DAYS OF RETREAT: THE GOSPEL OF JOY!

Each year the Bishops of the Province of Los Angeles begin the New Year with a silent, directed retreat at the Cardinal Timothy Manning House of Prayer for Priests in Los Angeles.

These are always blessed days since we are able to set aside the concerns and the worries of every day life, and to spend these eight days in quiet prayer and reflection.  This year I am using Pope Francis' Apostolic Exhortation, The Gospel of Joy, for my reflections.

It is so reassuring that Francis grounds his Exhortation in the great virtue of Joy, and that he begins by assuring us that God's overarching love and mercy for us brings us the gift of joy.  We are not to understand God as one who is constantly angry with us because of our failures and sins; rather, our God is one who never tires of calling us to himself, of loving us, and of forgiving us.

That is truly "good news" for all of us, and a wonderful mind-set with which to begin the New Year!

The Gospel of Joy is divided into five chapters, making it ideal for a week of retreat.

I would urge all of you to get your own copy of The Gospel of Joy and to reflect upon each of the chapters.  Sadly, some commentators have chosen to quote a few sentences of the document without understanding the context--one based on Jesus' life, teachings, and personal example.

May all of us discover anew God's great love and mercy towards us, and the joy which God's presence in our lives brings us!



The Gospel of Joy can be purchased through the Publications Office of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops:   http://www.usccbpublishing.org/productdetails.cfm?SKU=7-458

FOLLOWING GOD'S PLAN IN OUR LIVES

Blessed Cardinal John Henry Newman was a great Catholic priest in England, and a prolific author and preacher.  He composed many Prayers over his lifetime, and I would like to share this one with you.  At times, all of us yearn to know if we are following God's Plan for us in our daily lives.  This Prayer helps guide and reassure us:


God has created me to do Him some definite service.

He has committed some work to me which He has not committed to another.

I have my mission.

I may never know it in this life, but I shall be told it in the next.

I am a link in a chain, a bond of connection between persons.

He has not created me for naught.

I shall do good; I shall do His work.

I shall be an angel of peace, a preacher of truth in my own place.

While not intending it if I do but keep His commandments.

Therefore, I will trust Him, whatever I am, I can never be thrown away. 

If I am in sickness, my sickness may serve Him.

In perplexity, my perplexity may serve Him.

If I am in sorrow, my sorrow may serve Him.

He does nothing in vain.  He knows what He is about.

He may take away my friends.  He may throw me among strangers.

He may make me feel desolate, make my spirits sink, hide my future from me.

Still, He knows what He is about.

CONGRESS LEAVES WASHINGTON; NO IMMIGRATION REFORM

In a most embarrassing move, the House of Representatives left Washington yesterday for yet another long vacation and recess--leaving any type of immigration reform legislation on their desks.

The U.S. Senate had passed a comprehensive immigration reform package back on June 27, 2013--some six months ago.  The U.S. Bishops' Conference had supported that reform legislation which had broad bi-partisan support on a 68 to 32 vote.

The Bill was sent to the House where it has languished amidst a myriad of claims and counter-claims about its content, need, and application.  Speaker John Boehner would not allow the Senate Bill to be brought up for a vote in the House where many thought it would actually pass.

In the meantime, we continue to leave some 11 million unauthorized residents stuck in the shadows of our society.  They live their daily lives surrounded by fear, threats, loss of dignity and respect, and often exploited.  This lack of Congressional action to fix our badly outdated immigration laws is a modern day scandal, and surely one of the greatest social and moral evils present in our country.

What will happen when Congress reconvenes after the holidays?  Will there be any chances for action on the Senate Bill?  Will House members be able to break through the anti-immigrant rhetoric and take the bold steps needed to pass this legislation?

What is amazing is how far out of step the House is with the overall American public on the issue of immigration reform.  All recent polls show strong public support for our immigrant brothers and sisters.  One recent poll showed these results:

57% replied that immigrants should stay, and apply for citizenship;
11% replied that they should remain, but not be allowed to apply for citizenship;
26 % replied that immigrants should be required to leave;
5% were unsure.

That means that 68% of Americans believe the unauthorized immigrants in our midst should be allowed to remain the country.

There is a terrific website which tracks all polls across the country on immigration issues, and I strongly recommend it:   http://www.pollingreport.com/immigration.htm

We don't give up even in the midst of the House intransigence.  We increase our prayers for these brothers and sisters in need of our help; we continue to convince family members and friends about the positive value of our immigrants; and we send emails/letters to our House members urging action on immigration reform.

With the mid-term elections in early November 2014 on the horizon, we must not allow political brinkmanship to further torpedo needed comprehensive immigration reform.

St. Toribio Romo, intercede for our immigrant brothers and sisters!!

GREAT ADVICE IN ADVERSITY

St. Catherine of Siena was a renowned Dominican who lived in the northern Italian city of Siena.  She was a fearless papal counselor, and eventually a stigmatist.  She died in 1380, and was declared a Doctor of the Church because of her keen intellect.

This piece appeared today in Magnificat [1] and I found it to have great insights when any of us finds our self in the midst of adversity.  I pray that you will find it useful on your own spiritual journey:


Virtue is proved in difficulty just as gold is proved in fire.  For if in difficulties we were to give no genuine proof of patience but try to avoid the difficulty...this would be a clear sign that we were not serving our Creator, that we were not letting ourselves be governed by him in accepting humbly and with love whatever our Lord gives us. 

It would not give evidence of faith that we are loved by our Lord.  For if we truly believed this, we could never find a stumbling block in anything.  We would value and reverence the hand that offers the bitterness of adversity as much as the hand that offers prosperity and consolation, because we would see that everything is done out of love.

The very fact of our not seeing this would demonstrate that we had become servants of our selfish sensuality and spiritual self-will, and that we had made these our Lord and were therefore letting ourselves be governed by them.

Since this servitude to the world and to our spiritually selfish will is deadly, we must flee from it.  It gets in the way of perfection, keeps us from being free servants of God.  It makes us want to serve God in our own way rather than God's--which is not right and makes our service mercenary.  So much evil comes of this!

I tell you, then, we must follow this way and teaching that he has given us.  God wants to do everything by using intermediaries.  We see clearly that we were not created by ourselves but that God himself made his charity an intermediary.  By means of his pure love he created us in his image and likeness so that we might share in and enjoy the eternal sight of him.  

But we lost this through the selfish love and sin of our first father.  So to give us back what we had lost, God gave us his Son as intermediary, and this mediator took on the blows [in our place]--since the war [between us and God] had been so great that there was no other way this peace could have been made.

Why?  Because the infinite God had  been offended, and finite humankind who had sinned could never, by any suffering they might have borne, have made satisfaction to the dear infinite God.

So the blazing depth of God's charity found a way to make this peace.


May we all find this a wonderful meditation and reflection throughout our Advent and Christmas season!


[1]  Magnificat is a monthly small booklet which offers various Catholic prayers, the Mass formularies for each day of the month, and many other spiritual insights for all of us.  Their website:  www.magnificat.com

PERSECUTION and PERSEVERANCE

[This is a wonderful meditation during times of distress, agony, and difficulty]

PERSECUTION and PERSEVERANCE

By John Janaro

Lord Jesus,

I am struck dumb,

immobile,

inside and outside.

My heart is shrouded by this misery;

my eyes, which look upon your holy face,

are stricken, assaulted by the light,

aching red, longing to be shut beneath their lids.

I have no voice

except an inner cry,

a mute, distressed animal whimper

that cannot even summon itself to ask for mercy.

My fingers drift

away from my hands,

and the tokens of your love

are beyond their reach.

How do I pray?

O Lord, where is the longing of my prayer?

Jesus, Mercy,

hear the struggle of breath;

Jesus, Mercy,

hear the scream inside

the shaken contours of this skull,

with brain pierced

by some fiery blade.

O God, Love!

Hear the endless noise,

the pounding,

the howling of skin and nerve,

muscle and joint:

this cacophony of pain

that groans all through the place

where I once felt that I had a body.

Jesus, Mercy, forgive me.

Jesus, Love.

Jesus, I offer.

I long for these to be my words to you,

but lips are speechless quiver,

and thought and heart are frozen in exhaustion.

Prayer is ice that does not flow.

Prayer is a voice of distant memory;

it feels like a still corpse

beneath my soul’s total turmoil.

In the end there is nothing

but the hollowness that holds a thing called me

wanting you.

I want you, Jesus.

[John Janaro is the author of Never Give Up: My Life and God’s Mercy]

50th ANNIVERSARY OF THE DEATH OF PRESIDENT JOHN F. KENNEDY

For all of us who were living on November 22, 1963, we recall vividly where we were on that fateful day in our country's history.

I was ordained the year earlier in Fresno, CA, and had been sent to the Catholic University of America in Washington, DC, to get a master's degree in social work.  We were all in our classes at the University when someone came to the classroom door and informed the professor what had happened in Dallas.  The class was immediately suspended.  It was late in the morning.

By this time word had spread across the Catholic University campus, and all classes were ended.  What struck me first was the total silence that prevailed.  No one spoke.  No one gave any commentary.

Since the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception is on the edge of the campus, everyone began walking towards the Shrine.  It was incredible to experience these long lines of students streaming silently from every direction towards the Shrine.  All in silence.  There were many processions of people in shock and grieving, silently lifting up their own prayers to God.

After we filled the huge interior of the Shrine, all remained in silence.  Recall that 1963 was before the end of the Second Vatican Council and the liturgical reform which permitted special Masses in the afternoon.

Then, someone began praying the Rosary out loud.  We all joined in and filled the Shrine with our prayers which echoed the pain, sadness and sorrow of our hearts and souls.  I recall being in disbelief that our well loved President had been killed, taken from us.

After the Rosary, many of us lingered about in the Shrine seeking some solace in the midst of our grief.  Then everyone departed going back to their residences or dining rooms.  Lunch time conversation was muted and   painful as we tried to cope with the enormity of what had happened.  I recall feeling so empty--unlike anything previously.

All of the radio stations began playing classical music fitting for such a sad day in our lives, interrupting now and then for a brief news update.  The few television channels likewise played somber music as the networks tried to put together some programming--satellite TV trucks and 24 hour news had not come about yet.

The evening network news featured such greats as Walter Cronkite and Dan Rather who helped lead the nation into its time of mourning and reflection.

Once Air Force One had returned to Washington with the body of President Kennedy, his wife Jackie, and President Lyndon Johnson, plans for a State Funeral began.

There was a large number of priest-students at Catholic University, and I recall all of us celebrating Mass the next morning for the President, his family, and our nation.  A prayerful and somber mood settled across the nation's Capitol.

Once the time and location for each of the Funeral events was set, it was obvious that we priests could not go to more than one event.  So many Washington streets would be closed, and there would be no way to get from one location to another.

Three other priests and I decided to go to the sidewalk across the street from St. Matthew's Cathedral where the Funeral Mass was to be celebrated.  The day of the Funeral was very cold, but clear.  We arrived in front of the Cathedral at least two or three hours before the Funeral so that we would have a good viewing place.

The Funeral Procession came from the Capitol to St. Matthew's Cathedral with many heads of State present.  Almost all of these heads of State walked in the Funeral Procession--an incredible sight, and not something that security leaders would ever allow today.

Some of the heads of State I recall seeing in the procession were Soviet First Deputy Premier Anastas Mikoyan, French President Charles de Gaulle, Canadian Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson, the Duke of Edinburgh representing Queen Elizabeth II,  British Prime Minister Sir Alec Douglas-Home, Irish President Eamon de Valera, Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie, Queen Frederika of Greece, and King Baudouin I of the Belgians.  It was amazing to see all of these world leaders walking in solemn procession to the Cathedral.
Charles de Gaulle and Haile Selassie were particularly impressive because both were very tall men.

Cardinal Richard Cushing of Boston was the main celebrant and homilist.

After the Funeral Mass, most of the dignitaries were taken by automobile to the Arlington Cemetery where President Kennedy was to be buried.

I recall us making our way back to the University and viewing the Committal Services on local television.

It is amazing how strong the emotional and spiritual impact can be when a tragedy occurs.  I can recall the details of November 22, 1963 just as vividly as 50 years ago.  The same is true for all of us who remember exactly where we were on 9/11.

May God continue to watch over and protect all of us living in our great Nation.

IMMIGRATION REFORM DOABLE: COALITION NEEDED

Now that our national fiscal issues have been resolved for at least a few months, it's time to enact solid comprehensive immigration reform.

It's interesting that here in California more Republican House members are moving towards a comprehensive approach.  Why?  Because so many of them represent agricultural areas of the State, and their farmer constituents are begging for help because they can't find enough local labor to help with all aspects of the agricultural year, especially at harvest time.

We need to reach out more proactively to all of our House members, including more conservative members--Democrat or Republican.  Our best allies will come from the broad agricultural community:  individual growers, farm organizations, State Farm Bureaus, and the like.

Perhaps we have been too narrow in reaching out to diverse groups to form a broader coalition to get comprehensive immigration reform.  It's interesting that several States which have passed local restrictive laws dealing with immigrants have found great opposition from their agricultural groups.  A few examples:  Colorado, Arizona, Alabama, and Georgia.  We have achieved new partners from those State Farm groups, as well as other Church communities.  In the South, many Evangelical Churches have rallied in support of our immigrants and immigration reform.

Let's proceed forward actively to recruit new partners and collaborators as we make a renewed effort to pass decent and comprehensive immigration reform.