THE DEDICATION OF THE LATERIAN BASILICA

9 NOVEMBER 2025

 

          The Prophet Ezekiel says that the angel brought him to view the Temple.  Looking from the Mount of Olives, Ezekiel is aware that there is no Temple in Jerusalem.  The Babylonians had destroyed it and carried most of the people into Exile.  But Ezekiel is given a vision of the reconstructed Temple, which is central to the faith of the people.  It is God’s House, where God makes himself known.  God instructs people from the Temple and receives their worship there.  Using water as a symbol, Ezekiel sees the water streaming from the Temple as God’s power to engender fruitfulness, nourishment, and healing.  Out of God’s dwelling in the Temple, God has the power to change everything, including the lifeless Dead Sea into a source of life.

            Centuries later, Jesus enters the reconstructed Temple.  He has just changed water into wine, the first of his signs in the Gospel according to Saint John.  Jesus has shown that he has the power to turn the ordinary water of human life into the divine wine of God’s love.  Now he enters the Temple at the beginning of his public ministry at the Feast of Passover.  Knowing the theological significance of the Temple, Jesus drives out the money changers and merchants.  He insists that they are making his Father’s House a marketplace.  When asked to show a sign, he answers, “Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up.”  Saint John is reminding us of the Mystery of the Incarnation, God dwelling in our midst.  Jesus is speaking about the temple of his human body, which will be destroyed on the cross and raised up three days later.  Through this sign, he is indicating that he is the source of our life.  As the resurrected Lord, he invites us to worship him not in a temple designed for animal sacrifices, but in spirit and in truth.

            Today, we celebrate the dedication of another important religious structure.  After the Emperor Constantine declared that Christians were free to practice their religion in the Roman Empire in 313, Pope Sylvester dedicated the Basilica of Saint John Lateran as the “mother and head of all the churches of the city and the world.”  Although it has been rebuilt many times over the centuries, the Basilica has remained the Cathedral Church of the Diocese of Rome.  Just as Bishop Rhoades has his chair, or cathedra, in the Cathedrals of the Immaculate Conception Cathedral in Fort Wayne and Saint Matthew Cathedral in South Bend, Pope Leo’s chair is in Saint John Lateran.  This Feast reminds us that our Catholic Church is bigger than the parish of Saint Augustine or even the Church of Fort Wayne-South Bend.  We are part of a universal Church connected to the Bishop of Rome through the Bishop of Fort Wayne-South Bend.

            It is in this sacred building and in the Basilica of Saint John Lateran that we worship Jesus Christ in spirit and in truth.  These sacred buildings are important.  They are God’s House, where Jesus Christ makes himself known.  Jesus Christ instructs us in these buildings and receives our worship.  Even more importantly, Saint Paul reminds us that we who gather in these physical structures are living stones of God’s Temple.  We became those living stones when we were baptized, and we are being built on the foundation of Jesus Christ himself.

            Today, we give thanks for the beautiful Basilica of Saint John Lateran in Rome.  We give thanks for our physical building here at Saint Augustine.  We are reminded of our connection with the Bishop of Rome and all Catholics around the world.  Most importantly, we who worship here in spirit and in truth must allow the Holy Spirit to continue to form us as the temple of God.  We must be open to the ways in which the Lord drives out the greed, jealousy, anger, lust, and all that defiles our Temple, the Body of Christ.  Purified by the Lord’s love, we are sent from this Mass to make a difference in our divided, war-torn, and dangerous world.

 

COMMEMORATION OF ALL THE FAITHFUL DEPARTED

2 NOVEMBER 2025

 

          Yesterday, we celebrated the Solemnity of All Saints – not only the well-known men and women officially canonized by the Catholic Church, but also all those people counted among the 144,000 surrounding the throne of God.  Today’s Commemoration of All The Faithful Departed celebrates our connection with the faithful departed as members of the Communion of Saints.  All of us can tell stories of examples of holiness we have encountered in people close to us who have died.  In this Black Catholic History month, we recognize signs of holiness in humble people like Julia Greeley.           

            Julia was born into slavery somewhere between 1833 and 1848 in Hannibal, Missouri.  When she was young, she lost an eye, either because her master whipped her, or because she was trying to protect her mother from a whipping.  After the Civil War, she was freed and settled in Denver.  There she was baptized and began the practice of attending daily Mass.  For many years, she worked for the wife of Colorado’s first territorial governor.  She cleaned their house, cooked meals, and cared for their daughter.  She became a familiar sight around town, known for her floppy hat, her simple clothes, and the red wagon she pulled to transport the many things she bought for the poor.  What she could not afford to buy, she begged for.  She was well known at the 20 different scattered across Denver, where she left behind tracts and encouraged those in this dangerous profession.  She constantly dabbed her ruined eye with a handkerchief.  She told no one that she was illiterate and say, “My glasses don’t work so well,” and recruited them to write things in her record book.  When she died, hundreds came to her funeral, recognizing in this poor former slave genuine marks of holiness that affected many people, black and white.

            The only photograph of her shows her holding a young white child.  This was the child that Julia had promised to a couple who had just lost another child to death.  Much of her face is hidden by her hat.  We have an artistic representation of that photograph in our parish center.

            We Catholics have a strong tradition of praying for the dead, a tradition that marks the month of November.  As the farmers are harvesting the crops that they had planted in the spring, we remember and pray for our loved ones whom the Lord has harvested through death.  We need to pray for them, so that we do not forget them and they ways in which they enriched our lives.  That is why I encourage you to schedule Masses for your deceased loved ones, either on an important day in their lives, or on a day close to their birth or death or other important dates.  The offering for each Mass is $10, and Lisa will be glad to work with you to schedule the Mass.

            But we also pray for the dead to ask for the Lord’s mercy.  When we die, there are always obstacles separating us from God and other people.  That is the purpose of our Catholic concept of Purgatory.  The Latin word, purgare, means “to purify,” with fire as an image.  Our deceased loved ones are being purified by the fire of God’s love, so that they can join the Communion of Saints where there is no separation whatsoever.  That is why artists depict the saints with haloes.  In their absolute transparency, the fire of God’s love shines through them. We pray for our loved ones who have been harvested in death, so that the fire of God’s merciful love burns away whatever may be separating them from the Lord or each other.

            Death cannot separate us from the love of God.  In November, we count on the Saints to intercede for us on our pilgrimage to the new and eternal Jerusalem.  We are not walking alone.  Those being purified by the merciful love of God count on us to pray for them.  If we can trust that our prayers for one another are effective now, why can’t they be effective for those who have died?  We form one Communion of love, engulfed in the merciful fire of God’s love.

 

THIRTIETH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

26 OCTOBER 2025

 

          When we hear this parable, we tend to think negatively of the Pharisee.  We know from Scripture that Pharisees argued with Jesus, who sometimes accused them of being too concerned with laws and traditions.  Our English word, pharisaical, means “hypocritic.”  However, there is another side to the Pharisees.  The Pharisees were a lay group who helped ordinary people live out the Covenant of Moses in their ordinary homes and lives.  They were popular with the people of that time.  While they may have argued with Jesus, the only Pharisee known to want to murder people was Saul of Tarsus, the Pharisee who became Saint Paul the Apostle.

            In today’s parable, the Pharisee praying in the Temple is probably a good and decent person.  He more than likely is not greedy, or dishonest, or adulterous, because he knows and respects the Law of Moses.  He exceeds the religious requirement to fast once a week by fasting twice a week.  He pays tithes on his whole income without hiding a portion of it.

            He is correct about his assessment of the tax collector.  Tax collectors grew rich by working for the hated Roman occupiers.  They overcharged their own people, keeping generous portions beyond the Romans’ demands.  If you have seen The Chosen, you can understand why Matthew the tax collector wanted some kind of protection from his neighbors.  They loathed him for making choices to become rich with the Romans instead of being with his own people.

            However, this tax collector goes home justified, or considered righteous by God, and not the Pharisee.  In his prayer, the Pharisee takes all the credit for his righteousness, without realizing that he can be considered righteous only by God’s grace.  Even worse, he builds his himself up by comparing himself to the lowly tax collector.  He is so filled with his own sense of holiness that he allows no room for conversion for the tax collector.  And that is exactly what is happening to the tax collector.  He realizes his sinfulness and asks for God’s mercy.  In beating his breast, he knows the truth about his sins and intends to respond to God’s mercy by repenting.

            Jesus directs this parable to us, because we have more in common with the Pharisee than with the tax collector.  Like the Pharisee, we gather here every Sunday, because we are trying to live decent lives.  We perform religious actions to express our faith, and we fast and give a portion of our wealth away.  But, there is always a danger of growing in faith.  We tend to notice those who do not seem to have as much faith as we do.  Like the Pharisee, we can make the mistake of seeing our growth in faith as a result of our own initiative, instead of admitting that our growth in faith is a result of our response to God’s loving grace in our lives.  We also need to admit that even with a deep faith, we still have much room to grow and admit that we are sinners.  That is why we begin every Mass with the Penitential Act.  We know that we have not fully lived the commandment of the Lord to love ourselves and others.  We ask for mercy.

            When Saint Paul writes to Timothy, he is in prison waiting for his execution in Rome.  He is being poured out like a libation.  Libations were part of Temple sacrifice.  The person offered a sacrifice as an external manifestation of a desire to be in union with God.  Then, the one who offered the sacrifice poured fine wine or oil over the holocaust, signifying that the sacrifice is not a waste.  In prison, Saint Paul expresses his faith that God continues to be with him, even in his confinement.  The Lord had stood by him in his ministry as he ran the race of spreading the Gospel.  Now, he is confident that the Lord will be with him and give him the crown of victory in the end.  We can share Paul’s confidence if we avoid the mistake of the Pharisee and embrace the humility of the tax collector.  We advance in faith in response to the Lord’s grace, and leave all judgments about other people to God. 

 

TWENTY-NINTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

19 OCTOBER 2025

 

          On his way to Jerusalem, Jesus continues to teach his disciples how to nurture their faith.  He knows that their faith will be sorely trusted when he will be betrayed, unjustly condemned, and crucified like a common criminal.  So, he insists that they must learn to be persistent.  He not only tells them that they will need to be persistent.  He also tells us that we need to be persistent, as we walk together on our pilgrimage to the new and eternal Jerusalem.

            Our Scripture readings provide three examples of persistence.  One is from the battlefield.  As long as Moses persists in holding up his staff for his warriors to see, they are successful in their battle with the Amalekites.  The second is from a church setting.  Saint Paul addresses Timothy.  As a new pastor, Timothy faces an unknown situation that requires him to be ready.  He must be persistent in preaching, rebuking, correcting, and instructing.  The third example is from a courtroom.  A poor widow who has no power or public standing appears before an unjust judge.  The judge ignores her.  But because she is persistent in arguing her case, he finally relents.  Jesus insists that if a widow can get what she needs from an unjust judge, how much more will we receive from a just God who loves us unconditionally. 

            Persistent faith has four qualities.  Persistent faith relies on God’s power.  The widow has no power whatsoever.  But that does not stop her from pestering the unjust judge.  Like her, we have so little power over what happens to us in our lives.  We must rely on God’s power and grace.  Persistent faith works with others.  Moses must rely on Aaron and Hur to be persistent in holding up the staff.  Persistent faith involves inconvenience.  If we persist in faith, we need to throw out the calendar.  God acts in his own time, not on our time or convenience.  Persistent faith permits us to be inconvenient to others.  We can be inconvenient to others when we are determined to take care of the poor, widows, refugees, and those at the edges of our society.

            Last week, the Lord gave me an unexpected encounter with persistent faith.  Bishop
Rhoades had announced that our annual Continuing Education Days would be dedicated to the upcoming Diocesan Synod.  I didn’t want to go and was tempted to play the “I’m a retired priest” card.  But, I relented and went reluctantly as pastor of this Parish.  As the oldest priest in the group, I felt out of place.  My expectations were very low, and I wanted out.

            But, I was pleasantly surprised.  We were divided into groups of ten and assigned to a particular table.  In my group were priests to whom I rarely talked or with whom I disagree.  Some were priests of a very different generation.  Another was a priest of a religious order whose name I did not know.  There were three sessions.  Each session began with a prayer.  Then each of us were given two minutes to share our thoughts about what is positive about our parishes and the Diocese.  Then we had three minutes of prayer.  Next, each of us had a minute and a half to share what we had heard others say.  Again, there were three minutes of prayer.  Finally, each of us had a minute and a half to speak about what we heard the Spirit saying through us.  On Thursday morning, we received the results of our sessions.  All of us priests agreed that this had been a very positive experience.  I was glad for my persistence in going to the sessions.  And that is the great thing about low expectations.  It is impossible to be disappointed!

            What we did is exactly we as a parish will do.  We have scheduled five sessions on the Tuesdays of November on the themes of the Synod:  Evangelization, Catechesis, Spirituality and Liturgy, Vocations, and Social Outreach to the poor and suffering.  We will have two Consultation Sessions on the first two Sundays of December.  Please be persistent in faith and be part of this process.  Based on my own experience, you will not be disappointed.

 

TWENTY-EIGHTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

12 OCTOBER 2025

 

          Naaman is an important and powerful leader in the Kingdom of Aram.  However, he has a huge problem.  He has the disease of leprosy.  Not only is it incurable in the ancient world, but it is also contagious.  As a result, lepers not only are afflicted with terrible physical pain.  But they are also kept apart from their community.  He learns from his Jewish slave girl that there is a healer in the Kingdom of Israel, an enemy of his own country.  Hoping against hope, he goes to see the holy man, Elisha.  When Elisha tells him to bathe in the River Jordan, he balks.  The rivers of his kingdom are much grander!  But, he is so desperate that he obeys and emerges healed.  His response to his healing is threefold.  He returns to give thanks to Elisha.  In doing so, he recognizes that the power does not come from the holy man, but from God.  Because he sees that the land on which he is standing is holy, he takes two mule loads of that earth back to Aram.  In other words, he recognizes the power of the one true God, and not his former pagan gods.

            We do not know the names of the ten lepers in today’s Gospel.  But they have the same problem that Naaman did.  They have an incurable and contagious disease that separates them from their loved ones.  Like Naaman, they have heard of a healer who might help.  Standing at a distance, they cry out to Jesus, calling him “Master” and asking him to have pity on them.  Just as Elisha had given Naaman a simple instruction, Jesus tells them to show themselves to the priests.  They are healed on their way.  Odds are pretty good that nine of the lepers focus on the Law of Moses requiring healed lepers to be inspected by the priests.  They are so happy that they throw away their filthy garments and run home to their families.  But the Samaritan is a foreigner, like Naaman.  He glorifies God and returns to give thanks to Jesus, falling at his feet.  That action suggests that he seen the truth about this healer.  He does not carry away two mule loads of earth.  He leaves with a deep and abiding faith that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and the source of his salvation.

            We come here today, because we are like Naaman and the Samaritan leper.  We recognize God’s power and love in our lives.  We express our deepest gratitude by celebrating the Eucharist together.  That Greek word literally means to give thanks.  We gather every Sunday to express our deepest gratitude to God, acknowledging that all that we have is a gift from God.  We are grateful for our families, all the good things in our lives, our parish community, and countless other blessings which we often take for granted.  I am grateful for my successful visits to Ireland and Rome in the last two weeks.  But we are especially grateful for what we are doing at this Altar.  In the Eucharistic Prayer, we give thanks to the Father for the sacrifice of Jesus made present on this Altar in our liturgical remembering.  That Mystery is the source of our salvation and the ultimate hope that all of us share.

            Saint Paul reminds us, as he does Timothy, that we must be grateful for this central Mystery of our faith in Jesus Christ, which brings us salvation.  In this Mystery, we share in his dying, confident that we will share in his rising.  Saint Paul acknowledges that this is a difficult Mystery to live.  Sometimes we fail to share in the Lord’s dying.  At other times, the difficulties of life tempt us to wonder whether the Lord is truly present in our suffering.  When we fail to live this mystery, we deny him.  But he remains faithful, even when we are unfaithful.  We don’t need to take two mule loads of earth with us from this Mass.  Saint Paul insists that this Mystery is trustworthy.  It is the conviction that God has breathed life into us and is with us at every step in our journey.  We do not need to scoop up two mule loads of dirt from the ground of this church.  We just need to take our Gospel-centered gratitude with us as a daily practice. 

 

TWENTY-FIFTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

21 SEPTEMBER 2025

 

          In his parables, Jesus gets the attention of his listeners.  Those who heard this parable in person were ordinary people – peasants, tenant farmers, day laborers, and slaves.  They worked very hard, trying their best to provide for their families from day to day.  In their world, very few people were rich.  People were rich because they inherited their wealth.  They did not work and tended to ignore the plight of those who did.  Jesus got their attention, and they probably cheered for the ingenuity of the steward who got back at his rich master.

            Jesus gets our attention today.  This parable is probably his most challenging and difficult to understand.  The master commends the steward for acting prudently.  How should we understand this parable?  Is Jesus encouraging us to be dishonest with those whom we think do not deserve our honest dealings?  The key lies in what Jesus describes as “dishonest wealth,” which is the wealth we need to sustain ourselves and our families in this world.

The prophet Amos criticizes the people of his day for their misuse of “dishonest wealth”.  Too many of them are greedy and spend their energies filling their homes with nice furniture and adorning them with ivory.  He criticizes the farmers who go to the market to find ways of cheating the poor, robbing them, and trampling on them instead of charging a fair price.  Instead, Jesus says to make friends with “dishonest wealth.” When it fails, as all “dishonest fair” will fail with death, we will be welcomed into eternal dwellings.

When Saint Paul writes, he knows that Timothy’s community handles “dishonest wealth” very well.  They work together, live nearby one another, and come together after work to share a life centered on the confession of Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a “ransom for all”.  He tells Timothy and his community to offer supplications, prayers, petitions, and thanksgiving for everyone, especially those in authority.  He tells us to do the same.

When we offer supplications, we maintain a mindset of continual prayer.  In offering them, we are reminded to be faithful stewards ourselves, making sure that we manage our “dishonest wealth” to support our families, without cheating or taking advantage of anyone else.  He challenges us to realize what is honest wealth – the mercy, justice, and peace of God’s eternal kingdom.  Honest wealth will continue when “dishonest wealth” comes to an end.

When we offer prayers, we make specific requests to God for ourselves.  In offering these prayers, we ask God to make sure that we do not focus on our own needs at the expense of others.  In offering prayers, we want to do God’s will, and not our own.  We want to make sure that the decisions we make today will please God in the years ahead.

When we offer petitions, we make specific requests to God for someone else.  In light of what we learn about the needs of others in our prayers, we know that we can share a generous portion of our “dishonest wealth” with those who have much less.  We avoid the sinful greed of the people whom Amos criticizes.

Finally, when we offer thanksgiving, we express our gratitude and acknowledge that everything we have is a gift from God.  In gratitude, we share a generous portion of that gift with others in time, talent, and treasure.

When we center our lives on prayer, we avoid corruption and over-consumption.  This kind of prayer helps end arguments and anger.  It helps us to treat leaders and those with whom we disagree with respect.  It opens our eyes to see the needs of others and share generously with them.  We are God’s prudent stewards who are called to use our “dishonest wealth” as a way of embracing a true wealth that cannot be destroyed.  So, let us pray!

 

TWENTY-THIRD SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

7 SEPTEMBER 2025

 

          As Jesus makes his way to Jerusalem, huge crowds are following him.  They have listened to his preaching, especially about the Kingdom of God already in their midst.  They have been impressed with his miracles and the many ways he has expressed the love of his Father to them.  However, he thins the crowd today with his warnings.  He makes it very clear what it means to be an authentic disciple.  He tells them that they cannot be his disciple without “hating” the closest members of their families and even their own lives.  In using that strong word “hate,” Jesus is not talking about an emotion that would tear apart family relationships.  Rather, he uses that word as a hyperbole to indicate one’s preference.  Disciples must put their relationship with him first and love the members of his or her family less.  Knowing that he will be crucified in Jerusalem, he insists that his disciples must carry their crosses.  He uses two metaphors to underline the conditions of discipleship.  A disciple needs to be like a builder, who carefully calculates the costs required for constructing a tower.  Or a disciple needs to be like a king marching into battle, making sure that he or she is prepared for the consequences.  Authentic disciples must be prepared for the costs of discipleship, willing to put the following of Jesus Christ ahead of all possessions.

As we walk with Jesus Christ on our own pilgrimage to the new and eternal Jerusalem, he gives us this same message.  As disciples, we must put our relationship with him at the center of our lives, even above our closest family members and friends.  But we also know from our own experiences that putting our relationship with Jesus Christ as a first priority will transform our other relationships and make them more precious.  We must be prepared to carry difficult crosses as a result of making these preferences and trust Jesus to be the center of our lives.     

Philemon was a disciple.  He was a close enough friend that Saint Paul took the time to write him a letter.  Philemon owned Onesimus as a slave.  The slave’s name spoke of his worth, because the name means “useful.”  We do not know why Onesimus ran away from Philemon’s household.  But we do know that he was breaking the law in running to Saint Paul.  He not only proved to be useful to the old man in prison.  He became a disciple of Jesus Christ when Saint Paul baptized him.  Through Baptism, Onesimus not only became a sacred child of God.  He also became a brother in Christ to all the other baptized members of the Body of Christ.

Saint Paul now sends him back to Philemon with this letter.  He asks Philemon to receive Onesimus no longer as a slave, but as a brother, beloved to both Paul and his owner as a man in the Lord.  He asks Philemon to welcome Onesimus as he would welcome Paul.

We have no idea what Philemon did when his slave returned.  Did he punish him for running away without permission?  Did he beat him in front of the rest of the slaves to warn them not to attempt this same trick?  Or did he accept the request of Saint Paul to welcome him back as a brother in the Lord?  If he did this, he would be carrying the cross of renouncing one of his possessions and even inviting the rest of the slaves to go to Paul and get baptized themselves.  He would be carrying the cross of losing revenue and security.

We might ask the question:  why did Saint Paul not denounce the cruel and inhumane system of slavery?  Even worse, we are horrified at slave owners in this country using Paul as an excuse to continue to enslave human beings.  The truth is that slavery was such an ingrained part of the ancient world that Paul did not challenge it.  Instead, he focused on the transformation of relationships within the unjust system of slavery.  Within the many unjust situations in our society, we too can focus on ways to transform relationships by being disciples of Jesus Christ.