Stewardship:Caring for God’s Creation – Gaudium Evangelii: Chapter 1
“Goodness always tends to spread. Every authentic experience of truth and goodness seeks by its very nature to grow within us, and any person who has experienced a profound liberation becomes more sensitive to the needs of others. As it expands, goodness takes root and develops. If we wish to lead a dignified and fulfilling life, we have to reach out to others and seek their good. In this regard, several sayings of St. Paul will not surprise us: ‘The love of Christ urges us on’; ‘Woe to me if I do not proclaim the Gospel.’
The Gospel offers us the chance to live life on a higher plane, but with no less intensity: ‘Life grows by being given away, and it weakens in isolation and comfort. Indeed, those who enjoy life most are those who leave security on the shore and become excited by the mission of communicating life to others.’”
The Pastor’s Corner
This Sunday, Palm Sunday or Passion Sunday has these two names because of the reading of the account of Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem with the Palm Sunday Procession and later with the reading of the Gospel account of the Passion of our Lord. This prepares us for Holy Week and what is to come later in the week. This is a lengthy Gospel that begins with Judas betrayal of Jesus at the Last Supper to the crucifixion of Jesus. At the end of this Gospel, the Roman centurion says, “Truly, this was the Son of God.” A few people stayed until the end and it is surprising that a Roman centurion probably a pagan- speaks this statement of belief.
I remember witnessing in 2010 the Passion Play at Oberammergau, Germany that has been staged every ten years since the 1600’s. The whole town participates in the play with a large cast and a full orchestra and chorus. It runs from May to October and this six hour production really captures you and helps you understand what happened to Jesus at the end of his life. It is a moving production that the town stages in thanksgiving to God for sparing them from the plague. This play will be staged again in 2020. Perhaps, we can put a pilgrimage together that year. Please note the time for confessions and all of the services for this week.
Set aside time to enter into this Holy Week.
-Fr. Andrew Reitz, O.F.M.
The Third Scrutiny: Call to Abundant Life
This week we celebrate the third and last Scrutiny with our elect who are preparing to be baptized at the Easter Vigil. Their time of pre-baptismal preparation is quickly coming to an end and the Sacred Triduum is fast approaching. The Gospel for the Third Scrutiny recounts Jesus’ greatest and final sign before his death and resurrection: the raising of Lazarus from the dead. This is the scrutiny of life. The Elect are asked, together with all of us who pray for them and celebrate the Rite with them, to make a fundamental choice. Will we chose the path of life or will we chose the path of death?
In the Gospel, Lazarus is dead already four days. His body is rotting. The tomb is sealed. He is gone. His sisters had called for Jesus to come while Lazarus was gravely ill but still alive and Jesus arrived too late. Or so they thought. Jesus must push Mary and Martha to the limits of their faith in Him. Can they truly believe that Jesus is the resurrection and the life? Can their faith in Him be stronger even than the stone tomb, with its huge rock sealing it and the darkness and death lying within?
“Lazarus come out!”
Jesus does not drag Lazarus out of the tomb. He calls him out. Lazarus must hear the Lord’s voice and he must abandon his tomb. He must come out of the darkness and decay within.
This Sunday we pray that the Elect will make the same choice. The path of the Gospel offers life. The path of this
world devoid of God leads only to death. It would seem that the choice would be easy, but it is not and that is why during the scrutinies we pray for them to make the right choice. The tomb has a seductive safety and reality, as does sin: wealth and money are real and they make people feel safe and secure, but can wealth save anyone from death? Anger and violence are real and they make people feel good at times, but do they give anyone the serenity that comes with peace and patience? Prejudices are real and they make people feel superior to others, but do they real cure anyone’s sense of inadequacy? Lust and gluttony offer real pleasures but does using other people and the good gifts of God’s creation for my selfish amusement really offer meaning and joy? Do any of these cure the ache in our hearts that there must be more to this life that God has given us than a slow march to the dark tomb?
No, but their attraction is strong, and so we pray for help. We pray that the Spirit lets us hear the voice of Christ calling us: “Come out!” Come out into the light, come out into life, come out into love, into peace into justice, into mercy, into forgiveness, and into all the joy that God promises us. God did not create us for death. He created us for life –abundant life. The final scrutiny asks us all, as Good Friday and Easter approach: will we choose life no matter what the cost?
-Joseph Nuzzi,
Director of Evangelization
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Stewardship: Caring for God’s Creation – Evangelii Gaudium: Chapter 1
Sometimes we are tempted to find excuses and complain, acting as if we could only be happy if a thousand conditions were met. To some extent this is because our “technological society has succeeded in multiplying occasions of pleasure, yet has found it very difficult to engender joy.
I can say that the most beautiful and natural expressions of joy which I have seen in my life were in poor people who had little to hold on to. I also think of the real joy shown by others who, even amid pressing professional obligations, were able to preserve, in detachment and simplicity,a heart full of faith. In their own way, all these instances of joy flow from the infinite love of God, who has revealed himself to us in Jesus Christ. I never tire of repeating those words from Benedict XVI…”Being a Christian is not the result of an ethical choice or a lofty idea, but the encounter with an event, a person,which gives life a new horizon and a decisive direction.”
-Pope Francis
The Pastor’s Corner
Martha and Mary were good friends of Jesus and some of his first and most faithful disciples. We hear in today’s Gospel that their brother Lazarus, also a friend of Jesus, has fallen ill. By the time Jesus arrived, Lazarus had died and was already been in the tomb for four days. This doesn’t stop Jesus. What follows is rather touching because Jesus goes directly to the tomb and calls out,“Lazarus, come out.” To everyone’s surprise, Lazarus, alive, comes out. From this comes the famous proclamation of Jesus, “I am the resurrection and the life, whoever believes in me, even if he dies,will live…” With Jesus much is possible.
Each week I give you the latest report that I have received from the Cardinal’s Appeal Office. We are slowly but steadily moving along toward our goal. I am grateful for those people who have already given to the Appeal, many very generous in their donations. Whatever you can afford or are willing to sacrifice is greatly appreciated. If you have put the Cardinal’s Appeal donor envelope aside or lost yours, there are envelopes available in church. Take one and either give an outright gift or make a pledge.You may also do this online at cardinalsappeal.org. (Please indicate “St. Francis of Assisi, New York” as your parish).
Thank you!
-Fr. Andrew Reitz, O.F.M.
The Scrutinies and the Reality of Evil
Last Sunday we celebrated the first of the three Scrutinies with our elect who are in their final weeks of preparation for Baptism. The first scrutiny calls them to turn away from the lure of false promises which bombard us offering to quench our thirst, and to drink fully from the life-giving Spirit of Christ himself. This Sunday we will celebrate the second scrutiny: the scrutiny of light which calls us not to be blind to the reality of sin and evil.
The gospel reading for the second scrutiny is the cure of the man born blind. In the reading we hear talk about sin, innocence, seeing and blindness. All of the scrutinies challenge us to look at sin and sinfulness. The second scrutiny is particularly pointed in focusing our gaze on the reality of evil. Why do we do this? What is the point of taking three weeks before Easter to focus our gaze on sin? The answer is that evil is real. It is seductive. It is powerful and it needs to be resisted. In the gospel there is the physical blindness of the innocent man who is cured and the spiritual blindness of those who are quick to accuse others of sin but refuse to see their own.
Blindness to our own sinfulness is dangerous. Everyone sins. No one but Jesus himself is without sin. The difference between someone who seeks God’s kingdom and someone on a different path is that the saint admits their sinfulness and tries to do better. This takes humility before God and each other as well as fortitude and an openness to grow. The opposite is to be blind to our own failings, to believe that we never do anything for which we must apologize, and that all of our thoughts and actions are perfectly fine. This stems from pride and arrogance.
The scrutinies not only make us to look at our own sinfulness, but they challenge us to also look at the evil that exists in our world. There is a dangerous blindness when we refuse to see the structures of injustice that pervade the world. No one is really born into the world with a “clean slate.” Some are born with wealth or are born to the right family, in the right country, speaking the right language, etc., and this gives real advantages. Others are less fortunate. Some are born in a poor country, or to a poor family. Their lives will be an up hill battle. There is an unfairness and injustice in the world that touches us the moment we arrive. This is part of the mystery we call “original sin.”
The scrutinies also call our attention to the structures of inherited sin and injustice. As followers of Christ we are not only called to strive for greater personal integrity, we are also called to fight the evil that exists in the social, political and economic arenas. Christ calls us to build a world of greater justice, peace and opportunity which benefits all people, not just the rich and the powerful. The task is daunting. It can seem almost impossible, but that is why during the scrutinies, we pray to the Father to give the elect, and all of us, the strength of the Holy Spirit to fight evil in all of its manifestations. Evil is powerful and we must not be blind to it. But God is more powerful by far. We do not fight this fight alone; we fight with Christ who has already won the victory.
-Joseph Nuzzi, Director of Evangelization
Next week: The Third Scrutiny: Call to Abundant Life
The Pastor’s Corner
Jesus and the man born blind is the focus for today’s Gospel on this Fourth Sunday of Lent. Reading through this lengthy Gospel, you will notice that it is filled with many people who are blind. Perhaps they may not be physically blind, but their refusal to attempt to understand who Jesus is can be seen over and over again as the disciples, the neighbors, and the Pharisees ask question after question of the “blind” man. Some want to “see” and others just want to refuse that Jesus could heal this man. There is a good lesson for all of us about our being blind. All of us suffer from this condition, but remember, Jesus can open our eyes…and our heart.
Lent is moving along quickly. Here we are at the Fourth Sunday. On Friday of this week, March 31, we will have our Communal Penance Service, Pardon and Peace. It begins at 7:00 PM with a Scripture Service, followed by individual confession of sins. There will be a number of confessors available for anyone who would like to confess one to one. It is an inspiring service when we gather as a community of sinners to be healed by the gracious love of God, who “never tires of forgiving us” as Pope Francis has reminded us.
A reminder that if you prefer to go to confession during the week, we have extra confessors each day. Don’t wait until Holy Week.
-Fr. Andrew Reitz, O.F.M.
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