Catholic Caucus: Daily Mass Readings, 11-18-05,Opt. St. Rose Duchesne, Ded. Bas'c St. Peter/St. Paul

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Dedication of the Basilicas of St Peter and St Paul

St. Rose-Philippine Duchesne (1769-1852)-religious, Society of the Sacred Heart of Jesus

From: 1 Maccabees 4:36-37, 52-59

Purification and Dedication of the Temple

[36] Then said Judas and his brothers, “Behold, our enemies are
crushed; let us go up to cleanse the sanctuary and dedicate it.”
[37] So all the army assembled and they went up to Mount Zion.

[52] Early in the morning on the twenty-fifth day of the ninth month,
which is the month of Chislev, in the one hundred and forty-eighth
year, [53] they rose and offered sacrifice, as the law directs, on the
new altar of burnt offering which they had built. [54] At the very
season and on the very day that the Gentiles had profaned it it was
dedicated with songs and harps and lutes and cymbals [55] All the
people fell on their faces and worshipped and blessed Heaven, who had
prospered them. [56] So they celebrated the dedication of the altar
for eight days, and offered burnt offerings with gladness; they
offered a sacrifice of deliverance and praise. [57] They decorated the
front of the temple with golden crowns and small shields; they
restored the gates and the chambers for the priests, and furnished
them with doors. [58] There was very great gladness among the people,
and the reproach of the Gentiles was removed. [59] Then Judas and his
brothers and all the assembly of Israel determined that every year at
that season the days of dedication of the altar should be observed
with gladness and joy for eight days, beginning with the twenty-fifth
day of the month of Chislev.

Commentary:

4:36—61. Now that the enemy threat has been removed, the Maccabees’
first priority is to cleanse the temple and reinstate religious
worship--which would put their relationship with God on a proper
footing, and which was what the war was all about.

The cleansing is entrusted to “blameless priests” as the Law laid down
(cf. Lev 22:3-9). The stones of the altar that Ezra consecrated in his
time (cf. Ezra 3:2-5) must be thrown into the Gehenna valley like
those from the pagan altars; so they seek a temporary solution until
such time as a prophet should come (v. 46; cf. 9:27; 14:41; Dan 3:38).
The building of a new altar in line with what Exodus 20:25 laid down
reminds us of the dedication of the temple by Solomon (cf. 1 Kings
8:1-66) and the dedication of the temple of Ezra-Nehemiah (cf. Ezra
5:1-6:22). In 2 Maccabees 10:1-8 these events are reported more
briefly, but mention is made there of how the fire for the sacrifices was made.

The importance acquired by the feast established to commemorate the
dedication of the temple can be seen from 2 Maccabees 1:9, 18; 2:16.
In Hebrew this festival is called "Hanukkah" and in Greek "Encenias"
because to mark it lamps or candles are lit in people’s houses (as is
the Jewish practice today) to symbolize the light of the Law. It was
on this feast that Jesus told the Jews that he was the Son of God (cf.
Jn 10:22-39).

Source: "The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries". Biblical text
taken from the Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries
made by members of the Faculty of Theology of the University of
Navarre, Spain. Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock,
Co. Dublin, Ireland.

From: Luke 19:45-48

Jesus in the Temple

[45] And He (Jesus) entered the temple and began to drive out those who
sold, [46] saying to them, "It is written, `My house shall be a house
of prayer'; but you have made it a den of robbers."

[47] And He was teaching daily in the temple. The chief priests and
the scribes and the principal men of the people sought to destroy Him;
[48] but they did not find anything they could do, for all the people
hung upon His words.

Commentary:

45-48. Jesus' indignation shows His zeal for the glory of His Father,
to be recognized at this time in the temple itself. He inveighs
against the traders for engaging in business which has nothing to do
with divine worship (cf. Matthew 21:12; Mark 11-15). Even the priests
allowed some of these abuses to go on--perhaps because they benefited
from them in the form of taxes. The traders did perform services
necessary for divine worship but this was vitiated by their excessive
desire for gain, turning the temple into a marketplace.

"My house shall be a house of prayer": Jesus uses these words from
Isaiah (56:7; cf. Jeremiah 7:11) to underline the purpose of the
temple. Jesus' behavior shows the respect the Temple of Jerusalem
deserved; how much more reverence should be shown our churches, where
Jesus Himself is really present in the Blessed Sacrament. (cf. notes on
Matthew 21:12-13; and Mark 11:15-18).

[The notes on Matthew 21:12-13 states:

12-13. Although God is present everywhere and cannot be confined within
the walls of temples built by man (Acts 17:24-25), God instructed Moses
to build a tabernacle where He would dwell among the Israelites (Exodus
25:40). Once the Jewish people were established in Palestine, King
Solomon, also in obedience to a divine instruction, built the temple of
Jerusalem (1 Kings 6-8), where people went to render public worship to
God (Deuteronomy 12).

Exodus (23:15) commanded the Israelites not to enter the temple
empty-handed, but to bring some victim to be sacrificed. To make this
easier for people who had to travel a certain distance, a veritable
market developed in the temple courtyards with animals being bought and
sold for sacrificial purposes. Originally this may have made sense,
but seemingly as time went on commercial gain became the dominant
purpose of this buying and selling of victims; probably the priests
themselves and temple servants benefited from this trade or even
operated it. The net result was that the temple looked more like a
livestock mart than a place for meeting God.

Moved by zeal for His Father's house (John 2:17), Jesus cannot tolerate
this deplorable abuse and in holy anger He ejects everyone--to show
people the respect and reverence due to the temple as a holy place. We
should show much greater respect in the Christian temple--the Christian
churches--where the eucharistic sacrifice is celebrated and where Jesus
Christ, God and Man, is really and truly present, reserved in the
tabernacle. For a Christian, proper dress, liturgical gestures and
postures, genuflections and reverence to the tabernacle, etc. are
expressions of the respect due to the Lord in His temple.

[The notes on Mark 11:15-18 states:

15-18. Our Lord does not abide lack of faith or piety in things to do
with the worship of God. If He acts so vigorously to defend the temple
of the Old Law, it indicates how we should truly conduct ourselves in
the Christian temple, where He is really and truly present in the
Blessed Eucharist. "Piety has its own good manners. Learn them. It's
a shame to see those `pious' people who don't know how to attend
Mass--even though they go daily,--nor how to bless themselves (they
throw their hands about in the weirdest fashion), nor how to bend the
knee before the Tabernacle (their ridiculous genuflections seem a
mockery), nor how to bow their heads reverently before a picture of our
Lady" ([St] J. Escriva, "The Way", 541).]

Source: "The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries". Biblical text
taken from the Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries
made by members of the Faculty of Theology of the University of
Navarre, Spain. Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock,
Co. Dublin, Ireland.

Friday, November 18, 2005
Dedication of the Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul (Optional Memorial)

First Reading:
Psalm:
Gospel:

Acts 28:11-16, 30-31
Psalm 98:1-6
Matthew 14:22-33

This Creed is the spiritual seal, our heart's meditation and an ever-present guardian; it is, unquestionably, the treasure of our soul.

-- St. Ambrose

Catholic Culture

Collect:
Lord, give your Church the protection of the apostles. From them it first received the faith of Christ. May they help your Church to grow in your grace until the end of time. Grant this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

Recipes:

Activities:

Prayers:

November 18, 2005

Optional Memorials of the Dedication of the Churches of Peter and Paul, apostles; St. Rose Philippine Duchesne, virgin (USA)

Old Calendar: Dedication of the Basilicas of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul

The whole Church celebrates today the dedication of the two great Roman basilicas of St. Peter at the Vatican and of St. Paul-outside-the-Walls. The basilica of St. Peter stands on the site of the tomb of the Prince of the Apostles, where stood Nero's circus. It was here that St. Peter was executed. Recent excavations have shown that the present basilica which, in the seventeenth century, replaced the ancient Constantinian basilica, was built, over the tomb of St. Peter, just as the previous basilica. It was consecrated by Urban VIII on November 18, 1626. St. Paul-outside-the-Walls, situated at the other end of the city on the Ostian Way, is built near the place St. Paul was martyred. It was almost completely destroyed by fire in 1823 and was rebuilt in sumptuous fashion by Gregory XVI and Pius IX and consecrated by the latter on December 10, 1854. The celebration of the anniversary of these two dedications has been kept, nevertheless, on November 18.

St. Rose was born in Grenoble, France in 1769, and became a Visitation nun during the French Revolution. After her convent was closed during the reign of terror, she joined the Society of the Sacred Heart. She was sent to the Louisiana territory as a missionary and founded a boarding school for daughters of pioneers near St. Louis and opened the first free school west of Missouri. She also began a school for Indians. She died in 1882 in St. Charles, Missouri, and was canonized in 1988. Her feast day was formerly November 17.

Dedication of the Churches of Peter and Paul

Today's feast is a spiritual journey to two holy tombs, that of St. Peter and that of St. Paul in Rome. These two basilicas, marking the place of each apostle's martyrdom, are the common heritage and glory of Christendom; it is, therefore, easily seen why we observe their dedication.

Abbot Herwegen makes the following observations on St. Peter's in Rome. The Eternal City has two principal churches, St. John Lateran and St. Peter's. Since ancient times the Lateran basilica, the mother of all churches on earth, has been the church proper to the bishop of Rome in his position as head of the local community. Here the Lenten season was opened and the Easter liturgy solemnized. The basilica of St. Peter, on the other hand, was the church of non-Romans, of pilgrims who journeyed to the city where the two great apostles were martyred. Here those celebrations were held which expressed the universal character of the Roman Church, e.g., Epiphany and the noon Mass on Christmas. The Introits, Lessons, and chants of both these feasts are best explained as proclaiming Christ's universal dominion and His royal majesty.

The third lesson gives the history regarding the construction of the two basilicas. Among the holy places which the first Christians held in honor, those sites were especially dear where the bodies of holy martyrs lay. Great veneration was accorded that area of the Vatican Hill where the grave of St. Peter was located. From all lands Christians made pilgrimages to it as to the rock of faith and the foundation of the Church. In due time the legend arose that Emperor Constantine the Great, eight days after his baptism, took off his diadem, threw himself humbly upon the earth, and shed many tears. Then with pick and shovel he started digging and, in memory of the twelve apostles, carried away twelve baskets of ground; thereby he set the boundaries of the basilica to be built in honor of St. Peter. When finished, the edifice was solemnly consecrated by Pope Sylvester I.

Pope Sylvester had ordered the altar to be of stone; he anointed it with chrism and decreed that in the future only stone altars were to be used. A new church, the present St. Peter's, was consecrated by Pope Urban VIII on November 18, 1626. The ancient basilica of St. Paul was destroyed by fire in 1823; a new structure was consecrated by Pius IX on December 10, 1854, the occasion of the proclamation of the dogma of the Immaculate Conception.

In the perspective of the liturgy, the two churches honored today are prime examples connoting the heavenly Jerusalem. For the liturgy excels in the pedagogy of passing from the material to the supernatural — the precedent for which on the point in question was already set by the author of the Apocalypse.

Excerpted from The Church's Year of Grace, Pius Parsch.

Things to Do:

Make a visit to a church today in honor of the two Princes of the Apostles.
By cooperation with the plan of our Savior, Peter merited his glorious place in the center of Christendom — examine your conscience on how well you have corresponded with God's grace.
St. Paul chastised his body during life, make some sacrifice of food or drink.
Teach your children what it means to be a temple of the Holy Spirit.

St. Rose Philippine Duchesne

Philippine was the daughter of a prominent French lawyer and was educated by the Visitation nuns, whom she later joined. During the French Revolution the Order was dispersed and for some years she served the sick and the poor as well as fugitive priests.

In 1804 she joined the Religious of the Sacred Heart, founded by St. Madeline Sophie Barat. When Bishop Dubourg of New Orleans asked for nuns for his young American diocese, Philippine begged for permission to go with him. She was forty-nine years old when she arrived at St. Louis, Missouri, with four companions, and established the first convent of the Society at St. Charles.

Cold, hunger, illness, poverty, and opposition were the lot of the young community, but the indomitable courage of the holy foundress overcame all obstacles. She opened a school for Indians and whites at Florissant, the first free school west of the Mississippi. She established houses at various places which were the beginnings of noted schools and colleges conducted today by the Society. Her one ambition, however, was to work among the Indians. She was seventy-one years old when she obtained the coveted permission from Mother Barat, who wrote: "Don't try to stop her; it was for the Indians that she went to America."

With three companions she traveled by boat and oxcart to Sugar Creek, Kansas, to labor there among the Potawatomis. Their convent was a wigwam, they slept on the bare ground, the food was coarse. They opened a school for Indian girls and taught them sewing, weaving, and other household arts. Philippine thought herself a failure because she could not master English, much less the Indian language, but her holiness made a deep impression on the Indians who called her "the woman who always prays," because she spent so much time in the chapel. A priest said of her: "The Indians used her kindness as one uses water — without thinking of it, for they were sure of finding it always fresh and pure."

The severe winters and the lack of proper food sapped her health and she was sent back to St. Charles. Here she spent the last decade of her life, praying "for her Indians" and for the Society which she had established and which was growing rapidly. She died at St. Charles, thinking herself a failure, yet she was the first missionary nun among the Indians, blazing the trail for a host of valiant women who were to follow her.

Excerpted from A Saint A Day, Berchmans Bittle, O.F.M.Cap.

Patron: Opposition of Church authorities; diocese of Springfield-Cape Girardeau, Missouri.

Things to Do:

Pray to St. Rose Philippine Duchesne for the grace of becoming a prayerful soul.
St. Philippine did not convert people by her speeches, but she converted them by her prayers and her charity towards them, pray for someone who is your "enemy" and if possible perform some kindness for this person.
Learn more about St. Rose Philippine Duchesne;
If you are within driving distance make a pilgrimage to St. Rose Philippine Duchesne's Memorial Shrine in Saint Charles, Missouri.

American Catholic’s Saint of the Day

November 18, 2005

Dedication of St. Peter and Paul

St. Peter’s is probably the most famous church in Christendom. Massive in scale and a veritable museum of art and architecture, it began on a much humbler scale. Vatican Hill was a simple cemetery where believers gathered at St. Peter’s tomb to pray. In 319 Constantine built on the site a basilica that stood for more than a thousand years until, despite numerous restorations, it threatened to collapse. In 1506 Pope Julius II ordered it razed and reconstructed, but the new basilica was not completed and dedicated for more than two centuries.

St. Paul’s Outside the Walls stands near the Abaazia delle Tre Fontane, where St. Paul is believed to have been beheaded. The largest church in Rome until St. Peter’s was rebuilt, the basilica also rises over the traditional site of its namesake’s grave. The most recent edifice was constructed after a fire in 1823. The first basilica was also Constantine’s doing.

Constantine’s building projects enticed the first of a centuries-long parade of pilgrims to Rome. From the time the basilicas were first built until the empire crumbled under “barbarian” invasions, the two churches, although miles apart, were linked by a roofed colonnade of marble columns.

Comment:

Comment: Peter, the rough fisherman whom Jesus named the rock on which the Church is built, and the educated Paul, reformed persecutor of Christians, Roman citizen and missionary to the Gentiles, are the original odd couple. The major similarity in their faith-journeys is the journey’s end: Both, according to tradition, died a martyr’s death in Rome—Peter on a cross and Paul beneath the sword. Their combined gifts shaped the early Church and believers have prayed at their tombs from the earliest days.

Quote:

Quote: “It is extraordinarily interesting that Roman pilgrimage began at an…early time. Pilgrims did not wait for the Peace of the Church [Constantine’s edict of toleration] before they visited the tombs of the Apostles. They went to Rome a century before there were any public churches and when the Church was confined to the tituli [private homes] and the catacombs. The two great pilgrimage sites were exactly as today—the tombs, or memorials, of St. Peter upon the Vatican Hill and the tomb of St. Paul off the Ostian Way” (H.V. Morton, This Is Rome).

American Catholic’s Saint of the Day

November 18

St. Rose Philippine Duchesne

(1769-1852)

Born in Grenoble, France, of a family that was among the new rich, Philippine learned political skills from her father and a love of the poor from her mother. The dominant feature of her temperament was a strong and dauntless will, which became the material—and the battlefield—of her holiness. She entered the convent at 19 without telling her parents and remained despite their opposition. As the French Revolution broke, the convent was closed, and she began taking care of the poor and sick, opened a school for street urchins and risked her life helping priests in the underground.

When the situation cooled, she personally rented her old convent, now a shambles, and tried to revive its religious life. The spirit was gone, and soon there were only four nuns left. They joined the infant Society of the Sacred Heart, whose young superior, St. Madeleine Sophie Barat, would be her lifelong friend. In a short time Philippine was a superior and supervisor of the novitiate and a school. But her ambition, since hearing tales of missionary work in Louisiana as a little girl, was to go to America and work among the Indians. At 49, she thought this would be her work. With four nuns, she spent 11 weeks at sea en route to New Orleans, and seven weeks more on the Mississippi to St. Louis. She then met one of the many disappointments of her life. The bishop had no place for them to live and work among Native Americans. Instead, he sent her to what she sadly called "the remotest village in the U.S.," St. Charles, Missouri. With characteristic drive and courage, she founded the first free school for girls west of the Mississippi.

It was a mistake. Though she was as hardy as any of the pioneer women in the wagons rolling west, cold and hunger drove them out—to Florissant, Missouri, where she founded the first Catholic Indian school, adding others in the territory. "In her first decade in America Mother Duchesne suffered practically every hardship the frontier had to offer, except the threat of Indian massacre—poor lodging, shortages of food, drinking water, fuel and money, forest fires and blazing chimneys, the vagaries of the Missouri climate, cramped living quarters and the privation of all privacy, and the crude manners of children reared in rough surroundings and with only the slightest training in courtesy" (Louis E. Callan, R.S.C.J., Philippine Duchesne).

Finally, at 72, in poor health and retired, she got her lifelong wish. A mission was founded at Sugar Creek, Kansas, among the Potawatomi. She was taken along. Though she could not learn their language, they soon named her "Woman-Who-Prays-Always." While others taught, she prayed. Legend has it that Native American children sneaked behind her as she knelt and sprinkled bits of paper on her habit, and came back hours later to find them undisturbed. She died in 1852 at the age of 83.

Comment:

Divine grace channeled her iron will and determination into humility and selflessness, and to a desire not to be made superior. Still, even saints can get involved in silly situations. In an argument with her over a minor change in the sanctuary, a priest threatened to remove her tabernacle. She patiently let herself be criticized by younger nuns for not being progressive enough. Through it all, 31 years, she hewed to the line of a dauntless love and an unshakable observance of her religious vows.

Quote:

“We cultivate a very small field for Christ, but we love it, knowing that God does not require great achievements but a heart that holds back nothing for self.... The truest crosses are those we do not choose ourselves.... He who has Jesus has everything.”

Homily of the Day

Homily of the Day

Title:	Happy Endings Are Only Temporary
Author:	Monsignor Dennis Clark, Ph.D.
Date:	Friday, November 18, 2005

1 Maccabees 4:36-37,52-59 / Lk 19:45-48

Today we get a happy ending to the dreadful story we've been hearing all week, starting with the Greeks' brutal imposition of their culture upon the Jews, the revolt that followed, and finally the triumph of the Maccabees in expelling the Greeks and restoring the temple and its worship.

It is a happy ending for awhile, but students of history know that it was neither the first nor the last "ending." There had been happy endings before, when David first seized Jerusalem from the pagans and when his son Solomon had built the first great temple. And then there was the time when the Israelites came back from captivity in Babylon in the sixth century and rebuilt the temple which had been burned to the ground. And long after the Maccabees' triumph in the second century before Christ, the temple would need to be rebuilt and rededicated yet again by King Herod during Jesus' childhood — awaiting its final destruction in 70 A.D.

In this life, sad or happy endings are rarely endings, but only moments on the road. There's always another chapter in the story. And that points to the issue we need to focus on today. The journey we're on is a very long one, with many twists and turns, and inevitably with moments when we lose our focus and lose connection with the Lord. It can happen at any time or stage in our journey, whether we're young or old. The temple got rebuilt and rededicated so many times precisely because this was true about the Israelites, as it is true about us. That's reality.

We can face that reality by engaging each new day with open and listening hearts, that are able to hear the Lord speaking to us when we're wandering into dark places. We can face that reality by making prudent course changes — early and often. And each time, God will help us.

The Word Among Us

Friday, November 18, 2005

Meditation
Luke 19:45-48

Selling animals for sacrifice and exchanging foreign currency were necessary services that the Temple personnel provided for the pilgrims who came to Jerusalem. In fact, several such marketplaces were conveniently located near the Temple. But under the high priest Caiaphas, the Temple’s outermost courtyard itself had also been turned into a trading place. Such an encroachment upon this sacred building must not have sat well with some.

Merchants haggling. Sheep bleating. Doves flapping. Money changers clinking their coins. Imagine how difficult it must have been for the God-fearing Gentiles who were permitted in this court but no further to worship! So Jesus evicted the traders because he wanted to preserve the Temple as a place of prayer for everyone. He must also have been disturbed by those merchants who charged inflated exchange rates or sold animals for exorbitant prices. Such practices, Jesus declared, made the Temple “into a den of robbers” (Luke 19:46).

Like the Temple priests and administrators of Jesus’ day, we who are members of the church face many pitfalls. Self-interest seeks to rule our hearts and our actions. “Conservative” and “liberal” Catholics are tempted to criticize one another harshly. Parish councils can be characterized by disagreements and personality clashes more than a desire to build up the church. Lack of prayer seeks to rob us of the joy and peace that should always be a hallmark of believers in Christ.

Given all of this, how can we still proclaim our belief in “one, holy, catholic, and apostolic church”? Because the church is both a human and a divine institution. As such, its holiness is “real,” but also “imperfect” (Vatican II, Lumen Gentium, 48). Precisely because the church is “at once holy and always in need of purification,” it must always follow “the way of penance and renewal” (8).

Each of us can help bring about the ongoing renewal of the church through our prayer, and by trying to walk in love all the time. Together, let’s join in this renewal, “so that the sign of Christ may shine more brightly over the face of the earth” (Lumen Gentium, 15).

“Jesus, cleanse our hearts of all that distorts your image in us. Help us to reflect your holiness and goodness to everyone who looks upon your church.”

1 Maccabees 4:36-37,52-59; (Psalm) 1 Chronicles 29:10-12

Thank you again for these.

Faith-sharing bump.

pinging you for your consideration.

A Voice in the Desert

Friday November 18, 2005

Dedication of the Churches of Saint Peter and Saint Paul

Reading (Acts 28:11-16, 30-31) Gospel (St. Matthew 14:22-33)

Today the Church celebrates this Feast of the Dedication of the Basilicas of Saints Peter and Paul. These are the churches in Rome. The Basilica of Saint Peter is in Vatican City, and the Church of Saint Paul Outside the Walls was initially built outside the walls of the old city of Rome. They are basilicas dedicated to the apostles who died there in Rome.

As we hear in the first reading the manner in which Saint Paul came to Rome and how he went from ship to ship and finally arrived in Rome where he lived for two years, seeing people and preaching the Gospel to anyone who would hear, the important thing to be able to recognize is that for the apostles to come to Rome was part of God’s providence for them. Especially for Saint Paul, when he made it a point of honor that he would never preach anywhere where Jesus had already been preached and the Lord had already been preached in Rome, now we hear that he took courage because he found some who already believed. So it was not a point where he was discouraged because someone else had already preached the Lord there and there were already believers, but at this point you see how God turned things around, that this great saint who had preached the Gospel in pagan lands, even to the point of being stoned and beaten and whipped and so on, now took courage from the fact that there were already Christians who were there who could support him and who could help him. Then we hear about Saint Peter trying to walk upon the water; first of all, struggling with the idea that what he saw on the water was not a ghost but was in fact the Lord, then walking on the water toward the Lord, and then sinking when he took his eyes off of Jesus and began to doubt.

We see now a couple of things for the Church and for us individually. For the Church, of course, we see that it was God’s Will and His providence that the Church would be founded in Rome. On the natural level, this might not make a whole lot of sense. Why, when Jesus never even stepped foot out of Israel, would He want His Church founded in Rome instead of in Jerusalem? But it was precisely because that was the center of everything. Jerusalem was already a holy city dedicated to the Lord. Of course, we also know, as we spoke about yesterday, that in the year 70 Jerusalem was destroyed. Jesus had told His disciples that was going to happen. Within that generation, He said, not one stone would be upon another. He was not going to found His Church in the very city that He knew was going to be destroyed, so the Church was founded in a place that was going to remain.

But also, the Church has to recognize–and does–and each one of us needs to recognize that all of the things that happen in our lives are part of God’s providence. Just as we can see the path that it took to get the two apostles to Rome, so too we see that God is going to work in our lives in ways that do not seem sometimes to make much sense. I suspect that as Saint Paul was going from place to place and ship to ship, if one did not know where he was going it might seem that he was just being blown away by the wind, but he knew exactly where he wanted to go and that was the path that was required to get there. Well, God knows where He wants us to go, and He knows the path by which we are going to have to get where we are going. So we need to make sure we are keeping our focus on Christ, otherwise when the path does not seem to be the one we would expect it to be, like Peter we are going to take our eyes off of Jesus, we are going to notice all the things around us, and instead of staying on the right path we are going to get on to a different one because we think it is going to be more suitable and it is going to help us to get where we think we are supposed to be. God knows where He wants us to be, and we need to take the path that He sets before us–not the one that we would prefer. We have to see all things as part of His providence.

The Church has recognized that for two thousand years. The individuals in the Church, however, each and every last one of them has had to go through this exact same struggle as the apostles did. All of us will have to do the same thing, to learn to trust, to put everything in God’s hands. As I said, the Church Herself does that perfectly; the individuals within the Church, from the Pope right on down, we are all human, we are all weak, we are all frail, and we all have to learn the same lesson. We falter and we quake and we take our eyes off of Jesus sometimes, but nonetheless, the Lord, Who protects His Church and guides the Church, will also protect and guide each one of us. We simply need to keep focused. We need to seek His Will. We also need to have the courage to get out of the boat and to be willing to walk on the water toward Him if that is what He is going to command us to do, simply to trust completely in Him that He is the One Who will guide us in every aspect of our lives, that He will take care of us and give us the grace we need to be able to know Him and to do His Will.

That is the lesson we learn from these two great apostles. They followed the Lord right to the point of death. We need to learn the same lesson, that all the things that happen in our lives, no matter which way things seem to twist and turn, if we simply keep our eyes on Jesus we can be confident that we are on the right path and that we are not going to sink in the midst of all the turmoil.

* This text was transcribed from the audio recording with minimal editing.

One Bread, One Body

<< Friday, November 18, 2005 >>

Dedication of the Churches of
Sts. Peter & Paul
St. Rose Philippine Duchesne

1 Maccabees 4:36-37, 52-59

1 Chronicles 29:10-12

Luke 19:45-48

View Readings

THE GARBAGE MAN COMETH

"Now that our enemies have been crushed, let us go up to purify the sanctuary and rededicate it." —1 Maccabees 4:36

Don't you think you'd better clean house? There are some closets in your heart that haven't been cleaned out for years. The film of sin has given your life a dingy appearance. And there's the garbage you've been thinking of taking out, but never got around to it.

I have good news for you. Jesus is the Garbage Man. He'll cleanse the temple of your body and make it a house of prayer (Lk 19:45-46). Jesus will wash you in His blood. Accept Him as Lord and Garbage Man. Confess your sins in the Sacrament of Reconciliation. Jesus will wash you in the bath of His word (Eph 5:26) and purify the gold of your life in His fire (1 Pt 1:7). You don't even have to take out the garbage. He'll come in and carry it out Himself. How's that for service?

However, you do have to give Him the keys to your life — the whole key ring. When He takes out the garbage, He won't leave, but stay. Jesus with the Father and the Spirit will dwell within you. You will not only be clean but pure as He is pure (1 Jn 3:3) and holy as He is holy (Mt 5:48). Come, Lord, Garbage Man, come.

Prayer: Jesus, here's all the keys. Do anything You want, any time You want.

Promise: "It was reconsecrated with songs, harps, flutes, and cymbals. All the people prostrated themselves and adored and praised Heaven, who had given them success." —1 Mc 4:54-55

Praise: "I [Paul] had been entrusted with the gospel for the uncircumcised, just as Peter was for the circumcised" (Gal 2:7).

"A Voice in the Desert" bump. Most excellent teaching - may we all remember to keep our eyes on Christ, no matter how crazy life gets!

Luke 19:45-48
#	Douay-Rheims	Vulgate
45	And entering into the temple, he began to cast out them that sold therein, and them that bought.	et ingressus in templum coepit eicere vendentes in illo et ementes
46	Saying to them: It is written: My house is the house of prayer. But you have made it a den of thieves.	dicens illis scriptum est quia domus mea domus orationis est vos autem fecistis illam speluncam latronum
47	And he was teaching daily in the temple. And the chief priests and the scribes and the rulers of the people sought to destroy him:	et erat docens cotidie in templo principes autem sacerdotum et scribae et principes plebis quaerebant illum perdere
48	And they found not what to do to him: for all the people were very attentive to hear him.	et non inveniebant quid facerent illi omnis enim populus suspensus erat audiens illum

Christ driving the Traders from the Temple

Bernardo Cavallino
about 1645-50
Oil on canvas
101 x 127.6 cm.
The National Gallery
London