Living Piety

 Acts 15:1-2, 22-29, Psalm 67:2-3, 5, 6, 8, Revelation 21:10-14, 22-23, Jn  14:23-29

1.3 Million men and women have died in the Armed Forces

This weekend our nation celebrates Memorial Day - to honor Americans who gave their lives to protect the freedoms and rights that we have as a nation.  We honor the love and devotion shown by 1.3 million of our fellow countrymen who have died protecting our country since our birth as a nation in the Revolution of 1776.

Grand Army of the Republic

In 1866, after the end of the Civil War veterans of the North formed the Grand Army of the Republic - A Civil War Veterans group of the men who served in the Union during the war.  The Grand Army of the Republic lasted until  1956 when its last member died.  

Happy Decoration Day

In May of 1868 the G.A.R. began our tradition of celebrating Memorial Day by calling upon its members to set aside a day at the end of May to remember their comrades who had perished during the war.  Americans were encouraged to "cherish tenderly the memory of our heroic dead who(se) ... lives were the reveille of freedom to a race in chains”

Major General William Rosecrans - Catholic Convert

One of the men who helped form the Grand Army of the Republic was Major General William Rosecrans - who was a devout Catholic.  Rosecrans converted to Catholicism while he was at West Point.  He later married and convinced his wife and his brother to enter into the Catholic Church.  His brother became the first Bishop of Columbus Ohio, and He and his wife Anne went on to have  7 children, two died in infancy, one became a priest, two of his daughters became nuns, and the other two raised families of their own. 

Spiritual Care for his men

General Rosecrans was placed in charge of the Army of the Cumberland and he first looked to the spiritual care of his soldiers, Catholic, Protestant and Jewish alike.  He saw that there were 44 protestant and 3 catholic Chaplains and made sure that the Jewish soldiers could celebrate the Seder meal during Passover.

Rosecrans knew that God was using him to end Slavery

During the Civil war he increasingly came to believe that God was using him as a Union officer to speed the end to slavery.  In camp he would attend daily Mass and would debate theology with his officers.  He was always seen praying his rosary, and was seen carrying it as he rode up and down the line to rally his men in battle.

Rosecrans was a pious Catholic man

I think we would all agree that General Rosecrans was a pious man - he was devoted to God, to his Family and to his Country.  In a predominantly Protestant culture he was willing to share his faith, to put the needs of his family first and to serve his country even though he was already retired from the Army.

Piety - it does not mean sanctimonious or hypocritical

Piety, or being Pious is not a value of our culture today.  It is seen as being a fake holiness - holier than thou. This is not at all what it is about. 

GN -Piety is a response to unpayable debt.

Piety involves gratitude for the immeasurable debt we owe to God, family, and country. On Memorial Day, we honor military service members who sacrificed their lives for their community and homeland, reflecting Christ's  ultimate act of piety in dying for us on the cross.

As as a citizen I cannot repay my country - so I express patriotism

By being born in the United States - we owe our nation for providing the environment that we benefit from.  That environment - with all the benefits that our country provides is because of the generations that preceded us and created for us the culture we live in.  We call this expression of piety Patriotism - or love of our country.

As a member of my family I cannot repay my parents

By being born into our families we own our parents because they chose to bring us into this world and cared for us, disciplined us and formed us so that we can be successful.  In response to this scripture calls on us to care for our parents as they age and to never grow weary of them.  

As a human - I cannot repay God for the gift of life

By being created and redeemed by God we also owe a debt we cannot repay.  God created us out of nothing in collaboration with our parents, and gives us both a mission, the gift of the church and the gift of salvation from our sins - by Christ dying on the cross.  None of these we are able to repay.  Piety towards God is a recognition of this reality.

Piety is “paying it forward” - making our nation better

Piety is looking at the benefits that we have received through the lens that those gifts in some way are gifts, from our country, from our families and from God.  Piety frames our response to this by asking us to “pay it forward”.  That we have a responsibility, as Catholics, to enter into our society and to make it a better reflection of God’s love as we journey through this life on our way to the Father.  General Rosecrans did this when he led his men into battle so that there could be an end to Slavery - even though this was not a popular decision with everyone - it was the right thing to do - and he and his men were willing to suffer the consequences of that selfless service.  

How do I “pay it forward” in my family?

In a similar way we are called to respond to the gift of our parents, in how we raise our own families, to take the gifts that our parents have passed onto us and to infuse them with God’s grace so that our children benefit from the culture of our families in a greater way than we did from our parents.

How do I respond to God’s gift of life?

Finally, we are also called to respond to God for His gifts of piety by surrendering our hearts to His love for us and His mission for us - that we might become more clearly a reflection of the Love of God in the world. Here are some practical ideas on how we can put piety into practice this week

Pray for the living and the dead

Tomorrow is Memorial Day - take some time to drive out to Fort Logan and wander among the veterans who are buried there - pray a rosary for them, and their loved ones. Pray that God have mercy on the souls of the deceased and that he console those who mourn for them.

Care for the widows and orphans of deceased service members

Consider looking up a charity that cares for the families of those who have died in service to their country - and donate to their cause.  This was one of the original intentions of Memorial Day.

Visit the lonely (your parents)

Take some time out to just visit and be with your families, parents if you have them and they are close.  Call them or visit them and spend time sharing your love with them.

Share Christ’s selfless love with someone in need

Be attentive this week to someone who you discern needs to encounter the love of Christ this week.  The best way to respond to God’s immense gift of love to us is to imitate that love to those in need.

Our practice of piety is rooted in selfless love

The Gospel today shows us how God would have us respond to these gifts that we have received - with selfless love. 

• Love that seeks to better our country in how we participate in our nation. 
• Love that seeks to give of ourselves to our families - in a special way our parents, so that they are cared for as they become weak and old, and
• Love that seeks to serve God in response to His immense gift to us.

All of these gifts are rooted in the practice of, and living out of, selfless love - that is chaste love. - A Love that seeks the good of the other selflessly - without expecting return.

The Gospel and Fish Guts

 How 6 different men encountered God - In a Dream / On the Road / At the Office

In the readings today we have the description of how 6 different Christians encountered God.  For each of these men that encounter re-wrote the rest of their entire lives.  The Prophet Isaiah encountered the Lord in Jerusalem, besieged by the army of a foreign country, in a dream.  St. Paul encountered the Lord in the midst of his wrath and hatred for the Church on the road to Damascus.  Peter, Andrew, James and John encountered the Lord while they were sitting in their boats cleaning their nets from a day of work.

Cleaning Fish Guts and the Gospel

Think about it - you are sitting on the sea-shore scrubbing nets which smell like fish-guts in the hot sun and the Rabbi comes along and asks if he can use your boat to teach.  So you row a little out from the shore, cast out your anchor and continue to go about your work, while the Lord teaches about the Kingdom of God.

What about us here today?  Have we entered into a relationship with God?

I think that it is a useful point for us to reflect on - have we entered into a relationship with the Lord?  I ask that question because there is a portion of the Church for whom being Catholic, being Christian is a social engagement - I was raised this way, or my parents brought me to Church and I thought it was good.  That is a good beginning and the Lord has a deeper vision for each one of us.  

Isaiah’s Conversion

For the Prophet Isaiah, he was asleep when he had a vision of seeing God in heaven - while Jerusalem was surrounded by a foreign army.  He lived at a time when most of the Jewish people had abandoned following God - which is why he cries out “Woe is me, I am doomed! For I am a man of unclean lips, living among a people of unclean lips; yet my eyes have seen the  King, the LORD of hosts!"

In response to this recognition of the Truth, one of the Seraphim flies to Isaiah with a burning coal, taken from the altar and purifies him - freeing him to respond to the call of God.  God uses Isaiah’s free response to His love to send him as a prophet to the Jewish people who are living in a time of tumult and trouble - and chose to put their faith in worldly alliances rather than in God.

St. Paul’s conversion story

St. Paul can also be thought of as a prophet.  His title is that he is the Apostle to the Gentiles because he encountered the Lord while he was on the road to Damascus to arrest Christians and bring them back in chains to Jerusalem.  He was convinced that Christianity was against God.  He oversaw the stoning of one of the first deacons - St. Stephen, after which he was bound and determined to put an end to what he saw was a plague upon the Jewish faith.  While he was on his way to Damascus he was struck to the ground, blinded and heard Christ asking him this question - “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?”.  His companions then led him to Damascus to a house on Straight Street where he spent three days in prayer and fasting and reflection.  In the mean-time the Lord went to a devout Christian in Damascus named Ananias, and told him to go and help Saul.  Ananias was reluctant to help but ultimately obeyed the Lord and Baptized Saul, who took on a new name - St. Paul.  

Where were you when you first realized that God was real and our faith was there to let you grow closer to Him?

St. Peter says “Always be ready to give an explanation to anyone who asks you for a reason for your hope, but do it with gentleness and reverence” (1 Pet 3:15-16a).  As Christians we should be ready to explain to people why we have faith in God.  Remember, Living in Colorado is living in a territory where many people do not know God.  When people ask me why I am a Christian, I share with them the first time as an adult I encountered God in prayer and knew that it was Him, and not some psychological reflection of myself.  After I was discharged from the Military my brothers invited me to attend a Teens Encounter Christ retreat, and on the morning of the last day of that retreat I vividly remember waking up in prayer praising God - and it was a joyful experience.  That retreat changed the course of the rest of my life - and ultimately led me here to St. Michaels…

Where is your relationship with God (1 to 10)?

When I talk about a relationship with God, I mean a friendship that extends beyond the immediate confines of the Mass, into the rest of Sunday, and beyond Sunday into each day of the week.  How much time do we turn to God, in prayer, in reflection, in praise throughout the week?  Give yourself a score from 1 to 10, where 1 is only Sunday at Mass, and 10 is on par with Mother Teresa or Padre Pio.  Where is that relationship for us?

Where would you like it to be?  

Where do you think God would like it to be?

It does not matter how you answer that question (provided that you answer it honestly), because our relationship with God begins with an honest recollection of where we are at with Him today.  As the Lord told Moses - I am a God of the Living not the Dead.  I AM who AM - which is another way of saying I am here in your presence, desiring to deepen our relationship together, so let’s start from where we are at right now.

We can start growing in friendship from now

The readings today challenge us to recognize that wherever our relationship with God is, He is inviting us to deepen, strengthen, and make that friendship more intimate.  So it does not matter where we are or what we have done up until now - what matters is what we do next, today, tomorrow, the rest of this week.  

What if you are unsure about your reason for faith?

There is no better day than today and no better time than now to take some time and ask the Lord to reveal Himself to you.  Be persistent, ask, seek, knock.  Just start with a simple prayer - Lord, by the grace of the Holy Spirit open my heart to understand your love this week.  Pray this each day and then in the evening reflect - in what ways did God reveal himself to me today?  This is how we move from a 1 to a 2 or a 2 to a 3 and so on.

What can I do next? - Overcome your reluctance to share…

One of the things that Catholics struggle with is sharing their faith with others.  We are like a secret club, we meet here on Sunday - everyone has their place, we shake hands or hug at the sign of peace, and we all know how to sit, stand and kneel.  Put us out in the world and many of us are uncomfortable in sharing the reason for the hope that lies within us.  Part of this is because the culture around us has stereotyped Christians as being fanatics, who are superstitious, and believe crazy things.  Part of this is out of a fear of being ridiculed or marginalized.  Part of this is out of a reluctance to share that which is most precious.  

My own hesitancy

After my encounter with the Lord I was hesitant to share my faith - partially because it was so precious to me, and partially out of embarrassment - working in a scientific and technical field I felt that it was against the grain of my profession.  Eventually, I realized that everyone around me could figure out that I was a devout Catholic within about 15 minutes of meeting me - so I ditched the hesitancy and gladly shared with those who inquired.

Share you witness to Christ

If you do understand your testimony, then ask the Holy Spirit for an opportunity to share the reason for your faith.  This has happened to me at work throughout my career.  When someone enquires - share openly, honestly and without hesitation.  Sometimes you might be called to defend the faith, sometimes to share, and sometimes to guide.  As Christ said to Peter - Do not be afraid.  From now on you will be fishing for men!

Sacrifice

 What in the world is Fuller’s Lye or the Refiners Fire?

Fuller’s Lye is a type of bleach - it is used to whiten and purify clothing.  A refiner's fire is a fire that is especially hot that is used to burn away impurities called dross during metal smelting - it makes the remaining metal more pure, more useful, more complete.

The Messiah comes to burn away what is false and to strengthen what is true.

Christ seeks to purify us so that we can offer sacrifice to the Lord - it is kind of like, he is here to purify us so that we can abide with God, and be in relationship with God.

There is a Truth of who God created us to be - which is who we are in the eye of God.  The reality of Sin is that it corrupts the truth, so when we engage in sin, we become weak, corrupt and less pure.  One of the effects of sin is that we begin to believe that a falsehood about ourselves is true, and that lie (which is a mixture of truth and falsehood) seeps into our identity and weakens us.  For example, the lie might be that God doesn’t really love me because such-and-such happened to me, or I am not able to do thus-and-such.  

Because God is truth, lies cannot exist in His presence, his truth is like a refiner's fire that burns away falsehood. 

What can we do about this?  Reflection and Confession

Reflection on Temptation

Two things that we can do.  When we encounter temptation in our lives, we should reflect on the temptation to a particular sin.  Why am I tempted by this sin?  What weakness within me leads me to this compulsion?  Where is the lie in my heart that makes me vulnerable to this temptation?  By reflecting (in the light of God’s love) on what makes us weak we have the opportunity to ask for God’s grace to show us the truth.

In the light of the teachings of the Church

The sure anchor-point for such an examen is the teachings of the Church and the 10 commandments.  If I find that I have a temper, then my temptation might be to say “God made me this way, so the world needs to deal with it.”  In reality, we are called to examine, Why did God give me this response, and how do I use this for Good and refrain from using it to cause harm?  Rather than acquiescing and saying that it is what it is and so others must suffer.

Confession

Confession is one of the most under-utilized sacraments of the Church.  It is in Confession where we are called to examine ourselves in the presence of the refiner’s fire so that we can grow in holiness to be able to stand in the presence of God.  When I prepare for Confession, I am called to give an account for my actions and to recognize the evil and wrong that I have done to God, to others and to myself.  In that moment I receive sacramental grace that flows from the side of Christ as he hangs on the cross - what a gift of purification and sacrifice.  If you want to grow in holiness, if you want to grow in the truth of who God has created you to be - have a regular practice of confession and examination in your life.

3 kinds of Sacrifice - Self, Others and God

The readings talk about three different kinds of sacrifice today - 

• Sacrifice for Myself, 

• Sacrifice for Others and S

• Sacrifice to God

Penance - Sacrifice for myself

One of the required activities for Catholics who go to confession is to do penance.  You can think of this as a sacrifice for yourself to help you combat the temptations of Sin.  It means that I take some positive action to reinforce within myself the desire to seek what is good and true in order to be strengthened and to avoid what is false and weakening me.  

In its best form Penance helps me to place God first in my life, to grow closer to Him in holiness and to prepare myself for a more complete and full relationship with Christ.

Hebrews - Thanksgiving for others.

Christ comes in the flesh to be our brother, to show us how to wage war against the enemy and to win.  In the 2nd reading St. Paul says that Christ came in the flesh to wage war against the enemy of man as a man - remember that Christ is true God and true Man, meaning that he is 100% God and 100% Man, and it is impossible to separate out one from the other.  So it is as a Man that Christ shows us how to Sacrifice for Others - because that is what Christ does.  He enters into the flesh to wage war against the enemy (Satan) so that he can conquer Him and free us.  Christ offers a sacrifice of himself so that we might benefit - That leads us to the next major point - we ought to sacrifice for the good of others.

We have a need to sacrifice for others

Because Christ is fully God and fully man He teaches us that we have a need to sacrifice for others.  A sacrifice is a willingness to suffer for the needs of another - a willingness to take on a burden of prayer or fasting or penance for the conversion of another, that they might be able to receive the grace to be purified in some small way.  

The prophetess Anna does this in the Gospel today.  St. Luke tells us that she had spent her life in prayer and fasting - sacrificing to God for the benefit of others.  In that way Anna is open to the presence of the Holy Spirit and she is able to live a life imitating the love of Christ.

Look for someone to sacrifice for this week

Ask the Holy Spirit to point out to you this week where you are called to offer a sacrifice for another - it might be helping a friend find a new job, or praying a rosary for someone who is suffering or sick.  God will let you know where the opportunity is in your life to imitate Christ a little more today.  Remember - they don’t need to know you are praying and sacrificing for them - you just need to do it.

Sacrifice to God 

The Prophet Malachi says that we are purified so that we might be able to offer a sacrifice to God.  Sacrifices to God are made out of an expression of Thanksgiving.  To offer a sacrifice to God helps us to recognize that all that we have is a Gift from God, and it places Him first and foremost in our lives.  

Christ comes to wage war on the enemy

Christ is the one whom Malachi refers to.  He comes to wage war on the enemy, and so he comes in the flesh to redeem us from the wages of sin - that is how He is the refiner’s fire.  He enters into our existence (true God and true Man) so that he can conquer sin and Death as a Man, and as God.  Sin enslaves us with a form of addiction.  Why?  Because Sin traps us in fear, in shame, and in lies.

Christ comes to show us what merciful love and sacrifice does.  Christ comes to be the model of sacrifice before God for us, to show us how to be pure, how to be true, how to be transformed by the Love of God and through that transformation how to intercede for others.

Celebrating God’s blessings with a Sacrifice of Thanksgiving

To offer a sacrifice to God is the most primitive form of Thanksgiving as it expresses our gratitude to God for His help and grace in our lives.  This is the reason why Mary and Joseph go to the temple today - to offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving to God for having Jesus.  It is like when we get a promotion at work, or an unexpected bonus we like to gather our friends and celebrate the blessing in our lives.

Simeon - Sacrifice of Prayer and Praise

St. Simeon has led a holy life and is ready to encounter the Messiah. When he does he offers this sacrifice of prayer.

“Now, Master, you may let your servant go in peace, according to your word, for my eyes have seen your salvation, which you prepared in the sight of all the peoples: a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and glory for your people Israel.”

This is a beautiful prayer that the Church recites each night just before bed-time as part of the Liturgy of the Hours - which is a time we set aside in our day to reflect on all the good things God has done for us this day.  I invite you to bookmark this in your bible when you get home (Luke 2:29), and pray it as you lie down to go to sleep.

Mass - The Ultimate Sacrifice

At Mass we practice all three forms of sacrifice - we offer a sacrifice of ourselves in the offertory when we bring our gifts to the Altar.  We Sacrifice for others in the prayers of the faithful, and we offer a sacrifice of Thanksgiving to God when we receive Him in the Eucharist.

Participate in the Eucharistic Sacrifice!

This is why we come today to Christ’s Sacrifice - the Eucharistic Sacrifice in which Christ gives us His Body and Blood to purify us, to wash away our sins and to make us ready for the Kingdom of God.  That we become in truth who He created us to be.  Strengthened by this sacrifice let us leave this place emboldened to give God a sacrifice of praise to amend our lives and to share the love that God has shared with us those whom we meet.