I recently ran across a quote on the website for Salt & Light TV, the Catholic Television Network in Canada.  It is a brilliant, hope-filled message addressed by Vaclav Havel in 1990 as he greeted John Paul II and welcomed him to Prague, Czechoslovakia shortly after that country’s liberation from Communism. 

“I am not sure I know what a miracle is. In spite of this, I dare say that, at this moment, I am participating in a miracle: the man who six months ago was arrested as an enemy of the state stands here today as the president of that state, and bids welcome to the first pontiff in the history of the Catholic Church to set foot in this land…

“I am not sure that I know what a miracle is. In spite of this, I dare say that at this moment I am participating in a miracle: in a country devastated by the ideology of hatred, the messenger of love has arrived; in a country devastated by the government of the ignorant, the living symbol of culture has arrived; in a country that, until a short time ago, was devastated by the idea of confrontation and division in the world, the messenger of peace, dialogue, mutual tolerance, esteem and calm understanding, the messenger of fraternal unity in diversity has arrived.

“During these long decades, the Spirit was banished from our country. I have the honor of witnessing the moment in which its soil is kissed by the apostle of spirituality.”

“Welcome to Czechoslovakia, Your Holiness.”

During that same historic Papal Visit to Prague in April 1990, President Vaclav Havel welcomed John Paul II to a gathering of the cultural and non-Catholic leaders by reminding him of a line from a poem written by then Cardinal Karol Wojtyla when he was Archbishop of Cracow in 1974. Havel spoke these moving words:

“In one of your poems you asked: ‘Can history ever run counter to conscience?’ What you intended to say in that exclamation is clear: that history cannot run counter to conscience forever. You were right and with you all those who did not lose hope.”

 This quote seems particularly applicable to the effort of many in our country for now 39 years who have worked to overturn Roe v. Wade in order to establish a “more just society”, which honors the sanctity of all life, born and unborn.  Indeed, a nation that allows the legal destruction of unborn, human life, is acting against the national conscience. 

Truly, those who pray and work according to conscience are helping to lay bare the conscience of a nation to help it correct a great injustice, namely the taking of innocent life.  We believe and trust that “history cannot run counter to conscience forever.”  So, take heart, people of faith.  Stay the course, persevere in faith and goodwill.  Trust in God, and He will act!  (Psalm 37)

The legal killing of unborn children is offensive to the human (corporate) conscience.  Such injustice will be over-ruled one day!  As Deacon Vernon Dobleman said so well last night in his address at the Pro-Life Dinner, leading up to today’s Mass and march: “We must pray, study, and act” together.  United in the one moral voice of truth, we will see a victory in this arena one day!

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Our first gathering of young adults for Thursday Night LIFE is off to a grace-filled start. The chapel at St. Mary’s School was not big enough for all who showed up. We shared a great hour of prayer together, and another hour of socializing and enjoying each other’s company. Enjoy the pics from tonight, and be sure to join us next month! Stay tuned for the location, for we certainly need the use of one of the parish churches.

Here is the homily from tonight’s Adoration and gathering of young adults.

The Appearance on the Road to Emmaus:  (Luke 24: 13 – 33)

 “They did not recognize him.”

 How many walk around in our world today, even those who believe in Jesus, and yet do not find him, do not recognize him?  My dear young friends, I want you to know and always believe, “Jesus walks with you.” (Luke 24:15)  As we begin a series of prayerful encounters with each other over this next year, it is important, even significant, that the format for our gatherings will always include Christ through the intimate sharing of Himself in the Eucharist. 

As much as I want you to know and believe that Christ always walks with you, I want also to express in these encounters my own care and love for you.  I want to know you.  I want to know your concerns.  I want to know how we can walk together in faith, in the Light of Christ and bring hope to one another and to the world around us.

Our Church is a living community of fellowship and communion.  We need each member of this Body of Christ.  We need you, my dear friends.  We need each other.  I want to invite you and encourage you to love both Christ and His Church.  Cardinal-designate Timothy Dolan, Archbishop of New York has a great line: “People today want Christ without His Church.  They want the King without His Kingdom, “  but, this can never be the case. 

Tonight I invite you to love Christ and to love His Church.  Do not be scandalized at the humanity of the Church.  Just as we must “look beyond” the small piece of unleavened bread before us tonight to “recognize” in faith the True Presence of the Risen Christ in the Eucharist, so must we look at times beyond the humanity of the Church to recognize its Divinity.  The divinity of the Church is something we are called to discover and rediscover over and over at times, because it will always be human and divine at the same time.  I invite you tonight to a strong fraternity with the family that calls itself the Roman Catholic Church.  I invite you tonight to explore the reality of relationship that is God, and in God, with and in Jesus Christ, with and in the Church.

I invite you tonight, in short, to become saints.  Too many today want us to leave our faith at the doorstep of our homes and churches.  We cannot do this.  Our Life in Christ and our faith in Christ compel us to walk with Him at all times, in all places, in every relationship.  We cannot compartmentalize our faith.  It is to be lived and expressed in our very person and throughout our life.  Even as we are invited by Jesus to become saints, we also recognize that He did not enter this world only for those who were living as saints.  He did not found the Church only for saints.  In His earthly ministry, Jesus was always found with sinners, and so He founded this Church for sinners, for people like you and me, that we might, by faith in Him and by His grace, become saints.  To some extent, in all honesty we could say, Christ is always with sinners still today, because that is all He has to work with!

Jesus came into the world to bring Light, His Light, into darkness.  He is still journeying with us today, to bring us His Light.

In the depths of our hearts, it is Christ we long for.  In the depths of our hearts, Christ comes to meet us, to be our life, our hope, our joy.  In moments of complete self-honesty, we know that His words are Truth.  That is because He is the Word of the Father, become flesh.  The Word of the Father is always and only Truth. 

That is why Jesus tells us that “Apart from me you can do nothing.”  Indeed, apart from Jesus, we are nothing.  Apart from Jesus, we cease to exist, because He and He alone is Life.  Remain in Jesus, dear friends!  Remember His words found in John’s Gospel: “I am the Vine, you are the branches.  Whoever remains in me and I in him will bear much fruit, because without me you can do nothing.”  (John 15:5)

For us, as members of the Catholic Church and faith, a significant means of remaining in Jesus is the Eucharist.  The disciples on the road to Emmaus so wanted to see Jesus, the One they came to know and love, the One who died on the cross.  And, yet, they did not even recognize Him as He approached and walked along with them.  It was only as He explained the Scriptures (Liturgy of the Word) and broke the Bread (Liturgy of the Eucharist) that their eyes were opened to recognize the Risen Christ. 

My dear friends, the same two elements remain with us today – and they do so because of the Church!  Would we still have the Scriptures proclaimed to us today, or the Eucharist celebrated today, if it were not for the Church?  Just as Christ opened the eyes of his disciples, He comes to open our eyes to His living presence in our midst today.

So again, I say to you: Stay close to Christ.  Ask the Lord to strengthen your faith that you may recognize Him in the Sacred Scriptures and in the Eucharist.  I read a quote offered recently by Fr. Tom Rosica, an American, Basilian priest who is the founder of the Salt and Light Catholic Television network in Canada.  The quote is from the French writer, Francois Mauriac.  I believe it is quite relevant for us this evening:

“If you are friends with Christ, many others will warm themselves at your fire…On the day you no longer burn with love, many will die of the cold.”

I would like to close my remarks this evening with a few quotes from the late Vietnamese Cardinal, Francis Xavier Van Thaun.  This young Archbishop spent 13 years in prison in Vietnam during the Vietnam War, nine of those in solitary confinement.  Even from prison, he was an inspiring leader of faith for his people. 

He encouraged his people, as he would us today: “Live every moment of life for God, because every moment belongs to God.”  He lived and believed that “there is only one failure in life…the failure to hope.”  Two final quotes:  “Only one moment exists for you in all its beauty and that is the present moment.  Live it completely in the love of God.”  Last, which seems so appropriate as we bask in the warmth of Christ’s love present to us again tonight in this Eucharist:  “If you lack everything or have lost everything, but still have the Blessed Sacrament, you actually still have everything.”

From his prison cell, he was able to celebrate the Mass, because his family was allowed to bring him “medicine for his stomach illness”, which they knew he was asking for wine and hosts.  He celebrated Mass in solitary confinement by putting three drops of wine and one drop of water in the palm of his hand. 

At his funeral Mass in 2002, during the homily, Pope John Paul II referred to these Masses of Cardinal Van Thaun, saying that with these three drops of wine and one drop of water in the palm of his hand, this was his altar.  This was his cathedral.  Such is the majesty that is ours in Christ.  Such is the majesty that is Christ, present in the Eucharist.  May each of us live with such faith.  May each of us live with the recognition that our life is not ours…it belongs to God.

Today’s 1st Reading for Mass is taken from the First Book of Samuel (3:1-10; 19-20).  This is a well known account of the LORD calling the young Samuel.  Awakened from sleep by this call, Samuel goes to his friend and mentor, Eli, saying: “Here I am.  You called me.”  Three times, this happens, and finally, Eli realizes that it is the Lord who is calling Samuel.  So, he advises Samuel the next time this happens to say: “Speak, for your servant is listening.”

What does this account teach us about the manner in which God speaks in so many of our lives?  First of all, we recall how Samuel’s own birth was a blessed response of God to his mother’s prayer for a son.  She was barren, and for various reasons, wanted very much to have God’s blessing that she might know the joy of motherhood.  (See 1 Samuel 1: 1-20)  Second, we know that Hannah, in gratitude to God, gave her son to the Lord, by placing him in the care of Eli at the temple of Shiloh.  Her beautiful prayer at that time (1 Samuel 2:1-10) served as the basis for the beautiful Magnificat of Mary during her visit to Elizabeth at the time each of them were expecting the birth of their sons.

The role of Hannah, Mary, and Elizabeth are beautiful reminders of the role of women, and particularly mothers, in the work of salvation.  These women gave thanks to God for the “gift of life” and the “gift” of their children.  They prayed to God for their children, and in each of their cases, they commended their sons to God’s work and will.  How beautiful it is for mothers, for parents, to pray for their children.  How beautiful it is for mothers, for parents, to encourage their children to seek to follow Christ and His will.  The Church is so very grateful for the many holy men and women who celebrate the sacrament of marriage, and form their children in the faith, and support them as they pursue their particular, unique vocations.

Back to Eli.  In these repeated visits of Samuel to Eli when God is calling him, we learn the role of the Church in helping each individual understand and clarify the voice of God at work in their life.  Eli as a priest can symbolize the Church, the People of God.  All of us, bishops, priests, deacons, religious and lay persons are to help our young people listen to God’s Word.  Eli astutely discerns for Samuel that it is God who is calling him.  He then wisely encourages Samuel with a proper response to such a personal revelation: “Speak, Lord, your servant is listening.”

Finally, the Psalm for today’s Mass summarizes well the same verse for all of us, those living their vocations, and those still discerning:  “Here I am Lord, I come to do your will.”  (Psalm 40)  “Here I am; your commands for me are written in the scroll.  To do you will is my delight; my God, you law is in my heart!”  (vs 8-9)  Indeed, how beautiful to know and serve the Lord! 

May we continue to pray that each of us may strive to fulfill God’s will each day to the best of our ability, freely, faithfully, fully.  Let us continue to pray for holy couples in marriage and for holy families, the seedbed of all vocations.  Let us pray for those whom God still calls today, that their response may be as Samuel’s: “Here I am Lord.  I come to do your will.”

PRAYER TO KNOW ONE’S VOCATION: (from USCCB Vocations Website)

This past week I was on retreat with the region bishops in Tucson, Arizona.  One of the secondary blessings was the visibility and beauty of the stars.  Is there anyone who does not enjoy gazing upon the stars?  Even if only for a brief moment, the stars tend to stir one’s heart, and fill us with a sense of wonder and hope.  Surely part of the reason for this strange phenomenon is that the stars naturally and powerfully lead us out of our self to something well beyond us.  Hidden in this mysterious experience is a truth of the human person; our ultimate fulfillment is only to be found “beyond self”.  In other words, we need others.  We need God. 

 The beauty of this final Sunday of the Christmas season is that we see again how God in his goodness, comes to us, to fulfill this basic human need for wholeness, for holiness.  Every individual is a part of this Epiphany event.  As Epiphany Evening Prayer I says so well: “All peoples will be blessed in him [Christ], men and women of every race.”  (Responsory)  St. Paul in the Letter to the Ephesians teaches us today “that the Gentiles are coheirs, members of the same body, and copartners in the promise in Christ Jesus through the Gospel.”  (Ephesians 3:2-6)  The birth of Christ is the pivotal point of all history, and the reference point for all humanity, who seek Truth.

 The mere presence and role of the star tells us this birth of Christ has cosmic, universal consequence.  Imagine the genius of God, who created the heavens and the earth and all within them, most of all, each and every human person.  Imagine that God “foresaw” from the beginning of time our need for a savior.  When God set in motion the heavens and all their planets and stars and galaxies, He foresaw the moment in time when the Virgin would conceive a Son, and at this very moment in history, the heavens themselves would announce this event to those who were paying attention.  Such is the generous providence of our God!  This same astrological beauty and wonder continued for the next nine months, leading the magi to the place where the Virgin would give birth to the Savior of the world.

 From crib to cross, these are the same heavens that would open on a few other occasions to “speak” on behalf of God to announce the glory of the Lord.  On the night of his birth, the heavens opened to reveal to the shepherds “a multitude of the heavenly host with the angel praising God and singing: Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”  (Luke 213-14)  Such is the significance of this event for us, that the heavens could not contain their joy or the Good News!

At Jesus’ Baptism, marking the beginning of his public ministry, we recount the vision that opened before John the Baptist: and “on coming out of the water he saw the heavens being torn open and the Spirit, like a dove, descending upon him.  And a voice came from the heavens, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.”  (Mark 1:10-11)  Similarly at the transfiguration of Jesus, his disciples witness: “a bright cloud cast a shadow over them, then from the cloud came a voice that said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him.”  (Matthew 17: 5)  Finally, as we recall, the heavens became dark as Jesus hung upon the cross and gave up his life.  (Mt 27: 45, Mk 15:33, Luke 23: 44) 

 These are rather significant announcements!  And they reveal that our God has not put the world into motion, only to set back indifferently and allow things to unfold without a care on His part.  No!  Our God has come among us, with tremendous love, care and concern, as announced again today by the Psalmist:  In the person of Jesus, our God comes “to govern with justice, and with judgment.”  He comes “to bring peace till the moon be no more.”  “He shall rescue the poor when he cries out, and the afflicted when he has no one to help him.  He shall have pity for the lowly and the poor; the lives of the poor he shall save.”  (Psalm 72)

 So what does all this have to do with us?  First and foremost, this Epiphany is our Epiphany.  Christ who was born two millennia ago was born also for us!  The light of the heavens and the light of the star which led the magi to the birth place in Bethlehem still call to us today to be led by the light of faith to the same Christ.  As the heavens shined forth upon the birth of Christ, the Prophet Isaiah reminds us today that now, “the Lord shines upon us, and his glory appears over us!  (Isaiah 60: 1-6)  We have only to open our eyes and to open our hearts to receive these precious gifts of the Lord.  Indeed, the Christian journey begins by receiving God in the person of Jesus.  On this feast of Epiphany, when we celebrate the arrival of the magi, and remember the gifts they brought the newborn King, we are invited to view this gift-giving in reverse, and see how God is the One giving gifts; the Gift of His Son, the Gift of Salvation, the Gift of Eternal Light and Life.  We have only to receive Christ.  Indeed, this “receiving” is absolutely necessary for the Christian.  We are incomplete if we live a life closed in upon self.  We are incomplete if we live life only for self, lacking love.  We are incomplete until we receive the love of God, and learn to freely offer this love in all that we are and do.  The scene before the magi is an instruction from God, Who gives Himself completely to us in His Son.  Christ comes to us as the fullness of God, and fully human.  He comes from God, and lives His life for God, and completely for others. 

 The Christian journey is a life of turning away from self (conversion), so as to live only and always for others, most especially, the Other, Jesus Christ!  Once we have received Him as our most precious gift, then our life can be a continual response of making a gift of self to Him in our love for His Church and His people.  Nationally, we dedicate this week as a week of praying for vocations.  Surely, the Christian vocation is a life of service and love; a life lived for God, for His Church, and for God’s people.

Matthew’s Gospel today mentions twice that the magi offered homage and adoration to the Christ.  (Mt 2: 2, 11)  When we come to recognize the Truth, as did the magi, we, too, will spend more and more time in homage and adoration before the Lord.  Such prayerful time in homage and adoration is required if we are to ever properly understand the depths of the love our God has shown us in Christ Jesus.  Such understanding is necessary if we are to fully respond to this love.  This is the vocation of each and every one of us; to open ourselves to this mysterious love, to receive it and to respond to it with all our heart, soul, and mind.  This is to live a life fully human.  This is to live a life leading to the Divine!

For some time now, I’ve been wanting to find a way to gather with our young adults.  I’ve been looking for a forum to show my own interest and concern for our young church, as well as to express in a concrete way my love for all our young adults.  After some discussions with our associate in the Pastoral Ministry Office, Amy Larson, and the help of a couple of our young priests, we think we have come up with something that will be attractive.  So, when you hear about Thursday Night LIFE, you will know it is a new program for young men and women in the 20′s & 30′s.

We will gather one Thursday evening each month for prayer and time to socialize.  The Thursday night time slot came to mind for me because it is the night that Jesus gathered with his Apostles for the Last Supper.  Thursday is the night Jesus gave us the great gift of the Eucharist.  What better evening of the week to gather, spend time with the Lord in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament, and ask God to continue to help us better understand and embrace His will for us?

For now, our gatherings will be in Cheyenne, but we hope young adults will be willing to come from other places to join us for these evenings of prayer and visiting with other young adults.  Please check out the information below, and share it with your friends.  Looking forward to seeing you at one of our Thursday Night LIFE gatherings!

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The last line of today’s Gospel from St. Luke (7:24-30) speaks to the ever-present challenge of salvation history.  Jesus points out how the “tax collectors” and those who received the baptism of John the Baptist were “open” to the “righteousness of God”.  The Pharisees and scholars on the other hand rejected God’s plan.

Advent is a time for each of us to review our life in the Light of Christ and His Gospel.  How well are we living by the values of God’s Kingdom?  How well do we proclaim this Kingdom of God by the witness of our lives?  We have a God Who cares deeply for us!  Our God has a plan, for each of us individually, and for all nations.  Our greatest joy and fulfillment is found when we humbly open ourselves up to the God of all Creation and His loving plan in the person of Jesus Christ.

On the other hand, when we reject God and His plan, not only does the individual fail to reach his or her full potential, but even the plan of God for the world is frustrated.  The “god” of this post modern world is our self-reliance.  We feel we are quite capable of creating our own world and destiny, without any need of God.  Human reason and intellect give us the capacity to understand God’s creation and the laws of nature, but only reason complimented by faith gives us the capacity to embrace God. 

Advent calls us to recognize our “littleness” before the “Greatness of God”.  Advent calls us to be open to God, and the harmony found in nature.  Advent invites us to the faith that recognizes Jesus Christ as the Harmony that holds all things together.  It is God’s plan to sum up all things in Christ, in heaven and on earth.  (Ephesians 1:10)  God has put all things beneath his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of the one who fills all things in every way.  Ephesians 1: 22-23)

May we come to recognize our “littleness”, God’s Greatness, and our need for the harmony and redemption of the Savior, Jesus Christ!

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It is with sadness that I learned this morning of the death of the Archbishop emeritus of Louisville, Archbishop Thomas C. Kelly, O.P.

Archbishop Kelly was a great and humble servant of the Church, and he loved the people of the Archdiocese of Louisville.  I came to know him while I was as a young layman working for the US Bishops’ Conference.  Archbishop Kelly was the Chairman for the Ad Hoc Committee for the 1987 Papal Visit to the United States of Pope John Paul II.  I was hired at that time as the assistant coordinator of the visit.

I came to know and love Archbishop Kelly in short order.  He had a great wit, and an even greater intellect.  He could tell a story like few others, and he had a great appreciation for the “humanity of the Church”.  He was a great student of the human person.  I came to work for the Bishops after graduating from college, and leaving the seminary believing at that time that God was not calling me to the priesthood.  After the Papal Visit’s conclusion, I was thinking seriously of marriage, and wanted to move back to the Midwest. 

Archbishop Kelly agreed to “open some doors” with Humana in Louisville.  I had two interviews with them for their management training program.  After the second interview, I called Archbishop Kelly and told him that he would be getting a phone call, as he was at the top of my list of personal references.  I’ll never forget his response.  First, he laughed, and then he said: “Paul, why don’t you just go back to the seminary and become a priest and be happy for the rest of your life?!” 

Thanks to Archbishop Kelly’s jovial advice (and probably his discreet intervention with Humana personnel asking them not to hire me!), I eventually ended up back in the seminary.  And, the rest as they say, “is history.”

Rest in peace, Archbishop!

For an even better and more personal reflection upon the life of Archbishop Kelly, I encourage you to visit my friend, Bishop Lynch’s blog.

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In the Fall of 2007, a pioneer class of young students began a journey to begin and establish the Wyoming Catholic College.  This young group of individuals were to be the first graduating class in May of this year, 2011.  At present, the college is at full capacity.

The Wyoming Catholic College is a four year, liberal arts, and as the name suggests, Catholic college.  The College offers a solid Catholic spirituality and approach to education.  The curriculum is based on the Great Books of Western culture and also offers a unique leadership program which makes use of the tremendous beauty of the rugged outdoors of Wyoming.   It also includes a one year horsemanship program.

Wyoming Catholic College is blessed with a stellar faculty, tremendously dedicated leadership and staff, and a student body searching for truth, beauty and goodness.  As the video demonstrates, all of these features can be wonderfully discovered at Wyoming Catholic College.  Do yourself a favor and take the seven minutes to watch this video.  If you know of a young person looking for a quality,  liberal arts, Catholic education, make sure they know about Wyoming Catholic College.

 http://www.youtube.com/user/WyomingCatholicClips