Deacon Rudy Villarreal

November 1, 2018November 12, 2018

Feast of All Saints

Today, we celebrate All Saints Day.

Why do we celebrate this day? Why is it important? Do Catholics worship saints? And why is it a holy day of obligation? Good questions! Let’s try to sort things out.

First, and this is important, the saints don’t need us.

Preaching in the 12th century, St. Bernard said, “The saints have no need of honor from us; neither does our devotion add the slightest thing to what is theirs. Clearly, if we venerate their memory, it serves us, not them.¹

Second, it’s not about the saints, not really.

It’s about Jesus Christ – period. I don’t mean to oversimplify things, but the stories of the lives of the saints offer us insight into ways in which we can live out our call to holiness in the circumstances and states of life we find ourselves – clergy, consecrated religious, man, woman, child, whatever your state in life, there is a saint out there who’s life might help you see through the darkness and find Jesus Christ. This is why it’s important to remember and to honor the saints – especially on All Saints Day. It’s not for the saints’ benefit. It’s to help us grow in holiness and love for Jesus Christ.

Ok, so what is a saint?

The Catholic Church believes that saints are ordinary and typical human beings who made it into heaven. How does the Church come to believe they are in heaven? Well, the Church teaches that we cannot know for sure who is in hell, but the Church insists that we can come to know who is in heaven. We call these people saints.

So how does the Church come to believe someone in particular is in heaven? Well, the Church employs a process called canonization which analyzes various kinds of evidence; reliable testimony to the person’s extraordinary holiness in this life; indications that the person’s life has drawn others closer to God; and carefully documented miracles occurring after the person’s intercession has been sought. Miracles provide evidence that the person can offer assistance because he or she is now with God in heaven.

How is that even possible?

By His death and resurrection, Jesus Christ conquered death. Death no longer has the power to separate those who are in Christ from one another. For this reason, we the living can help those in purgatory through our prayers and sacrifices. Also, those in heaven can help us on earth through their prayers. St. Paul tells us that, “we all attain to the unity of faith and knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the extent of the full stature of Christ,” (Eph 4:13). We are one body, the body of Christ. So the intercession of the saints is just one way in which Christ’s body reaches out in love: from the living to the living; from the living to the dead; and from the dead, specifically the saints, to the living.

Do Catholics worship saints? Absolutely not! Catholics venerate the saints.

Adoration, from a Christian perspective, is the act of giving ourselves to God as the One to whom we owe the source of our existence. It is an act of absolute submission to Him. He alone, then, is to be adored, to be worshiped.

Veneration is paying honor to a creature of God who deserves such honor. We remember the saints. We honor the saints. But we do not worship saints. Period.

Showing honor is a normal part of human life. We honor the founders of our countries. We name cities after them, we write books about them, we make statues of them and place them in public spaces. We paint and print pictures of them. We speak reverently and gratefully of them on patriotic holidays.

We also honor great scientists, leaders of social movements, artists and musicians. Why? Because it’s a matter of justice to recognize their gifts and contributions to our society, to our culture. These are examples of ways we venerate people in our various communities. Is it really shocking that the Catholic Church venerates the great heroes of our Faith?

Do other cultures honor saints? The short answer is yes. The journalist, Kenneth L. Woodward, points out in his book, Making Saints, that other cultures honor people not unlike Catholics. “The Buddhists venerate their arahants and their bodhisattvas, and, (among Tibetans) their lamas. Hindus revere a bewildering range of divinely human an humanly divine figures, including their personal gurus or spiritual teachers. Muslims have their awliyā’ Allāh (close friends of God) and their revered Sufi masters. Even in Judaism, whos rabbinic leaders have never encouraged veneration of human beings, alive or dead, one finds popular devotion to figures such as Abraham and Moses, assorted martyrs, beloved rabbis, and other tsaddikim, (“just men”), (15-16), (italics and spelling his).²

Why is today a holy day of obligation?

The Catechism of the Catholic Church tells us that a holy day of obligation is a day set apart by the Church to worship God. Sundays are holy days of obligation, but there are other days as well, like today (CCC 2185).

So on holy days, we are called to refrain from work and distractions so that we can focus on worship. You know, that idea of slowing down a bit is wildly important more now than ever, I think. On a holy day, the Church is asking us to get off the hamster wheel for a little while: to think about the things we have done wrong and ask forgiveness; to worship God to whom we owe everything; to celebrate the gifts we have, beginning with His Word and His Eucharistic presence; and to share the gifts we have received with other people.

Does that sound familiar? In business, how often do we stop and ask ourselves: what was our goal; how did we do; what do we need to do to execute our goal; and then we go do it. A similar model is at the heart of Christian life. We use words like “examination of conscience” and “discernment” to describe this process, but it is essentially the same. That’s why it’s important to honor all holy days of obligation beginning with participating in the mass every weekend.

I hope this provides a basic idea about All Saints Day, sainthood and holy days of obligation.

Let us pray. Loving and generous Father, the lives of your saints have given testimony to your Son, Jesus Christ. Through their example may we draw closer to him. We ask this with loving hearts and in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord. +Amen!

Notes

Saint Bernard, abbot, sermon (Sermo 2: Opera omnia, Edit. Cisterc. 5 [1968], 364-368).
Woodward, Kenneth L. Making Saints: How the Catholic Church Determines Who Becomes a Saint, Who Doesnt, and Why. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1996.

October 31, 2018November 12, 2018

Happy Reformation Day: Ecclesia semper reformanda est

Luther95theses

Happy Reformation Day!¹ Happy Reformation Day? While we might consider the rupture of Western Christianity as a great tragedy, this date reminds us that the task of disciple of Jesus is renewal, or to put it another way, reformation.

The Church calls all of us to spiritual renewal all the time – think examination of conscience and discernment. While my salvation is complete when I accept Jesus Christ as my lord and savior, my conversion is ongoing. Every morning begins a new day not only of blessings, but also of temptations – temptations that might cause me to stumble. It’s easy to say the Christian life is too hard and walk away. But the disciple gets up and runs back to Jesus. We heard that in the Gospel this weekend, right? In Mark 10:46-52 about Bartimaeus leaps up from his place, throws off his cloak and runs to Jesus.

But this call to renewal is not limited to us as individuals. Renewal is also meant for the Church. In some ways we give Martin Luther too much credit, because “The Reformation”, that is to say, reforms in the Church, began well before Luther and continued well after him. But today is a good day to pause and to reflect on renewal.

Can reform be good? Yes! St. John Paul II said, “The latest ecumenical councils — Trent, Vatican I, Vatican II — applied themselves to clarifying the mystery of the faith and undertook the necessary reforms for the good of the Church, solicitous for the continuity with the apostolic tradition.”²

Reform does not mean changing our nature or changing our identity. Reform means to return to the truth that might have become distorted over time. As the Second Vatican Council taught us, “Christ summons the Church to continual reformation as she sojourns here on earth. The Church is always in need of this, in so far as she is an institution of men here on earth.”³

So where do we begin? Well, we begin with Jesus Christ.

St. John Paul II said, “It is necessary to awaken again in believers a full relationship with Christ, mankind’s only Savior. Only from a personal relationship with Jesus can an effective evangelization develop.”⁴

Pope Benedict XVI never tired of repeating, Christianity does not begin with an idea or a program but with a person: the Second Person of the Holy Trinity, who walks along the Emmaus Roads of this century and invites all into the fellowship of his friends.

Pope Francis constantly says that Christians are called to a mission of leading others to an encounter with Jesus Christ, in order that every person might grow in his or her individual call to holiness.

So reform begins with Jesus.

Where do we start? Well, I suggest we could start with our discipleship. Discipleship means three things: that we accept Jesus Christ as our lord and savior; that we seek to learn more about Jesus and grow in relationship with him; and that we spread the Good News of Jesus Christ. I believe that brief description of discipleship holds the key. It is the simplest and perhaps most straightforward metric to evaluate our own lives and Church.

At every level of the Church, every leadership body, whether directly empowered or advisory, could use the metric of discipleship to evaluate the progress of a pastoral plan, an annual plan, or any organization or initiative.

How does this work, this product, this initiative, this goal:

Facilitate an encounter with Jesus Christ?
Help people grow in their relationship with Jesus?
Help spread the Good News of Jesus Christ?

I understand that this is a simple metric, but if we are to approach our faith with the faith of child, then shouldn’t we try to keep our practical theology easy to understand and actually something which could be implemented?

It could be argued that if any program, goal, plan of the Church at any level (international, national conference, diocese, parish, apostolate) does not in some way foster discipleship, then perhaps it is not a worthy endeavor of the Church or a worthy use of Church resources.

I think this idea that needs more development, perhaps now more than ever, but for now we mark this day and we remember.

Good and gracious God, thank you for this gift of remembering the Reformation. Please forgive me for the times when I take my faith for granted. Thank you for the many blessings in my life. May I use these many gifts to reform my life, to spread the Good News of Jesus Christ and to bring others close to you and your church. I ask this with the loving heart of a child, and in the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord. +Amen!

On October 31, 1517, Martin Luther sent the Archbishop of Mainz and Magdeburg a document protesting the sale of indulgences. This text came to be known as the 95 Theses. Ecclesia semper reformanda est is often attributed to St. Augustine.
St. John Paul, II, Discourse, Oct. 22, 1998.
Decree on Ecumenism Unitatis Redintegratio .
St. John Paul II, speech to bishops of Southern Germany, Dec. 4, 1992, L’Osservatore Romano (English ed.), Dec. 23/30, 1992, pp. 5-6.

October 30, 2018February 23, 2020

Jesus Heals the Blind Man

Mass Readings

Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time
En Español

Reading 1 – Jeremiah 31:7-9
Psalm – Psalm 126:1-2, 2-3, 4-5, 6
Reading 2 – Hebrews 5:1-6
Gospel – Mark 10:46-52

This little light of mine, I’m gonna let it shine.
This little light of mine, I’m gonna let it shine, let it shine, let it shine, let it shine.

Our readings from this past weekend have many interesting themes: blindness, calling and light. These readings are trying to cut through the sadness and human suffering of our day, from Central America to Pittsburg and beyond. It’s easy to nod our heads and say, “Right on, Deacon!” But the question is, what are you going to do about it?

Our readings open with Jeremiah who speaks of gathering in those scattered by the Exile: I will gather them from the ends of the world, with the blind and the lame in their midst, the mothers and those with child; they shall return as an immense throng. This theme of gathering in the scattered sheep reflects the two great hinges of the Old Testament, of Hebrew Scriptures: the Exodus and the first and second exiles which together are the Exile. This promise and this hope is not just a desire to bring them home physically, but also a desire to bring them home spiritually. It is God’s call to bring His people back out of darkness, out of blindness and into His Light.

And so it’s no surprise then that we find in the Gospel the story about a man named Bartimaeus who lived in the darkness of his blindness. He called out to Jesus and begged for help.

What was the response of those around Jesus? They rebuked him!

But Jesus stops and says, “Call him.”

How does God call us? In the Letter to the Hebrews, we read, “No one takes his honor upon himself but only when called by God…” How does God call us?

God who knows our sins, but calls us by our name!

This is in direct contrast to Satan, the great deceiver who knows our name, but calls us by our sins!

Wow!

Think about how the deceiver calls you. “You’re not good enough!” he whispers in our ears. “You’re too fat!” “You’re on drugs!” “You’re a drunk!” “You’re worthless!” I wonder what the people who rebuked Bartimaeus said to him as he called out to Jesus. Was it so different?

“Take courage; get up, Jesus is calling you.”

I think those people around Jesus who rebuked Bartimaeus suffered a spiritual blindness that was just as profound at blocking out the world as Bartimaeus’ physical blindness! It was just as profound as the scattered sheep of Israel Jeremiah preaches about. But Jesus called him anyway. How does Bartimaeus respond? He immediately jumped to his feet, threw away his cloak and ran to Jesus. Once healed, instead of leaving Jesus, he stayed with him and followed. Doesn’t that sound like discipleship? There’s two parts here: first Jesus called Bartimaeus out of darkness back home, and then Bartimaeus followed him. That’s critical! God calls us, but God will never force Himself on us. He gives us the freedom to choose. Bartimaeus followed Jesus. How do we live our faith? Do we follow Jesus, or do we prefer to wallow in the darkness of the world? Faith is our response to God’s call.

Consider this, how do we call other people? What are the first thoughts of other people? “Oh, that’s the cheater; the drunk; the druggie; the crook; the immigrant-lover; the gun-lover; the bleeding-heart, the Jew, the terrorist.” Is that how we answer God’s call?

Now this is important: sin is not just personal.

Sin can also exist in our institutions, that is, in our government and in our businesses. We call that institutional sin. But institutional sin is not a phenomena independent of us as individuals. NO! We allow institutional sin. We encourage it. We expect it. I’m not talking politics here. This is bigger than either party and frankly both parties are a huge part of the problem. What do I mean?

It is the institutional sin of public policy and business that exploits third world countries because we demand cheap clothes, or poorly-made trinkets and junk we might use only once. It is a sin reflected from our hypocritical demand for a just wage, but that turns a blind eye to child laborers in southeast Asia. It is a sin reflected from our desire for cheap and perfect looking fruits and vegetables like Honduran bananas at 48 cents per pound, but turns a blind eye to the average Honduran worker who can’t feed his family because he only earns about $1 per day. It is a sin reflected from our shock and sadness over human tragedies like the Central American migrant caravan or the shooting at the Tree of Life synagogue, but turns a blind eye to leaders who applaud violence or admire repressive governments. It is institutional sin to suggest only government has the right solutions, assuming people are too ignorant to do the “right thing”.

Perhaps these contradictions are good enough for them, but we are Christians! Difficult as it is, we have to judge public and business policies not with the blind eyes of the world shrouded in darkness, but with Christian eyes bathed in light.

Bartimaeus lived in darkness. He answered when Jesus called him. He was healed and then he walked with Jesus. Like Bartimaeus, we must allow the healing power of Jesus to wash over us so that we can be healed from the darkness of this world!

The Christian, you and me, we have been called by Jesus through our baptism. We are healed. We received the light of Christ and we follow Him. In the Psalms we read, “The Lord has done great things for them. The Lord has done great things for us; we are glad indeed.” How do we show it? There are no armchair quarterbacks or pew warmers in church!

As healed disciples, we must share Christ’s love with others and that starts with the people we encounter everyday – the guy who cut us in traffic or pushed us as we tried to board the train/tram/bus; the waiter who can never seem to get our order right; the cashier who messed up our change; and most especially to our families and our friends. By sharing Christ’s love, we allow Jesus to kindle the light we received as disciples so that we can bring His light into a dark world that desperately needs hope. We need to share our light.

Everywhere I go, I’m gonna let it shine. Everywhere I go, I’m gonna let it shine, let it shine, let it shine, let it shine.

Homework! Contemplating on Jesus who we encountered this weekend at church in the healing power of reconciliation, in the Word we heard proclaimed, in the Eucharist we received, there are three things I ask:

Be humble. Jesus wants to heal you and to heal me. Our response shouldn’t be, “I’m not worthy.” Our response should be, “Lord, have mercy on me, a sinner.”
Don’t let them stop you. The world will tell us to be quiet – to not reach out to Jesus. The world will say that Jesus can’t fix our problems whether its immigration or gun violence or whatever. Don’t be distracted by political rhetoric of the left or the right. Our response should be, “Son of David, have pity on me!”
Let go of the past. We can be blinded by past hurts and politics. Just as Bartimaeus immediately jumped to his feet, threw away his cloak and ran to Jesus, look away from the darkness and toward Jesus the Light.

If you haven’t been to church in a while, or if you go to church every weekend, but simply go through the motions, I encourage you to listen to the invitation from the Gospel: Take courage; get up, Jesus is calling you.

I think that by doing our homework, we will not only grow in our faith, but bring the light of Jesus to heal our corner of the world.

Got it? Get it? Are you going to do it? Good! May each of us receive the healing grace and love of Jesus Christ. In the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. +Amen!

Image: Healing the Blind Man, by Morgan Weistling.

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