Feast Day: May 17^th | Lay Franciscan Brother | Imagery: Robed as a Franciscan, Carrying or Worshipping the Eucharist, Surrounded by Sheep,

Poverty doesn’t guarantee you will become a saint, but Jesus was poor, and a whole lot of saints have learned sanctity in the school of scarcity. St. Paschal was one of them. He was born on the feast of Pentecost in 1540 to peasant parents in the Kingdom of Aragon in Spain. At that time, children were often given names based on the feast day on which they were born, and so, being born on the culmination of the season after Easter, the Baylón baby was named “Paschal”.

He would be a shepherd for most of his early life, spending much of his life out in the hills guiding and protecting his family’s flock. During those hours, having been given the Little Office of the Blessed Virgin Mary (a collection of psalms, prayers, and hymns similar to the Divine Office that all priests and religious promise to pray), whenever he came across someone who could read, he would ask them to teach him another word or phrase, slowly learning how to pray the prayers that he carried with him everywhere. Already, he was noted to have a supernatural generosity, giving away part of his food to feed those poorer than himself, and an integrity and humility beyond that of his fellow shepherds.

Gradually these virtues allowed him to hear the gentle call of Christ to religious life. He was directed towards a number of well-endowed monasteries but having come to know Christ in his early poverty, Paschal knew to reject the attraction/temptation of a more comfortable road, not wanting to neglect where Christ had already been working in his heart. At the age of 25 he entered the Reformed Franciscans, discerning during his novitiate that the Lord was not calling him to priesthood but to the simple life of a Franciscan Lay Brother. He would spend a number of his years humbly manning the door, waiting for people to come by and attending to their needs. (Several saints held this same role in their communities!: Andre Bessette, John Masias, Charles of Sezze, Didacus of Alcala, Alphonsus Rodriguez, Benito Solana Ruiz, Bonaventure of Barcelona, and Bl. Solanus Casey. Don’t think that holding the door for someone or picking up the phone is not a path to sainthood!)

However, he was also entrusted with quite arduous labors, including a mission to the Calvinist and Huguenot heretics, attempting to renew in them their belief in Christ’s presence in the Blessed Sacrament. One could questions whether he was successful at this – given the mob that formed and almost killed him – but it seems that his measure of success was not that of this world, but perhaps that of God, because his own generosity, humility, and devotion to prayer before the Tabernacle, were undaunted by the rejection. He died of an illness in 1592, only 52 years old, and without many accomplishments that the world would count important – caring for sheep, praying for hours, kindness to all?? – but he was immediately acclaimed a saint, miracles were rampant at his tomb, and he is a patron saint of Eucharistic Congresses and Eucharistic Devotion. May he pray for us as we seek renewal in our own Eucharistic love! It seems that we probably should start with some kind of poverty…

– Fr. Dominic often looks for consolation in food. Example at hand: a piece of dark chocolate and a few tablespoons of peanut butter went into the composition of this article… But holiness is not going to be found there! St. Paschal points us towards the importance of feeling hungry at times – whether physically or in other ways – and then directing our hunger, our poverty, towards the Bread of Life. If we aren’t ever hungry, we won’t adequately appreciate Christ’s gift, and if we don’t fill our hunger with Heavenly Food, we’re apt to be stuck with chocolate and peanut butter for all eternity. (Which, I promise, will not satisfy us for very long.)

At a recent Family of Faith gathering, some of our families shared some reflections on how their families pray together.  One family had mentioned how the children asked the parents about why they did not pray the Thanksgiving after Meals Prayer, as they had observed with their grandparents.  The parents humbly received the challenge from their children and have added it to the end of their meals.

I think this example highlights something many of us experience.  We can be pretty good about praying before our meals, but how often do we conclude our meal with a prayer of thanksgiving?  Perhaps some of us are not even aware that there is a standard prayer for after meals!  For reference, here is one I usually use:

We give you thanks, Almighty God, for these and all of thy benefits, which we have received from your bounty, through Christ, our Lord.  May the divine assistance remain always with us, and may the souls of the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace.  Amen.

Now, this also applies to the meal of the Eucharist.  Many of us take time to show up a little early to pray as we prepare for Mass.  But it is not so common to see people remain after the final blessing to spend some time in thanksgiving for the gifts received in the Eucharist.  There are a variety of ways to offer thanksgiving, typically usually your own words, thanking God for the gift of His life shared in the Eucharist, praying that the graces received will bear fruit in your life,  guarding you from all of the threats that can throw you off from following Him.

There are some very beautiful prayers that have been composed over the years that can be used as well.  There is a Prayer after Communion written by St. Thomas Aquinas that can be found on the back of the white Pray Together booklets in our pews.  One of my favorite prayers is called the Universal Prayer, which has been attributed to Pope Clement XI.  It is rather long, but beautiful, and I share it here in case you would like to give it a shot.  Whatever prayer you offer, I encourage you to do something, as it will only strengthen your love for this sublime gift of His Body and Blood that He offers to us at each Mass:

Lord, I believe in You: increase my faith. I trust in You: strengthen my trust. I love You: let me love You more and more. I am sorry for my sins: deepen my sorrow. I worship You as my first beginning, I long for You as my last end, I praise You as my constant helper, and call on You as my loving protector. Guide me by Your wisdom, correct me with Your justice, comfort me with Your mercy,

protect me with Your power. I offer You, Lord, my thoughts; to be fixed on You;

my words: to have You for their theme; my actions: to reflect my love for You;

my sufferings: to be endured for Your greater glory. I want to do what You ask of me: in the way You ask, because You ask. Lord, enlighten my understanding,

strengthen my will, purify my heart, and make me holy. Let me love You, my Lord and my God, and see myself as I really am: a pilgrim in this world, a Christian called to respect and love all whose lives I touch, those in authority over me or those under my authority, my friends and my enemies. Help me to repent of my past sins and to resist temptation in the future. Help me to rise above my human weakness and to grow stronger as a Christian. Help me to conquer anger with gentleness, greed by generosity, apathy by fervor. Help me to forget myself and reach out toward others. Make me prudent in planning,

courageous in taking risks. Make me patient in suffering, unassuming in prosperity.  Keep me, Lord, attentive at prayer, temperate in food and drink,

diligent in my work, firm in my good intentions. Let my conscience be clear,

my conduct without fault, my speech blameless, my life well-ordered. Put me on guard against my human weaknesses.  Let me cherish Your love for me, keep Your law, and come at last to Your salvation. Teach me to realize that this world is passing, that my true future is happiness of heaven, that life on earth is short,

and the life to come eternal. Help me to prepare for death with a proper fear of judgment, but a greater trust in Your goodness. Lead me safely through death to the endless joy of heaven.  Grant this though Christ our Lord.  Amen.

Feast Day: May 14^th | Apostle and Martyr| Imagery: Bearded and Robed as an Apostle, Holding Scroll or Book of the Gospels, and/or an Ax, the instrument of his martyrdom.

On the feast of St. Matthias each year the church offers for our reflection in the Office of Readings, a homily by St. John Chrysostom on the call of St. Matthias. I place it before you today, (having no better words to say myself about this great addition to the Apostles) and wanting to focus our attention on what happens whenever the Church chooses, ordains, a man as a priest (or bishop, a full member of the apostles)! Chrysostom is reflecting on the scene given to us in Acts 1:12-27, right after the Ascension, when St. Peter calls upon the early Church to replace Judas who had lost hope in Christ and hung himself, and his emphasis cannot be underestimated: this is God’s choice, and made by the Church! All of us are called by God, within the Church, to some way of faithfully following the Lord, some way of witnessing to what we have seen of Christ’s power. Have you and I let the Church call that out from us?! Here is how the great golden-tongued-preacher told the story:

“In those days, Peter, stood up in the midst of the disciples and said…” As the fiery spirit to whom the flock was entrusted by Christ and as the leader in the band of the apostles, Peter always took the initiative in speaking: “My brothers, we must choose from among our number.” He left the decision to the whole body, at once augmenting the honor of those elected and avoiding any suspicion of partiality. For such great occasions can easily lead to trouble.

Did not Peter then have the right to make the choice himself? Certainly he had the right, but he did not want to give the appearance of showing special favor to anyone. Besides he was not yet endowed with the Spirit. And they nominated two, we read, “Joseph, who was called Barsabbas and surnamed Justus, and Matthias.” He himself did not nominate them; all present did. But it was he who brought the issue forward, pointing out that it was not his own idea but had been suggested to him by a scriptural prophecy. So he was speaking not as a teacher but as an interpreter.

So, he goes on, “we must choose from those men who lived in our company.” Notice how insistent he is that they should be eyewitnesses. Even though the Spirit would come to ratify the choice, Peter regards this prior qualification as most important. Those who lived in our company, he continued, “all through the time when the Lord Jesus came and went among us.” He refers to those who had dwelt with Jesus, not just those who had been his disciples. For of course from the very beginning many had followed him. Notice how it is written that Peter himself was one of the two who had listened to John, and followed Jesus.

“All through the time when the Lord Jesus came and went among us, beginning with the baptism of John” – rightly so, because no one knew what had happened before that time, although they were to know of it later through the Spirit. “Up to the day”, Peter added, “on which he was taken up from us – one of these must be made a witness along with us of his resurrection.” He did not say “a witness of the rest of his actions” but only a witness of the resurrection. That witness would be more believable who could declare that he who ate and drank and was crucified also rose from the dead. He needed to be a witness not of the times before or after that event, and not of the signs and wonders, but only of the resurrection itself. For the rest happened by general admission, openly; but the resurrection took place secretly, and was known to these men only.

“And they all prayed together, saying: You, Lord, know the hearts of men; make your choice known to us.” “You”, not “we”. Appropriately they said that He knew the hearts of men, because the choice was to be made by Him, not by others. They spoke with such confidence, because someone had to be appointed. They did not say “choose” but make known to us the chosen one; the one you choose, they said, fully aware that everything was pre-ordained by God. They then drew lots. For they did not think themselves worthy to make the choice of their own accord, and therefore they wanted some sign for their instruction. [From a homily on the Acts of the Apostles by Saint John Chrysostom (Hom 3, 1.2.3: PG 60, 33-36, 38).]

– Fr. Dominic sometimes considers what he would be pictured with if he were ever canonized a saint. Would it be a book or scroll, for carrying the Gospel to all places? Would it be the instrument of my death, or my death to self? It gives me pause to consider the things I often carry around, and how they seem to not bear much importance in light of eternal life…

On the 4^th Sunday of Easter, the Gospel is always drawn from John 10, which is where Jesus speaks of Himself as the Good Shepherd.  This Sunday has therefore become known as Good Shepherd Sunday.  60 years ago, the Church decided that on this Sunday, it would be an opportune time for the faithful throughout the world to pray for vocations, especially for vocations to the priesthood in which the Lord provides shepherds for the Church.  

As I consider this day this year, I note that yesterday (or today if you read this on Saturday) marked the 44^th anniversary of my baptism.  Why is this important?  Because on the day of my baptism, the seed of my vocation was planted, as it is in each one of us.  In its most basic form, we are all called to a vocation of holiness, to become saints one day.  In His perfect plan for us, God has designed the unique way for that holiness to be lived out, which we call our particular vocation, the awareness of which continues to grow as we journey with the Lord.  The discovery of one’s vocation, though, is not an isolated experience.  It involves the entire Church supporting and praying for vocations, thus the command of the Lord: “Pray the Lord of the harvest to send laborers into his harvest.” (Mt 9:38; Lk 10:2)  The prayers of the people of God directly assist in the discovery of how the Lord is calling us to follow Him.

It dawns on me this year that my discerning my vocation to the priesthood was assisted by you (and the entire Church) before you ever knew me, and before I ever thought about the possibility of responding to the invitation of the Lord to follow Him as a priest.  The same can be said for all of us who have been ordained and are privileged to serve you here at the Cathedral.  So I extend my deepest gratitude for those prayers!  I think it also highlights the power of our prayers when we unite them with those of the rest of the Church.  We never know how and when our prayers will be answered, but the Lord uses all of them in His perfect Providence to accomplish His holy will.

During this Eucharistic Year, and as I have committed to reflecting on the gift of the Eucharist more specifically during this Easter Season, there is an obvious connection to the Eucharist on Good Shepherd Sunday.  Without the shepherds of the Church (bishops and priests) we do not have the Eucharist.  Only a priest is able to celebrate Mass and feed us with the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ.  Add to that the sacraments of Penance, Confirmation, Anointing of the Sick, and conferring Holy Orders.  As a result, gratitude for the gift of the Eucharist and all of the sacraments necessarily requires gratitude for the priesthood.  That gratitude is for the institution of the priesthood in general, but also gratitude for the individual priests who have been shepherds to us.  I would therefore encourage you to spend some time today calling to mind those priests who have impacted your life.  One of the great blessings of the priesthood is that despite the holiness of the individual priest, Christ still works through them.  Not every priest we have known has always been a reflection of Christ, the Good Shepherd.  Nevertheless, we can still thank God for using those priests to serve us.  Just for your awareness, I share a partial list of the priests for whom I am praying in a particular way today for their role in my life.

Father Joseph Dineen – priest who baptized me;  Father Don Knuffman – priest who heard my first confession;  Father Pat Jakel – priest who distributed Holy Communion to me for the first time; Bishop Daniel Ryan – bishop who confirmed me; Archbishop George Lucas – bishop who ordained me a deacon; Bishop Thomas John Paprocki – bishop who ordained me (and who has been a good father and friend to me my entire priesthood); and Monsignor David Hoefler – my Pastor for two summers as a seminarian, my first Pastor as a new priest, and my closest friend in the priesthood who has been an example and support to me in so many ways.

May we all give thanks to God this day for those Good Shepherds in our lives, praying that the Lord will continue to bless those who are still living, and that through the mercy of God, those who have passed may rest in eternal peace.

(First, a correction: Ss. Philip and James are celebrated on May 3^rd, not May 1^st, as I wrote last week!) Ok, we have a puzzle this week. Who is the St. Alexander mentioned in the First Eucharistic Prayer? We’re examining the saintly man mentioned among the “apostles and martyrs” in the list given in the nobis quoque prayer [the one that begins “to us also…”] after the Consecration, towards the end of that Eucharistic Prayer. There we find “St. Alexander” mentioned between Saint Ignatius (Patriarch of Antioch, martyred in Rome around 140 AD) and Saints Marcellinus and Peter (a priest and an exorcist, who were martyred in Rome around 304 AD). The problem is, if you do any digging, you’ll find a number of different saints ascribed to be the one mentioned here by the name of Alexander.

Many say that the prayer refers to Pope St. Alexander, the 5^th Bishop of Rome, mentioned already by St. Ireneaus of Lyons already in the late 100s (so, just 70 or 80 years after his pontificate) and in Eusebius’ “Church History” in the early 300s. Tradition holds that the custom of mingling water with the wine at Mass as well as the practice of blessing homes with holy water and blessed salt in Christian homes come from this early Pope, as well as perhaps the introduction to the words of consecration “on the night He was betrayed…”.  Now, things get convoluted as we try to get more details because quickly this St. Alexander is mentioned along with the priests, Ss. Eventius and Theodulus, early martyrs who were all killed and buried a few miles outside of Rome (near Ficulea, where the Christian cemetery there was named after Alexander). 

The problem is that none of those earliest sources mention Pope St. Alexander’s martyrdom (which they do mention of other early popes, and you would think would mention if that were the end of his pontificate), so we don’t know if there were two saintly Alexander’s, one a pope and one not, or if these were the same person. In any case, the Church has traditionally celebrated all three men on the same feast day (May 3^rd) and as martyrs. But, if we look at the structure of the Roman Canon itself, we find that every other pope is mentioned not here in the nobis quoque but in the prayer called the communicantes [“in communion of those we venerate…”] that comes before the Consecration. (And, given the reverence that these early prayers of the Church give to the Bishops of Rome, it would seem odd to toss his name in there after Ignatius and before Marcellinus and Peter.)

Ok, so what is another option? Another claimant for the identity of St. Alexander is the Patriarch of Alexandria with that name from the 310s, an eloquent and orthodox bishop who began the battle against Arianism (working for the excommunication of Arius as well as drafting much of the decrees of the First Ecumenical Council of Nicea in 325 AD). He crucially named the courageous and faithful St. Athanasius to be his successor as bishop of Antioch. February 26^th. Here as well, an argument can be made to the contrary in that everyone else on this list of saints are martyrs, whereas he is not (even if, like St. Ignatius, he was an Eastern Bishop/Patriarch). 

Finally, a third (or fourth?!) proposal is the martyr, St. Alexander, one of seven brothers or companions, perhaps the sons of St. Felicity, a saintly widow of Rome (not to be confused with the famous St. Felicity and St. Perpetua, martyrs in Carthage), who was martyred along with her seven faithful sons around 165 AD. St. Gregory the Great famously used this holy mother as an example of courage even greater than an ordinary martyr, saying “She was more than a martyr, for seeing her seven dear children martyred before her eyes, she was in some sort a martyr in each of them.” These seven, with their mother, are traditionally celebrated on July 10^th. 

– Fr. Dominic has been unable to tease out the intricacies, and limitations, of the records we have back at the beginning of the Church to figure out which of these St. Alexander’s is the one we call upon in the Eucharistic Prayer, so, you get all their stories this week! As for why he ended up choosing to go with Pope Alexander’s feast day of May 13^th, that is simply because February and March are already passed, and the Sundays of June and July will be more than filled with the celebrations of Marcellinus and Peter (June 2^nd), Barnabas (June 11^th), Peter and Paul (June 24^th), John the Baptist (June 25^th), John and Paul (June 26^th), and Thomas (July 3^rd)!

For the three years that I served as Bishop Paprocki’s Master of Ceremonies, I joined him for many Confirmations around the diocese.  He and I met with the candidates for Confirmation each time before the Mass.  Among other things, Bishop Paprocki would talk to the young people about what to do when receiving Confirmation.  He explained that as he applied the Sacred Chrism to their foreheads, he would say: “Be sealed with the Gift of the Holy Spirit.”  He would then ask them if they knew how to respond, which many did by shouting out “Amen!”  He would then go on to explain what that word means, that it is a word of assent, basically meaning “I believe, it is true, so be it.”  

I always appreciated this brief moment in Bishop’s talk to the children because having an understanding of what this simple, but powerful, word means is very important.  We say Amen all the time, and as a result of that, it can become a little mechanical without our taking time to really consider the significance of what we are saying.

In the first section of the Catechism of the Catholic Church which deals with the articles of the Creed, the very final few paragraphs deal with the final word of the Creed, which is Amen.  Here are a few of the main points made by the Catechism:

The Creed, like the last book of the Bible, ends with the Hebrew word amen. This word frequently concludes prayers in the New Testament. The Church likewise ends her prayers with “Amen.” (CCC 1061)

In Hebrew, amen comes from the same root as the word “believe.” This root expresses solidity, trustworthiness, faithfulness. And so we can understand why “Amen” may express both God’s faithfulness towards us and our trust in him.  (CCC 1062)

Think about our saying Amen when we receive Holy Communion.  The priest, deacon, or Extraordinary Minister of Holy Communion says to us: “The Body of Christ”, to which we respond: “Amen.”  Over my nearly 12 years as a priest, I have distributed communion to thousands of people, and it throws me off when I do not get the expected response.  Sometimes there is no response, sometimes there is an alternate response.  Is that permissible?  Here is what the General Instruction for the Roman Missal says:

the Priest raises the host slightly and shows it to each, saying, The Body of Christ. The communicant replies, Amen, and receives the Sacrament either on the tongue or, where this is allowed, in the hand, the choice lying with the communicant. As soon as the communicant receives the host, he or she consumes the whole of it. (GIRM, 161)

This makes it clear that there is to be a response, and that the only acceptable response is say “Amen”.  With that knowledge, we can now all be in communion with what the Church asks of us, and to respond as she asks is a sign of humility and obedience, two virtues that the Lord loves to see in us!  

Assuming grace, we can conclude that some have never been given those instructions, but anybody who has now read this article knows and can share it with others as well.  Just know this is not meant to call anybody out, for those who make a different response may be making a more intentional response than just an automatic response without any thought to what Amen means.  Regardless, all of us stand to benefit from examining how we respond each time we approach the Eucharist, saying with great faith and devotion: Amen!

Feast Day: May 1^st | Apostles, Martyrs | Imagery: implements of their martyrdom: cross (for Philip), club (for James).

The St. James we celebrate this week is the one described as “the younger” (or “the lesser”) in the Gospels (this, to distinguish him from the other apostle St. James, the son of Zebedee). This same man is given abundant additional description as “the just” (for his impeccable righteousness in leading the Church of Jerusalem, and his being the first martyr among the apostles there), the “brother of Jesus” (perhaps as a relative of Our Lord), “son of Alphaeus”, and “son of Mary [wife] of Clopas” (probably this is the “Cleophas” on the road to Emmaus, an additional name for Alphaeus).  

St. Philip, happily, easily, is just Philip, the Apostle. He probably carried the Gospel to areas of Greece and Syria and would have been martyred there at some point after the Council of Jerusalem. 

This week, I simply draw our attention to the unique fact for which we celebrate these men on the same feast day: their relics, after the early Christian centuries, were entombed together in Rome. Along with Bartholomew (in the Church of St. Bartholomew), Peter, as well as Simon and Jude (in St. Peter’s), and St. Paul (in St. Paul’s Outside the Walls), Philip and James make up the 6^th and 7^th apostles to find their final earthly resting place in the Eternal City (in the Church of the 12 Apostles). (Some hold that St. Matthias, or at least substantial parts of his bones, are also in Rome, in St. Mary Major).

All this leads me to a simple question: Where will you be buried? Who will you be entombed with? I don’t ask this in a macabre way, or even in preparation for your funeral or anything … but each of us will, at some point, come to our final day on this earth, and I think before then we should consider, and prepare, for that moment. Thing is, we often act as if our lives are all about holding onto life as long as we can and avoiding death, but if you think about it, I suspect you’ll find that the places of your life where you felt most alive, were probably marked by a certain kind of death.

Think of an occasion of great joy. Probably it was also a moment marked by sacrifice, by self-gift, by choosing somebody above yourself. What about a tremendous sense of freedom? Did it come after a period of dedication, effort, training, or cost?  What about a uniquely profound relationship? Didn’t it require you to let down your guard, to risk yourself, to accept another, to stay with them through hard times? Life comes in the midst of death. Resurrection comes in the midst of the cross.

I am writing this in the Boston Airport, flying back the day after running the Boston Marathon. I went into the marathon wanting, above all, to stay joyful throughout the race. As the hours ticked down ahead of time, my mind was filling with doubts. My training was too easy, too flat, too inconsistent. I had a sunburn, and a smashed big toe, and heavy legs from marching all over Boston in the days before the marathon. Plus, after the gauntlet of Holy Week, I was feeling a bit feverish and under the weather. Joy was getting eroded by fear. In the hours before the gun went off I collected dozens of prayer-intentions for the race, said Mass, ate and stretched and prepped as best I could, and tried to recover my excitement … but doubt and fear of the suffering to come was winning the upper hand.

I would like to say there was some magical moment when it all switched – perhaps as the rain poured down on us waiting to start?? – but it wasn’t quite like that. As the run began, my legs grew tired all too soon, and my prayerfulness seemed ragged as well. Yet one phrase resiliently stuck in my mind: “Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross…” [Hebrews 12:1-2]. I wanted joy; I was feeling the cross, yet it was as that sacrifice went down, as I fought – body and soul – to keep running, as I endured the death that is any challenge of that sort, joy arose again, but alongside of suffering. The Lord carried me up those hills, and those hills carried me to the Lord. A little taste of death was in fact a little taste of Life.

– Fr. Dominic spent many hours trying to find a translation of the marvelous Menologio of Basil II, now 1000 years old, which has miniature illustrations and accompanying biographies of hundreds of saints including James the Just. Apparently, the internet can do no better than a scan from the Vatican Archives … 

On Holy Thursday, one of the points the Church desired for us to reflect on was that on that evening, the gift of the Holy Eucharist was instituted, a gift that would serve as a continual pledge of Christ’s love for us until He returns in glory.  On this Octave Day of Easter, the Gospel invites us to notice the institution of another sacrament, the Sacrament of Reconciliation.  After appearing to His Apostles after the Resurrection, Jesus tells them: “Receive the Holy Spirit.  Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained.” (Jn 20:23)

It is therefore no coincidence that Jesus asked St. Faustina to ask for the institution of the Feast of Mercy on the Second Sunday of Easter each year, a request that was fulfilled by Pope St. John Paul II in 2000 shortly after St. Faustina’s canonization.  Every year since 2001, the Church has celebrated Divine Mercy Sunday on this Second Sunday of Easter, recalling the beautiful words of Jesus regarding this day:

My daughter, tell the whole world about My inconceivable mercy. I desire that the Feast of Mercy be a refuge and shelter for all souls, and especially for poor sinners. On that day the very depths of My tender mercy are open. I pour out a whole ocean of graces upon those souls who approach the Fount of My mercy. The soul that will go to Confession and receive Holy Communion shall obtain complete forgiveness of sins and punishment. … Let no soul fear to draw near to Me. … It is My desire that it be solemnly celebrated on the first Sunday after Easter. Mankind will not have peace until it turns to the Fount of My Mercy. (Diary, 699)

Notice how Jesus asks that people go to Confession and to receive Holy Communion, thus emphasizing the intrinsic connection between the two.  It is for that reason that I believe that to truly grow in our love for the Eucharist, we must grow in our love for Jesus’s Divine Mercy offered freely to us in the Sacrament of Reconciliation.

One of the ways to accomplish this is to resolve to never receive the gift of the Eucharist with mortal sin on our souls.  I find it interesting that when people come to Mass, almost everybody comes forward to receive Holy Communion.  Is everybody free from mortal sin?  I sure hope so, but I wonder.  I place myself in the shoes of one coming to Mass, and I realize there were times many, many years ago when I went to Holy Communion any time I went to Mass, even though I did not go every week, sad to say.  When I came to an awareness that my continuing to go to Holy Communion without first going to Confession was a very serious sin, it shook me to the core.  

Perhaps my situation from long ago does not apply to you, and thanks be to God if that is the case.  But, if it does apply to you (and it does not just have to be missing Mass, it can be having any unconfessed grave sins) I plead with you repent and ask for God’s mercy in the Sacrament of Reconciliation before coming to Holy Communion again, confessing anything that needs to be confessed, but especially any times you have received Holy Communion in the state of mortal sin.  What you will encounter will not be judgment, disappointment, or anger.  You will encounter a loving Father who rejoices to have His beloved child back in right relationship with Him.

Then, once we have received that gift of His Divine Mercy, we are cleansed and set free, ready to begin again, ready to receive Jesus in a worthy manner.  And when we receive Holy Communion in the state of grace, this gift will truly transform us.  But if we receive Him in an unworthy manner, we derive no benefit for ourselves and we in effect reject the gift that He made possible for us with His Passion, death, and Resurrection.  So let us run to His mercy and be renewed in His love for us, poured out freely in all of His sacraments, especially Reconciliation and the Eucharist.

Feast Day: April 26^th | Pope, Bishop of Rome, Martyr | Imagery: Pallium, Papal Tiara, Book, Beard | Patronage: Papacy, Rome, Priests

If we peruse the most ancient lists of the Popes, we find in the third place, after Peter and Linus, a man named Cletus. Now, some lists include a Pope Anacletus as well but Sts. Irenaeus, Augustine, and Optatus (as well as the historian Eusebius) indicate that these are simply two names for the same man. The Church in her official list of the Popes in the “Annuario Pontificio” takes this position, as was underscored by Pope St. John XXIII in 1960 when he merged the feast-day of St. Anacletus on July 13^th into that of St Cletus on April 26^th). Probably “Cletus” is simply the shorter, and more Christian, version of “Anacletus”. Though Cletus was born and died in Rome, his name is Greek in its roots, meaning “one who has been called” [Cletus] or “one who has been called back/from” [Anacletus]. The Greek verb “kaléō”, as you could guess even from its linguistic descendants in English, means “to call/recall”, and is related to another biblically-charged noun “kleos”, translated “glory”, meaning “what others hear about you”.

We know only the barest facts of St. Cletus’ life. He became a disciple of St. Peter in Rome along with St. Linus. Linus would become St. Peter’s successor as the second Bishop of Rome with Cletus becoming our third Holy Father when Linus was martyred around 76/79 A.D. St. Cletus would also be martyred, probably under the Emperor Domition arond 88/91 A.D. These were truly Golden Years for the papacy and the Church with 28 of the first 31 popes being martyred and 48 of the first 50 Popes acknowledged as canonized saints!

What captivated each of these men to take up the charge of Christ with knowing they would follow their Lord to the cross?! The only other detail that is mentioned again and again about Pope St. Cletus is that he ordained a number of men priests for the city of Rome (possibly 25, by some records). How many of these men also died? What compelled them to give their lives to that sacred ordination, most likely an oblation to the point of death? It was nothing less than the marvelous, utterly real, truth of Christ’s Resurrection! Cletus heard the Gospel, the kerygma, from St. Peter himself. Do you wish you could be similarly captivated by the natural audacity, and supernatural eloquence, of this fisherman-turned-apostle? Do you think you would could be convicted, and called, like Cletus, if you heard St. Peter’s preaching for yourself?!

May I recommend a reread of Acts chapter 2: “God publicly endorsed Jesus the Nazarene by doing powerful miracles, wonders, and signs through him, as you well know. But God knew what would happen, and his prearranged plan was carried out when Jesus was betrayed. With the help of lawless Gentiles, you nailed him to a cross and killed him.  But God released him from the horrors of death and raised him back to life, for death could not keep him in its grip. … God raised Jesus from the dead, and we are all witnesses of this.  Now he is exalted to the place of highest honor in heaven, at God’s right hand. And the Father, as he had promised, gave him the Holy Spirit to pour out upon us, just as you see and hear today. … So let everyone in Israel know for certain that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, to be both Lord and Messiah!” [Acts 2:22-24, 32-33, 36] 

Can you hear the man who himself denied Christ utter those words? The man whom Jesus still called to “feed my lambs”? 

Recall the similar proclamation in St. Peter’s first letter: “For Christ also sufferedonce for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit,  in whichhe went and proclaimedto the spirits in prison, because they formerly did not obey, when God’s patience waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through water.  Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers having been subjected to him.” [1 Peter 3:18-22] 

Christ crucified by me, by you. Yet the messiah was prophesied to suffer and be scorned. And sin and death cannot bind Him! … nor those who clasp His cross and be plunged, baptized, into His death. For Jesus is alive, and glorious, and wants to welcome me, and you, into His Eternal Kingdom! 

The Messiah murdered. Miraculously alive, marvelously merciful. He already died for me! In baptism, I have already died with Him. Can I choose Him again today?

– Fr. Dominic, on this past Easter Sunday, celebrated his 2000^th Holy Mass. Every one of them should have, could have, been a recommitment to his priestly consecration, a renewal of his union with Christ’s sacrificial offering to the Heavenly Father. Sadly, contritely, many times he forgot. Did those first popes and priests of Rome forget?

Alleluia!  He is Risen!  Several years ago, while I was a seminarian, I was involved in a conversation with a few teenagers who were debating on which day was better, Christmas or Easter.  The teenagers were learning toward Christmas, especially considering Christmas is often associated with receiving gifts.  Who doesn’t like receiving gifts?  And because our culture has put so much emphasis on Christmas, there can be a feeling that it is maybe more significant than Easter.

At the time, I recall defending the position that Easter was a more important day, since it recalls the Resurrection, the victory of sin over death.  Christ’s birth at Christmas has to be understood in light of the suffering, death, and Resurrection that He would undergo to save us from our sins.  Therefore, Easter should have the pride of place, while not really diminishing the significance of Christmas, for both days point to the common theme of God’s bringing about our redemption through the Savior, who took on our human flesh in order to save us through His life, Passion, death, and Resurrection.

As we consider these two peaks of the liturgical year, I would like to reflect on the notion of gift.  As I mentioned above, we tend to associate Christmas more with receiving gifts, but it is also on Easter where we receive gifts.  I am not talking about chocolate eggs or marshmallow bunnies (delicious as those may be), Easter invites us to appreciate the great gift of the Eucharist.  As I mentioned in my article last week for Palm Sunday, Holy Thursday is the day on which we celebrate the institution of the Eucharist, the beginning of the Church’s practice of celebrating this gift every single day.  The following line from the Catechism offers a simple yet profound description of this gift:

In order to leave them a pledge of this love, in order never to depart from His own and to make them sharers in his Passover, He instituted the Eucharist as the memorial of His death and Resurrection, and commanded His apostles to celebrate it until His return; “thereby he constituted them priests of the New Testament. (CCC 1337)

In short, the Eucharist is the gift of God’s love for us, a love that is given at the expense of His Son’s suffering and death on the Cross due to our sins.  It is a gift that has overcome sin and death and is now given to us so that we can share in the new life He has won for us.

Throughout this Easter Season, I would like for us to reflect on this gift of the Eucharist and how we can grow in our appreciation of this gift in our lives as Catholics.  He (for this gift of the Eucharist is a person, not a thing) is a gift, sad to say, that I think many Catholics have neglected, taking Him for granted.  As we begin this journey through this season of glory, I would like to issue a challenge.  It is simple, and may even sound obvious, but it is something I know many struggle with.  Here it is: come to Mass.  Come every single Sunday.  As a bonus, come to daily Mass as your schedule permits.  Even if you are not able to receive Holy Communion (more on that in a future article), come!  See it not so much as an obligation (which it most definitely is, and to intentionally miss Mass is a grave sin which must be confessed before returning to Holy Communion), but rather see is as an opportunity to receive this gift which is the pledge of God’s love for you and His desire for you to share in the gift of His Risen life, already available to us in this life, and fully in Heaven.