Homily Feb 6, 2022 5th Sunday of Ordinary Time Year C

 

           How many of us have had the experience of seeing something spectacular or even miraculous, and have though “I could never do that”. Or have had the moment of seeing God’s Glory, whether it be in a beautiful sunset after a summer storm, or the crashing of ocean waves into the shore in the early morning, or in the birth of a child. I have experienced all of these and many more in my short life, and I, like both Isaiah and Peter, have felt extremely small and unworthy to not only see the Glory of God in everyday life, but unworthy to participate in those works. This is where we, as humans, live our lives. In between the Glory of God and the glory that He shows us in our everyday lives.

           Isaiah considered himself a man of unclean lips, living in a community of people of unclean lips. This is to say that he knew that his vocabulary was not acceptable to be used or heard in the presence of a Holy God. When we have a vocabulary that is not, how shall we say, acceptable for everyday use, when every other word is a vulgar word, or a word of discouragement, a word of hurt or pain, then we are showing what is in our hearts. I am as guilty of this as anybody else. I am a man of unclean lips, unworthy of service to my community, let alone service to God. But God will touch our lips with an ember of fire to cleanse us.

           When we look to the Gospel reading, we see the people WANT to hear the Word of God, they kept pressing Jesus to preach. Just like today, people WANT to hear the Good News that the Word of God proclaims! Even if they seem like they don’t, the secretly crave hearing those words of assurance, those words of hope and of love. Even those who have never heard the teachings of Jesus, long to hear a message of hope and of love.

           When we look at the story that is laid out before us in Luke, we see many comparisons to the Church and to ourselves. The boat that Jesus uses to preach from can be seen as the Church. The Early Church Fathers saw this in their reading and understanding of this passage. When Jesus finished his preaching, he told Peter to “put out into the deep and cast your nets for a catch”. Peter, like many of us who work in a particular job for many years, consider ourselves as experts and don’t enjoy having someone tell us to do it a different way. Fishing was done at night in the Sea of Galilee, Peter and his companions had been working all night and had nothing to show for it. But, to please this Rabbi, this teacher, he puts out to the deep and lowers his nets. Surprise!

Peter heard the Good News, but only realized it when he acted on the words of our Lord to put out to the deep and lower his nets. His words are similar to Isaiah’s, “depart from me, O Lord, for I am a sinful man.” Jesus reassures Peter that he will become the man that he was destined to be.

We will be sharing the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ in a few moments. The Eucharist is the ember that touches our lips, enters our bodies, and makes us clean in order to serve our families, communities and our world. We say, with the Roman Centurion, “Lord, I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof, but only say the word and my soul shall be clean.” Jesus says, “I will make you fishers of men, gathering all to Himself into the Barque of Peter, The Church, His Body.

What are your priorities?

I am honored to preach for the Propagaton of the Faith in my Diocese of San Bernardino. This is my homily for this Sunday's readings.

Homily for 18^th Sunday in Ordinary Time 2019

           Money, inheritance, power, will always create division among family. It does not matter the amount of money that is left, if family members are so wrapped up in getting their hands on that money, they will tear apart the family ties. I can attest to this in my own family. When my grandfather passed away in the 1970’s, he had a small amount of money in his banking account. Two of my uncles argued between the two of them as to who would receive that money and it caused such a rift in my family that those two brothers ended up not speaking to each other for the rest of their lives, in fact, my Dad got caught up into trying to be a mediator and he got on the receiving end of the silent treatment by a couple of his brothers. The amount of this “inheritance”? 700.00, seven. hundred. dollars. Not 700 thousand, 700 dollars and most of that went to pay for Grandpa’s funeral.

           In Jesus’ day, it was normal for the people of Israel to look to the spiritual leaders in order to adjudicate their issues. We saw just two weeks ago another person who went to Jesus in order to make her situation more equitable. Martha told Jesus, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left all this work for me? Tell her to help me!” As it was with Martha, so it is with this person in the crowd. Jesus rejects this person’s request, not because he is insensitive to the injustice that may or may not have happened in his family, but because it is not part of his redemptive mission to intervene in matters of this kind. Jesus doesn’t give us technical, precise solutions that arise in our lives, that was not his mission. He has endowed us with intelligence and freedom in order to follow him and live our lives in such a way as to solve our problems and to create a more just and humane world.

           Jesus tells the parable of the rich land owner who did very well for himself. The parable shows us that it is folly to put our trust in amassing a great fortune to ensure that we live a comfortable life and in doing so, we tend to forget the goods of the spiritual life, which is what really leads us to eternal life through the Grace of God in his mercy. The man is a fool in this story because he makes his material wealth his only aim and only insurance policy. Now, there is nothing wrong with material possessions, nothing wrong with making a good living for you and your family. But if the acquiring of material possessions becomes an absolute driving force in our lives, it spells the ultimate destruction of our lives and our society.

           Another example from my family: my Grandparents were sharecroppers in Texas and Oklahoma, they owned NOTHING, not even the land that they farmed. Yet they raised 9 children, 8 boys and one girl. My Dad, and every one of his siblings left that farm as soon as they could, they all entered into the work force and made a life for themselves and their families, while bringing Mom and Dad out of that life too. They grew up poor in possessions, yet each one did well for themselves and until that fateful day when the two fought over 700 dollars, one would say their lives were complete. It is the continued lust to acquire more and more that is the poison of our lives and society.

           So how do we live our lives that we don’t fall into this trap that so easily ensnares us? St. Paul tell us that we have died with Christ in our Baptism, but we are also raised with him to live our lives supernaturally. This is why most Baptismal Fonts that one can walk into, have three steps down and three steps up, we are entering into the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus which all happened in three days. We share in the glorious life of Christ in the here and now! We are told to seek the things above, not the things below. Ours is a spiritual life. When we walk this walk and talk this talk, it does not demand a lesser commitment, but a greater commitment to building up a more humane world. Work, family relationships, social involvements-every aspect of human affairs- should be done in a spirit of faith and done out of perfect love. We live for God, not ourselves. St. Paul reminds us that here, there is not Greek and Jew, circumcision and uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythican, slave, free; but Christ is al and in all. To put it into today’s world: There is no longer Anglo and Hispanic or Black, or Asian, or Indian, there is no us and them, there is only Christ who is all and in all who call his name. Remember, St. Paul is writing to Christians who had these divisions in their community. We are all one Body, we draw our strength from Jesus Christ and his family, the Church. Let us look for ways to bring the Kingdom of God/the Peace of God to our world. Let me tell you about the missions…

Reflections on or trip to Cotija 2018.

Reflections on Cotija 2018:

            Once again I have come to this small town located in the foothills of the Sierras here in Central Mexico, to relax and unwind from the stress of everyday life in California. This is my wife’s hometown and we have been coming here almost every year since we were married in 1986. We built a house here about 15 years ago, so we have both our “hotel” and eventual semi-retirement home here.

            The people of Cotija are some of the friendliest people one could find in Mexico, or anywhere else in the world. So many speak English because they have worked or are still working in the U.S. and especially in December, many return for vacation and the various feasts that happen at this time of year. I have known some of the people here for more than the 32 years that I have been visiting, since my college days in the late 70’s early 80’s when I worked at a dairy store that happened to deliver product to the many taco shops in the San Diego area, this is also how I met my wife, whose father owned one of the shops I delivered to.

            The weather in Cotija in December is cool, but not cold. Evening temps can dip into the low 60’s and daytime temps into the mid 70’s. Like Mary Poppins would say, “It’s practically perfect.” Although the last week the temperatures at night have dipped into the mid 40’s, but daytime highs have remained in the mid to upper 60’s. We are in the highlands after all and we get a breeze coming into the valley that cools things down.

            One of the perks I have at the present time is that, as a deacon in the Catholic Church, the Cure of the town parish invites me to celebrate Mass with them. One would usually need a letter of good standing from the diocese where they are serving, in my case San Bernardino, but the priest has known me and my wife for many years, and I have full faculties from my Bishop to serve in all capacities as a deacon. I was privileged to assist in the Sacrament of Baptism the last time I was here two years ago. The baptismal fount is hundreds of years old and has seen at least two saints baptized in it, one being St. Rafael Guizar y Valencia, the other, my wife (although she is not yet canonized…). Noted, I assisted, I did not do the actual baptism, but assisted with anointing and proclamation of the Word, etc. Saturday night I assisted with the last Mass of the day, 7:30 and before the dismissal, we had Eucharistic Adoration. Usually, the priest would raise the Monstrance to bless the people, but he motioned for me to do it, so with a great sense of pride and humbleness (I know they are contrary, but this is how I felt), I raised Jesus in the Monstrance and blessed the people. The feelings of inadequateness in the minister does nullify the effects of the blessing, or in the case of Mass, the Sacrament of the Eucharist.

            Continuing on the spiritual life of the people in Cotija, many of the “hijos ausentes” (those who live in the United States, but come here for the Religious feasts in December including Christmas, so they are the “missing” sons and daughters of Cotija) many of them will also use this opportunity to get married in the Church, or to baptize their children, or to get Confirmation in the Faith, or even to celebrate a Quinceanera (15^th birthday blessing and traditional introduction to society for a young lady). These are done all through the week at the parish church, Nuestra Senora del Popolo (Our Lady of the People). December truly is the busiest time for our priests, between all of the masses that are celebrated, the baptisms and the Quinceaneras, weddings and funerals, they are practically non stop in their service to the people of Cotija, and this parish has only three priests to do all the ministries and Sacraments that are needed to be done. We had a Quinceanera at the 7:30 pm Mass last night. It is quite a sight to see a weekday mass, especially at night, to be almost full of people as it was last night. It is also a blessing to see it. I was surprised that there was a Quinceanera scheduled at an evening Mass, and the Celebrant mentioned to me before Mass that he too, wondered why one was scheduled at this hour. God works in mysterious ways I suppose, because this girl was very moved by the priest’s words to her about her life and her responsibilities to both herself and her family and to God. I have to admit, that in my 6 years since my ordination, I have celebrated many of these celebrations and for the most part, it seems like the girls are almost just waiting for it to be over so they can get to the “party” part of their “quince”. It is sometimes disheartening to perceive that attitude in these young women, then just at the point where I feel like telling my pastor that I don’t want to celebrate these anymore, I get a young woman for whom the Eucharistic celebration is the highlight of her day and the party is just icing on the cake. I had one such girl who was very involved in her service, even to the point of singing the “Ave Maria” when it came time to place the flowers at the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe and to ask for her help in becoming the woman that God wants her to be. I was moved to tears. It was after that Quinceanera that I changed my attitude towards the ritual and saw that I was there for God and to do His will in giving the best homily to encourage and challenge the young women who are celebrating this transition in their lives. How they take it, or their attitude towards it, does not matter, at least to me.

            We took a day trip to a National Park in a neighboring town about 2 hours away (about 50 miles, but through mountain roads and traffic…). This park is home to a natural source of pure water, in fact, you can drink water straight from the rock without fear of getting sick, it is that pure! The state of Michoacán is home to the world’s best hass avocados, and Uruapan (where the park is) is the Capital of the avocado empire. We depend so much on Mexican avocados (even though we have the largest avocado growers in our own backyard in San Diego County), that when the workers went on strike last month, there was a major disruption in production and distribution and avocado prices went through the roof, so much so that we had to stop selling guacamole except on the menu items that came with it. Don’t let anybody fool you into thinking that the avocado growers in California don’t want or are afraid of the Mexican avocados. Two major California distributors, West Pak and Calavo, are invested heavily in Michoacán. Both have packing and distribution centers here and make money hand over fist with their product.

            We took another trip, this time only for the afternoon, to a mountain town in Jalisco, about 45 minutes from Cotija. Mazamitla is a town in the Sierras, just as Uruapan is, however the difference with Mazamitla is that it seems to be frozen in time. It is a tourist town, but it still looks like it did 50 years or 100 years ago. Clean streets, flagstone roads throughout the center of town and quaint shops selling just about anything you might want, from waffles and crepes to fine art. We usually just go for lunch at a nice restaurant/resort that overlooks the valley below, as we did today. I remember the first time I was at this particular restaurant and was surveying the surrounding landscape with the plethora of pine trees in these mountains, the scent surrounds you as you breathe in clean mountain air, and I remember thinking that I was going to see the Cartwright clan come riding over the hill and I heard the theme to ‘Bonanza’ playing in my head. I have been to many small mountain towns in many places, but none have the authentic charm as Mazamitla has. This is a town I need to return to and spend a number of days exploring it’s charm and beauty.

            No vacation is complete without at least one minor emergency. We had ours with a flat tire on our rental car. Now, it was a minor emergency because we were returning from a neighboring town and it went flat at a most inconvenient time. A long downhill curving road with no place to pull over. Once we did, we changed it with the spare and drove back to Cotija where we had the tire patched and reinstalled.  It now remains to see it the patch holds to take us back to the airport rental office. Other than that, the only other emergency is running out of bottled water at 6 in the morning so I can’t make another cup of coffee. The water from the tap is not clean enough to drink, but is good enough to wash dishes and clothes and for general cleaning, bathing and personal hygiene, but not for personal consumption. There is only one house here in Cotija that has water clean and pure enough to drink from the tap, and that is at the home of the previously mentioned Saint Rafael Guizar y Valencia which has a well as it’s source of water, not the city’s supply. This water has been laboratory tested and has been certified as some of the purest water in all of Mexico. Now, is it because it is a well? Or is it because it is at the house where a saint lived while he was growing up? I do not know, all I do know is that I have drank from that well also and did not get sick. Like I posted in a video from Uruapan, who says you can’t drink the water in Mexico? Heck, there are places in the US where you can’t drink the water from the tap because of some kind of environmental contamination that has come as the result of our failure to care for our world, and in some cases the pure greed of companies that build infrastructure from inferior material so that over time, it corrodes and poisons the water coming into the home, just so they can make a fast profit.

            Last night was the “Midnight” Mass for Christmas (which started at 9 and finished around 10:30 pm), the Gospel reading from Luke of the Birth of the Savior in a humble stable. As our priest reminded us, the subtlety of God coming into our world as one of us, born in Bethlehem, which means ‘House of Bread’ and being laid in a manger, a place where animals would eat their food. Jesus, the Bread of Life, which we are to eat in the Eucharist for us to have life, and that we might have that life abundantly.  Again, the priest sang most of the Eucharistic Prayer, with the people in their parts with a sung response. I think a Mass sung, is a Mass prayed twice, which St. Augustine would agree with me, “He who sings, prays twice”. I honestly don’t know what incense they use, but I need to get some for our parish because the priest would put inly a small amount and the smoke just kept coming and coming (like the Energizer Bunny), raising the prayers to Heaven with the smoke from the Thurible.

            Today, Christmas Day, marks our last full day here in Cotija. It will be a day of washing clothes, cleaning house (why, I don’t know, we have a lady that takes care of the house throughout the year) and of packing our suitcases. Of course, we will go to the 12 noon Mass, my last one assisting and I will have to pack away my alb and stoles after Mass. It has always been an honor to serve the people of God in the Mass, regardless of where that Mass takes place. That is what makes us Catholic, Universal, that the Mass is the same readings everywhere in the world on the same liturgical calendar. The bread and wine offered on that altar, regardless of the geographical location of the parish, still is transubstantiated into the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ by the prayers offered by the priest for himself and the people at that Mass. For this reason we affirm through the Creed that we are the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church.

            I wish everyone who reads this reflection a very Merry and Blessed Christmas season and a Joyous New Year. May God bless you and yours in the coming year as we continue on our journey back to the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

Random Reflections on my Second Trip to El Salvador:

           

I wrote about our mission trip to El Salvador last year (2017) with the Maryknoll Fathers and how the country is still, in many ways, recovering from the civil war that rocked this Central American country more than 30 years ago and lasted more than a decade. That war was but the latest in tragedies that have plagued this Central American country. From Colonial times, the people of El Salvador have been exploited for the riches of their country. Even when she won her independence, the wealthy land owners continued their stranglehold on the people, using cheap, sometimes free, labor to build their empires. The wealthy owned the land and owned the government as well. Some things never change (anywhere in the world).

            I have returned to this verdant green country once again, this time to assist our daughter in law in securing her paperwork that she needs to apply for lawful entry into the United States and be reunited with our son and their children.

            Not much has changed since last year (not much changes in a year anyway). Much of the infrastructure improvements that were in process last year are still in, well, process. Once completed, they will facilitate the movement of auto traffic better than the current situation. People say if you can drive in a number of places in the world, you can drive anywhere in the world. They say Mexico City Mexico, Manila Philippines, and not to exclude the States, Atlanta Georgia. I would add San Salvador to that list, I’m sure others could add to the list.

            Where we are staying in San Salvador is in one of the “middle class” neighborhoods of the city. The hotel is a converted home, some would call it a hostel. (I always thought of a hostel as a YMCA in foreign country, 4 sets of bunk beds in the room, common showers, and the Village People singing on the one radio). This middle class neighborhood is still segregated in that there are a number of areas that have banded together in order to form a co-op of homes that are in a “gated” community, sometimes it is an actual gate and in others it is a big chain that blocks entry into the community. Both are kept under constant armed vigilance. In my first reflection from last year, I mentioned the obvious disparity between the uber rich and the uber poor, million dollar mansions with their high razor wire topped walls and armed guards, right next to corrugated shacks where an entire family would live with no running water, toilets, nor privacy. This middle class neighborhood has no suck stark distinction. Yet, it does. On the way out to the medical clinic this morning, I observed a man sleeping on a cardboard sheet, right on the sidewalk. Poverty and homelessness is not particular to this country, nor is drug abuse and mental illness, which I observed in the young man walking down the street with the waist of his pants literally down around his thighs, displaying his underwear for all the neighborhood to see (thank God he was wearing underwear). But these kinds of scenes are played out on a daily basis all over the world. We, in the United States, like to think of ourselves as a first world nation, and in many ways, we are: First in percentage of population that is incarcerated, first in drug abuse by our people, first in homelessness (take a look on Olympic Blvd in Los Angeles any day of the week), first in homicide rates in the Western World. Even with all of our technological advancements, we still have a long way to go in how we treat our fellow citizens and those who are “strangers” among us.

            El Salvador, in a way, is a microcosm of the US, in that they pretty much have what we have here at home; democratically elected government, paved (mostly in the cities) roads, seems everyone has a cell phone, public and private transportation systems, small and medium and large businesses (US companies abound here, from KFC to Pizza Hut), and indoor plumbing. The only thing that is missing is a Starbucks on every corner, but they have Mister Donut (a very nice place to get, er, donuts, not to mention they have a cafeteria also where you can buy breakfast lunch and dinner: try that at Starbucks!); not on every corner, but you would never know that by the amount of billboard space they occupy. They also have all the vices we have; obsessive materialism, class envy, obvious economic disparity to accompany that class envy, and let’s not forget gang violence, which is a reality here from what I have been told by various priests that I talked to last year. I read in a newspaper (yes, they still have a printed newspaper) that in one area of the capital there were 105 murders in a span of five years between 2012 to 2017. I though about that. That number is like summer statistics in Chicago on any given year, yet here, it is a cause for great concern, as it should be. Our homicide numbers should be of great concern for us also. But, I fear that as long as we have this attitude of “well, it didn’t happen to me”, we will never learn to be our brother’s keeper.

            El Salvador does not have its own currency. They officially adopted the US Dollar on January 1, 2001, in part to try and curb runaway inflation in their country. Many other Central American countries have the Dollar for their currency as a stabilizing factor for their economy. El Salvador also uses the US system of measurement, at least at gas stations, and I though I was getting a decent price for diesel at 3.20 a gallon (in California, it is closer to 4), but if one looks at El Salvador’s minimum wage at around 250.00 a month, 3.20 is a lot to pay, so there is good reason that their roads are overrun with busses in this capital city.

            I had the opportunity yesterday, to take Stephanie to the Cathedral in San Salvador. She told me that she had never seen the inside of the Cathedral and she was duly impressed when we walked in. We then went downstairs to the crypt where Monseñor Oscar Romero is buried. I knelt in prayer at his grave, asking for his intercession for the peace of his people. There is a strong sense of tranquility that pervades the whole of the area where he is buried, perhaps because of the violence that pervaded his beloved country during his lifetime and in fact took his very life by an assassin’s bullet, that peace and tranquility which he sought with all his being has finally taken hold in this most sacred spot where the future saint (October of 2018) is lying in repose.

            Just a block over, in the next plaza, is the Church of the Rosary, a brick and mortar edifice that is not constructed in the traditional form of a parish church. From the outside, it looks more like a gymnasium than a church, but there are line of stained glass windows that stack up inline up to to near top of the building on both sides and when one is inside and the sun is shining through those windows, there is a glow about the whole church. There is also a famous collection of the stations of the cross made by a local sculptor. Unique and beautiful, they are an artistic interpretation of the passion, death and resurrection of Jesus without being too “artsy”. To stay and contemplate each station is a reflection of what Jesus did for all the world for all time. There is another memorial inside the church, well, actually there is a mass grave inside the church with a plaque that both marks and memorializes the grave and the 21 people who were massacred in the plaza in 1979 in a government suppression of a protest of the people for better conditions.

            When we were here last year, we had the privilege of having a deacon from San Francisco join us in our mission. He is Salvadoran, he is a few years younger than me, which would have made him a young teen in 1979. His father was a religious man, working with the Church in El Salvador to help the people with their struggle for normalcy. He was at the plaza that day of the government massacre, he described for us the horror of that day and many other days of their sad history of the 70’s through the 90’s. He told us of his actions of pulling people into the church as they sought refuge from the hail of bullets from the governments rifles. He had left El Salvador not too much later after this, he developed a medical condition that could only be treated in the US. By the way, as a youth, he hated the US for what we were doing to his country by sending military aid in the form of armament and ammo, military advisors and trainers to train their military how to effectively kill fellow Salvadorans, so it was ironic that they only place he could go to get treatment for his condition was the US. By the time he was well enough to travel back to his homeland, civil war had become full blown and he was not allowed to return. He stayed in San Francisco, married and started a family, continued in assisting in church and was ordained a deacon in 2012. 2017 was his first time back in his home. When we went to the Church of the Rosary, while we were looking and appreciating the beauty of this church, he stayed behind near the grave of those 21. When I came back to the front of the church to leave, he was there kneeling at the grave, crying; not just crying, but weeping uncontrollably. I could do nothing except kneel with him, put my arm around him and weep with him. All those years of hate, buried deep inside of his soul, had been forgiven in his confessions earlier, I am sure, but now came the renewed grieving for his people whom he loved. 

              When I was recalling this story to Stephanie, I received a moment of grace from God and my eyes once again welled up with tears and I started to weep again. How can I care so deeply for these whom I never knew, were not “my” people, and which this disaster didn’t “happen to me”? Because, in reality, these are my people, we are linked by our humanity, we are linked in our faith, when one part of the body suffers, the whole body suffers.

Reflections of Mission Trip to El Salvador

We are heading back to Los Angeles as I start to write this reflection on our trip to El Salvador as a delegation from the Catholic Missionary group known as Maryknoll. We are not part of Maryknoll, but they were the ones who sponsored the trip. It might be a bit early to start unpacking this trip, but I want to get some of my initial feelings down and then expand on those later.

This was our first trip to El Salvador, the smallest of all the countries in Central America and probably the one most dependent on the American Dollar, since they use the dollar as their currency. The only other country that we have traveled in that does that is Zimbabwe in Africa. We have a connection to El Salvador in that our daughter in law is from here, and we used this opportunity to arrive ahead of our mission group and rent a car to drive to her home town in order to meet her Mom and brother.

As we arrived in the country, my first impression was that it was so green and tropical (which of course I thought it would be) but it seemed to be a deeper green than what I have encountered in other tropical locations I have visited, such as Cancun or Puerto Vallarta in Mexico. It was almost like the trees and vegetation wanted to cover the wounds that have been inflicted on this area since the time of the Conquistadores. For indeed this country has a very painful history, a history that many do not want to remember, nor do they want to dialogue about in order to change for the better, to heal the more recent wounds of El Salvador that occurred during the 1930’s and then again in the 1960’s through the 1990’s when so many innocent people were killed, in order for a few to remain in power. The history of El Salvador is a history of oppression and repression of the human spirit in order for the elite to keep their lifestyle on the back of the indígenas through a slave labor type of economy.

We had an opportunity to meet and get to know our daughter-in-law’s mother and other brother. We rented a car to drive the two and half hour drive to La Unión near the Honduran border. We ate lunch at a seaside restaurant and had a wonderful time. Our daughter-in-law has a very nice family. One of the things that I have noticed in our travels is that whatever country we have been in, they all share the same treasure, that is, their people; not their governments, not their political parties, not their religious affiliation, but their people.

We were privileged to have met and talked with many of the treasures of El Salvador. One such person, named Marbel, was on our home visitation list. We arrived at her home (government housing for the poor, what we call “the projects” here in the states), and we were warmly greeted. Her wonderful smile belied the fact that she has breast cancer and because of the lack of proper medical care, probably won’t be here this time next year. She was incredibly upbeat about her life, very proud of her family and how they had survived all the hardship that had befallen her country in the last few decades. Here was a woman who understood that faith is what sustains us, faith that keeps us from falling into depression, faith that ultimately saves us. Her testimony was very humbling to my whole view on life. We went there to visit and to pray for and over her, for her healing and to impart God’s blessings for her and her family. What happened was that I was so moved, that after we prayed, I asked her for a blessing for me. She looked at me like she didn’t understand the petition. I speak Spanish, so I knew she heard what I had said, she couldn’t comprehend that someone, a complete stranger, would ask her to bless them. So I rephrased the petition by asking her to bless me as a mother would bless her son. I could see her eyes start to get that moisture that one gets before the tears start to flow and she gladly fulfilled my request. It was at that moment, receiving a blessing from one of the poorest of the poor, that I realized that Monseñor Oscar Romero is still alive, indeed has Risen in the Salvadoran people, just as he said he would.

One cannot travel to El Salvador without being reminded of the civil conflict that had happened here. How does a government named their International Airport after a Bishop that was killed by a paramilitary sniper because he was a thorn in the government’s side? Archbishop Oscar Romero is a national hero, the people’s hero, and even though the government eventually won a peace accord with the FMLN (who are now part of the government as a political party), they were wise to not forget from whom the people drew their inspiration from.

There were so many stories of inspiration that came about from the Church during this difficult and troubled times. Unfortunately, too many of those stories are stories of martyrdom, being killed because of preaching, or in some cases, just living the Gospel message of Liberation that is found in Christ. We visited the wall of remembrance in San Salvador, where there are 30,000 names of those innocents who were killed during the conflict, and the one plaque that was for the unknowns who were killed and could not be identified. The memorial may not “look” as impressive as the memorials that we have here in the US, but it makes as much or more of an impression on the soul when one considers that these were unarmed, civilian non-combatants who were killed. Every government has some type of genocide in their history, this was El Salvador’s, and hopefully with this memorial, they will not repeat it again.

We also visited the memorial for the four US women who were kidnapped, raped and murdered in December of 1980, the same year when a snipers bullet took the life of Oscar Romero. Three of the women were religious sisters, two from the Maryknoll order, the other was an Ursuline Sister, the forth was a lay missionary with Maryknoll named Jean Donovan. The short documentary, Roses in December, reminds us that following the commands of Jesus just might cost us everything, but Jesus himself said, “If you lose your life for my sake, you will find it”. Six Jesuit priests would find their lives nine years later on the night of November 16, 1989, along with a housekeeper and her 15 year old daughter (because the soldiers were given orders to leave no witnesses in order to blame the FMLN).

But the civil war in El Salvador is not just a story of killing and of martyrdom, but of redemption and salvation too. I was given permission to share this story with the caveat of keeping the identity secret for fear of possible reprisal (there is still some persecution by those who carry a grudge). As a youth, Rafael (not his real name) experienced the war first hand. He was at the funeral of Monseñor Romero when the bombs went off and the snipers started firing from the top of the government building. I stood on the spot where many had been shot and the phrase “shooting fish in a barrel” describes perfectly the clean lines with which the snipers had in order to take advantage of the situation (100,000 people packed the plaza and the Church where the funeral was taking place). Rafael was also present at the massacre at the Church of the Rosary, where twenty one are buried inside the church, those killed by the violence that was tearing the country apart. There came a point in Rafael’s life where he had to make a decision; he saw what was happening in his country and did not like it one bit, but he did not want to take up arms against his countrymen. He confided that the “guerrillas” made it impossible to refuse their offer, so he joined. He says he hated America and Americans for their involvement and support of the Salvadoran government to be able to kill so many innocent people at will. But Rafael developed a medical condition so severe, that it needed to be attended to in America, so he was able to get an emergency visa to the US in order to be treated, and cured of his condition. It was during his life in the States where he met and married another immigrant from a different country and they began their life together. There is something about hate that tends to fester in the soul for so long, and it takes the surgeon’s scalpel to extract it. The surgeon, of course, is Jesus the Great Physician, and he was able to remove that cancer from Rafael’s soul. Rafael went on to become an ordained Deacon in the Roman Catholic Church in the US and I was honored to see his homecoming when he served as a deacon in a Mass in San Salvador for the first time in his life. This was redemption for Rafael, who never thought he would ever be able to come home and serve as a deacon, to share the love of Christ with his people and to be blessed by those with whom he visited. It was an honor and blessing for me to be able to pray, and weep with this brother. When we visited the Church of the Rosary, where the 21 innocents are buried, he was knelt in prayer at the marker inside the church where they are buried and he was sobbing, he was deeply moved by his remembrance of the events that he had witnessed. I could do nothing but go, kneel with him, put my arm over his shoulders and weep with him (blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted). Rafael received some sanctifying healing in his soul that day, healing that has been decades in the making and I am humbled to have been able to be a part of it.

The economic reality in El Salvador is that there are those who have money, and have a lot of it, and there are those who have no money. There is no middle working class, those fortunate enough to have jobs are the working poor, those who do not have jobs are just poor. Granted, there are many expats living here in the US who send money back home to help out family members, but from my conversations with both the missionaries and Salvadorans, there are many who go to the US and just forget their families back home. In fact, they just start new families here, which compounds the problems that both families now have. I recall driving up to see the Volcano that is right outside of San Salvador and seeing million dollar homes, with the barbed wire on top of the high brick walls and the armed guards keeping constant watch over the property and the owners, right next to hovels made of corrugated sheets and plywood that are so flimsy, I was surprised they did not fall during the short thunderstorm that we had that day. That, above anything else, showed to me that extreme economic divide that is still connected in this small Central American country. This reminds me of what St. Basil the Great said back in the fourth century, “When someone steals another's clothes, we call them a thief. Should we not give the same name to one who could clothe the naked and does not? The bread in your cupboard belongs to the hungry; the coat unused in your closet belongs to the one who needs it; the shoes rotting in your closet belong to the one who has no shoes; the money which you hoard up belongs to the poor.”

This is just a part of my reflection of our trip to El Salvador. I will be unpacking the memories of this mission for many months and pondering the ramifications of it in my life for years to come. Not only through the marriage of our son to a wonderful daughter of El Salvador is my life now connected to this country, but I am connected by my personal experience with this land and her people. May God continue to pour out his mercy and blessing on the people of El Salvador, the true treasure of the land.

Comparison of a Safari

My wife and I took a 16 day trip to South Africa and Zimbabwe last year and we had daily Safari drives while in South Africa (Zimbabwe was the Victoria Falls trip). We came up close and personal with many wild animals, usually within 10 feet of lionesses and their cubs feeding on a fresh kill, elephants grazing, leopards lounging on a tree branch or Rhinos looking to charge the jeep (of course I made the joke about how to keep a Rhino from charging....you take away his credit card).

Yesterday, we went to the San Diego Wild Animal Park, renamed as Safari Park, which I hadn't been to since our kids were young (perhaps more than 15 years ago). I always enjoyed going there or the San Diego Zoo or Sea World because of the interaction, as it were, that one has with the animals. however, our trip with our grandson was a bit different, the feeling of being close to these untamed beasts was not the same for me. Perhaps it was the knowledge that they are in enclosed spaces with nearly 0% possibility of getting out, as compared to our trip to Africa where there was nearly 0% of survival had these animals gotten spooked by something as we were parked just feet from where they were with no protection at all except our guide carried a rifle and a sidearm, but our jeep was open with just a rollover cage for "safety".

To give the reader an idea of the differences, I offer two pictures. The first is of our adventure in Africa, the second of our adventure in San Diego.

As you can see, the photo on top, which I named "The Body Guards" is a bit more fear inducing than the picture below it, which was taken from the absolute safety of the Safari Tram. The first picture I took with my Olympus E-3 with a 45-150 zoom, the second, with my iPhone. We were so close to some of the animals, that I could not use my DSLR, but had to use the camera on my phone.

There is a certain adrenaline rush to being so close to danger, not that one should seek out danger without precautions, that would be foolish, but you get a sense of your place in the world when you understand the raw power of these animals and their instinct to defend themselves and theirs. I just don't get that same feeling when I go to a zoo. I hope that one day, our Grandson can experience the beauty and the power of animals in the wild. Until then, I guess it is trips to the Safari Park and the Zoo and let him imagine and dream.

Advent Homily: Second Sunday Year A. Dec. 4, 2016

Second Sunday of Advent, Year A Dec. 4, 2016.

          Advent is a time of preparation in anticipation of the coming of our Savior, Jesus Christ. When we read the readings in advent, they don’t seem to look forward to a tiny baby wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger. They seem to speak of the coming of a King, a Judge, of a kingdom that will have no end. What do the readings say to us today? For Scripture is a living word, speaking to our desires, problems and wishes and wants as much as it spoke to those same desires to the peoples it was originally written to.

          Isaiah preaches to the people of Judah and gives them hope, that message gives us hope today also. The tree of Jesse, the father of King David, had been cut down, meaning that the monarchy had been conquered. This was a truth that Judah knew too well, yet from that stump a shoot would sprout. This is not a new plant, because the roots are that of Jesse, but it is a renewing of the kingdom promise by god to his people. There are 7 gifts attributed to the messianic king: The Spirit of Wisdom, Understanding, Counsel, Fortitude, Knowledge, Piety and Fear of the Lord. These 7 gifts are also given to us at Confirmation. We may not use these in the same way as a monarch would, but they are indispensable to living a life that is pleasing to God. And indeed, they help us in our daily journey towards God.

          So Isaiah shows us the Messianic King and what his kingdom will eventually look like, “In that Day”. It will be a kingdom of unsurpassable peace in the world. Even in the animal world, there will be peace among all. The image of the messianic king has been fulfilled in Jesus, but it is offered to us to use as a model after which we pattern our lives.

          Paul calls us all to live in harmony with one another, because there is no more division in the body of Christ, there is no more Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male or female, but all one body, one voice of Christ to the glory of God the Father. The invitation is given to us, we are expected to extend that invitation to others and to minister to them in their needs, whatever those needs may be. We need to see Jesus in others, because when we see Jesus in others, we treat them in the manner we would, or should treat Jesus. How do we prepare for the coming of our Lord? Do we do works that produce good fruit, like John the Baptist told the Pharisees and Sadducees to do in order to repent? Do we live a life free from presumption?, in other words, we don’t think that just because we have the name “Catholic”, that we have it made and can get in the kingdom just by wearing a title. The Pharisees thought that because they were children of Abraham, and that was enough. Many today think the same way; I am a good person, I haven’t killed anybody, I haven’t cheated on my spouse, etc… Yet, we have the attitude that being a Catholic is enough. It is not. We are called to a deeper understanding of our lives, we are called to a deeper conversion of heart and mind, called to a deeper service to others. Don’t get me wrong. This community of St. Frances of Rome does some incredible work in the communities of Lake Elsinore and Wildomar; from the daily soup kitchen and food pantry, to the Elsinore Valley Pregnancy Center where they help young women to choose life and give them direction and assistance beyond the birth of their child, to the ministries of visiting the sick and elderly in the hospitals and homes. In these, and in many other ministries, we show our love for our neighbor and for God. But we sometimes become complacent in our walk, so I urge you to reflect this Advent on your life, as I will reflect on mine too. How can I serve God in a new, different and better way through my life? I would like to share a story that was shared by a priest in Africa on this same Liturgical Sunday a few years ago.

Many years ago, there lived a great and holy teacher called Rabbi Saadiah. He had hundreds of pupils, and all of them had a great thirst to learn. One winter morning, two of his pupils who happened to be walking in the mountains, while approaching its summit, saw to their great surprise, their master sitting on the snow covered ground, weeping, praying and engaging in other acts of penitence. This beat their imagination and they wondered: “What could such a perfectly righteous person as their teacher possibly need to repent of? Could he have committed some sins, God forbid? They hurriedly departed from that place. Later that day, they asked their teacher what the scene they witnessed was all about. “I do that every day,” he said to them. “Every day I repent and plead with God to forgive my shortcomings and failings in my service of Him.” “Of what failings do you speak?” They asked him. Then the Rabbi told them this story: “One day an old inn keeper received and served me so well without realizing who I was. When I left the next morning someone told him: ‘That was Rabbi Saadiah.’ Immediately, he came after and in search of me. When he caught up with me, he jumped from his carriage and fell at my feet, weeping: ‘Please forgive me! Please forgive me!! I did not know that it was you!’ I made him stand up, and then said to him: But my dear friend, you treated me very well, you were very kind and hospitable. Why are you so sorry? You have nothing to apologize for. ‘No, no, Rabbi,’ he replied. ‘If I had known you were the one, I would have served you in a completely different manner!’ Suddenly I realized that this man was teaching me a very important lesson in the service of God. I thanked and blessed him, and returned home.” “Since then” the Rabbi concluded, “every evening when I say the prayer before sleeping, I go over in my mind how I served God that day. Then I think of that old innkeeper, and say to myself, Oh! If I had known about God in the beginning of the day the way I know him now, I would have served Him in a completely different manner! And that is what I was repenting for this morning.” This is what we must do every day this season of Advent and beyond. Nothing must be taken for granted if we must be ready to welcome Jesus when he comes.