Holy Family @ St. Vincent

HOMILY - THE HOLY FAMILY OF JESUS, MARY, AND JOSEPH
DECEMBER 28/9, 2019
5:00 PM (SAT), 9:00 AM (SUN) ORDINARY FORM MASSES



Born in 1894 in Surrey, England; Aldous Huxley was the author of nearly 50 books – both fiction and non-fiction.

He was a humanist and a pacifist, with interests in mysticism and universalism. In all, he was nominated for a Nobel Prize seven times; and widely acknowledged as one of the foremost intellectuals of his day.

His fifth and most famous novel, and his first dystopian work, was titled Brave New World.



In this work, a World State has created an imposed stability through genetic engineering, and medical and psychological manipulation. Yet, it maintains order by obliterating the individual, and destroying and discouraging strong bonds and relationships with others.

Words such as family, mother, father, brother, or sister have become obsolete; and their use is even considered perverse and obscene.

While we may consider family as our some of our strongest bonds and our family relations have given us the roots of our identities; in Huxley’s novel, the World State demands quite the opposite. And by manipulating language, individuals thoughts and ideas are manipulated; and ultimate control is exerted.



Today is the Sunday after Christmas, since 1969 known as The Feast of the Holy Family.

Devotion to the Holy Family can be traced to the 16th century. By the end of the 19th century, Pope Leo XIII approved this feast, and encouraged Christian families to dedicate and consecrate themselves to the Holy Family.

Pope Benedict XV extended the celebration of the feast to the entire Church in 1921, as the Sunday after Epiphany. And in 1969, it assumed its current location in the liturgical calendar.
In the early 12th century, St. Bernard of Clairvaux wrote,

God, to whom angels submit themselves and who principalities and powers obey, was subject to Mary; and not only to Mary but Joseph also for Mary’s sake [….]. God obeyed a human creature; this is humility without precedent. A human creature commands God; it is sublime beyond measure.

Our First Reading from the Book of Sirach is a commentary on the Fourth Commandment, namely:

Honor your father and your mother.

Our Lord exemplifies this commandment through His humble submission to his human parents. Humility is a difficult concept for anyone, and it would do us good to contemplate the immense sublimity “humility without precendent” of Christ.

We hear in St. Paul’s Epistle to the Colossians, the text leading up to the parallel of Ephesian’s chapter 5. While the text may sound old-fashioned to our modern ears, twenty-five years ago in my Naval training, we were taught:

To be a good leader, you must know how to be a good follower.

The key to any of this is relationship. The term ‘family’ can be considered and examined through both macroscopic and microscopic lenses. Whether it’s a nuclear family, an extended family, a community – large or small – the family of the Church, or the human race … we are all part of some sort of family.

Considering that the roots of the English word ‘holy’ are the same as the words ‘whole’ and ‘healthy’ – our membership(s) in the various families to which we may belong … complete us and make us whole.

Through the intercession of the Holy Family – Jesus, Mary, and Joseph – may we obtain the grace to give and take in a ordered way … and grow in our human relationship. And may the Eucharist we receive today – Body, and Blood; Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ – unite us ever more closely with God – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Epiphany @ St. Apollinaris Parish

HOMILY - THE EPIPHANY OF THE LORD
JANUARY 6, 2019
4:30 PM (SAT), 7:30 AM, 9:00 AM, 5:30 PM ORDINARY FORM (ENGLISH) MASSES
12:00 NOON EXTRAORDINARY FORM (LATIN) MASS



Henry Van Dyke - a Presbyterian minister, author, and statesman - was born in 1830 in Germantown, Pennsylvania. He taught English Literature at Princeton University and lectured at the University of Paris. President Woodrow Wilson appointed him Minister to the Netherlands and Luxembourg. He also wrote the lyrics for the hymn “Joyful Joyful We Adore Thee,” which many of us are familiar with.

Van Dyke wrote two Christmas stories: The First Christmas Tree - in 1897; and before that The Other Wise Man - in 1896.



In the story, The Other Wise Man, Van Dyke writes about a fictional fourth wise man who it would seem was always a little bit behind schedule.

On his way to rendezvous with the three magi, he stops to help a dying man - and so is late. By the time he arrives, their caravan has set out across the desert. He is forced to sell 1/3 of his treasure to finance his own journey to Bethlehem.



When he arrives in Bethlehem, it is in the midst of the slaughter of the innocents by King Herod. The Holy Family has already fled to Egypt; and this wise man again uses 1/3 of his treasure to save the life of a child by paying off the troops sent to kill the children.

For thirty-three years he travels around - always just a few steps behind Jesus - living his life as a pilgrim and as one seeking for Jesus. When he finally finds Jesus, it is in Jerusalem ... on Good Friday. He is again distracted, using the last 1/3 of his treasure to ransom a young woman from being sold into slavery.



At the death of Jesus, the sun is darkened, and the earth shakes. Our fourth wise man is trapped under a falling stone at the temple. He feels that he has failed in his life’s quest - having never met Jesus ... and spending his treasure which was intended for the Christ Child, the newborn King, so many years before.

As he is dying - filled with remorse - he hears a voice that tells him:
 Verily I say unto thee, Inasmuch as thou hast done it 
 unto one of the least of these my brethren, 
 thou hast done it unto me.

That is, despite what appeared to be failures to achieve his own life’s goal, he had lived out the Beatitudes in his acts of mercy and charity. And in that sense, had not only met Jesus - but had served as the hands and feet of Christ in the world.



For ourselves, especially around this time of year, we make “New Year’s Resolutions.” To lose weight, or read more, or work harder, or be nicer. Whatever they may be. And more often than not, it only lasts a couple of day or maybe weeks.

At the end of the Gospel reading we hear that the Magi did not return the way they came, but that they “departed … by another way.”

There is a significance to this final line. To truly meet Christ Jesus in the flesh means to be transformed … to be changed. As Venerable Archbishop Fulton Sheen noted,

No one who ever meets Christ with a good will returns the same way as [they] came.

And so, as we approach this altar to receive the Sacred Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ; let us pray for the graces to truly be renewed by Christ’s presence among us. May we discover Him always in our daily lives … and be His hands and His feet … His mouth and His ears … out and about … in the world.

Mary, Mother of God @ St. Apollinaris Parish

HOMILY - THE SOLEMNITY OF MARY, MOTHER OF GOD (OCTAVE DAY OF CHRISTMAS)
JANUARY 1, 2019
8:00 AM ORDINARY FORM (ENGLISH) MASS
12:00 NOON EXTRAORDINARY FORM (LATIN) MASS



Several years ago, my sainted mother asked me around this time of the year:

What happened to the Feast of the Circumcision?

Now, I’m sure there’s no other word that can cause a grown man to cringe physically – except maybe “Romantic Comedy” – just kidding … but indeed, what happened to this feast?

Looking online at a liturgical resource, we have the Feast of the Circumcision going back into the 13th and 14th centuries; and it is recorded in the Missal before the Tridentine reforms in 1568, and continues to exist until 1955 when it is called quite simply “The Octave Day of Christmas.”



Which is strange, since it is quite biblical, and this is read at Mass today:

When eight days were completed for his circumcision, he was named Jesus, the name given him by the angel before he was conceived in the womb.

Fifteen years later, in 1970, to make things even more confusing, the feast was renamed for a Roman feast day celebrated in the time of the Fathers of the Church called the “Solemnity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of God.”



Historically, for the Chosen People, circumcision was the very physical sign of their covenant with God. The entirety of Chapter 17 of Genesis is devoted to this covenant. In the 1962 liturgy it is not read at all in any Mass, and in the 1970 liturgy (no pun intended) it seems we get a cut-and-paste version of Chapter 17 in our Lectionary readings (if at all) on the Friday of the 12th Week of Ordinary Time every other year; and on the Thursday of the 5th Week of Lent every year.

So what’s it all about?

Oddly, or interestingly, the 500 plus year old prayers associated with this day are unchanged. So, whatever we call it, it’s basically the same Mass.

Circumcision has multiple purposes in the ancient world.

One consideration is hygiene. Even in today’s modern era, it seems to provide protection against some diseases.

Another was as a sign of membership in a tribe. This is still seen in parts of the Middle East and Africa.

It could also be a sign of defeat or submission. Ancient warfare often had all men of fighting age slaughtered after a surrender. This was considered a less brutal way of marking a defeated tribe or nation.



So what does this have to do with Jesus?

First, this “marked” Jesus as a descendent of Abraham and the prophecy in Genesis 17 that Abraham (at the age of 99) would father a son Israel who would bring about an enormous family of descendants, one of whom – the anointed one, the Messiah, would save Israel and be a blessing to all nations.

So, Jesus, through the Circumcision becomes of the tribe of Abraham.

Also, Abraham, at the age of 99, took this mark as a sign of submission to God. And it was passed on for thousands of years to all of his descendants. It reminds us of the earliest covenant with Abraham and the anticipation of Israel for thousands of years.



Finally, it is a foreshadowing of Christ’s ultimate sacrifice on the Cross. Because in fulfilling this Jewish ritual, His most Precious Blood was spilled for the first time. For indeed, there is but a short distance between the wood of the Creche and the wood of the Cross.

And so, Mom, what happened to the Feast of the Circumcision? It’s still here. But the names have been changed – perhaps out of a mid-century prissiness, perhaps out of a hyper-historicity – I’m just not sure.

But the Feast of the Circumcision reminds of us Jesus’s connection to Abraham, as well as His total submission to the Will of His Father, and commemorates the first shedding of His Blood as a foreshadowing of His Passion.



As we approach this altar to receive the Sacred Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ, let us – in looking at the Creche see a foreshadowing of the Cross. And on this the eighth day – the day of Jesus’s Circumcision – may we circumcise our hearts, as St. Paul says, surrendering them to the power of God Almighty … and as a sign of our kinship to God in Christ.

Holy Family @ St. Apollinaris Parish

HOMILY - THE FEAST OF THE HOLY FAMILY
DECEMBER 30, 2018
7:30 AM, 9:00 AM ORDINARY FORM (ENGLISH) MASSES



Completed in the year 1086 at the direction of William the Conquerer, the Domesday Book recorded how many hundreds of family estates were in each shire within the several counties of England and Wales; as well as what taxes were owed to the king.

After the wholesale redistribution of land following the Norman Conquest in 1066, the principle purpose of the survey was to determine what taxes were owed to William’s father – Edward the Confessor.

Not until the Victorian era Return of Owners of Land survey in 1873 – nearly 800 years later – was any survey of such extent and scope attempted in England.



In the 11th century, William’s purpose was to assess the financial resources of his kingdom; yet from an historical perspective, it can be shown which family held what lands as well as the land valuation of each estate … nearly one millennium ago.

The original manuscript from 1086 is held at the British Nation Archives at Kew (a district in the borough of Richmond on Thames) in London.



Today is the Feast of the Holy Family which is normally the Sunday within the Octave of Christmas.
An Octave is an eight-day extension of a particular feast. At one time, the Church held as many as 20 octaves associated with various feasts. In the simplification of ecclesiastical calendar in 1969, the Solemnities of Christmas and Easter are the only two feasts retaining Octaves.



Veneration of the Holy Family was formally instituted by the first bishop of Quebec in the last quarter of the 17th century.

It was instituted as a liturgical feast by Pope Leo XIII in 1893 as the Sunday within the Octave of the Epiphany (that is one week later than now). In the Extraordinary Form (the liturgical usage of 1962) it falls on the Octave day of the Epiphany – or January 13.



In instituting the Feast at the end of the the 19th century, Pope Leo XIII indicated that among the fruits of devotion to the Holy Family in the home:

charity is likely to be maintained in the family … a good influence is thus exerted over conduct … the practice of virtue is thus incited … and thus the hardships … are both mitigated and made easier to bear.

He further indicated that:

Joseph [gives fathers a] model of … vigilance and care. [Mary gives] mothers … an excellent example of love, modesty … [and] faith. And in Jesus … children … have a divine pattern of obedience …

In our own time, Pope Francis calls on all families to “find precious guidance for the style and choices of life, and … [to] draw strength and wisdom for each day’s journey” from the example of the Holy Family.

As we approach this altar to receive the Sacred Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ … let us each from within our own family … seek to model our lives on the virtues and example of the Holy Family of Nazareth. May we always look to Jesus, Mary, and Joseph for guidance, strength, example, and perseverance.

Christmas @ St. Apollinaris Parish

HOMILY - THE NATIVITY OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST
DECEMBER 24 / 25, 2018
5:00 PM (EVE), 8:00 AM ORDINARY FORM (ENGLISH) MASSES
12:00 NOON EXTRAORDINARY FORM (LATIN) MASS (RUTHERFORD HOLY FAMILY)



The year was 1968, and it was known as “The Year the Changed the World,” or “The Year that Changed America.”

The very unpopular Vietnam War was underway – and increasing numbers of troops were being drafted. The US was in the middle of the Cold War as well as the Space Race with the Soviet Union.

Martin Luther King was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee – leading to riots in many major cities. Two months later, presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy was assassinated in Los Angeles.

The Green Bay Packers won the Superbowl, and the Detroit Tigers won the World Series.

The most profitable movie of the year was 2001: A Space Odyssey; while Hey Jude was the hottest single of the year.

Indeed the people were changing, America was changing, and the world was changing.



On the shortest day of the year, Apollo 8 was launched out of Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. The second manned launch aboard a Saturn V rocket, with a three-man crew.

It was to be the first manned spacecraft to leave low Earth orbit, reach the Moon, orbit it, and return to Earth.



Three days after launch, orbiting the Moon, the astronauts saw for the first time … the Earth rising over the Moon.



They also took this opportunity to read 10 verses from the Book of Genesis, which began:
In the beginning, God created the Heaven and the Earth.


This of course led to multiple lawsuits from atheist Madeline Murray O’Hare – all three of which she lost through a failure to state a claim. I’m not sure if the astronauts having committed the offending action more than 230,000 nautical miles from any Earthly jurisdiction factored into it, but that’s my opinion.



The crew splashed down on December 27, and were named Time Magazine’s “Men of the Year.” Six months later, the US Postal Service issued a stamp commemorating this historic spaceflight.



Fifty years later, astronaut Jim Lovell, now 90 years old, commented that when they saw the Earth from the moon, so many hundreds of thousands of miles away, it struck him how fortunate we are to live:

on a planet that has the proper mass, has the gravity to contain water and an atmosphere, which are the very essentials for life," he said. "And you arrive on this planet that's orbiting a star just at the right distance — not too far to be too cold, or too close to be too hot — and just at the right distance to absorb that star's energy and then, with that energy, cause life to [exist] here in the first place.

Today, of course, is Christmas. And the Gospel we heard proclaimed was from the beginning of St. John. Which, like Genesis, starts out:

In the beginning …

While Genesis recounts the creation of all things … St. John’s Prologue recounts the re-creation of all things in Christ.



The coming of this one child – true God and true Man – in order to change us … so that we might change the world.



As we approach this altar to receive the Sacred Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ … let us pray that the birth of Jesus Christ, when viewed by us through the distance of two thousand year, may give us pause and recognize that He has come … not only to us … but for us … right here and right now … sacramentally in the Eucharist … in order to transform us from who we are … into who God calls us to become.



On behalf of our pastor and myself, and all the deacons … staff … and volunteers … here at St. A’s … have a Blessed and Merry Christmas. And may you know and experience the transforming power of Christ, born for us today.

5th Resumed Sunday after Epiphany @ Holy Family

HOMILY - FIFTH RESUMED SUNDAY AFTER EPIPHANY
NOVEMBER 11, 2018
12:00 NOON EXTRAORDINARY FORM (LATIN) MASS
HOLY FAMILY CHAPEL, RUTHERFORD, CA



Howard William Osterkamp from Dent, Ohio served for nine months of his two-years of service on the 38th parallel in Korea with C Company, 5th Regimental Combat Team.

About half-way through those nine months, he was wounded in the leg with schrapnel, and suffered two breaks in his leg, but this was misdiagnosed by Army doctors, and he was returned to the front lines for four more months.

Osterkamp is credited with the phrase: “All gave some; some gave all.”



Today, is Veteran’s Day – which originated as Armistice Day 99 years ago at the end of the First World War. It took 19 years for Congress to declare it a national holiday.

It is also the memorial of St. Martin of Tours, who originally was a military man from a military family, and lived in the fourth century.

Pious legend tells us that Martin, seeing a poor beggar in the cold, took his sword and cut his own military cloak in half – sharing it with the shivering man. That night he had a dream where Christ appeared and repeated that well-known phrase “what you did for this the least of my brethren, you did for me.” And upon waking up, Martin saw that his cloak was no longer half, but 100%.



This led to his conversion, and eventually becoming a bishop in France.

Interestingly, the words “chapel” and “chaplain” supposedly arise from the French word for cloak or cape … and refer to the buildings where St. Martin’s cloak was displayed for prayer, and to the clergy who attended to the cloak as it moved from place to place.

In today’s Epistle from St. Paul’s letter to the Colossians, we hear: “But above all these things, put on charity, which is the bond of perfection.” Also of interest is that this is the Scripture that gives rise to the prayer all priests pray when they assume the chasuble – the outer cloak of the sacred vestments used for Mass.



In the Gospel, we hear one of the parables of weeds and the wheat. When the good seed came up as weeds, the servants are puzzled, while the master knows: “An enemy hath done this.”

In our own time, there is much bad fruit to be found in business, politics, and just about everywhere. There are weeds among the clergy – among those who have claimed to serve the Church. Yet, those men  no longer seek to serve Holy Mother Church, but rather viciously now seek to be served by the Church. This has caused much damage to souls, and indeed “An enemy hath done this.”



Our solution is a call to arms – but not with swords or troops or calvary. Rather, our weapons against the Enemy of our souls are virtue, prayer, and charity … as St. Paul has told us in today’s Epistle.
In order to know this Enemy, we must examine the fruits. And where the fruit is rotten and weeds grow in place of wheat – we know what has happened, and we know what it is we must do.

As we approach this altar to receive the Sacred Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ … let us never forget that He, and He alone has given everything. And indeed, while “all gave some, and some gave all” Yet we know that it is God alone Who has given us every good thing. Let us, in following Christ – Who gave His Life for our salvation – and those good examples of service – both to country and to Church – seek to return to God all the good He has given us … for the Greater Glory of the Almighty.

14th Sunday after Pentecost @ Holy Family Rutherford

HOMILY - FOURTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST

AUGUST 26, 2018

12:00 NOON EXTRAORDINARY FORM (LATIN) MASS

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.



Todays Gospel give us a simple admonition. Easy to say, yet perhaps more difficult to implement.
St. Paul tells us the Fruits of the Holy Ghost.

charity, joy, peace, patience, benignity, goodness, longanimity, 
mildness, faith, modesty, continency, chastity

Yet prior to this enumerates seventeen “works of the flesh” which snuff out the spark of the Holy Ghost within us; and encourages us to crucify the flesh and snuff out vice and concupiscence.



In other news, the Church is receiving a black eye for the actions of a few … well, let’s just call it what it is … criminal idiots. The abuse scandal is back in the press, and this time its at the top of the hierarchy.

My personal take on this, is that is comes from what Pope St. John Paul II called “the mystery of iniquity.”

I guess the official response appears to be to point out that it was “sinful,” and that . . . well . . . we’re all sinners. Sure. Whatever.

It is indeed sinful. But it is also horrific, corrupt, reprehensible, and criminal. And while we all may be sinners, I hope that we aren’t all horrific, corrupt, reprehensible, criminal sinners.



At it’s root, it involves entitlement. A person thinking they can do whatever they want despite the appropriate moral and legal boundaries that help us live in a civilized society.

It also involves exploitation. We’re seeing exploitation of children, people, assets, power, and just about anything and everything that there is that can be exploited.

The worst part, is that these people are priests, bishops, archbishops, and cardinals.

Priests take vows, but the vow that’s being broken isn’t only chaste celibacy … rather, priests also promise to celebrate “the mysteries of Christ faithfully and religiously” as well as to “hold the mystery of the faith with a clear conscience” … to care for “the Lord’s flock,” to sanctify “Christ’s people,” and to unite ourselves “to Christ the High Priest . . . [in offering] to the Father . . . a perfect sacrifice.”



On May 18, 1986, Pope St. John Paul II uses the phrase “mystery of iniquity” three times in his Encyclical “Dominum et Vivificantem: On the Holy Spirit in the Life of the Church and the World.”

In the first mention, he points out that sin is more than breaking a rule. Sin reveals “the evil that sin contains.” That is, evil is real. And sin is evil. Second, he points out that sin is opposed, not by a stasis of not sinning or avoiding sin, but by embracing piety and holiness; to love God to the point of forgetting oneself. And finally, he points out that the end-game is conversion, in which we are to destroy “every fetter by which sin binds [us] to the whole of the mystery of iniquity.”



In the Gospel, Our Blessed Lord tells us:

No man can serve two masters. 
For either he will hate the one, and love the other: 
or he will sustain the one, and despise the other. 
You cannot serve God and mammon.

And that is the choice we all must make each and every day. Whom will we serve?

Certainly not the horrific, corrupt, criminal sinners … the entitled idiots who have exploited the treasures of our Faith.



Rather, Our Lord also tells us:

Seek ye therefore first the kingdom of God, and his justice, 
and all these things shall be added unto you. 

Let us choose to serve Christ . . . and Christ alone. He Who came to us in the Magnum Mysterium – the Great Mystery – of His incarnation, and He Who left us the “mystírio ton mystiríon” – the Sacrament of Sacraments – the Most Blessed Sacrament – His Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity.



Pray for me, as I pray for you. And let us resolve to sever every connection which would bind us to the mystery of iniquity. And let us continue to choose Christ . . . embracing the Great Mystery . . . and despite the darkness of sin . . . let us bring that light of Christ to the World.
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.

Most Precious Blood @ Holy Family Rutherford

HOMILY - THE MOST PRECIOUS BLOOD OF OUR LORD AND SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST
JULY 1, 2018
12:00 NOON EXTRAORDINARY FORM (LATIN) MASS



Today we celebrate the First Class Feast of the Most Precious Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ.

The feast was initially commemorated on the Friday of Fourth Week of Lent.



In 1849, the Blessed Pope Pius IX fled Rome during an uprising. A truce was signed on July 1; and in honor of a restoration of peace, the Holy Father extended the Feast of the Precious Blood to all of Christendom.

Later that year, he included it in the General Roman Calendar for the first Sunday in July; and in a simplification of the calendar, it was moved to July 1.



Pope Saint John XXIII raised it to the level of first class, and in the revised Missal of 1969, it was removed … and reduced to a votive Mass.



In the middle of the 15th century, Franciscans and Dominicans – in the presence of Pope Pius II – debated whether the Precious Blood was an essential part, or merely a concomitant part of Our Lord’s sacred humanity. One hundred years later, the Council of Trent stated that the Precious Blood was indeed part of Christ the Lord. (I don’t know if the debate was an error in theology or biology, but I’m glad it’s been settled.)



Closely associated with the Sacred Heart – which is sometimes devotionally referred to as the “wine cellar of the Precious Blood.”



Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI spoke in England in 2010, saying: “The outpouring of Christ’s blood is the source of the Church’s life.” And that the Precious Blood is represented “by the martyrs of every age, who drank from the cup which Christ himself drank, and whose own blood, shed in union with his sacrifice, gives new life to the Church.”

The martyr comes from the Greek word for “witness,” and the Emeritus Holy Father encourages us to be “witnesses of the beauty of holiness, witnesses of the splendour of truth, witnesses of the joy and freedom born of a living relationship with Christ!”

As we approach this altar to receive the Sacred Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ – may we remain united to Him in His Mystical Body the Church … and may His Blood course through our veins … so that He may increase the Divine Life of Grace within us … more and more … each day.