Seventh Sunday of Easter, May 12th
Once again, a reading from Acts of the Apostles gives us an opportunity to see something of great importance that was taking place in the early Church. Last week’s excerpts had two important points – that there was theological confusion from the very beginning and the apostles claimed guidance by the Holy Spirit in order to be able to maintain the purity of the teachings of Jesus.
Today is another first – martyrdom! The text tells the story of Stephen, one of the first deacons. Stephen has been effectively preaching the new joyous message of Jesus of Nazareth and needless to say, it stirs up strong resentment among those who had rejected Jesus. At this point, the sacred author has Stephen giving a long, very long, homily about the story of salvation history. Towards the end of it he points out that their ancestors had rejected the prophets and now they have rejected Jesus and they are making a big mistake. You can well imagine that the crowd was infuriated and, cheered on by the Sanhedrin, the crowd begins to execute Stephen by stoning him. Again, the sacred author makes Stephen very similar to the death of Jesus. His enemies bring forth false witnesses to accuse him of false crimes and as he begins to die he prays, “Lord do not hold this sin against them.” And with these words he “fell asleep.”
From the very beginning the Church saw martyrdom as a mysterious blending of one’s own death into the death of Jesus Christ and making that person one with Christ for all eternity.
An interesting sideline is that there was a man standing there that seemed to have some importance and we will see that later on but it was that Saul was there as a witness and approved of what was happening. A little farther along in Acts we will see that Saul is commissioned to travel up to Antioch and arrest any other followers of “the way” that he might find in that city. On the road he will find that he experiences a very interesting horseback ride.

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Have you ever noticed that we Americans are often involved in conversations with each other and how
unhappy we are as a nation? We are coming out of deep recession and tremendous suffering was
generated but only for 10% to 15% of the population. That other 85% could easily be more helpful
to those who are suffering but little is being done about it. We all know the litany as these problems
manifest themselves in divorce, drug addiction, acute depression, political divides, anger and bitterness,
widespread discouragement flowing especially today from joblessness, etc., etc. We all know the list.

Well, there are countless complex problems that are facing us. There are an even greater number of
complex causes and the list of solutions seems to be on the weaker side. I recently read reviews of an
excellent book by Eckhart Tolle entitled, Awakening To Your Life’s Purpose. The author writes effectively
and covers many aspects of our lives but I lifted one particular quote that I think is important for many
of us. Tolle is talking about ego needs that disrupt our lives and even when they seem to be fulfilled
create disappointment and unhappiness. Listen to this one.

“The absurd overvaluation of fame is just one of the many manifestations of egoic madness
in our world. Some famous people fall into the same error and identify with the collective
fiction, the image of people and the media have created of them, and they begin to actually see
themselves as superior to ordinary mortals. As a result, they become more and more alienated
from themselves and others, more and more unhappy, more and more dependent on their
continuing popularity. Surrounded only by people who feed their inflated self-image, they
become incapable of genuine relationships.”

Regretfully, this very destructive weakness is common and flows directly from our wounded nature and
Original Sin. Hitler had a bad case of it and 50 million people lost their lives and most of Europe was
flattened. Happily, most of us who live in inordinate appreciation of our virtues, real or imagined, do
not cause damage on that scale, but an exaggerated ego is present in enormous percentage of conflicts
within the family, in the business world and even can affect the international community.

It is very seldom that you see a humble man who is not well liked and deeply appreciated.

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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 of us work rather steadily and try to fulfill our responsibilities day by day. That is a good thing and that is the way it ought to be. We should also celebrate the fact that some among us, even when they are carrying out their daily routine, occasionally get a great idea, an idea that will benefit not just themselves but many others. All of this is leading up to the great idea of a young Austin suburban housewife who had such a wonderful and generous thought, drew several of her friends into it and have begun to change lives in a very beautiful and meaningful way. I am talking about Leslie Beasley, a young Austin suburbanite who brought her friends together to start a small company named Open Arms.
Leslie Beasley had come to learn that there was a sizable number of refugee women from Africa living in the Austin area, women who had been through horrifying experiences in refugee camps, had somehow gotten to the United States and not yet gotten their feet completely on the ground in a new country, new culture, new language, no jobs. Their situation is different from back in the Sudan or the Congo but they needed to begin to make strides. Open Arms offered them the possibility to do that. Open Arms has begun small but the potential is truly wonderful. They started with courageous women from the Sudan, Congo and from Nepal. Making use of old, new and used T-shirts, the women have learned to make beautiful clothing including a shirt collection, a scarf collection, graphic belts and fashionable headbands.
Did you know this little start-up company here in Austin pays these women from Africa $11.00 an hour? Isn’t that wonderful? There are many U.S. citizens working in Austin who do not receive that much. I am told that the refugees are beginning to forget the horror of the past and when they receive their paychecks they begin to sing and to dance. They have left their old life behind and live a new life in the United States working together, sewing, making beautiful apparel and thanking God for the goodness of Open Arms.
Thank you Leslie Beasley and thank you Linda Knebel. You are making the difference in a dramatically generous and effective manner. May God bless you for it.

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We are still very much in the Easter season and the joy of the Resurrection should carry us through towards the approaching Feast of Pentecost. To keep our liturgical spirits high, the Church has put some really great days in front of us. The first I would like to mention is the Feast of St. Catherine of Siena. Her feast was celebrated on April 29th but I failed to mention it. The Diocese of Austin has one of its largest parishes named in honor of St. Catherine and it is a great parish. I am sure she is very proud of it.
In her lifetime, Catherine was revered for extraordinary holiness and touched countless lives of those who came in contact with her. She was also extremely intelligent with great knowledge of Dominican theology and, of course, one of the great influences in her life was Thomas Aquinas. He just preceded her by just a few decades. One interesting thing about Catherine is that she got deeply involved in Church politics but at that time it was hard to separate ecclesiastical conflicts from political conflicts. It was a difficult period of conflict and one of the popes had moved the organizational structure of the Vatican to Avignon in southeastern France. Catherine influenced Pope Gregory XI to move the Curia back to Rome in 1376 but tragically the great schism would appear and the confusion about who was the true pope would set the Church back for many years.
If you want to read an interesting life, get a biography of St. Catherine of Siena. She was a very holy Dominican Sister, an excellent theologian, a superb writer and deeply involved in the activities of the hectic world of her period. I hope that those faithful of St. Catherine of Siena Parish are given instructions from time to time about the greatness and uniqueness of their patron saint.

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Sixth Sunday of Easter, May 5th
Joy and happiness of the Easter season continues with the Church’s liturgy and each Sunday that joy is reflected in the three scriptural excerpts that are placed before us. If we mediate on this reality, we should have a great sense of unity with our fellow Christians because these texts are being read simultaneously all over the world. Not only are we united East and West but we are dramatically united in terms of today and yesterday. I am referring to the fact that each week we get a scene from Acts of Apostles and if we look carefully at the texts, we will see something that is very important and something that is very much with us today.
And on this Sunday we view from 2,000 years later a dramatic and important new insight that the apostles gain after being guided by the Holy Spirit. Up until this point, every member of this tiny community of faith has been Jewish and comes straight out of the rich Jewish tradition. In today’s reading, we see the leaders of the Church realizing that faith in Jesus Christ is for all people. Peter is the leader in grasping this all important reality. When he meets Cornelius, a Roman military officer, he instructs him in the message of Jesus and while that was happening the Holy Spirit descended upon all those who were listening.
They were all GENTILES and Peter asks and implicitly answers an awesome question. What can stop these people who have received the Holy Spirit from being baptized with water? And so they were. A new missionary thrust of the Church was underway.

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Throughout human history, prisons have been terrible places. They have consistently been dirty, dangerous and disease ridden. Going to prison in either ancient Egypt in the 6th century BC or the early 20th century United States was always terrible and dangerous. The purpose of a prison, any prison, is to restrict the activities of a person to a very small area. The prison’s principal punishment is confinement itself but because the entity having the power to imprison a person or persons they also have consistently been indifferent about other aspects of the lives of the prisoners. Torture, inadequate food, lack of exercise and a dozen other things can be done to add to the punishment being administered.
I would like to think that in the Western world things have gradually, and I do mean gradually, improved. These improvements have almost always come from long and difficult struggles because the majority of our populations really don’t give a damn about prisons or prisoners. It is usually only when a person or a family sees ones loved one behind those bars that they grow sensitive about the overall conditions of prisoners and sometimes enough of them get together to generate an improvement. Over the last 40 years I have spent a fair amount of time in Texas jails and prisons. In general, they are clean, the food is adequate, the prisoners themselves are for the most part quite safe but they are still agonizingly difficult places in which to wake up.
Think about this for a moment. Not everybody in prison is guilty! Think also about the fact that many of our fellow citizens forget that the prime punishment given to a convict is the restriction of freedom. It is a terrible punishment and we should not add to their suffering and misery. If you family ever gathers for evening prayers or at least at meals, why not say an occasional prayer for people who are locked up, especially for innocent people who are locked up.
More later. In a day or so, I will do a blog on an organization that is wonderfully committed to making the life of prisoners a little bit easier than is currently the situation and that is called CURE (Citizens United for the Rehabilitation of Errants).
The director of this program is Mr. Charles Sullivan, Executive Director of CURE, PO Box 2310
Washington, DC 20013-2310, 202-789-2126.

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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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