Today’s readings are a marvelous combination of Scriptures that have provided much guidance to me over the years, particularly when I was discerning my vocation to the priesthood.

The first time the passage from Sirach came to my attention I was a seminarian at the North American College in Rome. I was visiting another student, and this passage was framed and hanging on his wall. I remember we had quite a discussion about the significance of this biblical wisdom.

My son, when you come to serve the LORD,
stand in justice and fear,
prepare yourself for trials.
Be sincere of heart and steadfast,
incline your ear and receive the word of understanding,
undisturbed in time of adversity.
Wait on God, with patience, cling to him, forsake him not;
thus will you be wise in all your ways. (Sirach 2:1-11)

I believe we all need to be realistic that our affiliation with the Lord will entail its share of difficulties. Simply believing in God and living by faith does not mean that life will be easy. It does not take much time reading Scripture to see the trials that God’s servants endure. We can use all the grace and scriptural reminders we can get to help us patiently endure the trials that are a part of our service of God and the Gospel.

Jesus in Mark’s Gospel gives us the same, no-nonsense reality therapy:

“If anyone wishes to be first,
he shall be the last of all and the servant of all.” (Mark 9: 35)

This is not too far from the other serious teaching Jesus gives regarding discipleship: “Whoever wishes to be my disciple must take up his cross and follow me.” Of course, there is no stronger teaching in this regard than Jesus’ own passion, crucifixion and death. Love does have a cost. We must be realistic about this as we intentionally commit ourselves daily to Christ and His Gospel.

Today’s Psalm has the same gentle invitation, from a slightly different approach: Commit your life to the Lord, and he will help you. (Psalm 37) In other words, the Lord lovingly receives our “Yes” to his invitation to follow Him, and gives us all we need to grow in love.

I remember very specifically the first time this passage caught my attention. I was once again in the seminary, wrestling with God’s plan for me. I was greatly lacking in my trust in God! This line was a direct voice of God to me in those days telling me: “Hand yourself over to me, and I will take care of you and all that you need to accomplish my will.”

So, Church, keep ‘giving’ all you’ve got to the Lord. Don’t be surprised at the cost. How can God act if we do not give him a chance? And don’t forget the great reward awaiting in the friendship with Christ we are promised in this life, and the rewards of eternal life in God’s presence!

Says Jesus’ Invitation to Heavy-Burdened Is Comfort

As the death toll remains uncertain in Oklahoma following Monday’s massive tornado, the local archbishop is assuring the Church’s spiritual presence and practical assistance.

Archbishop Paul Coakley of Oklahoma City noted that his initial primary concern is for the victims, and he expressed his gratitude and promise of prayer for the first responders.

“As soon as possible, I will be on site in Moore to help support and offer comfort and consolation to anyone who might need or desire it,” he said Tuesday morning. “We draw hope in such times from Jesus’ invitation to the weary or troubled to come to Him and find rest.”

“Catholic Charities [Oklahoma City] and we as an archdiocese will work with many others to ensure a smooth and comprehensive response not only to the immediate needs of those affected by the violent storms, but also to their longterm needs as they rebuild their lives,” the prelate added. “We’re there for the long term and we’re usually the last ones to leave.”

Archbishop Coakley also noted the “flood of inquiries and assurances of prayers from people across the country and around the world, including the Holy Father Pope Francis, the apostolic nuncio Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganó and Cardinal Timothy Dolan, president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. We are deeply grateful.”

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Catholic Charities of Oklahoma City is currently accepting donations at the following link: https://ccokc.ejoinme.org/?tabid=406485

Pentecost Mass Draws Hundreds of Thousands to St. Peters Square

Over 200,000 people from all over the world gathered in Rome to celebrate the Solemnity of Pentecost with Pope Francis on Sunday. The Mass was the concluding event of the two day pilgrimage of ecclesial movements, communities, and lay associations which was one of the many Year of Faith celebrations this year.

The Holy Father recalled the moment where the Holy Spirit descended upon the disciples, giving them the strength to spread the Gospel.

“Newness always makes us a bit fearful, because we feel more secure if we have everything under control, if we are the ones who build, program, and plan our lives,” Pope Francis said. “This is also the case when it comes to God. It is hard to abandon ourselves to him with complete trust, allowing the Holy Spirit to be the soul and guide of our lives.”

We fear that God may force us to strike out on new paths and leave behind our all too narrow, closed and selfish horizons in order to become open to his own. Yet throughout the history of salvation, whenever God reveals himself, He brings newness—God always brings newness—and demands our complete trust.”

Drawing from the examples of Noah, Abraham and Moses, Pope Francis said that the “newness” of the Holy Spirit brought the joy, serenity and courage to proclaim the Gospel to the disciples of Christ. However, the Holy Father called on the faithful to ask themselves if they are “open to God’s surprises” or if we are “closed and fearful before the newness of the Holy Spirit.”

“The Holy Spirit,” the 76 year old pontiff said, “would appear to create disorder in the Church, since he brings the diversity of charisms and gifts; yet all this, by his working, is a great source of wealth, for the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of unity, which does not mean uniformity, but which leads everything back to harmony.”

“In the Church, it is the Holy Spirit who creates harmony. Only the Spirit can awaken diversity, plurality, and multiplicity, while at the same time building unity. Here too, when we are the ones who try to create diversity and close ourselves up in what makes us different and other, we bring division. When we are the ones who want to build unity in accordance with our human plans, we end up creating uniformity, standardization. But if instead we let ourselves be guided by the Spirit, richness, variety and diversity never become a source of conflict, because he impels us to experience variety within the communion of the Church.”

Pope Francis reminded the members from all the various movements and ecclesial realities of the Catholic Church to always remain true to the Church, warning that when one embarks on a “parallel journey” that goes beyond the Church’s teaching, they “are not one with the God of Jesus Christ.”

Concluding his homily, the Holy Father emphasized the need for the Holy Spirit, comparing to the wind which fills the sails of the soul and drives it forward.

“The Holy Spirit,” the Pope concluded, “draws us into the mystery of the living God and saves us from the threat of a Church which is gnostic and self-referential, closed in on herself; He impels us to open the doors and go forth to proclaim and bear witness to the goodness of the Gospel.”

On May 10, Archbishop Gomez received an honorary doctorate of Christian letters from Franciscan University in Steubenville, Ohio. The University cited the Archbishop “for his fidelity to the Catholic Church, for being the voice of Hispanic Catholics in the United States, and for bringing the Gospel of Christ to people everywhere.” Archbishop Gomez celebrated the Baccalaureate Mass for the nearly 700 graduates of the Class of 2013. The following is adapted from his homily on Acts 18:9-18 and John 16:16-20.

Like the first apostles at Jerusalem, we live “in between” times. In between the time of Jesus’ Ascension and the time when he will come again. In these times we live by trust in Jesus’ beautiful promise: I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice.

His Ascension begins the time of mission, the time of the Holy Spirit. This is our time. His Ascension is our mission. Jesus has given his Church — he has given each one of us — that task of finishing his mission.

We are called to be his witnesses in the world. We are called to say to our neighbors — “Jesus has come. He is alive. The Son of God has become the Son of Man. And he has come to show us the way to the Father!”

Like St. Paul and the first apostles, we are called to proclaim this good news — in every area of our daily life. As Paul did, we need to teach the Word of God. And as we know, we always teach the best by the way we live.

Not everyone in our world wants to hear this Word. Proclaiming Jesus Christ can lead to violence, to persecution. This was true in the time of the apostles and it’s true today.

“Our mission is to continue Jesus’ mission…. To build a world of love, the family of God. And we do that by helping our loved ones and the people we meet every day to find God.”

That’s why in every Mass we should give thanks for all the martyrs — known and unknown — who laid down their lives to keep the Christian faith alive in many dark and faithless times. Because of their witness and courage, this beautiful faith, the truth of the living God, has been handed on to us.

In every Eucharist, we should also remember those Christians around the world who are suffering and dying today for Jesus.

Persecution comes in many forms. The Church in our country knows the “soft” persecution of those who would deny us our rights to live our faith in freedom. More and more, we face pressures to compromise and abandon our beliefs as “the price” for living in modern American society.

There is a line in the Acts of the Apostles that seems prophetic of the times we are living in. The accusation is made against St. Paul: This man is inducing people to worship God contrary to the law.

True faith, living Christianity, challenges all the false idols of our society — the idols of the flesh and consumerism, the idols of the marketplace, the idols of individualism and nationalism. So we have to expect that powerful forces will want to keep the Church out of the public square.

We’re living now in a highly secularized society. As a Church, I really don’t think we’ve come to grips with that yet. But it’s true. Our society thinks it has no need for God anymore. That’s not so much a criticism as it is just a fact. And it isn’t going to do us any good to appeal to the faith of America’s founding fathers or to talk about all the ways the Church’s charities and schools contribute to the common good. We are beyond that now in our society.

America is like Corinth in the time of St. Paul — we have become again a society that lives as if there is no God, or as if his existence doesn’t make any difference. In this kind of society, worshipping God — living our faith — is going to be more and more contrary to the law.

This is a great challenge for the Church — and for each one of us as Christians. We are going to have to go out into this world and find new ways to engage this culture. We are going to have to find new ways to proclaim Christ and to live as Christians in this culture. This is what the new evangelization is all about.

The good news is that we don’t go alone. We go with Jesus. We go with God. The words that Jesus speaks to St. Paul are meant for us:

Do not be afraid.
Go on speaking and do not be silent.
For I am with you.

Our mission is to continue his mission. To redeem that little part of the world that we live in — our homes, the places where we work, our neighborhoods. To sanctify reality. To build a world of love, the family of God. And we do that by helping our loved ones and the people we meet every day to find God.

We need to pray for one another. We need to ask for the grace and strength to bring Christ’s light to the darkest corners of every human heart, to the darkest corners of our world today.

And may our Blessed Mother Mary, who is Our Lady of the Angels and the Queen of Heaven, to help us to always live as apostles of Jesus. May she help us go forward in faith to be his witnesses, serving our brothers and sisters in love, waiting in joyful hope until he comes again in glory.

The St. Katharine Drexel School Initiative is the Diocese of San Jose’s response to the need to recommit to and bolster the levels of student academic success and to harness technology to improve student learning.

The goal is to make the Diocese’s schools more effective, efficient, and sustainable. The St. Katharine Drexel School Initiative builds on what Diocesan schools do well educationally, and helps use the power of available technology in ways that increase student engagement, academic learning, and higher level thinking skills. The Initiative will meet the challenges of maintaining a vigorous Catholic identity, improve academic performance and position the Diocese for a financially secure future.

The Diocese of San Jose has hired O’Meara, Ferguson, Whelan, and Conway to assist on the project, and to work with and support school staff and parents.

THE Journal – By Joshua Bolkan – May 15, 2013

More than 100 teachers from Catholic schools run by the Diocese of San Jose will participate in a year of professional development to earn a certificate in blended learning in an effort to improve educational outcomes for students.

Scheduled to begin this June, the training is being offered through the Academy of Blended Learning, a joint effort of the diocese and the School of Education and Counseling Psychology at Santa Clara University (SCU). The academy is also part of the Saint Katharine Drexel School Initiative, a “response to the need to recommit to and bolster the levels of student academic success and to harness technology to improve student learning,” according to information released by the diocese.

“Learning and teaching have changed in today’s world of ‘anytime, anywhere’ learning,” said Steve Johnson, director of the academy at SCU, in a prepared statement. “Blended learning brings together the best of what teachers, parents, and classrooms have to offer, with the best that technology and the entire world can offer.”

Participants will include K-8 teachers and administrators from diocesan schools where blended learning has already been implemented and “will focus on more comprehensive and skillful use of technologies, particularly in reading and mathematics,” according to a news release about the move.

The program will itself be a blended learning environment, offering teachers and administrators a selection of summer workshops, year-round activities, and ongoing support.

In addition, the academy will continue to support the Saint Katharine Drexel School Initiative through refinement of curriculum, assessment, and teaching methods.

“I am very excited about the possibility that teachers, students, and parents will all have an opportunity to learn in the most promising ways we have available today,” said Kathy Almazol, superintendent of schools for the Diocese of San Jose, in a prepared statement. “This really brings us into the twenty-first century, while still holding on to everything we love about Catholic schools.”

Located south of San Francisco, CA, Santa Clara University is a Jesuit institution serving more than 8,800 undergraduate and graduate students. More information about SCU is available at scu.edu.

Go to dsj.org to learn more about the Katharine Drexel School Initiative.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Catholics can’t put their faith on a part-time schedule or rely on it just for the moments they choose; being Christian is a full-time occupation, Pope Francis said.

If people don’t open their hearts to the Holy Spirit to let God purify and enlighten them, then “our being Christian will be superficial,” the pope said May 15 at his weekly general audience.

Knowing and doing what God wants is not possible with mere human effort — it takes the transformative action of the Holy Spirit, he said.

Speaking to more than 80,000 people gathered in St. Peter’s Square, Pope Francis also announced his September visit to Cagliari on the Italian island of Sardinia, where he plans to venerate the icon of Our Lady of “Bonaria” or “Buona Aria” (“good air” or “fair wind”), the namesake of his native city of Buenos Aires.

The pope dedicated his audience talk to the Year of Faith and, anticipating the feast of Pentecost May 19, focused on the role of the Holy Spirit in guiding the lives of the faithful and the church to the truth.

The pope also released two doves into the square in an impromptu moment.

While he was riding in the open-air popemobile, a pilgrim handed the pope a cage with two white doves inside.

At first, aides were unsure whether the woman really wanted them set loose, but after her reassurances, they opened the cage door and the pope reached inside to grab the first one, which he expertly tossed into the air.

The second dove proved more difficult as its wings got caught in the cage’s small opening. The dove didn’t seem to want to go as it tightly clutched the pope’s fingers with its small feet before finally taking off and circling over the crowds.

His deft handling of the birds perhaps shouldn’t come as a surprise. According to the pope’s sister, Maria Elena Bergoglio, the future pope had a parrot when he was in the seminary.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=faXyHAsfORo

In his audience talk, Pope Francis said the modern world is skeptical about the truth and echoed Pope Benedict XVI’s warnings about relativism, which holds that nothing is definite and that truth is based on consensus or personal whims.

But Jesus is the truth that “came among us so that we could know it,” he said.

“The truth isn’t seized like a thing, the truth is met. It’s not a possession, it’s an encounter with a person” in Christ, he said.

The Holy Spirit was the Risen Christ’s gift to humanity so that they could know and recognize that Jesus is the Word of truth, he said.

Through the Holy Spirit, God’s word and law are “inscribed in our heart and become the principle in us for evaluating our choices and guide for our daily actions, becoming a principle of life,” he said.

If people open themselves up to the Holy Spirit, he is the one who transforms that heart and makes it new, “giving us the intelligence of the things of God,” he said.

This intelligence “can’t be reached with our own efforts,” he said. “If God doesn’t enlighten us within, our being Christian will be superficial.”

The pope asked the crowd in the square whether they pray and are open to the Holy Spirit everyday so they can be “more sensitive to the things of God.”

Looking for a show of hands, the pope said, “hmm… not many, not many, but we have to do what Jesus wanted: pray every day to the Holy Spirit so that he opens our heart to Jesus.”

He asked people to take concrete steps to know Christ better, especially during the Year of Faith, by reading sacred Scripture, studying the catechism and taking part in the Sacraments.

“Let’s ask ourselves what steps we are taking so that the faith guides our existence” because “there are no part-time Christians, at certain moments, in certain circumstances, in certain choices,” he said. “You can’t be a Christian that way. You are Christians at all times, completely.”

He ended his catechesis in Italian by telling the crowd to pray to the Holy Spirit everyday: “Will you do it?” he asked, as people yelled back, “Yes!”

“I can’t hear you,” the pope said, smiling and patting his ear, drawing even louder shouts of affirmation from the crowd.

During his greetings to different language groups, the pope thanked Polish pilgrims for taking part in a city-wide March for Life in Szczecin, Poland. He said such an initiative “reminds everyone of the need to promote and defend human life from conception” to its natural end.

He also greeted students, particularly those from Catholic schools.

Catholic schools are a precious resource for all of society, he said, adding that “it is good that their role be recognized in an appropriate way.”

Washington D.C., May 14, 2013 / (CNA/EWTN News) – The U.S. bishops’ conference has announced a second Fortnight for Freedom, scheduled for the two weeks leading up to Independence Day, to raise awareness and support for the right to religious liberty.

“The need for prayer, education, and action in defense of religious liberty has never been greater,” said Archbishop William E. Lori of Baltimore. “The Fortnight for Freedom exists to meet that need.”

The pastoral initiative will begin with a June 21 Mass celebrated by Archbishop Lori at the Baltimore basilica. It will conclude at noon on July 4 with a Mass at the Washington, D.C., basilica celebrated by Cardinal Donald W. Wuerl.

The first Fortnight for Freedom, held last year, included Masses, prayer rallies and other events aimed at prayer, education and action in order to promote and defend religious freedom.

Members of other religions joined in the fortnight, hosting events or ringing church bells in a sign of solidarity.

The two-week event is designed to “emphasize the need for conscience protection” and general religious liberty both at home and overseas. It will focus on a broad variety of recent threats to religious freedom, including those in the realms of immigration, humanitarian aid, adoption and health care.

Among the major religious liberty concerns in the U.S. is a federal mandate, issued by the Department of Health and Human Services, that requires employers to offer health insurance plans covering contraception, sterilization and some drugs that can cause early abortions.

While the mandate includes a religious exemption, it applies only to churches and their conventions, auxiliaries and religious orders.

Most non-profit religious organizations, including Catholic hospitals, schools and charitable agencies, do not qualify for the exemption. After a one-year reprieve, which ends this August, they will subject to a government “accommodation,” under which the objectionable products will be included free of charge in the health care plans they offer. Critics argue that the objecting religious employers will still end up paying for the coverage that they consider immoral through increased premiums.

Archbishop Lori noted in his May 13 statement that the 2013 fortnight “occurs just weeks before August 1, when the administration’s mandate coercing us to violate our deeply-held beliefs will be enforced against most religious non-profits.”

He added that during this year’s fortnight, “the Supreme Court’s decisions on the definition of marriage will likely be handed down as well.”

“Those decisions could have a profound impact on religious freedom for generations to come,” he said.

In March, the Supreme Court heard arguments in two gay marriage cases, Hollingsworth v. Perry and U.S. v. Windsor. One challenges California’s Proposition 8, a state measure which recognizes marriage as existing solely between a man and a woman, and the other challenges the Defense of Marriage Act, a federal law which defines marriage as the union of one man and one woman.

Decisions in both cases are expected in late June.

In addition to the contraception mandate, the second fortnight will place a special emphasis on faith and marriage due to the Supreme Court rulings and their potential to impact religious freedom in a significant way, according to a statement from the bishops’ conference in December 2012.

A web page created by the bishops’ conference to offer resources for the pastoral strategy described the upcoming fortnight as “a visible, vibrant reminder of the God-given nature of religious liberty” as well as the right to live out one’s faith in the public square and the professional world.

Modern threats to the Church “call for increased awareness and formation, as well as spiritual stamina and fortitude among the faithful, so that we may all be effective and joyful witnesses of faith, hope and charity,” it explained.

Mary was there at the foot of the Cross when Jesus died, but when he was lifted up to heaven, 40 days after his Resurrection, the Bible does not record his mother as being physically present (Lk 24:51-52; Acts 1:1-11). One might think that she would want to be there to say farewell, but it is not as simple as that. For one thing, in his Ascension, Jesus did not leave Mary or us. He did not go away, but entered into the transcendence of communion with God. He kept his word to the Apostles, and to us, “Behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age” (Mt 28:20).

In his Confessions, Saint Augustine explains: “Our life himself came down into this world and took away our death. He slew it with his own abounding life, and with thunder in his voice he called us from this world to return to him in heaven. . . . He departed from our sight, so that we should turn to our hearts and find him there. He departed, but he is here with us. He would not stay long with us, but he did not leave us. He went back to the place which he had never left.”

What is true for us – that Jesus did not leave us in “ascending” into the intimacy of communion with God, but that we can find him in our hearts by allowing him and his love to enter into our being – was especially true for the Virgin Mother of Jesus, who is joined to him in a special way by her unique maternity, such that when he was nailed to the Cross, her own heart was pierced (cf. Lk 2:35). Indeed, we can relate to this in our personal lives with our own mothers.

The first and most immediate human relationship we experience is with our mothers. Through their cooperation with God, together with our fathers, they give us life. In an ongoing commitment that nurtures the family and provides a context for our life, our mothers devote their time, energy, resources and love so we can grow, develop and mature.

As the saying goes, we are our mothers’ children. We will always be a part of our mothers and our mothers will always be a part of us. Even after we have left the family nest, we can find our mothers present in our hearts. Even after our mother has passed from this world, still we can feel her within us. There is a bond of love that cannot be broken by distance or time or even death. If she is in God and he is in us, then she is in our heart as well, and she continues to be a mother, looking out for us from the Father’s house.

Again, as we not only celebrate Mother’s Day today, but the entire month of May as Mary’s month, what is true in our personal lives is especially true with respect to her, who is Mother not only to Jesus, but to John and all the faithful. When the Apostles returned to Jerusalem, they devoted themselves with one accord to prayer with the Blessed Virgin, who by her maternal charity and prayers implored the gift of the Holy Spirit upon them. Even after the end of her worldly sojourn, our Mother Mary continues to care for her spiritual children “who still journey on earth surrounded by dangers and difficulties, until they are led into the happiness of their true home” (Lumen Gentium 59, 62).

We see this, for example, in the appearance of Our Lady of Fatima to the three humble shepherd children Lucia, Blessed Francisco, and Blessed Jacinta, which the Church celebrates tomorrow. Her message was an exhortation to penance, conversion, and prayer for the salvation for souls. At the time, the world was suffering horribly in World War I and she warned of even worse things to come, including persecution of the Church. However, evil and suffering will not have the last word: offering us loving words of hope, our Blessed Mother promised that her Immaculate Heart will triumph in the end.

There is great hardship and suffering in the world, but we do not despair because her Son, the Risen Christ, came to save us from death and destruction. More than that, in his Ascension, Jesus raised up the human body to heaven and thus raised up mankind to heaven, opening up within God a space for humanity, opening up for us eternal life (Pope Benedict XVI, Jesus of Nazareth, Vol. Two, p. 287). But all that is possible only because of a mother’s love.

This day, let us say thank you to our mothers and our Blessed Mother for their enduring love. May God bless them and keep them, forever holding them in his loving embrace.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Using a phrase that translates literally as “the face of a pickled pepper,” Pope Francis said that when Christians have more of a sourpuss than a face that communicates the joy of being loved by God, they harm the witness of the church.

“The Christian is a man or woman of joy,” the pope said May 10, giving a homily during his morning Mass in the chapel of the Domus Sanctae Marthae.

While happiness is a good thing, the pope said, it’s not the same as the profound joy that comes from “the certainty that Jesus is with us and with the Father.”

If one tries to be happy all the time, he said, that happiness ends up “transforming itself into lightness, superficiality and leads to a state of lacking Christian wisdom; it can make us fools, dupes, no?”

“Joy is something else. Joy is a gift from the Lord. It fills us from the inside,” the pope said at the Mass attended by staff from Vatican Radio and concelebrated by Venezuelan Archbishop Baltazar Enrique Porras Cardozo of Merida and Abbot Notker Wolf, the Benedictine abbot primate.

The joy the Lord gives cannot be “bottled up so we can keep it with us,” he said. “If we want this joy just for ourselves, in the end it will make us sick and our hearts will shrivel up and our faces will not transmit that great joy, but nostalgia, that melancholy that isn’t healthy.”

Joy naturally leads to generosity, he said.

Pope Francis said joy is a “pilgrim virtue,” one that moves Christians to journey out into the world preaching the Gospel and proclaiming Christ.

Joy, he said, “is one of the virtues of the great,” of those who don’t allow themselves to get caught up in silly little annoyances or in “little things inside the community of the church; they always look to the horizon.”

“The Christian sings with joy and walks carrying this joy,” the pope said.