New Link Here: Spiritual Exercise for the Week

Spiritual Exercise for the Week is the title of my new blog which visitors may link at this blog, To Find Fruit.

Parishioners of Gesu Parish, University Heights, Ohio, and visitors to this site have noticed that I close my Sunday homilies with a spiritual exercise for the coming week. Each exercise is based on two things:

1. the Sunday scripture readings; and
2. the favored method of praying of St. Ignatius of Loyola.

That formal name of his method is the Consciousness Examen. An examen was the Latin word for the tongue or fulcrum of a balance. Ancients weighed something opposite a known weight until the two were in balance.

St. Ignatius modeled and insisted his Jesuit companions do the Consciousness Examen twice a day. God and all the ways God was revealed (virtues, the commandments, the eucharist, the life of Jesus, Mary, the saints, and so forth) and the way God works in human lives are the "known weights" to which we try to bring our lives in balance.

The Consciousness Examen, or a more accessible name, Awareness Examen, has five steps spread over 10-15 minutes. [They are not equally spread over the time. In fact, if one spent all the time in step 1, one would profit from the examen. When I began learning this way of praying, I found I lingered longer in step 1 for many months. Take a week to add one step to the next: that's is a recommendation I have made which several people warmly weclomed.] Here are the five steps.

* * * * *

1. I begin by resting in the Trinity. I relax myself, trying to focus myself on the Trinity, perhaps one Person more than the others, perhaps all of them. I use whatever helps me to become more aware of God smilingly lovingly on me.
2. Then I consider my day, or a part of the day since the last time I did this Awareness Examen. In my consideration I allow graces and gifts to surface on my mind and heart; as one does I speak to God, expressing my gratitude for it, and I allow our conversation to follow its course. (I listen for the traces of how God has communicated to me earlier.)
3. I consider how I lived my day by noticing choices and actions or inactions. Which one was in synch with Jesus' gospel? which was not in synch with it? I "weigh" each against Jesus manner of living and against Jesus' gospel. This need not be exhausting. Like my gifts, choices and actions will surface, too, because I am quietly in touch with God-with-me.
   
4. I focus on one choice or action, choosing any criterion: the most challenging; the most frequent; most or least distinct, the one with which I am most or least satisfied, and so forth.
   
5. a) If my choice was in synch with Jesus and his gospel, I praise Jesus. I ask Jesus for the grace to help strengthen my way of choosing so that I may repeat it tomorrow. b) If my choice was not in synch with Jesus and his gospel, I exress my sorrow. I ask Jesus for the grace to diminish that way of choosing has over me so that I will not repeat it tomorrow.

I close with an Our Father.

* * * * *

The Spiritual Exercise for the Week is based on several of these steps, especially, praising, speaking gratitude, conversing with Persons of the Trinity and desiring to live more in synch with Jesus, patterning my life on his living, dying and risisng. Its blog makes clear that the Spiritual Exercise for the Week is meant to jump-start people's praying in order that they can deepen their relationships with God. Each person will go where no pray-er has gone before!

At the end of the weekly exercise are tips for keeping track of journeying with God. Such a record has a single purpose: to assist in developing, conditioning and sanctifying one's life as a friend and disciple of Jesus today.

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The 10-minute spiritual exercise for this week may be found by visiting

Exercise-for-the-Week

Enjoy your week! --Faithfully, Fr. Panaretos

Sunday word, 15 Oct 2006

28th Sunday of Year(15 Oct 2006) Wis 7. 7-11; Ps 90; Hb 4. 12-13; Mk 10. 17-30
Homily of Fr. Paul Panaretos, S.J.
Wisdom Awaits

As you know the arrangement of scriptures on Sundays and others solemnities follows a plan. The second reading is from the letters of Paul and others; and during the Easter season from the Acts of the Apostles. Each of these is read in a continuous fashion. The gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke are read continuously, too. Each is read over one year. This is the year of Mark. The gospel of John had been the traditional gospel of Lent and Easter, and it remains so in our lectionary.

The Old Testament readings are chosen in relation to the gospels: on a given Sunday the Old Testament selection is one which Jesus fulfills in the gospel reading. Sometimes their pairing is transparent. Take next week as an example. Isaiah prophesied about the suffering servant of the Lord, who would shoulder the guilt of many. Continuing the 10th chapter of Mark’s gospel Jesus will identify himself as the Son of Man [who came]...to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.

Today’s first reading and gospel do not as easily betray why they might be paired. So I asked myself, “Did Jesus fulfill anything in the selection from the Book of Wisdom?” We heard its speaker pray and receive the gift of wisdom.

Wisdom is a gift of the Holy Spirit which we the Sacrament of Confirmation encourages and strengthens in the baptized. I liken this divine gift to a window on the loving design the Trinity has for each person, each bit of dust, each drop of water, each wisp of wind. The Trinity’s loving design embraces them all together into what we know, what we don’t yet know and what we will never know.

In his earnest promise-making, Jesus said, “Amen, I say to you, there is no one who has given up house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands for my sake and for the sake of the gospel who will not receive a hundred times more now in this present age: houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and eternal life in the age to come.”

Messiah Jesus promised a gift now and to come to his disciples in every age, men, women and children, who pattern their lives on his life of selfless loving and giving. In a phrase Messiah Jesus makes available to us the wisdom of his cross. To live for [Jesus’] sake and for the sake of the gospel means I make my love other-centered, not self centered. I do that by exercising restraint over my whims and my hungering. To pattern our lives on the pattern of the life of our Messiah Jesus is not something we can do unaided. Doing that is my part, your part in cooperating with the grace Jesus’ faith imparts to me, to you.

To exercise restraint contemporary human-development language calls “impulse-control.” As we develop we do not indulge every desire. I am the first to say that is ever a challenge. After living seven months in Asia, I realize that impulse-control, other-centered love--name it in your way--is a steeper challenge for us in the United States than I ever imagined.

You and I are products of our cultural world. The wisdom of the world--forgive me for insulting Wisdom by using the word that way--the wisdom of the world in our age hypnotizes us by individualism; beguiles us with our bodies; preoccupies us with private rights; and co-opts us by competition to the point that life risks being cumbersome and unsatisfying at every turn, rather than a constellation of gifts created by the Trinity for us to enjoy with others, especially with those we keep on the margins of society.

The wisdom of the cross, which Jesus, our Creator and Redeemer, gives us, is a window on his loving design for creation. It also empowers us to live more freely, seeing more clearly all people as sisters and brothers in our Lord. This week in your daily praying of 10 minutes, which you set aside for yourself and Jesus, praise Jesus for creating and redeeming you by his holy cross as you slowly sign yourself with his cross. Converse with Jesus about the way he lived freely for and with others. Beg Jesus in your own words: “Jesus, grant me a deeper share of the wisdom of your cross. Help me choose it first before anything else. Help me cooperate with your wisdom with each breath I take so that I may live more freely with and for your sisters and brothers in my daily world.”
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The 10-minute spiritual exercise for the week may be found in steps for easy use at

Exercise-for-the-Week

Enjoy your week! --Faithfully, Fr. Panaretos

Saturday word

27th Saturday B (14 Oct 2006) Gal 3. 22-29; Ps 105; Lk 11. 27-28
Homily of Fr. Paul Panaretos, S.J.
To Bless Is To Do


As Jesus journeyed to Jerusalem some people gathered to join him; others, whose hearts rejected him, appeared to test him. Those of us with opportunities to go to mass during the week have been hearing both acceptance and rejection of Jesus.

Luke arranged the accepting and rejecting encounters in an alternating fashion. After being tested by others, who demanded a sign from heaven, as to how Jesus expelled a demon from a man, a woman blessed Jesus, as we heard.

Surely good for Jesus to hear; yet the air around Jesus was thick with tension. He did not reject her blessing; rather, he put in the right context. It was not enough to respond to Jesus as a person but to do two things more: to hear the word of God, which Jesus proclaimed, and to do it.

We bless Jesus and his Father and their Holy Spirit in many ways. When we bless them at mass, they send us on mission to do Jesus’ work of proclaiming the word and doing it in our lives. To use Paul’s metaphor, we have clothed []ourselves with Christ. Our baptismal vocation urges us to do that by making the pattern of Christ’s living, dying and rising our own. To fail to do that is to live under a disciplinarian like fear or obligation not a living Christian faith, not living the faith of Jesus.

To make the pattern of Christ’s living, dying and rising our own is to live according to the promise of the covenant and to be truly free. The eucharist sustains what baptism has begun, and it gives us the courage we need to bless Jesus in deed and word.

Friday word

27th Friday B (13 Oct 2006) Gal 3. 7-14; Ps 111; Lk 11. 15-26
Homily of Fr. Paul Panaretos, S.J.
To Test or To Welcome?

What is certain? What is ultimate? What has a claim on us? Those questions, related by their value of utmost importance, can help us to appreciate what to our ears surely seems odd: Cursed be everyone who hangs on a tree. St. Paul was quoting Deuteronomy. (For it is written is a speaking-way of saying, “Hear quotation marks around the following!”) Deuteronomy was part of torah. Torah, the prescription for living the covenant with the God of Israel, contained what was certain, ultimate and had a claim on every Jew.

Crucifixion was so terrifying that its horror alone was enough to make it a curse. Even

Cicero referred to it as “that plague” and considered that even the word “cross” should be far removed from the thoughts, eyes and ears of a Roman citizen./1/

We do that instinctively, making coming to faith a steeper challenge for us.

For a Jew, then, a crucified Messiah was a contradiction in terms, yet that is what certain Jews claimed Jesus to be--and a risen, undying Messiah at that! As for non-Jews the claim of the first Christians was a horrific sham.

To accept Jesus as crucified Messiah was to let go of torah as certain, ultimate and that it had a claim on one’s life; and to accept Jesus Messiah welcomed him as certain, ultimate and that he had a claim on one’s life.

This was the challenge Paul faced personally: he was a zealous Jew, zealous for torah. This is our challenge. To accept Jesus as Messiah is to accept Jesus as certain, ultimate and having a claim on each of us. More often we don’t pray do not lead us into testing,/2/ and we test Jesus, like the others in today’s gospel. Our testing prevents Jesus from laying claim to our whole being: we use our possessions, things which distract our attention from what is ultimate, as well as our own abilities. All are gifts from Jesus, who is no longer a curse but our very life.





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1. Eliud Wabukala and Grant LeMarquand quoting two ciceronian passages: In Verrem II.5.162 and Pro Rabirio 16. They consider this verse from an African context at http://www.tesm.edu/articles/lemarquand-cursed-be-everyone.html

2. Jesus’ encounter with others who test him dramatically opposes his way to pray in vv. 1-4 of this chapter.

Catholic YouTube

On 10 October Cardinal Secretary of State Tarcisio Bertone, S.D.B., publicized a message to the World Congress of Catholic Television, being held in Madrid, Spain, from October 10 to 12. In it the Cardinal said that Catholics ought to "be co-workers of the truth so as to offer the Good News of our Lord in the multiple formats of audiovisual media, while also witnessing to the beauty of creation."

While some Catholics have the expertise to evangelize via the audiovisual media, more Catholics in the U.S. have the ability to profit from the gospel by listening to (podcasts) and watching (on their computers) these media productions.

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops [U.S.C.C.B.] has launched its Catholic Communications Campaign [abbreviated on the site as CCC-TV]. In addition to catechetical, witness and informational features, the site includes a brief reflection on the daily scriptures by a member of the clergy.

Beneath each entry is a link for viewers to choose a free, necessary player (RealPlayer; WindowsMediaPlayer; or Podcast) in order to profit from these evangelizing offering in the form they find most convenient.

Wednesday word

27th Wednesday B (11 Oct 2006) Gal 2. 11-2,7-14; Ps 117; Lk 11. 1-4
Homily of Fr. Paul Panaretos, S.J.
Right Road to Compassion

We believe in the Trinity and that we share in their everlasting life beginning now. While the Trinity is everlasting, humans are limited by space and time. One effect of that fact is this: while the Trinity is continually everlasting, the ways Christians live their relationship to the Trinity are not; they vary according to time, place and experience.

This is what St. Paul tells us in the Letter to the Galatians. The first to experience the risen Jesus were Jews like Jesus. The first Christians remembered Jesus’ words, “Go...baptize all nations,” which we echoed in our responsorial psalm, Go out to all the world and tell the Good News. How to do that?

Initially those first Christians, Jews themselves, did what they and what Jesus had done: they practiced the ways of Judaism though newly empowered by Jesus’ Holy Spirit. Because they did what they knew, they evangelized other Jews, and they ushered pagans to Christ through the ways of Judaism.

Jesus chose St. Paul, a Jew, to take the gospel to the nations. St. Paul knew in and by Jesus’ Spirit that becoming Jewish was not on the right road in line with the truth of the Gospel.

Concern for the poor, relying on God, the creator and lord of all, who is in control of all events, and making the pattern of our lives the pattern of Jesus’ life has roots in Judaism and also exceeds it.

The Jewish prayer, which sanctified God’s name and prayed that God’s dominion would come in one’s lifetime*, Jesus echoed in the prayer he gave his disciples in every age.

What Jesus prayed he gave to his disciples at their request. Our Lord’s Prayer demonstrates the deep relationship Jesus had with his Father. Whether one’s relationship has been solid or whether one has allowed relationship with God to grow tepid, we can always deepen our relationship with Jesus’ Father. The deeper it is, the deeper our compassion for others grows.

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* the kaddish begins: “May His great Name grow exalted and sanctified in the world that He created as He willed. May He give reign to His kingship in your lifetimes and in your days...”

This prayer sanctifying God’s name has become the mourners’ prayer for the deceased. Listen to the complete prayer in Hebrew at http://www.jewfaq.org/prayer/kaddish.htm

Tuesday word

27th Tuesday B (10 Oct 2006) Gal 1. 13-24; Ps 139; Lk 10. 38-42
Homily of Fr. Paul Panaretos, S.J.
What Do We Know?

The famous pair of Martha and Mary are misunderstood. What do we know? We know they were sisters. We also know they welcomed Jesus into the safety and comfort of their home. Travelers depended on hospitality of others, especially in hostile territory as Jesus was as he made his way to Jerusalem, which would be most hostile to him. The sister’s hospitality feels more tender because the episode follows immediately the Good Samaritan parable.

We also know hospitality in the Mediterranean world had two very important rules: 1) to pay attention to the guest; and 2) not to demand guests intervene in their hosts’ affairs.

Martha and Mary both received Jesus. My own experiences in Mediterranean countries help me appreciate both reception by others and leave me in awe at how attentive they are. Martha and Mary received the Prophet-Messiah. When the guest is a prophet, one’s attention is both to the person of the prophet and more to the word of God the prophet announces.

Luke is very plain: Martha was overwhelmed with much serving. She was not neurotic as many have implied or others have diagnosed! Blessed was Martha for welcoming Jesus, but had she tried to impress him with more than her welcome and attention?

We know one more thing clearly: Martha violated hospitality when she demanded her guest, Jesus, settle the rivalry that had grown between her and her sister, between serving Jesus and listening to him deliver God’s word.

No choosing between Martha and Mary can exist for us. Why? Because each of us is both Martha and Mary. We extend our welcome to Jesus as both sisters did. In better moments we focus on the word of God Jesus revealed by his person. In our more frenzied moments we perform for Jesus with more flourish than Jesus expects. For us frenzy has an air of normalcy about it. Frenzy is in fact hostile territory: it distracts us from Jesus and it distracts us both from hearing the word Jesus is and living it.

Monday word

For the next eight weekdays the liturgy of the word presents us with St. Paul’s Letter to the Galatians. His letter is a snapshot of him at his most difficult and his most exhilarating. Paul brought the gospel to non-Jewish unbelievers, who accepted it and received [him] as an angel of God, as Christ Jesus.1

Others followed Paul; they seemed to have considered torah--the revelation to Israel both of God’s covenantal love and the way to make the qualities of God their own--as ultimate, not Jesus Messiah. The revelation of God in Messiah Jesus and his empowering gift of their Holy Spirit fulfilled torah and reduced its former ultimate standing. Turning to a different gospel was Paul’s way of saying what the Galatians knew by experience: they turned to torah as ultimate not to Jesus Messiah. Torah revealed powers and habits which limited humans and enslaved them; Messiah Jesus and his Spirit freed them to live as children of God.

Thus Paul departed from his, and the Greek-speaking custom, of beginning a letter with some fond remembrance and thanksgiving. Turning to a different gospel in which Christ was not the ultimate norm left Paul astonished not grateful.

Jesus’ perhaps-all-too-familiar parable of the Good Samaritan expressed practicing what is ultimate. Early Christians recalled Jesus had taught by deed and word that love of neighbor was love of God. As time passed, Christians found themselves, like Jews did, in a difficult situation: who is my neighbor? Jesus responded to the who-question with a how-answer, which astonishes ultimately.

The age-old expression which many of us can recall learning, accept Christ in each person, has roots in Paul’s experience, who was received...as angel of God, as Christ Jesus. If we make our own Jesus’ compassion and live it, we are truly free and entertain angels and our Messiah Jesus even without being aware.

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1. Galatians 4.14

Sunday word, 08 October 2006

27th Sunday of Year(08 Oct 2006) Gn 2. 18-24; Ps 128; Hb 2. 9-11; Mk 10. 2-16
Homily of Fr. Paul Panaretos, S.J.
No Empty Slogan

During October our church throughout the United States asks those who assemble around the tables of divine word and eucharist to allow respect for life to be a lens through which our vision of divine word and eucharist might be sharpened. This Sunday throws into bold relief our respect for life.

Certain phrases become loaded over time. Their value gets constricted. That is very true for the phrase, respect life. Sadly, it’s value is so narrow for some that its near total value is to stand against abortion. To respect life involves more than the beginning of life. Others can get so focused on another issue that the value of respect life means ending capital punishment. To respect life involves more than end-of-life issues of which capital punishment is only one. Of course one can end a life just beginning. The phrase respect life embodies much more than anyone can give attention and effort. Not to recognize that turns respect life into an empty slogan.

To respect life has two other dimensions, obvious and easy to overlook: 1) I understand respecting others’ lives by coming to respect my own life; and, 2) each moment a person lives stands between life’s beginning and end. Today’s scriptures offer ways of enlarging both dimensions.

The reminder Genesis offered is urgent for our society and many others. God created all other creatures for us because God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a suitable partner for him.” God created the woman in a way unknown to the man (mystery will always encounter us; our technological sophistication blinds us to those encounters when we aren’t careful). Among all creatures the man recognized in her himself, his life--bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh. That recognition did not undermine the attention to the rest of creatures, to which the man gave names.

To recognize that one creature of all is more akin than any other in no way belittles the rest. Rather, and this is the urgent message for us, to respect life includes all creation. Pope John Paul emphasized that time and again.

To recognize that one creature of all is more akin that any other requires one’s admiration and respect for one’s own life. Bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh: the words are no arid anatomical description; they communicate awe in the face of mystery, and esteem, affection, even deference for another.

This awe, esteem, affection and deference is what the Psalmist sang about human beings: of all God’s creatures they are a little less than the angels. The Second Person of the Trinity became exactly that, a human being for us: “for a little while” he was made “lower than the angels, that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone. It’s important to note how Jesus reaffirmed our original goodness and called us back to it.

Jesus did not write a letter to the editor. Jesus did not choose to remain distant in any way. Jesus didn’t respond to the Pharisees privately. Jesus replied to the Pharisees publicly. Jesus had journeyed south through Galilee and had recently begun journeying into Judea across the Jordan to Jerusalem where he would give his life. To those who journeyed with him Jesus invited them to reshape themselves with childlike awe, esteem, affection, even deference for others.

What renewed respect will October give you in this phase of your life? Pope Benedict’s prayer intention for October is helpful: “That all those who are baptized may mature in their faith and manifest it through clear, coherent and courageous choices in life.” Each day this week devote 10 minutes to praise our Creator and Lord for giving you life; leisurely savor the awe of that grace of being alive; and be alert to how you can make “clear, coherent and courageous choices” of esteem, affection and deference for another person that very day.

". . .as a living religion. . ."

John L. Allen interviewed Avery Cardinal Dulles, S.J., on Monday. The interview is concise and clear (both are traits for which Cardinal Dulles has long been known). It shines hope on dialog of Christians and Muslims. Plus, it resumes some enlightened ways Catholic theologians of the middle ages proceeded. For example, the Allen-Douglas interview indicated that Nicholas of Cusa (15th Century) said that the Koran could be used to introduce the gospel. Also

Peter the Venerable wrote in the 12th century that in addressing Muslims, Christians should proceed "not as our people often do, by arms, but by words; not by force, but by reason; not in hatred, but in love."

They would have excelled more had they treated Isalm "as a living religion." Cardinal Dulles explained the meaning of that phrase. Treating Isalm "as a living religion" is our project, too.

65 and 5

In Europe the past three years three cities--Vienna, Paris, Lisbon--hosted congresses to make the Catholic church more visible in those cities and their respective countries. These congresses happened while the European Union was drafting its constitution, which omitted mention of the Christian roots of Europe.

The fourth congress will be in Brussels, and its name is "Proposing the Gospel." At Brussels, the Church risks being hidden by other multiple centers of interest. So we wish to make the Church at Brussels more visible, to show its place and value," wrote Godfried Cardinal Danneels [photo], archbishop of Malines-Brussels, in a brief message announcing "Proposing the Gospel."

Multiple centers of interest pull people, indeed. Sixty-five percent of Brussels' population of 2.5 million are baptized Catholics, but only 5% practice their faith!

Communion and Mission

Wednesday afternoon Fr. Peter-Hans Kolvenbach, Superior-General of the Society of Jesus, spoke to members of boards of Jesuit-sponsored institutions in northeastern Ohio. Fr. Kolvenbach reiterated that the laity--who people these boards in the main--are collaborators with the Jesuits. They are important, not because of any reduced numbers of Jesuits, but of their own participation in the communion and mission of the Church. A word about communion and mission.

Communion: The diversity of the laity cannot be minimized. Diversity does not oppose union, unity, communion. St. Paul used the image of citizens:

So then you are no longer strangers and sojourners, but you are fellow citizens with the holy ones and members of the household of God, built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the capstone. Through him the whole structure is held together and grows into a temple sacred in the Lord; in him you also are being built together into a dwelling place of God in the Spirit (Ephesians 2. 19-22).

Mission: The universal vocation of Christians is to introduce Christ to others by the ways they live. The Second Vatican Council echoed Jesus' image of leaven.

They are called [where they live in the ordinary circumstances of family and social life] by God that by exercising their proper function and led by the spirit of the Gospel they may work for the sanctification of the world from within as a leaven. In this way they may make Christ known to others, especially by the testimony of a life resplendent in faith, hope and charity (Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, 31).

The Society of Jesus remains keenly aware that this season of the church is the season of the laity. The Society of Jesus, touching humanity by means of its diverse apostolic works, affords people many opportunities to be leaven and to sanctify the world in, through and for Christ. Yesterday afternoon at John Carroll University, Fr. Kolvenbach thanked a number of Jesuit collaborators in leadership roles in his name and the name of the entire Society of Jesus.

Papal Trailers

This Saturday are an interantional screening of children's programming and an audio visual trade show. Two entries showcase John Paul II. Watch the trailers courtesy of Cavin Cooper Productions.



This afternoon Fr. Peter-Hans Kolvenbach, Superior-General of the Society of Jesus, will visit this part of the Detroit Province. In addition to speaking and meeting with a variety of people over two days, Fr. Kolvenbach will receive the profession of final vows of two Detroit Province Jesuits, Fr. Timothy Kesicki (currently President of St. Ignatius High School, Cleveland) and Fr. James Prehn (currently Principal of Walsh Jesuit High School, Cuyahoga Falls).

Tuesday word

26th Tuesday B (03 Oct 2006) Jb 3. 1-3,1-17,20-23; Ps 88; Lk 9. 51-56
Homily of Fr. Paul Panaretos, S.J.
Four Questions and One

The Book of Job wrestled with the mystery of suffering and ends with Job discovering--what was present all the time--more expansive and deeper awareness of the presence of God. First of all, human suffering is a mystery. The why question, why do people suffer? is not much help and really distracts us from God and the revelation to us that we “have been created by God for a blissful purpose beyond the reach of earthly misery.”1

We want to rush beyond the suffering of the moment. The reading today about a grieving Job reminds us that the only way beyond suffering is to go through it. I wrote four letters of condolences yesterday to priest friends and shared that I discovered that when my father died in 2001. Part of grieving, part of any suffering, is being very deliberate about what is happening and about everything I am feeling.

Being deliberate is key to living a life that resembles the pattern of Jesus life. Replicating in our individual lives the pattern of Jesus’ life makes a Christian life.

[Jesus] deliberately set himself to travel to Jerusalem. Luke’s gospel constantly reminds us that Jesus’ travel to Jerusalem is prophetic (if we were the first hearers, we would not fail to hear echoes of the prophet Elijah in particular). Jesus spoke the word of God on his way: some rejected what they heard; others heard and became part of the people.

How deliberate are we? Do we apologize for mysteries around us, suffering included? Do we apologize for being a friend of Jesus, one of his contemporary disciples? Do we neglect to cultivate our prophetic ministry which is one of the graces of baptism? Or are we deliberate Christians, who imitate the pattern of Jesus’ life with our lives?
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1. Gaudium et spes, 18, The Second Vatican Council’s Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World.

Monday word

Guardian Angels B (02 Oct 2006) Jb 6. 1-22; Ps 17; Mt 18. 1-5, 10
Homily of Fr. Paul Panaretos, S.J.
Overflowing Love

That beings are present in two realms, the world and in the realm of the divine, is very ancient. It’s much older than the bible. In the tradition of Israel, the spirits God charged to protect humans have been named guardian angels.

They, like all angels, minister before the Trinity. They also minister by accompanying people during their lives. We may never be aware of their presence although we might become aware of some of the effects of their presence to us.

One spirit, the Book of Job reminded us, had the mission of roaming the earth and patrolling it. God permitted that Testing Angel (that’s the meaning of the name Satan) to see how much Job counted on God.

Was that Satan Job’s guardian angel? If angels protect us, their protection leads us to rely more on the Holy One, who created and sent angels on their guarding missions. Job certainly forged a fresh, stronger relationship with his Creator & Lord of the universe.

The psalmist sang, God gave his angels charge over you to protect you in all your ways./1/ We don’t understand our own ways all the time; we may never understand God’s ways. Our faith reminds us that God’s merciful love overflows personally to guard us always/2/ and works through all things for our lasting good. One way the Creator's personal love for us overflows is via angels. Their protecting ministry touches us with God’s glory, which they worship eternally, and helps us do so in our limited ways.


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1. Psalm 91.11
2. see Psalm 40.11b (RSV): let thy steadfast love and thy faithfulness ever preserve me! Also, United States Catholic Catechism for Adults, Washington, D.C.: USCCB Publishing, 2006, p. 62.

"Bearers of Civilization and of Good"

"Tourism appeals to the human person who wants to grow in knowledge and to experience how men and women are the bearers of civilization and of good." This year's "Message on the Occasion of the 27th World Day of Tourism" reminds us that the profit of tourism is more than economic. Travelers open to discovering other peoples and cultures delve into the human spirit.

Saturday evening I attended the third annual fundraiser for a mission in Honduras. It affords the opportunity of young people and adults to visit a people in great need and to share love, one human for another. As people described their affiliation with this missionary venture--many had visited (some more than once); others had not but assisted and promoted the venture from the greater Cleveland area--they reminded me of my visit 15 years ago to the mission in Recife, Brazil, which the Archdiocese of Detroit began and continues to sponor.

From my first moments I was deeply impressed by how wealthy the people are in hospitality, in faith and in joy. It was, to borrow a phrase of one person who described her visit to Honduras, "a life-altering experience" for me. It continues to nourish my life each day, even when I am unware that it does.

Many citizens of developed countries have a difficult time articulating what they feel, experience and return home with from visits to less developed countries. The message on tourism is worth thoughtful consideration. As you read, notice where you see yourself in it.

"Damage Control"

The writings of John L. Allen, Jr., veteran Vatican watcher, appear in various publications. His weekly column appears in e-boxes on Fridays, thanks to the National Catholic Reporter.

His column this week is divided into three parts. Each focuses on moving forward from the Muslim anger incited by a quotation Pope Benedict included in a lecture while visiting his native Germany.

Part 1 focuses on the 25 September meeting of Muslim leaders with the pope.

Part 2 is a preview of a soon-to-appear article by John Allen about what the pope needs to address in future.

Part3--admittedly a little heavy for Saturday--is a reflection of the sort that will more clearly shape the matter of faith and reason, which was the core of the pope's Regensburg lecture.

Friday word

Archangels Michael, Gabriel & Raphael (29 Sep 2006) Dn 7.9-10,13-14; Ps138; Jn1. 47-51
Homily of Fr. Paul Panaretos, S.J.
Angelic / Apostolic

The last of the Divine Praises, which often closes a liturgy of benediction, summarizes the way we bless God today: “Blessed be God in his angels and in his saints.” Life in the church seeks to mirror the life of the Trinity, which is communion, communion of the Divine Persons. The church is a communion of sister churches. Our common vocation invites us to cultivate communion with one another and with all.

Not only does our triune God accompany this communion on earth; so, too, does the communion of saints, which includes hosts of spirits, who have praised God from all ages.

Pope St. Gregory taught that among the spirits angels are ones sent by God “to deliver some message.” Scripture names three to denote their ministry...among humans: Michael, one “who is like God?”; Gabriel, “God’s strength”; and Raphael, “God heals.”1

In our communion on earth our spirits are clothed with flesh. We are different from angels. Our bodies limit us in time and space. Limited as we are in our communion on earth, we are sent to witness to Christ with our bodies and our lives. We are "apostolic" as we also profess in our creed: we've been sent forth on this mission.

As we embark each day on our apostolic missions as friends of Jesus, today reminds us that we are part of a communion which God protects in St. Michael and heals and guides in St. Raphael. God strengthens us, too, to announce in our own ways what God’s strength, Gabriel, made known to Mary: God favors and strengthens us to make Jesus known by the ways we live and glorify him.


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1. Homily 34, 8-9; in Office of Readings, Liturgy of the Hours, IV, p. 1435-6.

Inventive

"Love is inventive to the point of infinity."

St. Vincent de Paul said that. It isn't just a refreshing way to consider love. It is a most apt description of the way love acts. Love is personal, and because it is, love addresses a person, a family, a parish, indeed the world, as if for the first time.

Today is the Memorial of St. Vincent de Paul. A toast to all the men and women who make his apostolate their apostolate and assist the church to respond to the poor, who are Christ among us (cf. Matthew 25.40)!

Benedict XVI Meets With Muslim Leaders

Read the Pope's address to Muslim leaders. He reaffirmed his desire

"to express my wish to continue establishing bridges of friendship with the adherents of all religions, showing particular appreciation for the growth of dialogue between Muslims and Christians (cf. Address to the Delegates of Other Churches and Ecclesial Communities and of Other Religious Traditions, April 25, 2005)."

Tuesday word

25th Tuesday B (26 Sep 2006) Pr 21. 1-6,10-13; Ps 119; Lk 8. 19-21
Homily of Fr. Paul Panaretos, S.J.
Faith Grown Up

Over several days we’ve been hearing chapter 8 of Luke’s gospel at mass. We concluded its first part with the two-verse selection today. The chapter began with people forming around Jesus and noted the Twelve and some women who supported Jesus out of their means. The new people of God was taking shape.

Jesus, God’s prophet and messiah, formed this people with the word of the kingdom as well as performing deeds which spoke of it. Hear the word of God and do it means making faith a way of life. In part that means to protect the germ of faith each of us has received in our hearts and to cultivate its growth.

In his parable of the sower and seed early in chapter 8, Jesus noted that the good soil are those who hear the word with a generous heart, protect it and bear fruit because of their endurance. When Jesus’ kin appear they help him sharpen his explanation.

Jesus family are those who hear the word of God and do it. His mother, Mary, indeed heard the word and welcomed it even though she could not understand it. It literally grew in her and became her son, Jesus. She protected the word before it became flesh and after with her generous heart and life.

It is wise that we call on Mary and ask her to help us endure so that we can give birth to the word of God by what we say and do.

Brief Summary About a New Poll

Many polls have attempted to clarify the connection of belief and behavior, in particular political behavior. A new Baylor University poll, of sound design according to reviewers (see the Christian Science Monitor summary), helps identify the God in which people believe.

Monday word

25th Monday B (25 Sep 2006) Pr 3. 27-34; Ps 15; Lk 8. 16-18
Homily of Fr. Paul Panaretos, S.J.
Light Link

I’m wondering if many don’t notice or if they are uncomfortable with Luke’s Jesus and his emphasis on putting into practice the faith one decides to call one’s own. To decide to believe is important; it’s where believers begin. How-ever, Luke’s Jesus goes beyond deciding for faith to living it, which may put off some who consider faith is a one-time decision not a way of life. Jesus’ phrase, Take care...how you hear, is about faith, namely arranging one’s life around Jesus and his preaching the word of the kingdom.

Jesus enlightens us to see more clearly what is real and what is illusory, to notice when we prefer the illusory over real. One way we prefer what is illusory is to refuse to allow the light of Christ given us to overflow and touch others.

Refuse no one the good on which [a person] has a claim when it is in your power to do it for [another]. That line from Proverbs may encourage us this way: Refuse no one the light of Christ. . .when it is in your power to [shine] it [on another].

In Christ’s light we realize how patient God is with us. In Christ’s light we realize how much God blesses us. It is Christ’s light which moves us to keep others from being in darkness. That is no one-time decision of the mind. It is faith in action which our Creator and Lord bids us enact daily. Christ’s light lovingly links Christ to us and us to others in order that others may encounter Christ, too. Such a loving link shatters the human definition of obligation, and empowers us to act in faith and be light.

Sunday word, 24 September 2006

25th Sunday of Year(24 Sep 2006) Wis 2. 12,17-20; Ps 54; Jms 3. 16-4. 3; Mk 9. 30-37
Homily of Fr. Paul Panaretos, S.J.
From Fear to Harmony

If the gospel words sound familiar it’s because last week’s gospel selection contained the first prediction by Jesus that he would be rejected, handed over to [others who would] will kill him, and three days after his death...would rise. For the disciples this was an outrageous teaching. The first time Jesus spoke openly about this Peter rebuked Jesus for saying it. Peter was thinking as humans not with the mind of God, who works for our good through all things, especially rejection, suffering and death.

Did you notice the reaction of the Twelve at Jesus’ second prediction of his passion, death and resurrection? For them incomprehension the second time turned into apprehensive fear: neither did they understand [Jesus’] saying and they were afraid to question him.

Fear affects us in many ways. Fear rips away any veil from inner sight to disclose, among other things, our insecurities. Imagine us as Jesus’ first disciples. Imagine that we had been following him: we’re privileged to see him and hear him up close. Who would we have seen and heard? A man of God whose feet were planted on earth. One who was open, compassionate, a man of patience and gentleness, whose pattern of living was self-giving; who did not shy away from putting into practice the intentions of God’s heart, even when they clashed with our own or those engendered by the likes of envy, dissension, hatred, deception, arrogance and rage.

Fear plops us into pools like that. Fear mires us in roiling waters for which loving faithfulness and confidence in Jesus are life preservers. Jesus tosses them with good aim and none too slowly to us, but spirits of fear often blind us to his help.

Fear to question Jesus seduced the Twelve into arguing who among them was the greatest, perhaps our most vexing insecurity. We cannot fault them for we are no different: fear distorts our hearts and narrows our fields of vision, too.

We can imagine the feelings and inclinations argument produced in the Twelve. It’s good to do that because it helps us identify with one or more of them. It helps us name our own needs for conversion which will deepen our loving faithfulness and confidence in Jesus. It also helps us appreciate personally Jesus’ response, which was not one of shock, dismay, disap-pointment or loud protest.

In an excellent way Jesus responded to the fears which distracted them from hearing his teaching about his rejection, suffering and death, which led the Twelve to argue among themselves. He placed in their midst the antithesis of fear and the touchstone of openness to the world, to animals, plants, sun and sea, sky and stars, and most of all to human beings: a child.

To be childlike is akin to Jesus’ temperament and his holy Spirit. Children innately know deep truth. To be childlike is innocent, joyful, candid, reflective, and perhaps most challenging for us adults, lacks the fear of making mistakes. That’s why youngsters enjoy true freedom; why Jesus placed a child in his disciples' midst for all ages. It is from our loss of innate freedom to the spirits of the world that Christ Jesus came to save us and give us a share in his holy Spirit.

Even an inkling, a taste of this graced freedom allows us to begin to appreciate the upside down manner the Trinity chooses to work for our good one moment at a time: the least in the world, which a child embodies, are greatest; the last, even the ignored, are first; and the servant has a mastery none can give or confiscate.

A child enjoys a harmony within and without, with the world of creation and the world of imagination. In Jesus’ language this harmony is one with his divine Father who sent him. In James’ language it is pure, peaceable, lenient, attentive, merciful, impartial and without pretense. Set aside 10 minutes each day this week to praise, speak and conclude: praise the One who sent Jesus; speak with Jesus; conclude by asking Jesus to strengthen one thing which can deepen your harmony with Jesus and with one other person.

Background

John Allen is the current "clarifier" of Vatican news. Journalists posted to Rome are quick to consult John when they arrive and especially when thye cover a Vatican story.

His comments of this week are very instructive and helpful, as always. The post is long but divided into chunks of reasonable length. Read one a day in the coming week.

Funeral for a A Pastor

Yesterday I attended the funeral of a friend. Jim Wright was pastor of St. Alexander Parish in the Archdiocese of Detroit for over 30 years. He decided the parish should be known as the Servant Church of St. Alexander, and the parishioners agreed to both the name and to living that name.

Jim was most hospitable. I was his guest after returning from theological studies and before my ordination for the Archdiocese of Detroit. Jim's concern for the poor, the marginalized, the ignored, the imprisoned as well as refugees shaped his life. Because he was pastor for such a span of years he affected many people. His affect on young people is both legendary, and in my view, his great legacy and gift to the church.

When I was Jim's guest I met some young people of the parish. Many of them are now spouses and parents. To Jim a youngster was as important as a bishop, a president or a generous benefactor. I recall him saying to me that Jesus taught him a great lesson when Jesus placed a child in the midst of his disciples. Jim always remembered that lesson and lived it. Yesterday, the number of young people present was felt. Some flew in from distances. As one gentleman told me as we waited to enter the cemetery chapel for the rite of commital, "We are all better for having known Fr. Jim."

Adam Cardinal Maida, Archbishop of Detroit, presided at Jim's funeral mass. Two other bishops and many priests joined him. Cardinal Maida was visibly moved by what he heard and saw. No one can replace Jim Wright. Everyone, especially all priests, can learn from him.

Rest in peace, Jim. May you enjoy everlasting life!

Wednesday word

Korean martyrs Andrew Kim Taegon, et al. (20Sep2006) 1Co 12.31-13.13; Ps33; Lk 7.29-35
Homily of Fr. Paul Panaretos, S.J.
Christian Maturity

Reacting to the great prophet Jesus, whom God raised up in the midst of people was similar to people’s reaction to the prophet John: all the people and the tax-agents had heard and justified God by being baptized with John’s baptism. But the Pharisees and the lawyers rejected God’s plan for them by not being baptized by [John].

The point Jesus made with his vivid image of some piping and others not dancing, some singing a dirge and others not weeping is that whatever style a prophet adopts, complaint will always follow. In contrast to all the people and tax-agents who were aware of their own sins, shortcomings and need for healing, the religious professionals noted John’s ascetic style and wrote him off as demon-possessed. Jesus’ different style the same group maligned as sinful in variety of ways. The religious professionals even claimed to know others’ sins!

God sends us prophets, and God sustains them in order to show us the more excellent way of conversion from what makes us enemies of patient love.

Many are quick to consider christian living childish. It is not. Living lives marked by faith and hope crowned by love is most mature. Christian maturity is reluctant to look at others’ sins. Christian maturity, the more excellent way which we profess, looks at what prevents our growth and maturity in Christ and in the body of the church. The body and blood of Christ is given to us, in the words of St. Andrew Kim, the first Korean priest and pastor, “in order that we will grow and reach maturity. . .in the grace of God.”1 Graced maturity leads us not to yell and bicker but to stand united with all who suffer and with those who experience conversion of mind and heart.

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1. Andrew Kim Taegon, his final exhortation, in today’s Office of Readings, The Liturgy of the Hours.

Radio Conversation About Papal Remarks

On 19 September the Diane Rehm Show hosted a conversation about the remarks and apology of Pope Benedict. John Allen was at John Carroll University Monday. He opens the Tuesday radio show and "sets the scene."

The last 20 minutes (of the 48:00 show) is devoted to callers and two other guests addressing this topic.

Tuesday word

25th Tuesday of the Year B (19 Sep 2006) 1Co 12. 12-14,27-31a; Ps 100; Lk 7. 11-17
Homily of Fr. Paul Panaretos, S.J.
Challenging Grace

Two married people united in marriage strive to make one life together. Does doing that erase the uniqueness of each spouse? Not at all! We Jesuits strive to make real for us all our “close sharing of life and goods [and what makes that possible] is the eucharist at...the center [of our common life].”1 Does our common life erase our distinctions as individuals? Not at all.

Two examples from daily living that union and unity are not uniformity. Our union in Christ, begun in baptism and sustained in the Eucharist, flowers in people differently. St. Paul listed offices in the church and gifts given to people to build up the church: first, Apostles; second, prophets; third, teachers; then, mighty deeds; then gifts of healing, assistance, administration, and varieties of [speaking in] tongues.

Down through the ages God has visited his people in many and various ways and sent many and various prophets.

In the fullness of time God sent his son Jesus: the apostle--the title means one sent by another; the great prophet raised up for us, who worked wonders.

Jesus works through us by the power of his spirit. Baptism has made us sharers in his royal, priestly and prophetic ministries. How we exercise those christian ministries of ours changes as circumstances change. For example, young parents exercise parenthood differently from parents of grown children. Each is no less a parent.

Similarly, the ways we live in the world as ambassadors of our Messiah Jesus call on us to exercise our gifts of faith, hope and love differently, never in wooden ways but in ways compassionate and merciful. Compassion is a challenge, and we receive it daily from our Messiah Jesus. Because we receive it daily from our Messiah Jesus, his challenge graces us to make our own the pattern of his life.

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1. Complementary Norm 315, The Constitutions of the Society of Jesus and Their Complementary Norms, St. Louis: Institute of Jesuit Sources, 1996.

Pope Desires Better Relations With Islam

Pope Benedict expressed his regret at noon on Sunday. It contains the link to his address in which the quotation, which has ignited the controversy, may be found.

Pope Benedict is not at odds with the sentiment of the Second Vatican Council nor the esteem in which it held Islam and all people of Islam. The Vatican Secretary of State affirmed that in his statement on 16 September.

Monday word

25th Monday of the Year B (18 Sep 2006) 1Co 11. 17-26, 33; Ps 40; Lk 7. 1-10
Homily of Fr. Paul Panaretos, S.J.
Shaping Attitudes & Behaviors

I imagine each of us has at one time or another reread personal letters written to us. Letters are occasional correspondence: they contain time-sensitive material. Letters also disclose characteristics and convictions of the writers.

St. Paul wrote the church he began in Corinth in reply to questions it had sent him in a letter. Paul’s coworkers in Corinth--Sosthenes; Chloe with her household; and Timothy--also kept him informed. In fact, Chloe's house informed Paul of the factions and the quarreling/1/ which sundered the church and grieved Paul’s heart.

Rereading his letter recalls his conviction we heard at mass Saturday: The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ? Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread.

Divisions and the church are not in harmony because Jesus is one and sharing his body and blood makes us participants in him and with him and through him. Participating with Christ Jesus unites us with his real, abiding presence.

His is not a physical presence; in fact, it is more real. Physical presence is limited by time and space, and Jesus is in no way limited. Eating his sacred meal shapes behaviors and attitudes toward others. If we do not allow it to shape them, then we have participated in a ritual meal but not in Christ Jesus.

This is the church’s constant teaching. Nor was it the church’s invention. As we heard, even the God-fearing centurion recognized the power and truth of nonphysical presence: Lord, say by your word and my son will be healed. We memorialize his words before communion to grow in the conviction that Jesus’ presence is not only real: it is most real and shapes lives.

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1. For it has been reported to me by Chloe's people that there is quarreling among you, my brethren (1Co 1.11).

Sunday word, 17 September 2006

24th Sunday of Year(17 Sep 2006) Is 50. 5-9a; Ps 116; Jms 2. 14-18; Mk 8. 27-35
Homily of Fr. Paul Panaretos, S.J.
The Mind of God

Albert Einstein said, “I want to know how God created the world. I am not interested in this or that phenomenon, in the spectrum of this or that element. I want to know God's thoughts; the rest are details.”

God does have a mind. God thinks, chooses, plans, loves and desires our loyal friendship. God has made known to us the divine mind in Christ Jesus, whose Spirit enlightens us and gives us courage to befriend God.

How we can befriend God Jesus made clear: to love our neighbors as ourselves is to love God. Those twin commandments are the measure of Christian living. Christian living, as we know well, is often tested.

Many are the powers which test it and compete for our loyalty . The prince of these powers has been named Satan, which means Accuser, Tester. God’s choice of rejection, suffering and death plus God’s way of working through them for our good we humans can’t wrap our minds around. We’re fair game for Satan’s wiles.

As fare game for Satan’s wiles we can’t fault Peter; Peter is each of us. Satan used Peter to rebuke Jesus for his outrageous teaching that he must suffer greatly and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and rise after three days. Webster’s first meaning for to rebuke is to criticize sharply. The word rebuke, I discovered, comes from an Anglo-French word which means to blunt. Peter tried to blunt the sharp edge of Jesus’ faith and Jesus teaching that God’s way was through rejection, suffering and death.

How like Peter we are! We often try to blunt the sharp edges of Christian living, very often because they don’t mesh with our minds. Satan used Peter’s rebuke to weaken Jesus’ resolve, but Jesus used Peter’s rebuke to expose Satan’s deception: “Get behind me, Satan. You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do.”

Thinking leads us to act. As the ancients long held, if our thinking is cockeyed, then our actions will lack good sense and harm others. The ancients considered this truth and offered maxims, principles, codes of conduct and examples to adjust our thoughts so they would adjust our behavior.

St. James masterfully used that method of his contemporaries, and he emphasized faith not human thought. Faith is personal, mutual relationship of God with people and people with God. Like every relationship faith has helps to strengthen the bonds of that relationship. Faith binds people, who cherish God’s desires, to honor the poor. Acting on faith makes their deeds match their words about their desire for God, about their friendship with God’s Son, our Messiah Jesus.

Not to welcome the poor equally as the rich; not to honor the poor by providing for their needs from our wealth; not to respect others as if each person was our other self; not to secure peace: all of those and other omissions mock the Trinity and our faith-relationship with the Trinity. Our omissions also mock how our Triune God works.

The key to appreciating the laser-focus James puts on matching words about faith with deeds of kindness, respect, charity and God’s heartfelt care is not included in Sunday readings from the Letter of James. The key is part of the section of which we heard a few verses today. Recalling Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice his son, Isaac, a sacrifice God did not permit, James said, See: his faith was working together with his actions and by his actions his faith was perfected. It isn’t that faith and actions which flow from faith are two sides of a coin: faith and actions which flow from faith continually complete and perfect each other.

Give yourself 10, quiet minutes each day this week to praise Jesus, who has given you a share in Jesus’ own faith. Notice what moves you; notice what invitation Jesus may be offering you; notice any response which may be emerging within you. Ask James, Isaiah and Jesus to keep you open and alert to God working new life in you, and through you in others. Compared to Christian, other-centered love, which incarnates God’s mind and heart, “the rest are details.”

Saturday word

Pope St. Cornelius & Bp. Cyprian, martyrs (16 Sep 2006) 1Co 10. 14-22; Ps 116; Lk 6. 43-49
Homily of Fr. Paul Panaretos, S.J.
Freedom For

I take my cue from the response we echoed during the psalm between our readings: To you, Lord, I will offer a sacrifice of praise. We direct ourselves and our gratitude to the Lord for the goodness in which we bask. The Lord is the source even of my own accomplishments.

This joyful focus on our Creator and Lord helps us appreciate St. Paul’s exhortation to the Corinthians we just heard. He was keenly aware that among the Corinthians were two types, whom he called the strong and the weak.

The strong looked down on the weak, worry-ers about particular practices like the ones Paul addressed: sex; marriage; celibacy; diet; and ritual meals--both idol worship and eucharist. The weak needed practices different from the rest of the world. Both groups were not free, empowered, as Paul taught freedom in Christ.

The weak were not free because of their insecurity. The strong were not free because they credited themselves with achieving their security. Truly free Christians realize that God has embraced them in Christ by their Spirit and not that they have captured God.

Those secure in their relationship with Christ--the strong--ought to build up those who obsess about correct practices. The strong grow truly free the more they praise God in Christ rather than their own achievements.

St. Paul warned those who thought themselves free to take care not to participate in practices which might involve them with powers over which they had no control: not to participate with demons, in Paul’s language. Precisely what martyrs, Cornelius and Cyprian, refused.

One ought to call on the Lord and discern with the Lord’s Spirit what unites us with the Lord. One ought to call on the Lord in any need, but not as if beckoning a servant. Our petitions to the Lord make sense if we first shape our lives as sacrifices of praise, as witnesses for Jesus. Our lives will build up others, that is we will seek the good of others before our own.

Friday word

Our Ladyy of Sorrows (15 Sep 2006) Hb5. 7-9; Ps ; Jn 19. 25-27
Homily of Fr. Paul Panaretos, S.J., All-school mass
Enlarging Hearts

“No pain, no gain,” the saying goes. If a Martian landed here and knew only one thing about earthlings--some have the saying, “No pain, no gain--what would you tell the Martian the saying meant? . . .Yes! all those things are right on.

Gaining, growing, learning, being kind & respectfully, being a friend of Jesus: each stretches us. The wisdom of gthe peoples of Jesus’ day knew that: their saying was: “learning is uncomfortable stretching.” This is the saying the we translate as Jesus learned. . . through what he suffered.

Jesus learned our humanity by being fully human. He stretched is heart-space to make more room for God and for people. The more we’re open to God, the more we’re open to people; the more we’re open to people, the more we’re open to God.

Jesus was this way even on the cross. Jesus gave his disciple care of his mother. His mother has great care for us. When we ask her she helps us make more room in ourelves for God and for people, too.

One Feast, Two Memories

Today is the Feast of the Triumph of the Cross. The oriental churches, both Catholic and Orthodox, name it the Exaltation of the Holy Cross; in order that more people can celebrate this feast, the oriental churches transfers it to the Sunday closest to today's date. This feast remembers two events.

Helena, Constantine's mother, had gone to Jerusalem like many other pilgrims who longed to be where Jesus ministered, died and rose. Tradition recalls that Helena uncovered three crosses at the place that memory preserved as Golgatha, the place of executions. She believed them to be Jesus' cross and the crosses of the two theives executed with Jesus. Her son ordered a church built over the spot, and its foundations may be seen beneath the complex of naves and sanctuaries that stand above them today.

The bishop of Jerusalem at the time brought the three crosses to a dying woman to touch. When she touched the third she was healed, and that cross was acclaimed as Christ's. It was venerated for almost 400 years, then it was stolen. When it was found and returned, it was lifted up again for the faithful to venerate.

This date has been attached to the finding and veneration of cross. It also remembers the building of Constantine's church over the place where Jesus and his criminal companions were crucified. We exalt the cross each time we trace it on ourselves. The sign of the cross is no mere gesture. It makes the cross our badge and gives us Christ's identity, making it our own.

"Social issues and the Gospel are inseparable."

Pope Benedict said that on is German tour. During his homily at the outdoor mass in Munich the pope preceded his statement saying,

"The Gospel invites us to realize that we have a "deficit" in our capacity for perception - initially, we do not notice this deficiency as such, since everything else seems so urgent and logical; since everything seems to proceed normally, even when we no longer have eyes and ears for God and we live without him. But is it true that everything goes on as usual when God no longer is a part of our lives and our world?"

We tend to separate the gospel and social issues, although we have progressed in uniting them thanks to the Second Vatican Council. Pope Benedict called attention to our "'deficit' in our capacity for perception." Some agree that social issues and the gospel are inseparable, yet they may give priority to the social issues. The pope gave examples from the German church in his homily.

The gospel is the reason why the Catholic Church has always emphasized attention to social issues and promoted the "common good and well-being of all people, especially the poor and the vulnerable" (Part Three, Section Two, Chapter Two of the Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, scroll to the Seventh Commandment).

The Trinity loves us precisely because of our "deficit": "When we were lost and could not find the way to you [God], you loved us more than ever" (First Eucharistic Prayer for Reconciliation). The more deeply aware and the more concretely we feel their divine love for us, then more freely and courageously do we allow their love for us to overflow our selves and to touch others with it.

St. John Chrysostom, whom the church recalls today, was adamant about the interconnection of the gospel and social issues. We do well to ask him to intercede for us in order that we might dispose ourselves to the graces the Trinity offers us to keep the gospel and social issues intertwined in our time and place.

Tuesday word

23d Tuesday B (12 Sep 2006) 1Co 6. 1-11; Ps 149; Lk 6. 12-19
Homily of Fr. Paul Panaretos, S.J.
Overhearing Jesus

Luke’s gospel up to this selection has shown Jesus healing and teaching: Jesus did both together. Some accepted him. Others rejected him. Some of the Pharisees, whose rejection-anger left them beside themselves, plotted to get Jesus out of their lives. Jesus extended his mystery of being God in the flesh: he appointed humans who accepted him and his message to be the ones who would proclaim it to others. The Apostles kept it alive for us by the power of the risen Lord, not their own power.

Notice how Jesus proceeded. First Jesus prayed: he discerned who would be the best of those who accepted him to continue his leadership. Notice, too, what followed Jesus’ choice of the Twelve: more healing, letting divine power go out from him. Jesus taught has he healed. Jesus taught, and the Twelve “overheard” him.

That is a profitable way to receive the gospels: like the Twelve, to overhear Jesus, to make room for him at the center of our lives. Jesus’ teaching is also healing: it transforms us if we give ourselves to him and his teaching. It’s how we’re washed...sanctified [and] justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God, as St. Paul wrote the Corinthians.

Our particulars are not identical to the Corinthians. Much overlap with them exists. Yet many of our needs are ours: for cleansing; sanctification; & behaving in ways which glorify God more with our bodies, in our relationships and by what we choose to do and not to do. The more we dispose ourselves to “overhear” Jesus like the Twelve did, the better we will learn Jesus and imitate the pattern of his life.

Monday word

23d Monday B (11 Sep 2006) 1Co 5. 1-8; Ps 5; Lk 6. 6-11
Homily of Fr. Paul Panaretos, S.J.
Greater Than Ritual

In today’s gospel religious professionals oppose Jesus. Some of the Pharisees sought to protect torah--God’s intention for the world from its creation to the liberation and formation of God’s people, Israel--by demanding equal observance of everything in it: They held that everything obliged equally and seriously, which is why they emphasized ritual purity.

Of course things do not oblige equally. Say I promised to meet you. Say, too, that in driving to meet you I am fortunate enough to pass an accident before it shuts down traffic. Am I not obliged first to get help even if it may prevent me from meeting you at the promised time? It’s a good thing to keep my promise to you; driving to meet you it is better I get help even at the risk of being late, “timely impure.”

The point of Luke’s conflict stories is that Jesus was clear that moral actions stand above ritual, no matter how important it may be.

Yet, the Pharisees would have none of it. They sought charges to bring down Jesus, and his response to their efforts left them beside themselves in anger: they would take matters into their own hands if necessary.

Luke prepares us early in his gospel for the trial and demise of Jesus, the complete rejection of God’s prophet. But Luke also prepares for how God in Jesus will lead the New Israel by those who accept Jesus and his vocation as Paschal-sacrifical-Lamb. We’ll hear his choice tomorrow.

Have We Tried To Understand?

Even before this date five years ago, I wondered how many people tried to understand, to appreciate the peoples and cultures of Palestine, Israel and the surrounding Arab world. It is no mean task because it is a world of plurals: peoples and cultures. If nothing else, appreciating that not everyone is the same, that we cannot lump all Arabs and all Israelis (some Israelis are Arabs) is a great advance.

One book I have highly recommended is From Beirut To Jerusalem by Thomas L. Friedman. It appeared in 1989. The New York Times had posted Mr. Freidman 10 years in Beirut. The civil war in Lebanon forced him to leave, and so the NYT posted him in Jerusalem. The book is Mr. Friedman's journal of those years, which opened his eyes to many things and began his quest to understand--as readers of his syndicated NYT columns and Discovery-Times television shows appreciate. I believe that the average, born-here American citizen can profit much from reading From Beirut To Jerusalem by Thomas L. Friedman.

Lack of understanding and simplistic responses seem to have reigned these five years. In his prescient, 12 September 2001, "A Quick Reponse," Mr. Noam Chomsky closed by saying that "we have a choice: we may try to understand, or refuse to do so, contributing to the likelihood that much worse [than the tragedy of 9/11] lies ahead."

Sunday word, 10 September 2006

23d Sunday of Year(10 Sep 2006) Is 35. 4-7a; Ps 146; Jms 2. 1-5; Mk 7. 31-37
Homily of Fr. Paul Panaretos, S.J.
Explicit Christians

Construction on Fairmount Blvd as well as on Cedar, beginning or ending at Miramar--depen-ding on one's driving-direction--made me alert to this story.

"It is the general desire of most citizens that their government be attentive to their needs. I live in a rural area, and last summer, a number of my neighbors began circulating a petition...to seek the repair of several of our town roads. One road was so rutted that it was washing away, while another was more pot-holes than road. The petitions were presented to the town board, which deliberated for a few months, and then finally agreed to repair one road and to craft an ordinance that would lead to the reconstruction of the other in two years.

"Now that the repaving is completed, there is general satisfaction that the town board had listened to [us] and responded adequately. Of course, swaying the opinion of three members of a town board (who are also your neighbors) is vastly easier than convincing representatives who govern at a distance."1/ The author's point was listening: the town board listened to the residents, whose roads need repair, and the town board paid attention to them.

The second reading focuses us on paying atttention and prevents us from getting distracted by the prophetic words of Isaiah, which Jesus fulfilled with a miraculous healing. That healing, like others, exceedingly astonished people.

The healings Jesus performed were signs of the reign of God, and Jesus was concerned that people become ambassadors of the reign of God and not the miracles: a reason why Jesus ordered them not to tell anyone.

In order to become ambassadors of the reign of God, each of us needs to pay attention to how God in Christ by their Spirit is planting their reign within each of us, what concrete aspects of God's reign are emerging and maturing within each of us.

To listen is only one way of paying attention. I prefer the verb to notice because it encompasses
not only hearing but seeing, feeling, realizing with our senses as well as our hearts.

Everything implied in the life of Jesus as well as in the teachings of St. Paul St. James made explicit in his letter, which is why the Letter of James has and continues to challenge Christians.

Sometimes we are mute, not because of any physical limitations, but because we have not found words and ways to voice our needs or courage to voice our Christian convictions.

At other times we may be deaf, not because of any physical limitations, but because we do not notice--on every level of meaning--others' needs and even our needs for conversion.

St. James awakens us to the miracles we can work: ways of collaborating with God's reign and God's justice making them more tangible in our neighborhoods, homes, workplaces, schools. We Catholics do this because "We believe people have a right and a duty to participate in society, seeking together the common good and well being of all, especially the poor and vulnerable."2/

The basis for our "right and...duty to seek the common good and well being of all" may surprise you: it's the Seventh Commandment.3/
We think of it first as not to steal. That is what not to do. Jesus, with the prophets before him, transformed it from merely not doing into acting justly, that is with God's heartfelt care.

St. Ignatius of Loyola recommended the Commandments4/ in order to take the pulse of one's life as a friend of Christ Jesus. Inspired by his word we heard I suggest this for your week ahead. Set aside 10 quiet minutes a day to be reassured God personally and lovingly notices you. Hold up the Seventh Commandment and notice how you live it by acting with God's justice for "the common good and well being of all, especially the poor and vulnerable." Notice how God's life is at work in you, how you give birth to it in others and how you can do that to glorify God more. Close with an Our Father spoken as slowly as you can. What you notice will surprise you.

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1Paul Michaels, Wednesday Morning Connection for 10 September 2006, Liturgical Publications Inc.

2 Principle of Catholic Social Teaching; see http://www.micatholicconference.org/general_info/catholic_social_teaching.php

3 The Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church: "What is set forth by the seventh commandment?

"The seventh commandment requires respect for the universal destination and distribution of goods and the private ownership of them, as well as respect for persons, their property, and the integrity of creation. The Church also finds in this Commandment the basis for her social doctrine which involves the correct way of acting in economic, social and political life, the right and the duty of human labor, justice and solidarity among nations, and love for the poor."

http://www.vatican.va/archive/compendium_ccc/documents/archive_2005_compendium-ccc_en.html#%E2%80%9CYou%20Shall%20Love%20Your%20Neighbour%20as%20Yourself%E2%80%9D

4/ Spiritual Exercises [239].

As Important As If It Were in Our Backyard

The common good is a foundational principle of Catholic social teaching. Catholic social teaching. Catholic social teaching is both the perennial concern for people's social needs as the New Testament shows and a specific doctrine. This doctrine teaches justice for all, especially the poor and helpless as well as the removal by people of the symptoms of poverty and unjust structures.

When Pope John Paul II closed the Great Jubilee of 2000 he asked what the most effective witness of Jesus and his Good News might be. The pope answered his question by saying that the "charity of works ensures an unmistakable efficacy to the charity of words" (As the New Millennium Opens, no. 50). Jesus taught, after all, by deed as well as word, giving deeds higher priority.

To vote is to exercise "charity of works" because through voting we citizens have the opportunity to shape our govenments to remove symptoms of poverty and unjust structures.

Gatherings of Christians to mobilize themselves and attune their hearts to God's justice are most valuable. I received an email about one such gathering to happen miles from us. It is encouraging to know that Catholics are involved and taking John Paul's conviction to heart. It is too easy to become discouraged, cynical or even lose sight of how vital a role Catholics place in witnessing to Jesus and inviting others to share his concern. So, for everyone's info. . .





FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 8, 2006

Contact:
Eric McFadden, Field Director
Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good
614-889-0176
EMcFadden@thecatholicalliance.org

Catholic Congregations Host 1st Congressional District Dialogue on Faith, Values and Public Policy

Cincinnati, Ohio – A group of religious congregations and organizations will host a discussion on faith, values and public policy at St. Joseph Catholic Church in the West End on Sunday, September 10, 2006 at 7:00 pm. Councilman John Cranley will be present as a special guest, and event organizers have also extended an invitation to Congressman Steve Chabot. Both Cranley and Chabot are prominent Catholic politicians.

The sponsoring groups invite and encourage citizens of all faiths to attend the talk, which is designed to people of faith on important political issues ahead of the November elections. These organizations believe in the Christian duty to participate fully in the political process of our nation and to promote the common good through voting and other civic action.

Special guests will discuss and answer questions about the social values of their faith, which include building a just and fair society, protecting human life and dignity, and helping the poor and vulnerable. They will also reflect on their own experiences as people of faith in public life.

St. Joseph’s is located at 745 Ezzard Charles Dr., Cincinnati, OH. Off-street parking is located behind the church.

Sponsoring Congregations:
St. Charles Borromeo Catholic Church
St. Joseph Catholic Church
St. Robert Bellarmine Catholic Church
St. Vivian Catholic Church
Morning Star Missionary Baptist
Roselawn Lutheran
Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good

# # #

About Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good
Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good engages Catholics, the media, and Americans of all faiths in dialogue about the Catholic social tradition and its core values of justice, human dignity, and the common good. Through communications, grassroots outreach, and strategic coordination, Catholics in Alliance supports Catholic organizations that work to advance the call to faithful citizenship and the common good. It is a non-profit, non-partisan organization with offices in Washington, DC, Columbus, OH, and Boston, MA. For more information, visit www.thecatholicalliance.org

==================================================================================
Catholic Alliance for the Common Good | 1308 19th Street NW | Washington, DC 20036
202-822-5105 | www.thecatholicalliance.org | info@thecatholicalliance.org

Feast of Mary's Birth

In addition to my homily at our Friday school mass, this recent story on Mary's house, which tradition has remembered at Ephesus, appeared in Sunday's NYT Travel section.
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Birth of Mary B (08 Sep 2006) Rm 8. 28-30; Ps 13; Mt 1. 18-23
Homily of Fr. Paul Panaretos, S.J.
Looking at Ants

The Church has long remembered the birthday of Jesus’ mother, Mary, on this date. Mary always reminds us of God’s purpose: to work to give people a share in God’s life. God is always looking out for that by inviting us to share God’s life even though we may not know it.

God’s looking is God loving. God loving sees human activity unfold in front of us; and God always chooses to be with us. God sealed that choice by becoming human: God chose to be born like us, choosing Mary to be the mother of Jesus, God’s son.

People wonder, “How does God know ahead of us?” No perfect, 100%, A+ answer exists. We use images to help us appreciate it. This image may sound strange at first: think of ants.

Who has ever watched ants? Are ants big?
When we look down from our height can we see the direction ants are traveling?
Will it take them a chunk of time to reach the place they’re going?

Our field of vision allows us to see in one glance the ants’ starting point, the place they are heading and everything in between, right? We see their ending point although it may take the ants a day to reach it moving on their tiny legs.

God’s loving look at the universe, at our world and history allowed God to “see” Mary and know ahead of Mary’s time she was the one to ask to be the mother of God’s son, Jesus.

God loves and sees us as we are. God knows ahead of us how we can introduce others to Jesus. We do that best by the way we respect others and the way we are with others, beginning at home, at school and everywhere we go. Mary reminds us that it is very, very good that God loves us first, and before we love God.

How can you introduce Jesus best to others? Yes, by how you respect them, and how you are with them.

At Computer At Prayer

If you would like to use your computer to pray, the Irish Jesuits pioneered how to do it. Ten years ago a some of them, noticing how frequently people were using computers at work as well as at home, wondered if they could not help people also use their computers for prayer as well as for other work and recreation.

As Jesuits they were "raised" in Ignatius' favored method of praying for a 15-minute stretch. (That is just over a 1.5% of the waking hours of one's day [based on an 8-hour night's sleep].) His "Examen of Consciousness" goes by various names as it has been passed along. One name, which I stumbled upon over five years ago, expresses Ignatius' prayer in very accessible language: Prayer of Loving Attention.

If you have 10-15 minutes and would like a user-friendly guide to lead you in this Ignatian way of praying, then visit Sacred Space.

Wednesday word, 06 September 2006

22d Wednesday of the Year B (06 Sep 2006) 1Co 3. 1-9; Ps 33; Lk 4. 38-44
Homily of Fr. Paul Panaretos, S.J.
Jesus’ Pattern Is Our Pattern

Jesus performed another healing-exorcism, this time a fever not a demon and this time from a woman, Simon Peter’s mother-in-law. Luke had female counterparts to men in his gospel.

Jesus did not heal on a whim. Jesus was christened with God’s spirit: the Lord’s spirit is upon me to proclaim liberty to captives and sight to the blind. Christened with God’s spirit, Jesus was faithful to prophetic words he made his own. Christened with God’s spirit, Jesus allowed the Spirit to draw the pattern of his life, even to giving his life.

This was St. Paul’s distinctive insight: the particulars of Jesus’ earthly life are past and cannot be repeated. His historical particulars are in a way irrelevant Very relevant is the pattern of Jesus’ life: responding to the Spirit shaping his life as one of faithful attention to God and service to others.

Not only relevant: that is timeless and ever-present. It is the reason that we are to be modest when it comes to our religious practice. To make a show of our gift of Jesus’ spirit is to act as if God’s gift of Jesus’ spirit was not a gift but our achievement: the reason why Paul told the Corinthians, I planted, Apollos watered but God caused the growth. Therefore, neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God, who causes the growth.

Paul promptly addressed the Corinthians’ difficulties, beginning with their jealousy and rivalry among them. Factions are the first sign people are obstinate to the spirit of Jesus. We might take Simon’s unnamed mother-in-law as our patroness: ask her to intercede for us and beg Jesus to drive away what makes us fevered and reshape us as clearer images of him today.