Deacon Joe's Homily-24th Sunday in Ordinary Time

I haven't posted any of Deacon Joe's homilies in a long time. This touched me in the face of this election year.

“Fumbling His Confidence and Wondering Why the World Has passed Him by…Hoping that he’s bent for more than arguments and failed attempts to fly…We were meant to live for so much more…”  Perhaps you know the words from the rock group Switchfoot’s song ‘Meant to Live’.  This song is very appropriate to our Gospel today. 

Jesus asks us today to live for so much more. 

In our Gospel we hear about denying ourselves, taking up our cross, and losing our lives for the sake of the Gospel.  This sounds difficult, painful, not very appealing on the surface.  But what is it that Jesus is really asking us?  We need to look beyond to see the deeper meaning.

In our first reading from Isaiah we hear of the suffering servant.  Like our Gospel, this isn’t very appealing. Who wants to be beaten and spit on?  Yet, despite this mistreatment, we see that the subject of this passage perseveres.  It begs the question, why?  What does this person see or know that helps him through the abuse?

Perhaps a clue lies in our Responsorial Psalm.  Psalm 116 was written as a song of Thanksgiving.  This Thanksgiving is to God for rescuing our Psalmist from a very mortal danger.  But we also hear of despair.  How awful it would be to sense an eminent death and feel alone, where perhaps we look back and now feel we’ve spent our lives frivolously and are dying in vain.  However, our Psalmist gives us the hope that God will save us and WE shall walk before the Lord in the land of the living.  The Psalmist sees the same thing we heard about in Isaiah, but again, what is it?

Let’s take a moment and think of the person or persons we love most.  Would you want any harm to come to them?  What would you do if the threat of harm came to them?  If you answered, “I would give anything, including my life, to keep my loved ones from harm”, THIS is the love of God.  That is what Isaiah sees, that is what our Psalmist sees, the true love of God.  They are willing to endure anything, give up anything to be united with God in that ultimate love.

The ultimate love of God is what Jesus is talking to us about in the Gospel today.  We CAN deny ourselves, we CAN take up our cross, we CAN lose ourselves for the sake of the Gospel BECAUSE of the love God has for us.  The sacrifice becomes natural, because if we love God the most, we will give anything and lose ourselves for that love.

Our reading from St. James may seem a little disjointed.  The subject matter of the passage is faith and good works, however, our faith, which is a direct result of our love for God, will show itself through us in our works.  Remember, we cannot earn heaven.  Our lives should reflect the love of God inside of us and manifest itself naturally by our internal desire to bring the Kingdom of God here to earth.

There are two places in this world where God has blessed me with the sense of His Kingdom.  One is obviously the Church, not only here at St. Frances Cabrini but wherever I meet a follower of Christ.  You can sense a connection through the deep love of God that Christian believers share.  The second is the Beaver County Jail.  I’ve already lost count of how many times inmates tell me their stories and those stories strike me as identical to Old Testament stories.  The details may be different, but I hear the story of Moses (had it all, then lost it all), the story of Joseph (abandoned by family), the story of Job (nothing seemed to go right), and the story of Jonah (I ran from God).  We may think that the stories of the Old Testament were long, long ago, but they’re happening all around us today.  The inmates I meet exhausted themselves in a search for happiness, not realizing it was the love of God they were seeking.  And when they hit bottom and looked up, Jesus was standing there waiting for them.  It’s at that bottom point that they’re ready for the love God has to give them.  I think that’s a piece of the puzzle we miss.  God has an ocean of love he wants to give us, but unfortunately, we, and I mean WE, only carry around a coffee cup.

An example of denying self, taking up the cross, and losing life for the sake of the Kingdom is found in our catechists.  Today is Catechetical Sunday, and we owe a great deal of gratitude to our CCD and Religious Education Teachers.  It’s not easy passing on the faith, let me give you some examples:

One of our CCD teachers was describing the story of Lot and when Lot’s wife looked back at Sodom she turned into a pillar of salt.  One of the little girl students replied. "My mommy looked back once while she was driving, and she turned into a telephone pole."

Another of our CCD teachers was teaching the stories of the Old Testament to her class and said to her children, "We have been learning about how powerful the kings and queens were in Biblical times. But there is a higher power. Who can tell me what it is?" One little boy shouted, "I know teacher,… Aces."

In all seriousness, to our CCD and Religious education teachers, THANK YOU!

In contrast, we look at our world and see that world rejects God’s love.  If you need evidence, just look at the current events.  Violence around the world, and more division in our county than I think we’re ever seen before.  Instead of self denial we see the world selfishly pushing its own agendas and attempting to conquer the opposing side by force.  We need to remember, especially over the next six weeks, that the teaching of Jesus is not either/or, it is BOTH/AND.  As Christians we have to look at our brothers and sisters in love and try to understand their point of view and perhaps guide them, not coerce them, to the truth of God.  There are truths that cannot be compromised, but that does not give us license to respond to challenges in an uncaring way.  Pope Benedict, in his address to the National Ecclesial Convention, and this was in 2006, said “We know well that the choice of…following Christ is never easy.  Instead it is always opposed and controversial.  The Church remains…a sign of contradiction in the footstep of her Master…but we do not lose heart…on the contrary we must always be ready to give a response to whoever asks us the reason for our hope…We must answer with gentleness and reverence…with that gentle power the comes from union with Christ.”  The next six weeks will test our patience and our faith and while we must not be silent, we must respond in love.  Unlike the world, which is always trying to sell us on something, the Church’s motivation is love.  We need to tell the world that first and foremost we are Christians, followers of the Son of the one true God.  We are not followers of a political party, or of a person, those things cannot save us and will not get us to heaven.  We need the Church to help us navigate safely through the dangerous waters of this world.  If we had to cross an ocean, wouldn’t it be better to be on a large ship rather than swim by yourself?  The Church is that ship that will get us to the other side.  As Christians we have to sift through all the things the world throws at us and find the Truth of God and the Love of God in all that we do.  God calls us to rise above and see beyond.  We can see beyond in the Eucharist.  What appears to be a small wafer of bread, we know is the gift of the Body of our Lord Jesus Christ.  We receive the Eucharist and through the Eucharist we see beyond, we HAVE FAITH, we rise above.  Jesus lives inside of us and brings the love we need which leads to deny ourselves, take up our cross, and lose our lives for Him, because…We were meant to live for so much more.

A great video from Catholics Come Home

Heading on retreat

I haven't posted much, mainly because I've been writing materials for my small faith group that will begin meeting again in September. I've excited about the content and hope that I'll be able to do something with it beyond using it for our group. Needless to say, that has been occupying what little free time that I have these days.

I'm excited today as my husband and I are headed on his annual deacon retreat this weekend at St. Vincent Archabbey led by Deacon Greg Kandra, one of my favorite bloggers. I hope that I get some much needed quiet meditative time.

Just hoping that the kids don't burn the house down while we're gone.

Deacon Joe's homily for the 11th Sunday in Ordinary Time. You are the seed...so what is your mission?

(Note: by request from parishioners, I post my husband's homilies to my blog so that they can find them easily if they want to read them. This is his homily for today)

Jesus gives us little kernels, or seeds of his teaching today.  The teaching may be small in words like seeds but has great impact like a seed that grows to fruition.  In the first part of our Gospel reading, St. Mark shows Jesus telling us how a man scatters seed and the seed grows but he knows not how.  Then we see in the second part of the Gospel Jesus telling us how the Kingdom of God is like a mustard seed, very small, yet when it grows it becomes the largest of plants.  In these parables we can learn about both ourselves and also about our mission.  What does a seed have to do with us in our personal journey with Our Lord?  We are seeds (I mean that in a good way).  We can only grow to fullness with God’s help.  We need to fully trust in God in order for us to reach our true potential, become the “largest of plants.”  It is He who guides us, and believe me brothers and sisters, if you put your trust completely in Him, God will guide you to things you never dreamed of.  What does a seed mean to our mission?  Let’s review for just a second about our mission.  Our lives are wrapped in vocation and mission.  Who we are: mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, priests, deacons, etc...WHO God wants us to be is our vocation.  Our mission is what God wants us to do: teach, preach, parent, visit, do liturgical duties, etc…  In our mission, whatever it may be, we scatter seeds.  Again, it is God who makes them grow.  Very often we don’t see the results of the seeds we scatter in our mission.  We don’t have the ability to see what’s going on inside of other people, and we don’t have the ability to see into the future either, to tell whether the fruits of our labors have been worthwhile.  This is also where we need to trust in God.  We also need to persevere.  Our spiritual journey is, unfortunately, not like a football game, where we can cross a goal line, spike the ball, and for some of us so inclined, do a little touchdown dance.  It’s just not like that.  God has the plan, all we can do is stay with Him and trust in Him, give ourselves to Him.  That is what he asks of us, and He will take care of the rest.

It is trust and faith that we also need to be able to deal with our world, our current culture.

There’s a story of man whose dog just passed, and he was looking for another canine companion:

This man visits a local pet shop. The owner tells him that he has a special dog that he might be interested in. “It's a talking dog,” says the owner. "No Way!" says the customer. "This I have to see" So, the owner escorts him to the rear room of the shop and points out the dog. "There he is. Go ahead and talk to him" and then leaves the customer and the dog alone.  "So you're a talking dog huh?"  "Why yes sir, I sure am."  Shocked, the man now hangs on every word.  "Yeah, when I was a little pup I lived in a fire station and rode to all the fires with the firemen. One day I rescued a little girl and the city called me a hero and gave me a medal.  Later on, I even got to go to the White House and met the President! After I rescued a whole family in another fire, I was sent to meet the Pope in Rome! Yes sir, I've sure had an interesting and exciting life!"

The man was dumbstruck and rushed back to the front of the pet shop.
"Well, did you talk to the dog?" asked the owner.  "Yes I did! It's simply amazing; why on Earth would you want to sell such a talented dog?"

The owner replied, "Well, he is a great talker, but he's a horrible liar!"

We can’t allow ourselves to be mesmerized by the messages our world sends.  Like the talking dog, the world can be very impressive, very entertaining in its message, but there’s a good chance the world is lying to us about who we are and what we want.  Through the seeds of our faith and growth from God, we need to be sure in faith and trust, that we’re evaluating the world’s messages by GOD’S STANDARDS.  We may see things on TV or hear things on the radio, or be talking with friends and/or colleagues, and how they speak or how they present themselves may be very impressive, they may be very convincing.  But are we listening to WHAT they say?  Our duty as followers of Jesus Christ, our duty as Catholics, is to evaluate WHAT is being said as compared to the truth of God regardless of how convincing or impressive that delivery may be.  To have complete faith and trust in Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit and God, we need to look beyond our political parties, our favorite news program, our favorite talk show host and get to the heart of the matter and test everything against the light of God.  As Jesus gave himself for us on the cross, we are called to give of ourselves and that include putting aside our personal preferences to achieve the good of all. 

Speaking of giving of self and achieving the good of all, it is Father’s Day (weekend).  (Blessing?)  No doubt fatherhood requires much sacrifice, but that sacrifice does not go in vain, as their children benefit greatly from their presence and love.  Fathers sow the seeds of faith in the children.  Being a father myself I can tell you that we don’t necessarily see the results of our efforts, at least not in the here and now.  Our impact might never be truly known, but we can look to our children as they reach adulthood and hopefully be proud of them as they try to find their vocation and carry out their mission.

I’d like to take a minute and thank the Parish for seeing me through my first year as a deacon.  My ordination, if you’ll recall, was June 11^th last year, and I can’t tell you how blessed my vocation and mission have been, so again thank you for all your prayers and support, you’ve all been so very wonderful.  A special thanks to my wife Joanne, the real brains and beauty of our whole operation.  Thanks to my children for being patient while their father is so busy sometimes, and to Fr. Kleppner, Fr. Mariusz, and Fr. Sam Esposito for all their help and support.  The diaconate is very much seed scattering also.  I don’t really ever get to find out what happens to the inmates once they leave, so all I can do is hope and pray that God has been able to reach them through me, and that their lives have turned to him.  Taking from today’s gospel, I don’t need to know, I just need to trust in God and dutifully carry out my mission, He will make good things happen.

In all of this, Jesus is pointing us to the best of all seeds, that being the Eucharist.  The Eucharist, what appears to be just a small wafer, is the body of Our Lord Jesus Christ that we take in and allow God to implant in us.  And if we allow God to do His work, He will make that seed grow to the fullness of life.  I can stand here and personally tell you that the vocations of father and deacon sometimes are not so easy, but I’ve never felt more of a sense of belonging and doing what God has truly meant me to do with this life.  It’s a beautiful thing.  So as we come to the table of the Eucharist today, I ask you to contemplate the seed, contemplate the growth that only God can make happen, and contemplate the beautiful life He has in store for you.

Deacons: Understanding their assignments and ministry

On June 11th, we will celebrate the one year anniversary of my husband's ordination to the diaconate. Although I already reflected on how I am adapting to being a deacon's wife, I've noticed over the past year, how few people really understand the ministry of a deacon.

Several weeks ago, my daughter's instructor said, "my mom is really devout but she doesn't understand all this new stuff that the Church is adding like deacons." SIGH...I usually just say "read Acts 6." So there is still much education that is needed in that area.

But, I'm not really going to focus on the history of the diaconate or the catechesis of holy orders. I want to try to give a better understanding of what a deacon's ministry looks like. What we've found is that most lay people may understand what a deacon is, but they really don't understand what they do. It's not just the lay people either. When a priest asked my favorite deacon what day of the week he had off, he was surprised to hear my husband say, "I don't have a day off. I get a few hours here or there." Or when a priest texted my husband and was dismayed that his text wasn't returned for hours because my husband was in an extremely important meeting at work.

Even parish staff with theology or religious education backgrounds sometimes don't quite understand deacon's roles. When I remark about my husband having to take days off from work to attend clergy meetings, I'm met with "why would he have to go to those?"

I'd like to present a snapshot of a deacon's ministry. This is not necessarily the norm, but what it's like in our diocese. There are three aspects to the deacon's life, not including family:

1. Secular employment. Deacons are often seen as a bridge between the laity and the clergy. Although they are clergy, they are generally not paid by the Church unless they are employed within a diocese to work in some capacity that may or may not be related to the fact that they are deacons. Many people in our parish wrongly assumed that my husband would take on a paid position at our parish once he became ordained. In our diocese, deacons won't work for the parish where they are assigned for ministry and they won't be assigned to a parish if they are employed there.

In the United States, many view permanent deacons as retired and older. That perception tends to foster a belief that that is the norm. However, the average age of deacons worldwide is 40 years old. For deacons who are in their 40s or 50s, many are still working to support their families if they are married (yes, there are plenty of unmarried permanent deacons that take a vow of celibacy and married deacons likewise cannot remarry if their wife dies).

Because deacons have to work at secular employment and perform ministry in their off hours, they are often perceived as 'part-time' deacons. That is untrue. They are full-time or all-the-time deacons working 'in the world.' Many deacons will say that they find that their ministry flows into their workplace. They are often asked to counsel, defuse volatile situations, or extend blessings. My husband works in federal law enforcement and is often asked to bless agents.

2. Ministry of Service. The bishop assigns each deacon to a ministry of service. For some deacons, that is within a diocesan office or parish. They may facilitate RCIA, baptism or marriage prep. classes. For others, it may be institutional like ministering in a jail, hospital, nursing home, or homeless shelter. This is where the deacon spends the bulk of his time and is where the true work of his vocation is.

The name deacon comes from the Greek word diakonis which means servant. The real role of the deacon, as demonstrated in Acts 6, is as a ministry of service. As such, this is unpaid service. Typically deacons will spend about 10-20 hours a week between their ministry of service, liturgical ministry, and administrative aspects.

For the retired deacons, they often take on additional ministry assignments and many work almost full-time hours.

3. Liturgical Ministry. Every deacon is assigned to a parish or several parishes. In our diocese, many of the deacons have been assigned to their home parish. If they aren't, they are assigned to a parish that is geographically close to their home or work. Liturgically, deacons can baptize, witness marriages, bless objects, preside at funeral vigils and internments, and have assigned roles during Mass such as read the Gospel (as Minister of the Word), preach homilies, and distribute communion (as Minister of the Cup).


For many parishioners, confusion arises because they often don't understand the dynamics of the three roles. There may be a deacon employed at a parish as a pastoral associate or as a DRE but that deacon happens to be a deacon employed in that capacity, his ministry of service would be elsewhere. For a deacon who has a ministry of service outside of the parish, parishioners may not understand why the deacon isn't heavily involved within the parish. Also, many parishioners ask, "What are we paying that deacon anyway?" My husband often says he gets paid in Kit Kat bars that the pastor routinely gives to our two youngest boys.

There also can be resentment among parish staff that does the bulk of the necessary work within the parish. They may not fully understand why the deacon isn't around much during the week, but is there for a couple of Masses shaking hands with people on the weekend.

So what does my husband's ministry look like? First of all, he is employed in secular employment, which he intents to keep, barring any unforeseen circumstances, until he feels comfortable enough to retire in 15 years or so. He has no intention of taking anyone's job within the diocese as some fear. We are also a  single-income family. With a large family and a deacon's ministry, we feel that it's necessary for me to stay home and maintain most of the domestic responsibilities and for he to have a career that enables us to do that.

His ministry of service is as chaplain of a county jail. This is a ministry that, at the beginning of formation, he swore he would never want to do. But he has found that he is really called to it. He travels to the jail two or three times a week and does everything from communion services, Bible studies, RCIA lessons, individual meetings, and prayer services. As he says, he gives much of himself but he receives more from helping these men and women than he ever imagined. An added benefit is that he is able to spread the word about helping the inmates within our community. He has gotten donations for reading material and promises of help for those inmates once they are released.

Finally, my husband is assigned liturgically to our home parish which we've belonged to for the past ten years. That has been a blessing since the parishioners are our 'family.' Within the parish, he helps with RCIA, the Holy Name Society, CCD on occasion, facilitates the Catholic Men's Fellowship, and the liturgical functions of a deacon. He generally preaches a homily about once a month which requires a fair amount of preparation and assist at two or three Masses on a weekend. He is often asked to do funeral vigils and an occasional baptism. I imagine that may increase as time goes by. He has also taught classes within the diocese as a master catechist.

The diaconate is a vocation. Deacons aren't just glorified altar servers, they have a very distinct role within the Church. Hoping that as more people are exposed to permanent deacons, they will come to understand the role of a deacon.

Deacon Joe's Homily for Seventh Sunday of Easter

Love and Truth

I’ve been noticing a lot of hate, a lot of division in our world lately.  Maybe it’s me, that in my formation, I’m noticing more of where the love of God lacks (especially on I-376 during the morning drive to work).  I believe we’ll be even more challenged as emotions will run high over the coming months in this election year.   Our Lord mentions hate in today’s Gospel.  Being a disciple of Jesus is not an easy road to follow.  The world will not like us, because we speak the truth of Jesus and the love of God.  The world will not like us because of its own desire to be free, foolishly thinking that freedom is being free from God instead of realizing that true freedom is found IN GOD.

When, and I say when not if, we are challenged by the world, we need to speak the truth.  We need to let the Holy Spirit’s gift of courage act in us and respond, not react, to those challenges.  In our communications with the world, we need to dialogue in the productive way, by realizing it is not about winning an argument.  Archbishop Fulton Sheen once said “Win an argument, lose a soul.”  St. Augustine held communication as a sacred act.  He saw, and rightly so, that communication was a union much like a marriage.  Two people were coming together to share through their words and make each other better.  St. Augustine held lying as one of the most serious sins.  God gave us speech for the purpose of communicating His truth and to lie was an absolute perversion of that gift.  Just imagine what the world would be like if everyone took their words that seriously. 

Our culture is now dominated by “social” media, such as Facebook, My Space, and Twitter.  I wonder what St. Augustine would say about social media.  Is it really communication?  There can be good that comes from social media.  I know the Deacons of the Diocese use it to keep each other informed and it can be used as a vehicle to promote the faith (the Pope Twitters, I believe).  However, it seems that our culture has used it more to promote an “All about me” attitude.  It’s nice to know that someone has achieved something great like a promotion or a graduation, but does the world really need to know that you opted for Cornflakes this morning instead of the Pop Tart.  It’s the “all about me” attitude that’s permeating our culture, a culture which seems preoccupied with exercising its “rights” rather than promoting the common good.

On the Cross, was Jesus concerned about His “rights”?  Jesus could’ve walked away from the passion at any time.  He did not.  He was concerned with US, with our souls and with our lives.  He died to save us so that we could live in completeness, and live eternally in the love of God.  It is Our Lord Jesus Christ’s example we need to imitate if we want to experience heaven here on earth.  We pray in the Lord’s Prayer, “Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”  If we’re serious about that prayer, we need to look to the Cross and understand that it’s through the Cross and Resurrection that we can make it happen.

To get through the tension of the coming months, no doubt we’ll need God’s help to keep our patient, to patiently discuss (not argue mind you) the truths of Our Faith, and to form our conscience properly, so election day is not such a challenge.  You’ve already received (and knowing Fr. Kleppner, will again receive) the USCCB “Guide to Faithful Citizenship”.  Please use that guide as it was intended, to help you to remain in the love of God in the public arena.

Remaining in God is what our readings are all about today.  In our second reading from 1 John, God through Jesus, proves His love for us through His giving.  The expectation is not to keep God to ourselves, but to share and give to one another.  That sharing and gift of self is the key that allows us to remain in God’s love and prepares the Kingdom of heaven here on earth and prepares us for our eternal destination.

Our Gospel reading today, St. John is showing us Jesus praying just after the Last Supper and before going out to his arrest.  In Pope Benedict’s book “Jesus of Nazareth, Holy Week…” Chapter 4, the Pope discusses the entire Chapter of John 17 as Jesus’ High Priestly Prayer.  (I strong suggest reading either or both books of the Pope’s Jesus of Nazareth series…).  The Pope explores four themes of this prayer but for time’s sake we’ll only discuss the part that specifically relates to today’s Gospel.  The Pope explores why Jesus would pray for consecration as related in the last three verses of our reading.  Let us take a moment to realize this situation.  This is the last time Jesus is able to speak with His beloved disciples.  Imagine yourself in a situation where it was the last time, before you passed into the next life that you would be able to speak with your loved one.  What would you say?

Jesus prays.  He prays for the disciples which is really a prayer for us.  He asks God to consecrate us.  What does this mean?  Pope Benedict explains that to consecrate is to “raise something into a new sphere that is no longer under human control.”  In essence, Jesus is asking God to take us under His control, or better yet under the control of His truth.  Why is this important to us?  It is the truth in the love of God that we need to live to fulfill the deepest longings of our soul.  What is Truth? (Where have we heard that before?)  Most fundamentally, truth has to be a shared basis, a criteria that can be agreed upon.  If after Mass we went out and played softball, and let’s say I had one version of the rulebook, and someone else had a different version, how would we play the game?  How would we agree on safe/out, fair/foul, or even the score?  That would be pointless.  Our world has a common truth.  The world, our cultural, like Pilate, questions truth, but doesn’t want to hear the answer.  Again in the words of Pope Benedict “The world is true to the extent that it reflects God…Man becomes true, he becomes himself, when he grows in God’s likeness.”  We’re about to meet Truth in the Eucharist.  This is why we come to Mass.  Our Church, our community, our Sacraments help us to remain in God.  To give of ourselves and remain in God was our Lord’s final prayer before the Passion, and is our pathway to eternal life.  Remain in God, remain in Truth, remain in Love, and there is nothing, not even an election year, that cannot be overcome.

Thought that I'd share this video

We are Catholic.