Category: Uncategorized

***

Acts 16: 11-15

We set sail from Troas, making a straight run for Samothrace,
and on the next day to Neapolis, and from there to Philippi,
a leading city in that district of Macedonia and a Roman colony.
We spent some time in that city.
On the sabbath we went outside the city gate along the river
where we thought there would be a place of prayer.
We sat and spoke with the women who had gathered there.
One of them, a woman named Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth,
from the city of Thyatira, a worshiper of God, listened,
and the Lord opened her heart to pay attention
to what Paul was saying.
After she and her household had been baptized,
she offered us an invitation,
“If you consider me a believer in the Lord,
come and stay at my home,” and she prevailed on us.

The Word of the Lord.

***

***

When we think of Europe, it’s easy to presume it’s always been Christian. 

Europe is home to some of the greatest and oldest cathedrals in the world, including Saint Peter’s in Rome; Chartres in France; Westminster Abbey in London; and Sagrada Familia in Barcelona.

But Europe’s Christian faith comes from humble beginnings. In fact, the first Masses were likely celebrated in homes, not in sprawling Gothic, Romanesque, or Renaissance Cathedrals. 

So, when did Christianity in Europe in begin?

Our first reading from the Acts of the Apostles gives a likely answer.

***

Saint Paul is traveling with some of his companions throughout Greece, where they encounter a group of women, including someone named Lydia.

We don’t know much about her, other than the fact that she traded fine purple linen – meaning she came from some wealth – and she made Paul an offer he couldn’t refuse:

“If you consider me a believer in the Lord,” she says to him, “then come and stay at my home.”

***

Paul accepted the invitation. 

He baptized Lydia and her entire household. Then she allowed Paul to stay with her for as long as he needed, likely several weeks, even months.

Scholars believe that Paul not only stayed in Lydia’s home; he also celebrated Mass there. That’s where some of the first Christians in Europe came to believe – in a tiny home in Greece.

***

So, what can Lydia’s story say to us?

***

God’s will often starts with humble beginnings. Think of Christ lying in a manger; Lydia welcoming Paul into her home; or our tiny mustard seed community here at St. Pius X.

God starts small… suddenly an entire continent is Christian.

What might that mean for us?

Come, Holy Spirit!

***

***

Image credits: (1) Young Adults of Worth Ministries (2) Chartres Cathedral, TripAdvisor (3) CFC Qatar

***

Gospel: John 14: 15-21

Jesus said to his disciples:
“If you love me, you will keep my commandments.
And I will ask the Father, 
and he will give you another Advocate to be with you always,
the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot accept,
because it neither sees nor knows him.
But you know him, because he remains with you,
and will be in you.
I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you.
In a little while the world will no longer see me,
but you will see me, because I live and you will live.
On that day you will realize that I am in my Father
and you are in me and I in you.
Whoever has my commandments and observes them
is the one who loves me.
And whoever loves me will be loved by my Father,
and I will love him and reveal myself to him.”

The Gospel of the Lord.

***

***

Today, we gather seeking the intercession of Our Lady of Fatima, who is not only Mary of the Gospels, the ever-virgin Mother of God, but also our mother… my mother.

Before drawing his last breath on the cross, Jesus gave his final commandment to the Apostle John, the only one of the Twelve who did not abandon him in his hour of need:

“Behold your mother.” 

Then, the Gospel says, John, “took her into his home.”

From that moment, Mary became the mother of all generations, including our own.

***

On this Mother’s Day weekend, we follow in the footsteps of John, humbly and joyfully welcoming Mary into the Basilica of the Sacred Heart, the spiritual home of every Catholic in the Archdiocese of Newark.

***

We not only welcome who she is, our mother. We also receive what she says. She comes to us on the feast day of her first apparition in Fatima, Portugal, 106 years ago with a timeless message of prayer, conversion, and peace.

On May 13, 1917, Our Lady appeared to three shepherd children: Francisco, Jacinta, and Lucia, who received her with the “childlike faith” that our Lord blesses in the Gospels.

Pulling back the veil that separates heaven and earth, Mary appeared to them dressed in white, shining as bright as the sun. 

“Who are you?” they asked her timidly.

Mary responded – not by telling them who she is – but where she’s from: “I am from heaven.” Meaning, I am from God. Everything she will tell them from that moment forward will direct their focus to Christ, her Son.

That is all Mary will ever do – draw believers closer to Christ.

***

I’ve experienced that myself over the last several weeks.

It was an unexpected blessing to travel with Ricardo Casimiro, members of my parish staff, finance and pastoral councils to receive Our Lady in Fatima just over two weeks ago.

I celebrated Mass with them in the Chapel of the Apparitions where Our Lady first appeared. Then we received the Pilgrim Statue, which is present with us today.

During Mass, as I was standing behind the altar and looking out on hundreds of believers, I felt the closeness of Our Lady in a way that I never had before – and with that closeness, a real desire to understand, to share, and to live the message of Fatima.

***

So, what did Our Lady say to those three shepherd children – and what is she saying to our Archdiocese, to us, today?

“Say the rosary every day,” she tells them and us. “This will bring peace to the world and an end to war.”

Every time we turn on the news we’re reminded of the scourge of war – violence on the borders of Europe in Ukraine, chaos in countries like Sudan. Our brothers and sisters suffer unjustly – and Christ suffers within them. 

Today we marched for them. We interceded for them. We entrusted them to the maternal care of Our Lady.

“Pray the rosary,” she says, “and the grace of God will be with you, and will strengthen you…I will be with you always, and my Immaculate Heart will be your comfort and the way which will lead you to God.”

***

While Francisco and Jacinta went to heaven shortly after these apparitions, Lucia lived much longer. But each of them remained faithful to the promises they made to Our Lady. They prayed the rosary daily and offered their sufferings joyfully to the Lord for the conversion of sinners.

Now the invitation is extended to us, just as our Catholic faith is always handed down from one generation to the next.

“Will you offer yourselves to God?” Our Lady asked them – a question she now poses to us. “Will you offer yourselves to God and bear all of the sufferings he sends you? And will you do so joyfully?”

***

“Behold your mother.”

Mary, we receive you. And may the words once spoken by you to the angel Gabriel now become our own: “Let it be done unto me according to your word.” 

With hearts open to grace, we pray: Hail Mary… 

***

***

Image credits: (1) (2) Jersey Catholic, Chrism Mass (3)

***

Gospel: John 15: 9-11

Jesus said to his disciples:
“As the Father loves me, so I also love you.
Remain in my love.
If you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love,
just as I have kept my Father’s commandments
and remain in his love.

“I have told you this so that
my joy might be in you and
your joy might be complete.”

The Gospel of the Lord.

***

***

This Gospel passage is a tiny excerpt from the final words that Jesus speaks to his disciples before his betrayal and arrest. He tells them many things about where he’s from and where he’s going.

Then he concludes with the words, “I no longer call you slaves, but friends.”

***

In Christ’s time, there was an elaborate social hierarchy. 

At the bottom, there were slaves and commoners. Above them were merchants, soldiers, generals, and advisors of the king.

At the very top, there was a select group of people known as, “friends of the emperor.” 

These “friends” had unlimited access to the king. They could approach him at anytime, even in his bedchamber. Meaning, they interacted with him while he was vulnerable; unarmed; arrestingly human. 

They had access to the king’s heart.

***

The disciples have become that type of friend to Jesus. Over the last three years, they’ve seen him weep; watched him pray; listened to him as he poured out his heart.

In Jesus, the disciples have access to the heart of God.

We can have that same intimacy with him. Jesus will speak to us, console us, and reveal himself to us.

To be his “friend,” he asks only one thing: “Keep my commandments,” of loving God and our neighbor as ourselves.

What does that mean for me today?

***

***

Image credits: (1) Walking With Purpose (2) A Ransomed Soul, WordPress (3) Fresh Heart Ministries, Paul Waterman