forgive someone’s sins is that they are sorry.  That finds its ritual expression in and Act of Contrition. There are many versions of it, but they all have these three things in common:

       – sorrow for sins

       – a dependence of God’s grace

       – a resolution to reform one’s life. 

5) Satisfaction. You must perform your penance to receive the fruits of the sacrament. Don’t put this off. Try to do it before leaving the Church. 

Conversion, Confession, Penance, Contrition, and Satisfaction – these are the elements of Reconciliation to God and to one another. 

As prophet, John the Baptist continues to be a compelling figure for us today.  John’s example exhorts us to turn from our sins and return to the Lord in the Sacrament of Reconciliation.  Please avail yourself of this most precious gift.  The dates and times of all the penances services throughout the Archdiocese are in the Anchor and all those around Anchorage are in the bulletin. Our penance service here will be on December 18^th, at 7:00 PM. At that service there will be at least four other confessors who have NO IDEA who you are.  What a great opportunity to avail yourself of the gift of God’s forgiving grace. 

Next week, we will hear how, as herald, John reminds us that Christ will come in glory at the end of the age. We are a people who await for his coming. As the liturgy says at the end of the Our Father, we await the blessed hope and the coming of our savior Jesus Christ.