Women's Cursillo Talk Followed By My Father-Daughter Dance

 



Thank you note from Women's Cursillo rectora, Sis. Helen



If you are a woman who has been away from God, then this invitation back to Him was meant for you:

 

The tone is deliberately slower, meditative, non-judgmental, gentle, non-preachy, and focuses on the mercy of the Father specifically for women.

The three themes were: (1) the misery of sin, (2) radical conversion, (3) the mercy of the Father.

 

 



* * *

I gave the meditation around 9pm or so.  Then, I went home. 

My 1.5 year old daughter, Faith Marie, wasn't feeling good.  It took about 2-3 hours to put her to sleep.  I re-heated some soup that my wife made.  I put lemon in it.  She liked it.

Then, she fell asleep on my shoulder.  She fell asleep to this song by Luther Vandross called Dance With My Father.



I thought of the mercy of the Father that I had spoken of a few hours ago.  I thought of the Father.  I thought of how I shared in His Fatherhood.

I know I blogged about this before with my other children.  This one is for Faith Marie.

Perhaps she will read this when she is older.



It is fitting that the Women's Cursillo talk was on the mercy of the Father and that I spent time with my daughter.



Loving the Fight

I had a karate instructor once talk about a guy who took a hit on his face, then looked at the guy that hit him, and smiled.

Having been at the service of the Church for 25 was, I have endured much for the Faith.  In God's eyes and compared with the merits of the Cross, they are minuscule, but humanly speaking it can demoralize to see the Church devastated, patrticilrly by those that have infiltrated her....the wolves in sheep's clothing.

Today, I felt a surge of apostolic zeal that I felt when I first fell in love with the Faith.  As Lt. Dak Raltar said to Luke Skywalker, "Right now, I feel like I can take on the whole Empire myself."

As a holy bishop once said, "You have to love the fight."

"Beautiful Wife Drawing" (9/13/15)

I drew this on a napkin at Rubio's in Vallejo.  We were waiting for soft tacos for the adults and cheese quesadillas for the kids.  I later got Cold Stone Ice Cream for the family.

For some reason, this picture that I drew -- while impatiently waiting for our food -- seems to evoke a certain emotion in me about my wife.  Yes, I stared at her, kind of like how a guy would in the movies.

A song was playing in the background.  I don't remember it.

So here she herself drew.  I drew.  The kids drew something.

Perhaps, had our food arrived earlier, I would not have drawn this.  It was a blessing disguise.

I call it "Beautiful Wife Drawing".

The title is also a play on words.  "Drawing" can be either a noun or a verb.  At first, it was meant to be a verb.  But it can also be a noun.

She looked down at her own drawing.

But I looked at her.

I drew this.

 

Now that I posted this picture, I wish I had taken a photo, too.

 

But that's okay.  This drawing captures what I need.  Her eyes could have looked down a little more here.

 

This is what she was drawing while I drew her.  Hers is on the left.

 

 

 





She was drawing daddy and mommy and our 5 kids.

Day One of JP's Altar Server Training

Protestants call them PKs for "Pastor's Kids".  I don't think there's a catchy equivalent term for Catholics (since Latin rite pastors have been celibate for centuries).

But if there was something close to kids of married Catholic permanent deacons they'd be called "Deacon's Kids" I guess or DKs.

Faith Marie the DK taking notes at her Kuya's altar server training.



I hear that PKs experience some pressure of being a PK.  I'm not familiar with an equivalent one for the DKs, although I guess one can say that I occasionally feel some of the same issues as Protestant clergy and the expectations made of their families. 

Since the restoration of the permanent diaconate in the West (Latin rite) about 50 years ago, Latin rite Catholic clergy culture (in the Novus Ordo/Ordinary Form) has included talk about families.  Priests at meetings will ask about deacon's kids and grandkids at meetings.  They are friendly to my kids. 

When the minimum age of permanent deacons was set to 35, I'm sure that it was envisioned that those with young kids would be ordained.  Eastern Catholic deacons and married Eastern rite priests with kids probably have more in common with Protestant clergy and their PKs since they've pretty much had a married clergy for centuries.

But I digress.

* * *

 

John Paul is a DK.  He briefly served last Christmas with minimal training from the new parochial vicar (assistant pastor).  Back then, he said to me, "We will serve together as father and son."  I blogged about that HERE.

I came in late for a few minutes to the training b/c I was asked to do Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament inside the church, while my family started Day One of JP the DK's altar server training.

JP the DK.

I have to say that I AM proud of him for wanting to do this on his own.  During dinner, I asked my  JP the DK what was the best part of the training today during a late dinner.  He said, "With great power comes great responsibility." 

This line is from Spider-Man.  It was something that Peter Parker's Uncle Ben said as he lay dying in the arms of Peter Parker (aka Spider-Man).

And responsibility is right.

Even kids are given great responsibility at Mass as servers.  They are servers at the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.




Here's a photo I took from outside the door.  I had to step out with little Faith Marie cuz she fussed a bit during the training. 

My two sons are in the middle.  My wife is on the left.

My wife took this one of my three DK's.

 Fr. Gerome is in the background.


At the end of the evening, my wife remarked along the lines of the following, "Are you affirmed that what he [JP] did is a validation of your life's choices?"

I replied, "I haven't looked at it like that.  But, yeah, it is."

It is.



So here's to DKs everywhere!

 

DK says, "Bye, everyone!"



Healing, Anointing of the Sick, Deliverance, Forgiveness (Homily #36)

 10am

  

 12pm

 

5pm

 

 

In the medical profession, it’s recommend to go in for an annual check at least once a year.  Dentists say visit them every 6 months.  In sports medicine, it seems that every little injury is analyzed and affects the entire outcome of a game.  For example, when Manny Pacquaio injured his shoulder, the importance of healing injuries and healing bodily hurts became a focus by sports commentators.

 

 

In the spiritual life, we too must heal any injuries and hurts we have experienced.  If we place such a high importance on our physical health, then we should all the more pay attention to our spiritual health.

In today’s Gospel, Jesus healed the deaf man with a speech impediment.  Jesus touched his ears and tongue, said “Ephphatha!” which means “Be opened,” and the man was healed.  Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, let me ask: What is there in our lives at this moment that needs to be healed?  ß Repeat  (And, how can you help others be healed?)

Just as Jesus used words and actions to heal people, so too Jesus’ Church -- we, His Bride – uses words and actions to heal people, too.  In all of the sacraments, Christ “touches” us.  In Seven Sacraments of the Church, there are two Sacraments of Healing.  One of these is the Sacrament of Reconciliation and Penance, also called Confession.  And the other is the Sacrament of Anointing of the Sick.  I’m only going to focus on the Sacrament of Anointing of the Sick.

In Anointing of the Sick, there are many biblical passages as to why we have this Sacrament, this visible sign of Christ’s grace and love.  Today’s Gospel from Mark Chapter 7 is one example of healing.  Another example in the Gospels is from Mark Chapter 6 when Jesus sent out the Apostles who anointed with oil and laid hands on the sick.  And of course in the Letter of James, St. James writes, “Is any among you sick?  Let them call the presbyters or the priests of the Church, and the priests will pray over them and anoint them with oil.”  Here, not only is there spiritual healing and forgiveness of sins, but the Church also begs the Lord that the sick person may recover physical health if it will be conducive to their salvation and God’s glory.

And we don’t want to wait until the very last minute to call a priest.  Here’s a true story: A friend of mine once said to me, “My grandpa went to the hospital.”  I immediately said, “Did you call a priest yet?”  My friend replied, somewhat well-intentioned but misguided way, “Oh, we don’t do that….that might scare him.”  I thought to myself, “Scare him?”  This is the wrong reason why not to call a priest.  The opposite is actually true.  I have heard times when a great peace and courage comes upon the person receiving this sacrament, and it helps overcome discouragements and temptations that the evil one sends during an illness.  And just as in today’s Gospel, people brought the ill man to Jesus, we too can lead the sick to encounter Jesus by asking them if they want the comforting ritual of the Sacrament of the Sick.

Another note: The sacrament is not only for those who are close to death.  It is fitting that anyone who is sick or with old age or has surgery or mental illness just wants to ask God for healing receive this sacrament.  Only a priest anoints.  He anoints the forehead and hands with blessed oil and says, “Through this holy anointing may the Lord in his love and mercy help you with the grace of the Holy Spirit.  May the Lord who frees you from sin save you and raise you up.” Through this illness, those that are anointed are more closely united to Christ’s Passion where suffering has new meaning and participates in the saving work of Jesus.  Finally, when the 3 sacraments of Anointing of the Sick, Confession, and Eucharist are received together, this is called Viaticum.  The word Viaticum means a journey on the road to eternal glory and happiness.

So we’ve looked at the 2 Sacraments of Healing with a focus on Anointing of the Sick, based on today’s Gospel on healing.  There are additional healing practices, too.  Here are some practical examples:

1.)  First, offering Mass for the healing of body and soul.  Having names mentioned during the Universal Prayers of the Faithful is a good practice.

2.)  Second, there are certain individuals – both priests and lay people – that have a charism given by God to actually physically heal.  We say that these people have the gift of healing.  These gifts, of course, have to be discerned with a spiritual director.  Ask people to pray for your healing.  Or perhaps you yourself may feel a call to ask God to give you the charism of healing.

3.)  Third, at St. Catherine’s, we have a Healing Mass sponsored by Cancer Support Ministry (CSM) & Other Serious Illnesses every 4^th Sunday @ 2pm.  Here, you can also receive Anointing of the Sick, and people pray over you.

4.)  Fourth, another form of healing ministry is called “Deliverance Ministry”.  This is different from the Ministry of Exorcism.  Whereas in the Ministry of Exorcism a priest must be delegated by the bishop to do what is called a major exorcism or the Solemn Rite of Exorcism, Deliverance Ministry on the other hand involves an authorized priest with his team of people that have the charism of deliverance.  (Lay people and even priests without authority from the bishop should not engage the demon.)  In Deliverance Ministry, a person is freed and delivered from demonic activity and healed.  In the book Resisting the Devil: A Catholic Perspective on Deliverance, there are five main steps for deliverance.  I won’t mention all five now, but two of those steps are forgiving hurts and then renouncing certain sins.  Sometimes, a demon can latch on to an unforgiven hurt you or I may have.  But by forgiving and renouncing, this closes off doors that were initially open to the demonic.  Let Jesus heal this.

5.)  Fifth, there a set of prayers called “Prayers for Healing and Protection.”  Here’s a sample: “Heal, O Lord, all those wounds that have been the cause of all the evil that is rooted in my life.  I want to forgive all those who have offended me.  Look to those inner sores that make me unable to forgive.  You who came to forgive the afflicted of heart, Lord, heal my own heart.”

These prayers help heal hurt and protect our family tree, especially if there is a wound from a parent, can help heal our property, our finances, if someone has a hard time holding a job, school or having a relationship with others.

6.)  Sixth, as I mentioned, Deliverance Ministry is different from Exorcism. Of the 6 dioceses in Northern California, I have interacted with 4 exorcists officially appointed by their bishop from 4 separate dioceses.  Earlier this year, I witnessed a demonic possession case.  I won’t go into the details here other than to say that 3 things were powerful:  The first was the Name of Jesus to command the evil entity, then the rosary, and the St. Michael Prayer.  Eventually, the possessed person later met with one of the exorcists.

The point of this example isn’t to scare.  Rather, as we heard from the Word of God in the First Reading, it is written in the Book of the Prophet Isaiah, “Say to those whose hearts are frightened: Be strong, fear not!  Here is your God, he comes with vindication; with divine recompense he comes to save you.” And as Bishop Myron Cotta said, there is a “great need for deliverance ministry among God’s people and discovering the gift of ‘freedom’ found in Jesus Christ.”

In summary, we looked at 2 Sacraments of healing with a focus on the Sacrament of Anointing of the Sick.  Second, we looked at some examples of healing and deliverance.  Like the man that was healed today, I invite you at the Offertory, as our gifts of bread and wine are bought up, bring whatever it is that is in need of healing so that Jesus the Divine Physician can touch it and heal it in his name.  Let our hearts be open to Jesus’ healing as he says to us, “Ephphata,” be opened.  Amen.

 

"They No Longer Followed Him": The Eucharist & the Mystery of 666 (Homily #35)





10am Mass

  

 5pm Mass

 

 

 



 

I

The book The Lord of the Rings was written by J.R.R. Tolkien.  Tolkien wrote about two main characters named Frodo and Sam.

Frodo and Sam have to travel for a very long time in a land far away from home to destroy a little evil ring.  The journey is too great beyond their normal strength.

J.R.R. Tolkien was actually a devout Catholic writer.  And like a good Catholic artist that influences a masterpiece, Tolkien included images of his Faith especially the Sacraments in The Lord of the Rings.  The main character Frodo, who represents each of us, was given bread for his journey called Bread of the Elves.  Just a few crumbs of the Bread of the Elves would sustain Frodo for long periods.

In our real lives now, we don’t have a fictional Bread of the Elves.  Rather, we have the true Bread of Angels, the Bread of Life.  The Eucharist is the daily bread for which we pray in the Our Father, “Give us this day our daily bread.”

II

In the past few Sundays, have you noticed how the readings for the Word of God have focused on the Eucharist?  Let those who have ears listen!

In the Old Testament, God gradually prepared the world to understand how he feeds us.

It started with the priest-king Melchizedek.  King Mel offered bread and wine to Abraham and Sarah on their journey from Ur to the Promised Land.

Later, the early Israelites sacrificed and ate a lamb and did so every year to remember Passover and their flight from Egypt.

Then, the hungry Israelites were given food – manna or quail – in the desert. 

In the Ark of Covenant – the Tabernacle or the box that carried the Ten Commandments – some manna was placed in it on the journey and its eventually resting place in the Temple.

Then, as we heard in the First Reading today, the Prophet Elijah was given bread, cake and water to eat for his journey.

You see, the Patriarchs, the Law, and the Prophets all bear witness to God the Good Shepherd feeding his flock in the Old Testament.  Let those who have ears listen!

 

In the New Testament, as we heard a few weeks ago, Jesus miraculously fed thousands with only five loaves and two fish and ended up with 12 baskets of extra leftovers.  Jesus himself prepared us to understand the Eucharist.  And, yes, this was a real and actual miracle.

The Church does not believe in the social scientific theory that somehow Jesus just somehow inspired thousands of men to somehow take out food that they were somehow hiding in their clothes that day.  No, it was a REAL miracle of feeding five thousand men – that’s an average of one loaf of bread per 1,000 people – not counting women and children with a few scraps of food.

In previous Gospel readings, you’ll notice that Jesus starts saying “Amen” twice to show emphasis and importance.  Last week, he said “Amen. Amen.  It is my Father who gives you bread from heaven.”  He said, “I am the bread of life.”

Then, in today’s Gospel, people grumbled against Jesus for saying this. They were upset and asked, “How can this man say that he is himself is the Bread of Life?!”  They asked how one could eat someone’s flesh.

But Jesus didn’t back down.  He did not say, “Oh, gee guys, okay, that’s not what I meant.  Let me clarify what I’m saying.”

No, he said all the more, “Amen.  Amen.  I say to you, whoever believes in me has eternal life. 

Your ancestors ate manna in the desert but they died. 

I am the living bread that came down from heaven. 

Whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world.”

Jesus didn’t back down through his two Amens.  (Let those who have ears listen.)

Next week in the Gospel, the people still complained and Jesus said again, “Amen.  Amen.  I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.  And I will raise them up on the last day.”

(Let those who have ears listen!)

 

And then, in two weeks from now in the Gospel, the people that followed him still grumbled and complained and said, “This saying is hard; who can accept it?” 

Jesus STILL didn’t back down.  It was a very tense situation.  It’s what us modern people would call….. “Aaaakwaaaard.” It was awkward.

And, then, finally, “As a result of this hard saying…” [SLOW DOWN!] many of his disciples returned to their former way of life…..….and in John Chapter Six Verse Six Six….no….longer…..accompanied…him.”  They no longer followed him over this saying about eating his flesh and drinking his blood. 

Picture this: In the awkward moments of a large group of people just literally walking away and leaving him, Jesus just watched as disciples that once followed him (quote) “no longer accompanied him” (end quote).  Jesus just watched them leave him saddened in silence.  Then imagine Jesus turning to the 12 – you and me – and asking us, “Do you also want to leave?”

John 6, 6, 6 is the mystery of evil.  Those that followed him rejected him over the Eucharist.  Let those who have ears, listen!  They weren’t atheists or unbelievers….rather, they were disciples which makes the evil even worse.  It wasn’t out of ignorance, but a willing rejection of Jesus.

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, are we too going to call this a hard saying and no longer walk with him?  Or are we going to “taste and see the goodness of the Lord”?  There are many lapsed and fallen-away Catholics that no longer believe in the power of the Holy Mass and awesomeness of Jesus present in Eucharist.

Do you know what the largest organization is in the United States?  The American Association of Retired People, the AARP.  Do you know what the second largest group is?  Catholics.  Do you know what the third largest group is?  It’s not Protestants.  The third largest group in the U.S. is former Catholics.  One out of 10 Americans is a former Catholic that has left the Church.  This is called apostasy.  Let us rather remain in the Church and, as we sang in the Responsorial Psalm, and “taste the goodness of the Lord”.

III

When Jesus instituted the Eucharist – the First Mass – on Holy Thursday and gave us the new priesthood of the new covenant, the night before he died on the Cross on that Good Friday, he left us a memorial sacrifice that took over 2,000 years to prepare for in the Old Testament. 

From Abraham and Melchizedek, to Jesus and today, and to the future in the wedding feast of heaven, all human history centers on the Eucharist.  Vatican II calls the Eucharist the “source and summit” of the Christian life.

In the Second Reading today from the Letter to the Ephesians, St. Paul said, “Christ loved us and handed himself over for us as a sacrificial offering…”

Each and every Mass – no matter what language or culture – is a re-presentation of the one Sacrifice of Calvary.  Calvary is made present at each Mass in a bloodless way.  He hangs on the Cross right in front of us at each Mass.

On Holy Thursday, Jesus said, “This is my body.”  He didn’t say, “This is a symbol of my body.”  “This IS my body.”

For 2,000 years, the Church has always believe that it is literally and truly and really Jesus in the Eucharist.  This is called the Real Presence.  This is different that Jesus just being present in the proclaimed Word of God, or in creation, or in you and me, or in the altar, or in the poor or the community, or in the crucifix.  The Real Presence surpasses all these and is a sacramental and true presence.

When the priest says, “This is my body,” the bread is no longer bread but is transubstantiated or changed into Jesus’s body and blood.

It may smell like bread, look like bread, smell like bread, feel like bread, and taste like bread.  But it is NOT bread.  It is the Body of Jesus Christ.  It is His Sacred Heart that you and I eat.  When our 5 senses fail, faith supplies.  In Latin, Preastet Fides Supplementum, Sensum Defectui – Faith Supplies Where the Senses Are Defective.

(If Jesus were to take this microphone and say, “This is a car.”  I will say Amen.  If Jesus were to take this piece of paper and say “This is lumpia,” I will say Amen, it is lumpia.  So if Jesus takes bread, and says, “This is my body,” I will say Amen Amen it is Jesus’s Body.

St. Mother Teresa of Calcutta used to say that when you see a crucifix, you see Jesus’ love for you then.  When you see the Eucharist, you see Jesus’s love for you now.  Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI said that without the Eucharist, the Church simply would not exist anymore.  And St. John Chrysostom said that the Eucharist is the source and foundation of our taking care of the poor and vulnerable.  We feed people first in spirit then in body.

 

 

IV

This is why, dear brothers and sisters, we’re not just coming to church and hearing a sermon on the Bible for an hour.  We come to Mass to receive his flesh.  And we should come prepared to receive Holy Communion by going to the Sacrament of Reconciliation and Confession and remove any serious sins from our soul and be restored to the state of grace.  We don’t want to receive the Eucharist unworthily by having unconfessed deadly sins on our soul.  Rather, we should be in the state of grace when we receive Holy Communion.  This is the meaning of wearing a spiritual wedding garment at the Supper of the Lamb which is the Mass.

AND….we don’t just want us to receive the Bread of Life, but we want others to receive the Bread of Life, too.  Let us invite others to join us in this Supper of the Lamb, so that the whole world will be fed.  Let us invite lapsed and non-practicing Catholics back to Mass.

I close with a true story by a priest named John Bosco about 100 years ago.  He once had a dream where he saw a large ship in rough waters.  The ship was filled with bishops, priests and lay people.  It had the Pope at the helm steering the ship.  The ship was being attacked by other boats trying to sink her through bad ideas and bad teachings.  Well, eventually, the Pope saw two columns in the middle of the rocky waters.  So the Pope steered the ship to the two columns and tied the ship to both of them.  On the top of one column was the Eucharist.  On the top of the other column was Our Lady, Mary.  After the Pope tied the ship to the two columns, there was calm, the ship of the Church was stabilized, and the boats that were attacking the ship faded away.  These indeed are difficulty times and tribulations for the Church today. 

The Eucharist and Mary--  We the Pilgrim Church – you and I – must tie our life to the columns of Jesus and Mary.  The Eucharist is the bread for the rough journey that lay ahead.  Mary is the Mother of the Eucharist.  Let us love the Eucharist at at least every Sunday and the Mother of the Eucharist, so that we who eat the flesh of the Son of Man will live forever and be raised up on the last day. 

Amen.  Amen.

+ Estrella Alvarez Villanueva (1930-2015)

My maternal grandmother passed away on Wed., Aug. 5, 2015, at 6:47am California time. 

With her death, all four of my blood grandparents are now in the hands of Our Heavenly Father.

Thank you, God, for giving them long life.  I pray that they were of great service to You.  May our family tree and lineage be of service to Your Name.

I have fond memories of my grandma such as her cooking for me and working hard to provide for her family.  I only encountered her for a few years and have more things to say about her.

I hope to say more later. 

I think I was the only one present in 1987 when she and my maternal grandfather met after many years of divorce.  I just remember being purposefully quiet so as to give them time to greet each other.

I wish I did more to help her materially and spiritually, but she was always a strong woman.

I love and miss her dearly.