Prayer is an important part of a person’s religious and faith life. Prayer takes many forms, and we each utilize it in different ways. I have to admit that my favorite and most-used form is that of petition. I am frequently bringing various problems and difficulties to God’s attention, and indicating with great clarity what it is exactly that He should bring about—and on my time schedule, of course.

Seriously, though, prayer is an important word in the lives of most people who profess to have faith, but it is a word with a wide variety of meanings. In general, it is the way we manifest in our own personal lives how we do or want to relate to the God that we worship. Catholics have the reputation, not completely deserved, as praying constantly from formulas of prayer, such as the Lord’s Prayer, the Rosary, the Apostle’s Creed, and various types of novenas. This does not mean that Catholics do not also pray in a completely ad-libbed manner; it’s just that when they come together, there is a rich tradition of common prayer. Whether it’s 200 or 200,000 Catholics simultaneously uniting their voices in prayer, in my opinion that’s a beautiful manifestation of shared faith.

There are four basic forms of prayer: adoration, petition, thanksgiving and contrition. What must never be forgotten and always stressed is that prayer is conversation with God. Conversation! That conversation must be natural from the point of view of the person that is doing the praying. This opens up the need for personal, non-memorized prayer. I believe the only advantage of memorized prayer is making it easy to pray aloud together. We tend to get into a format that we’re comfortable with, and use it repeatedly. Instead, I think we should struggle to avoid that, and get back to the concept of an ongoing, personal conversation with our Lord.

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It should come as no surprise that I have never been married, nor have the vast majority of Catholic priests. However, in our role as a parish priest, many of us have spent countless hours meeting with couples who are struggling to hold together their union- often one that began in love and faith, but subsequently appeared to be in grave danger. Upon reflection, although every relationship is unique, a certain commonality exists in struggling marriages, and I believe those couples in the final preparations for a summer wedding might benefit from reflecting on a couple of these issues.

The first issue is whether or not you know the true nature of your spouse. I have always asked the potential bride and groom about their greatest attraction to their fiancé. If the response was that she is “so beautiful” or he is “just perfect”, I would be deeply concerned. I always hoped to hear answers such as “he is strong, mature and generous,” or “she is honest, caring of her family and faithful to her friends.” Those marvelous qualities reflect the real person that is there.

Another major concern is what I refer to as having a “low threshold for pain.” Life is hard- it comes with many discomforts, inconveniences, and real pain. Life sharing is always a challenge. Note that I did not say life sharing is frequently a challenge, but ALWAYS a challenge! How can couples rise to that challenge? Many traits and virtues will help, but maturity is the most important. Personally, I like to define maturity simply as “the ability to adjust to reality“. Couples that practice combining maturity with generosity will greatly improve their “threshold for pain”, and thus tremendously increase their odds for a successful marriage.

Obviously there are entire books and courses that analyze and reflect on relationships and marriages, and I have but a short space here to offer a few of my thoughts and opinions. I would like to strongly encourage couples considering marriage to take advantage of the many programs and retreats offered by our Church, and to approach them prayerfully and thoughtfully- not as a check off box on the path the wedding.

May God especially bless all those preparing for the Sacrament of Marriage this summer!

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With the extraordinary feast of Pentecost approaching, I’ve been reflecting on the Holy Spirit, and how we in our lives go about spreading the Good News. Frankly, I believe that in our country, we tend to keep our practice of religion slightly out of sight, so that we don’t offend anybody or step on anybody’s toes…and I think that is a big mistake! Everyone has his or her own faith, own values, and ultimately their own religious beliefs. Our practice of our own faith does not automatically infringe on another person’s beliefs.

I have always said that religious arguments are pointless (because I have never seen one that changed the views of the participants). Openly demonstrating our faith and values, however, speaks volumes. Our own Pope Francis had a marvelous tweet (Twitter post) yesterday- he notes,”We cannot be part-time Christians! We should seek to live our faith at every moment of every day.”

I could not agree more. Let’s get busy!

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What’s your favorite feast? Thanksgiving? Many people say Christmas, especially if they are into “receiving” . Others are for Easter because of the wardrobe boost. Celebrating the Lord’s birth and resurrection provides us with wonderful religious experiences, but I’m holding out for the third most important feast in the life of the Church- Pentecost.  This coming Sunday, we will be wearing red to celebrate Pentecost, rejoicing that the Spirit of God flowed into the lives of the frightened followers of Jesus to give them a clear understanding of what it was that they had been called to do. Those followers were essentially confused cowards before Pentecost, and following that dramatic event they became courageous men and women prepared even to die as witnesses to Jesus.

This celebration is one day per year, but we ought to be prepared and look for opportunities to witness on a daily basis what we believe about the carpenter from Nazareth. You do not have to be in church to witness! Witness simply means to share the message of God’s love with all our very human brothers and sisters. This does not always require trips to third world countries by the way-you can do it right here in your own stomping grounds, by visiting with your lonely neighbor or reaching out to a frustrated coworker. Every day provides opportunities to be kind and thoughtful to those around us. His Spirit is challenging us!

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The purpose of the Church is to reach out and draw all of its members to communion with God through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The Church does this by presenting age after age the message of Jesus and also joins us with Jesus through our sacramental life. In carrying out this mission, it tries to convey to the entire world a message based on truth and love, a message that has tremendous implications for justice and fairness. These virtues are affected by the economic system present at any given moment.
For most of the last 2,000 years virtually the entire world’s economy was based on agriculture. That changed with the Industrial Revolution in the late 18th century bringing tremendous change to human life, including a vast increase in wealth and prosperity. But not everyone shared equally in these new developments. In the late 19th century, Pope Leo XIII saw that the Industrial Revolution and its later developments were inflicting tremendous pain and suffering on the poor workers in the urban centers of Europe and North America. He wrote his famous encyclical, Rerum Novarum which laid out a structure of responsibilities reminding employers of their responsibilities to be fair and just with their workers, and that those workers had the right to organize in order to defend their economic interests. In those days, that economy was mostly one of shops and small plants where workers and employers were often in face to face situations.
By the 1930’s, the world of the small plant by an individual or family gave way as nationwide industries developed and thus Pope Pius XI wrote the encyclical Quadragesimo Anno which built on the work of Leo XIII and dealt now with problems related to nation-wide economies.
After World War II with the decolonization of the people of Africa, the possibility of a one world economy expanded tremendously and as a result in 1963 that magnificent pope John XXIII wrote a document that had tremendous impact in the Church and on the world entitled Pacem in Terris, Peace on Earth. It dealt with this new worldwide economy many years before any of us were routinely referring to the reality of an integrated world economy. The document came out in 1963 and made a powerful impression on Church leaders all over world. Fifty years have passed since the encyclicals issued and in the next couple of days I will give you my opinion of the affect that it has had in this painful and agonizing half century.
 

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May 9th is the Feast of the Ascension of the Lord and in recent years it has been more frequently celebrated on the seventh Sunday after Easter. I like the old tradition of 40 days after the Resurrection.
The Lord’s ascension ushers in a special ten day period which finds the apostles once again alone and frightened. It is very similar to the time when they hid out in the Upper Room after the crucifixion. At that time, they were very frightened that what had befallen the Lord might also be dealt out to them. In this new period after the Ascension, the apostles are not so much frightened as confused. They simply do not know what they are to do. Actually, just before our Lord left the apostles he gave them his organizational plan that would be in effect from that day until the end of time. After giving leadership responsibilities to Peter and the power to forgive sins to his apostles, he gave them a commission that would carry throughout their lives and, as I said, until the last day. He said I want you to be witnesses to me in Jerusalem, in Judea and to the ends of the earth. He addressed the apostles in these words.

“Full authority has been given to me, both in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations. Baptized them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Teach them to carry out everything that I have commanded you and know that I am with you always until the end of the world.”
Each of us has shares in that commission from our Divine Lord. Each of us has the responsibility in some way to convey to those with whom we share life the reality of God’s love for the human family. We need to share the joy and confidence of our redemption.
Now we prepare for the coming of the Holy Spirit.

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The new Bishop of Rome, Pope Francis, is still getting a lot of press and people continue to be fascinated by his down to earth approach to his work and the papacy itself. When you see that he is referred to as the 266th successor of St. Peter, it is almost impossible to imagine all that is has been jammed into the story of the preceding 2,000 years. I just want to talk a little about one today that to me is really fascinating. That is Saint Pope Pius V. We celebrated his feast on April 30th. I have special interest in it since the first parish to which I was assigned after ordination was that of St. Pius V Parish in Pasadena, Texas.
Pius V began his pontificate with the announced intention of carrying out the decrees of the Council of Trent and were those decrees needed! The Church was in an awful mess. Nepotism was rampant and many bishops from other parts of Europe did not reside in their dioceses but came to live in Rome supported by their dioceses back home. Pius V sailed into this corruption with powerful drive. The Church seemed to be completely coming apart – Lutheranism in Germany, Henry VIII’s problems in England, caused by the beginning of the Anglican Church in England, and John Calvin drawing thousands and thousands of former Catholics into the Presbyterian Church in France and in Holland. There is always difficult activity on the political and military fronts. Pius V had all of Italy praying the rosary as the Christian and Muslim fleets faced each other at Lepanto. The Christians won an extraordinarily successful victory and temporarily at least halted the movement of the Muslim faith into Europe. Pius V was given credit for the victory but he properly gave that to the Blessed Mother and put up a special feast in her honor called the Lady of Victory. Another pope, somewhat more sensitive, would change the title of that feast to that of the Most Holy Rosary.
On the liturgical front, a great deal was accomplished. Following the dictates of the Council of Trent, all liturgical books were reworked and improved tremendously. Those books were still in use until the Second Vatican Council when they were reworked to more fittingly reflect the speech and modes of expression of the 20th century.

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Most Catholics are quite familiar with the actions that take place around the altar at mass- after all, most of us have been going for years and years. Nevertheless, it saddens me that there are so many people who see with their eyes, but do not follow deeply enough with the symbolism that is present there.

I’ve been teaching about the Catholic Church for approximately 60 years, and anyone who knows me well knows that I always push simplicity. If the Church uses a symbol (and it uses many) the viewers ought to be able to effortlessly comprehend the meaning and the message. Did you know that there are only two essential movements or actions within the mass? But each of those movements is duplicated so there are four: From the opening sign of the cross at the beginning of mass, we begin to talk TO God. And it is a good beginning, because we start off by saying we are sorry. Why are we sorry? Because He is so wonderful. That’s why we glide into the Gloria. We are exuberant. We are exalted! We are thrilled, because our God is so wonderful. The response? God talks to us. Just as we prepare to sit, we hear the priest say “let us listen thoughtfully to God’s Holy Word”. Then, with awe, we listen to a very specific message from God, coming through the inspired authors of the Bible, teaching us about life and God’s love for us. That’s the first half of the conversation.

The second half is about giving. From the back of the church, two or more people suddenly appear coming down the center aisle, bringing bread, wine, and frequently, money. Together those instruments represent ourselves, our talents and our work of the last seven days. They are carried forward and laid upon the altar. In our name, the priest raises the bread and wine and prays that God will accept our simple, inadequate gift. But, with them, we present also our hearts. Sursum cuerda (lift up your hearts).

Then, we move to the center of everything, whereby the power of ordination, Jesus Christ changes the bread and wine into the real presence of Jesus Christ, once again giving to us. Very shortly thereafter, we come forward as people on a journey to receive the bread of life and be one with our Brother, Jesus.

So we talk to God, and He responds. We give to God, and He gives back in the most awesome manner. Back and forth flows this beautiful current.

Next Sunday morning, mentally step back from the altar as mass proceeds, and try and grasp these two simple movements as you celebrate mass.

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May 1st is the Feast of St. Joseph the Worker. I doubt if most of the parish bulletins will be making any references to it. There won’t be any special Masses or lectures in the parish hall about the rights and duties of working people or the need to protect the lives and health of people who are at risk every day, whether that be iron workers, firemen or welders. This feast is a new arrival on the Church scene and I think that it was Pope Pius XII who called it into existence shortly after the Second World War. It was a very difficult time in Europe and in South America. Communist governments had taken over the Balkins and Poland and was trying to get control of Greece and Turkey. Communists really pushed May 1st as a day to celebrate the coming victory of Communism. In that situation, the Church did what it had done at times in its early life back in the second and third centuries. It took popular pagan feasts, pushed them to one side and installed a Christian feast in its place which had very beneficial results in those missionary centuries.

The Church was trying to spotlight its concern for working people. Everybody works but when the Church refers to “working people” it is referring to people who do the skilled but difficult task of keeping all of our organizations and the economy running. During those years, there would be great stress on the Feast of St. Joseph the Worker but with the passage of time Communism faded and then failed completely. At the same time, the Church seems to have let slide what I think is a wonderful feast – honoring Joseph, foster father of our Lord, as a carpenter, as a man who worked with his hands, a man who is extraordinarily important in God’s plan, a man who should be imitated and followed.

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Talk about ecumenism and a modest amount of movement in the ecumenical world has been going on at least since the 1960’s. Changed attitudes by Roman Catholics has helped tremendously because after Vatican Council II we decided to break up on circling the wagons and head West towards Christian unity. I am sure that it was a shove from the Holy Spirit after 300 years of religious isolation.
There has been a great deal of progress at the international level. Scripture scholars and major theologians have spent years exploring their religious roots, traditions and present positions and have discovered happily an amazing amount of unity that actually exists between the major Christian faiths in the world. This is especially true of Anglicans, Lutherans and Roman Catholics. While those meetings were tremendously important, they seldom reached down to the parish or neighborhood level.
Today I would like to spotlight a small group that I wish would become symbolic of the next phase of ecumenical activity. I am referring to a small group of clergy who meet at 10:00 a.m. every Wednesday morning in the parish rectory of St. Louis King of France. The host is Father Larry Covington, the pastor of St. Louis, and four or five neighborhood pastors representing all the major Christian traditions of the neighborhood. Finally, and this is truly wonderful, they are joined by a rabbi from the nearby synagogue. His presence is a real asset to the others not only because of his ability to contribute to discussions from the Old Testament, but with deeper insights in New Testament texts. These are hard working men serving large local congregations but they take the time to deepen their knowledge of their own faith and, at the same time, familiarize themselves with the religious traditions of others in the neighborhood.
Ecumenism for the last fifty years has always involved a relaxed ability to work together on social issues but it seldom got into deep open discussion of theological views. That is not true in north central Austin.
May God bless this group and may they become multiplied many times in the future.

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