Saint Peter and Saint Paul

On this feast day of Sts. Peter and Paul, the Church commemorates the significant contributions that these two earliest Christians made in spreading the Gospel of Christ. Peter led the early Church and Paul evangelized and ministered among the Gentile populations. Together, Peter and Paul are honored as apostles, evangelizers, missionaries, and martyrs.

What I most appreciate about Saint Peter and Saint Paul is the fact that both were very human and had their share of flaws and foibles. From the Gospels, we encounter Peter who so often lacked faith, courage, and understanding. And Paul, prior to his profound conversion, was a radical Jewish zealot who persecuted Christian believers.

Despite their weaknesses and shortcomings, the Lord used these very human men to grow the Church and spread the Gospel. God's grace and mercy was indeed much more powerful and effective than either of Peter or Paul's barriers. Both Peter and Paul were strengthened to be courageous and faithful stewards of the Word. This is the good news for us: our God can use as instruments to accomplish His will despite our own limitations and flaws.

St. Peter and St. Paul, pray for us!

Lead, Kindly Light

One of my favorite poems, "The Pillar of Cloud," was written in 1833 by Blessed John Henry Newman. The saintly author is a master with words and images. Newman skillfully conveys doubt, searching, and ultimately, trust in God during life's well-trod journey. Also, the theme of Light seems appropriate, especially now at the summer solstice. Read and enjoy!

Lead, Kindly Light, amid the encircling gloom
          Lead Thou me on!
The night is dark, and I am far from home—
          Lead Thou me on!
Keep Thou my feet; I do not ask to see
The distant scene—one step enough for me.

I was not ever thus, nor pray'd that Thou
          Shouldst lead me on.
I loved to choose and see my path, but now
          Lead Thou me on!
I loved the garish day, and, spite of fears,
Pride ruled my will: remember not past years.

So long Thy power hath blest me, sure it still
          Will lead me on,
O'er moor and fen, o'er crag and torrent, till
          The night is gone;
And with the morn those angel faces smile
Which I have loved long since, and lost awhile.

A Pilgrim in Emmitsburg

On Sunday, I found myself driving north from Virginia back home to Pennsylvania. I decided to take advantage of my time on the road and make a few stops along the way. Right on the Maryland-Pennsylvania border, at the Mason-Dixon line, is the small town of Emmitsburg, Maryland. Although it is a small, rural community off of Highway 15, Emmitsburg has proven to be a significant hub of spiritual wealth for our country.

I first pulled into the campus of Mount St. Mary University and Seminary. I was deeply impressed by the vastness of the land that the site sits on. I headed toward the seminary; it is a beautiful stone structure with a large porch facing acres of green grass. 

I then prayed in the chapel of the Immaculate Conception, the worship site for the college community. Being at Mount St. Mary's was like taking a step back into the past. I wondered how many seminarians and students had prayed in this church. I also thought of the lives that were gradually changed because of the lasting encounters made on these hallowed grounds.

Nearby is the national shrine dedicated to Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton. St. Elizabeth was born in New York in 1774. St. Elizabeth married William Seton and together, they had five children. Tragedy would strike the Seton family when William died while abroad in Europe. St. Elizabeth encountered a period of spiritual crisis and soul-searching. Although raised an Episcopalian, St. Elizabeth eventually converted to Catholicism as an adult after her husband's death. 

By 1810, St. Elizabeth had professed her own private vows, which would pave the way for the founding of the Sisters of Charity. This religious congregation attended the educational needs of young Catholic women in the United States. The home base for the congregation was in Emmitsburg, near the seminary of Mount St. Mary's. In 1821, St. Elizabeth Ann Seton entered into eternal rest at this site. 

The most meaningful moment of this trip occurred as I prayed at the tomb of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton. Kneeling in front of her marble resting place, I kissed her relic and asked her to intercede for the Church in the United States. I then asked her to help guide me as I begin my journey into seminary. At that moment, I felt the saint's presence with me. Together, we prayed the Lord's Prayer. The communion of saints is a true and living reality!

With the confidence one can only gain through saintly intercession, I left Emmitsburg and continued onward to my home in Pennsylvania. I feel blessed that I was able to stop and pray as a pilgrim at these venerable American Catholic sites in Emmitsburg, Maryland. And I am confident that this American saint is praying for us, here and now. The Gospel is present among all peoples in all times and cultures, including our own! 

Wedding Season

It's mid-June and I've already been to three weddings! Of course, I am very happy that I had been invited to celebrate these momentous occasions with family and friends. Weddings are wonderful events.

Yet, at times, it is easy to get caught up in some of the lesser-important details of the 'big day': dress designs and tuxedo colors, appetizers and meals, drinks and dancing. Recently, I've been reflecting on the vows that the couple makes to each other during the ceremony. This is the very heart of a wedding.

The bride and the groom each vow to love and honor the other. These vows are much more than just sweet, sappy, and sentimental words. In all moments, every day, in good times and in bad, the spouses promise to be true to each other, and to love each other until death.

At the most recent wedding I attended, the spouses chose to have proclaimed John 15 in which Jesus describes the true nature of love: "As the Father loves me, so I also love you. Remain in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and your joy may be complete. This is my commandment: love one another as I love you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends."

Marriage is the constant, daily commitment to love as Jesus loves, to lay down one's life for the well-being of one's spouse. Marriage is self-sacrificial. The good of the spouse trumps one's own personal wants, needs, and desires. Marriage is a lifelong commitment, one that is often made before the community of family and friends, the state, and God.

How privileged are we to stand before these couples during 'wedding season' and witness as they pledge their lives over to each other! Jesus Christ is always calling us to something more, to freely give of ourselves in love to others. This is perhaps best exemplified by our family and friends who exchange vows and "I-do's".

Seminarian Dance-Off

Looks like I might have to brush up on my dance moves...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UdYDKmpzt5U

The Coming of the Spirit

In just a few short days, we will celebrate the great feast of Pentecost. With the coming of the Holy Spirit, we celebrate the fullness of the Paschal Mystery. The saving works of Jesus Christ, beginning with His life, death on the cross, and resurrection, come to fulfillment with his ascension into Heaven and sending of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. Jesus promises that He will send another Advocate (John 14:16). If we can trust in the promises of Jesus, then surely we can trust in God's Spirit!

There seems to me to be a threefold manner in which the Holy Spirit comes to us.

First, the Spirit comes to each of us individually. Through our baptism, we are incorporated into the Body of Christ and called to be people of peace and unity (Ephesians 4). We are recipients of the abundant graces of the Spirit, Who alone allows us to call Jesus "Lord" (see 1 Cor. 12:3). This same Spirit endows us with the ability to speak in "foreign tongues"...that is, we are gifted and then challenged by the Spirit to proclaim Jesus Christ in our homes, schools, and workplaces.

Secondly, the Holy Spirit comes to dwell in our Church. The Spirit makes the Church holy, even when we, the members of the Church, do not act in such a way. The Holy Spirit breathes tongues of fire over the Church in every age in order to light the fire of missionary zeal and fervor. The Spirit gathers the Church together in the "upper room" with the other disciples, surrounded by the apostolic tradition and in prayer with our Mother Mary (see Acts 1:12-14). Again, our baptism into the Church community is immersion into the life of the Spirit!

Finally, the Holy Spirit is present in the world; the Spirit renews the face of the earth! In all that is true, beautiful, and good in the world, you will find the Holy Spirit. The Spirit sanctifies the world and prepares the world to receive the very gift of God-among-us. Renewal and abundance are hallmarks of God's Spirit in the world.

My prayer is that individuals in our Church and the world remain open to the coming of the Spirit. May we allow God's Holy Spirit to transform our hearts and bring us to greater unity and peace.

To Show People How to Love

You may remember this powerful image from Easter, 2013. I still get goosebumps whenever I see it. Pope Francis stopped to embrace Dominic Gondreau, a young boy who suffers from cerebral palsy. The love and joy of each person encountering the other is palpable in this photo.

Dominic's father, Paul Gondreau, is a theology professor from Providence College in Rhode Island who, with his wife, takes care of Dominic's needs. Professor Gondreau offered the following reflection on this profound moment and how the pope's embrace of Dominic was a powerful witness to the radical nature of Christian love. (Paul Gondreau's full article can be found at: http://catholicmoraltheology.com/a-special-vocation-to-show-people-how-to-love/).

"Dominic..has already shared in Christ’s Cross more than I have throughout my entire life multiplied a thousand times over. What is the purpose in all this, I ask? Furthermore, I often tend to see my relationship with Dominic in a one-sided manner. Yes, he suffers more than me, but it’s constantly ME who must help HIM. Which is how our culture often looks upon the disabled: as weak, needy individuals who depend so much upon others, and who contribute little, if anything, to those around them.

Pope Francis’ embrace of my son yesterday turns this logic completely on its head and, in its own small yet powerful way, shows once again how the wisdom of the Cross confounds human wisdom. Why is the whole world so moved by images of this embrace?...To show people how to love. ...Dominic’s special vocation in the world is to move people to love, to show people how to love. 

But how can a disabled person show us how to love in a way that only a disabled person can? ...Christ’s resurrection from the Cross proclaims that the love he offers us, the love that we, in our turn, are to show others, is the REAL reason he endured the Cross in the first place. Our stony hearts are transformed into this Christ-like love, and thereby empowered to change hatred into love, only through the Cross. And no one shares in the Cross more intimately than the disabled. And so the disabled become our models and our inspiration. 

Yes, I give much to my son, Dominic. But he gives me more, WAY more. I help him stand and walk, but he shows me how to love. I feed him, but he shows me how to love. I bring him to physical therapy, but he shows me how to love. I stretch his muscles and joke around with him, but he shows me how to love. I lift him in and out of his chair, I wheel him all over the place, but he shows me how to love. I give up my time, so much time, for him, but he shows me how to love.

This lesson, to repeat, confounds the wisdom of the world... The lesson my disabled son gives stands as a powerful testament to the dignity and infinite value of every human person, especially of those the world deems the weakest and most “useless.” Through their sharing in the “folly” of the  Cross, the disabled are, in truth, the most powerful and the most productive among us.

What a powerful witness to the radical way that Jesus the Lord shares His love with each of us! Thank you, Pope Francis and Dominic, for teaching us how to love like Christ!