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)!