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Recently, I’ve been making my way through “Introduction to the Devout Life”. It’s a brilliant book by the brilliant spiritual director St. Francis de Sales!

Chapter 6 begins the process of purifying ourselves from sin and the attachment to sin. St. Francis makes these remarks about how many of us approach confession:

“It often happens that the usual confessions of those who live a common and ordinary life are full of great defects. Generally they make little or no preparation, and they do not have sufficient contrition. In fact, it frequently happens that they go to confession with the implicit determination of returning to sin, since they are not willing to avoid the occasions of sin or to make use of the measures required to amend their life.”

Yikes! For this reason, he suggests a general confession. A general confession is a confession during which you confess all the sins you have committed from the age of reason to the present. (This is not to be confused with a general absolution.) General confessions are recommended for anyone entering a new phase in life or as recommended by a spiritual director.

A few weeks ago, I made my first general confession. The priest with whom I had schedule the confession told me to prepare by recalling the first few times I had ever sinned and by doing a thorough examination of conscience. I found an examination guide online which went through each of the ten commandments in detail.

The confession lasted about forty-five minutes…and then it was over. I think I was expecting something a little more dramatic: perhaps a little psychoanalysis, maybe some fireworks, gongs, or euphoric shouts of joy. But after the confession, I realized that what had happened was that I had quietly and contritely laid my sins at the feet of Jesus. Beautifully simple.

Has it made a difference? Yes! First, there is the freedom of knowing, with certainty, that all those sins are forgiven. Secondly, I realized again the importance of a true commitment to amend my life in my decisions and actions. Finally, after this process I certainly think about each confession I make more prayerfully.

“If we acknowledge our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive our sins and cleanse us from every wrongdoing.” 1 John 1:8

Faithful Citizenship

As you probably know from the news, the House has begun debate on a health care bill. Now is the time to weigh in. If you are having trouble wading through the material, I call your attention to the latest newsletter from the Maryland Catholic Conference. http://capwiz.com/mdcath/issues/alert/?alertid=14280056

Both in the health care debate and the same-sex marriage debate, many people wonder why the church is “getting into politics.”  In both cases, one could say that the church has always been a partner with the state. We are the single largest private provider of health care in the U.S.. When a priest witnesses the marriage of a couple, he represents both the church and the state. Unlike, many European, Central and South American countries in which couples must have a civil ceremony before a church wedding, in the U.S. this is not the case, the priest (or any minister) is given authority from the state to solemnize the marriage in the name of the state.

The Mission of the Laity

Perhaps, more importantly, it is the vocation of the lay person, by virtue of the prophetic charism of our  Baptism, that we bear Christ and the Good News to the world. It is the laity whom the church assumes will take the lead in building the reign of God by bringing the Gospel to bear on the issues of the day. This does not mean making the state Catholic, but rather taking seriously our responsibility to assess decisions, legislation, and law in light of our conscience and the teaching of the Church.

Religious Liberty

Both of these issues also raise serious questions about the Constitution’s protection of religious liberty and the practice of religion. Pope Benedict spoke to this issue in his address to the United Nations during his 2008 visit to the United States. To the U. N. General Assembly he said “It is inconceivable, then, that believers should have to suppress a part of themselves–their faith–in order to be active citizens. It should never be necessary to deny God in order to enjoy one’s rights….The full guarantee of religious liberty cannot be limited to the free exercise of worship, but has to give due consideration to the public dimension of religion, and hence to the possibility of believers playing their part in building social order” (General Assembly of the United Nations, 4/18/08).

The proposed legislation on both topics involve serious threats to both individuals and Catholic(and other religious) organizations to both meet the mandate to serve all of God’s people and to be able to preserve our freedom to live and teach the faith. It is unimaginable that the Church would limit the services of our schools, hospitals, social service agencies and other programs to Catholics only.  This, in and of itself,  is against the teaching of the Church. However, it is also unimaginable that we would place ourselves in a compromising position with regard to the Gospel.

The partnership of Church and State in the U.S has been enormously successful in building a school system and health care system that has educated and cared for millions of Americans.  It would be a tremendous loss to our communities to lose this partnership.

Adding to my thoughts on “grateful and brokenhearted”, one common mistake we make upon learning of someone’s death, is that we try to avoid or minimize our grief.  I think those who know us and love us but, were not necessarily as affected by the loss, want us to get past the grieving as quickly as possible.  So, frankly, in their attempts to help us, they do and say some silly things.

“Homegoing service”

Let start with calling a funeral a “Homegoing service.”  I have always been bothered by this!  I have begged my family to make sure that when I die, do let anyone call my funeral a “homegoing service.”  I need a funeral, not a “homegoing service.”  I need an evening of prayers followed by a Mass of Christian burial.  Why?  First of all, anything else it implies that no one is supposed to be sad at my death.  Not only are we supposed to be sad at the death of someone;  God is sad at the death of someone because, death was never part of His plan for us.  Death entered the world because of our sins, not because God planned it.  God will overcome it nonetheless.  But, to call the funeral rites a “homegoing service” confuses joy with hope.

My father died when I was only nine years old and there was NOTHING joyous about that.  I was sad then and over 30 years later, I get sad now.   Furthermore, I actually get resentful if someone suggests that I am not supposed to be sad anymore.  However, each time I pray for him, I am filled with hope.  That is what being a Catholic is all about; Hope.  And genuine Christian hope feels wonderful and can actually make you smile.

God needed another angel in heaven.

First off, we are not angels.  Angels are angels.  Human beings are human beings.  God does not need us to be an angel or anything else for that matter. Rather, God WANTS us to be part of the heavenly kingdom. To suggest that when a musician dies, God needed another player for some ethereal orchestra is silly.  The heavenly kingdom would get along fine without us.  Instead, God loves us and WANTS us to be part of it.  He does not NEED us.  How cruel and selfish would it be for God to cause pain and suffering because of some otherworldly essential?  God did not plan for your death or the death of your loved one.  He only planned His response, through His own death and resurrection.

We should not be sad today.

When I hear this, I want to scream, “Are you kidding?!”   When Lazarus died, Jesus wept.  When any of the faithful dies, I would like to think Jesus weeps.  I am convinced that Jesus shares our sadness.   However, unlike us sinners, Jesus responds to death with perfect love and hope.  Nonetheless, even though death has been overcome by Christ, the pain and sadness we feel initially is no different from the pain and sadness our own Mother Mary felt at the foot of the Cross.  When I preside at a funeral, I pray that the congregates leave with a renewed and sustained hope in the resurrection of their loved one.  But to suggest that one should not be sad or that one should not cry would be misguided at best, if not cruel.

Christ our Hope

During Pope Benedict’s visit to the United States, the theme “Christ our hope” was repeated throughout the visit.  Regarding Christian hope, the Catechism of the Catholic Church reads, “We firmly believe, and hence we hope that, just as Christ is truly risen from the dead and lives for ever, so after death the righteous will live for ever with the risen Christ and he will raise them up on the last day. Our resurrection, like his own, will be the work of the Most Holy Trinity:

If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also through his Spirit who dwells in you. – Rom 8:11

Brothers and Sisters, as we commemorate the faithful departed today, let us weep if needed and let us be sad. Also, let us remember fondly our loved ones and, if possible recall a good memory or two.  But, most importantly, let us hope for the joy of the resurrection of all us.

Today I said to God in exasperation, “Life is so complicated! So many virtues to gain, so many vices to avoid!”

It does seem that way sometimes, but then during my prayer time this afternoon, I reread today’s gospel.

Jesus said, “What is the Kingdom of God like? To what can I compare it? It is like a mustard seed that a man took and planted in the garden. When it was fully grown, it became a large bush and the birds of the sky dwelt in its branches.”

Again he said, “To what shall I compare the Kingdom of God? It is like yeast that a woman took and mixed in with three measures of wheat flour until the whole batch of dough was leavened.”

Mustard seeds? Yeast granules? Pretty small stuff. Not very complicated. But their effects are large bushes and whole batches of dough!

This got me thinking about an experience I had with my friend this weekend. We were at a baptism, and as we were getting ready to leave the reception, he said he was going to go say good-bye to everyone. By “everyone” he meant everyone with whom he had had a meaningful conversation.

Wow! This was such a small gesture, yet the effect was quite large! Another opportunity for “nice meeting you”, “thank you”, “good luck”, and “God bless”. Another opportunity for a hug, a handshake, and a kiss on the cheek.

I was so impressed by this practice that I tried it out last night at a reception at my parish. As I was leaving, I went back to a older gentleman who was sitting at my table and asked his name again, shook his hand, and said goodbye so that if I see him around the parish I’ll be able to say “Hello Mario!”

What if building Christian community were that easy? What if we all planted little mustard seeds like this each chance we got?

On Saturday, I gave a presentation on Sons and Daughters of Light: A Pastoral Plan for Ministry with Young Adults at the Archdiocese of Washington’s annual Catechetical Day. Goal One of this pastoral plan is to connect young adults with Jesus Christ.

After watching this video, I realized that my prayer  is that every young adult would have such a personal experience with Jesus Christ. It’s powerful.