On this glorious date, I was ordained a priest in the cathedral of St. Michael in Passaic, NJ.

I have to admit that most of my relatives had no knowledge of the Byzantine Catholic Church – it had taken a while to convince a few early on that I was still Catholic when I changed rites back in the ’70s.

On that date, I was thoroughly convinced that I was not worthy of the honor of ordination, and I told my spiritual director the night before that this was a big mistake. How could the Church think that I should be approaching the altar? He reassured me very much, then and the next morning at the cathedral rectory where I was again shaken and said:  This is wrong. I don’t deserve this.

His wise reply was twofold: nobody deserves this, and better that I tremble rather than go forward with pride!

His advice still holds. And I still think I am unworthy.

So, to whoever comes across this, please pray for me that I use God’s grace wisely and that I go forward ever in spiritual trembling.

Saint Michael Cathedral, where I was ordained in 1981.

I stood to the left, near the Mother of God icon, with her looking right at me. I was one of three ordained that sunny day.

God, be my strength. Holy Mother of God, protect me.

Christ is risen! We are three days from the end of the paschal season on the Gregorian (New) Calendar, while the Julian (Old) Calendar churches just began their Easter joy today! Isn’t it something how things work out. So, if I were a Roman Catholic in Ukraine, I would be wrapping up my paschal  prayers, but the whole country around me would be exploding with “Christ is risen”, ringing of bells, great bouquets of flowers, and 40 more days of celebrating the Resurrection.  So, 80 days of Easter and then some. Not a bad way to live.

 People in Ukraine waiting for the blessing of their baskets at the end of Easter services today. 

Sunday of the Man Born Blind: written for the parish bulletin for May 5, 2013: 

We continue the baptismal theme and the use of water, but here spiritual blindness is removed as well as physical. It is important to note that the man “was born blind” as this emphasizes the power of the miracle. And we continue the pre-Pentecostal theme as well, because the later history of Jewish Christians being expelled from synagogues is put into this story from Jesus’ lifetime. The Holy Spirit strengthens us in persecution: this newly cured man loses everything because he defends Jesus and the miraculous cure. But when he hears the voice of Jesus, he worships Him.

When Jesus was alive, those who believed in Him were not thrown out of synagogues. That happened only in the 80s of the first century. The writer in John’s Gospel takes an incident of his church’s experience and puts it into the time of Jesus’ preaching, in order to make a point to his local church: this is how you should respond, with faith. The young man confesses that Jesus is the Son of God! He is one of the very first in the gospel to do so. He loses everything, but finds strength and peace alike in that profession of faith.

Persecution on the basis of religion abounds today, but what most people do not know is this: 75% of all instances of religious persecution are against Christians.

What will we be willing to risk if the laws turn against us?  The martyrs of the 20^th century, and the spiritual heroism of this man who was born blind, will have to guide us and encourage us in the 21^st century as we truly see the faith. Caesarius of Arles wrote: That blind man was prepared as a salve for the human race. He was bodily restored to light, in order that by considering his miracle we might be enlightened in heart. In evening prayer tonight, may we offer this prayer to God, that we will always be enlightened in our hearts and do what is right, no matter the cost. Christ is risen!

Two Popes in prayer:  Benedict XVI and Francis I are shown kneeling down in prayer in Vatican City. Pope Francis is vested in all of the papal clothing; Benedict is not wearing the shoulder cape and sash. This picture is from May 2, in the chapel of the monastery where Benedict will be leading a life of prayer and writing. It is a unique situation in Catholic history, and these two men are making history every day with each decision they make. But it is important to note that they do so as men prayer: in front of Christ Crucified, and in front of the Living Jesus in the tabernacle.  Pray for them: they certainly spend time praying for all of us!

The Byzantine rite used by Orthodox and Catholics celebrates the 8th day of Pascha today: the appearance of Jesus, though the doors were locked, in the Upper Room. Here, where Jesus had celebrated the Last Supper with the apostles, and where the apostles had been gathering since Good Friday, Our Lord comes to all of them, but especially Thomas. Recall that Thomas had refused to believe in the resurrection, insisting he would do so only if he could put his fingers and hands into the gaping wounds left in that ravaged body after the Crucifixion.

Jesus speaks directly to Thomas, opening His wounds to him, inviting him to put his hand into the wound of his right side, through which blood and water had gushed out in response to the centurion’s spear. Thomas falls down in worship, proclaiming that Jesus is both Kyrios (Lord) and God.  Thomas’ skepticism so matches our age. So many people declare that they won’t believe unless certain conditions are met. Christ met Thomas’ questions head on, and bluntly.  He testifies in those famous words about the coming generations : blessed are they who believe but cannot see for themselves.

With all the news of North Korea going on, I thought it appropriate to present something of the faith of Korean Catholics.  In a Church founded on the basis of reports coming to the isolated kingdom from its annual embassy to the emperor of China, not only could the Koreans not see Jesus, they did not even have the comfort of a priest for many years.  Korea feared outside contamination, and the introduction of a totally new religion into the confucianist society was both feared and resented. The faith was discovered by scholars, from a small class of highly respected men who studied and taught society about its duties. When the first Chinese priest arrived, he found 4,000 believers led by Catholic scholars. No one had ever attended a Mass – yet they had great faith.  Catholicism made steady progress among the ordinary people of Korea: the peasants, artisans, and workers.  There were repeated violent persecutions, and the first Korean priest, St. Andrew Kim, was executed just thirteen months after his ordination.

St. Andrew Kim, a priest for 13 months of which 3 were spent in prison. 

Catholics were tortured, impoverished, exiled, and mercilessly butchered, and still this underground Church made great progress. Religious freedom was not granted until 1883.  French bishops and priests sneaked into the country to administer the sacraments. Korean women became consecrated virgins who catechized and led prayer services.  St. Kwon Tug-In Peter made crucifixes and holy pictures for covert distribution; he and his entire family were arrested in 1839.  St. Yu Chin-gil Augustine came to faith after piecing together pages of a Catholic book that had been torn apart in the 1801 persecution and used to patch a trunk. In those torn pages he found replies to questions that the official teachings could not answer. When he successfully joined the annual delegation to China in 1824, he made his way to the bishop to obtain Baptism, Confirmation and Holy Communion. The bishop was astounded to find such a well-educated Catholic from a country whose only priest had been executed!  His son St. Yu Tae-ch’ol Peter was the youngest known martyr at 13 years of age. Augustine was brutally tortured and killed in 1839. Ultimately at least 8,000 to 10,000 Korean Catholics were martyred, and thousands more suffered ruined health from torture, lived in poverty after paying heavy fines, or were scattered across the peninsula in exile. Of these, 103 are saints of the Catholic Church.

Korean Catholic men being taken to their martyrdom 

Jeoldusan Shrine and Museum of the Martyrs, on the spot where Catholics were slain from 1866-1873. “Jeoldusan” means Beheading Hill.  Two thousand died here in 1866 alone.

“Brutally” does not begin to describe it: it seems to me that Satan must inspire the minds of the Church’s enemies when it comes to torture, particularly in Asia but also under communism.  Yet the Church endured.

Today, about 11% of South Koreans are Catholic.  Thirty per cent are Protestants or Orthodox (10 Orthodox parishes).  In 1953 there were about 300,000 Catholics in the North.  Thirty-six Benedictine monks and nuns from Tokwon abbey have been proposed as Martyrs: 14 monks and 2 nuns were executed for the Faith; 17 monks and 2 nuns died of starvation or untreated illness; the abbot died in a communist prison. Every Korean priest in the North was arrested, which ended sacramental life for the laity. Surviving foreign missionaries were expelled; some had died on death marches inside the North during the war. These included Bishop Patrick Byrne, Apostolic Delegate to Korea and an American Maryknoll missionary; Father Frank Canavan of the Irish Columbans, Mother Beatrix of the Sisters of St. Paul of Chartres, Mothers Therese and Mechthilde  of the cloistered Carmelites, Fathers Joseph Bulteau, Antoine and Julien Gimbert (two brothers who had been missionaries there since 1900) and  Paul Villemot of the Paris Foreign Mission Society. Some of these were shot, the others died of starvation and exhaustion.  There are thousands upon thousands more of whom we know nothing.  One priest-martyr we do know: Father Emil Kapaun, a Kansas-born priest who was a chaplain to the American Army. He wore himself out ministering to his fellow prisoners-of-war in 1950-51, and died in a so-called hospital, denied medical treatment.

Holy Cross Abbey was closed in 1946 and the monks sent to the South. They built a new abbey at Waegwan.

The former Abbey of St. Benedict at Tokwon

The Jerusalem of Asia was Pyongyang, the capital of North Korea. In 1948, out of 300,000 people over 50,000 were Christians. It is a tragic irony that it is now the capital of the self-made communist gods of the Kim family, whose latest progeny threatens world peace – or is rattling everyone in order to get the now-traditional appeasement from the great powers of America, China and Japan to dance to his tune once again and wrangle some concessions regarding nuclear attempts or food relief.

Christ the King, in Korean style 

May the Prince of Peace deliver us all from war, and may those who do not see come to faith. St Thomas, pray for us!  Martyrs of Korea pray for us, and intercede for the triumph of Christ’s peace!

Catholic church in Pyongyang, photographed in 1937 (notice rickshaw on left).  Only God knows what happened to its parishioners.

Christ the King, have mercy on us!

Martyrs of Korea, pray for peace!

Christ is risen! Christos voskrese! Krisztusz feltamadt! Cristo es rescucidado!

My last post was Palm Sunday – and then we entered Holy Week. I was immersed in the services – which is only proper – as we journeyed with Christ through the anointing, the Last Supper, the Agony in the Garden, His Passion, the Burial, and then the Resurrection.

One year I said to a little boy “Christ is risen” and he answered me “Father, I sure hope so after all of this!” Out of the mouths of babes ….

It is something how the most modest of Byzantine rite churches, Catholic or Orthodox, can become the setting of all of those events due to the power of the services and the gift of kairos, sacred time by which we experience the power of those original events.

It is an amazing time to reflect on one’s relationship with the Persons of the Trinity,  what has transpired since last Easter, and where one wants to be spiritually next Easter.  Sitting in a dark church in front of the tomb with the Shroud of the body of the Dead Christ painted on it puts everything into sharp perspective.

I was pumped with oxygen from my expanded lungs, real adrenalin, and spiritual adrenalin, aka grace. But on Easter evening my body slowed down, and I spent the next four days at home, barely able to maneuver myself in the power wheelchair the first two days due to the pain and spastic muscles.  And so life goes on.

Below is a link to the celebration of a priest’s 75th anniversary of ordination. I don’t think I’ll make it to that exalted number! Scroll down through the photos, taken inside the magnificent church of SS. Cyril and Methodius in Olyphant, PA. The last picture is a striking image of that dear old priest.

Enjoy, and keep the paschal joy alive for the rest of the Easter Season!

http://thetimes-tribune.com/news/photos-75th-anniversary-of-monsignor-celebrated-1.1467356

Complete text of today’s Palm Sunday homily, March 24, 2013

“What counts is not earthly power”

By Pope Francis

“Jesus enters Jerusalem. The crowd of disciples accompanies him in festive mood, their garments are stretched out before him, there is talk of the miracles he has accomplished, and loud praises are heard: “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord. Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!” (Lk 19:38).

Crowds, celebrating, praise, blessing, peace: joy fills the air. Jesus has awakened great hopes, especially in the hearts of the simple, the humble, the poor, the forgotten, those who do not matter in the eyes of the world. He understands human sufferings, he has shown the face of God’s mercy, he has bent down to heal body and soul. Now he enters the Holy City! It is a beautiful scene, full of light, joy, celebration.

At the beginning of Mass, we repeated all this. We waved our palms, our olive branches, we sang “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord” (Antiphon); we too welcomed Jesus; we too expressed our joy at accompanying him, at knowing him to be close, present in us and among us as a friend, a brother, and also as a King: that is, a shining beacon for our lives.

And here the first word that comes to mind is “joy!”

Do not be men and women of sadness: a Christian can never be sad! Never give way to discouragement!

Ours is not a joy that comes from having many possessions, but from having encountered a Person: Jesus, from knowing that with him we are never alone, even at difficult moments, even when our life’s journey comes up against problems and obstacles that seem insurmountable, and there are so many of them! We accompany, we follow Jesus, but above all we know that he accompanies us and carries us on his shoulders. This is our joy, this is the hope that we must bring to this world of ours. Let us bring the joy of the faith to everyone!

2. But we have to ask: why does Jesus enter Jerusalem? Or better: how does Jesus enter Jerusalem?

The crowds acclaim him as King. And he does not deny it, he does not tell them to be silent (cf. Lk 19:39-40).

But what kind of a King is Jesus? Let us take a look at him: he is riding on a donkey, he is not accompanied by a court, he is not surrounded by an army as a symbol of power. He is received by humble people, simple folk.

Jesus does not enter the Holy City to receive the honours reserved to earthly kings, to the powerful, to rulers; he enters to be scourged, insulted and abused, as Isaiah foretold in the First Reading (cf. Is 50:6).

He enters to receive a crown of thorns, a staff, a purple robe: his kingship becomes an object of derision. He enters to climb Calvary, carrying his burden of wood.

And this brings us to the second word: Cross.

Jesus enters Jerusalem in order to die on the Cross. And it is here that his kingship shines forth in godly fashion: his royal throne is the wood of the Cross!

Our thoughts turn to the choosing of King David: God does not choose the strongest, the bravest, he chooses the last, the youngest, the one no one had considered. What counts is not earthly power.

Before Pilate, Jesus says: “I am a King”; but his power is God’s power which confronts the world’s evil and the sin that disfigures man’s face.

Jesus takes upon himself the evil, the filth, the sin of the world, including our own sin, and he cleanses it, he cleanses it with his blood, with the mercy and the love of God.

Let us look around: how many wounds are inflicted upon humanity by evil! Wars, violence, economic conflicts that hit the weakest, greed for money, power, corruption, divisions, crimes against human life and against creation!

And our personal sins: our failures in love and respect towards God, towards our neighbour and towards the whole of creation.

Jesus on the Cross feels the whole weight of the evil, and with the force of God’s love he conquers it, he defeats it with his resurrection.

 Dear friends, we can all conquer the evil that is in us and in the world: with Christ, with the force of good!

Do we feel weak, inadequate, powerless? But God is not looking for powerful means: it is through the Cross that he has conquered evil!

We must not believe the Evil One when he tells us: you can do nothing to counter violence, corruption, injustice, your sins! We must never grow accustomed to evil! With Christ we can transform ourselves and the world. We must bear the victory of Christ’s Cross to everyone everywhere, we must bear this great love of God.

And this requires all of us not to be afraid to step outside ourselves, to reach out to others. In the Second Reading, Saint Paul tells us that Jesus emptied himself, assuming our condition, and he came to meet us (cf. Phil 2:7).

 Let us learn to look up towards God, but also down towards others, towards the least of all! And we must not be afraid of sacrifice.

Think of a mother or a father: what sacrifices they make! But why? For love! And how do they bear those sacrifices? With joy, because they are made for their loved ones.

Christ’s Cross embraced with love does not lead to sadness, but to joy!

3. Today in this Square, there are many young people: for 28 years Palm Sunday has been World Youth Day!

This is our third word: youth!

Dear young people, I think of you celebrating around Jesus, waving your olive branches. I think of you crying out his name and expressing your joy at being with him! You have an important part in the celebration of faith! You bring us the joy of faith and you tell us that we must live the faith with a young heart, always, even at the age of seventy or eighty.

With Christ, the heart never grows old! Yet all of us, all of you know very well that the King whom we follow and who accompanies us is very special: he is a King who loves even to the Cross and who teaches us to serve and to love.

And you are not ashamed of his Cross! On the contrary, you embrace it, because you have understood that it is in giving ourselves that we have true joy and that God has conquered evil through love.

You carry the pilgrim Cross through all the Continents, along the highways of the world! You carry it in response to Jesus’ call: “Go, make disciples of all nations” (Mt 28:19), which is the theme of World Youth Day this year. You carry it so as to tell everyone that on the Cross Jesus knocked down the wall of enmity that divides people and nations, and he brought reconciliation and peace.

Dear friends, I too am setting out on a journey with you, in the footsteps of Blessed John Paul II and Benedict XVI.

We are already close to the next stage of this great pilgrimage of Christ’s Cross. I look forward joyfully to next July in Rio de Janeiro! I will see you in that great city in Brazil!

Prepare well – prepare spiritually above all – in your communities, so that our gathering in Rio may be a sign of faith for the whole world.

We are living out the joy of walking with Jesus, being with Him, carrying his Cross, with love, with a spirit that is always young!

Let us ask the intercession of the Virgin Mary. She teaches us the joy of meeting Christ, the love with which we must look to the foot of the Cross, the enthusiasm of the young heart with which we must follow him during this Holy Week and throughout our lives. Amen.”

Today the Byzantine Rite commemorates a monk from the Sinai desert, John of the Ladder, or John Climacus.  Here is what I wrote in our parish bulletin for today:

Fourth Sunday of Great Lent: The Sunday of Saint John Climacus

John came to the Vatos Monastery at Mount Sinai, now Saint Catherine’s Monastery, and became a novice when he was about 16 years old. He was taught about the spiritual life by the elder monk Martyrius. After the death of Martyrius, John, wishing to practice greater asceticism, withdrew to a hermitage at the foot of the mountain. In this isolation he lived for some twenty years, constantly studying the lives of the saints and thus becoming one of the most learned Church Fathers. When he was about seventy-five years of age, the monks of Sinai persuaded him to become their hegumen (superior or abbot). He acquitted himself of his functions as abbot with the greatest wisdom, and his reputation spread so far that, according to the Vita, Pope Gregory the Great wrote to recommend himself to his prayers, and sent him a sum of money for the hospital of Sinai, in which the pilgrims were wont to lodge.

Of John’s literary output we know only the Ladder of Divine Ascent, composed at the request of John, Abbot of Raithu, a monastery situated on the shores of the Red Sea, and a shorter work To the Pastor (Latin: Liber ad Pastorem), most likely a sort of appendix to the Ladder.

The Ladder describes how to raise one’s soul and body to God through the acquisition of ascetic virtues. Climacus uses the analogy of Jacob’s Ladder as the framework for his spiritual teaching. Each chapter is referred to as a “step”, and deals with a separate spiritual subject. There are thirty Steps of the ladder, which correspond to the age of Jesus at his baptism and the beginning of his earthly ministry. Within the general framework of a ‘ladder’, Climacus’ book falls into three sections. The first seven Steps concern general virtues necessary for the ascetic life, while the next nineteen (Steps 8-26) give instruction on overcoming vices and building their corresponding virtues. The final four Steps concern the higher virtues toward which the ascetic life aims. The final rung of the ladder—beyond prayer (προσευχή), stillness (ἡσυχία), and even dispassion (ἀπαθεία)–is love (ἀγάπη).

Originally written simply for the monks of a neighboring monastery, the Ladder swiftly became one of the most widely read and much-beloved books of Byzantine spirituality. This book is one of the most widely-read among Eastern Christians, especially during the season of Great Lent. It is often read in the trapeza (refectory) in Orthodox monasteries, and in some places it is read in church as part of the Daily Office on Lenten weekdays, being prescribed in the Triodion.

CONCLAVE 

The Conclave begins on Tuesday, after Mass and with the intoning of the beautiful hymn “Veni Creator Spiritus”, or Come Creator Spirit. With that ancient prayer to the Holy Spirit, the cardinals go in, the doors are locked and their retreat and voting begin after days of meetings, conferences, and as one cardinal pointed, a lot of prayer.

EWTN will be carrying a lot of coverage, with Raymond Arroyo and Robert Royal leading and Joan Lewis and Colleen Campbell giving special reports.

In addition, you can follow Robert Royal’s insightful musings at http://www.thecatholicthing.org/daily_conclave_report/   which I highly recommend and his regular postings are at http://www.frinstitute.org/

Colleen Campbell hosts Faith & Culture on EWTN, andwill anchor a live daily news show from St. Peter’s Square in Rome. Show airs on EWTN television at 9 a.m. ET on March 8 and 9, and re-airs at 5 p.m. ET.  Her website is http://colleen-campbell.com/

 Both of these Catholic authors are people to follow after the conclave. Their books are solid, and Colleen’s shows give you meat, not pablum.

EASTERN CATHOLIC CARDINALS 

Pope Paul VI began the practice of including Eastern Catholic leaders in the College of Cardinals in 1965 in his motu proprio Ad Purpuratorum Patrum.  

The youngest cardinal is Mar Baselios Cleemis, the Major Archbishop of the Syro-Malankara Church of India, who was elevated at the age of 53. The other Eastern cardinals are the Patriarchs emeritus of the Maronites ,Chaldeans, and  Copts and the Patriarch of the Maronites. The patriarchs emeritus are all prelates who resigned because of age or health, a practice which Benedict XVI imitated with his surprise announcement last month.  His Beatitude Major Archbishop Lubomyr Husar, former leader of the Ukrainian Catholic Church, is now too old to vote in the conclave, having just turned 80 on February 26.

One would think that at this stage of development in the Catholic Church, all the Eastern Catholic Patriarchs and Major Archbishops would automatically be able to vote in a conclave, but sadly, that is not the case.  Maybe I will write to the new pope and suggest that.

Regardless, let us pray for the College’s deliberations to be fruitful for the good of the Church, and to bring souls to Christ!

The sudden announcement of Pope Benedict about his voluntary retirement caught most of the world by surprise, as in 99.9% of the world. Only a few Vatican officials knew. On the 17th, I was the homilist at our church, and I joked that Benedict got his idea of retiring but living on the property and praying and helping from me.  After all, it is just about identical to what I do!

Actually, that’s not true. I stay pretty busy with the parish, though, and as former pontiff, he is not going to be doing that. It takes great humility to recognize one’s limits, and then chart a new course in life based on those limitations.  He most certainly is going to be praying a lot, and writing. And I hope he gets to play the piano and have his cat live with him!

The last appearance by Pope Benedict XVI at the Sunday Angelus can be seen here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=txUyaYKJrXE.

A crowd of 200,000 came to the square to say good-bye, an enormous number for an event that usually gets only a few thousand!

*******

I just found out that I have been cited as a major source on the persecution of Catholicism in the USSR in this presentation by Sister Maria Stella, JCD, that is available online:

http://www.lighthousecatholicmedia.org/store/title/heroic-witnesses.  You can watch another one of Sister’s presentations on You Tube at:

Father Mitch Pacwa, SJ, of EWTN fame, also refers to my work on his shows. But they don’t carry either of my books … I wonder why?******

There is a really good Byzantine Catholic devotional magazine out there, Theosis, published by Jack Figel of Eastern Christian Publications.  I use it, and several people here have told me how much they like it. It is available in print or online.

Here is his write-up about it.

Eastern Christian Publications offers a monthly magazine and eZine called Theosis:
Spiritual Reflections from the Christian East. It contains daily prayer and short
description for the saint of the day, and several short essays on topics for spiritual
reflection from the Christian East. They include the history, tradition and theology of a
feast for the month, and various articles on the mystical theology, prayer, spirituality,
iconography, and sacramental life of the Eastern Churches. Each issue will also cover
other topics such as scripture, homiletic reflections, feasts and fast, and a photo essay of
an Eastern Church.
Theosis  focuses on the tradition of the Eastern Churches, and reflects on the call of Blessed John Paul II for the Church to
“breathe with TWO LUNGS.”
You can subscribe to the printed magazine for 6, 12 or 24 months – the longer you
subscribe, the lower the monthly cost. These will be mailed to you each month. Single
copies can also be purchased – print version or eZine version – from our website. The
print versions will be shipped to you in bulk quantities, and the eZine version can be
downloaded for you to print yourself. Bulk print versions can also be purchased by
parishes who wish to distribute or make  Theosis available to parishioners.

Go here:  http://ecpubs.com/theosis.html  to order it!

****************

The Evangelization website has been dormant for a while – I am learning the ins and outs, and the web designer will be back on February 28. So I should have new items up in March. Until then, please refer people to the site:

http://www.missionboronyavo.org/evangelize/index.html

Bishop Gerald has been happy with what has gone up so far and he asked parishes to link their websites to it.  And please write me with ideas or comments!

*****

Today we celebrate the memory of St. Gregory Palamas, the premiere theologian of theosis/ divinization, and the great defender of hesychasm.  It used to be forbidden to mention him in many Byzantine Catholic Churches, and so the 2nd Sunday of Lent would be the “Sunday of the Paralytic” instead of its proper title. That was because many Latins misunderstood theosis and Palamas both.  Now that is being rectified, and our Typikon once again includes this great bishop.

There have been claims that Aquinas and Palamas are in opposition, but research of the last 50 years has changed that. Both write about the importance of deification, which figures in the Catechism of the Catholic Church. It would be worthwhile to check out a copy of The Ground of Union: Deification in Aquinas and Palamas published back in 1999.  I would be interested in hearing from people who have compared the two.

St. Gregory taught that the mystic, even without education, could have greater knowledge of God than others, but he made the crucial distinction between energies of God, and the essence of God. Essentially, God can not be known in His essence by any human, but His energies (what God sends forth in His creation), can be known. In this, he quoted the ancient Cappadocian Fathers. As for the body postures and breathing, since the person is both body and soul, uses of the body can affect the soul. In the end, he wrote that hesychasm teaches that one can see the Light of God, but only with repentance, interior conversion, constant prayer, and spiritual direction.  This remains the position today, nearly 900 years later.

St. Gregory Palamas, pray for us! 

Finally, for those who are in the Albuquerque area, we have the beautiful service of the Presanctified Gifts on Wednesdays at 12 noon and Fridays at 6.30 pm. The Friday service is followed by a meatless potluck, and on March 1st by a fish fry put on by our Knights of Columbus.  Join us!

Fasting is core to the Lenten spirit. But, remember the warning of Saint John Chrysostom:

It is possible for one who fasts not to be rewarded for his fasting. How? When indeed we abstain from foods, but do not abstain from iniquities; when we do not eat meat, but gnaw to pieces the homes of the poor; when we do not become drunkards with wine, but we become drunkards with evil pleasures; when we abstain all the day, but all the night we spend in impure shows. Then what is the benefit of abstention from foods, when on the one hand you deprive your body of a selected food, but on the other offer your soul unlawful food?”

“Penance, penance, penance!” these were the words of the Mother of God when she appeared at Lourdes, in February, 1858. That is our theme during Great Lent!

This week is known as Pure Week. It is a week in which we should strive to be vigilant about our interior life. Remember that while we undertake fasting, penance, Scripture reading, and prayer, Satan looks to stir things up. Pray for patience so as to avoid hasty comments or judgments on an unpleasant situation that pops up during Lent or Holy Week.

Remember that we must always be armed against the devil.

Buy a Jesus Prayer booklet, and a prayer  rope at the parish’s store and use it to recite this ancient prayer daily.

 Having suffered the Passion for us, have mercy! have mercy! have mercy on me! 

Our spiritual ancestors, the Christians of the Eastern Roman/ Byzantine Empire took their theology very seriously, debating and discussing church teachings on a daily basis. No “secular” environment existed then: the citizens were either Christian or Jewish and church life permeated their existence.  Today’s feast  of SS.  Basil the Great (also known as Basil of Caesarea), Gregory the Theologian (also known as Gregory of Nazianzus) and John Chrysostom comes about as a result of intense debates that raged in 11^th century Constantinople as to who of these great Fathers was the greatest?

Basil was praised for his erudite teaching and fighting against heresy, providing the monastic rule, compassion for sinners, and establishment of hospitals and home.

Chrysostom, the golden-tongued, also brought sinners to repentance, wrote extensively on the liturgy and prayers, and delivered stirring sermons which applied to daily life while even condemning the excesses of an empress.

Gregory’s advocates exalted his beautiful writing of theology, such that he was seen as the definitive teacher on the Holy Trinity.  Who could compare with this teacher, whose prose and clarity surpassed that of classical Greeks?

The result was rancor and bitterness, instead of rejoicing in what the Holy Spirit had given to the Church through these three men! Through a vision granted St. John Mouropos in which they appeared to him and said that they were all equal in God’s eyes, this feast was instituted in 1084.  Their influence on worship and theology cannot be underestimated!

For the Ruthenian Church, this feast holds a special place because the first four-year seminary was dedicated to them. The future theologians of the Ruthenian Greek Catholic Church prayed under the watchful eyes of these great teachers. That seminary served from 1776 until its closure in 1949 by the Soviet Union, in the castle of Uzhhorod/Ungvar.

The Catholic Church also honors them as Doctors of the Church.

May Christ our True God have mercy on us and save us, through the prayers of our holy Fathers Basil, John Chrystostom and Gregory!

PS Our Lady of Perpetual Help Church has first-class relics of Basil and John, which are brought out today for veneration by the faithful.

Today is the second preparation Sunday. Last week we heard about humility, this week we hear about God’s great mercy. A prodigal person is one who squanders what he has and the younger son certainly did that! But he is shocked to discover that his father has still been waiting for him, with great love. This is true of God – His mercy endures forever!

In this powerful icon from Tatiana Grant, the father who embraces the returning sinful son is revealed as being God, through the depiction of the Three Angels.  This is how God acts, Jesus tells us. He waits for our return from our foolishness, He waits and rushes forward, swooping  us into His arms, gathering us up as the hen protects her brood of chicks under her wings, as the exuberant new father scoops us his new baby to hold the baby close to his heart – so too does God for each soul! 

Commentary From Archimandrite Ephrem:

As familiar, perhaps as the “Prodigal Son” – to the extent that there are people who

think “prodigal” means something to do with being a long lost son whose return is welcome! Interesting that he is a wastrel, a spendthrift, a young man who marches off into the world with his half of the inheritance from his father in his pocket or in his bank account, and then is heard no more of until he is reduced to the rock bottom of his existence, and has nowhere to turn …. nowhere save home.

He becomes the true model of repentance. metanoia , the mind-shift, conversion the reversal, teshuvah, the turning, the return. Jewish tradition and Eastern Orthodox tradition coincide in seeing the turning as a whole lifetime’s work. We say of a holy monk who has died  ”He truly repented!”

And where does the journey home start? In the desolation I have made of my own life:

the place where I find myself, empty-handed, impoverished, my talents squandered, my opportunities lost… and home long forgotten. And in that moment of painful self-discovery I also discover what home is, what it is to have parents to turn to.

No doubt the road from home to Desolation Comer was littered with little acts of repentance, moments of self-accusation, flickering good intentions, hours of remorse (washed down with the sweet wines of oblivion…) But only with nowhere else to turn does the wastrel set out for home. Repentance is his last resort – and still his father kills the fatted calf to welcome him, sets a ring on his finger, organizes a feast, glows with joy until the solid, reliable, sensible brother who has stayed at home working at his father’s side protests … and his protest is just… but his father’s response pours from his heart “My son was dead and he is alive!” Justice and fairness are lost in grace and joy. And all the wastrel did was go home…

From Fr Chris:

Let us make a point this week of:

a. going home to the waiting Father Who loves us;

b. praying for others to do the same;

c. rejoicing in the return of sinners;

d. asking myself do I love with abundance as God does?