Feast of the Epiphany, Cycle A
St. Mark, Fallston
January 2, 2011
The Life-giving Act of Stargazing
By (Rev. Msgr.) Nicholas P. Amato
LIGHTS OF THE HEAVENS
I imagine that we have all had the experience of just gazing at the moon.
I do this especially when there is a full moon. On a clear night, the moon is spectacular as it is framed in darkness.
It is amazing how much it can light up an otherwise dark night. There is something magnetic about it.
Much the same is true of the stars. Isn’t it a special treat to be in the countryside or the mountains on a clear night?
Isn’t it wonderful not to have house lights and streetlights, car lights and lighted signs invading the darkness? Only without them can look up and really see the countless stars shining in all their splendor.
BOTH LIGHT AND DARKNESS
Experiences like these are something like the experience of the three magi.
They look up into the dark winter sky and see a bright star. They followed the star and it brings them to the newborn Jesus, to the Lord himself.
(1) Have you ever thought that stars like the one the magi saw can only be seen against a backdrop of darkness?
This is a simple, perhaps obvious fact, but it is good to recall it and be aware of it.
(2) And isn’t it also true that sometimes we want to have the stars or light without darkness?
Even now, during these 12 Days of Christmas, we may be tempted to say:
➢ “Wouldn’t it be nice if every day were like Christmas?”
➢ “Wouldn’t it be nice if each day of the year were full of such high spirits?”
➢ “Wouldn’t it be nice if there were no bad news, no sadness, no stress, no heartache, no sickness?”
Of course, life is not like that. In the real situations of our lives there is always both sweet and sour, joy and mourning, health and sickness, light and darkness.
I would like to suggest that embracing both the dark and the light can be a sign of wisdom and a way to inner peace, but the wisdom does not end there.
CONTROL YOUR FOCUS
The good news – the added piece of wisdom – is that we have the ability to control our focus and choose what we look at.
We can decide to look at the stars or to look at the darkness.
We know from studies on the workplace that people who are regarded as effective have their share of sorrows and setbacks as anyone else.
What makes them effective, studies have found, is that they generally concentrate on the light rather than on the darkness.
Thus:
➢ If we begin reflecting on all the bad things that take place in our lives, it will soon depress us. But if we focus on the good, we will be uplifted
➢ If we want to find fault with our spouse, friend, children, and co-workers, we will surely find something. But if we look for their good points, we are sure to find them as well
Why choose to live out of misery? Great question!
APPLICATION: SO LOOK TO THE STARS
The point or lesson to be learned from all of this is that life is made or broken by what we consistently look at: the stars or the darkness.
Happiness will most often depend on little more than a simple shift in focus. No, we don’t pretend the darkness does not exist, but like the magi or wise men we can choose to concentrate on the stars.
So the question for us on this Feast of the Epiphany is: “Where is your focus?” “Are you more often than not a star-gazer?”
Do we look for light in any darkness that confronts us? We can take control of where we direct our attention.
CONCLUSION
We can talk more about our dreams of the New Year than our misfortunes this past year.
We can talk more about our hopes in the months ahead, than our disappointments over the past months.
We can notice a storm brewing in a relationship and still look for its rainbow and live out of that.
We get to choose. On this first day of the New Year we’re asked, “What shall it be?”
Thursday, December 30, 2010
Wednesday, December 29, 2010
WEEKLY HOMILY for January 1, 2011: The New Year / A Time for Investing
Solemnity of Mary, the Mother of God, Cycle A
St. Mark Church, Fallston
January 1, 2010
The New Year: A Time for Investing
BY NICHOLAS AMATO
86,400 DOLLARS
Imagine for just a minute that your bank credits your checking account with $86,400.
The money is yours to do with whatever you want. The only catch is that the balance does not carry over to the next day.
Whatever money you don’t spend is lost. In other words, whatever is left at the end of the day is deleted from your account.
Then, the next morning your account is again credited with $86,400. So, what would you do?
My guess is that you would quickly discover more and more wonderful things to do with each day’s newly given wealth.
You would quickly learn lots of creative ways to spend or give away every cent every day.
86,400 SECONDS
Okay, now let’s go back to reality. I’m not talking about $86,400 dollars a day but something else we get 86,400 of free every day. Any idea what?
If we do the arithmetic, we easily learn that every day, we are given 86,400 seconds to live. Put another way, God invests 86,400 seconds in each one of us every single day.
Every night, God writes off as a loss whatever of this time we have wasted or not used well.
In the Big Bank of Time, there are no balances that get carried over from one day to the next.
Each day a new 86,400 seconds is poured into our account. Each night at precisely 11:59.59 what remains is lost and gone forever.
No, time cannot be saved for a rainy day. If we fail to make use of today’s deposit, the loss is ours.
SPEND TIME WISELY
The lesson here is that we have to spend our time wisely – a great lesson for today, New Year’s Day.
From an investment point of view, we need to spend our time on items that will hold their value from day to day, month to month, year to year. Regardless of our occupation or vocation, regardless of what we have to do day in and day out, we need to spend our time wisely.
Several ways we can do this include:
➢ Coming closer to God through the Scripture, the Eucharist, and personal prayer and reflection, as we see in Mary in today’s gospel
➢ Tending well the primary relationships in our lives, especially with your spouse or close friend or parents or children
➢ Intentionally working to become more compassionate and more understanding of the situation and feelings of others.
In investing our time on these “things,” we will have no regrets. These items will always hold their value.
In fact, their value will increase and mean more and more to us as time goes on.
Someday we will look back on the time we spent on these investments and say, “That was time well spent.”
CONCLUSION
So, today we begin a New Year – a new and significant segment of time.
The question is: how will we spend our 86,400 seconds each day of the New Year?
St. Mark Church, Fallston
January 1, 2010
The New Year: A Time for Investing
BY NICHOLAS AMATO
86,400 DOLLARS
Imagine for just a minute that your bank credits your checking account with $86,400.
The money is yours to do with whatever you want. The only catch is that the balance does not carry over to the next day.
Whatever money you don’t spend is lost. In other words, whatever is left at the end of the day is deleted from your account.
Then, the next morning your account is again credited with $86,400. So, what would you do?
My guess is that you would quickly discover more and more wonderful things to do with each day’s newly given wealth.
You would quickly learn lots of creative ways to spend or give away every cent every day.
86,400 SECONDS
Okay, now let’s go back to reality. I’m not talking about $86,400 dollars a day but something else we get 86,400 of free every day. Any idea what?
If we do the arithmetic, we easily learn that every day, we are given 86,400 seconds to live. Put another way, God invests 86,400 seconds in each one of us every single day.
Every night, God writes off as a loss whatever of this time we have wasted or not used well.
In the Big Bank of Time, there are no balances that get carried over from one day to the next.
Each day a new 86,400 seconds is poured into our account. Each night at precisely 11:59.59 what remains is lost and gone forever.
No, time cannot be saved for a rainy day. If we fail to make use of today’s deposit, the loss is ours.
SPEND TIME WISELY
The lesson here is that we have to spend our time wisely – a great lesson for today, New Year’s Day.
From an investment point of view, we need to spend our time on items that will hold their value from day to day, month to month, year to year. Regardless of our occupation or vocation, regardless of what we have to do day in and day out, we need to spend our time wisely.
Several ways we can do this include:
➢ Coming closer to God through the Scripture, the Eucharist, and personal prayer and reflection, as we see in Mary in today’s gospel
➢ Tending well the primary relationships in our lives, especially with your spouse or close friend or parents or children
➢ Intentionally working to become more compassionate and more understanding of the situation and feelings of others.
In investing our time on these “things,” we will have no regrets. These items will always hold their value.
In fact, their value will increase and mean more and more to us as time goes on.
Someday we will look back on the time we spent on these investments and say, “That was time well spent.”
CONCLUSION
So, today we begin a New Year – a new and significant segment of time.
The question is: how will we spend our 86,400 seconds each day of the New Year?
Wednesday, December 22, 2010
WEEKLY HOMILY for December 25, 2010: The Challenge and Comfort of an Infant’s Open Arms
Christmas, Cycle A
St. Margaret Parish, Bel Air and Our Lady of Grace, Parkton
December 25, 2010
The Challenge and Comfort of an Infant’s Open Arms
By (Rev. Msgr.) Nicholas P. Amato
OPEN ARMS: CHALLENGE AND COMFORT
I would invite you to turn your attention for a moment to the crib or nativity scene here in church.
Notice especially the infant and the infant’s arms in the manger. Did you know the arms are always outstretched?
It’s as if the infant Jesus is reaching out or even embracing you. I checked nativity sets on the Internet and found open arms most frequently.
Are the arms of the Infant outstretched on your Nativity set?
This Christmas (evening) (morning) I have a number of reflections centered on the infant and how his open arms both challenge and comfort us this Christmas.
MESSAGES OF THE INFANT
First and most obvious, God comes to us and enters our world as a NEEDY INFANT. In this, Jesus in Bethlehem identifies with children and youth and all those growing to adulthood.
He challenges us to do all we can to protect and nurture the life of children and to foster growthful opportunities for our youth.
When we do this, we respond to the challenge of the crib and bring comfort to children. We are at our best as Christians and Catholics.
Then, Jesus’ open arms are extended to the POOR SHEPHERDS attending him. In this, Jesus is identifying with the poor in our midst and throughout the world.
Those open arms challenge us to help feed the hungry and provide shelter for the homeless right here in Harford/Baltimore County, to make sure that families have food and clothing and health care and even gifts at Christmas, in short to care for anyone in need.
When we do this, we accept the challenge of the crib and are providing comfort to those poor. We are at our best as Christians and Catholics.
Jesus’ arms are also open to the WEALTHY MAGI from the East who are drawn to him. In this gesture of love and openness, the Infant in the crib identifies with the affluent, the influential, and the successful of our world.
The challenge of the open arms is to use fully the gifts and talents God has given us and with them to care for the common good. In this way everyone can build on the potentials God has placed in each of us.
When we do this, we are accepting the challenge of Jesus’ open arms and are providing comfort to those in and outside our community. And again, we are at our best as Christians and Catholics.
Finally, when God sends his son Jesus into our world in HUMAN FORM, as one like us, we are comforted by the fact that God has become one with our humanity. In doing so he’s telling us we are good, loveable, worth the trouble.
Because this message is for all people, the challenge of the open arms is not to hold ourselves above others, not to judge or condemn, but rather to take each other where we are, to allow all people to join us in the manger scene that is our life.
When we do this, we’re responding to the challenge and the comfort of the crib and, yes, we are at our best as Christians and Catholics.
CONCLUSION
I end as I began: God comes to us and enters our world in the birth of a child.
What is more approachable, loveable, or responsive than an infant with outstretched arms?
It is in those arms that Jesus welcomes, embraces, accepts, and includes us all.
Let those open arms remind us not to shun or exclude anyone because of differences in faith or way of living, but to accept and include all – as are we – in God’s family.
What a difference a little child with open arms can make to the quality of our living. The challenge this Christmas is to make his is open arms ours.
Merry Christmas
St. Margaret Parish, Bel Air and Our Lady of Grace, Parkton
December 25, 2010
The Challenge and Comfort of an Infant’s Open Arms
By (Rev. Msgr.) Nicholas P. Amato
OPEN ARMS: CHALLENGE AND COMFORT
I would invite you to turn your attention for a moment to the crib or nativity scene here in church.
Notice especially the infant and the infant’s arms in the manger. Did you know the arms are always outstretched?
It’s as if the infant Jesus is reaching out or even embracing you. I checked nativity sets on the Internet and found open arms most frequently.
Are the arms of the Infant outstretched on your Nativity set?
This Christmas (evening) (morning) I have a number of reflections centered on the infant and how his open arms both challenge and comfort us this Christmas.
MESSAGES OF THE INFANT
First and most obvious, God comes to us and enters our world as a NEEDY INFANT. In this, Jesus in Bethlehem identifies with children and youth and all those growing to adulthood.
He challenges us to do all we can to protect and nurture the life of children and to foster growthful opportunities for our youth.
When we do this, we respond to the challenge of the crib and bring comfort to children. We are at our best as Christians and Catholics.
Then, Jesus’ open arms are extended to the POOR SHEPHERDS attending him. In this, Jesus is identifying with the poor in our midst and throughout the world.
Those open arms challenge us to help feed the hungry and provide shelter for the homeless right here in Harford/Baltimore County, to make sure that families have food and clothing and health care and even gifts at Christmas, in short to care for anyone in need.
When we do this, we accept the challenge of the crib and are providing comfort to those poor. We are at our best as Christians and Catholics.
Jesus’ arms are also open to the WEALTHY MAGI from the East who are drawn to him. In this gesture of love and openness, the Infant in the crib identifies with the affluent, the influential, and the successful of our world.
The challenge of the open arms is to use fully the gifts and talents God has given us and with them to care for the common good. In this way everyone can build on the potentials God has placed in each of us.
When we do this, we are accepting the challenge of Jesus’ open arms and are providing comfort to those in and outside our community. And again, we are at our best as Christians and Catholics.
Finally, when God sends his son Jesus into our world in HUMAN FORM, as one like us, we are comforted by the fact that God has become one with our humanity. In doing so he’s telling us we are good, loveable, worth the trouble.
Because this message is for all people, the challenge of the open arms is not to hold ourselves above others, not to judge or condemn, but rather to take each other where we are, to allow all people to join us in the manger scene that is our life.
When we do this, we’re responding to the challenge and the comfort of the crib and, yes, we are at our best as Christians and Catholics.
CONCLUSION
I end as I began: God comes to us and enters our world in the birth of a child.
What is more approachable, loveable, or responsive than an infant with outstretched arms?
It is in those arms that Jesus welcomes, embraces, accepts, and includes us all.
Let those open arms remind us not to shun or exclude anyone because of differences in faith or way of living, but to accept and include all – as are we – in God’s family.
What a difference a little child with open arms can make to the quality of our living. The challenge this Christmas is to make his is open arms ours.
Merry Christmas
Thursday, December 16, 2010
WEEKLY HOMILY for December 19, 2010: Fears: What do we do with them?
4th Sunday of Advent, Cycle A
St. Margaret / St. Mark
December 19, 2010
Fears: What do you do with them?
By (Rev. Msgr.) Nicholas P. Amato
MY FEAR
In my last parish, Our Lady of Grace in Parkton, there was a challenge in the design of the roof on the new education center and banquet hall.
The contractor wanted me to go up on the roof with him so that I could see and really understand the issue. Well, I have a fear of unprotected heights like that and this was about the last thing I wanted to do.
But, I did it. I climbed up the ladder against the side of the building and quickly walked up the peak to the middle of the roof and there I literally froze in place.
I was in such a frozen state I wasn’t even able to consider the problem regarding the roof. My fears had closed off all communication, all considerations. All I wanted was a helicopter to drop down a cage and lower me down.
“Father, are you okay? Realizing I wasn’t, he continued, “Father, you’re going to be alright. I’m right here with you” as he moved slowly closer toward me. His word and presence put me at ease, at ease enough to have him relate the roof problem to me.
When I look back at that incident, I realize that what enabled me to deal with my fear of being on the pitched roof was (1) His reassuring word that I would be safe, (2) His physical presence, and (3) My trust in the contractor.
Let me just say, I never intend to go up on the roof of any church or even my own home. I’ll trust the professional so much that I’ll take his word for the condition of any roof.
FEAR IN SCRIPTURE
In today’s gospel, Joseph is also dealing with the fear factor. He is afraid to take Mary as his wife, given the religious and social laws of his day.
Yet, in a dream the angel of the Lord says to him, “Joseph, do not be afraid.”
Joseph is willing to listen to the angel’s (1) Reassuring word that things would work out, (2) To experience his presence in the dream, and (3) To trust in God’s messenger.
With all three, he realizes that God’s assurance is stronger than his fear and Joseph is enabled to take Mary as his wife.
Throughout the Bible, there are many incidents of fear like this and of God’s (1) Reassuring word that things would work out, (2) The experience of God’s presence in some form, and (3) The dramatic act of letting go and simply trusting God.
Granted, the fear may not be completely removed, but it does enable Joseph, Mary, the apostles and many others to act positively.
In fact, Joseph’s trust enables him to cooperate in the birth of Jesus. His trust in the midst of fear makes him an agent in bringing God’s Son into our world.
OUR FEARS
Each of us is afraid; each of us has some fear at some particular moment in life.
And today’s gospel in those moments invites us to respond as Joseph does. It calls us to trust God and, even with our fear, to act in accord with God’s will.
For example, the fear of not being liked by his peers may lead a seventh grader to join in bullying a classmate. In that situation, even a twelve-year-old is being called to trust that God is with him and will take care of him even if he still has some fear.
That trust can lead him to refuse to join in the bullying and maybe even to take up for the kid who is being picked on. And in that way, he cooperates – like Joseph – in bringing God’s love and concern more fully into this world.
Or the example the other day when I was speaking with a young woman, a wife and mother, who is being treated for cancer. We actually talked about having both fear and trust at the same time.
Her faith and trust in God is strengthening her in this ordeal. And in this way she is showing how uniting our suffering to Christ’s suffering makes him more present to others especially for her family and friends.
Or perhaps we have a fear of certain people who are different from us – in today’s climate it may be Arab and Muslim people. Trusting in the Lord, even with our fear, leads us to read, to listen, and to try to understand their life experience and their point of view without labeling someone a terrorist just from their ethnic background.
Reading, listening and trying to understand set the stage for the possibility of reconciliation, harmony, and peace. It again enables God to enter our world more fully and be experienced as the Prince of Peace.
CONCLUSION
Yes, fear is a real-life, human issue.
It pops up often in the Scripture and consistently God calls us not to be afraid. Maybe more precisely, God reassures us that he is Emmanuel – God with us.
God calls us to trust in him even with our fears and not allow those fears to freeze us into a defensive posture. If we are open to God’s grace and presence, then like Joseph we can also be agents for God’s entering our world more fully at this moment in the experience others will have.
St. Margaret / St. Mark
December 19, 2010
Fears: What do you do with them?
By (Rev. Msgr.) Nicholas P. Amato
MY FEAR
In my last parish, Our Lady of Grace in Parkton, there was a challenge in the design of the roof on the new education center and banquet hall.
The contractor wanted me to go up on the roof with him so that I could see and really understand the issue. Well, I have a fear of unprotected heights like that and this was about the last thing I wanted to do.
But, I did it. I climbed up the ladder against the side of the building and quickly walked up the peak to the middle of the roof and there I literally froze in place.
I was in such a frozen state I wasn’t even able to consider the problem regarding the roof. My fears had closed off all communication, all considerations. All I wanted was a helicopter to drop down a cage and lower me down.
“Father, are you okay? Realizing I wasn’t, he continued, “Father, you’re going to be alright. I’m right here with you” as he moved slowly closer toward me. His word and presence put me at ease, at ease enough to have him relate the roof problem to me.
When I look back at that incident, I realize that what enabled me to deal with my fear of being on the pitched roof was (1) His reassuring word that I would be safe, (2) His physical presence, and (3) My trust in the contractor.
Let me just say, I never intend to go up on the roof of any church or even my own home. I’ll trust the professional so much that I’ll take his word for the condition of any roof.
FEAR IN SCRIPTURE
In today’s gospel, Joseph is also dealing with the fear factor. He is afraid to take Mary as his wife, given the religious and social laws of his day.
Yet, in a dream the angel of the Lord says to him, “Joseph, do not be afraid.”
Joseph is willing to listen to the angel’s (1) Reassuring word that things would work out, (2) To experience his presence in the dream, and (3) To trust in God’s messenger.
With all three, he realizes that God’s assurance is stronger than his fear and Joseph is enabled to take Mary as his wife.
Throughout the Bible, there are many incidents of fear like this and of God’s (1) Reassuring word that things would work out, (2) The experience of God’s presence in some form, and (3) The dramatic act of letting go and simply trusting God.
Granted, the fear may not be completely removed, but it does enable Joseph, Mary, the apostles and many others to act positively.
In fact, Joseph’s trust enables him to cooperate in the birth of Jesus. His trust in the midst of fear makes him an agent in bringing God’s Son into our world.
OUR FEARS
Each of us is afraid; each of us has some fear at some particular moment in life.
And today’s gospel in those moments invites us to respond as Joseph does. It calls us to trust God and, even with our fear, to act in accord with God’s will.
For example, the fear of not being liked by his peers may lead a seventh grader to join in bullying a classmate. In that situation, even a twelve-year-old is being called to trust that God is with him and will take care of him even if he still has some fear.
That trust can lead him to refuse to join in the bullying and maybe even to take up for the kid who is being picked on. And in that way, he cooperates – like Joseph – in bringing God’s love and concern more fully into this world.
Or the example the other day when I was speaking with a young woman, a wife and mother, who is being treated for cancer. We actually talked about having both fear and trust at the same time.
Her faith and trust in God is strengthening her in this ordeal. And in this way she is showing how uniting our suffering to Christ’s suffering makes him more present to others especially for her family and friends.
Or perhaps we have a fear of certain people who are different from us – in today’s climate it may be Arab and Muslim people. Trusting in the Lord, even with our fear, leads us to read, to listen, and to try to understand their life experience and their point of view without labeling someone a terrorist just from their ethnic background.
Reading, listening and trying to understand set the stage for the possibility of reconciliation, harmony, and peace. It again enables God to enter our world more fully and be experienced as the Prince of Peace.
CONCLUSION
Yes, fear is a real-life, human issue.
It pops up often in the Scripture and consistently God calls us not to be afraid. Maybe more precisely, God reassures us that he is Emmanuel – God with us.
God calls us to trust in him even with our fears and not allow those fears to freeze us into a defensive posture. If we are open to God’s grace and presence, then like Joseph we can also be agents for God’s entering our world more fully at this moment in the experience others will have.
Friday, December 10, 2010
Funeral Mass for December 10, 2010d
Funeral Mass for Thelma Blair
(Ecc 3:1-14, 2Cor 1:14-5:1, John 11:17-27)
Shrine of the Sacred Heart, Mt. Washington
December 10, 2010
Prayer → Presence → Practice
By (Rev. Msgr.) Nicholas P. Amato
CONDOLENCES
To Bill and Cathy, Tom and Linda,
To Thelma’s grandchildren: Carla and Stephanie and Shelly, Scott, and Molly,
To her great-grandchildren: Toby and Andrew, Connor and Sean,
And to Susan Cromwell, who was like a sixth grandchild,
Father Vince Conti, the Assistant Principal of Gonzaga High School in D.C., and I join all those gathered here this morning to honor your mother, grandmother and great grandmother.
We offer you our condolences on the occasion of her passing over to the other side of life.
When I think back to my years here as Thelma and Bill’s pastor and their home on Crest Road, I’m reminded of a Currier and Ives Christmas card of a snow covered, warm, snug, little house and opening the front door into a cozy living room with doilies and knick-knacks everywhere.
Thelma used to say that they were all gifts and I used to wonder if there was a single knick-knack that Thelma ever re-gifted? Bill and Tom assure me there wasn’t. Every gift received had a place and there was a ton of them!
PRAYER --> PRACTICE
After ministering as a pastor for 21 years, six of which were spent in this wonderful parish with Bill and Thelma Blair, as of this past July 1st I have been leading contemplative retreats and parish missions full time.
One thing I try to have folks understand when ministering is that there are more people who are contemplative than we might first image.
To pray contemplatively is to move beyond (gesture with right hand) words and images and memorized prayers to a direct experience of God, (gesture with left hand) to have a sort of face-to-face encounter with the Divine.
And once here (hand to hand) one gets “dusted” with the Divine and comes out of that encounter with a new frame of mind, a new way of seeing and acting (gesture right moving away from left.)
I say all this because I believe that Thelma had the gift of divine Presence. Her prayer always began with our standard prayers, and because she did not mind living alone and because she had lots of time for reflection and solitude, she was able to come away to a special place with God.
It was there (show movement of hands and union of both) she was fed and nourished in an extraordinary way. This union was further enhanced by Sue Walker’s regularly bringing her the Eucharist.
You might say her Prayer led her to Presence and her Presence to the Lord led her to Practice, as I said, I new way of seeing and acting.
PRESENCE --> PRACTICE
What were the practices resulting from that Presence?
➢ How about 53 years of great and faithful marriage to Bill and the great relationship they had? Bill who, luckily, was easy going and flexible made a great match for Thelma’s strong will. He learned early it was simply best to follow her – shall we say – lead?
➢ Or how about her attendance at daily mass?
➢ Or raising the two boys?
➢ But there were 5 individuals in the house, not four. Thelma’s mother lived with them from the early years while the boys were growing up
➢ And she was an active member of this parish for all those years
All in all, 96 years of faithful service as a follower of the Lord was her practice, her lifestyle, the lifestyle of one who knew God intimately
SCRIPTURE
In looking over the scripture of her funeral Mass, one might wonder what the insights were that Thelma gained from her experience of God’s Presence to her?
From Paul’s Letter to the Corinthians it may have been secure faith: “We know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead will also raise us with Jesus”
Or perseverance in times of trial: “Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day
Or not being swept up in material possessions: “So we fix our eyes NOT on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”
Or from the first reading on Living and dying: “There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens: a time to be born and a time to die … a time to mourn and a time to dance.”
Or finally from the Gospel as Jesus tells Martha, Thelma heard those same words: “I am the resurrection and the life; whoever believes in me, even if she dies, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die.”
CONCLUSION
Fifteen minutes before Thelma passed, Linda went into her room and found Thelma praying the Lord’s Prayer, the Hail Mary, and ending with the old familiar, “Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep…”
Thelma then told Linda that she saw two figures in white communion dresses, like two angels, coming toward her.
With that lustrous image before her and those last words from Thelma’s lips, “I pray the Lord my soul to keep” she passed ever so gently over to that Lord whose Presence she would now experience forever.
It doesn’t get better than that!
(Ecc 3:1-14, 2Cor 1:14-5:1, John 11:17-27)
Shrine of the Sacred Heart, Mt. Washington
December 10, 2010
Prayer → Presence → Practice
By (Rev. Msgr.) Nicholas P. Amato
CONDOLENCES
To Bill and Cathy, Tom and Linda,
To Thelma’s grandchildren: Carla and Stephanie and Shelly, Scott, and Molly,
To her great-grandchildren: Toby and Andrew, Connor and Sean,
And to Susan Cromwell, who was like a sixth grandchild,
Father Vince Conti, the Assistant Principal of Gonzaga High School in D.C., and I join all those gathered here this morning to honor your mother, grandmother and great grandmother.
We offer you our condolences on the occasion of her passing over to the other side of life.
When I think back to my years here as Thelma and Bill’s pastor and their home on Crest Road, I’m reminded of a Currier and Ives Christmas card of a snow covered, warm, snug, little house and opening the front door into a cozy living room with doilies and knick-knacks everywhere.
Thelma used to say that they were all gifts and I used to wonder if there was a single knick-knack that Thelma ever re-gifted? Bill and Tom assure me there wasn’t. Every gift received had a place and there was a ton of them!
PRAYER --> PRACTICE
After ministering as a pastor for 21 years, six of which were spent in this wonderful parish with Bill and Thelma Blair, as of this past July 1st I have been leading contemplative retreats and parish missions full time.
One thing I try to have folks understand when ministering is that there are more people who are contemplative than we might first image.
To pray contemplatively is to move beyond (gesture with right hand) words and images and memorized prayers to a direct experience of God, (gesture with left hand) to have a sort of face-to-face encounter with the Divine.
And once here (hand to hand) one gets “dusted” with the Divine and comes out of that encounter with a new frame of mind, a new way of seeing and acting (gesture right moving away from left.)
I say all this because I believe that Thelma had the gift of divine Presence. Her prayer always began with our standard prayers, and because she did not mind living alone and because she had lots of time for reflection and solitude, she was able to come away to a special place with God.
It was there (show movement of hands and union of both) she was fed and nourished in an extraordinary way. This union was further enhanced by Sue Walker’s regularly bringing her the Eucharist.
You might say her Prayer led her to Presence and her Presence to the Lord led her to Practice, as I said, I new way of seeing and acting.
PRESENCE --> PRACTICE
What were the practices resulting from that Presence?
➢ How about 53 years of great and faithful marriage to Bill and the great relationship they had? Bill who, luckily, was easy going and flexible made a great match for Thelma’s strong will. He learned early it was simply best to follow her – shall we say – lead?
➢ Or how about her attendance at daily mass?
➢ Or raising the two boys?
➢ But there were 5 individuals in the house, not four. Thelma’s mother lived with them from the early years while the boys were growing up
➢ And she was an active member of this parish for all those years
All in all, 96 years of faithful service as a follower of the Lord was her practice, her lifestyle, the lifestyle of one who knew God intimately
SCRIPTURE
In looking over the scripture of her funeral Mass, one might wonder what the insights were that Thelma gained from her experience of God’s Presence to her?
From Paul’s Letter to the Corinthians it may have been secure faith: “We know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead will also raise us with Jesus”
Or perseverance in times of trial: “Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day
Or not being swept up in material possessions: “So we fix our eyes NOT on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”
Or from the first reading on Living and dying: “There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens: a time to be born and a time to die … a time to mourn and a time to dance.”
Or finally from the Gospel as Jesus tells Martha, Thelma heard those same words: “I am the resurrection and the life; whoever believes in me, even if she dies, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die.”
CONCLUSION
Fifteen minutes before Thelma passed, Linda went into her room and found Thelma praying the Lord’s Prayer, the Hail Mary, and ending with the old familiar, “Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep…”
Thelma then told Linda that she saw two figures in white communion dresses, like two angels, coming toward her.
With that lustrous image before her and those last words from Thelma’s lips, “I pray the Lord my soul to keep” she passed ever so gently over to that Lord whose Presence she would now experience forever.
It doesn’t get better than that!
Monday, December 06, 2010
Weekly HOMILY for December 12, 2010: Waiting to Be Freed
3rd Sunday of Advent, Cycle A
St. Margaret Church, Bel Air
December 12, 2010
Waiting to Be Freed
By (Rev. Msgr.) Nicholas P. Amato
PRISONS
John the Baptist is the perfect Advent figure. He is waiting for the coming – the Advent – of the Savior
In doing so, he is a mentor to us, showing us how to wait from a prison cell.
John’s imprisonment, a stone walled room in a cold basement, may be more obvious than ours. I’d like to suggest that our prison is more subtle, but no less real.
Each of us is limited to what our minds and senses can manage. Our families, our promises, our responsibilities, and our situation all in some way limit us.
Even if we enjoy them, these bonds nevertheless specify our movement to the same familiar, deeply grooved surroundings and patterns of behavior.
We are hemmed in by our social and cultural constraints.
LOOKING FOR HOPE
And in the midst of our confinements, like John the Baptist, we look for signs of hope or at least we seek indications of how things could be really different for us.
From the restricted vision inside our cell, we have no way of knowing (demonstrate blinders.) All we can do is look out the narrow slit that is our view of things and wonder.
Within our own personal history we see so many hopes dashed.
➢ Parents who didn’t seem to give us what we needed.
➢ Imperfections and faults that we just can’t seem to overcome.
➢ Not becoming the person we wanted very much to be.
➢ Careers that haven’t met our expectations.
➢ Where did we go wrong with our children?
➢ And the list goes on and on.
THE WAY OUT
We seem to have suffered so many failed saviors and broken dreams that we are tempted to lose hope in any savior, any dream.
Our experience however need not get us down. It can actually help us, for at last we understand some very important things:
➢ That nothing we already know (point to head) can save us
➢ That nothing we can do ourselves (swing arms back and forth) can save us
➢ That nothing within our own power (make a muscle) is strong enough to free us.
If we are to be saved, it must be by someone from outside creation sent into our world and that would be God – God, or someone sent by God with this special mission of liberation.
So with John in his prison of dashed hopes we too urgently ask Jesus, “Are you the One?”
And again with John and his followers, we are as unconvinced by the response they got from Jesus: “The sick are cured and the poor hear good news.”
IS THAT ALL?
That is the only sign we get and, frankly, it just doesn’t seem to be enough. So we think: “Is that all? Is this the great salvation we have waited centuries for: curing a few sick folks and listening to a preacher from Nazareth?”
I would suggest that perhaps our hopes are too small. We are looking for “daily pizza” (palm up cupped hand) instead of the “bread of eternal life” (hand open circling before me), that is, we want a short-term solution, rather than a long-term assurance.
So we may have waited for small saviors because we haven’t recognized our gigantic need.
Jesus did not come to save us from sickness or from failure or from pain. He saves us from the only two things (indicate with two digits) that are ultimately beyond our range of sight:
➢ Sin, which we cannot forgive and
➢ Death, which we cannot avoid.
And that is the Savior whom John and we await, the Savior we expect and hope for, the Savior we direly need.
CONCLUSION
The place to begin with our longing is: First, to recognize our gigantic need to overcome sin and death in our own lives.
The second, is to wait with trust and patience and with only four words on our lips and in our hearts: “Come, Lord Jesus. Come!”
I’d like to conclude with a little Advent exercise and invite you to be still for a moment:
➢ Think of your own sinfulness, things you’ve failed to do or live up to, as well as the things you’ve done to offend others. (Pause)
➢ Think now of your own view of death and what five minutes left to live would have you feeling. (Pause)
From this, our personal prison, let us say those four words twice over slowly together: “Come, Lord, Jesus. Come. Come, Lord, Jesus. Come.”
St. Margaret Church, Bel Air
December 12, 2010
Waiting to Be Freed
By (Rev. Msgr.) Nicholas P. Amato
PRISONS
John the Baptist is the perfect Advent figure. He is waiting for the coming – the Advent – of the Savior
In doing so, he is a mentor to us, showing us how to wait from a prison cell.
John’s imprisonment, a stone walled room in a cold basement, may be more obvious than ours. I’d like to suggest that our prison is more subtle, but no less real.
Each of us is limited to what our minds and senses can manage. Our families, our promises, our responsibilities, and our situation all in some way limit us.
Even if we enjoy them, these bonds nevertheless specify our movement to the same familiar, deeply grooved surroundings and patterns of behavior.
We are hemmed in by our social and cultural constraints.
LOOKING FOR HOPE
And in the midst of our confinements, like John the Baptist, we look for signs of hope or at least we seek indications of how things could be really different for us.
From the restricted vision inside our cell, we have no way of knowing (demonstrate blinders.) All we can do is look out the narrow slit that is our view of things and wonder.
Within our own personal history we see so many hopes dashed.
➢ Parents who didn’t seem to give us what we needed.
➢ Imperfections and faults that we just can’t seem to overcome.
➢ Not becoming the person we wanted very much to be.
➢ Careers that haven’t met our expectations.
➢ Where did we go wrong with our children?
➢ And the list goes on and on.
THE WAY OUT
We seem to have suffered so many failed saviors and broken dreams that we are tempted to lose hope in any savior, any dream.
Our experience however need not get us down. It can actually help us, for at last we understand some very important things:
➢ That nothing we already know (point to head) can save us
➢ That nothing we can do ourselves (swing arms back and forth) can save us
➢ That nothing within our own power (make a muscle) is strong enough to free us.
If we are to be saved, it must be by someone from outside creation sent into our world and that would be God – God, or someone sent by God with this special mission of liberation.
So with John in his prison of dashed hopes we too urgently ask Jesus, “Are you the One?”
And again with John and his followers, we are as unconvinced by the response they got from Jesus: “The sick are cured and the poor hear good news.”
IS THAT ALL?
That is the only sign we get and, frankly, it just doesn’t seem to be enough. So we think: “Is that all? Is this the great salvation we have waited centuries for: curing a few sick folks and listening to a preacher from Nazareth?”
I would suggest that perhaps our hopes are too small. We are looking for “daily pizza” (palm up cupped hand) instead of the “bread of eternal life” (hand open circling before me), that is, we want a short-term solution, rather than a long-term assurance.
So we may have waited for small saviors because we haven’t recognized our gigantic need.
Jesus did not come to save us from sickness or from failure or from pain. He saves us from the only two things (indicate with two digits) that are ultimately beyond our range of sight:
➢ Sin, which we cannot forgive and
➢ Death, which we cannot avoid.
And that is the Savior whom John and we await, the Savior we expect and hope for, the Savior we direly need.
CONCLUSION
The place to begin with our longing is: First, to recognize our gigantic need to overcome sin and death in our own lives.
The second, is to wait with trust and patience and with only four words on our lips and in our hearts: “Come, Lord Jesus. Come!”
I’d like to conclude with a little Advent exercise and invite you to be still for a moment:
➢ Think of your own sinfulness, things you’ve failed to do or live up to, as well as the things you’ve done to offend others. (Pause)
➢ Think now of your own view of death and what five minutes left to live would have you feeling. (Pause)
From this, our personal prison, let us say those four words twice over slowly together: “Come, Lord, Jesus. Come. Come, Lord, Jesus. Come.”
Sunday, December 05, 2010
Weekly HOMILY for December 5, 2010: Unwrapping the Mystery to a “Peaceable Kingdom”
2nd Sunday of Advent, Cycle A
Terranuova Hermitage
December 5, 2010
Unwrapping the Mystery to a “Peaceable Kingdom”
By (Rev. Msgr.) Nicholas P. Amato
CONFLICT
Imagine this scene.
It’s a warm sultry July evening; Tom gets home from work about 6:00pm. His wife Carol is already home and he immediately says: “I’ve got to get ready to meet Bob for tennis at 7:00.”
Carol snaps back: “You said you were going to mow the lawn this evening.” Already, there is a chill in the air, and Tom without any response races to get out the lawn mower and he cuts the lawn in record time.
He then runs into the house to change into his tennis clothes and Carol says: “Aren’t you going to edge?” Tom: “It doesn’t need edging.”
Carol: “I think it does.” Tom: “Look, no one will notice the difference.”
Carol: “You said you were going to mow and that includes edging.” Tom: “No it doesn’t. Mowing means mowing and edging means edging.”
Carol: “Well, I guess I’ll edge then.” Tom: “No! I’ll do it when I get home.”
Tom angrily leaves for tennis with an icy silence between them. He gets home after dark and Carol is there.
“Well, are you going to edge?” and on it goes. The conflict continues for two days.
RESOLVING CONFLICT
About a year ago, I read this book – The Anatomy of Peace. The subtitle is: Resolving the Heart of Conflict.
One of the authors tells this true story on himself and that is precisely what The Anatomy of Peace is all about. The insights in the book can relate to family relationships, to work settings, and even to relations between countries, cultures, and races.
The same dynamics operate on all levels of conflict. I have extracted three insights for our reflection this morning.
1. OTHERS AS OBJECTS
First, the heart of most conflict is treating others as objects.
In the story, Tom is not alert to Carol – to her thoughts or feelings about his commitment to mow the lawn. He is treating her as an object, an obstacle to his playing tennis.
And what happens here is pretty typical. When we come across to another person in that way, when we treat the other as an object, we invite that person to respond in the same way.
So Carol just gets focused on getting the lawn cut. Maybe she really needs some relief from all the stress in her life that day and Tom is the means to that end.
So Carol in turn treats Tom as an object. And there lies the heart of conflict.
They are treating each other as objects, as things. That is the core behavior or dynamic underneath most conflict.
2. DEMONIZING OTHERS
This takes me to a second and related insight.
When we treat each other as objects, we may tend to demonize the other person. We can see a spouse or teenager or anyone as all bad or all wrong and we might even recite the list of their deficiencies to a third party.
We can also do this demonizing and stereotyping with whole groups of people: whites with blacks and vice versa, Christians with Muslims and vice versa, and on it goes. The demonizing flows from treating each other as objects and it leads to conflict.
3. OTHERS AS PERSONS
The third insight is how to avoid treating others as objects and how to avoid conflict.
One simple sentence: Treat others as persons. Treat others as persons.
We need to adopt the mindset that others are human beings like ourselves, with needs, feelings, dreams, hurts, and problems much like our own. And so we are to see each other and all others as persons like ourselves.
To do this, we have to make relationship primary and this involves a number of things.
(1) It means listening, really taking in the words and life experience of the other and putting ourselves in his or her position.
(2) It means expressing myself in a respectful way without bashing or putting down the other person.
(3) It involves asking:
➢ What are this person’s challenges, burdens, or hopes?
➢ What have I done to add to this person’s burden or to relieve it?
➢ What am I feeling I should do and what can I do to assist?
Such an approach can help to bridge the gap between subject and object and create more oneness between two persons or even between two groups of people. It will help to avoid conflict or get us out of it.
PEACE
Working on treating others as persons could well be our response to the calling of John the Baptist this Advent.
These insights can help us avoid or resolve conflict. They can help us experience more of the peace that Isaiah envisions and that the Lord wants for us.
Terranuova Hermitage
December 5, 2010
Unwrapping the Mystery to a “Peaceable Kingdom”
By (Rev. Msgr.) Nicholas P. Amato
CONFLICT
Imagine this scene.
It’s a warm sultry July evening; Tom gets home from work about 6:00pm. His wife Carol is already home and he immediately says: “I’ve got to get ready to meet Bob for tennis at 7:00.”
Carol snaps back: “You said you were going to mow the lawn this evening.” Already, there is a chill in the air, and Tom without any response races to get out the lawn mower and he cuts the lawn in record time.
He then runs into the house to change into his tennis clothes and Carol says: “Aren’t you going to edge?” Tom: “It doesn’t need edging.”
Carol: “I think it does.” Tom: “Look, no one will notice the difference.”
Carol: “You said you were going to mow and that includes edging.” Tom: “No it doesn’t. Mowing means mowing and edging means edging.”
Carol: “Well, I guess I’ll edge then.” Tom: “No! I’ll do it when I get home.”
Tom angrily leaves for tennis with an icy silence between them. He gets home after dark and Carol is there.
“Well, are you going to edge?” and on it goes. The conflict continues for two days.
RESOLVING CONFLICT
About a year ago, I read this book – The Anatomy of Peace. The subtitle is: Resolving the Heart of Conflict.
One of the authors tells this true story on himself and that is precisely what The Anatomy of Peace is all about. The insights in the book can relate to family relationships, to work settings, and even to relations between countries, cultures, and races.
The same dynamics operate on all levels of conflict. I have extracted three insights for our reflection this morning.
1. OTHERS AS OBJECTS
First, the heart of most conflict is treating others as objects.
In the story, Tom is not alert to Carol – to her thoughts or feelings about his commitment to mow the lawn. He is treating her as an object, an obstacle to his playing tennis.
And what happens here is pretty typical. When we come across to another person in that way, when we treat the other as an object, we invite that person to respond in the same way.
So Carol just gets focused on getting the lawn cut. Maybe she really needs some relief from all the stress in her life that day and Tom is the means to that end.
So Carol in turn treats Tom as an object. And there lies the heart of conflict.
They are treating each other as objects, as things. That is the core behavior or dynamic underneath most conflict.
2. DEMONIZING OTHERS
This takes me to a second and related insight.
When we treat each other as objects, we may tend to demonize the other person. We can see a spouse or teenager or anyone as all bad or all wrong and we might even recite the list of their deficiencies to a third party.
We can also do this demonizing and stereotyping with whole groups of people: whites with blacks and vice versa, Christians with Muslims and vice versa, and on it goes. The demonizing flows from treating each other as objects and it leads to conflict.
3. OTHERS AS PERSONS
The third insight is how to avoid treating others as objects and how to avoid conflict.
One simple sentence: Treat others as persons. Treat others as persons.
We need to adopt the mindset that others are human beings like ourselves, with needs, feelings, dreams, hurts, and problems much like our own. And so we are to see each other and all others as persons like ourselves.
To do this, we have to make relationship primary and this involves a number of things.
(1) It means listening, really taking in the words and life experience of the other and putting ourselves in his or her position.
(2) It means expressing myself in a respectful way without bashing or putting down the other person.
(3) It involves asking:
➢ What are this person’s challenges, burdens, or hopes?
➢ What have I done to add to this person’s burden or to relieve it?
➢ What am I feeling I should do and what can I do to assist?
Such an approach can help to bridge the gap between subject and object and create more oneness between two persons or even between two groups of people. It will help to avoid conflict or get us out of it.
PEACE
Working on treating others as persons could well be our response to the calling of John the Baptist this Advent.
These insights can help us avoid or resolve conflict. They can help us experience more of the peace that Isaiah envisions and that the Lord wants for us.
Friday, December 03, 2010
Weekly BULLETIN NOTE for December 5, 2010: Parish Mission and Advent Longing / St. Margaret Parish Bel Air
Parish Mission
And Advent Longing
By (Rev. Msgr.) Nicholas P. Amato
“Desire, once claimed, becomes intention. Intention, given the grace not to derail itself into superstitious control, becomes a willing, honest turning toward the source of life. In and through that love, all you need is already given. You do not need to learn another single thing. Only allow your spirit to fly.” Gerald May The Awakened Heart
Dear Friends at St. Margaret,
Several weeks have passed since I was with you for the parish mission on November 8, 9, and 10 and the feedback we have received indicates it was a good experience. Marie Dekowski, your Director of Religious Education, asked me to provide a follow-up bulletin column to the retreat and I am honored to do so. What I would like to do is take a moment to share my thoughts about contemplative prayer and our Catholic people.
There is within us all a desire to know God and to have an intimate relationship with him. This appetite or hunger should not surprise us. In creating us, we are not only made in the image of the creator, in much the same way that a painting mirrors or images the artist; God’s desire was more. He then planted within us a desire to seek him out and find him so that both God and we could experience the joy of union as individuals. This hunger or desire then is an indication that we are destined for unity with God as creator. You might also say that the fact of this desire within us is already an indication of something divine present in everyone.
Second, the fact that we are “image” and have a “drive” to be one with God would imply that we do not have to wait around till we die and go to heaven. That oneness can be achieved in the here-and-now! Of this Jesus himself has assured us. So the fact remains, how do we accomplish or dispose ourselves so the grace of God may flow and that union is achieved? That takes me to my third point.
All you do as a community of faith here at St. Margaret points you in that direction of unity, whether it is an activity relating to worship (mass), word (faith formation), community (festivals, suppers, socials) or service (caring for those in need.) But frankly, you need more. You need to “come away awhile” as Jesus often did with the crowds and communities to which he belonged to be in silent presence with the Father. And that is where contemplative presence has an important part to play. Prepared prayers, psalms, rosaries, meditation, are all important means of prayer and we have all had a try at them. And, as with the Jewish People in Jesus’ time, the simple recitation of prayers often did not get them very close to God’s presence. If we look to Jesus’ praying it was usually alone and in silent reverential presence to his Father. There was a union of hearts, a deep sharing at a non-verbal level. This is the sort of prayer – call it contemplative prayer – of which I am speaking.
At our parish mission we offered four ways or practices that could get us more deeply into God’s presence: namely, poetry, scripture, guided meditation, and review of our day. Make no mistake about it being in contemplative presence is no work of ours. All we can do is dispose ourselves and ask God’s grace to make that presence possible. While it is an august reality, it is very possible to those whose hearts are open and allow their desire to be satisfied by God. The experience makes us more aware of and responsive to Christ’s pervasive and transforming presence to us. Participants also had the opportunity to develop a prayer plan based on the Sunday mass readings.
Jesus’ adult life was not the only occasion for contemplative presence with his Father. So many of the beautiful scenes of Mary in the Gospel of Luke depict her in a Presence in the midst of doubt, confusion, or stress. She “ponders in her heart” and God is with her. This Advent Season can be such a season for us, one where we take a few minutes before the house begins to stir and, over a hot cup of coffee, we try to respond to the real thirst for union with God. All we need at any time of our day can be found in the present moment. We have to be still, be open, and be aware putting our thoughts aside so we can experience a most sublime union. May a savior who has come for you, fill your Advent longing by his presence. He is there waiting!
Fondly,
Father Nicholas
P.S. If you have a follow-up question to the parish mission, I can be reached at FatherNicholasAmato@gmail.com
And Advent Longing
By (Rev. Msgr.) Nicholas P. Amato
“Desire, once claimed, becomes intention. Intention, given the grace not to derail itself into superstitious control, becomes a willing, honest turning toward the source of life. In and through that love, all you need is already given. You do not need to learn another single thing. Only allow your spirit to fly.” Gerald May The Awakened Heart
Dear Friends at St. Margaret,
Several weeks have passed since I was with you for the parish mission on November 8, 9, and 10 and the feedback we have received indicates it was a good experience. Marie Dekowski, your Director of Religious Education, asked me to provide a follow-up bulletin column to the retreat and I am honored to do so. What I would like to do is take a moment to share my thoughts about contemplative prayer and our Catholic people.
There is within us all a desire to know God and to have an intimate relationship with him. This appetite or hunger should not surprise us. In creating us, we are not only made in the image of the creator, in much the same way that a painting mirrors or images the artist; God’s desire was more. He then planted within us a desire to seek him out and find him so that both God and we could experience the joy of union as individuals. This hunger or desire then is an indication that we are destined for unity with God as creator. You might also say that the fact of this desire within us is already an indication of something divine present in everyone.
Second, the fact that we are “image” and have a “drive” to be one with God would imply that we do not have to wait around till we die and go to heaven. That oneness can be achieved in the here-and-now! Of this Jesus himself has assured us. So the fact remains, how do we accomplish or dispose ourselves so the grace of God may flow and that union is achieved? That takes me to my third point.
All you do as a community of faith here at St. Margaret points you in that direction of unity, whether it is an activity relating to worship (mass), word (faith formation), community (festivals, suppers, socials) or service (caring for those in need.) But frankly, you need more. You need to “come away awhile” as Jesus often did with the crowds and communities to which he belonged to be in silent presence with the Father. And that is where contemplative presence has an important part to play. Prepared prayers, psalms, rosaries, meditation, are all important means of prayer and we have all had a try at them. And, as with the Jewish People in Jesus’ time, the simple recitation of prayers often did not get them very close to God’s presence. If we look to Jesus’ praying it was usually alone and in silent reverential presence to his Father. There was a union of hearts, a deep sharing at a non-verbal level. This is the sort of prayer – call it contemplative prayer – of which I am speaking.
At our parish mission we offered four ways or practices that could get us more deeply into God’s presence: namely, poetry, scripture, guided meditation, and review of our day. Make no mistake about it being in contemplative presence is no work of ours. All we can do is dispose ourselves and ask God’s grace to make that presence possible. While it is an august reality, it is very possible to those whose hearts are open and allow their desire to be satisfied by God. The experience makes us more aware of and responsive to Christ’s pervasive and transforming presence to us. Participants also had the opportunity to develop a prayer plan based on the Sunday mass readings.
Jesus’ adult life was not the only occasion for contemplative presence with his Father. So many of the beautiful scenes of Mary in the Gospel of Luke depict her in a Presence in the midst of doubt, confusion, or stress. She “ponders in her heart” and God is with her. This Advent Season can be such a season for us, one where we take a few minutes before the house begins to stir and, over a hot cup of coffee, we try to respond to the real thirst for union with God. All we need at any time of our day can be found in the present moment. We have to be still, be open, and be aware putting our thoughts aside so we can experience a most sublime union. May a savior who has come for you, fill your Advent longing by his presence. He is there waiting!
Fondly,
Father Nicholas
P.S. If you have a follow-up question to the parish mission, I can be reached at FatherNicholasAmato@gmail.com
Friday, November 26, 2010
Weekly HOMILY for November 28, 2010: Advent Hope: A Lesson from the Sunflowers
First Sunday of Advent, Cycle A
St. Mark Church, Fallston
November 28, 2010
Advent Hope: A Lesson from the Sunflowers
By (Rev. Msgr.) Nicholas P. Amato
THE MEDICAL REPORT
A priest friend of mine was told by his doctor that his PSA had increased rapidly over the past year and a half and that the doctor was concerned that it could be cancer.
He needed to have 12 biopsies taken as soon as possible for the doctor was, quote, “very concerned.”
Soon after the biopsies, my friend was going to meet with the doctor to get the results, but he would not let me go with him. He said that it was something he needed to do alone, that is was just between him and God.
From the time of the doctor’s concern two weeks before, to that afternoon he was going in to GBMC for the results, he told me that his only desire was to do God’s will and that he wanted to be able to accept whatever the news was to be.
Not only that, he didn’t want to feel any differently, hearing whether it was cancer or it wasn’t cancer, only that he was embracing God’s will for himself.
THE REVELATION OF THE SUNFLOWERS
I learned later that on the way down to the medical center for the report, he was drawn to stop at the sunflower fields on Jarrettsville Pike and Hess Road across from the Royal Farms Service Station, a site many of us have witnessed.
The gorgeous acres and acres of bright yellow sunflowers he had enjoyed looking at over the summer whenever he passed, had all turned a deep autumn brown and as if in unison were all now drooping. It clearly looked like the end for them.
He believed that what he saw in the dramatic change of flowers was a sign of hope for him, that, though the golden blooms were gone, the hundreds of seeds in each flower would give rise to a crop of a hundred or thousand fold.
After his brief reflection in the sunflower fields, he resumed on his drive to receive the news, now believing deeply that it really didn’t matter what it was, that God had revealed that he would be okay either way.
READY FOR THE SECOND COMING
In today’s Gospel Jesus makes two things are very clear: First, we simply do not know when the Lord will come for us, but we do know that it will be as unexpected and surprising as a thief in the night.
Second, it won’t happen to all of us at the same time for Jesus says, “Two men will be out in the field; one will be taken, and one will be left. Two women will be grinding at the mill; one will be taken, and one will be left.”
He then goes on to challenge his listeners and us with these words, “Therefore, stay awake! For you do not know on which day your Lord will come.” Indeed we don’t know the hour or the day.
What I see in my friend’s way of dealing with the pathology report is that, while lots of things are important in life, only one thing really matters and that is God’s love for me and my love of God, expressed in wanting to do God’s will.
APPLICATION
Life is an Advent: an Advent of constantly waiting to become, an Advent to complete, an Advent to change, an Advent to begin the next phase, an Advent to turn the next corner.
But for us who await the coming of the Lord, we live in hope and wait in joyful expectation.
Every moment we live, with all the imperfections we see so blatantly in ourselves, with all the frustrations at work and all the pain within our family, every moment is pregnant with God’s trying to show us his love for us.
What it takes is prayerful listening to the situations in our lives and awaiting the manifestation of God’s will for us.
CONCLUSION
Jesus assures us that, “Our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed; the night is advanced, the day is at hand.”
Each present moment is an opportunity to seize and in which to act.
Don’t let the trappings of Christmas preparations catch us unawares to the deeper question of meeting Christ in the day-to-day challenges in our lives and doing God’s will.
Be attentive for the signs and seeing them in as simple a thing as a field of sunflowers, and to embrace God’s will and thus find Christ our joy.
St. Mark Church, Fallston
November 28, 2010
Advent Hope: A Lesson from the Sunflowers
By (Rev. Msgr.) Nicholas P. Amato
THE MEDICAL REPORT
A priest friend of mine was told by his doctor that his PSA had increased rapidly over the past year and a half and that the doctor was concerned that it could be cancer.
He needed to have 12 biopsies taken as soon as possible for the doctor was, quote, “very concerned.”
Soon after the biopsies, my friend was going to meet with the doctor to get the results, but he would not let me go with him. He said that it was something he needed to do alone, that is was just between him and God.
From the time of the doctor’s concern two weeks before, to that afternoon he was going in to GBMC for the results, he told me that his only desire was to do God’s will and that he wanted to be able to accept whatever the news was to be.
Not only that, he didn’t want to feel any differently, hearing whether it was cancer or it wasn’t cancer, only that he was embracing God’s will for himself.
THE REVELATION OF THE SUNFLOWERS
I learned later that on the way down to the medical center for the report, he was drawn to stop at the sunflower fields on Jarrettsville Pike and Hess Road across from the Royal Farms Service Station, a site many of us have witnessed.
The gorgeous acres and acres of bright yellow sunflowers he had enjoyed looking at over the summer whenever he passed, had all turned a deep autumn brown and as if in unison were all now drooping. It clearly looked like the end for them.
He believed that what he saw in the dramatic change of flowers was a sign of hope for him, that, though the golden blooms were gone, the hundreds of seeds in each flower would give rise to a crop of a hundred or thousand fold.
After his brief reflection in the sunflower fields, he resumed on his drive to receive the news, now believing deeply that it really didn’t matter what it was, that God had revealed that he would be okay either way.
READY FOR THE SECOND COMING
In today’s Gospel Jesus makes two things are very clear: First, we simply do not know when the Lord will come for us, but we do know that it will be as unexpected and surprising as a thief in the night.
Second, it won’t happen to all of us at the same time for Jesus says, “Two men will be out in the field; one will be taken, and one will be left. Two women will be grinding at the mill; one will be taken, and one will be left.”
He then goes on to challenge his listeners and us with these words, “Therefore, stay awake! For you do not know on which day your Lord will come.” Indeed we don’t know the hour or the day.
What I see in my friend’s way of dealing with the pathology report is that, while lots of things are important in life, only one thing really matters and that is God’s love for me and my love of God, expressed in wanting to do God’s will.
APPLICATION
Life is an Advent: an Advent of constantly waiting to become, an Advent to complete, an Advent to change, an Advent to begin the next phase, an Advent to turn the next corner.
But for us who await the coming of the Lord, we live in hope and wait in joyful expectation.
Every moment we live, with all the imperfections we see so blatantly in ourselves, with all the frustrations at work and all the pain within our family, every moment is pregnant with God’s trying to show us his love for us.
What it takes is prayerful listening to the situations in our lives and awaiting the manifestation of God’s will for us.
CONCLUSION
Jesus assures us that, “Our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed; the night is advanced, the day is at hand.”
Each present moment is an opportunity to seize and in which to act.
Don’t let the trappings of Christmas preparations catch us unawares to the deeper question of meeting Christ in the day-to-day challenges in our lives and doing God’s will.
Be attentive for the signs and seeing them in as simple a thing as a field of sunflowers, and to embrace God’s will and thus find Christ our joy.
Wednesday, November 24, 2010
Weekly HOMILY for November 25, 2010: A Prayer for Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving Day, Cycle C
November 25, 2010
Terranuova Hermitage
November 25, 2010
A PRAYER OF THANKSGIVING
BY (REV. MSGR.) NICHOLAS P. AMATO
This morning, I want to do something a bit different.
This year I want to give a meditative homily for this Thanksgiving Day. I want to guide us in a reflective prayer, a meditation of thanks to God.
And so, I ask us to relax and sit up straight, with our back against the backrest of our seat. Let’s close our eyes if we want, but no snoozing or snoring allowed!
Let’s be aware of God and God’s presence. Let’s be aware of ourselves resting with God.
And now, let’s just be at peace and center ourselves on the Lord. The Lord is with us right now.
Saint Paul begins today’s second reading in this way: “We keep thanking God for all of you and we remember you in our prayers.”
Creator God, we cannot thank you enough. No matter how often we pray or how expressive our words are, we can never match in our prayer what you have done for us.
We thank you, dear God, for the world around us – for things great, like the oceans and mountains, and for things small, like the pumpkins and mums. We thank you for human life – for babies and children, for teens and young adults, for older adults and seniors, and for persons of all colors and cultures.
Paul continues: “We are constantly mindful before our God of the way you are proving your faith, laboring in love and showing constancy in hope.”
We thank you, gracious God, for the richness of our faith and the strength this gives us in troubling times. We thank you for the energy of hope that empowers us to keep on the journey.
We thank you, almighty One, for the power of love that inspires us. We thank you for your divine presence even when we may not feel it.
Again, Paul says: “We know, too, beloved of God, how you were chosen.”
We thank you, loving God, for the blessings of my self, the person who is I – for calling, creating and choosing me into this world. We thank you for protecting me from unknown dangers and for not protecting me when a challenge is needed.
We thank you, God, for salvation – for the mystery of your infinite love and for opening up to me an eternity of life. We thank you for family and friends and relationships – for intimacy and love, for mutual understanding and shared burdens, for secrets kept in love and sorrows shared in silence.
Paul goes on: “Our preaching of the gospel proved not a mere matter of words but one of power.”
We thank you, almighty God, for the power of miracles – for the mysterious ways our pains can be transformed into gains. We thank you for the life that springs up unexpectedly each day.
We thank you, God, for those enlightening bursts of insight and inspiration. We thank you for the eternal wisdom of your truth that guides our minds and softens our hearts.
And finally, Paul states: “Our preaching of the gospel was carried on in the Holy Spirit, out of complete conviction.”
We thank you, dear God, for Jesus Christ – the One who is your Son and our brother. We thank you for him who lived and died and lives again and in whom we have the hope of seeing you.
We thank you, God, for the Holy Spirit – for the energy, courage, peace and comfort of your Spirit. And we thank you for giving us each day so that we in return can give you praise and thanks now and forever. Amen!
Readings: Sirach 50.22-24
I Thessalonians 1.1-5
Mark 5.18-20
November 25, 2010
Terranuova Hermitage
November 25, 2010
A PRAYER OF THANKSGIVING
BY (REV. MSGR.) NICHOLAS P. AMATO
This morning, I want to do something a bit different.
This year I want to give a meditative homily for this Thanksgiving Day. I want to guide us in a reflective prayer, a meditation of thanks to God.
And so, I ask us to relax and sit up straight, with our back against the backrest of our seat. Let’s close our eyes if we want, but no snoozing or snoring allowed!
Let’s be aware of God and God’s presence. Let’s be aware of ourselves resting with God.
And now, let’s just be at peace and center ourselves on the Lord. The Lord is with us right now.
Saint Paul begins today’s second reading in this way: “We keep thanking God for all of you and we remember you in our prayers.”
Creator God, we cannot thank you enough. No matter how often we pray or how expressive our words are, we can never match in our prayer what you have done for us.
We thank you, dear God, for the world around us – for things great, like the oceans and mountains, and for things small, like the pumpkins and mums. We thank you for human life – for babies and children, for teens and young adults, for older adults and seniors, and for persons of all colors and cultures.
Paul continues: “We are constantly mindful before our God of the way you are proving your faith, laboring in love and showing constancy in hope.”
We thank you, gracious God, for the richness of our faith and the strength this gives us in troubling times. We thank you for the energy of hope that empowers us to keep on the journey.
We thank you, almighty One, for the power of love that inspires us. We thank you for your divine presence even when we may not feel it.
Again, Paul says: “We know, too, beloved of God, how you were chosen.”
We thank you, loving God, for the blessings of my self, the person who is I – for calling, creating and choosing me into this world. We thank you for protecting me from unknown dangers and for not protecting me when a challenge is needed.
We thank you, God, for salvation – for the mystery of your infinite love and for opening up to me an eternity of life. We thank you for family and friends and relationships – for intimacy and love, for mutual understanding and shared burdens, for secrets kept in love and sorrows shared in silence.
Paul goes on: “Our preaching of the gospel proved not a mere matter of words but one of power.”
We thank you, almighty God, for the power of miracles – for the mysterious ways our pains can be transformed into gains. We thank you for the life that springs up unexpectedly each day.
We thank you, God, for those enlightening bursts of insight and inspiration. We thank you for the eternal wisdom of your truth that guides our minds and softens our hearts.
And finally, Paul states: “Our preaching of the gospel was carried on in the Holy Spirit, out of complete conviction.”
We thank you, dear God, for Jesus Christ – the One who is your Son and our brother. We thank you for him who lived and died and lives again and in whom we have the hope of seeing you.
We thank you, God, for the Holy Spirit – for the energy, courage, peace and comfort of your Spirit. And we thank you for giving us each day so that we in return can give you praise and thanks now and forever. Amen!
Readings: Sirach 50.22-24
I Thessalonians 1.1-5
Mark 5.18-20
Thursday, November 18, 2010
Weekly HOMILY for November 21, 2010: A King? So what!
SOLEMNITY OF CHRIST THE KING, CYCLE C
ST. MARK PARISH, FALLSTON
NOVEMBER 21, 2010
A KING? SO WHAT!
(REV. MSGR.) NICHOLAS P. AMATO
IMAGES OF KINGS
For us Americans, the title King as applied to Jesus may seem rather foreign and even outdated.
My bet is that we associate the title “king” with historical figures like Henry VIII of England. History shows him as a self-indulgent and unprincipled ruler.
Or we might associate the title with King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia. He comes across as a ruler who accrues great wealth for himself while not advancing his country proportionately.
With these negative associations and images, we might well ask: why do we have the title Christ the King in our Catholic tradition? The answer lies in history.
When the title for Jesus was given him, it seemed like the best available word for capturing the truth of who Jesus is.
Now, if we look at today’s Scripture passages, it’s like opening a treasure chest regarding his identity and what his title king can mean for us.
WHO JESUS IS
Saint Paul in the second reading shares some of those powerful insights about Jesus.
First, he says that Jesus is “the image of the invisible God.” “In him all the fullness was pleased to dwell.”
This is to say that Jesus is not just a contrived projection of God, like and image on a screen. Nor is he like the image of a politician that a public relations firm would produce.
Instead, Jesus is the very face and presence of God among us. And if I want to know who God is and what God is like, all we have to do is look at Jesus.
Then, Paul says: “Through him all things were made.” “In him all things were created.”
What he’s getting at here is that Jesus is with the Father from the very beginning of time. Like the Father, Jesus is, always was, and always will be.
With the Father, the Son, who is Jesus on this earth, brings everyone and everything into being. And because of this fact, when the Son takes on our humanity, be becomes “the firstborn of all creation.”
Finally, Paul says: “In him all things hold together.” “He has made peace through the blood of his cross for all – for those on earth and those in heaven.”
Here he is saying that Jesus with the Father is the very ground (stamp feet) of our being. Without him, we would not be (flex knees), and with him, we are (stand tall.)
And, if that’s not enough, because our being gets us into tight spots with other persons’ being, Jesus is also a reconciler or peacemaker. Through him we are made one and at peace with God.
Yes, in and through Jesus we find fullness of life and salvation.
HOW JESUS RELATES
Very powerful insights of Paul into who precisely Jesus is I’d say!
It is for these reasons that our Catholic tradition has chosen the title King to describe Jesus’ identity and today’s gospel goes on to give us some insights into just how Jesus as king relates to you and me.
We see first that Jesus does not rule by sitting on a throne, but instead hangs from a cross.
This clearly shows us that he does not selfishly take life from us like some of the notorious kings of history. To the contrary, he gives his life, God’s life for us on the cross.
Then, we see that Jesus is by no means vengeful or hardened towards others. Again to the contrary, he remains sensitive, compassionate, and forgiving through his gruesome death.
To the one repentant thief who is crucified with him, he responds: “Today you will be with me in paradise.” And of those who were actually crucifying him, he prays: “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”
And finally, in all of this, we see that Jesus does not exclude. He does not shun or push away or refuse to have anything to do with those who are imperfect.
On the contrary, he remains welcoming and inclusive. This is his consistent way of drawing others to God.
CONCLUSION
Our Scripture readings are a treasure trove for knowing who Jesus Christ is as our King.
We see who he is and how he relates to us, and how different that is from the negative images of kings we have known.
This is the Jesus or the Christ the King whom we honor and in whom we believe as the liturgical year ends this Sunday.
The conclusions for our understanding of ourselves and for our behavior as individuals and as an institutional Church ought to be obvious: Jesus, Christ our King will serve as our model.
Amen? AMEN!
ST. MARK PARISH, FALLSTON
NOVEMBER 21, 2010
A KING? SO WHAT!
(REV. MSGR.) NICHOLAS P. AMATO
IMAGES OF KINGS
For us Americans, the title King as applied to Jesus may seem rather foreign and even outdated.
My bet is that we associate the title “king” with historical figures like Henry VIII of England. History shows him as a self-indulgent and unprincipled ruler.
Or we might associate the title with King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia. He comes across as a ruler who accrues great wealth for himself while not advancing his country proportionately.
With these negative associations and images, we might well ask: why do we have the title Christ the King in our Catholic tradition? The answer lies in history.
When the title for Jesus was given him, it seemed like the best available word for capturing the truth of who Jesus is.
Now, if we look at today’s Scripture passages, it’s like opening a treasure chest regarding his identity and what his title king can mean for us.
WHO JESUS IS
Saint Paul in the second reading shares some of those powerful insights about Jesus.
First, he says that Jesus is “the image of the invisible God.” “In him all the fullness was pleased to dwell.”
This is to say that Jesus is not just a contrived projection of God, like and image on a screen. Nor is he like the image of a politician that a public relations firm would produce.
Instead, Jesus is the very face and presence of God among us. And if I want to know who God is and what God is like, all we have to do is look at Jesus.
Then, Paul says: “Through him all things were made.” “In him all things were created.”
What he’s getting at here is that Jesus is with the Father from the very beginning of time. Like the Father, Jesus is, always was, and always will be.
With the Father, the Son, who is Jesus on this earth, brings everyone and everything into being. And because of this fact, when the Son takes on our humanity, be becomes “the firstborn of all creation.”
Finally, Paul says: “In him all things hold together.” “He has made peace through the blood of his cross for all – for those on earth and those in heaven.”
Here he is saying that Jesus with the Father is the very ground (stamp feet) of our being. Without him, we would not be (flex knees), and with him, we are (stand tall.)
And, if that’s not enough, because our being gets us into tight spots with other persons’ being, Jesus is also a reconciler or peacemaker. Through him we are made one and at peace with God.
Yes, in and through Jesus we find fullness of life and salvation.
HOW JESUS RELATES
Very powerful insights of Paul into who precisely Jesus is I’d say!
It is for these reasons that our Catholic tradition has chosen the title King to describe Jesus’ identity and today’s gospel goes on to give us some insights into just how Jesus as king relates to you and me.
We see first that Jesus does not rule by sitting on a throne, but instead hangs from a cross.
This clearly shows us that he does not selfishly take life from us like some of the notorious kings of history. To the contrary, he gives his life, God’s life for us on the cross.
Then, we see that Jesus is by no means vengeful or hardened towards others. Again to the contrary, he remains sensitive, compassionate, and forgiving through his gruesome death.
To the one repentant thief who is crucified with him, he responds: “Today you will be with me in paradise.” And of those who were actually crucifying him, he prays: “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”
And finally, in all of this, we see that Jesus does not exclude. He does not shun or push away or refuse to have anything to do with those who are imperfect.
On the contrary, he remains welcoming and inclusive. This is his consistent way of drawing others to God.
CONCLUSION
Our Scripture readings are a treasure trove for knowing who Jesus Christ is as our King.
We see who he is and how he relates to us, and how different that is from the negative images of kings we have known.
This is the Jesus or the Christ the King whom we honor and in whom we believe as the liturgical year ends this Sunday.
The conclusions for our understanding of ourselves and for our behavior as individuals and as an institutional Church ought to be obvious: Jesus, Christ our King will serve as our model.
Amen? AMEN!
Thursday, November 11, 2010
Weekly HOMILY for November 14, 2010: Father Nicholas did not preach this Sunday
Father Nicholas did not preach this Sunday
Thursday, November 04, 2010
Weekly HOMILY for November 7, 2010: What Is This Hunger for Eternal Life?
32nd Sunday of Ordinary Time, Cycle C
November 7, 2010
St. Margaret Parish, Bel Air
What Is This Hunger for Eternal Life?
By (Rev. Msgr.) Nicholas P. Amato
THE PYRAMIDS
A year ago last summer, I served as the priest chaplain for a large group of people visiting the Middle East.
On the ten-day trip we visited Egypt and saw the magnificent pyramids on the Giza Plateau near Cairo. These pyramids are made of huge blocks of stone and were built almost 4,000 years ago.
The highest pyramid in the world stands at more than 2,700 feet and is considered the largest man-made building in the world. Imagine, and built 4,000 years ago!
At the bottom of each pyramid, there is a burial chamber for the pharaoh for whom the pyramid was built.
Within the burial chamber, along with the mummy of the pharaoh, were placed food, drink, clothing, jewelry, and even the bodies of sacrificed slaves. All of this was to help the pharaoh in the after-life.
So ancients believed that the pharaoh would live on in some way after death. The pyramids are a very dramatic expression of that belief.
HUNGER FOR ETERNAL LIFE
Each of us has this desire for unending life embedded within us. It is part of who we are as human beings.
I would suggest that God plants this hunger in us at the moment of creation as a way of orienting us to one day being one with him forever. Or you might say that this hunger is evidence of the eternal life of God that we already share through the act of being created.
However we understand it, today Jesus responds to this hunger and tells us something more about it. In today’s readings, there are three messages that clarify this hunger for eternal life.
MESSAGE 1: DIFFERENT LIFE
First, Jesus reveals that life beyond this earth will be different from this life.
Picture a line that rises in elevation at the point of death
Some of the religious leaders in today’s gospel pose a ridiculous example to discredit Jesus’ teaching about resurrection. Jesus responds that life “in the age to come” or “resurrection” will be different from this.
It will not just be a continuation of this life so we cannot simply apply our experience of life now to our new life in the world to come.
Resurrection will be a new and transformed way of life, another level of being or living. It will be an experience where God is God and where we clearly and directly will be with God.
MESSAGE 2: ONGOING RELATIONSHIP
And that takes us to Jesus’ second message about resurrection, namely that this life beyond death will happen because of an ongoing relationship that we have right now.
Most of us have experienced the pain of losing a loved one. We know that at death, our love does not end.
We continue to love and because our loved one’s spirit lives on, the relationship is ongoing. Picture a straight line, with death as a demarcation, and continuance of the same straight line.
Well, Jesus’ message is that life beyond death is based on the nature of God who is pure love.
God’s love for us is absolute and complete and it is because of this love, because of who God is, we are sure that our relationship with God will continue beyond death.
That assurance is precisely why the brothers in today’s first reading are willing to die rather than violate their faith by eating pork.
They trust in God and in their ongoing relationship with this loving God. This love will strengthens us as well in times of trouble. It draws us to a new level of commitment in the here-and-now.
MESSAGE 3: PRESENT ENERGY
And this brings us to Jesus’ third message: that this hope of future resurrection offers us in every moment we live, new energy for living.
It energizes us to bring light where there is darkness, to bring love where there is dysfunction, and pardon where there is injury.
This is exactly what it does for Jesus. He is so one-with-the-Father and life beyond that he has energy even in the present moment as he dies on the cross.
He is able to say: (1)“Father, forgive them” and (2)“Father, into your hands I commend my spirit.”
So too with us, the promise of future resurrection gives us a present energy for dealing with all the challenges, complexity and adversities of life.
CONCLUSION
At our Parish Mission this week – Monday and Tuesday at noon and at 7:30pm, and Wednesday at 7:30 – we’ll have the opportunity to (1) Develop our relationship with God through one-on-one encounters and (2) As the grace of divine presence flows to have it energize and animate us as believers.
Big promises? Yes! But come see for yourself how big!
All Middle or High Schoolers, all young adults, adults or seniors of all faiths are welcome.
November 7, 2010
St. Margaret Parish, Bel Air
What Is This Hunger for Eternal Life?
By (Rev. Msgr.) Nicholas P. Amato
THE PYRAMIDS
A year ago last summer, I served as the priest chaplain for a large group of people visiting the Middle East.
On the ten-day trip we visited Egypt and saw the magnificent pyramids on the Giza Plateau near Cairo. These pyramids are made of huge blocks of stone and were built almost 4,000 years ago.
The highest pyramid in the world stands at more than 2,700 feet and is considered the largest man-made building in the world. Imagine, and built 4,000 years ago!
At the bottom of each pyramid, there is a burial chamber for the pharaoh for whom the pyramid was built.
Within the burial chamber, along with the mummy of the pharaoh, were placed food, drink, clothing, jewelry, and even the bodies of sacrificed slaves. All of this was to help the pharaoh in the after-life.
So ancients believed that the pharaoh would live on in some way after death. The pyramids are a very dramatic expression of that belief.
HUNGER FOR ETERNAL LIFE
Each of us has this desire for unending life embedded within us. It is part of who we are as human beings.
I would suggest that God plants this hunger in us at the moment of creation as a way of orienting us to one day being one with him forever. Or you might say that this hunger is evidence of the eternal life of God that we already share through the act of being created.
However we understand it, today Jesus responds to this hunger and tells us something more about it. In today’s readings, there are three messages that clarify this hunger for eternal life.
MESSAGE 1: DIFFERENT LIFE
First, Jesus reveals that life beyond this earth will be different from this life.
Picture a line that rises in elevation at the point of death
Some of the religious leaders in today’s gospel pose a ridiculous example to discredit Jesus’ teaching about resurrection. Jesus responds that life “in the age to come” or “resurrection” will be different from this.
It will not just be a continuation of this life so we cannot simply apply our experience of life now to our new life in the world to come.
Resurrection will be a new and transformed way of life, another level of being or living. It will be an experience where God is God and where we clearly and directly will be with God.
MESSAGE 2: ONGOING RELATIONSHIP
And that takes us to Jesus’ second message about resurrection, namely that this life beyond death will happen because of an ongoing relationship that we have right now.
Most of us have experienced the pain of losing a loved one. We know that at death, our love does not end.
We continue to love and because our loved one’s spirit lives on, the relationship is ongoing. Picture a straight line, with death as a demarcation, and continuance of the same straight line.
Well, Jesus’ message is that life beyond death is based on the nature of God who is pure love.
God’s love for us is absolute and complete and it is because of this love, because of who God is, we are sure that our relationship with God will continue beyond death.
That assurance is precisely why the brothers in today’s first reading are willing to die rather than violate their faith by eating pork.
They trust in God and in their ongoing relationship with this loving God. This love will strengthens us as well in times of trouble. It draws us to a new level of commitment in the here-and-now.
MESSAGE 3: PRESENT ENERGY
And this brings us to Jesus’ third message: that this hope of future resurrection offers us in every moment we live, new energy for living.
It energizes us to bring light where there is darkness, to bring love where there is dysfunction, and pardon where there is injury.
This is exactly what it does for Jesus. He is so one-with-the-Father and life beyond that he has energy even in the present moment as he dies on the cross.
He is able to say: (1)“Father, forgive them” and (2)“Father, into your hands I commend my spirit.”
So too with us, the promise of future resurrection gives us a present energy for dealing with all the challenges, complexity and adversities of life.
CONCLUSION
At our Parish Mission this week – Monday and Tuesday at noon and at 7:30pm, and Wednesday at 7:30 – we’ll have the opportunity to (1) Develop our relationship with God through one-on-one encounters and (2) As the grace of divine presence flows to have it energize and animate us as believers.
Big promises? Yes! But come see for yourself how big!
All Middle or High Schoolers, all young adults, adults or seniors of all faiths are welcome.
Thursday, October 28, 2010
Weekly HOMILY for October 31, 2010: What Is Lost Within Us Can Always Be Found!
31st Sunday of Ordinary Time, Cycle C
October 31, 2010
St. Margaret Parish, Bel Air
What Is Lost Within Us Can Always Be Found!
By (Rev. Msgr.) Nicholas P. Amato
ZACCHAEUS: A BAD PERSON
Poor Zacchaeus was judged as a bad person – a real looser. He was even convinced of that himself.
It was a conviction, given his lifestyle and what those around him circulated.
After all, he is a tax collector, in effect, a traitor to his own people because he works for the occupying Romans who are collecting tax revenues from the Jewish People.
Added to that, he is corrupt and unethical in exacting as much as he can from them. All tax collectors of the day were similarly corrupt.
On top of that, physically Zacchaeus is a small man, very short in height.
No wonder he cannot get through the crowd to see Jesus. When he tries, the others just look down at him and say, “What are you doing here? This is no place for you.”
And they push him to the outside of the circle they are forming around Jesus. Zacchaeus simply cannot get in.
ZACCHAEUS RESPONDS
But Zacchaeus really wants to see Jesus. He has heard about him and is at least curious.
Or perhaps it is a feeling that even though he has so much, something is missing in his life. Something is incomplete in himself. From what he hears about this Jesus, there just seems to be something that arouses his curiosity about him something that attracts him and he wants to at least see him.
On that sunny afternoon, Zacchaeus, a wealthy individual, sees in the distance some poor boys in a tree and that gives him the idea. He runs down the road a spell and climbs the tree.
Jesus and the crowd milling around him finally arrive, passing by the tree. For seemingly no reason Jesus stops … and turns … and looks up and sees Zacchaeus. Their eyes meet and both men are gaze for a moment.
It is Jesus who breaks the silence. “Zacchaeus, come down quickly, for today I must stay at your house.” “What! Me? This can’t be so!” he says to himself. Nevertheless, Zacchaeus climbs down and happily leads Jesus to his home and welcomes him.
ZACCHAEUS, A GOOD PERSON
Notice now, how some of the people begin to grumble.
“How can Jesus, who is supposed to be such a holy person, do this? Doesn’t he know that this man is no good?”
The murmuring grows as all whisper and nod their heads saying that Zacchaeus is indeed a sinner. On this Jesus would agree. They all say that Zacchaeus is no good. On this, however, Jesus would strongly disagree.
Zacchaeus is a sinner. His ethical life is not good, his decisions are wrong, and his relationships are defective.
But, to say that he is no good would be impossible for Jesus to say simply because Jesus knows that Zacchaeus has been created by his Father.
There is a goodness in him that no one can take away and that has been placed there by God.
Isn’t that what our first reading from the Book of Wisdom says today? “For you love all things that are and loathe nothing that you have made; for what you hated, you would not have fashioned.”
OUR GOODNESS
It is this goodness that Jesus comes to reveal in Zacchaeus and in us.
It is this positive good that Jesus finds in Zacchaeus that is awakened and called forth by him. It is this same positive good in us and others that we are to allow Jesus to awaken and call forth.
If we only stress the negative, this goodness will surely get lost, but not in the sense that it is no longer there. A lost key, a lost credit card, or a lost pen is still there, but we just don’t know where and the task is to find it.
It’s like Jesus’ use of lots of lost items: the lost coin, the lost sheep, and even the lost son.
Jesus comes to find this lost goodness and his point is that once it is found it blossoms as quickly and as beautifully as it does in Zacchaeus.
The good news? It can happen in exactly the same thing way – as quickly and as beautifully – for us and for others.
THE RESULTS
So, just think for a moment:
If we receive and embrace this stance of Jesus with Zacchaeus, how much more positively would we view ourselves as good persons?
How much more positively would we enter into the Penitential Rite here at Mass or take part in the Sacrament of Reconciliation?
If we receive and embrace this stance of Jesus with Zacchaeus, how much more hopeful would we be in addressing the stresses and upsets in our relationships?
And finally, how much of a contribution would our accepting Jesus’ caring for Zacchaeus make to the toxic and negative tone of our nation’s political environment these final days before election day?
October 31, 2010
St. Margaret Parish, Bel Air
What Is Lost Within Us Can Always Be Found!
By (Rev. Msgr.) Nicholas P. Amato
ZACCHAEUS: A BAD PERSON
Poor Zacchaeus was judged as a bad person – a real looser. He was even convinced of that himself.
It was a conviction, given his lifestyle and what those around him circulated.
After all, he is a tax collector, in effect, a traitor to his own people because he works for the occupying Romans who are collecting tax revenues from the Jewish People.
Added to that, he is corrupt and unethical in exacting as much as he can from them. All tax collectors of the day were similarly corrupt.
On top of that, physically Zacchaeus is a small man, very short in height.
No wonder he cannot get through the crowd to see Jesus. When he tries, the others just look down at him and say, “What are you doing here? This is no place for you.”
And they push him to the outside of the circle they are forming around Jesus. Zacchaeus simply cannot get in.
ZACCHAEUS RESPONDS
But Zacchaeus really wants to see Jesus. He has heard about him and is at least curious.
Or perhaps it is a feeling that even though he has so much, something is missing in his life. Something is incomplete in himself. From what he hears about this Jesus, there just seems to be something that arouses his curiosity about him something that attracts him and he wants to at least see him.
On that sunny afternoon, Zacchaeus, a wealthy individual, sees in the distance some poor boys in a tree and that gives him the idea. He runs down the road a spell and climbs the tree.
Jesus and the crowd milling around him finally arrive, passing by the tree. For seemingly no reason Jesus stops … and turns … and looks up and sees Zacchaeus. Their eyes meet and both men are gaze for a moment.
It is Jesus who breaks the silence. “Zacchaeus, come down quickly, for today I must stay at your house.” “What! Me? This can’t be so!” he says to himself. Nevertheless, Zacchaeus climbs down and happily leads Jesus to his home and welcomes him.
ZACCHAEUS, A GOOD PERSON
Notice now, how some of the people begin to grumble.
“How can Jesus, who is supposed to be such a holy person, do this? Doesn’t he know that this man is no good?”
The murmuring grows as all whisper and nod their heads saying that Zacchaeus is indeed a sinner. On this Jesus would agree. They all say that Zacchaeus is no good. On this, however, Jesus would strongly disagree.
Zacchaeus is a sinner. His ethical life is not good, his decisions are wrong, and his relationships are defective.
But, to say that he is no good would be impossible for Jesus to say simply because Jesus knows that Zacchaeus has been created by his Father.
There is a goodness in him that no one can take away and that has been placed there by God.
Isn’t that what our first reading from the Book of Wisdom says today? “For you love all things that are and loathe nothing that you have made; for what you hated, you would not have fashioned.”
OUR GOODNESS
It is this goodness that Jesus comes to reveal in Zacchaeus and in us.
It is this positive good that Jesus finds in Zacchaeus that is awakened and called forth by him. It is this same positive good in us and others that we are to allow Jesus to awaken and call forth.
If we only stress the negative, this goodness will surely get lost, but not in the sense that it is no longer there. A lost key, a lost credit card, or a lost pen is still there, but we just don’t know where and the task is to find it.
It’s like Jesus’ use of lots of lost items: the lost coin, the lost sheep, and even the lost son.
Jesus comes to find this lost goodness and his point is that once it is found it blossoms as quickly and as beautifully as it does in Zacchaeus.
The good news? It can happen in exactly the same thing way – as quickly and as beautifully – for us and for others.
THE RESULTS
So, just think for a moment:
If we receive and embrace this stance of Jesus with Zacchaeus, how much more positively would we view ourselves as good persons?
How much more positively would we enter into the Penitential Rite here at Mass or take part in the Sacrament of Reconciliation?
If we receive and embrace this stance of Jesus with Zacchaeus, how much more hopeful would we be in addressing the stresses and upsets in our relationships?
And finally, how much of a contribution would our accepting Jesus’ caring for Zacchaeus make to the toxic and negative tone of our nation’s political environment these final days before election day?
Thursday, October 21, 2010
Weekly HOMILY for October 24, 2010: A Matter of Perspective
30th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle C
St. Margaret Church, Bel Air
October 24, 2010
A Matter of Perspective
By (Rev. Msgr.) Nicholas P. Amato
CARL JUNG
The Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung, who died almost 50 years ago, is considered the first psychiatrist to state that the human psyche is “by nature religious.”
That’s to say, to be born a human being is to be born with a religious self or psyche.
Jung wrote that, “Christians often ask why God does not speak to them, as he is believed to have done in former days.
“When I hear such questions,” Jung continues, “it always makes me think of the rabbi who asked how it could be that God often showed himself to people in the olden days while nowadays nobody ever sees him.
The rabbi thought for a moment and then replied, ‘Nowadays there is no longer anyone who can bow low enough to see or hear God.”
“No longer anyone who can bow low enough to see or hear God” Jung has put his finger on the prayer-pulse of human beings in much the same way that Jesus does today in Luke’s gospel.
THE PUBLICAN
Notice in Jesus’ parable of the two men at prayer, one man approaches God humbly. Aware of no one else except God, the individual prays simply and quietly.
So clear is his perception of the all-holy and wholly other God that his own sinfulness is revealed, and in the clarity of that moment he prays for mercy.
I just said a mouthful that needs to be understood clearly. The individual takes time (1) To be still, (2) To be aware of God’s presence in his life and perhaps most importantly (3) To be open to what God might have to reveal to him.
And what happens in that quiet, prayerful, open space? He receives a perception of his own sinfulness before this God who is lovingly communing with him.
It is no wonder, then, that out of that communion, that delight, that presence, comes the only appropriate response: (a gesture of bowing low) “Lord, have mercy on me a sinner.”
THE PHARISEE
As for the other fellow in the gospel – the Pharisee, sort of the “monsignor” of his day – for him the only revelation he experiences is a revelation of himself.
Notice he speaks his litany in his own honor from a skewed perspective of undue self-importance and inordinate pride.
To add to the odiousness of his so-called prayer, he compares himself to others, and in particular to the tax collector standing behind him.
In the rarified atmosphere of his own conceit, there is no room for anyone else much less for the spaciousness of God’s presence.
That perspective and not (1) Taking the time, (2) Having the awareness, (3) Or willing to be open keeps him in this state of bravado: (left hand on hip; right hand on chest.)
Is it any wonder there is no contact with the divine, no being made right with God?
REAL PRAYER
When I use the term “real prayer” I refer to a heart-to-heart encounter of myself with God, not a mindless repetition of the psalms or memorized prayers.
Real prayer is an honest to goodness encounter, as any significant encounter is with someone who is dearly loved. There is no need for lots of words or thoughts. There is simply a resting in and relishing that person’s presence.
Just look into the eyes of someone you love and say nothing for several minutes and you’ll see simple prayerful presence.
It is that sort of a presence, that kind of a prayerful being with God that is expansive and spacious, a presence where I can be who I am without protecting, comparing, or excusing.
What will come up for me in that kind of a gazing at God will be a feeling of humility about even being there with God or deserving such intimacy. I come up with a sense of gratitude that leaves me without adequate words.
CONCLUSION
Whenever the sacred texts are read and proclaimed, as they have been this morning, we have a choice to make.
Will I pray in truth before God like the tax collector – summed up in this gesture (bowing) – or will I preen before God and others – summed up in this one (left hand on hip; right hand on chest)
The first will leave me justified, made right with God, from the encounter; the second I will come away empty.
St. Margaret Church, Bel Air
October 24, 2010
A Matter of Perspective
By (Rev. Msgr.) Nicholas P. Amato
CARL JUNG
The Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung, who died almost 50 years ago, is considered the first psychiatrist to state that the human psyche is “by nature religious.”
That’s to say, to be born a human being is to be born with a religious self or psyche.
Jung wrote that, “Christians often ask why God does not speak to them, as he is believed to have done in former days.
“When I hear such questions,” Jung continues, “it always makes me think of the rabbi who asked how it could be that God often showed himself to people in the olden days while nowadays nobody ever sees him.
The rabbi thought for a moment and then replied, ‘Nowadays there is no longer anyone who can bow low enough to see or hear God.”
“No longer anyone who can bow low enough to see or hear God” Jung has put his finger on the prayer-pulse of human beings in much the same way that Jesus does today in Luke’s gospel.
THE PUBLICAN
Notice in Jesus’ parable of the two men at prayer, one man approaches God humbly. Aware of no one else except God, the individual prays simply and quietly.
So clear is his perception of the all-holy and wholly other God that his own sinfulness is revealed, and in the clarity of that moment he prays for mercy.
I just said a mouthful that needs to be understood clearly. The individual takes time (1) To be still, (2) To be aware of God’s presence in his life and perhaps most importantly (3) To be open to what God might have to reveal to him.
And what happens in that quiet, prayerful, open space? He receives a perception of his own sinfulness before this God who is lovingly communing with him.
It is no wonder, then, that out of that communion, that delight, that presence, comes the only appropriate response: (a gesture of bowing low) “Lord, have mercy on me a sinner.”
THE PHARISEE
As for the other fellow in the gospel – the Pharisee, sort of the “monsignor” of his day – for him the only revelation he experiences is a revelation of himself.
Notice he speaks his litany in his own honor from a skewed perspective of undue self-importance and inordinate pride.
To add to the odiousness of his so-called prayer, he compares himself to others, and in particular to the tax collector standing behind him.
In the rarified atmosphere of his own conceit, there is no room for anyone else much less for the spaciousness of God’s presence.
That perspective and not (1) Taking the time, (2) Having the awareness, (3) Or willing to be open keeps him in this state of bravado: (left hand on hip; right hand on chest.)
Is it any wonder there is no contact with the divine, no being made right with God?
REAL PRAYER
When I use the term “real prayer” I refer to a heart-to-heart encounter of myself with God, not a mindless repetition of the psalms or memorized prayers.
Real prayer is an honest to goodness encounter, as any significant encounter is with someone who is dearly loved. There is no need for lots of words or thoughts. There is simply a resting in and relishing that person’s presence.
Just look into the eyes of someone you love and say nothing for several minutes and you’ll see simple prayerful presence.
It is that sort of a presence, that kind of a prayerful being with God that is expansive and spacious, a presence where I can be who I am without protecting, comparing, or excusing.
What will come up for me in that kind of a gazing at God will be a feeling of humility about even being there with God or deserving such intimacy. I come up with a sense of gratitude that leaves me without adequate words.
CONCLUSION
Whenever the sacred texts are read and proclaimed, as they have been this morning, we have a choice to make.
Will I pray in truth before God like the tax collector – summed up in this gesture (bowing) – or will I preen before God and others – summed up in this one (left hand on hip; right hand on chest)
The first will leave me justified, made right with God, from the encounter; the second I will come away empty.
Sunday, October 17, 2010
Weekly HOMILY for October 17, 2010: Perseverance: A Three Legged Stool
29th Sunday of Ordinary Time, Cycle C
Bon Secours Spiritual Center
October 17, 2010
Perseverance: A Three Legged Stool
By (Rev. Msgr.) Nicholas P. Amato
WALT DISNEY
A young man wanted very much to become a writer from the time he was a child. When he was 21 and just out of college he was able to get a staff position with a local paper in town.
After a few months work, he was fired for his lack of imagination.
The young man was penniless but resolute. He had to sleep on an old worn out sofa and eat cold beans out of a can, but his determination kept his dream of one day becoming a creative writer alive.
He went on to have that dream realized.
The man? Walt Disney!
TODAY'S SCRIPTURE
What makes some folks succeed against all odds and others “crash and burn” at the smallest obstacle?
Today’s Scriptures offer us an answer and quite appropriately in the area of persevering in prayer.
Moses in the first reading and the widow in the third, are concrete examples of how perseverance works and how it gets us through rough times to feelings of success.
On their way to the Promised Land, the Jewish People pass through territory controlled by another nomadic tribe and a tribal war breaks out.
Moses picks out a high spot and, as was the custom of commanders of his day, holds his staff high over his heard to encourage his troops. While his arms are up, his soldiers are winning.
He grows weary after a while, but persists nonetheless. Others come to his aid with a rock to sit on: after a while Aaron and Hur support his arms.
A similar model for perseverance is portrayed in the Gospel where a poor widow without power to control, without money to bribe, without friends to influence is able to get an important magistrate to rule in her favor.
Luke’s Gospel reads: “For a time he (the judge) refused, but finally he thought, ‘I care little for God or man, but this widow is wearing me out. I am going to settle in her favor or she will end by doing me violence.’”
What Moses and the widow are confronted with is turmoil, tension and violence and through it, they maintain a perseverance that brings them success. So it was with Walt Disney.
Unfortunately, many of us give up because we may not looking at what makes perseverance possible.
I would like to suggest that for a clearer understanding of what it takes to be successful at prayer – contemplative prayer – can be compared to a three-legged stool.
INTENTION
The first leg is intention. To get through an ordeal, to accomplish a goal, to persevere in living a contemplative lifestyle something has to be important to you. To have an intention is to put your desire into words.
Like the God whom we image, we too have the ability to create out of nothing and where previously no-thing existed, our intention has us creating a friendship, or healing, or forgiveness, or reading a new book, or making time for prayer.
Both Moses and the widow have a clear intention. They each know what they want and can state it.
SUPPORT
Once we have declared ourselves, we need to be willing to ask or accept the support of others.
Support does not mean they take over responsibility for my intention. It means they keep me responsible and challenged. They help me meet the challenge at hand.
It is wonderful the way some folks come to Moses with a rock to sit on and how Aaron and Hur literally hold up his arms. But note, Moses is still the one with the staff in his hands.
TRUST
The third leg of perseverance in prayer is trust.
We need to believe that God will be with us and sustain us in our efforts.
In the Gospel, the poor widow believes that she is right and that God will sustain her to secure justice. Jesus praises her perseverance and compares it to the trust that we should have when we pray to the Father.
So, if we are going through some dry periods of prayer or so busy that time for contemplative prayer takes a back seat, we need to trust that making time is very important even though we think working may be more productive at this moment.
Trust gets us through times when priorities shift dangerously away from our goals.
CONCLUSION
Milking stools are three-legged so they can sit stably on uneven ground.
The 3-legged stool for perseverance in prayer – intention, support and trust – likewise puts us in a stable position for successful grounding.
Bon Secours Spiritual Center
October 17, 2010
Perseverance: A Three Legged Stool
By (Rev. Msgr.) Nicholas P. Amato
WALT DISNEY
A young man wanted very much to become a writer from the time he was a child. When he was 21 and just out of college he was able to get a staff position with a local paper in town.
After a few months work, he was fired for his lack of imagination.
The young man was penniless but resolute. He had to sleep on an old worn out sofa and eat cold beans out of a can, but his determination kept his dream of one day becoming a creative writer alive.
He went on to have that dream realized.
The man? Walt Disney!
TODAY'S SCRIPTURE
What makes some folks succeed against all odds and others “crash and burn” at the smallest obstacle?
Today’s Scriptures offer us an answer and quite appropriately in the area of persevering in prayer.
Moses in the first reading and the widow in the third, are concrete examples of how perseverance works and how it gets us through rough times to feelings of success.
On their way to the Promised Land, the Jewish People pass through territory controlled by another nomadic tribe and a tribal war breaks out.
Moses picks out a high spot and, as was the custom of commanders of his day, holds his staff high over his heard to encourage his troops. While his arms are up, his soldiers are winning.
He grows weary after a while, but persists nonetheless. Others come to his aid with a rock to sit on: after a while Aaron and Hur support his arms.
A similar model for perseverance is portrayed in the Gospel where a poor widow without power to control, without money to bribe, without friends to influence is able to get an important magistrate to rule in her favor.
Luke’s Gospel reads: “For a time he (the judge) refused, but finally he thought, ‘I care little for God or man, but this widow is wearing me out. I am going to settle in her favor or she will end by doing me violence.’”
What Moses and the widow are confronted with is turmoil, tension and violence and through it, they maintain a perseverance that brings them success. So it was with Walt Disney.
Unfortunately, many of us give up because we may not looking at what makes perseverance possible.
I would like to suggest that for a clearer understanding of what it takes to be successful at prayer – contemplative prayer – can be compared to a three-legged stool.
INTENTION
The first leg is intention. To get through an ordeal, to accomplish a goal, to persevere in living a contemplative lifestyle something has to be important to you. To have an intention is to put your desire into words.
Like the God whom we image, we too have the ability to create out of nothing and where previously no-thing existed, our intention has us creating a friendship, or healing, or forgiveness, or reading a new book, or making time for prayer.
Both Moses and the widow have a clear intention. They each know what they want and can state it.
SUPPORT
Once we have declared ourselves, we need to be willing to ask or accept the support of others.
Support does not mean they take over responsibility for my intention. It means they keep me responsible and challenged. They help me meet the challenge at hand.
It is wonderful the way some folks come to Moses with a rock to sit on and how Aaron and Hur literally hold up his arms. But note, Moses is still the one with the staff in his hands.
TRUST
The third leg of perseverance in prayer is trust.
We need to believe that God will be with us and sustain us in our efforts.
In the Gospel, the poor widow believes that she is right and that God will sustain her to secure justice. Jesus praises her perseverance and compares it to the trust that we should have when we pray to the Father.
So, if we are going through some dry periods of prayer or so busy that time for contemplative prayer takes a back seat, we need to trust that making time is very important even though we think working may be more productive at this moment.
Trust gets us through times when priorities shift dangerously away from our goals.
CONCLUSION
Milking stools are three-legged so they can sit stably on uneven ground.
The 3-legged stool for perseverance in prayer – intention, support and trust – likewise puts us in a stable position for successful grounding.
Thursday, October 07, 2010
Weekly HOMILY for October 10, 2010: "Where Were the Other Nine Lepers?
28th Sunday of Ordinary Time, Cycle C
Terranuova Hermitage
October 10, 2010
“Where Are the Other Nine Lepers?”
By (Rev. Msgr.) Nicholas P. Amato
The Story of the Ten Lepers
"WHERE ARE THE OTHER TEN LEPERS?
Jesus heals ten persons with leprosy.
One returns to thank him. “Where are the other nine?”
The Other Nine
One of the now-clean lepers goes off to build a new life for himself.
He busies himself finding a job, a new place to live, and maybe even a family. He becomes so busy building a new life for himself that he forgets the great blessing he has received.
Another of the lepers is filled with fear and worry because he has few skills and cannot imagine who will hire him and how he will support himself.
He is so afraid and worried that he is virtually paralyzed from doing anything. He remains huddled at the town gate, alone like a leper.
Still another of the lepers determines to even the score with everyone who has ever laughed at him or scorned him or ignored him because of his illness.
He vows: “They will pay for what they did to me.” He is obsessed with vengeance and never experiences any joy in his cure.
One of the now-clean lepers runs as far away as he can.
All he wants is to forget his old life and everything about it. He even tries to block out the cries of others who are suffering.
Another of the lepers just goes out and parties and parties and parties.
His newfound joy lasts as long as the wine and money do. Once they are gone, he has to face his new life lost and alone.
And there is even one leper who believes that there must be a catch and that he is not really clean and healed.
He thinks: “After all, why would anyone, especially God, do this for me?” So, he does nothing and just waits for the leprosy to return.
On it goes with the other nine.
HEALED OR NOT
Without a sense of gratitude for the miracle they have experienced, the miracle does not last very long.
Their self-absorption, their fear and worry, their anger, their repression, their skepticism, their misplaced hope – these responses have just made them lepers all over again.
THE ONE WHO THANKS
But there is the one leper who realizes that he has not just been made clean.
He realizes that he has even been touched by God. And so, he returns to give thanks to Jesus and this reflects the healing that has happened in his soul as well as in his body.
This leper has faith. Faith is primarily the recognition of the love and compassion of God.
This recognition moves us to give praise and thanks to God. In this, the one leper is a great model for us.
OUR RESPONSE
God is in our midst, active in our lives.
But sometimes, like the nine lepers, we are not aware of this. Sometimes our self-centeredness isolates us from one another.
Sometimes our fears and worries trap us. Sometimes our anger dictates our behavior.
Sometimes our skepticism or doubting or questioning becomes an end in itself. Sometimes our misplaced hopes and values lead us away from the divine, the transcendent, away from God.
When all of this is the case, we do not experience God in everyday life. And so, we need to look to the one leper for our lead on this.
We need to approach life with a sense of faith. We are to realize the presence and love of God in the birth of a baby, in the magnificence of creation, in the tenderness of a spouse, in the skill of a doctor, in our own ability to bring life to another through our love and care.
CONCLUSION
Maybe the bottom line is that for no reason other than love so profound that we cannot fathom it, God has breathed life into us and given many other gifts to us as well. Our only fitting response is to stand humbly before God in quiet thanks.
This gratitude can transform us. It can make so much of life an experience of God’s presence, love, grace, and healing action.
Terranuova Hermitage
October 10, 2010
“Where Are the Other Nine Lepers?”
By (Rev. Msgr.) Nicholas P. Amato
The Story of the Ten Lepers
"WHERE ARE THE OTHER TEN LEPERS?
Jesus heals ten persons with leprosy.
One returns to thank him. “Where are the other nine?”
The Other Nine
One of the now-clean lepers goes off to build a new life for himself.
He busies himself finding a job, a new place to live, and maybe even a family. He becomes so busy building a new life for himself that he forgets the great blessing he has received.
Another of the lepers is filled with fear and worry because he has few skills and cannot imagine who will hire him and how he will support himself.
He is so afraid and worried that he is virtually paralyzed from doing anything. He remains huddled at the town gate, alone like a leper.
Still another of the lepers determines to even the score with everyone who has ever laughed at him or scorned him or ignored him because of his illness.
He vows: “They will pay for what they did to me.” He is obsessed with vengeance and never experiences any joy in his cure.
One of the now-clean lepers runs as far away as he can.
All he wants is to forget his old life and everything about it. He even tries to block out the cries of others who are suffering.
Another of the lepers just goes out and parties and parties and parties.
His newfound joy lasts as long as the wine and money do. Once they are gone, he has to face his new life lost and alone.
And there is even one leper who believes that there must be a catch and that he is not really clean and healed.
He thinks: “After all, why would anyone, especially God, do this for me?” So, he does nothing and just waits for the leprosy to return.
On it goes with the other nine.
HEALED OR NOT
Without a sense of gratitude for the miracle they have experienced, the miracle does not last very long.
Their self-absorption, their fear and worry, their anger, their repression, their skepticism, their misplaced hope – these responses have just made them lepers all over again.
THE ONE WHO THANKS
But there is the one leper who realizes that he has not just been made clean.
He realizes that he has even been touched by God. And so, he returns to give thanks to Jesus and this reflects the healing that has happened in his soul as well as in his body.
This leper has faith. Faith is primarily the recognition of the love and compassion of God.
This recognition moves us to give praise and thanks to God. In this, the one leper is a great model for us.
OUR RESPONSE
God is in our midst, active in our lives.
But sometimes, like the nine lepers, we are not aware of this. Sometimes our self-centeredness isolates us from one another.
Sometimes our fears and worries trap us. Sometimes our anger dictates our behavior.
Sometimes our skepticism or doubting or questioning becomes an end in itself. Sometimes our misplaced hopes and values lead us away from the divine, the transcendent, away from God.
When all of this is the case, we do not experience God in everyday life. And so, we need to look to the one leper for our lead on this.
We need to approach life with a sense of faith. We are to realize the presence and love of God in the birth of a baby, in the magnificence of creation, in the tenderness of a spouse, in the skill of a doctor, in our own ability to bring life to another through our love and care.
CONCLUSION
Maybe the bottom line is that for no reason other than love so profound that we cannot fathom it, God has breathed life into us and given many other gifts to us as well. Our only fitting response is to stand humbly before God in quiet thanks.
This gratitude can transform us. It can make so much of life an experience of God’s presence, love, grace, and healing action.
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
Weekly HOMILY for October 3, 2010: Faith -- Of Visions and Mustard Seeds
27th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle C
Immaculate Heart of Mary
October 3, 2010
Faith: Of Visions and Mustard Seeds
By (Rev. Msgr.) Nicholas P. Amato
SENECA
Seneca the Roman philosopher and dramatist once said, “For a ship without a port, any wind is an ill wind.”
That is, unless you have a goal or a vision of where you’re headed, you will surely flounder.
In such situations, opportunities are not utilized; stepping-stones are not realized.
However, with a port in mind, with a destination to which you are clearly heading, you have something beckoning you, and you can pick out and select what contributes to your getting there.
You have something that inspires, something that motivates, and something that gives your efforts meaning and purpose.
HABAKKUK
Habakkuk saw the importance of such a vision or goal.
He speaks of “committing the vision to writing,” for in Habakkuk’s time, as well as in our own, writing something out is to give it permanence.
And to writing it out he adds, “Write it large” which is to say, “Make it public for all to see as they walk by.”
A bit about Habakkuk: Here is a prophet who is burdened with preaching an unpopular message to a “stiff-necked” people.
He was a contemporary of Jeremiah and what has prompted his lament we just heard is the destruction of the Northern Kingdom, Judah, by Nebuchadnezzar and the Assyrians to the north.
His people are giving up hope of things every returning to normal and Habakkuk wants to address the situation quickly. He is eminently clear: no matter how things appear or how hopeless they seem, God does indeed see, God does indeed care, and God will indeed act.
It’s just what the people need to hear and their spirits are buoyed up.
JESUS
A vision or goal, with the faith to get us there, is what’s at stake for the disciples of Jesus as well. They plead with him, “Lord, increase our faith.”
Just before this passage, Jesus has been warning them of the danger involved in leading others astray or the importance of forgiving someone we’ve wronged “seventy times seven times” – meaning there should be no limit to our forgiveness.
So they recognize the need for such an increase in faith, if they are to accomplish these mandates. And what Jesus tells them is that it’s not the quantity of their faith that is important, but it is its quality.
He assures them that with only a miniscule amount of faith, folks who (1) Listen to his Word and (2) Commit themselves to him can do things impossible to unaided human nature.
APPLICATION
Two questions arise for us as we hear God’s word: (1) “What is my vision for my life?” and, (2) “What is the mustard-seed faith I have that I bring to that vision?”
For starters let’s look at your marriage. Think back to your wedding day. What was your vision of where you wanted your marriage to be after 10, 20, or 30 years?
Or look at the birth of your first child. What were your aspirations for becoming a father to that son or daughter?
Or think back to the exhilaration or joy you experienced over being offered the job you now hold. What happened to the excitement and the promise your new position held out to you then?
Where have all those visions gone?
Habakkuk would suggest that you dust off those visions and polish up those goals you once had, in fact rewrite them large so all whom you love can see them. Affirm them; speak them out loud to your loved ones.
And know this, Jesus assures us that with only the tiniest amount of faith you can get back on the path to the joy and happiness of your marriage, your children, or your job can bring you.
Take Habakkuk at his word; Trust in God. No matter how things appear or how hopeless they seem, God does indeed see; does indeed care; and God will indeed act.
CONCLUSION
With a vision of how things can be, coupled with even the smallest amount of honest, sincere faith, we can achieve great results.
We have the Prophet Habakkuk and Jesus’ word for it.
And it’s not just their word; it’s how things actually work in our world – how things work with faith and with a plan.
Immaculate Heart of Mary
October 3, 2010
Faith: Of Visions and Mustard Seeds
By (Rev. Msgr.) Nicholas P. Amato
SENECA
Seneca the Roman philosopher and dramatist once said, “For a ship without a port, any wind is an ill wind.”
That is, unless you have a goal or a vision of where you’re headed, you will surely flounder.
In such situations, opportunities are not utilized; stepping-stones are not realized.
However, with a port in mind, with a destination to which you are clearly heading, you have something beckoning you, and you can pick out and select what contributes to your getting there.
You have something that inspires, something that motivates, and something that gives your efforts meaning and purpose.
HABAKKUK
Habakkuk saw the importance of such a vision or goal.
He speaks of “committing the vision to writing,” for in Habakkuk’s time, as well as in our own, writing something out is to give it permanence.
And to writing it out he adds, “Write it large” which is to say, “Make it public for all to see as they walk by.”
A bit about Habakkuk: Here is a prophet who is burdened with preaching an unpopular message to a “stiff-necked” people.
He was a contemporary of Jeremiah and what has prompted his lament we just heard is the destruction of the Northern Kingdom, Judah, by Nebuchadnezzar and the Assyrians to the north.
His people are giving up hope of things every returning to normal and Habakkuk wants to address the situation quickly. He is eminently clear: no matter how things appear or how hopeless they seem, God does indeed see, God does indeed care, and God will indeed act.
It’s just what the people need to hear and their spirits are buoyed up.
JESUS
A vision or goal, with the faith to get us there, is what’s at stake for the disciples of Jesus as well. They plead with him, “Lord, increase our faith.”
Just before this passage, Jesus has been warning them of the danger involved in leading others astray or the importance of forgiving someone we’ve wronged “seventy times seven times” – meaning there should be no limit to our forgiveness.
So they recognize the need for such an increase in faith, if they are to accomplish these mandates. And what Jesus tells them is that it’s not the quantity of their faith that is important, but it is its quality.
He assures them that with only a miniscule amount of faith, folks who (1) Listen to his Word and (2) Commit themselves to him can do things impossible to unaided human nature.
APPLICATION
Two questions arise for us as we hear God’s word: (1) “What is my vision for my life?” and, (2) “What is the mustard-seed faith I have that I bring to that vision?”
For starters let’s look at your marriage. Think back to your wedding day. What was your vision of where you wanted your marriage to be after 10, 20, or 30 years?
Or look at the birth of your first child. What were your aspirations for becoming a father to that son or daughter?
Or think back to the exhilaration or joy you experienced over being offered the job you now hold. What happened to the excitement and the promise your new position held out to you then?
Where have all those visions gone?
Habakkuk would suggest that you dust off those visions and polish up those goals you once had, in fact rewrite them large so all whom you love can see them. Affirm them; speak them out loud to your loved ones.
And know this, Jesus assures us that with only the tiniest amount of faith you can get back on the path to the joy and happiness of your marriage, your children, or your job can bring you.
Take Habakkuk at his word; Trust in God. No matter how things appear or how hopeless they seem, God does indeed see; does indeed care; and God will indeed act.
CONCLUSION
With a vision of how things can be, coupled with even the smallest amount of honest, sincere faith, we can achieve great results.
We have the Prophet Habakkuk and Jesus’ word for it.
And it’s not just their word; it’s how things actually work in our world – how things work with faith and with a plan.
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
Weekly HOMILY for September 26, 2010: How Much Is Enough?
26th Sunday of Ordinary Time, Cycle C
St. Mark Church, Fallston
September 26, 2010
Focus: Responding to the Lazaruses in our day
Function: To give people ways that empower them to respond to the needs of the poor
How Much Is Enough?
By (Rev. Msgr.) Nicholas P. Amato
WHAT IS ENOUGH?
Several years ago, I was leading a men’s Scripture group and we were talking about this Gospel that we just heard.
One of the men in the group – Rob – asked: “Just what is enough? How do you know when you have enough?”
Rob has a good job. He and his wife are working hard to put some money away for the college education of their two children and, more long range, for their own retirement.
They live in a very nice home, but by no means opulent. They take vacations each summer as a family.
And Rob asks: “How much is enough?” In other words, when do you know that you have enough and ought to be giving some, or more, away to help those in need?
That Scripture group wrestled with the questions and we never did come up with answers for it is a difficult question.
Now years later, I’m confronted with the same Gospel. I have thought and prayed over the question and, while I do not have a simple answer, I do have some guidelines that might help.
These are guidelines, not for knowing when we have enough, but rather for responding to the Lazaruses of our own day.
1. NEVER FORGET WHERE YOU CAME FROM
First, whenever my brother, sister or I would be crying or whining over not having something a friend had, my father always used the occasion to say, “Never forget where you came from.”
For him it meant being looked down upon because he and my mother were Sicilian immigrants; it meant the depression when food was scarce and pasta and beans was a frequent dish on the table; it meant not owning a home or a car of their own for several years into their marriage; it meant walking the 20 blocks to work in order to save the $.15 bus fare.
Of course my dad’s thought was that the three of us would never know the hard times that he had known, but he did not want us to take what we had for granted. He wanted us to appreciate what we had and to be sensitive to those who did not have enough.
“Never forget where you came from” or “Remember your roots” – was his guiding principle to us then, and it remains one for me today. It could serve you as well.
2. KEEP YOUR EYES OPENED
A second guideline for responding to the Lazaruses of our day is to keep our eyes opened. Keyword: “eyes.”
The rich man in today’s parable apparently did not really see the poor man Lazarus. Oh, yes, he may have seen him with these (point to eyes), but not with the eyes of his heart. The eyes of his heart would have seen the reality of Lazarus’ hunger and misery.
We need to be sure that we see the Lazaruses’ of our day.
Perhaps it is the widowed man or woman next door who just needs someone to talk with for a few minutes,
Or maybe it is the 41,000+ children who are dying in our world each day just from starvation; 41,000 yesterday, 41,000 today and every day.
Or perhaps the teenage son or daughter we don’t have time for.
We need to keep our eyes opened to all in need of our presence, love, and support.
3. DO NOT JUDGE
A third guideline for responding is simply to refrain from judging or stereotyping.
In today’s gospel parable, the only thing that Jesus says about Lazarus is that he was poor, not that he was virtuous or not virtuous. And the only thing he says about the rich man is that he was rich, not that he was good or bad.
In the afterlife, the life beyond physical death, the rich man does not fare well for one reason and one reason only. He failed to assist Lazarus in his plight.
So, we need to respond with appropriate assistance to the Lazaruses of our day. We need to refrain from judging and especially from using our judgment as an excuse not to come to their aid.
CONCLUSION
So, how much is enough? When do I know I have enough? The answer: I don’t know.
But I do know that living with certain guidelines or mindsets will steer us in the right direction: (1) ROOTS: Remember where you came from, (2) EYES: Keep them wide open, (3) JUDGLING: Do not, and (4) COMMON GOOD: Promote it
Trust me, these guidelines will help us in sensing when we have enough and in moving us to share what we have with those in need.
Unlike the rich man in the gospel, it will assure us one day of a merciful judgment.
St. Mark Church, Fallston
September 26, 2010
Focus: Responding to the Lazaruses in our day
Function: To give people ways that empower them to respond to the needs of the poor
How Much Is Enough?
By (Rev. Msgr.) Nicholas P. Amato
WHAT IS ENOUGH?
Several years ago, I was leading a men’s Scripture group and we were talking about this Gospel that we just heard.
One of the men in the group – Rob – asked: “Just what is enough? How do you know when you have enough?”
Rob has a good job. He and his wife are working hard to put some money away for the college education of their two children and, more long range, for their own retirement.
They live in a very nice home, but by no means opulent. They take vacations each summer as a family.
And Rob asks: “How much is enough?” In other words, when do you know that you have enough and ought to be giving some, or more, away to help those in need?
That Scripture group wrestled with the questions and we never did come up with answers for it is a difficult question.
Now years later, I’m confronted with the same Gospel. I have thought and prayed over the question and, while I do not have a simple answer, I do have some guidelines that might help.
These are guidelines, not for knowing when we have enough, but rather for responding to the Lazaruses of our own day.
1. NEVER FORGET WHERE YOU CAME FROM
First, whenever my brother, sister or I would be crying or whining over not having something a friend had, my father always used the occasion to say, “Never forget where you came from.”
For him it meant being looked down upon because he and my mother were Sicilian immigrants; it meant the depression when food was scarce and pasta and beans was a frequent dish on the table; it meant not owning a home or a car of their own for several years into their marriage; it meant walking the 20 blocks to work in order to save the $.15 bus fare.
Of course my dad’s thought was that the three of us would never know the hard times that he had known, but he did not want us to take what we had for granted. He wanted us to appreciate what we had and to be sensitive to those who did not have enough.
“Never forget where you came from” or “Remember your roots” – was his guiding principle to us then, and it remains one for me today. It could serve you as well.
2. KEEP YOUR EYES OPENED
A second guideline for responding to the Lazaruses of our day is to keep our eyes opened. Keyword: “eyes.”
The rich man in today’s parable apparently did not really see the poor man Lazarus. Oh, yes, he may have seen him with these (point to eyes), but not with the eyes of his heart. The eyes of his heart would have seen the reality of Lazarus’ hunger and misery.
We need to be sure that we see the Lazaruses’ of our day.
Perhaps it is the widowed man or woman next door who just needs someone to talk with for a few minutes,
Or maybe it is the 41,000+ children who are dying in our world each day just from starvation; 41,000 yesterday, 41,000 today and every day.
Or perhaps the teenage son or daughter we don’t have time for.
We need to keep our eyes opened to all in need of our presence, love, and support.
3. DO NOT JUDGE
A third guideline for responding is simply to refrain from judging or stereotyping.
In today’s gospel parable, the only thing that Jesus says about Lazarus is that he was poor, not that he was virtuous or not virtuous. And the only thing he says about the rich man is that he was rich, not that he was good or bad.
In the afterlife, the life beyond physical death, the rich man does not fare well for one reason and one reason only. He failed to assist Lazarus in his plight.
So, we need to respond with appropriate assistance to the Lazaruses of our day. We need to refrain from judging and especially from using our judgment as an excuse not to come to their aid.
CONCLUSION
So, how much is enough? When do I know I have enough? The answer: I don’t know.
But I do know that living with certain guidelines or mindsets will steer us in the right direction: (1) ROOTS: Remember where you came from, (2) EYES: Keep them wide open, (3) JUDGLING: Do not, and (4) COMMON GOOD: Promote it
Trust me, these guidelines will help us in sensing when we have enough and in moving us to share what we have with those in need.
Unlike the rich man in the gospel, it will assure us one day of a merciful judgment.
Monday, September 20, 2010
DAY OF RECOLLECTION for September 24, 2010: "But Who Do You Say I Am?"
Day of Recollection
St. Margaret's Faculty, Bel Air, Maryland
September 24, 2010
But Who Do You Say I Am? (Lk 9:18-22)
By Nicholas Amato
SHALEM’S TRAINING
I was to an intense training earlier this month as a faculty member of the Shalem Institute for Spirituality
As a teacher you have this experience often
It’s sometimes called Teach the Teacher or Train the Trainer
My week was comprised of Morning: the program was as follows:
Mornings: The program itself
Afternoons: Leadership questions
Evening: Reflection
JESUS’ TRAINING
Jesus is doing some of the same with his apostles
They’ve been part of the crowds who’ve heard his teaching so they’ve been through the program
Beyond that, they’ve been singled out to be associate faculty
With the group of these specially selected, he’s been raising leadership issues for example when James and John are quarreling over who is greater
Sometimes they get it; sometimes they don’t
He will soon empower them to do what he does and eventually he’ll send them out two-by-two
TWO CRITICAL QUESTIONS
But let’s stay focused on the two questions that are part of his “Teach the Teachers” program that he’s raising in today’s gospel:
“Who do people say I am?” and more importantly, “Who do you say I am?”
The first, “Who do people say I am?” is to ask them, “What’s going on in the program I’m delivering? How’s it being received by the students in the class?”
The second question: “And what about you? Have you be moved? Been touched? Been transformed by what I’ve been telling them.”
In other words, “Are you ready for leadership in touching the hearts of others?”
WHAT TO TEACH THE TEACHER
A very serious question
As teachers we understand the difference between knowing the information and being able to teach it effectively
If you don’t know, live and breathe the lesson, you’re not a credible or effective teacher of the material
We all know what’s to go on in the classrooms of a Catholic School in terms of our youths’ love of Jesus Christ
How well they will know him through our words, deeds, or values will in large measure depend on our own relationship with Christ and whether that intimacy, union, friendship empower us to have our students want it
“Who do you say Jesus is for you?”
St. Margaret's Faculty, Bel Air, Maryland
September 24, 2010
But Who Do You Say I Am? (Lk 9:18-22)
By Nicholas Amato
SHALEM’S TRAINING
I was to an intense training earlier this month as a faculty member of the Shalem Institute for Spirituality
As a teacher you have this experience often
It’s sometimes called Teach the Teacher or Train the Trainer
My week was comprised of Morning: the program was as follows:
Mornings: The program itself
Afternoons: Leadership questions
Evening: Reflection
JESUS’ TRAINING
Jesus is doing some of the same with his apostles
They’ve been part of the crowds who’ve heard his teaching so they’ve been through the program
Beyond that, they’ve been singled out to be associate faculty
With the group of these specially selected, he’s been raising leadership issues for example when James and John are quarreling over who is greater
Sometimes they get it; sometimes they don’t
He will soon empower them to do what he does and eventually he’ll send them out two-by-two
TWO CRITICAL QUESTIONS
But let’s stay focused on the two questions that are part of his “Teach the Teachers” program that he’s raising in today’s gospel:
“Who do people say I am?” and more importantly, “Who do you say I am?”
The first, “Who do people say I am?” is to ask them, “What’s going on in the program I’m delivering? How’s it being received by the students in the class?”
The second question: “And what about you? Have you be moved? Been touched? Been transformed by what I’ve been telling them.”
In other words, “Are you ready for leadership in touching the hearts of others?”
WHAT TO TEACH THE TEACHER
A very serious question
As teachers we understand the difference between knowing the information and being able to teach it effectively
If you don’t know, live and breathe the lesson, you’re not a credible or effective teacher of the material
We all know what’s to go on in the classrooms of a Catholic School in terms of our youths’ love of Jesus Christ
How well they will know him through our words, deeds, or values will in large measure depend on our own relationship with Christ and whether that intimacy, union, friendship empower us to have our students want it
“Who do you say Jesus is for you?”
Friday, September 17, 2010
Weekly HOMILY for September 19, 2010: Warnings About Money
25th Sunday of Ordinary Time, Cycle C
St. Patrick Church, Havre de Grace
September 19, 2010
Warnings About Money
By (Rev. Msgr.) Nicholas P. Amato
JUNO MONETA
Back in the days of the ancient Roman Empire, people believed in many gods and goddesses.
For example, we know they believed that Juno was the goddess of warning. It was her role to protect the empire by warning its people about any impending threat.
Because of this, the Romans installed their mint for making coins in Juno’s temple. The idea was that Juno, as the goddess of warning, would warn against any impending threat to the wealth of the Empire.
The Romans even gave Juno the title of Juno Moneta. The word moneta comes from the Latin word monere – to warn – so Juno Moneta means “Juno, the One Who Warns.”
Interestingly, that word – moneta, as in Juno Moneta – eventually became part of the English language as the word money.
Thus, the word money is derived from the Latin word which means to warn.
WARNING -- MONERE -- ABOUT MONEY
I found this little tidbit of etymology interesting because the Scripture readings often warn us about money.
Money, as a medium of exchange, does call for our attention. No matter who we are, we have to earn it, exchange for goods and services, save it for a rainy day – maybe in an IRA or a 401K plan or even stocks.
Jesus and the prophets before him are not saying that our getting involved in the exchange of money or even our enjoying it is bad – Not at all!
But they are giving us some “warnings” – remember it’s the root meaning of the word money. They are giving us warnings about our attitude toward money and our handling of it. I see three warnings in today’s Scripture readings.
WARNING #1: SERVE GOD
The first warning comes from Jesus’ own lips: we are not to become a servant or slave of money. Money should not be my ego self-image.
He says, “No servant can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or be attentive to one and despise the other.
“You cannot serve God and money.” To appreciate what Jesus is saying here, we have to remember that back in Jesus’ day, slavery was legal albeit a dreadful institution.
A master literally owned a slave and a slave could serve only one master. Jesus wants our relationship with him to be something like that.
Specifically, he is saying that no matter how much money we make, we are to see our relationship with God as the number one, the most important dimension of life.
And with him as absolutely front and center, we are to let this personal relationship with Jesus Christ color everything we do.
We are to let this influence even how we make our money, what we do with our money, and how we save our money.
That is the first warning about money and it leads to the other two.
WARNING #2: BE HONEST AND JUST
The second warning: we are not to cheat or steal or acquire our money in unjust ways.
In the first reading, the prophet Amos is so clear on this. He condemns those who shortchange customers or who charge more than they should.
In the gospel, Jesus says, “If you trust others in little things, you can also trust them in with greater things. If you cannot be trusted with elusive wealth, who will trust you with lasting wealth?”
From these passages, my take on them is that we should not focus only on the latest incident of corporate cheating.
Instead, we need to start with our own behavior – like plagiarizing term papers, or burning CDs of copyrighted music, or under-reporting our income on our tax returns.
The big problems in any society begin with these small, individual actions.
Jesus warns us to be honest and just in the way we acquire our money.
WARNING #3: CARE FOR THE POOR
The third and final warning: do not disregard or take advantage of the poor.
Again, the prophet Amos in the first reading is consumed with this injustice. He sternly warns those who have enough money about taking advantage of the poor and not caring for them.
Again, I think it is more effective not to focus on those pharmaceutical or insurance companies that seem to make profit their god at the expense of the well-being of the sick and needy.
Instead, let’s begin with ourselves and our own behavior.
We need to let our hearts be touched by those in our own community who are unemployed or those suffering in Haiti and other countries that are absolutely destitute.
The warning from sacred scripture is not to be so taken up with our own money to the point of not sharing with those in need.
CONCLUSION
So, Juno moneta – Juno the One Who Warns – and our money.
1) Serve God first not money
2) Be honest and just in the way we acquire money
3) Share with those who lack money and the basics of life.
Three warnings against which to check our attitude and handling of money.
St. Patrick Church, Havre de Grace
September 19, 2010
Warnings About Money
By (Rev. Msgr.) Nicholas P. Amato
JUNO MONETA
Back in the days of the ancient Roman Empire, people believed in many gods and goddesses.
For example, we know they believed that Juno was the goddess of warning. It was her role to protect the empire by warning its people about any impending threat.
Because of this, the Romans installed their mint for making coins in Juno’s temple. The idea was that Juno, as the goddess of warning, would warn against any impending threat to the wealth of the Empire.
The Romans even gave Juno the title of Juno Moneta. The word moneta comes from the Latin word monere – to warn – so Juno Moneta means “Juno, the One Who Warns.”
Interestingly, that word – moneta, as in Juno Moneta – eventually became part of the English language as the word money.
Thus, the word money is derived from the Latin word which means to warn.
WARNING -- MONERE -- ABOUT MONEY
I found this little tidbit of etymology interesting because the Scripture readings often warn us about money.
Money, as a medium of exchange, does call for our attention. No matter who we are, we have to earn it, exchange for goods and services, save it for a rainy day – maybe in an IRA or a 401K plan or even stocks.
Jesus and the prophets before him are not saying that our getting involved in the exchange of money or even our enjoying it is bad – Not at all!
But they are giving us some “warnings” – remember it’s the root meaning of the word money. They are giving us warnings about our attitude toward money and our handling of it. I see three warnings in today’s Scripture readings.
WARNING #1: SERVE GOD
The first warning comes from Jesus’ own lips: we are not to become a servant or slave of money. Money should not be my ego self-image.
He says, “No servant can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or be attentive to one and despise the other.
“You cannot serve God and money.” To appreciate what Jesus is saying here, we have to remember that back in Jesus’ day, slavery was legal albeit a dreadful institution.
A master literally owned a slave and a slave could serve only one master. Jesus wants our relationship with him to be something like that.
Specifically, he is saying that no matter how much money we make, we are to see our relationship with God as the number one, the most important dimension of life.
And with him as absolutely front and center, we are to let this personal relationship with Jesus Christ color everything we do.
We are to let this influence even how we make our money, what we do with our money, and how we save our money.
That is the first warning about money and it leads to the other two.
WARNING #2: BE HONEST AND JUST
The second warning: we are not to cheat or steal or acquire our money in unjust ways.
In the first reading, the prophet Amos is so clear on this. He condemns those who shortchange customers or who charge more than they should.
In the gospel, Jesus says, “If you trust others in little things, you can also trust them in with greater things. If you cannot be trusted with elusive wealth, who will trust you with lasting wealth?”
From these passages, my take on them is that we should not focus only on the latest incident of corporate cheating.
Instead, we need to start with our own behavior – like plagiarizing term papers, or burning CDs of copyrighted music, or under-reporting our income on our tax returns.
The big problems in any society begin with these small, individual actions.
Jesus warns us to be honest and just in the way we acquire our money.
WARNING #3: CARE FOR THE POOR
The third and final warning: do not disregard or take advantage of the poor.
Again, the prophet Amos in the first reading is consumed with this injustice. He sternly warns those who have enough money about taking advantage of the poor and not caring for them.
Again, I think it is more effective not to focus on those pharmaceutical or insurance companies that seem to make profit their god at the expense of the well-being of the sick and needy.
Instead, let’s begin with ourselves and our own behavior.
We need to let our hearts be touched by those in our own community who are unemployed or those suffering in Haiti and other countries that are absolutely destitute.
The warning from sacred scripture is not to be so taken up with our own money to the point of not sharing with those in need.
CONCLUSION
So, Juno moneta – Juno the One Who Warns – and our money.
1) Serve God first not money
2) Be honest and just in the way we acquire money
3) Share with those who lack money and the basics of life.
Three warnings against which to check our attitude and handling of money.
FUNERAL Mass for September 17, 2010: Death, the Ultimate Act of Giving Oneself
Funeral Mass for Douglas Flemming
Shrine of the Sacred Heart
September 17, 2010
Death, the Ultimate Act of Giving Oneself
By (Rev. Msgr.) Nicholas P. Amato
CONDOLENCES
To his daughters Leslie and Laurie and their husbands Tom and Bob,
To his grandchildren Rachael and Christen and her husband Zach, and Ian and Andrew,
To his great granddaughter Zoe, we offer you our heartfelt condolences over the death of your father, grandfather, and great grandfather.
When I asked Laurie to whom should I offer condolences this morning, she quickly responded, “Everyone in the church; he had a bazillion friends.”
As we talked earlier in the week about Douglas’ life, I began to see why. So I extend to each of you our heartfelt condolences over your loss.
THE TWO "FALLINGS TO THE GROUND"
In today’s gospel, which the family chose, Jesus sums up (1) The secret of living and (2) The secret of dying and Douglass’ life confirms that reality in his own living and dying.
In the gospel Jesus’ words are simple enough to understand; it’s only when you see them lived out in the life of someone you love, that they reveal several mysteries.
To reiterate Jesus’ words, “I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat; but if it dies, it produces much fruit.”
It would appear that the grain of wheat can fall to the ground and (1) Either be crushed by the millstone and made into flour or (2) It can fall to the ground and be planted in the earth to give birth to new life.
In either “falling,” there is a kind of dying of the seed to itself.
In the first instance, it is ground into flour, baked into bread and becomes a source of life to others. In the second, it is planted and becomes many new grains.
I would like to suggest that Douglas’ life, as I heard it described to me, contained both of those “fallings to the ground.” (1) He nourished people in his living and I would hold that (2) He has nourished people in his dying.
A word on each reality.
WHEAT BECOMING BREAD
Douglas’ living as a husband, father, and grandfather was one of nurturing and feeding of others.
He was raised an Episcopalian and was very faithful to living a life committed to the Lord. In 1990 he was brought into full communion with the Catholic Church and his faith continued to grow through his regular reception of the Eucharist and attentiveness to Scripture.
I would say that he lived life with gusto and a sense of celebration. To have him dancing on a table with a lampshade on his head was not too far fetched a reality.
He loved ballroom dancing, the company of friends, trips, cruises, and socials – he thrived on them and through them gave life to others.
To use Jesus’ analogy, the secret of a good life is: “Falling to the ground, being milled into flour and baked into bread for others.” Such feeding of others fulfills our deepest desire to give of ourselves.
WHEAT BECOMING A NEW HARVEST
The second way wheat can die is to be buried in the earth.
If our deepest human desire is to give ourselves to others in our living, then we can make our death into a final gift. As a man of faith, I believe that is what Douglas was able to do.
From Jesus, we know that the love between two people is stronger than death and that death has the potential to deepen and strengthen that bond of love.
Remember, it was only after Jesus had died that his disciples were able to grasp what he really meant to them. And isn’t that true for all who die in love?
For it is only when we have died, that our spirits can completely reveal themselves to our loved ones.
The needs and wounds that have kept our spirits captive no longer inhibit us from giving our full selves to those he love.
Douglas knew he was dying as a result of his pancreatic cancer and heart attacks, but his faith convinced him that he was going on to something greater.
At the age of 83 and after 8 weeks of hospitals and rehabilitation he finally arrived at Stella Maris where he really wanted to be. He thanked Laurie for getting him there.
What is very significant is what he said to the nurse when he arrived at the facility: “I’m ready to die, just give me something to not make me nervous.”
And it was after only one day there that at 6:30 Saturday evening he gave up his spirit to pass quietly over to the other side of life.
And now he free of all the encumbrances of his body, free in choosing to die, he can now send you his loved ones his spirit, and you can live in a new communion with him.
CONCLUSION
Douglas’ legacy to us all is clear: we are called to give ourselves, not only in life, but in death as well.
And it is in our dying that we are called to make our greatest gift to God and to those we love.
You are all the recipients of his spirit.
Shrine of the Sacred Heart
September 17, 2010
Death, the Ultimate Act of Giving Oneself
By (Rev. Msgr.) Nicholas P. Amato
CONDOLENCES
To his daughters Leslie and Laurie and their husbands Tom and Bob,
To his grandchildren Rachael and Christen and her husband Zach, and Ian and Andrew,
To his great granddaughter Zoe, we offer you our heartfelt condolences over the death of your father, grandfather, and great grandfather.
When I asked Laurie to whom should I offer condolences this morning, she quickly responded, “Everyone in the church; he had a bazillion friends.”
As we talked earlier in the week about Douglas’ life, I began to see why. So I extend to each of you our heartfelt condolences over your loss.
THE TWO "FALLINGS TO THE GROUND"
In today’s gospel, which the family chose, Jesus sums up (1) The secret of living and (2) The secret of dying and Douglass’ life confirms that reality in his own living and dying.
In the gospel Jesus’ words are simple enough to understand; it’s only when you see them lived out in the life of someone you love, that they reveal several mysteries.
To reiterate Jesus’ words, “I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat; but if it dies, it produces much fruit.”
It would appear that the grain of wheat can fall to the ground and (1) Either be crushed by the millstone and made into flour or (2) It can fall to the ground and be planted in the earth to give birth to new life.
In either “falling,” there is a kind of dying of the seed to itself.
In the first instance, it is ground into flour, baked into bread and becomes a source of life to others. In the second, it is planted and becomes many new grains.
I would like to suggest that Douglas’ life, as I heard it described to me, contained both of those “fallings to the ground.” (1) He nourished people in his living and I would hold that (2) He has nourished people in his dying.
A word on each reality.
WHEAT BECOMING BREAD
Douglas’ living as a husband, father, and grandfather was one of nurturing and feeding of others.
He was raised an Episcopalian and was very faithful to living a life committed to the Lord. In 1990 he was brought into full communion with the Catholic Church and his faith continued to grow through his regular reception of the Eucharist and attentiveness to Scripture.
I would say that he lived life with gusto and a sense of celebration. To have him dancing on a table with a lampshade on his head was not too far fetched a reality.
He loved ballroom dancing, the company of friends, trips, cruises, and socials – he thrived on them and through them gave life to others.
To use Jesus’ analogy, the secret of a good life is: “Falling to the ground, being milled into flour and baked into bread for others.” Such feeding of others fulfills our deepest desire to give of ourselves.
WHEAT BECOMING A NEW HARVEST
The second way wheat can die is to be buried in the earth.
If our deepest human desire is to give ourselves to others in our living, then we can make our death into a final gift. As a man of faith, I believe that is what Douglas was able to do.
From Jesus, we know that the love between two people is stronger than death and that death has the potential to deepen and strengthen that bond of love.
Remember, it was only after Jesus had died that his disciples were able to grasp what he really meant to them. And isn’t that true for all who die in love?
For it is only when we have died, that our spirits can completely reveal themselves to our loved ones.
The needs and wounds that have kept our spirits captive no longer inhibit us from giving our full selves to those he love.
Douglas knew he was dying as a result of his pancreatic cancer and heart attacks, but his faith convinced him that he was going on to something greater.
At the age of 83 and after 8 weeks of hospitals and rehabilitation he finally arrived at Stella Maris where he really wanted to be. He thanked Laurie for getting him there.
What is very significant is what he said to the nurse when he arrived at the facility: “I’m ready to die, just give me something to not make me nervous.”
And it was after only one day there that at 6:30 Saturday evening he gave up his spirit to pass quietly over to the other side of life.
And now he free of all the encumbrances of his body, free in choosing to die, he can now send you his loved ones his spirit, and you can live in a new communion with him.
CONCLUSION
Douglas’ legacy to us all is clear: we are called to give ourselves, not only in life, but in death as well.
And it is in our dying that we are called to make our greatest gift to God and to those we love.
You are all the recipients of his spirit.
Friday, September 10, 2010
Weekly HOMILY for September 12, 2010: Themes for Faith Formation
24th Sunday of Ordinary Time, Cycle C
Terranuova Hermitage
September 12, 2010
Themes for Faith Formation
By (Rev. Msgr.) Nicholas P. Amato
CHILDREN
One day a father was on the beach at the ocean with his children. His little six-year-old Tommy ran up him, grabbed his hand, and led him to where a seagull lay dead in the sand.
Tommy asked, “Daddy, what happened to him?” The father replied, “Well Tommy, he died and went to heaven.”
Tommy just starred and thought for a moment. Finally, he asked, “So did God throw him back down?”
There is another story about a family who had invited a number of relatives over to dinner. They were gathering around the table and the mother asked seven-year-old Brianna to say the grace before dinner.
Brianna said, “Mommy, I wouldn’t know what to say.” Her mother responded, “Just say what you hear mommy say.”
Brianna looked a bit confused but then she bowed her head and prayed. “Lord, why on earth did I invite all these people to dinner?”
FAITH FORMATION
These humorous anecdotes highlight the beauty of children and the importance of their faith formation.
And that, in a very special way, is what we celebrate each year as we begin a new year of Religious Education and Catholic School.
Immediately after a community begins worshipping in a common space, the first question that is asked is, “What of the children? Let’s begin a Sunday School.”
Then, as the Mass attendance grows so too does the number of children receiving religious education.
Today, as we begin a new year of faith formation in the parishes throughout the Archdiocese, let us recognize the importance of bringing our children to the Lord for them to hear his voice.
What is primary is what we are imparting to the children, namely, a relationship with Christ that once formed will continue to grow and flower as the child grows. What a gift it is for them to know Christ in an experiential way and from within our Catholic tradition!
Today, I would like to mention four main areas for this formation. I see these rooted right in the Scripture readings that we have for this Sunday.
THEMES OF FORMATION
First, the gospel images of the shepherd looking for one lost sheep and the woman looking for one lost coin show God’s great love for us. God’s love in unconditional and we are valuable in God’s eyes. Note also that it is God’s initiative – God looking for us!
This is the foundation of our faith formation and it gives the children a healthy sense of themselves in relation to God. We see this as leading them to becoming whole, holy and loving persons in return.
Next, in our first reading we hear of God’s forgiveness of his people at the time of the Exodus. With this as a basis, we try to impart a strong moral code to the children.
We give them a sense of right and wrong, a knowledge of the commandments of God and the teachings of the Church, and an understanding of our capacity to do good and also to sin. We are clear that God will forgive and gives us the chance to start all over again.
That takes me to the understanding of sacrament that we try to give the children – an understanding of God acting in our lives right now. We introduce the children to the Sacrament of Reconciliation – what we used to call First Confession – and to First Eucharist in the second grade.
We enrich the understanding of these sacraments in all the years following that. We want the children to enjoy coming to Mass every week and we teach them how to pray and to see their faith as a friendship with God.
Finally, the images in today’s gospel picture God as reaching out to all persons, especially those in need. We want our children to have a respect and care for others, beyond themselves.
Children in catechetical programs and Catholic Schools work on special service projects to help meet the needs of the less fortunate.
CONCLUSION
So, as we begin a new school year, we have much to celebrate.
We celebrate our programs in Religious Education and Catholic Schools, all faith formation programs that feed and nurture our children.
We celebrate, we thank God, and we as a parish ask God’s continued guidance and blessing for the programs we offer our children.
Terranuova Hermitage
September 12, 2010
Themes for Faith Formation
By (Rev. Msgr.) Nicholas P. Amato
CHILDREN
One day a father was on the beach at the ocean with his children. His little six-year-old Tommy ran up him, grabbed his hand, and led him to where a seagull lay dead in the sand.
Tommy asked, “Daddy, what happened to him?” The father replied, “Well Tommy, he died and went to heaven.”
Tommy just starred and thought for a moment. Finally, he asked, “So did God throw him back down?”
There is another story about a family who had invited a number of relatives over to dinner. They were gathering around the table and the mother asked seven-year-old Brianna to say the grace before dinner.
Brianna said, “Mommy, I wouldn’t know what to say.” Her mother responded, “Just say what you hear mommy say.”
Brianna looked a bit confused but then she bowed her head and prayed. “Lord, why on earth did I invite all these people to dinner?”
FAITH FORMATION
These humorous anecdotes highlight the beauty of children and the importance of their faith formation.
And that, in a very special way, is what we celebrate each year as we begin a new year of Religious Education and Catholic School.
Immediately after a community begins worshipping in a common space, the first question that is asked is, “What of the children? Let’s begin a Sunday School.”
Then, as the Mass attendance grows so too does the number of children receiving religious education.
Today, as we begin a new year of faith formation in the parishes throughout the Archdiocese, let us recognize the importance of bringing our children to the Lord for them to hear his voice.
What is primary is what we are imparting to the children, namely, a relationship with Christ that once formed will continue to grow and flower as the child grows. What a gift it is for them to know Christ in an experiential way and from within our Catholic tradition!
Today, I would like to mention four main areas for this formation. I see these rooted right in the Scripture readings that we have for this Sunday.
THEMES OF FORMATION
First, the gospel images of the shepherd looking for one lost sheep and the woman looking for one lost coin show God’s great love for us. God’s love in unconditional and we are valuable in God’s eyes. Note also that it is God’s initiative – God looking for us!
This is the foundation of our faith formation and it gives the children a healthy sense of themselves in relation to God. We see this as leading them to becoming whole, holy and loving persons in return.
Next, in our first reading we hear of God’s forgiveness of his people at the time of the Exodus. With this as a basis, we try to impart a strong moral code to the children.
We give them a sense of right and wrong, a knowledge of the commandments of God and the teachings of the Church, and an understanding of our capacity to do good and also to sin. We are clear that God will forgive and gives us the chance to start all over again.
That takes me to the understanding of sacrament that we try to give the children – an understanding of God acting in our lives right now. We introduce the children to the Sacrament of Reconciliation – what we used to call First Confession – and to First Eucharist in the second grade.
We enrich the understanding of these sacraments in all the years following that. We want the children to enjoy coming to Mass every week and we teach them how to pray and to see their faith as a friendship with God.
Finally, the images in today’s gospel picture God as reaching out to all persons, especially those in need. We want our children to have a respect and care for others, beyond themselves.
Children in catechetical programs and Catholic Schools work on special service projects to help meet the needs of the less fortunate.
CONCLUSION
So, as we begin a new school year, we have much to celebrate.
We celebrate our programs in Religious Education and Catholic Schools, all faith formation programs that feed and nurture our children.
We celebrate, we thank God, and we as a parish ask God’s continued guidance and blessing for the programs we offer our children.
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