Articles by Archbishop José H. Gomez
May is Mary’s month
May 9, 2013 / 00:00 amThis has been a custom in the Church dating back many centuries. And it is beautiful to associate Mary with the coming of Spring and the new birth of flowers and plants and crops in the field.In this special month, in which we will celebrate Christ’s Ascension into Heaven and the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, I encourage you to deepen your devotion to Mary.In the Acts of the Apostles, we see the beautiful image of the early Church united in prayer around “Mary, the mother of Jesus.” That’s what Jesus wanted. His last wish – some call it his last will and testament – was that his mother should become our mother. He told the apostle St. John and each one of us: “Behold, your mother!”So we need to make sure that Mary always has an important place in our lives. The Gospel says St. John took Mary into his “own home.” We need to do that, too. We need to develop a deep personal relationship with Mary – one of love, affection, devotion and trust.The Gospel tells us that Jesus grew in wisdom in the household at Nazareth, with Mary and St. Joseph. And we grow in faith and holiness if we stay close to Mary. If we listen to her words and learn from her example.At the Annunciation, Mary told the angel, “Let it be done to me according to your word.”She entrusted herself totally to God’s will for her life. She made a commitment to cooperate with his will, to be a “handmaid” to his plan of salvation.I like to think that Jesus learned something of his own attitude of trust in God’s will from Mary.We can hear her faith reflected in the words that Jesus taught his disciples to pray: “Thy will be done.” And we can hear how deeply Jesus lived this attitude of abandonment to God’s will. On the night he was asked to die for us, he prayed: “Not my will, but thine be done.”That’s the attitude we need to live as children of God and children of Mary. Like Jesus and like Mary, we need to trust that our heavenly Father knows what is best for us, that he has a plan and a purpose for our lives.We need to say to God in every circumstance, “Not my will, but thy will be done.”We can also learn a lot from Mary’s habit of reflecting on the life of her Son. The Gospel says she treasured his words and pondered the meaning of his actions: “She kept all these things, pondering them in her heart.”In this, too, she can be our model. We should spend some time each day contemplating Jesus’ words and deeds through our prayerful reading of the Gospels. Like Mary, we should keep his words and example in our hearts. We should pray for the grace we need every day to love her more and to be more like Jesus.We turn to Mary because in her arms we always find Jesus Christ. And in him we have safety and peace.Mary teaches us to always look to Jesus. Her last words in the Gospels, at the wedding at Cana, should be the first words that define how we live: “Do whatever he tells you.”Mary teaches us to be open to what Jesus wants to do in our lives. She welcomed Jesus into her life and gave him to the world. That should also be an example for us. We should be ready always to bring the gift of Jesus to others.So in this month of Mary, as we pray for one another, let’s all try to take some practical steps to deepen our devotion to Mary. Maybe that means praying the Rosary with more devotion and affection. Maybe it means saying a special Marian prayer, like the Memorare.The Blessed Virgin Mary is the Queen of Peace, so throughout this month of May we should offer prayers for peace in our city and in the world.Let us ask Mary’s intercession to help us love her as Jesus loved her. Let’s dedicate ourselves to sharing our lives generously with others – as our Blessed Mother did. And let’s ask the Virgin Mary to be more and more a mother to us.Reprinted with permission from The Tidings, official newspaper for the diocese of Los Angeles.
Our new Pope’s challenging vision
Apr 16, 2013 / 00:00 amI wish all of you and your families Easter blessings! This was a joyful Easter for me and I was touched to see so many of you at our services at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels. In some cases, we had “standing room only,” which is a beautiful sign of your devotion to Jesus Christ.For all of us, this was also the first Easter celebrated with our new Pope Francis. In my prayers during this time, I have been trying to accompany Pope Francis as he begins his ministry as the Vicar of Christ on earth.And already, he has given us many examples of goodness, humility and tender pastoral love for the family of God.I have been listening carefully to Pope Francis’ words, trying to understand the heart and mind of our new Holy Father.One theme keeps coming up – how the Church must “go out from itself” and fight the temptation to become inward looking and self-absorbed. In fact, this was the theme of his talk to the College of Cardinals before the conclave that elected him.In that talk, he said: “The Church is called to come out from itself and to go to the peripheries, not only geographical, but also the existential: those of the mystery of sin, of suffering, of injustice, those of ignorance and absence of faith, those of thought, those of every form of misery.”“Our new Pope is reminding us that everything starts from our deep life of prayer and our intimate relationship with Jesus Christ. But we can’t stop there. We can’t forget that the Church exists to evangelize.”Pope Francis is saying that all of us in the Church need to come out of our pious “shells” – the comfortable patterns and practices that keep us “protected” from the demands of truly living our faith in our everyday life. We need to overcome our natural tendencies to self-centeredness so that we can really live for the good of others and for the Church’s mission.Pope Francis says: “We are called to follow in his footsteps. … To step outside ourselves so as to attend to the needs of others; those who long for a sympathetic ear, those in need of comfort or help. We should not simply remain in our own secure world, that of the ninety-nine sheep who never strayed from the fold. But we should go out, with Christ, in search of the one lost sheep, however far it may have wandered. … going out in search of others so as to bring them the light and the joy of our faith in Christ.”“Self-referential” is a word that I’ve noticed a lot in our new Pope’s writings and talks. What he means is that we are always tempted to focus too much on our own ministries, our own internal structures and programs. When we do this, we lose our evangelical instincts. We become “managers” not apostles, Pope Francis says.Our new Pope is reminding us that everything starts from our deep life of prayer and our intimate relationship with Jesus Christ. But we can’t stop there. We can’t forget that the Church exists to evangelize. We can’t forget that the gift of faith is given to us so that we will share it with others.When we know Christ and love Christ, we have the duty to share that knowledge and love with others. Faith increases when it is tested and shared. So the more we go out and give of ourselves and our faith, the more our faith will grow. “The power of grace … comes alive and flourishes to the extent that we, in faith, go out and give ourselves and the Gospel to others,” the Pope says.In his talk before the conclave, Pope Francis referred to the ancient Catholic idea of the mysterium lunae (“the mystery of the moon”).The Church Fathers used to say that the Church is like the moon and Christ is the sun. The moon has no light of its own. It only reflects the light of the sun.This should also be true for each of us as disciples and for the Church. Like the “moon,” we have no light of our own. We have only the light that comes to us from the “sun” of Jesus Christ. So we are called to reflect in our own lives the light of Jesus Christ. We are called to bring his light into our world. To scatter the darkness through our faithful witness to his Resurrection.So in this beautiful season of Easter, let us pray for one another and let us try to unite ourselves more closely to our new Pope Francis.And let us ask our Blessed Mother to support us as we try to go outside ourselves, to seek the lost, and to reflect the light of Christ in our ministries and in everything we do.Reprinted with permission from The Tidings, official newspaper for the diocese of Los Angeles.
The encounter of Easter
Apr 4, 2013 / 00:00 amOur Filipino brothers and sisters have a beautiful Easter devotion they call Salubong (“The Encounter”).Gathering before dawn, they relive the meeting of the risen Jesus with his Blessed Mother on the first Easter morning. The women come from one direction carrying a statue of Mary who is covered in a black veil. From the opposite direction, men come carrying a statue of a risen Jesus. Their two processions meet in front of the church. There, a child who is dressed like an angel removes Mary’s veil of mourning and the people enter the church with joy to celebrate Easter Mass.In the Gospels, there is no mention of this meeting between Jesus and Mary after his Resurrection. But popular faith sometimes starts where the Scriptures leave off. And many saints and mystics have reflected on this encounter down through the centuries.The Franciscans who brought Christianity to the Philippines taught that Jesus appeared to Mary before anyone else. John of Caulibus, in his Meditations on the Life of Christ in the 14th century, imagined Jesus and his mother falling to their knees when they met:“Then they arose with tears of joy, she embraced him, pressed her face to his, and held on tightly, falling into his arms as he eagerly supported her. Later, when they were sitting down together, lovingly and carefully she looked him all over: at his face, and at the wounds in his hands, and throughout his entire body.…His mother rejoiced, ‘Blessed be your Father, who returned you to me!’ … So they conversed at some length, rejoicing and observing the Paschal Feast in a delightful and loving way.”It is beautiful for us to reflect on the joy that Mary must have felt to have her Son back!I also wonder what Jesus felt at that moment.As he embraced his Blessed Mother, did he remember the widow he had once met in the town of Nain? (Luke 7:11-17) Did he think that Mary’s situation was a lot like hers – that Mary too was a widow grieving the death of her only son?At Nain, Jesus touched the dead boy’s casket and he sat up and began to talk. The Gospel account concludes: “And he gave him back to his mother.”On that first Easter morning, Jesus was giving himself back to his mother.This is the joy of Easter! It is the joy of knowing that Jesus will “give back” to us all that we might suffer and lose in this life. Christ is risen and we will rise with him!Easter joy is knowing that God’s love is stronger than death. It is the joy of knowing that Jesus is on our side!! That he will lead us through all the dark valleys to the light of his love and peace.And Easter reminds us that Christian salvation is both universal and personal.Jesus came to save the whole world. But notice how he did it. He came into this world at night and unnoticed, as a little baby. In the same way, his Resurrection happened in the middle of night – and again, nobody was there to see it.The Gospels don’t describe salvation in earth-shaking events or overwhelming shows of power. God’s power is the power of humility.Jesus came to save the world one person at a time.When we reflect on his ministry, we recall so many personal and family dramas – the widow of Nain; fathers and mothers whose little children are sick and dying; men and women suffering from poverty and diseases of body and mind; Mary and Martha, two sisters whose brother Lazarus has died.Our lives are no different. Jesus also comes to bring us salvation in the reality of our daily lives – in our worries and sufferings; in our struggles and setbacks; in the trials we face in our lives.The promise of Easter is that if we believe in him, if we trust in his Word and stay close to him, Jesus will wipe away every tear. In his compassion, he will heal our sadness and fear and take away our uncertainty about the future. So let’s have confidence in him. In his rising, all our lives are raised.So let us rejoice this Easter with our families and our friends. Let us pray for one another and let us share with one another the joy of the Resurrection.I ask a special blessing for all of you families, through the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary our Mother. May Mary help all of us to live with the joy she felt when she looked upon her Son and our Savior, risen to die no more.Reprinted with permission from The Tidings, official newspaper for the diocese of Los Angeles.
Loving the Church
Mar 7, 2013 / 00:00 amWe are living through a historic moment in the life of the Catholic Church. For the first time in centuries, the “seat” of St. Peter is vacant because the Pope has resigned office. As I write, Pope Benedict XVI is stepping down and arrangements are being made for a conclave of the College of Cardinals who have the sacred duty to select a new Pope. This is a beautiful spiritual moment for all of us in the Church, a time for prayer, sacrifice and worship. Sadly, this spiritual moment has become also a time of scandal. Groups that want to manipulate the Cardinals’ decisions are stirring up most of the controversy. As the Vatican said last week: “Over the course of the centuries, Cardinals have had to face many forms of pressures … that sought to influence their decisions, following a political or worldly logic. Today there is an attempt to do this through public opinion … It is deplorable that … there is a widespread distribution of often unverified, unverifiable or even completely false news stories that cause serious damage to persons and institutions.” All this controversy should remind us that the Church has enemies – just as Jesus promised us we would. But we can never forget that Jesus is always with his Church. He promised he would love us until the end. “Jesus founded his Church on the apostolic witness of St. Peter, the first Pope. And he promised that his Spirit would guide his Church in all truth, and that the gates of hell could never prevail against her.” We need to intensify our prayers. We need to seek the grace to resist these pressures to define the Church by the logic of politics and the spirit of this world. As we await a new Pope, we should use this time to pray for a deeper appreciation for the great mystery of the Church. The Church is not like any other institution in the world – or in history. Because the Church is not only a human institution. The Church is also divine. Just as there are two natures in Jesus Christ – who is “true God and true man.” We all know the Church is human. The Church is made up of men and women like you and me – and none of us is perfect. We have limitations and weaknesses we are trying to overcome. God gives us the gift of freedom. And we can use that freedom to serve him or not to. But the Church is also divine – filled with the Holy Spirit. Our Church is God’s Church! Because the Church comes from God, the Church is holy. And because the Church is holy, we can be holy too. We can know friendship with Jesus. We can share in his strength, walk in his footsteps, and carry out the mission he entrusts to each one of us. We should love the Church. Just like Jesus loves the Church. We should work every day to build up the Church. We should work every day to help purify the Church. To make the Church more holy, more faithful to Jesus Christ. And that begins with us. We need to have faith before we can lead others to faith. We need to be striving for holiness before we can lead others to holiness. So that means we should intensify our participation in the divine life that comes to us through the Sacraments. We need to come to the Eucharist as often as we can. We need to examine our hearts and seek forgiveness often in the Sacrament of Reconciliation. Now is the time for us to feel a deeper responsibility for the Church’s mission — of leading others to the happiness and salvation that God intends for us. Jesus founded his Church on the apostolic witness of St. Peter, the first Pope. And he promised that his Spirit would guide his Church in all truth, and that the gates of hell could never prevail against her. So in this spiritual moment, let’s pray hard for one another and pray hard for his Church. But remember: we should pray with confidence. God is with us. His Spirit still leads us. Jesus is still walking with his Church. In the conclave that is about to begin, the Holy Spirit is the guide and the Cardinals are the instruments. Together they will study the “signs of the times” – both in the Church and in the world. And together they will choose the Pope that God wants for his Church. One of the saints used to pray all the time: “All with Peter to Jesus through Mary!” Let’s make that our prayer during the conclave, as we ask for the light of the Spirit to accompany Cardinal Roger Mahony and other Cardinal electors. And let us ask Mary, who is the Mother of the Church, to increase our love for Jesus and his Church.Reprinted with permission from The Tidings, official newspaper for the diocese of Los Angeles.
A time for holiness
Feb 15, 2013 / 00:00 amThere have been challenging days for our local Church here in Los Angeles.I have been talking and reflecting with Cardinal Mahony and Bishop Curry, along with our other Auxiliary Bishops about the events of the past weeks. We are committed to moving forward in our ministries with hope and confidence in God’s grace.We need to keep praying for those who are hurting. We need to ask again for forgiveness for the sins of the past and for our own failings. And we need to match our prayers for grace with concrete actions of healing and renewal.And recent events should inform our prayer, penance and charity in this season of Lent, which began this week with Ash Wednesday.All of us need the grace of a new conversion. This is what Lent is for.We need to be transformed once more by the person of Jesus Christ and the power of his Gospel. We need to live our faith with new sincerity, new zeal, new purpose and new purity. We need a new desire to be his disciples.I cannot say it enough: We all need to rediscover the essential message of the Gospel – that we are children of a God who loves us and who calls us to be one family in his Church and to make this world his Kingdom, a city of love and truth.The challenge we face – now and always, as individuals and as a Church – is to resist the temptation to only follow Jesus “half way.” We should never settle for mediocrity or minimum standards in our life of faith. There are no “good enough” Christians, only Christians who are not doing enough good.“Our world today needs saints. We can’t wait for others. We need to become those saints ourselves. We need to inspire others around us to want to be saints.”God wants us to be great! We are called to the holiness of God, to a share in his own holiness. Jesus said this in his Sermon on the Mount: “You, therefore, must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”Holiness does not mean separating ourselves from the world. Just the opposite. Holiness means loving God and loving our neighbor in the middle of the world. In our families, in our work, in our play, in everything we do.The pathways of holiness are different for every one of us. How we love, how we seek the face of God, depends on the circumstances of our lives. And we will never be finished in this work of holiness.But that’s the fun, the beauty and the joy of our faith.The way forward for our Church is for each one of us to rediscover this universal call to holiness. This is the meaning of our Christian lives. We are children of God called to be holy as our Father is holy. And we seek that holiness by working with his gifts of grace to love as Jesus loved.During these challenging times for our Church, we have to resist the desire to turn inward or to withdraw from our involvement with our culture and society.We still have a mission as a Church – to continue the mission of Jesus Christ. Jesus came to redeem us from our sins and to show us the way to a new life of holiness. We need to carry his message of salvation, conversion and forgiveness to every person. We need to find new ways to evangelize our society – new approaches rooted in humility and the search for holiness, beauty and truth.We can only change this world if we allow God to change us first. The lives we lead will always be the most credible witness we can give to the Gospel we believe in. People should be able to see “the Catholic difference” – the difference that our Catholic faith makes in our lives.Our world today needs saints. Not “other-worldly” saints – but saints in our cities, our families, our parishes and schools, our media, our businesses, legislatures and courts.We can’t wait for others. We need to become those saints ourselves. We need to inspire others around us to want to be saints.So this week, let’s pray for one another and for our Church. Let’s keep praying for everyone who has ever been hurt by members of the Church. And let’s continue the process of healing their wounds and restoring the trust that was broken.We can make this Lent a time for renewal and holiness. We can do this by trying to lead holier and simpler lives. Let’s live our faith with joy and compassion – and a daily desire to become more like Jesus Christ.And let’s ask Our Lady of the Angels to help us to draw closer as one family of God.Reprinted with permission from The Tidings, official newspaper for the archdiocese of Los Angeles.
Catholic means ‘universal’
Jan 17, 2013 / 00:00 amThese first days of this New Year give me hope that 2013 will be the time when our leaders finally come together to enact a just reform of our immigration policies.This is the end of “National Migration Week” (Jan. 6-12). And this year, my brother bishops and I in the United States are stressing the urgent need for comprehensive reforms that would end deportation policies that break up families and that would offer illegal immigrants a path to make restitution and become citizens.It is long past time for our nation to address this issue. So I urge you to become involved in the debates in these coming weeks. As the largest and most racially and ethnically diverse local Church in the country, our Church here in Los Angeles has an important role to play in this national conversation.Because our Church in Los Angeles is an “icon.” It is a sign of God’s plan for his Kingdom and his Church – which is to be one family of God that joins families of many colors, races, nationalities and languages.But our local Church is also a sign of the promise of America – which is meant to be one nation under God and a light of freedom, hope and welcome for peoples of all nations.That is why one of my five pastoral priorities for the years ahead is to promote our sense of unity as one family of God. I really believe that in God’s Providence, we are meant to be an example to our nation, and also a model of the Church’s universal nature and mission.The word “catholic,” as we know, means “universal” or literally, “embracing the whole universe.”As we have heard throughout this Christmas season, Jesus came as a “Son of David.” That is, he came as a child of the Jewish people. But at the same time, he came as the “Son of Man,” as a child of all humanity.His coming this way is a sign of his Church and his Kingdom. And it is a sign for our own identity as Catholics. We are all children of some people or another. We are Filipinos or Salvadorans or Mexicans or Irish. But no matter where we come from, in Jesus Christ we are made children of God and brothers and sisters as one family in his Catholic Church.Jesus gave to his Church the mission to proclaim this good news to everyone and to make this beautiful vision of God a reality in our world – beginning in every human heart.That’s still the mission of our Church and that’s still a call to conversion for each one of us. That’s the challenge of the new evangelization in a world that has become “globalized.” But before anything else, this Gospel is a challenge to our conscience.We are called to break down every barrier, whether it comes from our pride or racism or fear, that keeps us from loving one another as brothers and sisters.In a practical way, for us that means we can’t stay “stuck” in our own communities. We can’t look at ourselves as “Filipino Catholics” or “Hispanic Catholics” or Catholics from this or that neighborhood community. Our ethnic and cultural identities are important to who we are and who God wants us to be. But our identity in faith calls us to be much more than what we are by blood.We need to remember always that line from the start of St. John’s Gospel: “To all who … believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God – who were born, not of blood … but of God.”To be Catholic means understanding ourselves as sons and daughters – not only of our earthly parents, but of God. Our Catholic faith requires us to reach out beyond our boundaries. Beyond our own backgrounds and our own customary ways of doing things.That’s what makes our Catholic Church so beautiful. We all have so much to share with our brothers and sisters and so much we can learn from them.We need to make this process of sharing and learning a priority and a habit in our parishes and in our Archdiocesan ministries. Simple gestures can go a long way. Let’s look for ways to pray and worship with Catholics of different backgrounds and neighborhoods. Let’s learn about one another’s saints and customs.So let’s pray for one another and for our country this week. Let’s ask for the grace to get to know people better and to love them as brothers and sisters.And let us ask our Mother Mary to help us to realize that the love we are called to as Catholics is a love that has no borders.Reprinted with permission from the Tidings, official newspaper for the archdiocese of Los Angeles.
The tender face of our mother
Dec 20, 2012 / 00:00 amFor the first time, tonight we celebrate this glorious feast in the presence of the precious relic of the holy tilma that bears Our Lady’s miraculous image! This is the only relic of this kind in our country or anywhere else outside of Mexico City.With this relic in our new Chapel to the Virgin, we feel a deep spiritual connection tonight with our brothers and sisters in Mexico – and with Guadalupanos of every continent!We belong to one family of God! Our brothers and sisters are scattered through every nation. Mary is the Mother of all of us! We turn to her tonight as Mother and Star of the Evangelization of America. We thank her for bringing Jesus to our countries and the gift of faith.We turn to the Virgin tonight also in a very personal way – as our mother.The miraculous tilma of St. Juan Diego gives us the only true “portrait” of our Mother Mary that has ever been “made.” It was a portrait “painted” from roses by the hand of God! That is why this beautiful relic we have is so precious! What a beautiful gift our Father has given us – to allow us to see the face of our tender Mother, who is the Mother of God!We need to turn to this image of our Mother all the time. We need to gaze on her sweet face and look into her peaceful eyes. We need to talk to her as little children and tell her everything that is in our heart. We need to feel her maternal tenderness toward us.Tonight we remember her apparition at Tepeyac. We remember the words of hope she spoke to St. Juan Diego: “Am I not here, I who have the honor to be your Mother? Are you not in my shadow and under my protection? … Are you not in the hollow of my mantle, in the crossing of my arms? Do you need anything more?”This great feast reminds us: We are surrounded everywhere by the love of God! We have Jesus Christ, our brother, who walks with us every day and gives himself to us – Body and Blood – in the holy Eucharist. We have the angels and the saints watching over us! And we have our tender Mother, the Virgin Mary!In her deepest heart, Mary is a mother who loves us. She asks nothing for herself. All for Jesus! All to be our mother!Through Mary who brings us Jesus – a new world opens up for us. We can live like a new creation. We can hope for great things for ourselves and for our families and children. We are children of God now! We can turn to God and call him, “Abba! Father.” We have all this through Jesus – and through the gift of the Virgin Mary who lives to bring us Jesus.We all know the story of the Visitation (Luke 1:39-48). Mary has just learned that Jesus is in her womb. And in haste she runs to bring Jesus to her cousin, St. Elizabeth.In this story we see the “missionary” and motherly heart of the Blessed Virgin. We see that Mary is filled with so much joy, such a desire to share Jesus!And when Mary tells her about Jesus, St. Elizabeth is also filled with joy! She is rejoicing because she realizes that she is a child of God. She realizes that Mary is the Mother of the Lord! And she cries out: Blessed are you among women! And blessed is the fruit of your womb! We say these exact same words every day when we pray the “Hail Mary.” And we should always pray the “Hail Mary” in the same spirit as St. Elizabeth – rejoicing that we are children of God!So tonight, we fly to Mary our Mother. We ask her to teach us how to be good mothers and good fathers to our children. We ask her to teach us how to be good sons and daughters.We want to be people who love God! A people who love our children and our families! We want to be people who live like Jesus and Mary and St. Joseph!So we ask the Virgin to help us to always be like her. To live with Jesus in our hearts! To live to share Jesus with every one we meet and in everything we do.Let us turn to our Mother’s sweet face! Let us stay close to our Mother! Let us allow her to be our life, our sweetness and our hope!Reprinted with permission from The Tidings, official newspaper for the archdiocese of Los Angeles.
A synod of saints, a year for saints
Nov 1, 2012 / 00:00 amI write to you again this week from Rome, where the Synod of Bishops for the new evangelization has become a “synod of saints.” Pope Benedict XVI opened the Synod almost three weeks ago by adding St. Hildegard of Bingen and St. John of Avila to the elite list of Church “doctors” – saints are special teachers of holiness and of theology and spirituality. This past Sunday, which was World Mission Sunday, I was blessed to concelebrate a Mass in which the Pope proclaimed seven new saints who have a special meaning for the Year of Faith and the new evangelization. Among these new saints are two Americans – St. Kateri Tekakwitha, our first Native American saint, and St. Marianne Cope, a German immigrant who became a minister of God’s mercy to the lepers in Hawaii. We rejoice at our Holy Father’s beautiful gift to our Church in America. St. Kateri and St. Marianne remind us that our Church is still a Church of saints!These new saints are also a sign of our own vocation to holiness – to be saints. This is something I find myself praying about and reflecting on a lot during this Synod – our vocation to be saints. Our Catholic faith is so important! All of us need to feel a new enthusiasm for practicing our faith – no matter who we are or what our position is in the Church or in society. We need to rediscover how beautiful it is to know Jesus Christ! We must make this Year of Faith a year for saints! The Year of Faith is meant to draw us deeper into the vision of the Second Vatican Council, which began 50 years ago this month. What Vatican II taught above all else was the universal call to holiness.In their Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, Lumen Gentium (“Light of the Nations”), the Council Fathers wrote: “Everyone in the Church … is called to holiness. … The Lord Jesus, the divine teacher and model of all perfection, preached holiness of life to each and everyone of his disciples of every condition. … They must follow in his footsteps and conform themselves to his image seeking the will of the Father in all things. They must devote themselves with all their being to the glory of God and the service of their neighbor.”This is the beauty of the gift of faith. By this gift, God gives us the power to live as his children and to be partakers of his divine nature. He gives us the grace to seek his holiness and perfection. The gift of faith is the call to be saints. And that must be the focus of our efforts in this Year of Faith – to renew our desire to be saints.Sometimes when we talk about saints, people think that it is not for them. But that’s not true! Ordinary, normal people are called to be saints. Weak and sinful people who make mistakes but are willing to ask for forgiveness and begin again!Pope Benedict said of our new saint: “Leading a simple life, Kateri remained faithful to her love for Jesus, to prayer and to daily Mass. Her greatest wish was to know and to do what pleased God. She lived a life radiant with faith and purity.”Each of us is called to live this same simple life of faith. And God wants to give us the grace we need to be saints. Our world won’t be converted by words and programs. Only by saints. Pope Benedict said this in opening the Synod: “The saints are the true actors in evangelization … Holiness … its language, that of love and truth, is understandable to all people of good will and it draws them to Jesus Christ, the inexhaustible source of new life.”So in this Year of Faith, let’s make a special effort to pray with and learn from the saints. We can start with our two new “doctors” – St. Hildegard and St. John of Avila – who have a special importance for the new evangelization. We should also make a special effort to learn from our newest American saints – St. Kateri and St. Marianne – and from St. Pedro Calungsod, a Filipino martyr also canonized on Sunday by the Pope. The Synod concluded this past Sunday, October 28, with a final Mass to celebrated by the Holy Father along with the nearly 300 bishops who have been privileged to share in this journey of faith with him. So let’s keep one another in prayer this week. And may the example and the intercession of these new doctors and saints strengthen us in our vocation to holiness. And let us continue in this Year of Faith to entrust ourselves to the Virgin Mary, the bright star of the new evangelization.
What is at stake in the mandate debate
Feb 9, 2012 / 00:00 amThe federal government’s new mandate — requiring Catholic charities, schools, universities and hospitals to supply employees with health insurance that covers birth control, sterilization and abortion-inducing drugs — has become maybe the most controversial issue of our day.I’ve been inspired by the unified reaction from our Catholic community. The bishops of almost every diocese in the country have spoken out. So have our largest Catholic institutions. Many individual Catholics — of every political opinion — have united in opposition.Other religious groups and many other Americans have also joined the protest — because this new mandate, of course, affects every employer in America.As this debate continues, it is important to remember that the Catholic Church did not choose this conflict.The Church wants to be a partner with our neighbors and our government in building a more just and peaceful society — a society more worthy of the dignity of the human person who is the image of God. The Church’s mission in our society is to teach, heal and to care for others; to pray and to lead our neighbors to God.Our freedom to carry out our mission is totally threatened by this new mandate. But we are not just protecting our own parochial interests. As I have said, the issues at stake go far beyond the morality of contraception. This government mandate threatens the basic character of our society and puts every American’s freedom at risk.America was founded to be a diverse society with many layers of institutions and affiliations.America’s founders understood that human life is more than politics or economics. They created structures of government and an economic system intended to promote individual liberty. They also created a space of freedom in which a rich “civil society” could grow — all sorts of independent churches and religions, neighborhood groups, clubs, volunteer organizations, trade unions, leagues, charities, foundations and more.In the founders’ vision of civil society, churches and religious agencies held a special place. They believed religion was essential for democracy to flourish because religion instills the values and virtues people need for self-government.That’s why the First Amendment protects churches and individuals from the government meddling in what they believe, or in how they express and live out those beliefs. That’s also why the government has always felt comfortable providing funding for Church charities and ministries that serve the common good of all Americans.What’s been happening in recent decades is that government at all levels has been exerting greater influence in almost every area of American life.In the process, non-governmental institutions are being crowded out of our public life. Civil society is shrinking and the influence of civic associations in our lives is getting weaker. The rights and freedoms of churches are increasingly restricted by court orders and government policies. Religious freedom is now reduced to the freedom to pray and to go to church.And more and more, Church agencies are now treated as if they are arms of the government. Increasingly, these agencies are expected to serve and submit to the government’s agendas and priorities.None of this is good for our democracy or our individual liberties.America’s founders knew that a strong civil society and flourishing faith communities are our last best protection against tyranny — against the government becoming too big and all-powerful and all-controlling in our lives.That is why I think this new mandate has struck such a nerve — not only with Catholics and other believers, but also with millions of our fellow citizens.People are realizing that if the government denies our fundamental freedom to hold religious beliefs and to order our lives according to these beliefs, then there is no real freedom for anyone.This new mandate moves us closer to what Pope Benedict XVI warned against in his first encyclical, Deus Caritas Est (“God is Love”): “The state which would provide everything, absorbing everything into itself … a state which regulates and controls everything.”When I first wrote about this new mandate two weeks ago, I said this is a time for Catholic action and Catholic voices. This is still the time.We need to defend our rights as Catholics. Not only to pray and worship. But also to be able to express our faith through our Catholic institutions and to make our own contribution to the decisions that affect the common good and future of our society.We also need to help our political leaders understand what is at stake in this debate. My brother bishops and I in the U.S. Catholic Conference of Bishops are supporting legislation that would rescind this unjust policy. For more information and to take action, visit the U.S. bishops’ website: http://www.usccb.org/issues-and-action/religious-liberty/conscience-protection/index.cfm
Living as Mary did
May 26, 2011 / 00:00 amMay is Mary’s month. So this is a good time for us to renew our relationship with our Blessed Mother.Our relationship with Mary is very important for our spiritual life. We need to love Mary as our mother in order to grow as children of God.Mary’s face was the first face that Jesus saw when he came into this world. Her voice was the first voice he heard. She was with him also at the end of his life. He was looking at her in the moments before he gave up his life for us on the cross.The last conversation that Jesus had was with Mary. And it was about us.We all remember the scene at the foot of the cross. It is filled with sadness. Jesus sees Mary and the apostle John there. He says to his mother, “Woman, behold your son!” Then he says to St. John, “Behold your mother!”From that moment on, the Gospel tells us, John took Mary to his own home.Jesus was doing what any good son would do. He was making sure that his mother would be well taken care of after he was gone. So he entrusted her to his beloved disciple.But he was also making provisions for us. His words, “Behold your mother!” are a command. They are addressed to every one who would be his disciple.Jesus entrusted each one of us to Mary. His last wish — some call it his last will and testament — was that his mother would be our mother.As St. John did, each of us must take Mary into our “own home,” into our lives. We must have a deep personal relationship with her — one of love, affection, devotion and trust.Jesus grew in wisdom in the household at Nazareth, with Mary and St. Joseph. We can grow in faith and holiness too if we stay close to Mary. We need to be like good children, listening to her words and learning from her example.Mary told the angel at the Annunciation, “Let it be done to me according to your word.”Mary entrusted herself totally to God’s will for her life. She made a conscious decision to cooperate with his will, to be a “handmaid” to his plan of salvation.I like to think that Jesus learned something of his own attitude of trust in God’s will from Mary.We can hear her faith reflected in the words that Jesus taught his disciples to pray: “Thy will be done.”We can hear how deeply Jesus himself lived this attitude of abandonment to God’s will. On the night he was asked to die for us, he prayed: “Not my will, but thine be done.”That’s the attitude we need to live as children of God and children of Mary. Like Jesus and like Mary, we need to trust that our heavenly Father knows what is best for us, that he has a plan and a purpose for our lives.We need to say to God in every circumstance, “Not my will, but thy will be done.”We can also learn a lot from Mary’s habit of reflecting on the life of her Son. The Gospel says she treasured his words and pondered the meaning of his actions: “She kept all these things, pondering them in her heart.”In this, too, she can be our model. We should spend some time each day contemplating Jesus’ words and deeds through our prayerful reading of the Gospels.Like Mary, we should keep his words and example in our hear. We should pray for the grace we need every day to love her more and to be more like Jesus. As we pray for one another this week, let us all try to take some practical steps to deepen our devotion to Mary. Maybe that means praying the Rosary with more devotion and affection. Maybe it means saying a special Marian prayer, like the Memorare.One practice I recommend: Start the habit of asking Mary often during the course of the day: “Show yourself to be a Mother to me!”This prayer comes from an ancient hymn, Ave Maris Stella (“Hail Star of the Sea”). Many saints have used these words to ask for Mary’s help.Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta would pray: “Mary, Mother of Jesus, be Mother to me now.”Let us ask Mary’s intercession to help us love her as Jesus loved her. And let us dedicate ourselves to sharing our lives generously with others — as our Blessed Mother did.
Looking for the face of God after the tsunami in Japan
Mar 31, 2011 / 00:00 amI continue to watch the events unfolding in Japan with a heavy heart. Amid the ruin and suffering, we are reminded again how precious every life is and how fragile, and how we are all one family in God.In this life, we will never know why our loving God permits catastrophes that cause such pain and suffering to the innocent. Over the centuries, this question has haunted our human imagination. Theologians call it the problem of “theodicy.” The problem is this: How can we say that our God is good and that he cares for us, when there is so much evil and chaos in his creation? Some people never find an answer that satisfies them. It is sad, but in every age this problem leads some to abandon their belief in God altogether. The truth is: there are no easy answers. Evil exists. We see it all around us in the world. We see moral evils committed by individuals. We see natural or physical evils, such as the earthquake and tsunami in Japan. There are no easy answers to why God lets these things happen. But that does not mean there are no answers. The answers are found in Jesus Christ and his cross. Unfortunately, whenever there is a natural disaster, we hear loudly from some Christians who claim that God in his wrath is punishing the wicked. We need to pray for the people who say these things. They do not yet know the loving and tender mercies of the true God. God never causes evil. God does not punish those he has created in love.Jesus said that a sparrow does not fall from the sky that our heavenly Father does not know about and care about. He told us that every hair on our head is numbered in our Father’s loving eyes. He said that each of us has a guardian angel. We need to remember our Lord’s promises always, but especially when hardships and sufferings come. Our Father holds this world, and each of our lives, in his loving hands. He is the Lord of history. Everything he does, he does from love, and for our salvation. We can cast all our anxieties upon him because he cares for us (1 Pet. 5:7). In giving up his life, Christ revealed how much God loves each of us. St. Bernard of Clairvaux had a beautiful expression in Latin: Impassibilis est Deus, sed non incompassibilis. It means that while God cannot suffer himself, he desires to suffer with us. That is the message of the cross. That is the power of the cross. By rising from the dead, Christ showed that God can bring the greatest good from even the greatest evil. And because he conquered evil and death, human suffering now finds meaning and value in light of God’s loving plan. What matters is how we respond to the sufferings in our lives and in the lives of others. Our sufferings embraced in faith, can purify and strengthen us. In the darkness of humiliations, sorrows, and trials that seem unbearable, we know that Jesus will never abandon us. If we unite our sufferings to his, we will know his consolation. People ask: Where is God when the innocent cry out to him in their suffering? The answer is that God is wherever we are. God calls us to suffer with others and for others in love. He calls us to be the instruments through which he shows his compassion and care to those who cry out to him. As we enter this new week in Lent, let us remember that our Lord’s suffering were the path to our redemption. Let us offer up our hardships this week, however small, for our brothers and sisters in Japan. To contribute to the people of Japan, send your donation to: Catholic Relief Services P.O. Box 17090, Baltimore, MD 21203-7090. Or you can donate online: www.crs.org.Reprinted with permission.
Truth, Freedom, and Abortion
Oct 21, 2008 / 00:00 amAbortion is not a “Catholic” issue. It is a matter of fundamental human rights. In fact, I believe it is the foundational issue of our time. Because it is so important, the Church has spoken clearly about it and believes it is an essential aspect of the Catholic faith. Unfortunately, however, in the last few months some of our leading Catholic politicians have chosen very public platforms to make misleading statements about it.