This past January, while the priests of the house were in quarantine, one of the activities that we did to pass the time was to take a break from our work for some entertainment.  One of those forms of entertainment was watching the popular Broadway musical Hamilton.  As we watched the plot unfold, we were reintroduced in an entertaining way to some of the figures and key events that led to our nation’s independence.  Two of the more humorous scenes from the show depict King George as he sings about his relationship with the colonies, ridiculing them for wanting to be free, then after declaring independence, trying to discourage them with warnings about how hard it will be for them to be on their own.  

It was the desire for freedom from the oppressive rule of the King that our founding fathers sought.  And this freedom led to a freedom for pursuing the good of our new nation.  It is important to notice these two types of freedom – freedom from, and freedom for.  The fullest understanding of freedom is found when the two of these work together.  As human beings, we often seek freedom from restrictions and limitations, so that we can have freedom for the things that we want to make us happy.  For example, we want to be free from sickness, so that we can be free for an enjoyable life.  On the surface, this seems to be a sound formula, but there are great dangers to be found in seeking this type of freedom in an unrestricted way.  We might perceive freedom from restraints and limitations as a good thing, but if it opens us to doing something that is not good, then we have abused our freedom and we actually fall into a form of slavery.  The Catechism of the Catholic Church makes this point well:

The more one does what is good, the freer one becomes. There is no true freedom except in the service of what is good and just. The choice to disobey and do evil is an abuse of freedom and leads to “the slavery of sin.” (CCC 1733)

In our lives as Catholics, we strive for freedom from sin, so that we can have freedom for doing good.  This is a key concept to grasp, and one that I fear we have often missed.  Sadly, we regularly see our Catholic faith as a set of rules to follow, which we do not necessarily like, especially when they seem to prevent us from having the freedom to do what we want.  We sort of look at the Church like our founding fathers did toward King George, and we may even readily list all of the “rules” we disagree with and want to be freed from so that we can be free for what we deem to be better.

But may we never forget that God is a loving Father, one who knows His children, what will harm them, and what will help them.  His teachings given through the Scriptures are aimed toward our true freedom.  And the Church is not some oppressive organization that we something think exists to keep us subdued.  No, we speak of the Church as a Mother, the best of mothers in fact!  She is always working to keep us free from sin, which enables us to be free for the fullest experience of life in abundance in this life, and eternal life in the next.  And so as we celebrate the freedoms we have in our country, let us be especially grateful for the freedom made available to us through the Gospel and the teachings of the Church, and recommit ourselves to choosing this freedom each and every day.

Father Alford     

In my bulletin article for the weekend of June 12th & 13th, I discussed the topic of Christians celebrating the Sabbath on Sundays instead of Saturdays. That article was prompted by a recent encounter I had with a college student. After seeing the Bible verse where the Sabbath is celebrated on Saturdays, the student stopped being active in her Catholic faith. Christians celebrate the Sabbath on Sundays. She disagreed with this as she perceived it to be inconsistent with the scriptures. But after our interaction and in-depth discussion on the topic, she seemed to understand the reason for our Catholic Christian practice of celebrating the Sabbath on Sundays instead of on Saturdays.

It was the first apostles of Jesus Christ, who started celebrating the holy day of the Sabbath on Sundays. This practice came to be after Jesus Christ rose from the dead on a Sunday morning. The resurrection of Christ characterizes the very reason of our Christian faith. It is central to our Christian teachings and worship. So, it became critical for the apostles to celebrate the sacred day of the Sabbath on Sundays – the day on which Christ signed our salvation by conquering death and overcoming the power of evil.

Since the Sabbath day (Sunday) is so important in our Christian faith, the Church teaches that it is a moral obligation for every Christian to keep this day holy. To keep the sabbath day holy is the third of the ten commandments that God gave us through Moses in Exodus 20:1-17; 31:15. There are two reasons in the Old Testament for keeping the Sabbath day holy. First, this commandment commemorates the last day of creation on which God rested (Exodus 20:11). Second, it is a memorial of the liberation of the Jewish people from bondage in Egypt (Deuteronomy 5:15). The New Testament basis for keeping the sabbath day holy is primarily the resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ on Sunday morning (Matthew 28:1-10; Mark 16:1-8).

The holiness of the Sabbath day (Sunday for Christians) is, to a large extent, a biblical fact for many Christians. However, what should be done and what should be avoided to keep this day holy is still unclear to many of us. But the bible is clear on this. In Exodus 20:10, God declares that we should not do any work on a sabbath day; neither shall we make the people under us or the people who work for us do any work. What still seems unclear here is what qualifies as work and what does not.

What qualifies as work and what does not is more difficult to answer because we live in a capitalist society where the worship of money has become the order of the day. However, as Christians, we should always do well to stay away, on Sundays, from some of those activities that characterize our everyday lives for the rest of the week. Ideally, these include going to work and engaging in any other activities that do not involve physical and mental rest and spiritual refreshment.

On June 26, the Church celebrated the memorial for St. Josemaría Escrivá, founder of Opus Dei.  The main thrust of his ministry as a priest was promoting holiness in ordinary daily life, especially among the laity.  His work in the early part of the last century laid a good foundation for the Second Vatican Council’s teaching on the universal call to holiness in the Church.  One of the practices that he encouraged, and one that I have practiced for many years, is known as “The Heroic Minute.”  He describes it this way:

Conquer yourself each day from the very first moment, getting up on the dot, at a fixed time, without yielding a single minute to laziness. If, with God’s help, you conquer yourself, you will be well ahead for the rest of the day. (The Way, 191) … The heroic minute. It is the time fixed for getting up. Without hesitation: a supernatural reflection and… up! The heroic minute: here you have a mortification that strengthens your will and does no harm to your body.

(The Way, 206)

In addition to getting right out of bed, it is helpful to turn immediately to prayer, not to your cell phone to check messages or other distractions.  A time-honored prayer encouraged by the Church is known as the Morning Offering.  The Morning Offering comes from a movement began in France in 1844 known as the Apostleship of Prayer.  The basic goal of this movement (which still exists) is to pray for the pope and the monthly intentions that he designates.  Here is the traditional version of the prayer as it is found on the English-language site for the Apostleship of Prayer:

O Jesus, through the Immaculate Heart of Mary, I offer You my prayers, works, joys, and sufferings of this day in union with the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass throughout the world. I offer them for all the intentions of Your Sacred Heart: the salvation of souls, reparation for sin, and the reunion of all Christians. I offer them for the intentions of our bishops and of all Apostles of Prayer, and in particular for those recommended by our Holy Father this month. 

I share this with you this week as we reach the conclusion of this month dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.  Praying the Morning Offering as soon as you wake up each morning is a way of staying close to the Sacred Heart each day throughout the year and it serves as a helpful reminder to us of the role we have to pray for the needs of the Church throughout the world.

This week will be a week of transition for us here at the Cathedral.  We will be saying farewell to Deacon Scott Keen as he transfers to a new assignment at Christ the King Parish.  I personally want to thank him for his service to our parish, and we send him with our prayers for continued fruitful ministry.  We also welcome Deacon Rob Sgambelluri as he joins us in his first assignment as a newly-ordained deacon.  We look forward to the gifts that he will share in service to our parish through his ministry here at the Cathedral.  

Father Alford     

Recently at a Mass, I talked about the need to continually ask ourselves who our models in our Catholic faith are and why these people are our models. Having a model in our various vocations, professions, religious beliefs, and social and moral values is necessary if we must work on a goal in life. In other words, when we have a model in any aspect of our life, it helps to keep reminding us of the need to live like that person or to be better than the person. This makes for a life of purpose – a meaningful life. But when there is no model to look up to, the tendency to become mediocre, less productive, and living below our potentials is stronger.

I attended a high school retreat earlier this week. After one of the presentations, a retreat director asked the teenagers who are the most significant influence in their faith lives as Catholics. Some of them responded that their grandparents are the greatest influence in their faith lives as Catholics. Others indicated either their priests, teachers, or other people in their lives. Only very few of them said their parents are the primary influence in their faith lives as Catholics.

The explanations of those students whose parents or grandparents have influenced their faith the most vary. But I found something common in those explanations. The level of commitment of a parent or grandparent to the faith is directly proportional to the level of commitment their children will have in their faith.

Many of us will agree with me that in most cases, nothing can be more beautiful than the presence of grandparents in our lives growing up. These people are like guardian angels for the most part. They are incredibly soft on us, very protective, and are less likely to make us do what we do not want to do. Of course, that is why they are beautiful people. On the other hand, our parents are more likely to push us when we need to be pushed. But when a parent declares himself or herself Catholic but does not practice the faith, the parent is less likely to impact their child’s faith life positively. Only practicing Catholic parents can have noticeable positive impacts on the faith life of their children. Only such parents can be models in the Catholic faith for their children.

Finally, I wondered about those children who are growing up in Catholic homes where there is nothing to show about the Catholicism of the home? No family altar. No crucifix. No sacred images of Jesus, the Blessed Virgin Mary, or any of the canonized Saints. What will become of the Catholic faith of those children whose parents are Catholics but never or rarely go to Confessions? Attend Masses only when it is most convenient for them? Attend no church events and contributes nothing to both the spiritual and the material growths of the Church? What will such children say about their parents when their peers from Catholic homes talk about how their parents and grandparents have significantly influenced their faith lives? Do we not all need our parents and grandparents to be our first models in our Catholic faiths? What greater legacy can parents leave for their children than the faith of our fathers – that holy faith?

Feast Day: June 28th

If we select the top several early fathers of the Church (Justin Martyr, Polycarp, Irenaeus, Eusebius, etc.), and peruse their writings we would find ourselves with all but 11 verses of the New Testament.  These men knew the writings of the Apostles, and they quoted them with abandon as they preached and taught.  St. Irenaeus is our guide and model this week, but any of them offer us a profound, childlike, refreshing approach to the Bible, so I entrust to all of you the invitation to pair your reading of the bible with a glance as well at what the Fathers said about those lines.  (Look up Thomas Aquinas Catena Aurea, which is available for free online, and offers their commentary on all four Gospels).  

Irenaeus asks us to take a step back with him to our understanding of scripture in general.  How do we approach the readings we hear at every Mass.  Why, actually, do we read the Bible at every Mass?  Have we ever asked ourselves that question?

“True knowledge is that which consists in the doctrine of the apostles, and the ancient constitution of the Church throughout all the world, and the distinctive manifestation of the body of Christ according to the succession of the bishops, by which they have handed down that Church which exists in every place, and has come even unto us, being guarded and preserved, without any forging of Scripture, by a very complete system of doctrine, and neither receiving addition nor suffering curtailment in the truths which she believes; and it consists in reading the word of God without falsification, and a lawful and diligent exposition in harmony with the Scriptures both without danger and without blasphemy; and above all it consists in the pre-eminent gift of love, which is more precious than knowledge, more glorious than prophecy, and which excels all the other gifts of God.

– St. Irenaeus of Lyon, Adversus Haereses, 4.33.8

A few questions for our consideration with these lines in mind:

Truth and Knowledge.  Where do we look for it?  Friends?  Wikipedia?  Facebook?  Us priests always joke with each other saying, “I read it online … so it must be true…”, but in an age where the words, images, and videos that appear before us online are all determined by algorithms beyond our control, showing us precisely what that website thinks will best appeal to our current feelings, should we flippantly go looking there first when we need direction or insight?  Irenaeus points us to the doctrine of the apostles, the ancient constitution of the Church throughout the world, and the succession of the bishops.  The Church now tends to call these three pillars of truth: scripture, tradition, and magisterium, but Irenaeus was explaining the same three to his flock in AD 180!  If they needed it, just a generation or two after the Apostles, do we think we can turn elsewhere?

A second takeaway: the Pre-Eminent gift of Love.  The great, staunch, soon-martyred bishop, spoke of love above even the gift of scripture!  Scripture, the gift of God’s self-revelation, entrusted to the bishops of the Church, and to all the members of Christ’s body, to be cherished, protected, passed-on, and contemplated.  That gift pales in comparison to the pre-eminent, more fundamental, more amazing gift of love?!  I suppose this makes sense, but scripture is easier to carry around, and share with someone, and study, right??… or maybe God’s love is a better gift than we imagine.  Cannot we carry God’s love in our heart, and know that it carries us?  And cannot we share with a friend how God’s love has been shown in our lives?  And, in studying the faith at all, aren’t we studying God’s love? 

– Fr. Dominic Rankin is currently working on reading the Bible again in its entirety this year, but is happy to have been given a number of different reminders recently to read it as a story of God’s love.  It is easy to peruse its pages and compare stories or meditate on familiar scenes, but what if I looked at the entire thing with fresh, childlike, awe-struck eyes?  Might I catch a glimpse of a grand gift of Love?

As I mentioned two weeks ago, I was introduced to the devotion to the Sacred Heart by one of my pastors who would have the congregation join in praying the Litany of the Sacred Heart every First Friday.  Over the years, I have found praying this litany and meditating on the various invocations of the litany to be one of the best means of deepening my love for the Sacred Heart of Jesus.  This past Monday, I received a copy of an out-of-print book that has a collection of Angelus Meditations offered by Pope St. John Paul II on the Litany of the Sacred Heart.

In his introductory meditation from June 27, 1982, the Holy Father said the following about the litany in general:

It in a marvelous prayer, totally concentrated on the interior mystery of Christ, the God-Man.  The Litany to the Heart of Jesus draws abundantly from biblical sources, and at the same time reflects the deepest experiences of human hearts…This prayer, recited and meditated, becomes a true school of the interior life, the school of the Christian.

In the Litany, there are 33 invocations that start with the words: “Heart of Jesus”, followed by some aspect related to His Sacred Heart, to which those praying respond: “Have mercy on us.”  Some of my favorite invocations are: “burning furnace of charity, king and center of all hearts, in whom the Father was well pleased, and source of all consolation.”  And as beautiful as each of these invocations are, I find that I am most drawn to the final petition after the 33 invocations, which goes as follows: “Jesus, meek and humble of heart.  Make our hearts like unto thine.”  I pray this petition almost daily, asking for the grace to have my heart be a little more like His heart, which overflows with love and mercy for those around Him.

I would invite all of you who are reading this to consider looking up and praying this beautiful litany, or to take a few of the titles to your time of personal prayer.  As Pope St. John Paul says, doing so becomes a school for our interior life, where we learn the consoling lesson of His personal, intimate love for each and every one of us, and how He desires for us to be channels of His love and mercy in our daily lives.

On a different note, we are pleased to welcome to our parish for the summer Mr. Jayke White, one of the seminarians studying for our diocese.  Jayke has graciously provided a brief biography for you to get to know him a little better.  Please feel free to introduce yourself to him when you see him around the parish.  Please keep Jayke in your prayers this summer that his time with us will be fruitful for him and for the parish.  

Father Alford     

This weekend, my seven classmates in the diocese and I will celebrate our first anniversary as Catholic priests. Dave Beagles, Michael Berndt, Peter Kosk, Paul Luczak, Michael Meinhart, Michael Trummer, Dominic Vahling, and I – Peter Chineke, were ordained to the sacred priesthood of Christ last June 19, 2020, by Bishop Thomas John Paprocki. That day was the Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. After the ordination, we all began our ministries in various parishes and schools across the diocese officially on July 1, 2020. Father Dominic Vahling and I have been working here at the Cathedral parish with Father Brian Alford as our pastor. We also work full-time as co-Chaplains at the Sacred Heart-Griffin High School here in town.

Looking back to my first year as a priest in our diocese, working as a parochial vicar here at the Cathedral and as a Chaplain at the SHG, I have had many amazing experiences. I have also encountered people whose lives and faith inspire, encourage, and strengthens me. Some of these people include our Cathedral parishioners and the staff and students at the Sacred Heart-Griffin High School. While space will not permit me to mention some of these beautiful people, I will briefly summarize some of the highlights of my ministry this past year. 

Here at the Cathedral, we live as a community with the four of us (Fathers Alford, Rankin, Vahling, and I) and the Bishop. Although we live on a separate floor from the Bishop, we do many things in common. These include community prayers, Masses, meals, movies, and some outdoor exercises. This community life as a priest with these holy men of God is a rare privilege. In most cases, diocesan priests live alone in their parish rectories and sometimes in pairs for those who have parochial vicars. Our community life here in the Cathedral rectory has helped me to know these three of my brother-priests and our Bishop better than I could have known them. Living with them since after my ordination has also made my transition from seminary life to priesthood smoother and more enjoyable.

As a parochial vicar in our Cathedral parish, I have enjoyed the opportunities to celebrate the sacraments and do many other ministries. Celebrating the Eucharist, preaching at Masses, visiting the nursing homes, baptizing new babies, hearing Confessions, attending dinner/lunch invitations, visiting the sick, and our home-bound parishioners are among my favorite ministries this past year. I hardly let go of any opportunity to do these ministries because I find so much joy and life in them.

Another experience that has made my first year of priesthood awesome is my chaplaincy ministry at the Sacred Heart-Griffin High School here in town. It has been an incredible experience getting to know some of these students and their teachers as a Chaplain. I have had many fantastic opportunities to hear Confessions, celebrate Masses, and preach homilies for these young students. Getting to know them and accompanying them in their faith journey have been among the highlights of my ministry this first year in the priesthood of Christ.

Feast Day: June 24^th (6 months until Christmas!)

We have so many options for saints to study the bible with this week, but I have chosen our upcoming feast of the Nativity of St. John the Baptist’s because it directs our attention directly to a scriptural text: 

Now the time came for Elizabeth to be delivered, and she gave birth to a son. ⁵⁸ And her neighbors and kinsfolk heard that the Lord had shown great mercy to her, and they rejoiced with her. ⁵⁹  And on the eighth day they came to circumcise the child; and they would have named him Zechariah after his father, ⁶⁰ but his mother said, “Not so; he shall be called John.” ⁶¹ And they said to her, “None of your kindred is called by this name.” ⁶² And they made signs to his father, inquiring what he would have him called. ⁶³  And he asked for a writing tablet, and wrote, “His name is John.” And they all marveled. ⁶⁴ And immediately his mouth was opened and his tongue loosed, and he spoke, blessing God. ⁶⁵ And fear came on all their neighbors. And all these things were talked about through all the hill country of Judea; ⁶⁶ and all who heard them laid them up in their hearts, saying, “What then will this child be?” For the hand of the Lord was with him. 

Luke 1:⁵⁷

Luke’s theme of God’s mercy, especially for the lowly (remember Mary’s Magnificat, which came just verses prior to the scene we have here), comes to the forefront right off the bat.  “The Lord had shown great mercy to her…”  Why are we always surprised by God’s mercy?  He always shows great mercy.  He offers it before we ask, and when we don’t deserve it.  But just as the entire people of Israel had to struggle to believe in God’s mercy, so must Elizabeth and Zechariah, and their neighbors and kinsfolk, and so much we.  How much easier it is to see God as angry or unhappy: Who stomps off in a huff when we turn our backs on Him?  That would be much more like ourselves, but it is not the way that God offers His love again, and again, to His people.  

How, here, does God show mercy?  It is by the birth of a son for Elizabeth and Zechariah.  There is no greater gift that God can give.  Here His mercy is bundled up in the little baby John, but God seems to delight in giving His greatest gifts along, and within, the gift of a new human life.  He sent salvation in the Christ-child; freedom in the birth of Moses; joy in the gift of Isaac; a nation in the double-gift of Esau and Jacob; and even Eve was drawn out of Adam, as He was created from the dust.  It seems that God loves to bring life into barrenness.  All His love is summed up in the gift of a child.

But let us return to the rejoicing throng around the home up in the hill country of Judah, for we learn another lesson about God as we watch this scene unfold.  We see Elizabeth and Zechariah discerning the name for their son and are prompted away from the traditional names by the Holy Spirit, Who gives them the name “John”.   Y’hohanan or Yohanan in Hebrew name meaning “Graced by God” (you can see within it the root Y’, which is an abbreviation of the Divine Name, the Tetragrammaton, followed by hanan, meaning “he favored” or “he graced”).  The theme of mercy reappears!  And praise God, that this name which trumpets His love, remains popular!  There are approximately 12 million American men named John with about 100,000 new John’s born to our country every year.  (And there are plenty of women named Joan, Johna, Jeanne, Gianna, Joanne, Janet, or Hannah, to name a few female names from the same root.) 

One final point.  Upon this wondrous naming, after the miraculous birth, we are told that the people feared, marveled, were struck by awe.  Do you or I ever let wonder take ahold of us?  To wonder at something means you do not understand it, control it, or made it happen.  Do we recognize those moments?  Do we exult when God’s grace breaks in, or do we miss those moments, or not want to call much attention to it?  Is it easier to ignore God’s mercy?  Is it simpler to just let those gifts of Love slide by without making much of a fuss?

– Fr. Dominic Rankin is very happy with his first name (and second name, and confirmation name, and last name now that I think about it), but this week he was struck by the power behind the name “John”.  Jesus chose John the Baptist as His precursor and forerunner, and John the Apostle as His beloved disciple.  Both were entrusted to proclaim His love in a profound way.  Both were graced to do it!  (But, to clarify, you don’t have to be named John to do that.)