I will send an Advocate

Remember the Star Wars sage? Young Luke Skywalker is suddenly thrust into the position of saving the coalition which is threatened by the evil empire. In addition to this rag-tag group he discovers that he is in possession of this "power," for lack of better term, called the 'force.' Luke's mentor and guide is Obi Won, who keeps Luke centered and tries to keep him from impulsiveness. This same force can be used for evil and selfish gain, and Luke is encouraged to use his special gifts for the good and safety of others.

As the apostles are about to set out on ministry, Jesus discloses to them that he will always be present to them, and to the Church through the Advocate, in the person of the Holy Spirit. This ongoing relationship is a sign and symbol that the Father loves us. The Paschal Mystery has made us one with God, now this same relationship will be our source of strength and courage through the Holy Spirit. In the Acts of the Apostles we can see how this relationship enables conversion, and brings healing and peace into the lives of men and women.

The mission and the ministry of the Church today center on continuing to proclaim the Good News. To be sure there are many situations where the 'evil empire' seems to pervade in the culture of death. We respond through the power of the Holy Spirit in a culture of life. As St. Peter will tell us we are should teat each other with reverence and gentleness. Such behaviour stands out and becomes a witness for the Paschal Mystery.

May the force of God be with us.

Wait'in for the Holy Spirit

This weekend is the sixth Sunday of Easter. In our church most of the Lilies are gone, and we are slowly replacing the flora with green plants. The Baptismal font water is looking old, and it is harder to get out that Alleluia at the end of Mass. Some of the really neat feasts, like the Body and Blood of Christ and Trinity Sunday, are much later as Easter was later. So keeping up the enthusiasm is really a lot of work.

But this difficulty to retain the spirit of celebration and Easter joy is good to feel and even better to reflect on. So much of what we do as Church certainly seems passe or nonsensical to those who are not firmly established in a life of Faith, and of the Church. There are times at funerals, when I am talking about the Paschal Mystery or the salvation and peace we have through Jesus Christ, I realize that I am using words and terms that are foreign at the very least. The temptation is to follow the words of many today who would suggest we change what we are doing so as to be relevant.

In his farewell discourse Jesus speaks a lot of the Holy Spirit and refers to that same Spirit as the Spirit of Truth. As our Easter decorations quite literally wither away, it is good to go back and once again reflect on what we are doing and why. If our Church experience is that like cattle who come in and out, lining up along the trough, then we have missed something very important. This is the reason that I get really nervous when we take out the same tired old binders for our parish programs and liturgical celebrations.

When stuff becomes tedious then its time to ask for the Holy Spirit. The Spirit is not this one time celebration or the gifts at Confirmation, but an ongoing source of renewal and strength in the way we do Church. To be sure the Spirit cannot be reserved for liturgical celebrations but is part of inspiring every aspect of our life. Watch little kids sometimes. They excitedly enter into every situation with joy and wonder. Imagine coming home from work with great glee and excitement.

The power of the Holy Spirit brings us back to the joy of our youth. Through the Spirit we are encouraged to grow deeper into that relationship with God and our brothers and sisters. May the good works that God has begun in us be brought to completion.

Live on in my Love

When we were little the ability to believe was so much easier. There was so much around us that God remained the only explanation. As a child, even if the teasing did not cease, we knew and held firm to the understanding that God was always part of our lives. As we grew older we came to understand that those nice priests and sisters had various difficulties, and the gentle older woman from the Altar and Rosary were not always so loving and kindly. That is part of growing up. We would come to recognize how much we as a people, and the Church as well, relied on grace and God's blessings.

After four years of seminary, which included four years of Church history, I had come to the conclusion that the Holy Spirit was in charge. Saints Bernard of Clairvaux and Catherine of Siena are two of my all time favorite saints. When the Church was going the wrong way and seem to be unravelling at the seams, they boldly and faithfully stood up and proclaimed what was true and good. Throughout the Church we recognize these moments when the Church could have gone another way. John Paul II exemplifies a charisma which embraced the world, and guided the Church in the post Vatican II era.

The John Jay study was released this past week which examined the reasons behind clergy sexual abuse. There has been a fanfare of Internet fury. While the study did not specify one cause or another, the basic reason seems simply to be evil. Not a red demon with long horns and a tail mind you, but the presence of evil in the Church, and within the hearts of men and women.

In these last few weeks of Easter the Gospels relate Jesus' prayer for the apostles, the Church, and the world. It is a prayer for unity and oneness between men and women, and within the Church as well. In the Eucharistic prayer we pray for the Pope, our Bishop, clergy, and all men and women. It is an important prayer. Nine days before the feast of Pentecost it is traditional to pray a novena to the Holy Spirit. Not a bad idea. Continuing the mission of Jesus is important to be sure. But so is praying for the Church, especially that the Holy Spirit will continue to guide and direct it.

That all be made one.

Let us proclaim the mystery of faith

There was a reflection by Abbot Jerome Kodell, O.S.B., of of New Subiaco Abbey, I had read several weeks ago. The thought that Abbot Jerome walks us through is our ongoing journey through the passion, death, and resurrection of Jesus. He begins with a story of his own experience, as a young monk, meeting a participant of a peace group back in the 1960s. The man spoke of the violence he had endured. The individual shared how he used to fight back when he was attacked, which only seemed to make the violence worse. But when he remained passive, allowing the anger to be absorbed by his body, the violence lessened.

That is sort of the key of the idea of non-violent protest but also the scriptural challenge to turn the other cheek. Anger and violence only leads to more anger and violence. When we can approach a situation in peace, we can and do defuse potentially hostile and aggressive situations. Scripture again reminds us of the prophetic words, "Like a lamb he was led to the slaughter."

St. Paul helps us understand that through Baptism and Confirmation, we are initiated into the Passion, Dying, and Rising of Jesus Christ. Even Paul understands though that such participation takes a while to realize and actualize. Like the man in Kodell's experience, even someone who is doing good, can come to realize a new depth of their spiritual life when the PDR (passion, death, and resurrection) of Jesus becomes very real. Moving from a theory to a lived response, is the beginning of a conversion process here.

I will often reflect that the reasons I am a priest today are not the reasons I became a priest many years ago. I talk to engaged couples about this necessity of accepting the cross into their lives so as to experience the resurrection. I do not know how many really listen. When I play checkers on the Internet, sometimes when an opponent is losing, suddenly they leave the game. This is sort of telltale of our society today. Losing, hurting, suffering, distress, and anguish, are seen as such abysmal experiences, that we refuse to encounter them.

Not going to the cross does not allow us to grow into the mystery of Jesus. Jesus remains that pretty picture on the wall or the carved statue at the front of the Church. But it never touches my life or challenges me to be different.

Some of the priests I know talk about how they sometimes cringe when there is that phone call late in the evening, or after a Sunday morning of masses one person hangs back to talk. But the pause is brief. The gift of being able to minister, console, offer the sacraments, is more powerful than fatigue or hunger. Dads and Moms share in that gift when they are present to one another, and their children, after a day at work or the hectic schedules of the moment. Dying to our self allows us to embrace the body of Christ more closely.

Teaching and Churching

I was reading a letter by Cardinal Wuerl in which he describes the role of the Bishops as the teachers of the Church. This is not a disputable fact though one which causes all sort of consternation. I like his example of tennis players during a tennis match. The line judge, not the players make the calls as to what constitutes a fair ball, or a point. In a similar way the Bishop's authority is one of teaching and guiding.

In an age where we want a majority rule or not to distress an others feelings, the idea of a Bishop's teaching authority might seem antiquated. Yet in the Acts of the Apostles when the choice has to be made as to what traditions to maintain, and not to maintain, the role of Deacons, and who to send on various missions, the apostles gathered together, prayed, and implored the power of the Holy Spirit. Their decisions were not always popular but they spoke form the authority given them by Jesus Christ.

We might want to think that Jesus never would have done this. Yet, we do read in sacred scripture whereas Jesus defined the laws and regulations as going beyond the basic concepts of the covenant. Jesus expands the ideas of murder, adultery, and chastity and charity. When people wandered away from Jesus he did not change his concepts so as to meet with every one's approval. We like to maintain the smilely Jesus of our childhood.

Our worship together is to be done in spirit and in truth. That is the crux of our life as a Church. With this foundation our Church leadership shares the Good News through faithful witness, preaching, and teaching the precepts of the Gospel and a moral life. It is a lot of work which is hopefully always reliant on the Holy Spirit.

I is very important to keep our Bishops in our prayers. They take over the struggles of the Church life and Shepherd in the image of Jesus the Christ.

The way, truth, and life

Today's Gospel from John comes prior to his suffering and death. Jesus is preparing his disciples for the experience of the Pascal Mystery. There is a 'right' orientation to approach this mystery of of faith. Jesus is trying to remove them from the Sin and confusion which comes of of anxiety or fear. Such a reaction, rather than that of faith, overlooks the presence of God. Jesus even reflects that if we have experienced him, Jesus the Christ, then we have experienced God the Father.

The letter from St. Peter is most powerful. Through baptism and confirmation we become one holy people. More so we are living stones being built into the household of God. The reaction of God's people to the anxieties of life needs to be as people of hope and peace. Faithful people move about in the darkness of life with the light of Christ, responding with courage to the demands of this life. St. John Paul II reminded us so often not to be afraid, and to open wide the doors to Christ.

To be sure faithful people do not respond to the pains and frustrations of the world with bright eyed smiley faces, but realistically engage the world through understanding and compassion. Some of these same faithful people we have known through the formal 'St' before their names, but more often than not we know them as family and friends who are not deterred from doing what is right in the middle of a culture of death.

Jesus presents himself as the way in all of our responses in life. I always get nervous when people present Jesus in a shallow or convoluted way. Jesus places the Holy Spirit within us, but it also includes the cross. Its time for us to become super-heroes in the name of Christ.

Presbyteral Order

Today the Rockford Diocese ordained seven men to the Priesthood. It is a wonderful day for the Church, and especially for our Diocese. As priest, it is great to have new brothers joining us as minister of the Word and the Altar. The rite itself is a powerful ritual which conveys the understanding that these men are called from the people of God to serve as followers of Christ.

For myself the most powerful part of the Ordination is receiving the paten of bead and chalice with wine. "Receive from the people ... imitate the mystery you celebrate. For myself that says it all in regards to what priesthood stands for in the Church. To preach, teach and sanctify. The Acts of the apostles in this Sunday's first reading tells the story of the first deacons. Men from the community are called to serve, so that the proclamation of the Word might not be compromised. The order of the Priesthood has a very special role in the celebration and the integrity of the sacraments. In so many ways the priest is invited to walk on sacred ground in the lives of men and women.

In recent years the priesthood has seen some dark moments. Sin and confusion are part of the human fabric, which is why we rely on the grace and mercy of Jesus Christ. We have also scene in the last several years an increase in seminary enrollment as well as religious life. The Holy Spirit cannot be thwarted or discouraged. If God is for us who can be against.

These men will begin to serve almost immediately. There will be the multiplicity of firsts in their lives. There will be awesome moments, as well as times of discouragement. We will continue to pray for them, and for the Church, that the mission and ministry of Jesus continue to be unfolded.