“There is more.” If there were a slogan for Christianity, I think that this would be it! There is more… There is more joy, more peace, more happiness, freedom, and fulfillment waiting for you. Healing can happen, resurrection is an option, and what you see isn’t just what you get. There is more! There is more to life, more to marriage, more to family, friends, and fellowship than you realize. Jesus is always bringing more for those open to receiving it, and whatever the cross, whatever the roadblocks, whatever the pain, discouragement, and death that we face, there is always more redemption available.

What is striking about the saints is that they never say, “That is enough!” That is enough God, enough charity, enough hope. No, they know that heaven is not just watching the Cubs win the world series (and neither is hell thankfully!), nor is heaven enjoying grandma’s cheesecake again, or throwing a perfect game, or enjoying a good book and a tasty drink at the ocean—wonderful as these things are! Heaven doesn’t just satisfy our desire for pleasure, knowledge, and beauty, but also goodness, love, and belonging as well. All of the best memories in our lives, all of the greatest achievements, and even something more.

The saints were never fully satisfied in this life not because they didn’t enjoy life, or experience profound relationships, or achieve great feats—au contraire! They knew how to enjoy life in the best ways possible! Rather, they were never fully satisfied in this life because they knew that even these things were only a dim reflection of the glory to come. God always has even more in store. 

How do you fit the infinite into something finite? You don’t. That’s why in heaven there will be an eternity of wonder, an eternity of new life, an eternity of deepened love. Heaven could never be “boring” because by definition, as C.S. Lewis put it, it’s an eternity of joyfully traveling “further up and further in”! 

“Eye has not seen, ear has not heard, nor the heart of man imagined what God has prepared for those who love him!” (1 Cor 2:9) In a post-Easter world, we can take to heart St. Paul’s exhortation, “Rejoice in the Lord always. I shall say it again: rejoice!” For when it comes to life in Christ, life in His Church, and life as God’s beloved child, there is always more!

Father James

On Good Friday, Pontius Pilate was not the only one who had a choice to make. The very same choice was brought both to the people of the world then, as well as to the people of the world now. We may be unaware of this choice, but that’s why the Church in her wisdom has us hear Pontius Pilate pose the very same question to us this weekend.  He brings before us the one called Jesus of Nazareth, and the one known as Barabbas.  The two seem like they couldn’t be more different, until we recognize that Bar-abbas literally means “son of the father”.  Here then is our choice and question: Which son of the father will we follow?   Will we choose to follow Jesus Christ, the son of the Father of sacrificial love, or will you follow Bar-abbas, the son of the father of the passions?

Surprisingly, we participate in the Palm Sunday liturgy by crying out, “Barabbas!” It’s a painful moment each year no matter how many times we’ve done it, because if we are honest with ourselves, we know that we all too often choose our own passions over our Lord.  Like the crowds before Pilate, we too choose to act selfishly over being selfless.  In a sense, whenever we choose sin, we once again choose Bar-abbas!

To admit this is hard.  It’s very sobering. It first of all takes a certain about of self-awareness—and then, very quickly, a lot of humility. To be willing to look in the mirror and humbly submit our understanding of right vs. wrong to the God of all, rather than to what we’d like to think is right or wrong. When we put aside our attempts at justifying ourselves and our actions, the reality is clear: in our human brokenness, we don’t always do what is right! St. Paul describes this experience so well: “What I do, I do not understand. For I do not do what I want, but I do what I hate.” (Rom 7:15) What then do we do? Do we just surrender, give up, and resign ourselves to a life of sin?  NO! “You did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!””  (Rom 8:15) In Christ we have forgiveness; in Christ we have hope. Just look at St. Peter! He himself who was hand-picked by Jesus to be the rock upon which the Church was built denied our Lord 3 times. The head of the apostles himself had at one point ‘chosen Barabbas’. Yet,

The Church is founded upon forgiveness.  Peter himself is a personal embodiment of this truth! She is held together by forgiveness, and Peter is the perpetual living reminder of this reality: she is not a communion of the perfect but a communion of sinners who need and seek forgiveness. ~ Pope Benedict XVI

As we experience Palm Sunday, let us never be afraid to acknowledge our brokenness, seek forgiveness, and turn with confidence to our true Father through His one eternal Son!

Father Michael

When discussing our Catholic faith with one of my friends, he’ll usually respond, “Wow, you actually believe this?”  He says it in jest and sarcasm, as he too is a practicing Catholic.  The statement is more to point out where we are in our society when it comes to understanding and living out our faith, as it seems to go against our cultural norms.

Over the last 4 and half weeks of Lent, I have been going to various parishes, schools, and homes to bring people the Sacrament of Reconciliation, and that doesn’t include the increased hours of the Sacrament Reconciliation this coming week from 7-8:30PM, Monday through Friday, March 27th-31st offered at our parish. 

The Sacrament is a beautiful gift Jesus gave the Church (Jn 20:21-23; 2 Cor 5:11-21), and I’ve seen the power of the Sacrament through my own vocation.  Fr. James has preached on the precept of the Church that a Catholic is required to go to confession at least once a year.  One can respond, like my friend, “You actually believe this?” Of course my answer is “Yes” and our Gospel this weekend continues to reveal it.

There are many beautiful insights with the story of raising Lazarus, but I’ll point to one in particular.  Death was a result of sin, so when Jesus says to the people as Lazarus comes out of the tomb, “Unbind him and let him go,” Jesus is revealing his authority to free people not only from death, but sin as well.  Jesus desires to do the same in our lives.  He desires to call us from death to new life; He desires to free us from sin that binds us.  Let us take advantage of this gift the Lord has given us in the Sacrament of Reconciliation.

Father Michael

WHY GIVE ATTENTION TO LENT!

As a Seminarian, I consider the Lenten period a great opportunity to show my appreciation for Christ’s sacrifice and show that He did not die in vain.  The Lenten period allows us Christians to grow closer to God, to the church and our families.

Every Lenten period, I ask myself a question:  What strength did we receive during baptism? My first thought is the baptismal font: Whenever I pass near the baptismal font, I profess that were it not for the font, I would not be the way I am.  Had I not been washed and thus placed on the way to Eternal Salvation, I would not be a Christian or even a Seminarian.  Each year the Church uses this Lenten period to take us back to the baptismal font.  This is to remind us from where our lives in Christ started.  Therefore, during Lent we are invited to recall our relationship with Christ.  We are reminded how to walk with God.

We use the Lenten period to work on our sinful desires and do all we can to be closer to God.  During Lent, the main purpose of fasting in my view, is to deny or deprive ourselves of something tasty or delicious.  This cultivates in us the self-control that is necessary for overcoming sinful tendencies.  In short, as Christians, we deprive ourselves of something pleasurable so as to attune ourselves and bring our bodily senses under control for the sake of higher spiritual good.  This is the idea of fasting from meat! It is not a time to relish the best fish or go for costly sea foods! We should deny ourselves something we value (meat, beer, wine, sodas, sweets, lifestyles) and provide for others what they value, as a sign of love.  For fasting to be Salvific, it must hurt! The church also teaches us to set aside the proceeds from our fasting and give them out to the most vulnerable.  Look into your wardrobe and shoe rack and see what you can share with the less fortunate.

As we journey closer to God, let us thank God for granting us this Lenten period as a chance to repent and renew our lives.  May God help us as a community of OLM to align our choices to His Word through His Divine Grace.  Amen.      

Vincent

With the woman at the well, it is unclear why she has had five husbands. The detail is not included because it’s really not that important. Rather, we find her in the same situation that we all find ourselves: she is thirsting for authentic love—she is thirsting for God.

Unfortunately, we live in a fallen world without a lot of authentic love. In fact, cheapened love is all around us! One of its simplest and most prevalent forms is immodesty. Modesty keeps at the forefront that ‘I am more than my body, I am more than how attractive I am to others, I am first and most importantly a beloved child of God.’ Immodesty, on the other hand, cheapens love. For if modesty is about “protect[ing] the intimate center of the person,” then immodesty must be the opposite. (CCC 2521) This is because immodesty trains us to treat others (and ourselves!) as objects for use rather than persons to be sacrificed for. Thus, the Catechism says, “Modesty protects the mystery of persons and their love.” (CCC 2522) It is an invitation to authentic love and to seeing the full dignity of the human person.

Matthew 5:8 reads, “Blessed are the pure of heart, for they shall see God.” Note, then, that this passage not only refers to seeing God Himself, but even seeing God in others! For, when we see others and ourselves in light of our being beloved children of God, then we can more readily treat them as such.

We can therefore see that ‘purity of heart’ extends to much more than just our sexuality. Soren Kierkegaard’s book, Purity of Heart is to Will One Thing makes just this point in an interesting way: if we want heaven, if we want peace, if we want a heart that is undivided and filled, then we must give our entire hearts to one thing and one thing alone: God.

“You shall love the Lord your God with ALL your heart!” (Deut 6:5) “Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me.” (Matt 10:37) It seems harsh, it seems counterintuitive, but God needs to be number one—even before children and spouses, family and friends—not because He needs it, but because we need it.

Think about it. If God is my number one, I will love my spouse with the love of God. If God is my number one, I will be intimately acquainted with Beauty, Goodness, and Truth Himself and thus be able to lead my children to all those things. If God is my number one, I will know which path is best, which decision most efficacious, and which lifestyle the most meaningful.

Purity of heart is simplicity of heart—it is to will the one thing! It is the way to satisfy our thirst. The pure of heart will see God, and the pure of heart will find the fullness of love.

Father James