In a few more weeks, the Roman Catholic Church will have a new leader. He will be the 266th successor of St. Peter. He will assume an awesome task. The burdens of his office will not simply be the complexities of the Universal Church operating in virtually every country in the world and having a billion, two hundred million members. He will find a Church that in many ways is experiencing serious internal conflict, dogmatically and structurally.
It would be wonderful if the first day that the pope stepped into office, assumed the tiara, that he would have a really first-rate staff around him but sadly the Curia itself has been badly divided and in conflict and one of the first things that the new pope will have to do is bring order and efficiency to the Roman Curia. I believe with all my heart that the pope will enjoy the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Such guidance, of course, relates to the central doctrines of the Church, the teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. There is no real connection between that divine gift and day-to-day administrative effectiveness. That is a very earthy skill and not every pope has had it.
Seriously, let’s do pray for the man who is among us now but in a few weeks will see his life changed dramatically.

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Today is a holiday- Memorial Day. There will be a lot of picnics and one-day outings, and there is nothing wrong with that. However, every one of us should take serious time today to be thoughtful and prayerful about the fact that we have so much for which to be thankful, so much to remember. That thankfulness and remembrance is to center on the fact that so many of our fellow Americans over the last two hundred years have given their lives in order that our country might be free, and that this freedom and prosperity could be maintained in a difficult world that has constantly threatened it.

The facts can be laid out on the table, the figures can be totaled out but there is no way that they can begin to grasp the reality that is behind these numbers. During the first one hundred years of our existence, 683,000 Americans lost their lives with the Civil War counting for 623,000 of that total (91%). The next one hundred years, a further 626,000 Americans died through two world wars and several more regional conflicts. Of this latter figure, World War II represented 65% of that total.

Let’s look behind those cold statistics. For every one of those digits, there are heartbroken parents, crushed fiancées, brokenhearted wives and children by the millions. Yes, we must remember and we must give thanks for their generosity. However, while we are giving thanks, we should pray fervently and work within the confines of our own situation in life to do whatever we can to lessen the threat of war. In some ways, we find ourselves in a unique moment of history. We have developed structures that improve communication between countries and lessen the type of resolving conflicts with guns and bombs, but at the same time we do have weapons of mass destruction that if we don’t handle ourselves rationally, all of the losses of our wars will seem minor compared to what could possibly happen. Remember? Yes, indeed remember! But also pray – pray – pray.

For an excellent book describing the proximity of our peril, try reading How the End Begins by Ron Rosenbaum. This book thoughtfully describes what the author sees as a road to an approaching nuclear war.

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The answer to that is easy. We should talk to God in a natural, relaxed manner that suits our personality, temperament, needs, circumstances, etc.

Thousands of books have been written to assist readers in various methods of prayer but ultimately it comes down to what suits you best. There are times when we can pray very fervently on our knees or even prostrate on the floor of a Cathedral. I, for one, find it easier to pray sitting down in a very comfortable position in a room that is absolutely silent. So, suit yourself.

One of the issues that seems to make prayer more intimidating for some of us is the fact that theologians and ecclesiologists in our midst want to define and classify everything. Are you going to say prayers of adoration or thanksgiving? Do you need to make intercession? Do you have an overpowering list of petitions? What about prayers of praise? These are all expressions that clarify our thinking about how we are praying or why we are praying but the MAIN THING IS TO REALIZE GOD’S IMMEDIATE CLOSENESS, His love for each one of us and know that He listens with infinite concern.

Let us pray.

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For several days, I have been talking about the agonizing reality of hunger in America. Over one-third of the country, 17 states, have more than 20% of their children living in food insecure households. This means inadequate learning ability, poor health and lives that are not properly developed. This is very sad but let me turn to something more positive – the need for prayer.

Most Americans believe in God but we are all over the place when it comes to our conversations with him. Most Americans would not consider themselves and many protest that it is rather difficult to talk to God since so often it seems to be a one-sided conversation. God is our friend. God loves each one of us individually with an infinite, all consuming love. If we can grasp that wonderful fact, that conversation with God should not be difficult at all. We should talk to Him about what it is that we are happy about, what causes us our distress, what we need to do in order to get through the next week or the next month, and about our concern for that high school nephew who is suspected of having cancer. While this conversation should take place rather easily, because it is based on love and acceptance by God. However, it is necessary to try to discipline ourselves to keep this conversation ongoing in our life. We should try to think about God and talk to Him briefly as we awaken in the morning and the same when we are shutting ourselves down at the end of the day. When wonderful things happen in the course of the day – we see a new grandchild, an extraordinary movie, make the right turn on the freeway thus avoiding a back traffic jam – we should try to instinctively thank God for his blessings and his gifts. When things go wrong, we should almost instantly turn to God who has created, who sustains us, who loves us and will carry us through life’s difficulties.

Prayer is necessary and prayer is easy. As the priest says repeatedly at Sunday Mass, “Let us pray.”

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From the United States, through Europe and over to the Pacific rim there has been a tremendous amount of nervousness and fear over economic developments that are unfolding. Our own country has seen its fiscal stability downgraded for the first time in history, several countries in Europe are in desperate financial straits and the other countries are finding ways to help them through the crises. And, of course, in this one world economy through which we are working, events in North America and Europe have some powerful affect in Asia as well.

Hopefully, our leaders can help us work our way through these issues. We, who are by nature bystanders observing the economic wheels churning away, day-by-day, can certainly pray that we don’t blindly walk into a world-wide crisis. We have the technical competence to do wonderful things in terms of production. Now we have to be sure that the production processes are tied in with our systems of distribution that are just and fair.

Let’s all hope and PRAY that we will get through this nerve wracking period as quickly as possible and come out on the far side with strong economies serving the human family across the planet.

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The week between Christmas and New Years is not all that productive for most of us. For that reason, I am going to take off for a few days. However, my editor refuses to release me of the responsibility of saying something on the blog, so I am going to take a shortcut and borrow someone else’s work…

I was given a beautiful series of pictures from Norway with simple sentences on the bottom of each one. They are described as lessons in our life and I think that most of them, although obvious, are very meaningful. Here are a few more snippets while I continue on the road.

Life isn’t fair but it is still good.

Life is too short to waste time hating anyone.

Make peace with your past so it wont mess up the present.

It is okay to let your children see you cry; it is better to let them see you PRAY.

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In today’s Gospel, we continue our long walking journey with Luke, or, more accurately, as we walk a little behind our Lord Himself as He continues to set His gaze towards Jerusalem. Luke has been giving us various portions of our Lord’s teachings over the last six weeks, and this will continue until the 33rd Sunday, at which time we celebrate the Feast of Christ the King and begin the holy season of advent in preparation for Christmas. Let me say, once again, that the Church year is a wonderful gift to all of us and if we live our lives guided by it, we will find that the entire year is a period of training and sensitizing as we walk with our Lord.

Jesus’ message in today’s excerpt is simple and direct. When we pray, we should pray with determination and confidence. We should be prepared to “bother” the Lord in a way that the elderly lady bothered the dishonest judge. After you have heard the Gospel presented to you at Mass, read it again and take some delight in the irony and/or sarcasm that our Lord is using when He urges us to listen to the corrupt judge. If a man that low in moral standards had been effecting my unending petitions, don’t you think that an infinite loving God will respond much more quickly? Our Lord is telling us to pray with confidence, pray with determination, pray unceasingly, and know that all prayers are heard and accepted by God.

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Anyone who believes in miracles and in the power of prayer should be begging for the welfare of those 30 miners imprisoned in the shaft of a copper mine 2,000 feet below the surface in Chile.

In a room little larger than a hotel room, about 30 miners have been trapped since early August.  Their heroism and discipline have kept them alive and now a shaft has been opened to reach them with fresh air and the other essentials to maintain life.  However, the situation is agonizing and some estimates are that they cannot be reached with a new shaft for over two months, possibly as long as four months. You can read more about their precarious situation at http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-11054376

Please pray for the miners and for their families that are suffering through such an agonizing ordeal.

Faith, courage and discipline are required by everyone but these brave men are all too human.

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I just had a terrifying story related to me about the friend of a friend being stuck on the eighth floor of a hotel in Chile last month when the enormous earthquake rocked the foundations of that country, and very specifically, rocked the walls of his hotel. What did he do? As he crouched down in the bathtub and frantically waited for the building to stop rocking, he prayed. And prayed hard! Happily, he survived and is reunited with his family. Let’s not wait till our lives are threatened to have great conversations with our Lord!

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