My dad, and my good friend Bob, had a big influence on my life.  Both are home with the Lord.   Both were men of character, real gentlemen, and devote in their Catholic faith.  Both were part of the Greatest Generation we all owe so much.

Dad was 19 and part of a landing craft crew when he landed on Utah Beach the morning of D-Day.  As they hit the beach, his landing craft was disabled.  Under heavy fire, they abandoned their craft, hastily picked up whatever equipment they could find lying in the sand and joined an Army recon unit fighting their way off the beach.  For a month, he fought to liberate French towns in Normandy before returning to his ship.  When he did, he discovered half of his crew did not make it off the beach that morning.  Dad died suddenly almost 10 years ago, never really talking much about his war experience.

Bob was also a Navy vet and crewed a landing craft.  He was 18 and halfway to Japan for invasion of the mainland when the war finally ended.  Bob provided security for the USS Missouri as the Japanese signed the surrender document aboard it.  He remembers sailing into Tokyo Bay immediately afterward, wondering if it was all really a trap.  Bob spent the rest of the war as a first responder clearing the rubble from Hiroshima and Nagasaki and bringing food and water to Japanese citizens who survived the devastation.  Bob died 2 years ago when his heart was too tired to pump anymore.

A month before he died, our son wrote Bob a letter which said, “instead of me saying ‘thank you for your service,’ I want to say thank you for putting your life on hold 70 years ago to preserve our nation’s freedom and fight tyranny abroad.  Thank for your ensuring evil will not triumph or reach our nation shores.  Few people know the unique feeling of signing your life away for a cause greater than one’s self.  Few people know what it is like to raise your right hand and take an oath.  Few people know what it is like to put your life on hold and go to a foreign country to fight, knowing full well that a living, breathing, thinking enemy is waiting for them when they get there.  Your service to our country meant the preservation of our freedom for many years to come, and your sacrifices for our nation will never be forgotten.   Respectfully, Major Justin Amthor USMC.”

While speaking at a memorial service after the war, General George Patton said, “let’s not ask God why these men had to die. Rather, we should thank God that such men lived.”  As we kick off the summer this Memorial Weekend, may we pray for the men and women who sacrificed their lives to fight evil and protect freedom.  May we never forget them – and thank God that they lived.  May perpetual light shine upon them, and may they rest in peace.

Deacon John

Over the last two weeks, we talked about Pope Francis telling Emanuele “God is the one who decides who goes to Heaven.”  The reality of death reminders us our days on earth are numbered.  Therefore, we should strive to make the best of our time here using our God-Given gifts to do His will and receive His grace.  To die in the grace of God is called a Good Death.  The surest way to die a Good Death is to live a good Christian life so God, in His mercy, may judge us worthy of entering His Kingdom.

When we die, our soul leaves the body and is judged immediately by God.  At death, the possibility of merit, demerit, or conversion ceases.  The soul will go directly to Heaven, Hell, or Purgatory.  This is called the “Particular Judgement”.  Our soul is reunited with our body during the “Final Judgement” when Christ returns at the end of time.  (More on Final Judgement and Hell next week.)

Purgatory comes from the Latin word purgare, meaning “to purify.”  Our belief in the soul needing purification after death to enter Heaven is rooted in ancient Jewish thought and strongly implied in Scripture.   Purgatory has been part of Sacred Tradition since the Church’s beginning.  Evidence of Purgatory is found in the 2^nd Book of Maccabees (two centuries before Christ).  Jewish militants led by Judas Maccabees returned to a battlefield to recover the bodies of their fallen comrades only to find them wearing tokens of a pagan idol –  a clear violation of God’s 1^st Commandment.  Judas Maccabees and his soldiers offered prayers for the dead so their sins may be forgiven.  They took up a collection for the poor in Jerusalem as a “sin offering” (2 Maccabees 12: 43-45).  Praying for the dead implies their sins may be cleansed in the next life.  That’s why we pray for the dead today.

St Paul writes upon our death that the work we do will be tested by fire.  If the work is good, we survive the test and are rewarded.  If not, the work is lost, and we can only be saved through fire (1 Corinthians 3:12-15).  In speaking of the resurrection, St Peter writes “we may have to suffer various trials, so the genuineness of your faith, more precious than gold which is tested by fire, may redound to praise and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ (1 Peter 1:7).”  Fire is a biblical symbol for purification.  Being saved through fire after being judged for our life’s work means we can undergo a purification process after death.  This purification takes place in Purgatory.

Our Catechism says “On the evening of life, we shall be judged on our love (CCC 1022.)”  Therefore, we should strive to live a good life in God’s grace so we can die a Good Death.  Always remembering “God is the one who decides who goes to Heaven.”  Deacon John

Adapted from “Introduction to Catholicism for Adults” by Rev. James Socias

Last Sunday, I wrote about a little boy named Emanuele who asked Pope Francis if his nonbelieving dad would go to Heaven.  After hearing what a good man Emanuele’s dad was, Pope Francis said, “God is the one who decides who goes to Heaven.”  This Sunday I thought I would take a look at the old question that never seems to go away – “Do unbaptized babies go to heaven?”

Limbo used to be a popular notion among Catholics to explain what happened to unbaptized infants who die.  Limbo, however, was never an official teaching of the Church.  It was simply a theoretical solution to the question of what happens to such children after death.  The question comes up because all people are born with Original Sin which is washed away with the sanctifying grace received through the Sacrament of Baptism.   However, very young children are not able to sin because they have not reached the age of reason.  But nothing impure can enter heaven.  So, does that mean they are to be condemned to Hell?  Limbo was an attempt by theologians (not the Church) during the Middle Ages to explain how unbaptized infants might be sent to a state called “Limbo” which derived from the Latin word “Limbus” meaning “border”.  Namely, they are neither in Heaven nor in Hell.

While Jesus didn’t reveal what happens to unbaptized infants who die, the Church’s official position is that Sacred Scripture and Tradition provide plenty of reason for us to hope that those innocent children enjoy the full happiness of eternity in Heaven.  Regarding children who die without Baptism, our Catechism says the Church can only entrust them to the great mercy of God who desires everyone to be saved (1261).  Jesus showed his tenderness to children when He said “Let the children come to me. Do not hinder them.” (Mark 10:14)  His words provide us hope there is always a way of salvation for children who have died without Baptism.

So, with all that said, do unbaptized babies go to Heaven?  It really doesn’t seem fair if they don’t. And I do like what Pope Francis told Emanuele – God is the one who decides who goes to Heaven.  As I wrote last week, I think if we really believe in God’s love, we can trust him to do the right thing.  

Deacon John

Adapted from “Introduction to Catholicism for Adults” by Rev. James Socias; and the “International Theological Commission – Hope of Salvation for Infants who Die Without Being Baptized”, www.vatican.va

While answering the usual questions asked by reporters, Pope Francis spotted a little boy named Emanuele a short distance away crying and wanting to ask him a question.  He called the boy over and embraced him.  With their heads touching, Emanuele told Pope Francis his father passed away a little while ago.  He said his dad was a nonbeliever but had all four of his children baptized.  Emanuele said his dad was a good man, then asked, “Is my dad in heaven?”

Pope Francis replied to the crowd, “How beautiful to hear a son say of his father.  He was good.  And what a beautiful witness of a son who inherited the strength of his father, who had the courage to cry in front of all of us.  If that man was able to make his children like that, then it’s true, he was a good man.  He was a good man.  That man did not have the gift of faith.  He wasn’t a believer.  But, he had his children baptized.  He had a good heart.  God is the one who decides who goes to heaven.”

Then Pope Francis asked Emanuele to think about what God is like and, especially, what kind of heart God has.  He said, “What do you think?  A father’s heart.  God has a dad’s heart.  And with a dad who was not a believer, but who baptized his children and gave them that bravura [great understanding], do you think God would be able to leave him far from himself?  Does God abandon his children when they are good?”  The children shouted, “NO!”   Pope Francis turned to Emanuele and said, “There, Emanuele, that is the answer.  God surely was proud of your father, because it is easier to be a believer to baptize your children than to baptize them when you are not a believer.  Surely, this pleased God very much.  Talk to your dad, pray to your dad.”

Pope Francis avoided placing himself above God.  He didn’t pass judgement.  Pope Francis chose to act on what he knows about God rather than limit God’s mercy.   We can argue forever among ourselves about how many angels dance on the head of a pin, the doctrine in the Catechism, or the latest debate on Catholic radio talk shows.  But at the end of the day, God is the one who decides who gets into heaven.  Not me.  Not you.  Not even the Pope. But God.

How would you have answered Emanuele?  How would you explain this to a non-believing friend?  How do we know our loved ones are in heaven?  We don’t.  But, I think if we really believe in God’s love, we can trust him to do the right thing.  

Deacon John

Adapted from “Is my dad in heaven? Little boy asks pope”, Catholic News Agency;  April 16, 2018

Did you ever wonder what the priest or deacon is praying quietly when adding a little water to the wine during the Preparation of the Gifts?  It is a beautiful prayer from the Roman Missal (that big red book Father prays from during Mass).  The words of the prayer are “By the mystery of this water and wine, may we come to celebrate the Divinity of Christ, who humbled Himself to share in our humanity.”  That’s it.  Nothing concrete or absolute.  Just a simple prayer that we keep our hearts open and celebrate our life with God.  Too often in today’s world we want concrete facts and absolute answers.  But as Christians, God asks us to trust him – to take a leap of faith – that he has a plan, and the plan is good.   God’s plan is a mystery to us, as it should be, because we are only human, and that’s OK. May we pray today that we have the wisdom and patience to seek God’s plan for us and celebrate the Mystery of our life.

May you have a blessed week celebrating the Easter Season!

Deacon John

I seem to be getting asked a lot about “spirituality” the past few weeks.   People wondering why their spirituality and prayer life is different from others.  I think spirituality can be look at much like “personality”.  Each of us has a unique personality.  Although personalities can be grouped into “types”, for the most part, we are all different.  So, why can’t we look at spirituality way?  Just like my personality is different from yours, so is my spirituality. One good look around the church at Eucharistic Adoration shows people reading devotionals, praying the rosary, on their knees in deep in prayer, and fixated on starring at the Eucharist.  All of them are worshiping God with their unique, and very different, spirituality.  And that’s something we must respect in each other.  Forcing my spirituality on you is like forcing you to act like me.

To understand our own spirituality, we must know where we are on our spiritual journey.  It’s a journey, for the most of us, that lasts a lifetime.  It only happens when we strive for holiness and desire to be with God.  That means our hearts and minds and actions are in full union with Him every day of our lives.  Our spiritual journey has three distinct phases.  It begins with the Purgative Phase where our soul yearns for more.  We experience an awakening, a wakeup call, and begin to recognize our desires and affections are not fed by an attraction to sin or worldly temptations.  Next, we move into the Illuminative Phase where we start to grow in prayer life and love for others.  We begin to think and act differently while developing a deepening desire to be with God.  Finally, we move to the Unitive Phase where a deep union with God brings an inner joy and profound humility to be content with ourselves and seek to make other’s lives more bearable.  St. Mother Teresa of Calcutta is a good example of living in the Unitive Phase.  Here, we are free from fear over suffering, loss, the unknown, evil, and even death.  The Unitive Phase is what we strive for – to experience God’s continual presence in our everyday life.

Whether we know it or not, each of us are traveling on this spiritual journey.  Maybe we are just beginning, while others have finished and home with the Lord now.  What’s important is to search our hearts to know where we are at on that road and strive to make the journey.  Isaiah wrote “A highway will be there, called the holy way; No one unclean may pass over it, but it will be for his people; no traveler, not even fools, shall go astray on it. No lion shall be there, nor any beast of prey approach, nor be found.  But there the redeemed shall walk.” (Isaiah 35 :8-9)  As we continue celebrating this Easer Season, may we pray for courage and perseverance to travel the Holy Way to become one with God.

Deacon John

It’s only been three weeks since we heard the Passion Story of Jesus.  A story where we can only imagine the pain of His mother and disciples as they watched him die a horrible death on the cross.  A pain we only begin to feel when we are separated from those we love.  That pain is the price of love.

Jesus felt the ultimate pain of separation when He paid the price of his love for us on the cross.  Jesus loves us so much that he came into our world as a vulnerable little baby.  He accepted the abuse of the teachers and elders of the law.  He was scorned, humiliated, and brutally beaten.  Jesus was nailed to a cross and pierced by a Roman warrior’s lance.  It was a painful “good-bye” for those he loved.  Because of love, Jesus suffered and died to be the perfect Passover sacrifice, standing in our place before the Father so we can live.

In the Gospel today, some disciples meet Jesus while walking home after the Passover.  They didn’t recognize him at first.  But after Jesus left, their hearts were on fire as His words opened Scripture to them.  This time, saying “good-bye” was not painful – it was joyful.  And although those disciples may not have understood the big picture yet of Jesus’ Passion, death, and resurrection they were exited and on fire with his love.

As we continue celebrating this Easter Season, can we share in those feelings of being on fire with our faith and his love?  Jesus died to give us life.  But, we live today not because Jesus died, but because of His love for us.  Now, like those disciples on the road to Emmaus, our job is to share His love with others.

Deacon John

Holy Week is over.  What a week it was for our two parishes!   We prayed together on Palm Sunday, at weekday Masses and Adoration, Stations of the Cross, the Mass of the Last Supper, Good Friday, an evening Tenebrae service, Easter Vigil, and Easter Sunday.  We became one community of believers celebrating the biggest week of our church liturgical year with 18 liturgies, including the Chrism Mass at the Cathedral.

Combining two unique parishes into one, week long, celebration was no small task.  Planning began last January with a combined team from both parishes. Many people, adults and children alike, spent long hours and late nights pulling together all the little details so these Sacred Liturgies would be joyful celebrations of our rich Catholic heritage.  I counted over 100 volunteers between our two parishes working together as lectors, Eucharistic Ministers, servers, masters of ceremony, choir and musicians, ordering supplies, setting up, and preparing our churches for worship.  Many went unnoticed behind the scenes.  I couldn’t possibly begin to name them all, but it couldn’t have happened without all of them involved.

From the beginning of planning in January, to the end of the last Mass on Easter Sunday, we had only one goal in mind – a joyful experience giving glory and praise to God with our two parishes worshipping together in harmony.  Despite all the planning, not everything went smooth.  We had miscues, disagreements, last minute changes, and mistakes (including myself).  Some you may have seen, others you didn’t.  And, yes, some things we will change for next year.  But, with God’s grace, we persevered.  You would think after planning and celebrating these liturgies for almost 2000 years, things would just go “perfect” – that we could get it right at least once.  But, as Kimberly’s Grandmother used to say, only God makes things perfect.

We hear in our first reading today from Acts about the first-generation Christians living immediately after Jesus ascended into Heaven.  It says, “The community of believers was of one heart and mind, and no one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they had everything in common (Acts 4:32).”  I’m sure they had their fair share of miscues and disagreements, too.  After all, they were human like us.  But in the end, they must have figured it out or we wouldn’t have celebrated Easter last Sunday.  Our job is to be like them.  To work out our differences as two unique parishes and worship as one faith family – two parishes, one flock, one pastor, one Shepherd.  I think last week was one more step in bringing us together in Christ.

As the early Christians used to say in greeting each other, “HE HAS RISEN!  HE HAS RISEN INDEED!!”  May you have a blessed and joyous Easter Season!

Deacon John

A month before my ordination, Kimberly and I met for an interview with Bishop Boyea.  These interviews were an annual occurrence for me to be accepted into the next year of diaconate formation.  The purpose of this interview was to receive his final approval for me to be ordained.  After talking with us for a while, the Bishop asked me to leave the room so he could talk with Kimberly in private.  He needed to make sure she had no reservations about sharing me with him in my ministry.  After all, the last thing he wanted was to disrupt our Sacrament of Marriage with me receiving the Sacrament of Holy Orders.  When satisfied there were no concerns, Bishop Boyea asked, “is there anything else?”  Kimberly said “Yes, there is one thing.  I need to make a deal with you.  I understand the importance of Easter.  It’s the highlight of the Church year.   But, at Christmas, we travel to see our kids and grandchildren.  It’s the only time we can all get together.  You can have John for Holy Week, but I get him at Christmas.  Deal?”   The Bishop leaned over his desk with a big smile, shook her hand, and said “DEAL!”

Why is Easter greater than Christmas?  If Easter had not happened, Christmas would have no meaning.  If the tomb was not empty, the cradle makes no difference.  If Jesus did not rise from the dead, then he really was just another misguided Jewish rabbi with delusions of grandeur to be the promised messiah.  If Easter is not true, then Christmas is just one more cute Hallmark story about an obscure baby born in an out-of-the way village in a forgotten land 2000 years ago.  It’s Easter that gives Christmas its meaning.

Easter is the very foundation of Christianity.  Jesus rises from the dead and He is God.  His death and resurrection on the most important of all Jewish feasts, the Passover, fulfilled all that the Passover had meant.  It was an exodus, or passage, from the days of oppression and slavery to spiritual freedom.  Jesus was the Paschal Lamb (Pasch, from Hebrew Pesach, meaning “Passover”) slain and sacrificed to achieve this freedom.  Jesus’ resurrection was the beginning of a New Covenant with God.  A Covenant freeing us from the slavery of earthy temptations and delivering us into God’s world of happiness – spiritual growth through our sufferings while finding peace with the blessings He gives us.

What is Easter all about? It’s about our Christian roots and celebrating what Jesus did for us.   As the Exsultet decrees on Easter Vigil “THIS IS THE NIGHT, WHEN CHRIST BROKE THE PRISON BARS OF DEATH, AND ROSE VICTORIOUS FROM THE UNDERWORLD. OUR BIRTH WOULD HAVE BEEN NO GAIN, HAD WE NOT BEEN REDEEMED!

May you have a joyous and Blessed Easter!

Jesus cried out from the cross,“My God, my God.  Why have you forsaken me?”  Have you cried out asking God that same question?  If so, God understands.  He’s been there.

Jesus knows what it’s like to be misunderstood and not accepted.  He knows what it’s like to laugh and cry and grieve. He knows anguish, anger, and unanswered prayer.  Jesus knows what it’s like to carry a cross and fall down.  He knows what it’s like to always be told you are wrong – that we don’t do it that way, don’t try to change things, and say this not that.  He knows what it’s like to fight when the bad guys are winning; when evil and defeat are everywhere; and injustice, hatred, and rejection are commonplace.  He’s felt the pain of whips and nails.  He knows all of this, so why would He forsake us?

No, God doesn’t forsake us.  He understands us.  But only through our willingness to experience our own passions are we able to even begin to understand why.  Because our passions tell stories of hurt, anger, betrayal, falling down, fear, denial, and needing help to carry our cross.  And that’s what we learn from the Passion Story of Jesus.

May we live in the moment and savor our own passions, knowing our cross is not the end of the story.  Knowing all the time that God does not promise to wave a magic wand and make all the hurt go away.  But he does promise to see us through to the other side.  To die to our old self and rise to a new life.  To be Born Again.  2000 years ago, they didn’t understand yet what that means.  But we do.  This Palm Sunday and Good Friday, let’s take time to give our hurts to God, trust Him to see us through them, and let Him change our lives forever.