A couple of years ago when I was still a seminarian, I received training during summer to be a hospital chaplain at Baptist Montclair Hospital in Birmingham, Alabama. As part of the training, several of us chaplains were given a tour of the hospital. One area that impressed upon me was the maternity ward for the premature born babies—i.e. neo-natal care unit. We could see incubators with tiny little babies sleeping. Most had lots of tubes hooked up to them. The nurse showed us in the incubator tiny babies surrounded by rolled up towels. She explained that this gives the babies the feeling of being in their mama’s womb, and it’s very comforting to them. Nearby was an empty incubator with a young mother sitting on a rocking chair. Waist up, she was wrapped in a large towel as if she just came out of a shower. Inside the towel wrap was her infant son laying his face on his mother’s heart. The nurse explained that they encourage the mothers to spend time with their premature infants in this way. For one thing the infant feels the warmth of the mother’s skin like he would in her womb. More importantly, the infant hears his mother’s heart beating. Hearing his mother’s heart, the baby receives encouragement to hang on and to survive. In a real tangible way, the infant experiences his mother’s desire for her son to live. The nurse explained that this greatly increases the likelihood of premature babies surviving.
Is it too difficult for us, then, to understand the reason why God in his wisdom has given us Blessed Virgin as our mother? Many of us are premature in our understanding and our relationship with Heavenly Father, Jesus His Son, and the Holy Spirit. Many of us have intellectual grasp of the scriptures, the Church teachings, and moral requirements of being Catholic. Yet, we are easily discouraged and disillusioned in our faith when we see weakness of our clergy and the way the parishioners behave uncharitably. You can ask the young people in college why they no longer go to church or have joined another denomination. And you’ll hear them say how they get nothing out of mass or how they are distracted by worldly pursuits. These are signs of premature faith. St. Paul addressed this issue in his letter to the Corinthians: “Brothers and sisters, I could not address you as spiritual but as worldly—mere infants in Christ. I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it. Indeed, you are still not ready. You are still worldly. For since there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not worldly?” (1 Corinthians 3:1-3) Many of us are like those premature infants in the maternity ward of faith. And for this reason, Jesus has entrusted to us Virgin Mary as our own mother, much like that mother in the maternity ward who had her infant son wrapped close to her heart. When we utter simple words of “Hail Mary full of grace, the Lord is with thee,” we are close to her heart, feeling her warmth as our mother and hear her heart beating, urging us to hang on and to go further and deeper with our faith. In this way, Mother Mary is not placed higher than Our Heavenly Father, or her Son, or the Holy Spirit. She is the womb in which we receive love and nourishment before our birth as fully mature child of the Heavenly Father.
I have one favorite penance I give out during reconciliation; I ask the person to visualize Blessed Mother in their mind and utter one word toward her, ‘mom.’ So I ask you as a way of honoring her on her feast day, to utter that one word in your silent prayer after receiving her Son Jesus in the communion.
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Saturday, December 27, 2008
Dec. 28, 2008 Sunday: Feast of the Holy Family
My parents are now nearing their ripe old age of 70. Now that I live in Baton Rouge and they near Dallas, I get to see them only few times a year. When I go there, there are not that many things that we as a family can do together. Going to a movie theater is one of them. But you know there are not that many movies that I can take my parents to. For one thing they do not understand English that well. And these days, anything above PG rating is risqué or violent. How the roles have reversed! When I was a kid, they worried about what I watched. One movie that my parents really enjoyed was a movie called, "March of the Penguins" which came out few years ago. My mom, after the movie said, even the animals can teach us about marriage.
The film is about the yearly journey of the emperor penguins of Antarctica. In autumn, all the penguins of breeding age leave the ocean, to walk inland to their ancestral breeding grounds. Can you imagine walking from Baton Rouge to New Orleans? Well, about 62 miles is the round trip walk that penguins have to take from the edge of the open sea to the breeding grounds in the heart of the winter. And how cold it is in the winter! -70 deg. F is what they have to endure with wind blowing sometimes above 100 miles per hour. I think what really touched my parents about the movie was what sacrifice momma and daddy penguins made to raise their single chick. Once the egg is laid, the momma penguin transfer the egg quickly to the feet of the daddy penguin. As she feeds in the open ocean 30 miles away, the daddy penguin will warm the egg on his feet for two months without eating anything. He typically loses half of his body weight when the momma penguin returns to take the turn warming the egg. They go back and forth in this way for four months! The survival of the chick depends on both mom and dad, equally. Sometimes, a predator like leopard seal claims the life of a parent as they feed in the open ocean; this means for certain, the death of the chick.
Like my mom said, can penguins teach us about marriage and family? Certainly. As we watch these momma and daddy penguins raise their fragile and vulnerable chick in that frozen Antarctica, we realize that a human child is also fragile and vulnerable. And to raise them require equal partnership of mom and dad. What does equal partnership between mom and dad look like in human parents? It’s not about a mechanical division of duties—you take care of the house and taking them to church, and I’ll take care of winning the bread and mowing the lawn. Instead, St. Paul’s letter to the Colossians offers us a different clue. I will adapt it for moms and dads present here. “Husbands and wives, put on, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, heartfelt compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience, bearing with one another and forgiving one another, if one has a grievance against another; as the Lord has forgiven you, so must you also do.” (Colossians 3:12-13) Us children, whether we are 5 years old or 35 like myself, we also have responsibilities toward our moms and dads. Let’s look at our First Reading from the Book of Sirach. It says, “God sets a father in honor over his children; a mother’s authority God confirms over her sons and daughters. Whoever honors his father and mother atones for sins and stores up riches…My sons and daughters, take care of your parents when they are old; grieve them not as long as they live. Even if their minds fail, be considerate of them; kindness to a father and a mother will not be forgotten.” (Sirach 3:2-6)
Moms and dads, today’s Gospel adds one more responsibility in raising your children. In Luke we read, “Mary and Joseph took Jesus up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord, just as it is written in the law of the Lord.” Our children come from the Lord as a gift and blessing for our marriage. Do you remember the promise that you took at your children’s baptism? Priest asks: “Mom and dad, you have asked to have your child baptized. In doing so you are accepting the responsibility of training them in the practice of the faith. It will be your duty to bring them up to keep God's commandments as Christ taught us, by loving God and our neighbor. Do you clearly understand what you are undertaking?” Unlike penguins, human children have more than hunger for bread. They have hunger for God. Do we as moms and dads, take equal responsibilities taking turns to feed spiritual food for our children? Do they see us praying? Do both mom and dad take them to church, teaching our children that mom and dad really believe that God takes first place in our life?
The film is about the yearly journey of the emperor penguins of Antarctica. In autumn, all the penguins of breeding age leave the ocean, to walk inland to their ancestral breeding grounds. Can you imagine walking from Baton Rouge to New Orleans? Well, about 62 miles is the round trip walk that penguins have to take from the edge of the open sea to the breeding grounds in the heart of the winter. And how cold it is in the winter! -70 deg. F is what they have to endure with wind blowing sometimes above 100 miles per hour. I think what really touched my parents about the movie was what sacrifice momma and daddy penguins made to raise their single chick. Once the egg is laid, the momma penguin transfer the egg quickly to the feet of the daddy penguin. As she feeds in the open ocean 30 miles away, the daddy penguin will warm the egg on his feet for two months without eating anything. He typically loses half of his body weight when the momma penguin returns to take the turn warming the egg. They go back and forth in this way for four months! The survival of the chick depends on both mom and dad, equally. Sometimes, a predator like leopard seal claims the life of a parent as they feed in the open ocean; this means for certain, the death of the chick.
Like my mom said, can penguins teach us about marriage and family? Certainly. As we watch these momma and daddy penguins raise their fragile and vulnerable chick in that frozen Antarctica, we realize that a human child is also fragile and vulnerable. And to raise them require equal partnership of mom and dad. What does equal partnership between mom and dad look like in human parents? It’s not about a mechanical division of duties—you take care of the house and taking them to church, and I’ll take care of winning the bread and mowing the lawn. Instead, St. Paul’s letter to the Colossians offers us a different clue. I will adapt it for moms and dads present here. “Husbands and wives, put on, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, heartfelt compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience, bearing with one another and forgiving one another, if one has a grievance against another; as the Lord has forgiven you, so must you also do.” (Colossians 3:12-13) Us children, whether we are 5 years old or 35 like myself, we also have responsibilities toward our moms and dads. Let’s look at our First Reading from the Book of Sirach. It says, “God sets a father in honor over his children; a mother’s authority God confirms over her sons and daughters. Whoever honors his father and mother atones for sins and stores up riches…My sons and daughters, take care of your parents when they are old; grieve them not as long as they live. Even if their minds fail, be considerate of them; kindness to a father and a mother will not be forgotten.” (Sirach 3:2-6)
Moms and dads, today’s Gospel adds one more responsibility in raising your children. In Luke we read, “Mary and Joseph took Jesus up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord, just as it is written in the law of the Lord.” Our children come from the Lord as a gift and blessing for our marriage. Do you remember the promise that you took at your children’s baptism? Priest asks: “Mom and dad, you have asked to have your child baptized. In doing so you are accepting the responsibility of training them in the practice of the faith. It will be your duty to bring them up to keep God's commandments as Christ taught us, by loving God and our neighbor. Do you clearly understand what you are undertaking?” Unlike penguins, human children have more than hunger for bread. They have hunger for God. Do we as moms and dads, take equal responsibilities taking turns to feed spiritual food for our children? Do they see us praying? Do both mom and dad take them to church, teaching our children that mom and dad really believe that God takes first place in our life?
Wednesday, December 24, 2008
Dec. 25, 2008: Christmas
In the recent days I have been asked by several folks, “Fr. Paul, how do you celebrate Christmas in Korea?” Well, over 50% of South Koreans are Christians, so they do celebrate Christmas the Western style with Christmas trees, Santa Clause, and gifts. I think the more interesting Christmas custom is found with the Spanish-speaking countries, like Mexico. They have a custom called “Las Posadas” which is translated as ‘the lodgings’ or ‘the inns.’ Every evening, nine days before the Christmas Eve, children and people in the neighborhood reenact the journey that Joseph and Mary took from Nazareth to Bethlehem in their search for shelter before the birth of their child, Jesus. We know that Joseph and Mary tried to find room at an inn but were turned away. The gathered people divide into two groups, the ‘pilgrims’ and the ‘inn keepers.’ The ‘pilgrim’ group includes two children who dress up as Mary and Joseph; and sometimes Mary rides a real donkey. The ‘pilgrims’ visit about three houses. Outside the first two houses, the pilgrims sing the following song:
En el nombre del Cielo
os pido posada,
pues no puede andar
mi esposa amada.
In the name of Heaven
I ask you for lodging,
because She cannot walk,
my beloved wife.
The “inn keepers” waiting inside the houses reply with the following song:
Aquí no es mesón;
sigan adelante.
Yo no puedo abrir,
no sea algún tunante.
This is no inn,
keep on going.
I won't open the door,
in case you are a vagrant.
So Mary and Joseph, and the ‘pilgrims’ move on to the next house and do the same. There is something about this story that really touches us. We can identify with both the ‘pilgrims’ and the ‘inn keepers.’ Many of us during this year became Mary and Joseph carrying Jesus to our family, friends, and neighbors. But like the ‘pilgrims’, we were turned away and told to move on. And many of us during this year also became the ‘inn keepers,’ turning away those who were reaching out to us through Jesus.
I had an experience like those ‘pilgrims’ few months ago on my communion rounds. I was to visit two homebound elderly and bring them communion. Someone called to say that another family would like a visit. Assuming that this family was Catholic, I placed extra hosts in the pyx for this family and drove up to their house first. I knocked on the door and an older lady opened the door. I said, “Hi, my name is Fr. Paul from St. Aloysius Catholic Church.” She didn’t miss a beat and said, “No communion. Leave my property.” Slam!!! I said to myself, “Did this lady just slammed the door on me?” As I drove to the next house, I asked the Lord, “Lord, I feel hurt being rejected. Is this what you felt when you were rejected by the people?” He replied, “Yes, and do you remember you rejected me the same way several years ago?” That cut me to the heart. And my memories brought me to my high school and early college days when I rejected Jesus with passion and even ridiculed the whole Christian faith. At that time, there was no room at the inn for Jesus in my heart. I told him to move on. But God does not give up just because we reject Him. The entire Old Testament was about God being faithful even when His people were not. All God needed was just a small, humble ‘yes,’ a small crack in the door to our heart for Him to come in. If God gave up on me after I told Him to move on, I would not be standing here as His Son’s representative. God shows how compassionate He is, how much stuff He is willing to put up with, how patient He is by reaching out to guy like me. When some parishioners tell me that their children wandered away from the Church, in my heart I know that God is reaching out daily to their children.
Going back to the “Las Posadas,” the custom does not end with Mary and Joseph being rejected at the first two houses. At the third house, the ‘pilgrims’ sing the same song, but the ‘inn keepers’ sing a different verse:
Entren, Santos Peregrinos,
reciban este rincón;
no de esta pobre morada,
si no de mi corazón.
Enter, Holy Pilgrims,
accept this dwelling;
not of this humble house,
but of my heart.
If all we have in our heart tonight is doubts or even misgivings about faith or religion, God will even accept that if we are willing to say a small ‘yes’: “Okay God, I’ll let you in for a short while but you’ll have to leave if you ask too much of me.” If God is willing to rest and sleep on a feeding trough of sheep and goat, He is more than willing to make a home even in hearts that have trouble welcoming him.
En el nombre del Cielo
os pido posada,
pues no puede andar
mi esposa amada.
In the name of Heaven
I ask you for lodging,
because She cannot walk,
my beloved wife.
The “inn keepers” waiting inside the houses reply with the following song:
Aquí no es mesón;
sigan adelante.
Yo no puedo abrir,
no sea algún tunante.
This is no inn,
keep on going.
I won't open the door,
in case you are a vagrant.
So Mary and Joseph, and the ‘pilgrims’ move on to the next house and do the same. There is something about this story that really touches us. We can identify with both the ‘pilgrims’ and the ‘inn keepers.’ Many of us during this year became Mary and Joseph carrying Jesus to our family, friends, and neighbors. But like the ‘pilgrims’, we were turned away and told to move on. And many of us during this year also became the ‘inn keepers,’ turning away those who were reaching out to us through Jesus.
I had an experience like those ‘pilgrims’ few months ago on my communion rounds. I was to visit two homebound elderly and bring them communion. Someone called to say that another family would like a visit. Assuming that this family was Catholic, I placed extra hosts in the pyx for this family and drove up to their house first. I knocked on the door and an older lady opened the door. I said, “Hi, my name is Fr. Paul from St. Aloysius Catholic Church.” She didn’t miss a beat and said, “No communion. Leave my property.” Slam!!! I said to myself, “Did this lady just slammed the door on me?” As I drove to the next house, I asked the Lord, “Lord, I feel hurt being rejected. Is this what you felt when you were rejected by the people?” He replied, “Yes, and do you remember you rejected me the same way several years ago?” That cut me to the heart. And my memories brought me to my high school and early college days when I rejected Jesus with passion and even ridiculed the whole Christian faith. At that time, there was no room at the inn for Jesus in my heart. I told him to move on. But God does not give up just because we reject Him. The entire Old Testament was about God being faithful even when His people were not. All God needed was just a small, humble ‘yes,’ a small crack in the door to our heart for Him to come in. If God gave up on me after I told Him to move on, I would not be standing here as His Son’s representative. God shows how compassionate He is, how much stuff He is willing to put up with, how patient He is by reaching out to guy like me. When some parishioners tell me that their children wandered away from the Church, in my heart I know that God is reaching out daily to their children.
Going back to the “Las Posadas,” the custom does not end with Mary and Joseph being rejected at the first two houses. At the third house, the ‘pilgrims’ sing the same song, but the ‘inn keepers’ sing a different verse:
Entren, Santos Peregrinos,
reciban este rincón;
no de esta pobre morada,
si no de mi corazón.
Enter, Holy Pilgrims,
accept this dwelling;
not of this humble house,
but of my heart.
If all we have in our heart tonight is doubts or even misgivings about faith or religion, God will even accept that if we are willing to say a small ‘yes’: “Okay God, I’ll let you in for a short while but you’ll have to leave if you ask too much of me.” If God is willing to rest and sleep on a feeding trough of sheep and goat, He is more than willing to make a home even in hearts that have trouble welcoming him.
Saturday, December 20, 2008
Dec. 21, 2008: 4th Sunday Advent (B)
In few short days, Santa and his crew—Rudolph, the Reindeers, and the Elves—will be making more deliveries to boys and girls of all ages than UPS , FedEX, and US Postal Service combined. Statistically, the current U.S.
Just as a public announcement, I need to read to you the following return policies of some of the stores. Regarding any clothing, shoes and accessories, Wal-Mart requires you to bring them back within 90 days, unworn, with tickets attached, and accompanied by the original receipt. Best Buy requires you to return any cameras, GPS , and monitors by January 8th, and they may charge you 15% restocking fee for opened boxes. Macy’s will allow you to return an item 180 days (6 months!) after Christmas, but will charge 10% for any furniture returned. These are very generous return policies. Compare this to what happens at department stores in Korea
So this brings to mind a curious question. Are there return policies for things that happen in our ordinary life? For example, one of our St. Aloysius 5th grader on the day before the math exam spends the entire evening, instead of studying for the exam, on his Nintendo Wii. The next day on the exam, he barely passes. Can he return this exam back to his teacher for a retake? Another example, a lady who always exercises and eats right is told by a doctor one day that she has cancer. Can she ask God for an exchange of this illness for something lighter, like a common cold? Whether something happens to us because of our own negligence or due to no fault of our own, these things cannot be returned within 180 days even when we have the receipts. In other words, for things that happen in our life, most of them, all sales are final, no returns allowed.
Take our Gospel’s example. Blessed Virgin Mary is told by the Archangel Gabriel that she will be receiving a gift of a child through the Holy Spirit even before the date of the wedding with Joseph. (cf. Lk 1:31-32) If she were to agree to this proposal, can she, after conceiving the child, return the child to God if she no longer wants the child (especially when Joseph finds out what happened)? And think about what Joseph almost did when he did find out. In Matthew Chapter 1, we read that Joseph wanted a refund. We read the following: “Now this is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about. When his mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph, but before they lived together, she was found with child through the Holy Spirit. Joseph her husband, since he was a righteous man, yet unwilling to expose her to shame, decided to divorce her quietly.” (Matt 1:18-19)
So here is my question. Can something be considered a great gift even when it is something that we did not want and it is something that cannot be returned for a refund? It depends whether we are a good receiver of gifts or a bad receiver of gifts. We know that most of us are great giver of gifts. We can see this demonstrated by the number of cars parked in the mall parking lots and also through the skyrocketing numbers of purchases made on the internet. On the other hand, many of us, especially myself, are not so good receiver of gifts. What do I mean? The first thing I say—often in silence-- when I receive a gift is, “Please, I do not need that,” or “I don’t want that, where would I use that for?” We can also see this demonstrated in the great number of cars parked in the malls on the day after Christmas when lots of people return the gifts they received because they did not want it. For many of us, it is difficult to accept a gift given as is and to appreciate the thoughtfulness and consideration of the person who perhaps agonized over what to give us for weeks. Our retail stores have made it so easy for us, receivers, to avoid or circumvent time needed to appreciate the gift received. Because the stores have made it so easy for us to return an item, we act first on our impulse to exchange it for what we want. The same thing can happen with things that happen in our life. Our immediate response to something that happens to us is, “I don’t want that.”
There is an example of a gift that all of us received few years ago that we initially did not want, but it turned out to be a great gift. Katrina. Most did not want that, yet many have told me that after reflection it was a great gift in their lives. There is even better example of this, and it will happen in few days. The arrival of a tiny infant on December 25th seems so insignificant and something we don’t want. Yet this is the greatest gift humanity has ever received. To appreciate the greatness of this infant as the greatest gift, we need to ponder in prayer the thoughtfulness of the Giver of this Gift. And when we begin understand this infant as a gift, we will begin to understand why things that are happening to us, especially those things we do not want to happen, may be gifts in disguise.
Saturday, December 13, 2008
Dec. 14, 2008: Third Sunday of Advent (B)
The other day I was writing a Christmas card with the word ‘Joy’ written on the front. On this card, a bright star was near the top and beneath rays of the star stood three shepherds with some cute sheep. I wondered what really that word ‘Joy’ meant. Is joy mean being happy? Well, I looked it up. The Latin root word for ‘joy’ was ‘Gaudium’, and the definition was, “the emotion evoked by well-being, success, good fortune, or prospect of possessing what one desires.” I think the folks at Merriam-Webster forgot to tweak this definition to include few other things that makes us joyful. For one thing, there is such thing as the ‘joy of giving.’ Many of you have gone out of your way to shop gifts for our St. Aloysius Giving Tree, which is our effort at having a socially responsible Christmas.
Take for example the ‘angel’ ornament which many of you picked up. In exchange for taking this ornament, we are asked to bring some unwrapped gift for a child of prison inmate. How heart-broken mother or father of these children must be, being in prison unable to express their love for the child and with the guilt of not being a good role model. Yet many of you who brought gifts for these children stand in that gap between the children and their incarcerated parents, bringing joy to both. This Friday with the help of our parish’s prison ministry team I celebrated ‘Christmas Mass’ with the inmates of Dixon Correctional. The word ‘joy’ truly came alive at this mass, especially when you looked outside, our little chapel was surrounded by barbed wires and heavy gauge bars. In this little chapel, men who had guilt and shame on their heart experienced joy of praising Immanuel, ‘God with us’ who broke through the barbed wires and steel bars to be with these men who longed to be with Him.
Take another example of the gift you are giving today at the second collection at our mass. It’s for the Retirement Fund for Religious. Our parish was fortunate to have had sisters of the Daughters of Jesus for many years to show us that it is possible to live joyfully with vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience. What they were doing for us was to show us a glimpse of how people in heaven live here on earth. We’ve heard Jesus say that in heaven there will be no marriage and our only happiness will be beholding the beatific vision which is God himself. So forsaking marriage, children, and wealth, these sisters have demonstrated for us that it is possible to follow Jesus, to have just enough for daily bread, and be joyful.
In the definition of ‘joy’ that I mentioned from the Merriam-Webster, there needs to be another tweaking. In addition to the ‘joy of giving,’ there is also ‘joy in being with loved ones.’ Last year when I was still a deacon at a parish north of here, I asked the children at the school mass how expensive were the Christmas gift they wanted. I began at $5 and until I hit $30, no hands went up. And there were still hands up when I said $250. After the mass, a boy came up and said to me, “Deacon Paul, what I want for Christmas does not cost anything.” I said, “Oh really? What is it?” He said, “My mom and dad are separated, and I want them to be back together.” I was speechless.
May be we take it for granted that there is great joy in our family being together. There are many who live around us whose family is not together.
This Saturday, our bishop and I were down in St. Teresa of Avila in Gonzales to concelebrate with Fr. Juantorena the Spanish mass honoring Our Lady of Guadalupe whose feast day was this past Friday. You can be sure that at this mass were many young men who left their home and family in Latin America to help rebuild much of Baton Rouge after our storms including many of our roofs in our neighborhood. At this mass there was great joy in honoring and celebrating Blessed Mother’s special appearance to the people of Mexico. The greater joy was knowing that Our Lady of Guadalupe whom they have honored since they were very little was present with them and consoling them even when they were thousands of miles away from their home and family.
Gaudete in Domino semper: “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I say, rejoice! The Lord is near.” (Phil 4:4,5) The message of the Third Sunday of Advent is ‘Gaudete,’ be joyful in knowing that the God who has loved each one of us even before we were born, gathers our loved ones together and teaches us that there is great joy in giving.
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the earth rejoices in hope of the Savior’s coming and looks forward with longing to his return at the end of time. Prepare our hearts and remove the sadness that hinders us from feeling the joy and hope which his presence will bestow, for he is Lord for ever and ever. (alternate Opening Prayer for Third Sunday of Advent)
Take for example the ‘angel’ ornament which many of you picked up. In exchange for taking this ornament, we are asked to bring some unwrapped gift for a child of prison inmate. How heart-broken mother or father of these children must be, being in prison unable to express their love for the child and with the guilt of not being a good role model. Yet many of you who brought gifts for these children stand in that gap between the children and their incarcerated parents, bringing joy to both. This Friday with the help of our parish’s prison ministry team I celebrated ‘Christmas Mass’ with the inmates of Dixon Correctional. The word ‘joy’ truly came alive at this mass, especially when you looked outside, our little chapel was surrounded by barbed wires and heavy gauge bars. In this little chapel, men who had guilt and shame on their heart experienced joy of praising Immanuel, ‘God with us’ who broke through the barbed wires and steel bars to be with these men who longed to be with Him.
Take another example of the gift you are giving today at the second collection at our mass. It’s for the Retirement Fund for Religious. Our parish was fortunate to have had sisters of the Daughters of Jesus for many years to show us that it is possible to live joyfully with vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience. What they were doing for us was to show us a glimpse of how people in heaven live here on earth. We’ve heard Jesus say that in heaven there will be no marriage and our only happiness will be beholding the beatific vision which is God himself. So forsaking marriage, children, and wealth, these sisters have demonstrated for us that it is possible to follow Jesus, to have just enough for daily bread, and be joyful.
In the definition of ‘joy’ that I mentioned from the Merriam-Webster, there needs to be another tweaking. In addition to the ‘joy of giving,’ there is also ‘joy in being with loved ones.’ Last year when I was still a deacon at a parish north of here, I asked the children at the school mass how expensive were the Christmas gift they wanted. I began at $5 and until I hit $30, no hands went up. And there were still hands up when I said $250. After the mass, a boy came up and said to me, “Deacon Paul, what I want for Christmas does not cost anything.” I said, “Oh really? What is it?” He said, “My mom and dad are separated, and I want them to be back together.” I was speechless.
May be we take it for granted that there is great joy in our family being together. There are many who live around us whose family is not together.
This Saturday, our bishop and I were down in St. Teresa of Avila in Gonzales to concelebrate with Fr. Juantorena the Spanish mass honoring Our Lady of Guadalupe whose feast day was this past Friday. You can be sure that at this mass were many young men who left their home and family in Latin America to help rebuild much of Baton Rouge after our storms including many of our roofs in our neighborhood. At this mass there was great joy in honoring and celebrating Blessed Mother’s special appearance to the people of Mexico. The greater joy was knowing that Our Lady of Guadalupe whom they have honored since they were very little was present with them and consoling them even when they were thousands of miles away from their home and family.
Gaudete in Domino semper: “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I say, rejoice! The Lord is near.” (Phil 4:4,5) The message of the Third Sunday of Advent is ‘Gaudete,’ be joyful in knowing that the God who has loved each one of us even before we were born, gathers our loved ones together and teaches us that there is great joy in giving.
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the earth rejoices in hope of the Savior’s coming and looks forward with longing to his return at the end of time. Prepare our hearts and remove the sadness that hinders us from feeling the joy and hope which his presence will bestow, for he is Lord for ever and ever. (alternate Opening Prayer for Third Sunday of Advent)
Sunday, December 7, 2008
Dec. 8, 2008: The Feast of the Immaculate Conception
At this moment in Mexico City, thousands and thousands of people are streaming toward the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe. This week is the busiest the basilica will ever be out of the entire year. Tomorrow (December 9) marks the feast of St. Juan Diego, a 57-year old poor native Aztec indian to whom Blessed Mother appeared on Saturday, December 9, 1531. It is interesting that December 9th is the feast of conception of Mary for Eastern Catholic churches since the 5th century. For us Western Roman Catholic churches, we celebrate the Immaculate Conception of Mary on December 8. So her appearance to Juan Diego on that day was not just a random date. Few days later on December 12, Our Lady of Guadalupe gives Juan Diego and the bishop a miracle of the tilma, and that day is now designated as the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe. During December 9 thru 12, more than 4 million people will visit the basilica in Mexico City.
In order to tell you about the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, I need to tell you about Our Lady of Guadalupe. In some ways, they are inexplicably linked in order to understand the true significance of the Immaculate Conception and the upcoming Christmas when we celebrate the birthday of Jesus. In the year 1519, Spanish conquistadore, Hernando Cortez arrived on the shores of Mexico and was able to capture what's now known as Mexico City that year. Cortez encountered a sophisticated and advanced Aztec civilization there. Yet this civilization had a gruesome and cruel side. Their gods, a sun-god and serpent-god required human sacrifices to be appeased, and Cortez found himself hearing screams of captured war-prisoners being sacrificed daily. A war ensued and the altars and temples to these cruel gods were demolished in a couple of years. But through the eyes of the conquered Aztecs, the God of Cortez was no more kinder to them. Spanish conquistadores enslaved many indians, and European plagues that they brought decimated their population. The religious missionaries had little success in convincing the natives about God who was merciful and loving. What was worse was that Aztec indians were on the verge of uprising. The Bishop of Mexico City, a native of Spain, secretly prayed to Our Lady to intervene and avert the eruption. And he asked Our Lady to send him Castilian roses, unknown in Mexico, as a sign that his desperate prayer had been heard.
What the bishop needed was a messenger of God who can show the loving and merciful face of God. On the morning of December 9, 1531, recently converted Aztec indian named Juan Diego was going to mass, walking through a hill called Tepeyac, when he heard a lady calling him. On top of the hill, he encounters a beautiful lady surrounded by bright light as pictured here in this miraculous picture. Our Lady said the following: "Know for certain, my dearest of my sons, that I am the perfect and perpetual Virgin Mary, Mother of the True God, through whom everything lives, the Lord of all things, who is Master of Heaven and Earth. I ardently desire a House of God (church) be built here for me where I will show and offer all my love, my compassion, my help and my protection to the people. I am your Mother, the Mother of all who live united in this land, and of all mankind, of all those who love me. Here I will hear their weeping and their sorrows, and will remedy and alleviate their sufferings, necessities and misfortunes. Therefore, in order to realize my intentions, go to the house of the Bishop of Mexico City and tell him that it is my desire to have a church built here." With these instruction, Juan Diego goes to the bishop, but the bishop is unconvinced. Discouraged Juan Diego pleads with Blessed Mother to send someone more worthy. Blessed Mother replied, "My little son, there are many I could send. But you are the one I have chosen." She asked him to go back the next day to the bishop. His next visit was no better. The bishop asks for a sign. Juan Diego was again discouraged. Blessed Mother encouraged him with these words, "My little son, am I not your Mother? Do not fear. The Bishop will have his sign. Come back to this place tomorrow." The next day, Juan Diego tries to avoid the hill because he had to fetch a priest for his dying uncle. Blessed Mother intercepts Juan and assures him that his uncle will be well. She tells Juan to come to the top of the hill to pick roses which she has prepared for the Bishop. In the middle of winter, roses do not bloom, but on this hill, Juan found Castillian (Spanish) roses which were unknown in Mexico. She placed them in his tilma (similar to poncho, made up of coarse cactus fiber which has natural life-span of 30 years) and sent Juan on his way to the Bishop. When Juan unfolded his tilma in front of the Bishop, not only the Castillian roses fell out, there was also the beautiful image of Our Lady imprinted on it. The news of this miracle spread, and the tilma was shown to the public. In less than few years, there would be 9,000,000 conversion of Aztec indians to the faith through this miracle.
There are many miraculous things about this image of Our Lady of Guadalupe. First, the natural life-span of cactus-woven fiber is less than 30 years, but this image has survived 470 years. In 1700s, a priest commissioned eleven copies of this image to be painted on similar cactus-fiber canvas. All of them rotted in less than 11 years. Recent microscopic examination of the image revealed that there were no brush strokes, no under sketch, no protective over-varnish on the image. The Kodak of Mexico concluded that the surface of the image was smooth just like a photograph, and this would not have been technologically possible 470 years ago. Acid was sprayed by accident on this image and bullets were shot at this image, but no harm was done to the image. In 1921, a bomb planted in front of this image exploded during mass. Chunks of marble flew every where, stained glasses shattered, and brass candle sticks and crucifixes bent out of shape, but no one was hurt and the image was not even touched.
The image itself shows biblical significance which ties both the Book of Genesis and the Book of Revelation together. In today's First Reading God addresses the serpent in the Book of Genesis: "I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will strike at your head, while you strike at his heel." The Chapter 12 of the Book of Revelation says: "A great sign appeared in the sky, a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet,
and on her head a crown of twelve stars." The image of Our Lady of Guadalupe attests to both Genesis and Revelation. The image shows Our Lady standing on top of the moon and in front of the sun, and her mantle shows stars. For the native Aztec indians, sun and moon are the dreaded gods that they worshipped. This lady was greater than both. The moon also signified the serpent god that they worshipped. The word Guadalupe in their native language signified, 'the one who crushes the serpent.'
God in his infinite wisdom has prepared Our Lady as the greatest of his messengers of both the Old and the New Testament. Like her Son who is the Alpha and the Omega (the Beginning and the End) her moment of conception links the long prophesied figure of a woman foretold in the Book of Genesis with the woman of the Book of Revelation. She is the consummate face of love and mercy of God shown in our world. When we come to worship Jesus, the King of kings and the Lord of lords in this house of God, we are assured that His mother is always present with Him saying to us the following words: "Know for certain, my dearest sons and daughters, that I am the perfect and perpetual Virgin Mary, Mother of the True God, through whom everything lives, the Lord of all things, who is Master of Heaven and Earth. Here I will show and offer all my love, my compassion, my help and my protection to the people. I am your Mother, the Mother of all who live united in this land, and of all mankind, of all those who love me. Here I will hear your weeping and your sorrows, and will remedy and alleviate your sufferings, necessities and misfortunes."
In order to tell you about the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, I need to tell you about Our Lady of Guadalupe. In some ways, they are inexplicably linked in order to understand the true significance of the Immaculate Conception and the upcoming Christmas when we celebrate the birthday of Jesus. In the year 1519, Spanish conquistadore, Hernando Cortez arrived on the shores of Mexico and was able to capture what's now known as Mexico City that year. Cortez encountered a sophisticated and advanced Aztec civilization there. Yet this civilization had a gruesome and cruel side. Their gods, a sun-god and serpent-god required human sacrifices to be appeased, and Cortez found himself hearing screams of captured war-prisoners being sacrificed daily. A war ensued and the altars and temples to these cruel gods were demolished in a couple of years. But through the eyes of the conquered Aztecs, the God of Cortez was no more kinder to them. Spanish conquistadores enslaved many indians, and European plagues that they brought decimated their population. The religious missionaries had little success in convincing the natives about God who was merciful and loving. What was worse was that Aztec indians were on the verge of uprising. The Bishop of Mexico City, a native of Spain, secretly prayed to Our Lady to intervene and avert the eruption. And he asked Our Lady to send him Castilian roses, unknown in Mexico, as a sign that his desperate prayer had been heard.
What the bishop needed was a messenger of God who can show the loving and merciful face of God. On the morning of December 9, 1531, recently converted Aztec indian named Juan Diego was going to mass, walking through a hill called Tepeyac, when he heard a lady calling him. On top of the hill, he encounters a beautiful lady surrounded by bright light as pictured here in this miraculous picture. Our Lady said the following: "Know for certain, my dearest of my sons, that I am the perfect and perpetual Virgin Mary, Mother of the True God, through whom everything lives, the Lord of all things, who is Master of Heaven and Earth. I ardently desire a House of God (church) be built here for me where I will show and offer all my love, my compassion, my help and my protection to the people. I am your Mother, the Mother of all who live united in this land, and of all mankind, of all those who love me. Here I will hear their weeping and their sorrows, and will remedy and alleviate their sufferings, necessities and misfortunes. Therefore, in order to realize my intentions, go to the house of the Bishop of Mexico City and tell him that it is my desire to have a church built here." With these instruction, Juan Diego goes to the bishop, but the bishop is unconvinced. Discouraged Juan Diego pleads with Blessed Mother to send someone more worthy. Blessed Mother replied, "My little son, there are many I could send. But you are the one I have chosen." She asked him to go back the next day to the bishop. His next visit was no better. The bishop asks for a sign. Juan Diego was again discouraged. Blessed Mother encouraged him with these words, "My little son, am I not your Mother? Do not fear. The Bishop will have his sign. Come back to this place tomorrow." The next day, Juan Diego tries to avoid the hill because he had to fetch a priest for his dying uncle. Blessed Mother intercepts Juan and assures him that his uncle will be well. She tells Juan to come to the top of the hill to pick roses which she has prepared for the Bishop. In the middle of winter, roses do not bloom, but on this hill, Juan found Castillian (Spanish) roses which were unknown in Mexico. She placed them in his tilma (similar to poncho, made up of coarse cactus fiber which has natural life-span of 30 years) and sent Juan on his way to the Bishop. When Juan unfolded his tilma in front of the Bishop, not only the Castillian roses fell out, there was also the beautiful image of Our Lady imprinted on it. The news of this miracle spread, and the tilma was shown to the public. In less than few years, there would be 9,000,000 conversion of Aztec indians to the faith through this miracle.
There are many miraculous things about this image of Our Lady of Guadalupe. First, the natural life-span of cactus-woven fiber is less than 30 years, but this image has survived 470 years. In 1700s, a priest commissioned eleven copies of this image to be painted on similar cactus-fiber canvas. All of them rotted in less than 11 years. Recent microscopic examination of the image revealed that there were no brush strokes, no under sketch, no protective over-varnish on the image. The Kodak of Mexico concluded that the surface of the image was smooth just like a photograph, and this would not have been technologically possible 470 years ago. Acid was sprayed by accident on this image and bullets were shot at this image, but no harm was done to the image. In 1921, a bomb planted in front of this image exploded during mass. Chunks of marble flew every where, stained glasses shattered, and brass candle sticks and crucifixes bent out of shape, but no one was hurt and the image was not even touched.
The image itself shows biblical significance which ties both the Book of Genesis and the Book of Revelation together. In today's First Reading God addresses the serpent in the Book of Genesis: "I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will strike at your head, while you strike at his heel." The Chapter 12 of the Book of Revelation says: "A great sign appeared in the sky, a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet,
and on her head a crown of twelve stars." The image of Our Lady of Guadalupe attests to both Genesis and Revelation. The image shows Our Lady standing on top of the moon and in front of the sun, and her mantle shows stars. For the native Aztec indians, sun and moon are the dreaded gods that they worshipped. This lady was greater than both. The moon also signified the serpent god that they worshipped. The word Guadalupe in their native language signified, 'the one who crushes the serpent.'
God in his infinite wisdom has prepared Our Lady as the greatest of his messengers of both the Old and the New Testament. Like her Son who is the Alpha and the Omega (the Beginning and the End) her moment of conception links the long prophesied figure of a woman foretold in the Book of Genesis with the woman of the Book of Revelation. She is the consummate face of love and mercy of God shown in our world. When we come to worship Jesus, the King of kings and the Lord of lords in this house of God, we are assured that His mother is always present with Him saying to us the following words: "Know for certain, my dearest sons and daughters, that I am the perfect and perpetual Virgin Mary, Mother of the True God, through whom everything lives, the Lord of all things, who is Master of Heaven and Earth. Here I will show and offer all my love, my compassion, my help and my protection to the people. I am your Mother, the Mother of all who live united in this land, and of all mankind, of all those who love me. Here I will hear your weeping and your sorrows, and will remedy and alleviate your sufferings, necessities and misfortunes."
Saturday, December 6, 2008
Dec.7, 2008: 2nd Sunday of Advent (B)
Depending on who speaks, we listen. We listen particularly to the experts or the authority on the subject. When we see an athlete on a TV commercial, we expect that he would endorse something related to health or sports. Sometimes that rule of thumb is not so obvious. For example, who would have thought that George Foreman would sell grills or Peyton Manning selling HDTVs? What do these guys know anything about grills or HDTVs?
Although we naturally expect the person endorsing a product or a message to know well what he is endorsing, we give him a benefit of the doubt because he is a likable star.
In the matters of faith, who do you listen to as experts? Are you more likely listen to someone who has a scientific background? Take for example Einstein. He was born to secular Jewish parents in Germany. Later in his life, he and his wife were invited to a dinner party one evening. A guest at the party said that he believed in astrology. In reply Einstein ridiculed astrology as pure superstition. Another person overhearing this conversation said belief in God was superstition. Then Einstein replied, “Try and penetrate with our limited means the secrets of nature and you will find that, behind all the discernible laws and connections, there remains something subtle, intangible and inexplicable. Veneration for this force beyond anything that we can comprehend is my religion. To that extent I am, in fact, religious." In 1929, Einstein was interviewed by The Saturday Evening Post. He was asked, “To what extent are you influenced by Christianity?” Einstein replied, “"As a child I received instruction both in the Bible and in the Talmud. I am a Jew, but I am enthralled by the luminous figure of the Nazarene." Then the interviewer asked, "You accept the historical Jesus?" Einstein replied, "Unquestionably! No one can read the Gospels without feeling the actual presence of Jesus. His personality pulsates in every word. No myth is filled with such life."
Sometimes, scientists like Einstein are more effective messenger of God than some of the preachers who preach the gospel on TV. On one hand I know of many people who have come to know Jesus through preachers on TV. But some have alienated viewers by their lavish lifestyle and uncharitable behaviors off the air. Yet, we are even more convinced by ordinary persons who live a life of simple faith and charity than eloquent and charismatic preachers with lots of wealth [bling-blings]. I know of an elderly lady in our neighboring parish who regularly visits a nursing home to bring communion. I visited this nursing home, and at the entrance there were more than 8 or 9 elderly sitting in their wheelchairs lined up waiting in vain for a family member to visit them. With these people, our elderly volunteer grabs their hand, smiles at them, and says aloud, “How are you doing darling!” To these elderly thirsting for love of their own children, our elderly volunteer brings assurance that somebody cares; God cares enough to bring warm smile and touch to them. In other words, the messengers of Jesus need not be world renown, charismatic, or eloquent in order to be effective.
Take for example in today’s Gospel, John the Baptist. He was not the best dressed guy, for he lived like a caveman in the desert wearing clothes made of camel’s hair. He didn’t dine at fine restaurants, for he ate grasshoppers and honey. Yet he was chosen by Jesus to be his messenger. Jesus said, “I’m sending my messenger ahead of you; he will prepare your way. A voice of one crying out in the desert.” And his message was simple, “Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths…Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” The best messenger of God is one who is humble before God. John the Baptist said, “One mightier than I is coming after me. I am not worthy to stoop and loosen the straps of his sandals.” On Monday [12/8], we celebrate the greatest of the messengers of Jesus. She is a 14 year-old teenager from an unknown town. She herself attests to this, for she says, “For God has looked upon his handmaiden’s lowliness…” (Luke 1:48) Yet the angel Gabriel declares, "Hail, favored one! The Lord is with you," (Luke 1:28) and her cousin Elizabeth says, “Blessed are you who believed that what was spoken to you by the Lord would be fulfilled.” (Luke 1:45) On Monday, we celebrate the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the greatest of the messenger of God out of all the Old and the New Testament.
For all of us to become experts at messenger of God then involves two things. First, we need to be humble to acknowledge that whoever we are and wherever we are in the point of our life, God is the source and the goal. Second, like Blessed Mother, we need to believe that what was spoken to us by the Lord will be fulfilled. What was spoken to us? St. Peter says to us in the Second Reading, “The Lord does not delay his promise…the Lord will come like a thief…Therefore, beloved, since you await these things, be eager to be found without spot or blemish before him.”
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