Why Practicing Your Catholic Faith is Good for You and Your Family

 

(Holy Family 2023 (B): This homily was given on December 31, 2023 at St. Pius X Church, Westerly, R.I., by Fr. Raymond Suriani.  Read Sirach 3:2-14; Psalm 128:1-5; Colossians 3:12-21; Luke 2:22-40.)

[For the audio version of this homily, click here: Holy Family 2023]

On the first Sunday after Christmas, there are definitely many people in church for Mass who were also there on the Sunday before Christmas.  I’m sure most of you fit into that category.  But, hopefully, on the very first Sunday after December 25^th there are at least a few people in church for Mass (here and in other places) who were NOT there on the Sunday before December 25^th—or on the Sunday before that; or on the Sunday before that; or on the Sunday before that!

These are the souls who were touched by God’s grace in some way during the celebration of Christmas, and who made the decision to start practicing their Catholic faith again.

Well, if you’re one of those people, I want to reinforce your decision today in and through this homily.  And if you’re not one of those people—that is to say, if you’re someone who was in church last Sunday and has been faithful all along—I want to increase your level of dedication to your Catholic faith through what I say this morning, on this Feast of the Holy Family.

And so it shouldn’t surprise anyone that the title of my homily today is: “Why practicing your faith is good for you and your family.” 

It’s very clear from today’s gospel reading that Jesus, Mary and Joseph—the members of the Holy Family—were Jews who took their religion very seriously.  Jesus was consecrated to God in the Temple in obedience to the Law of Moses, which stated that “every male that opens the womb shall be consecrated to the Lord.”

We heard that a few moments ago.  And notice it says that the members of the Holy Family did not go back to their hometown of Nazareth until (and here I quote) “they had fulfilled all the prescriptions of the law of the Lord.”

Later on we read in Luke that Mary, Jesus and Joseph traveled to Jerusalem every year to celebrate Passover, the most sacred feast in Judaism.  Our Lord attended synagogue regularly—not just on the High Holy Days.

They were a family of practicing Jews.  And practicing their religion was good for them: it gave their lives the right center; it gave their lives meaning and direction; and it taught them how to love and serve God and one another. 

That, of course, was 2,000 years ago.  We live in a different time, and in a different culture.  But I believe the truth still applies: When you go to church and practice your religion, it makes a positive difference in your personal life and in the life of your family—especially if your religion is Catholicism (which teaches the fullness of God’s revealed truth)!

And this is something that even honest secular researchers will acknowledge.  If they’re researching deviant behavior, for example, and they divide people into two groups: people who practice their religion, and people who don’t, there will almost always be a huge difference in the numbers!  The amount of lying, and cheating, and stealing, etc., will almost always be much greater in the “non-practicing” group.

In preparation for this homily, I made a short list of some practical benefits that I’ve observed in families that practice their Catholic faith.  (This is not an exhaustive list; you could probably name many others.)

#1 When a family practices its Catholic faith, parents have another authority—the Ultimate Authority—to appeal to in dealing with their children!  “Do it because I say so” can only get you so far, parents.  If that’s the only weapon in your arsenal, sooner or later your children will say (or at least think), “And who are you, mom?  And who are you, dad?  With all due respect, you’re just an imperfect human being like me.”  But if you can say, “Do it because Almighty God wants you to do it; do it because it’s HIS will”—that carries a lot more weight.

#2 When a family practices its Catholic faith, everyone learns the importance of forgiveness.  And let’s face it, no family—no marriage—no friendship—no interpersonal relationship—survives for very long without forgiveness.

And beyond that, practicing your Catholic faith also provides you with concrete examples of how to forgive (especially in Jesus).

#3 As was the case for Jesus, Mary and Joseph, practicing your religion presents everyone in the family with the right set of priorities—the right “center,” so to speak.

#4 When a family practices its Catholic faith, everyone learns to be accountable and responsible for their actions—which apparently is not a lesson that most high school students are learning these days!  A couple of years ago the Josephson Institute did a study of almost 30,000 high school students in our country: 64% of those polled said that they had cheated on a test in the previous year; 30% admitted that they had stolen from a store; 42% had lied to save money—but 93% of them said that they were satisfied with their personal ethics and character.

Not a lot of responsibility and accountability there, unfortunately.

I wonder how many of those students go to church every week.  That’s a question they didn’t ask—but should have!

#5 When a family practices its Catholic faith, everyone learns the importance of thinking of others; everyone learns the importance of helping others.  That’s another benefit.  As Jesus said, “Whatever you do to the least of my brothers and sisters, you do to me.”

And finally, #6 when a family practices its Catholic faith, every family member has the opportunity to get on—or to stay on—or to get back on—the road to heaven, which is the ultimate goal of our existence here on earth.

So aren’t you glad you’re here at Mass today?  You should be!

Hopefully this will motivate you to come back next Sunday and every Sunday thereafter—and to practice your faith on the other six days of the week as well—for your own good, and for the good of your family.

 

A Christmas Lesson from ‘Santa-to-the-Stars’

My cousin, Michael Chellel

(Christmas 2023: This homily was given on December 25, 2023 at St. Pius X Church, Westerly, R.I., by Fr. Raymond Suriani.  Read Isaiah 52:7-10; Psalm 98:1-6; Hebrews 1:1-6; John 1:1-14.)

[For the audio version of this homily, click here: Christmas 2023]

The day after Thanksgiving this year, the majority of the front page of the Providence Journal was devoted to an article about Santa Claus—complete with several pictures.  Actually the article was not about the real Santa Claus, but about a man from Rhode Island who made a living playing Santa Claus, and who had passed away a few weeks earlier.  That man was a cousin of mine, Michael Chellel.

Many people knew Michael by his stage name, Brady White.  And if they lived in Hollywood, and worked in the movie or television industry, they probably also knew him as “Santa-to-the-Stars”.

That’s because, in addition to his modeling work for the Christmas catalogues of stores like Nieman Marcus, Michael played Santa Claus at the Christmas parties of famous celebrities every year.  The Journal article the other day gave a short list of some of his many clients: Stallone, Madonna, Travolta, Clooney and Streisand.  Michael once told me that he often spent Christmas Eve at the Kardashians—which must have been very interesting, to say the least. 

The New York Times once called my cousin “the ultimate Santa,” and I would agree with that assessment.  (No bias there, of course!)  He even had his beard insured by Lloyd’s of London—that’s how seriously he took the role.  But what made Michael special to me and to a lot of other people was not his fame and worldly success.  Rather it was his faith, and how he grew in his faith during the last two decades of his life. 

It all started on a trip he took to Italy back in 2002.  There he heard about a Franciscan friar named Padre Pio, who was soon to be canonized a saint.  As many of us know, Padre Pio, who died in 1968, was a priest who had extraordinary spiritual gifts.  Like St. John Vianney he could, they say, read souls; in other words, he could sometimes tell you your sins before you confessed them.  How would you like to go to confession to him?!!!  Count your blessings that you have Fr. Najim and Fr. Ray!  He also had the stigmata: supernatural wounds on his body that corresponded to the wounds of Jesus on the cross.  If you’ve ever seen pictures or videos of Padre Pio saying Mass, you will recall that his hands were always wrapped, and blood could be seen coming through the wrappings from his bleeding wounds.

Well Michael was intrigued by all this, so he decided to visit the monastery in San Giovanni Rotondo where Padre Pio had lived.  He said he felt like Padre Pio was calling him there.  Well, to make a long story short, that led to a real conversion in Michael’s life.  In fact, for many years afterward Michael would live with the Franciscans in San Giovanni Rotondo for several months of the year and help them in any way he could—especially with the many English-speaking pilgrims who would come to the monastery on pilgrimage.  He would come back to the United States only to do his Santa work for a few months to earn enough money to pay the bills.

In a paper he once wrote about his conversion experience, Michael said this:

I could not understand why Padre Pio wanted me, because I was a sinner.  I lived in Hollywood and New York; I lived in what one would call the “fast lane”—keeping company with Hollywood celebrities and the world’s social elite. Flying in private jets, riding in limousines, staying in four-star hotels; my life was surrounded by glitz and glamour.  I lived in a very material world and I thought I was happy there. . . . 

 But something was missing. When I came to know Padre Pio, I came to know real faith and the meaning of love. Love for our brothers and sisters; learning that all of us are put here to serve and love one another. Through Padre Pio I found true happiness and joy in my life.

Michael said there, “I could not understand why Padre Pio wanted me, because I was a sinner.”

Well join the club, Michael!  Jesus said, “I have come to call, not the self-righteous, but sinners.”  (Mt 9: 13)

What my cousin had to learn—and what he thankfully did learn—was that Jesus Christ came into the world 2,000 years ago to save him—and to save the rest of us—from our sins, and especially from the eternal consequences of those sins.  In fact, that’s what the name “Jesus” means.  As the angel said to St. Joseph, “[Your wife Mary] will bear a son and you are to name him Jesus because he will save his people from their sins.”

The name Jesus literally means “Savior”—not “teacher,” not “wise man,” not “philosopher,” not “all-around nice guy”.  His name signifies what he was, first and foremost: the one who saves us from our sins.

If we let him!  My cousin Michael “let him” in 2002, when he first went to San Giovanni Rotondo—and he continued to do that, as far as I know, for the rest of his life.  He went to Mass faithfully and to confession regularly.  Inspired by Padre Pio, he took his faith very seriously.  And knowing Michael as I did, I’m sure he shared that faith with his celebrity clients whenever God gave him the opportunity.  Praise God!

There is nothing more important in this life, my brothers and sisters, than being saved from your sins—because the consequences of not being saved are eternal!

It reminds me of something that happened here in Westerly just a few weeks ago.  It was a Sunday morning; the 10:30a.m. Mass had just ended, and I was having a conversation in the vestibule with a visitor—a woman who used to be a parishioner of St. Pius.  One of her sons was an altar server here when I first came to the parish in 1988.  She was in town because her husband was in Westerly Hospital in the final days of his life.  She said to me at one point that the hospital chaplain had mentioned Baptism to her husband when he visited him the day before (her husband had never been baptized).  So I went to the hospital after Mass and asked him point blank, “Would you like to be baptized?” He said, “Yes”—enthusiastically.

So I came back to the rectory, told Fr. Najim what had happened, and the two of us went back to the hospital.  And there, surrounded by his wife (who was crying tears of joy) and his 3 sons, this man was baptized by Fr. Najim (which, among other things brought him forgiveness for every single sin he had ever committed in his entire life up to that point!).  Fr. Najim then confirmed him and gave him his first Communion; and I gave him the sacrament of the sick.  Five days later, he died.  Five days later, the Lord called him home.

I think he was ready.  In Baptism he received the grace of salvation that Jesus Christ came into the world and died on the cross to give him.  If he had lived longer and had committed a mortal sin at some point along the way, he could have gotten that grace back into his soul by making a good confession.  And so can we.

Like my cousin Michael Chellel—Santa to the Stars—this man came to understand and to experience the truth that Jesus came to call sinners—like him.  It’s my prayer on this Christmas morning that every single one of us in this church today will have the very same understanding and the very same experience.

Do You Have Doubts, or Do You Simply Have Difficulties?

 

St. John Henry Newman

(Fourth Sunday of Advent (B): This homily was given on December 24, 2023 at St. Pius X Church, Westerly, R.I., by Fr. Raymond Suriani.  Read 2 Samuel 7:1-16; Psalm 89:2-3, 4-5, 27, 29; Romans 16:25-27; Luke 1:26-38.)

[For the audio version of this homily, click here: Fourth Sunday of Advent 2023]

Do you have doubts, or do you simply have difficulties?

People will sometimes tell me that they have doubts about certain teachings of the Catholic Faith: it might concern something strictly theological, like the Trinity or the virgin birth of Jesus; or it might be about a moral matter, like the proscription against artificial contraception or in vitro fertilization.

But what I want to know is this: Do these people actually have doubts, or are they simply experiencing what St. John Henry Newman referred to as “difficulties”?  One of Newman’s best known sayings is this one: “Ten thousand difficulties do not make one doubt.” 

It’s normal to have difficulty understanding the Blessed Trinity; it’s normal to have difficulty grasping how God became man in Christ Jesus; it’s even normal to have difficulty understanding the reasons behind some of the Church’s moral teachings.

But all those difficulties put together and multiplied by 10,000 do not add up to one single doubt!  As Cardinal Newman indicates in that line I quoted a few moments ago, difficulties and doubts are qualitatively different things! 

This is something that many sincere believers do not seem to realize; hence they confuse the two realities.  They ponder and wonder and question, and they think they’re having doubts, when in actuality they’re simply experiencing difficulties—some of which even the great saints experienced! 

Take Mary at the Annunciation.  If you read this story from Luke 1 that we just heard, without knowing the difference between difficulties and doubts, you might make the mistake of thinking that Mary actually doubted the Lord—especially when she said to Gabriel, “How can this be, since I have no relations with a man?”

But that’s not true.  Mary didn’t doubt: not for one single second!  However she did experience a number of difficulties that she initially couldn’t make sense of.  For example, when the angel first appeared to her and extended his famous greeting—“Hail, full of grace!  The Lord is with you”—it says that Mary was “greatly troubled at what was said and pondered what sort of greeting this might be.”

Mary had difficulty understanding why God’s angel would appear to her—a lowly maiden of Nazareth—and what the purpose of his visit was.  Now you might say, “But Fr. Ray, Mary was so holy; why wouldn’t God send an angel to her?”

Yes, she was; and to us it makes perfect sense.  But people who are truly holy don’t think they’re special!  They think they’re ordinary, because they’re so humble.  And Mary, because she was sinless, was even more humble than all the other great saints of Church history!

So her reaction was completely understandable.  It was a difficulty, not a doubt.

Then we have her famous question about how the conception of the Son of God would occur.  It begins with the words, “How can this be . . . ?” which seem to imply doubt.  At first glance it appears as if Mary is saying to Gabriel, “Can God possibly do such a thing?” 

But once again, we’re in the realm of difficulty, not doubt.

This verse is one of the clearest indications in Scripture that Mary was always a virgin, even after the birth of Jesus.  Many Protestants, of course, don’t believe that.  They believe Mary was a virgin up until the time of our Lord’s birth, but that she and Joseph lived a normal married life afterward.

However, if the Protestant position is true, then Mary’s question makes no sense!  If Mary intended on living a normal conjugal life with Joseph, why would she have asked a question about how the conception of the Savior would occur? 

We have no reason to think that Mary was ignorant of the basic principles of biology!

The way the question is phrased indicates that Mary and Joseph intended to refrain from relations during their entire marriage, which supports the Catholic teaching that Mary’s virginity was perpetual, not temporary. 

And so, once again, we’re dealing with a difficulty, not a doubt!  Based on the vow she had made to the Lord to be continent even after her marriage, Mary had difficulty understanding how she was going to get pregnant and have a child.

Gabriel, of course, told her how, and that eliminated the difficulty—after which Mary expressed the faith that had been in her heart all along!  She said, “I am the handmaid of the Lord.  May it be done to me according to your word.”

Mary needed the help of Gabriel to deal with the difficulties she experienced at the Annunciation.  At times we may also need help dealing with ours.

Do we seek that help and deal with our difficulties quickly and effectively?  Or do we just sit back and let them multiply?  Ten thousand difficulties do not make a doubt—that’s true; but even a few difficulties can lead to doubt if they’re never addressed.

Just ask your ex-Catholic friends who are now Jehovah’s Witnesses or evangelical Protestants or Scientologists—or atheists!

Obviously, they all had difficulties with the Catholic faith that were never addressed in a satisfactory way; consequently, they ended up embracing another religion—or rejecting religion entirely.

This is one of the reasons why we have our youth group for teenagers here at St. Pius every Thursday night.  We want them to have a place where they can come to deal with the spiritual and moral “difficulties” they have as young people.  My pastor, Fr. Pat Rotondi, helped me address my difficulties when I was a teen (a few years ago), and I know what a positive difference that made in my young life.  At a crucial time in my development, it helped me keep my head on straight (more or less!).

The bottom line is this: None of us can avoid difficulties!  (In a sense, that’s the bad news.)  Everyone with faith experiences them; even our Blessed Mother did.  But the good news is that even if our personal difficulties are serious and challenging and numerous, we can always avoid doubts—if we want to.

 

The One Reason to Rejoice Always

 

(Third Sunday of Advent (B): This homily was given on December 17, 2023 at St. Pius X Church, Westerly, R.I., by Fr. Raymond Suriani.  Read Isaiah 61:1-11; Luke 1:46-54; 1 Thessalonians 5:16-24; Luke 1:46-55.)

[For the audio version of this homily, click here: Third Sunday of Advent 2023]

Gaudete!

It’s a command that can be very hard to follow, even if we really want to.

Today is known as “Gaudete Sunday”.  It’s the Sunday when we light the third candle—the rose one—on our Advent wreath, signifying that the season is now more than half over and that Christmas is fast approaching.

And so the Church tells us to do what St. Paul tells us to do in that text we just heard from 1 Thessalonians 5.  The Church tells us to REJOICE!  In fact, she not only tells us to do that, she COMMANDS US to do it!  “Gaudere” in Latin is the verb that means “to rejoice,” but “gaudete” is the imperative plural form of the verb—which means it’s a command!  It’s a command that’s being given to you, to me—to all of us—and to every single human person on planet earth.

“REJOICE!”

Which is why I said what I said at the beginning of my homily: It’s a command that can be very hard to follow, even if we really want to.

Because we can always find a reason NOT to rejoice!  Even if we’re relatively happy and content with the way things are going in our life right now, there will always be some reason for us not to rejoice.  It might be something we’re personally experiencing which is pulling us down emotionally; it might be something negative that somebody else is experiencing.  Think of the shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut that occurred eleven years ago this week.  Most of us didn’t know any of the victims or their relatives, and yet I dare say that all of us who were alive at the time were deeply affected by that tragedy.

How could we not be?

As I see it, there are two major categories of reasons for us not to rejoice.  The first is the general state of the world; the second is the particular state of our world.

The general state of the world is determined by the kinds of things we read about in the newspaper every day: the murders of innocent people—like those that have taken place in the Middle East in recent weeks; the rioting; the terrorism; the wars; the greed; the abuse of various kinds.

You get the picture.

The particular state of our world is determined by what we are experiencing in our life at the present time, or by events in our past that are still troubling us today.  For example, some of you have lost loved ones suddenly and tragically—for some of you that’s happened in the recent past.  Some of you have lost your jobs recently; some of you have been diagnosed with a serious illness recently; some of you have relatives or friends who are going through difficult times.

The possibilities, unfortunately, are almost endless.

And this why it can be hard to rejoice—especially around Christmas, when the general perception is that everyone around us IS filled with joy!

That, by the way, is a false perception—everyone out there is NOT filled with joy!  But, because of all the decorations and music and parties at this time of year, that’s the way it can appear to be.

So what’s the answer?  Is it possible to fulfill that command to rejoice even when bad things are happening in the world out there and in our own little world in here?

The answer, I’m happy to say, is yes!  Yes, it’s possible to “gaudete”—to rejoice—in times of suffering.  Yes, it’s possible to rejoice in times of trial.  Yes, it’s possible to rejoice even in the worst of circumstances! 

It’s possible because, in the midst of all the reasons—all the many reasons—that each of us has NOT to rejoice, there is always one reason for us TO rejoice.

AND THAT REASON IS JESUS CHRIST AND WHAT HE HAS DONE FOR US!

First of all, let me make the necessary distinction between “feeling joy” and “rejoicing.”  Feeling joy is an emotional response to something that pleases us.  Children, for example, will see their presents under the tree on Christmas morning and they will feel joy.  That will happen quite naturally.  And if they’ve been particularly good during the previous 12 months, they will feel a lot of joy!

Rejoicing is different—very different.  Biblically speaking, rejoicing is not an emotion or an emotional response to something that we find attractive or pleasing.  Rejoicing in the Bible is an act of the will.  It’s a conscious and deliberate decision: a conscious and deliberate decision to praise and glorify God regardless of what we happen to be dealing with at the present time.

And it’s a decision which is made on the basis of things that we know to be true.

I don’t always “feel joy.”  Neither do you, and neither does anybody else.  But even when I’m not feeling joy I can still make the conscious and deliberate decision to rejoice, based on what I know, by faith, to be true.

And there we have the key to it all.  If I want to be able to rejoice on the third Sunday of Advent (and on every other day of the year), I have to make the effort—the conscious and deliberate effort—TO LOOK BEYOND all the reasons that I have not to rejoice, and then focus my attention on those things that my faith tells me are true.

For example … 

        I need to focus my attention on the fact that Jesus Christ is Lord.

·         I need to focus my attention on the fact that Jesus loves me with an unconditional love even when I fail him.

·         I need to focus my attention on the fact that Jesus is with me always and that he will never allow me to be tested beyond my strength.

·         I need to focus my attention on the fact that Jesus will always forgive me if I repent—especially in the sacrament of Confession.

·         I need to focus my attention on the fact that everything—including my sufferings—will work for my ultimate good if I love the Lord and stay close to him.

If my mind and my heart are focused on truths like those (and not on all the reasons that I have to be sad and depressed), then I can rejoice, and I can rejoice ALWAYS (as St. Paul says I should).

Here Mary, our Blessed Mother, is a great example for us.  How providential it was that today’s responsorial psalm wasn’t a psalm at all!

Did you notice that?  In between the first and second readings at Sunday Mass we normally hear one of the 150 Old Testament psalms (or at least part of one of the psalms).  But today was different.  Today, in place of a psalm, we heard a brief excerpt from our Blessed Mother’s Magnificat.  (That was the beautiful prayer she said when she went to visit her cousin Elizabeth.  The prayer is found in the gospel of Luke, chapter 1).

Mary, like the rest of us, had many reasons not to rejoice: she was poor; she and her people were being oppressed by the pagan Romans; she lived in a violent and dangerous period of human history.  Death, literally, was all around her.

And yet, as this prayer indicates, SHE WAS ABLE TO LOOK BEYOND ALL THOSE NEGATIVE THINGS AND MAKE THE CONSCIOUS AND DELIBERATE DECISION TO REJOICE!

Listen again to her words:

My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord, my spirit rejoices in God my Savior …

[Notice she does not say, “I feel joy”; she says “my spirit REJOICES in God my Savior” …

She then lists some of the things that she knew, by faith, to be true.  She says …]

The Almighty has done great things for me, and holy is his name.

He has mercy on those who fear him in every generation.

He has shown the strength of his arm, he has scattered the proud in their conceit.

He has cast down the mighty from their thrones, and has lifted up the lowly.

He has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he has sent away empty.

He has come to the help of his servant Israel, for he has remembered his promise of mercy, the promise he made to our fathers, to Abraham and his children forever.

In the midst of all the reasons that she had not to rejoice, Mary found—and Mary consciously and deliberately focused on—the one reason she had to rejoice always: GOD, and all the great things he had done for her and for her people.

Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us, that we will follow your example, not only during these days before Christmas, but throughout the entire year.  Amen.

 

Eve, Mary, and the Oldest Game in the World

(Immaculate Conception 2023: This homily was given on December 8, 2023 at St. Pius X Church, Westerly, R.I., by Fr. Raymond Suriani.  Read Genesis 3:9-15, 20; Luke 1:26-38.)

 [For the audio version of this homily, click here: Immaculate Conception 2023]

 

• What is the oldest game in the world?  (Hint: You’ll never see a report about it on SportsCenter!)

• What’s the most popular game in the world today?

Those two questions, believe it or not, have the same answer.

The oldest game in the world, as well as the most popular game in the world today, is none other than “the blame game!”

It goes back to the Garden of Eden, as we heard in our first reading from Genesis 3.  Adam and Eve commit the original sin, and God confronts them about it.  And what does Adam do (Mr. Responsibility himself!)?  Why, he plays the very first round of “the blame game!”  God says, “You have eaten, then, from the tree of which I had forbidden you to eat!” Adam responds, “The woman whom you put here with me—she gave me fruit from the tree, and so I ate it.”

First of all, God is blamed.  Notice what Adam says—“the woman whom you put here with me”!  Then he blames his wife: “She gave me fruit from the tree, and so I ate it.”

Oh sure, Adam, she forced it down your throat!

Of course, Eve is no better.  She proves to be a real “chip off the old rib,” so to speak, by immediately playing round two of the blame game and pointing her finger at the serpent.  When God says to her, “Why did you do such a thing?” she replies, “The serpent tricked me into it, so I ate it.”

The blame game: We’ve all played it, have we not?  Perhaps some of us play it all the time!

“It’s not my fault.”

“It’s his fault.”

“It’s her fault.”

“He did it.”

“She did it.”

“He made me do it.”

“She made me do it.”

You know the lines.  There are lots of them.

And then we have Mary, who was not personally responsible for even one single sin, because she was immaculately conceived in the womb of her mother, Ann, and remained sinless throughout her entire life by the grace of God.

Yet, out of love for God and neighbor, Mary did assume the responsibility of giving birth to and raising a Savior for Eve, and for herself, and for the rest of us.

Eve’s denial of personal responsibility for her own sin helped to bring death into the world; Mary’s assumption of responsibility in bringing the Son of God into the world and raising him to manhood brought the possibility of forgiveness and eternal life to us all.

So the bottom line for each of us is this: We can choose in our earthly life to be a “blamer” like Eve (and Adam), or we can choose to be a person of responsibility, like Mary.

For us, of course, being a responsible person includes taking ownership of our sins!  It means admitting that we’ve done bad things that we shouldn’t have done, and failed to do good things that we should have done. 

(That’s because we were not immaculately conceived like the Blessed Mother was!)

For those who do want to follow this noble path of personal responsibility, remember that confessions are heard here at St. Pius every Wednesday from 5 until around 5:30, and every Saturday afternoon from 3:30-4:30.  These are opportunities for you to take responsibility for your sins, and to receive the forgiveness that Mary’s Son won for you by his passion, death and resurrection.

To encourage you to choose this noble and better path, let me make one final point about the blame game: It’s a game in which nobody wins!  Whenever we play the blame game, we lose our honesty and our integrity, and the people around us have to deal with the sad consequences of that.

On the other hand, when we take responsibility for our sins and sincerely repent, everybody wins!  We win God’s incredible forgiveness, and the people around us win by getting a much better and a much nicer person to deal with every day!

 

You Can’t Change History, But You Can MAKE History!

(First Sunday of Advent (B): This homily was given on December 3, 2023 at St. Pius X Church, Westerly, R.I., by Fr. Raymond Suriani.  Read Isaiah 63:26b-17, 19b; 64:2-7;  Psalm 80:2-3, 15-16, 18-19; 1 Corinthians 1:3-9; Mark 13:33-37.)

[For the audio version of this homily, click here: First Sunday of Advent 2023]

Way back in the late 1960s there was a program on television called "The Time Tunnel".  It was all about the adventures of two scientists who had discovered a way to travel through time.  On every program they would find themselves in a different historical situation—either in the past or in the future.  

Well during this past week I happened to catch an old Time Tunnel episode online.  And it brought back a lot of pleasant memories, because this was one of my favorite programs when I was in grammar school.  I always found the idea of traveling through time intriguing.  Perhaps a lot of people do.  But anyway, on this particular episode the two scientists found themselves on the Titanic (of all places)—in the middle of the North Atlantic on the day when that famous ship hit an iceberg and sank.  

Now if you woke up one day and found yourself in that situation, I’m sure you would do exactly what the two scientists tried to do: you would desperately try to convince the Captain of the ship that you knew what was going to happen.  You would tell him to turn the ship to the south—to warmer waters—in order to avoid disaster.  The Captain, of course, would think you were out of your mind and would probably put you under arrest, which is exactly what happened to the two scientists! 

And so the ship struck the iceberg, just as they had predicted.

To me there's a very important spiritual lesson to be learned here, and the lesson is that you cannot rewrite history.  As much as you might like to, you can't.  As much as the two Time Tunnel scientists wanted to rewrite the story of the Titanic, they were unable to do it. 

And this is true of all history: the history of the world, our family history and our personal history.  It cannot be changed; no aspect of any of it can be changed.   Which from one standpoint, at least, is not very good news, because there are experiences we have all had in our lives that we wish we never had. 

I know some of you in this church this morning have fought in wars.  You've lived through some violent, frightening situations you wish you had never experienced.  All of us have seen relatives and friends die.  I'm sure there's a part of us that wishes we could rewrite some of those stories.  I know that I would not have had my parents pass away at such young ages, 46 and 60.   I would have changed some of the other circumstances surrounding their deaths.

And then there are the sins we've committed.  If we truly are growing in our relationship with Jesus we will deeply regret some of the things we have done in the past, and some of the things we should have done that we didn't do in the past.  For example, I am sure that after his conversion St. Augustine wished he could rewrite the history of his first 30 or so years, which were filled with self-indulgence and sexual promiscuity.  I am sure that after his conversion St. Paul wished he could wipe away all the terrible things he had done to Christians.  I'm sure he wished he could rewrite the history of the stoning of St. Stephen.

Remember, Paul was an accomplice to that murder.  He stood there approvingly while the others threw the rocks.  I'm sure St. Peter always wished he could rewrite the story of Holy Thursday night—minus his three denials of Jesus.  But he couldn't; they couldn't; none of us can. 

And this is something we must accept—especially if we want to be ready to meet Jesus on Judgment Day. 

Jesus tells us in today's gospel to be ready for his second coming always.  Because when that moment arrives—when Jesus comes for us either at the end of our lives or at the end of time—we will not be able to rewrite our personal history.  There is no reincarnation.  The Bible is very explicit about that (read Hebrews 9:27).

There are no second chances!  You don't come back as a frog, or a cow, or as your favorite movie star or sports hero.  Our earthly history ends when the Lord comes for us, and that history is the basis on which we will be judged.

Of course, there's another dimension to all this, and this is something we also must be clear about.  Yes, it's true, you can't rewrite your past history.  Yes, it's true, you can't rewrite your history at the end of your earthly life. 

But, until you take your last breath, you can choose to MAKE history!  You can choose to make history with the Lord.  In other words you don't have to be shackled by your past, whatever your past might be. 

If your past is filled with sin, you can choose to let God in and be washed clean of your offences by making a sincere, honest confession. 

When we repent of our sins in that great sacrament and receive the absolution of the priest it's as if we never committed the sin.  I hope you realize that. Even though God knows we did it, it never comes between us and him again. 

All of us need to make that kind of history with the Lord.  Even if we are not in serious sin. 

If your past is filled with pain you can choose to allow God to help you deal with that pain; you can choose to allow him to teach you and strengthen you in and through the suffering, and you can choose to let the Lord bring good out of your pain.  If you choose to do those things, believe me, you will make great history with the Lord. 

Fr. Najim and I had the privilege of watching someone make some crucial history with the Lord a couple of weeks ago.  After the 10:30a.m. Mass that day I happened to strike up a conversation in the vestibule with a woman who used to be a parishioner of St. Pius.  One of her sons was an altar server here when I first came to the parish in 1988.  She was in town because her husband was in Westerly Hospital in the final days of his life.  She said to me at one point that the hospital chaplain had mentioned Baptism to her husband when he visited him the day before (her husband had never been baptized).  So I went to the hospital after Mass and asked him point blank, “Would you like to be baptized?”  He said, “Yes”—enthusiastically.

So I came back to the rectory, told Fr. Najim what happened, and the two of us went back to the hospital.  And there, surrounded by his wife (who was crying tears of joy) and his 3 sons, this man was baptized by Fr. Najim (which, among other things brought him forgiveness for every single sin he had ever committed in his entire life!).  Fr. Najim then confirmed him and gave him his first Communion; and I gave him the sacrament of the sick.  Five days later, he died.  Five days later, the Lord called him home. 

I think he was ready.

That’s called making decisive history with the Lord—history with eternal consequences: history with eternal, GLORIOUS consequences!

If I were to sum up the Lord's message to us today on this first Sunday of Advent it would be as follows (and please try to hear this as addressed to you personally):  "My son, my daughter—don't try to do what you cannot do.  Don't try to change what you cannot change.  Don't spend your life in a fantasy world, wishing you had a time tunnel to take you back 2 years or 4 years or 40 years.   Focus all your attention on MAKING HISTORY with me in the present moment, by allowing me to forgive you of the sins of the past; by allowing me to heal you of the hurts of the past; by allowing me to strengthen you; by allowing me to teach you.  Begin doing this today, begin doing it this Advent.  And don't stop until we see each other face to face."