FIRST SUNDAY OF ADVENT

27 NOVEMBER 2022

 

          The opening prayer at the beginning of Mass is called the “Collect,” because the priest “collects” the individual prayers of the people of God and prays a communal prayer on behalf of all present.  Today’s Collect sets the tone for Advent: “Grant your faithful, we pray, almighty God, the resolve to run forth to meet your Christ with righteous deeds at his coming.”

            The Season of Advent focuses our attention on the Lord’s coming.  It helps us to prepare to celebrate his first coming at Christmas.  But it also prepares us for his second coming, either at the end of the world or at the end of our individual lives.  Jesus says that no one knows when that will happen.  That is why Saint Paul urges us to throw off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light.  The best way to prepare for the Lord’s second coming is to commit ourselves to living our baptismal promises.  If we put on the Lord Jesus and die daily to ourselves and to our selfish interests, we can conduct ourselves properly in the light of Jesus Christ.

            If we follow his advice, then we do not live in fear of death.  Instead, we embrace the challenge offered by the Prophet Isaiah.  In our very divisive time, it has become customary to deal with our enemies with swords and spears.  We are tempted to use these rhetorical weapons against those with whom we disagree.  Instead, Advent invites us to turn these weapons into tools of agriculture.  We can use plowshares to prepare our hearts for listening.  We can use pruning hooks to dismantle our prejudices and tendencies to demonize the opposing forces.

            The Collect implies that we run forth to meet our Christ.  We may be running forth like crazy getting things ready in this “holiday season.”  But, the more important part of running forth is the action we take arm ourselves with righteous deeds.  Ironically, this type of action is accomplished only through time spent in prayer.  We do not need to back away completely from the holiday activities.  Instead, we can carve out time to enter into Advent prayer.  We can participate in the Advent prayers here in church.  We can also make a commitment to Advent prayer alone and with our families in our domestic churches.      

            Please pick up one of the guides to prayer as you leave church today.  Be sure to read the mailing we have sent about renewing our commitment to the stewardship of prayer, the most important element of living stewardship as a way of life.  But now give your attention to Mike Molnar, who will speak of the ways he has embraced prayer in recovering from his life-threatening injury and is running to meet the Lord today.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Michael Molnar - St. Pius Witness Talk – November 26/27

 

When I got a call from Father Bill asking me to speak at mass, my immediate reaction was this would be out of my comfort zone.  My second thoughts were what an honor and opportunity.  Plus, it is very difficult to say no to Father Bill.

My name is Michael Molnar and I did not grow up a Catholic.  I married my wife Stephanie here at St. Pius in 2011 and through the process I got to know a lot more about Catholicism.  When our first child was baptized, I asked Father Bill to talk because I had some general questions about the Catholic Church.  I think he had been waiting for that talk … he was ready… when I got home my wife asked me how it went… I said, “I think I just signed up for RCIA.” 

On March 26, 2016, I became a Catholic.  Over the next three plus years I traveled around the world for work and when it was Sunday, I would find a Mass.  Bosnia, Thailand, Tanzania, China, to name a few countries I attended Mass at.  While there is nothing like mass at St. Pius, I was always welcomed in and found a sense of being at home. 

On July 6, 2019, my entire world got flipped upside down and my faith was put to the test.  I was involved in a bad boating accident. I had to be flown to Memorial Hospital South Bend which is a Trauma 2 level hospital.  On the way there I prayed that God protect me.  After 10 surgeries, 19 units of blood, and 3 plus years of therapy I can do most things I was doing before my accident.

I believe that a huge part of my survival and successful recovery had to do with my faith and with our community that we have here at St. Pius.  The two doctors that saved my leg… they are parishioners here.  Father Bill coming to the hospital for my first anointing lifted me up when I had doubts.  My Brothers from TMIY, many of whom I did not personally know, where praying for me and once I was able to join them, they prayed with me.  There are so many others who I did not mention, but I was told to keep it to 2 or 3 minutes, and we all appreciate how we finish mass on time at St. Pius.

Today my wife and I are blessed to have 4 children.  We are lucky to be able to send the ones who are old enough to St. Pius School.  Our first born who sparked my desire to get baptized is now in 2^nd grade preparing for her first reconciliation and first communion.  The prayers in preparation that we share together are a special time for our family.

Dedicating time to prayer is challenging at the moment.  I have a very busy house and a busy job.  Sometimes I stop at the grotto at Notre Dame to light a candle and have a few moments of silence.  Sometimes I will say “Our Father” while bouncing our newborn in the middle of the night.  Prayer right now for me, is fitting it in where I can.  

For me the annual anointing of the sick service is a time for personal reflection and prayer.  I challenge you to find a special day or service that connects personally to you.  Use it as a day of reflection and prayer. Usually, I end up with feeling the need to reach out to people who are going through life’s challenges.  To share how much faith can help in challenging times.  To put purpose to the suffering I have had to endure.

Faith and prayer are an integral part of my personal life balance.  I continue to try to grow as a husband, a father, a son, and as a Catholic man.  This church and the community we have here are blessings for me and my family.  We are so grateful.  Thank you for giving me the honor of sharing a little with you today.

 

 

 

OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST, KING OF THE UNIVERSE

20 NOVEMBER 2022

 

          According to the Second Book of Samuel, all the tribes of Israel came to David in Hebron, because they want him as their king.  The Kingship of Saul had just ended in disaster with his death in battle.  They come to David for three reasons.  First, they acknowledge their kinship with him.  They use the same words that Adam had used when God created Eve from his rib: “This one, at last, is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh.”  Second, they assert the truth that it had been David, and not Saul, who had led the Israelites out to victory and then back again.  Third, they know that God himself had chosen David to be king.  As king, David was certainly not perfect.  But he was the model king for centuries, and the faithful of Israel looked for a messiah who would to be a successor to him.

            In today’s Gospel, we encounter Jesus Christ, not reigning on a glorious throne, but dying like a common criminal on a Roman cross.  Above his head is written, “The King of the Jews.” The rulers of the people, who had demanded that Pontius Pilate condemn Jesus to death, mock him in his weakness.  In mocking him, they actually speak the truth.  He is the Savior.  He has been chosen by God as the suffering servant to save others, and not himself.  He is the Christ, the promised successor to King David. There is only one person who sees beyond the horrific appearances on Good Friday:  the criminal we know as the “good thief.”  He admits his own sinfulness and proclaims Christ’s innocence.  Instead of mocking Jesus in his weakness, he asks him to remember him when he comes into his kingdom.  He seems to understand the distinctions Jesus has made during his public ministry between his kingdom and the kingdom of this world.  In defeating death, Jesus will open the Paradise that Adam had lost through his sin.  The new Adam promises the good thief: “today you will be with me in Paradise.”

            On this last Sunday of the Liturgical Year, we can ask some questions as disciples of Jesus Christ.  When we suffer on our cross, do we side with the mockers and doubt his kingship?  Or do we side with the good thief?  Do we expect him to save us by taking us off our own cross?  Or, like the good thief, do we recognize Jesus’ kingship with us in the crosses we carry?  Do we appreciate that he is bone of our bones and flesh of our flesh and has chosen to experience the trials that are part of every human life, especially the battle that all of us must face with death?  Do we see him as the good thief does in offering us life in his eternal kingdom?  Does our desire to be with him in the fullness of his kingdom override our fear of death?  Are we living and dying on a daily basis in ways that show us to be worthy of his companionship and his kingdom?

            These are tough questions to answer.  But if we are to embrace the saving reality of Christ the King, we must do what we can to respond to them.  Saint Paul gives us a direction in his letter to the Colossians.  He says that Jesus Christ was present at the creation of the world and is present in the world’s recreation through his death and resurrection.  He says that all the fullness was pleased to dwell in Jesus.  That word “fullness” is used in the miracle of the multiplication of the loaves and fish.  After feeding 5,000 people, twelve baskets of fragments were left over.  They are left over for us, who feast on the Lord’s real presence at this Mass.  The risen Jesus who died on the cross is the Lord of all creation and reigns with the fullness of grace.

            Next Sunday, we enter into Advent.  We begin a new Liturgical Year inviting us to deepen our faith in the fullness of Jesus Christ.  We begin a new season of reflecting on the kingship of Jesus Christ, visible only to eyes of faith at the crucifixion on Good Friday.

 

 

THIRTY-THIRD SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

13 NOVEMBER 2022

 

          In his public ministry, Jesus forms his disciples to give testimony, so that the Gospel will be spread.  At Saint Pius, we have come to understand the power of people who are willing to testify about their faith.  When we invite parishioners to renew their commitment to one of the three legs of stewardship, we invite normal people from the parish to testify about their embrace of stewardship as a way of life.  They speak with more credibility than I can.  Those of you who have participated in a Christ Renews His Parish retreat know the importance of team members testifying about their faith.  It is this testimony that leads others to deeper faith.

            Today Jesus is at the end of his public ministry.  He stands in the temple.  The temple is one of the most magnificent structures in the ancient world.  People marvel at its beauty.  But Jesus puts their awe into perspective.  He tells them that this temple will be destroyed.  He warns of deceptive leaders, alongside wars, insurrections, and natural disasters.  He warns his disciples of the personal consequences.  They will be seized and persecuted and thrown into prison.  In the face of all these difficulties, how will they be able to muster the courage to testify to their faith?

            He tells them they will testify with words, but not with their own words.  As the Word made flesh, he promises to reveal the words to them.  Faithful testimony happens by listening for divine wisdom.  He also encourages them to testify with actions, even in the midst of suffering.  He tells them that they can persevere through darkness and trust that “not a hair on your head will be destroyed.”  They must trust in God’s saving action.  Death is not the end.

            In the chapters of Luke’s Gospel after this passage, we will see Jesus’ own testimony.  He will pray for divine wisdom in his final night in the Garden of Gethsemane.  He will persevere through his own persecution, when he will be arrested, when his friends will betray and abandon him, and when the crowds will demand that he be put to death.  Jesus himself will experience the same darkness that he lays out in today’s Gospel.  His trust in the light to come will never waver.

            By the time this Gospel had been written, the Romans had destroyed the temple.  Saint Luke uses the words of Jesus about the destruction of the temple as an image for the destruction of the world at the end of time.  His disciples were persecuted, and many of them put to death.  Those early martyrs testified as Jesus had told them to do, and they persevered to eternal glory. 

            These readings can frighten us, as Jesus’ words frightened his first disciples.  As we come to the end of this Liturgical Year, Jesus tells the truth that the world as we know it will end.  Each of us must face the darkness of our own deaths, as well as the darkness of the deaths of those we love.  Each of us will experience moments of darkness in our lives that cause great pain.  In the midst of all of this, the Lord encourages us to testify to our faith.

            In two weeks, we will enter into the Season of Advent.  Advent provides a wonderful time to practice testifying to our faith in three specific ways.  First, we can listen for divine wisdom.  We can listen by setting aside 5 minutes (or more!) each day in quiet prayer.  In those five minutes, we can set aside distractions to listen to the Holy Spirit.  Second, we can light a candle.  Even a small flicker of flame can brighten these dark days and draw our awareness to Christ, the Light of the World.  Third, we can reflect on the Advent Sunday Scripture readings.  Those readings invite us to empty ourselves of our own preconceived notions and trust that God is in charge, and not us.  In particular, the words of the prophet Isaiah point to the dawning of a new and glorious day.  If we can learn to testify to our faith better during Advent, then we can better testify to Christ’s incarnate love at Christmas.

 

 

THIRTY-SECOND SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

6 NOVEMBER 2022

 

          There is an expression in our English language that we sometimes use:  “It’s to die for.”  A teenage girl might be looking at one of those glamor magazines and spot a young man.  She can say to her friend, “Isn’t he good looking?  He’s to die for!”  A car specialist might be at a car show and say to a friend, “Look at that car.  I’d love to drive it.  It’s just to die for!” 

            We know that these expressions are exaggerations.  But today, the Book of Maccabees raises the question, “Just what am I willing to die for?”  This book is set in the second century before Christ’s birth.  The Syrian ruler, Antiochus IV Epiphanes is in control of Palestine.  He has demanded that everyone must follow all Greek customs, including the worship of Greek gods.  His forces have turned the sacred Temple in Jerusalem into a gymnasium.  They are pressuring all the descendants of Abraham to abandon their loyalty to their Jewish faith and customs.  To prove that they have abandoned their faith, the residents are required to eat pork, which is forbidden by Jewish law.  Many people give in to the demand, thinking that it would save their lives and they could continue to practice their faith quietly.

However, for this mother and her seven sons, this is a line that they cannot cross.  They refuse to eat a piece of bacon.  Because they refuse, each son is brutally tortured and murdered, along with their mother.  A couple of centuries later after the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, many of his disciples will be called into the public square of their towns and villages to proclaim that Caesar is lord.  Some of them will cross their fingers to save their lives.  However, those who insist on proclaiming Jesus Christ as Lord will be put to death.  Centuries later during the Second World War, the German Lutheran pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer was fearless in the face of torture and death at the hands of the Nazis.  He said to his captors, “There is nothing you have that I want, and nothing I have you can take away.”

Why have so many people over the centuries been willing to die for what they believe?  Jesus provides the answer in today’s Gospel.  The Sadducees are the Biblical fundamentalists of their day.  They know that there is no specific mention of resurrection in the Torah (the first five books of the Bible).  They do not accept later developments.  They know that the Torah allows a widow to marry her deceased husband’s brother, to carry on the continuity of the family line.  They try to trick Jesus with their ridiculous question, making fun of any belief in resurrection.  But Jesus cuts through their trick.  He affirms the reality of the resurrection by insisting that risen life is not a continuation of the same life we experience here.  As he will demonstrate after his own death and burial, risen life is life transformed in ways that we can never imagine.

It is this belief in the resurrection that has motivated so many people to be willing to die, even at the hands of persecutors and murderers.  Martyrs throughout the centuries have trusted in this part of the Paschal Mystery and have gone to their deaths confident that they would share in the resurrection of Jesus Christ.  At every single Mass, that life-giving death and resurrection of Jesus Christ is made present as we remember it.

During November, we pray in a special way for our deceased loved ones.  We remember them to make sure that they are not forgotten.  But we also pray for them.  Death is not the end for them.  They may be purified by the fire of God’s love to be part of the Communion of Saints.  They are still part of the Church.  The readings remind us that each of us will face our own deaths.  November invites us to deepen our faith in the resurrection.  Maybe we are not being forced to make a choice about dying for our faith.  But we need to die on a daily basis to our own self-interests to share already in the resurrection of Jesus Christ.