FOR THOSE WHO WILL BE GRIEVING AT CHRISTMAS

Between 2011 and 2015, when I was a chaplain at Bellarmine University, I offered a special Christmas Eve Mass for those who were grieving the loss of their loved ones and who did not want to go to a loud and happy Christmas Eve Mass. We were usually crowded into that small chapel with subdued lighting, quiet and soft hymns and a special homily directed at those who were grieving. When I left there as a chaplain, I could not get anyone to "take over" that special Mass so I decided to publish all five previous homilies along with some poems and prayers as a way to maintain a connection to those who were grieving.  

After all these years, a few people keep asking if I am going to "start the Blue Christmas Masses again this year." I am now retired, without my own parish and without access to musicians, so I am still trying to do what I can do! I make that book available to anyone who can benefit from reading it. This year, I still have about ten copies of that little book that I am making available for free to anyone grieving who would like to have a copy or as a gift to be given to a grieving person who could benefit from reading a copy. 

You can pick up your free copy, as long as they last, by calling me at 502-303-4571 or you can order copies from amazonbooks.com and have them delivered to your home. To get a copy before Christmas, call me now before the free copies are all gone or order copies ($10.00 plus shipping) as soon as possible from amazonbooks.com.  

GOD REWARDS COURAGE TO START AND DISCIPLINE TO CONTINUE

WHEN OPPORTUNITY KNOCKS

You Can Feel Insecure, But Start Anyway!

You Can Be Afraid, But Still Make a Commitment!

You Can Fear Rejection, But Proceed Regardless!

Every so often, God throws a book onto my path that ends up turning on a light inside my head! God has been doing it for years! I have at least 5-6 books in that collection that I consider "life-changing." Let me tell you a bit about the latest book! 

According to Adam Grant's book, ORIGINALS: HOW NON-CONFORMISTS MOVE THE WORLD, some of our greatest heroes are just like us in this regard: they hesitated, doubted themselves and almost missed the opportunities of their lifetimes because they didn't feel ready, but pushed through their fears, excuses and feelings anyway. 

Michelangelo is a case in point. When the Pope asked Michelangelo to paint the Sistine Chapel in 1506, Michelangelo felt so overwhelmed with self-doubt that he not only wanted to wait, but he actually fled to Florence and hid. The Pope had to stalk Michelangelo and pester him for two years to get him to agree to paint it. 

Ordering this book moved me to share a few of my own stories about about my own becoming aware of a need, having to face an opportunity suddenly appearing to me to address that need, being overcome with self-doubt and fear, finally saying "yes" to embracing that opportunity and then being rewarded with some amazing help appearing almost miraculously to assist me in meeting that need. (The following episodes are not necessarily in chronological order.)  

My hope is to inspire some of my blog post readers to step out of their comfort zones, face their fears of insecurity, rejection and criticism, and "do it anyway" and see that God will reward their courage to start and their discipline to continue with his surprising and amazing help!   

EPISODE ONE

When I was ordained in 1970, I ended up very quickly becoming the pastor of two mission churches - one in each of two counties! Back then, a young priest learned how to be a pastor on-the-job, serving as an associate  pastor for fifteen years or so! Being thrown into that situation, I knew I was lacking in pastor training. I looked around for "a program" that I could sign up for! I began an intense search.

I had joined a "support group" of young Protestant clergy when I first arrived in the area - clergy of several denominations. We met each Monday in the office of a youngish Presbyterian minister. One day, that minister suggested that we all sign up as a group to get our "Doctorate of Ministry" degrees. Even though it sounded "close to what I needed," I was very hesitant and I was the last to commit because of the expense. I finally committed and applied for a scholarship. As it turned out, I got a full scholarship from the Presbyterian Church USA on two grounds - minority religion and poverty income. 

I may have been the last to commit, but I was also the only one to graduate! I got that Doctor of Ministry degree in the area of "parish revitalization." My thesis was entitled "Strangers in Town: How One Roman Catholic Mission Church Dealt Assertively With It's Environments" (internal weakness and external rejection). I not only learned a lot about being a pastor of my two mission churches, but that degree ultimately led to me being called by Archbishop Kelly to become the pastor of the Cathedral of the Assumption to lead its "revitalization." In that job, we grew from 110 members to 2100 members and completed a $22,000,000.00 plus restoration.    

EPISODE TWO

Focusing on preaching to "marginalized Catholics" became our specialty and was very central to the revitalization of our Cathedral. People heard about the preaching by word of mouth and they came from 67 zip codes to hear the preaching and many joined the parish. One of the things I used to hear constantly was: "You ought to publish your homilies." I always brushed it off with words like this: "I would, but I don't have an editor." After a few years of that excuse, I was outside the Cathedral after Mass one Sunday when I heard it again: "You ought to publish your homilies." I gave my usual excuse: "I would, but I don't have an editor." His shocking answer was this: "Well, I'm an editor for Cross Roads Press in New York! Send me a manuscript to edit and I will see what I can do!" I sent him a collection of my old homilies! He got my first book published by his publisher in New York. It was entitled AN ENCOURAGING WORD: Renewed Hearts, Renewed Church. A woman in the parish heard about it and paid for multiple copies to give away to parishioners and for advertisement. Cross Roads Press sold quite a few copies. Because I could make a lot more money from self-published books, year before last I published my 40th book, and two more since then, all available on Amazon Books as e-books and paper backs, a few have been translated into Spanish, Vietnamese and even Swahili! They sell all over the world where Amazon Books sell. 

EPISODE THREE

When I left the Cathedral after fourteen years, I missed the pulpit I had when I was there. It was during the sexual abuse crisis, that I got the idea that I needed to find a way to continue offering "an encouraging word" to the average Catholics of our archdiocese. I had just sent an article to AMERICA magazine, without much hope, but was shocked when it was accepted and published. It was called "Collateral Damage: How One Roman Catholic Priest Feels These Days." 

Encouraged by that, I decided that I would take the risk of offering to be a columnist for our local Catholic weekly - The Record. I contacted the editor and, to my surprise, he told me to submit a few columns to "see how it goes."  The column was again called "An Encouraging Word." Three editors and fifteen years later, I realized that had written a popular column every week, without pause, for a total of 750 columns. The Record was mailed to all Catholic parishioners every week, except for an after-Christmas break. I decided to stop there. Not too many months later, I started a blog by the same name "An Encouraging Word." So far, I have published 2,350 posts and they have had 2,270,000 hits!

EPISODE FOUR

When I was the Vocation Director of the Archdiocese of Louisville  from 1998-2003, one of the books that inspired me and propelled me into a whole new world was one published in 2001 by the National Conference of Catholic Bishops entitled "The Basic Plan for the Ongoing Formation of Priests." Toward the end of the book (page 93), I was struck by these words, "To pursue the ongoing formation not simply of priests but of a presbyterate as a whole brings us to new territory. The corporate sense of priestly identity and mission, although not fully developed even in official documents, is clearly emerging as an important direction for the future." 

By the time I ended my tenure at Vocation Director in 2003, I had decided to address that "important direction for the future" dealing with the "corporate sense of priestly identity and mission" that the Bishops Conference called "new territory." 2003 was the year I published my little book called INTENTIONAL PRESBYTERATES: Claiming Our Common Sense of Purpose As Diocesan Priests.

Publishing such a book in my own name, without any permission, was a very nervy thing to do, to say the least. I remember ordering several hundred copies without much thought about how I would sell them! I remember feeling overwhelmed with insecurity and fear of failure and rejection that I was too scared to even open the boxes the day they arrived and waited till the next day! However, some news of the book got out and before I knew it, bishops were ordering them around the United States as Christmas presents for their priests. It went through several printings and was translated into three other languages. 

I was soon beginning to be asked to speak, which led to developing two week-long workshops about presbyteral unity. I ended up leading 140 such week-long programs in 10 countries: England, Ireland, Wales, Canada, United States, Bahamas, Trinidad, Saint Lucia, Barbados and St. Vincent and the Grenadines. Because of such great travel distances, I turned down Nigeria, India, Singapore and Tonga. I addressed the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops at their Spring Meeting in Florida and the Antilles Bishops Conference in Trinidad on the subject of building presbyteral unity. Before I stopped, I had written another book in 2011 entitled A BISHOP AND HIS PRIESTS TOGETHER: Resources for Building More Intentional Presbyterates. After I retired from all that, I gathered all my scripts and published them in a 2024 book entitled BUILDING INTENTIONAL PRESBYTERATES: A Collection of Reflections.   

I need to stop here! I have at least 10-12 more episodes that I could add to this short list of four. All of them involve being presented with opportunities to step out of my comfort zone, hesitating because of fear and insecurity, getting up enough nerve to proceed anyway and be surprised to find out that "God rewards the courage to start and the discipline to continue." Not bad for a guy who was too bashful 60 years ago to read in the seminary chapel in front of his classmates! All I can say is, "You've come a long way, baby!" 

Maybe I have just presented myself with an opportunity for yet one more book entitled GOD REWARDS THE COURAGE TO START AND THE DISCIPLINE TO CONTINUE: Life Stories of Being Simply Amazed and Forever Grateful.       

 

 

DON'T BE "CAUGHT WITH YOUR PANTS DOWN!" BE PREPARED!

Stay awake, for you know neither the day nor the hour.

Matthew 25:1-13

Every year or two, I get a letter from the Archdiocesan Priest Personnel Office asking me to update my funeral plans. They want to know, among other things, where my will is, where I want to be buried, what readings I want read, what music I want sung and who I want to preach and preside at my funeral Mass. The last time, I started to fill it out, but finally laid it aside. I just couldn’t get into it. Since not doing it could put both the diocese and my family in a bind someday, they sent a reminder insisting that I fill it out and send it in. I guess I was a little like Woody Allen who once said, “I know everybody dies, but I’m still hoping an exception will be made in my case.”

As we wind down another liturgical year, the church asks us to think about death and entering the kingdom of God. We will be hearing some parables over the next three weekends that will challenge us to make plans for “the end of what we know here” and “the beginning of what we can’t even imagine there,” even though we will still not know the day or the hour.

Today we have the first of three such parables. In today’s parable, Jesus tells a colorful little story about ten invited virgins waiting for a bridegroom to arrive for his wedding. It has some important things to teach us about how to wait for the return of Jesus at the end of time and how to prepare for our attendance at the wedding feast of heaven.

This little story is based very much on everyday reality at that time. Things like this actually happened at weddings back then and they happen even to this day in places in the middle-east. Weddings receptions were nothing like our cake and punch receptions that last a few hours. Wedding receptions back then were week-long blow-outs. To be invited to such an event was a great honor and a "good time would have been had by all!" Remember the story of the marriage feast at Cana when Jesus turned water into wine?  The wedding party ran out of wine probably on the fourth or fifth day – and it was at that time, commentators point out, that the total amount of the new wine created by Jesus would have been around 180 gallons. That is the equivalent of about 900 more bottles of wine! 

Back then, when a wedding was announced, no precise date or time of day was given, only that it was "about to happen." Couples did not go away for “honeymoons,” they stayed at home and kept an “open house” for a week of partying. Invited guests had to be prepared to join the wedding procession whenever the bridegroom chose to show up for the wedding. It could be anytime, day or night. It could be that day, the next day or in a week or two. Once the groom started toward his house, all the invited guests fell into line and followed him to his house where the ceremony took place. If he decided to begin the wedding procession at night, you had to be prepared because it was illegal to be in the streets without a lighted lamp. Once the bridegroom and his guests came through the streets and entered his house, the door would have been shut and late-comers would not have been admitted.

In this story, five of the ten virgins brought extra oil for their lamps in case the groom were to be delayed, while the other five were not prepared for such an eventuality. In this story, the bridegroom took his time in coming and the five foolishly unprepared virgins were “caught with their pants down,” so to speak. Having run out of oil, they would have had to wait till morning to go for more. In the meantime, the wedding party would have reached the house and the door would have been barred. As a result of their miscalculation, they would have missed out on one hell of a party! The main message for us is simple. “If you snooze, you lose!”

The first thing this parable teaches us is that the end is going to be wonderful for those who are ready for it. Even though we claim every Sunday in the prayer after the Our Father that we “wait in joyful hope for the coming of our Savior, Jesus Christ,” most of us still believe that the end of our lives will be about sadness and loss, doom and gloom. Not so! Rather, in the end: “Eye has not seen, ear has not heard, nor has it even dawned on us the great things God has in store for those who love him.”

The second thing this parable teaches us is that when it comes to the great “wedding feast of heaven,” living in readiness, waiting in joyful hope, makes a lot more sense than running around and trying to get ready at the last minute, with its risk of missing out altogether.

The more I read these parables, the more I believe that if there is a “hell,” it is the pain of realizing that we have missed out of the greatest opportunity in the universe and it was our own fault!  I don't think of “hell” as a matter of God punishing us or getting even with us for a wasted life, but a matter of us snoozing and losing because we were not paying attention and we were not prepared for the great experience offered us!  

Just as the whole town was invited to first century weddings, we are all invited to the great wedding feast of heaven. It’s up to us if we miss the boat. If we were to put in today’s language, all of us has been given a free, winning Powerball ticket for the zillion dollar drawing and some of us will have misplaced it out of carelessness and inattention. Can you imagine what it would be like to know the rest of your life that you threw away a $100,000,000 lottery ticket because you were careless and weren’t paying attention? Can you imagine missing something, even more wonderful, so wonderful that human beings can’t even begin to imagine it? That “something wonderful” is the “eternal life” that Jesus offers each one of us! 

The third thing this parable tells us, just as others like it, is that we do not know, nor can we predict, the day or the hour. I get so tired of those TV evangelists who claim to be able to de-code the so-called “prophecies” about the “end time.”  Jesus says “do not listen to them and do not follow them” Jesus is clear: we must live in readiness, not look for signs and portents so that we can predict the end and then “get ready.”  The only reason to try to predict the end, is so we can live anyway we want and then try to get ready right before the final bell rings. Forget it! You can’t predict it. The only thing you can do is live in readiness with your lamps lit, your belt around your waist and with your shoes on, as the scriptures so poetically puts it.  Like a pregnant woman with a bag packed ready for the trip to the hospital, no matter what time of the day the labor pains hit, we Christians are called to live with our bags packed so as to be ready when the time comes!

We all like to think that we will all die after a long illness when we are old, but that may not happen. Most of us would welcome just going to sleep one night and never waking up! Personally, I pray mostly for a pain-free exit. We certainly don’t know when our time here is up! We may die today, tomorrow, next month or years and years from now. We just don’t know, so we must live in readiness so that we will not miss out on the most incredible event known to human kind. Living in readiness does not mean that we are morbidly preoccupied with death, it means to live a full life every day, to be the very best human being we can be, to love God with all our minds, hearts and souls and our neighbors as ourselves. As one of my favorite quotes puts it, “If everyone would sweep in front of his own door, the whole world would be clean!” If we would all live that fully, then it wouldn’t matter when the end would come, because we would already be prepared! 

Yes, it might be wise to make your end-of-life plans, but remember that that is not nearly as important as planning to live your life as best you can while you can!  If you do that well, you won’t have to worry about “the end!” 

 

 

MY NEW SATURDAY'S "QUESTIONABLE ADVICE COLUMN" #1

In November 2024, on Saturdays, I started my "YOU CAN'T MAKE THIS STUFF UP" blog posts. In November 2025, on Saturdays, I started my "CHURCH CHAT" blog posts. This November 2026, on Saturdays, I am starting my (sometimes hopefully humorous) "QUESTIONABLE ADVICE COLUMN" blog posts. As the old saying goes, "If you don't laugh, you cry!" The origin of the quote "if you don't laugh, you'll cry" is uncertain, but it reflects the idea that sometimes humor is a coping mechanism for dealing with difficult or painful situations.

I will probably be the last to know when my onset of dementia gets here, so I might as well prepare all of my readers so they will be forewarned and prepared!  

LET'S GET STARTED WITH #1

My first piece of advice to you is to take care of your health starting when you are young! Get an annual physical, maintain your weight, eat healthy food, get lots of exercise and plenty of sleep. Aging comes so quickly that starting your health regime early is the only way to go! Either way, you will either regret it or thank God you did! Here is a recent personal photo to prove my point! 

This was my official 82nd birthday photo taken on April 28, 2026 of this year!

Thank God for vegetables, treadmills, afternoon naps and maybe a few "gin and tonics!" 

 

 

 

 

BIBLICAL TRUTHS DO NOT CONTRADICT MODERN ASTRONOMY

The "creation stories" in the Bible are not scientific truths, but theological truths, written from human observation "after the fact." It would be totally naive to think of reporters taking written notes as creation was happening! The Bible often teaches inspired theological truths through stories of what humans could detect through observation at the time those stories were written. In other words, biblical truths are not meant to contradict modern astronomy! 

Genesis speaks of a dome over the earth, much like a colander with holes in it. You could imagine what they imagined if you simply look up at the skies on any clear night. Therefore, Genesis speaks of the waters above the dome and the waters here on earth. Sometimes, they imagined that God opens the holes and lets the water drip down on the earth in a process we call "rain." The “firmament,” or “expanse,” effectively described what individuals experienced when they looked up to the sky and saw the stars as if they were "holes" in the dome over the earth.  

Genesis does not require the belief in a literal solid dome over the earth. The word “firmament” arises chiefly from older translations. The original Hebrew “raqia” conveys an “expanse,” highlighting a separation of waters, but more importantly stressing God’s orderly power. Far from contradicting modern astronomy, this term illustrates the Bible’s use of language that resonates with human observation while still affirming divine design. Such harmony underscores the core message: God created and sustains the universe with purpose and care.

LEARNING TO HOLD YOUR OWN HAND

Back in 2018, I did a "whole life review" of my own life. When finished, I put it in a book (cover picture below) and titled the book "BETWEEN COURAGE AND COWARDICE: Choosing to Do Hard Things for Your Own Good." It traces the choices I have made, for good or for bad, unconscious and conscious, that have resulted in the person that I had become back when I was 74 years old. All that reflecting back and self-examination helped me realize that when I chose courage over cowardice, I was actually choosing to do hard things for my own good. It helped me realize the wisdom of many of the things on the list below and it inspired me to tell others about the wisdom behind this list in hopes that it would inspire them "to make the daily hard choices that could eventually lead to a better life tomorrow."  

AVAILABLE at AMAZON BOOKS
ronknottbooks.com 

HEADED TO HEAVEN WITH OUR DIGNITY UNSTAINED

 

I had a vision of a great multitude which no one could count, from every nation, race, people and tongue. They stood before the throne (of God), wearing white robes and holding palm branches in their hands.

Revelation 7:2-4, 9-14

Most of us, immediately after we were baptized, we were dressed in a white robe. (You may have that white dress or even some photos of you dressed in it!)  When it was placed on us, the priest or deacon addressed us by name, saying these words, “You have become a new creation and have clothed yourself in Christ. See in this white garment the outward sign of your Christian dignity. With your family and friends to help you by word and example, bring that dignity unstained into the everlasting life of heaven.” 

In our first reading today, St. John gets a glimpse, across many generations to come, of a “great multitude which no one can count, from every nation, race, people and tongue, dressed in white robes, standing before the throne of God.”    Today’s feast reminds us that all of the baptized, including you and me, are called to stand someday before God with that great, uncountable throng of people from every part of the world, from every age!  According to St. John in our second readings, we are already God’ adopted children! As children of light, we were called at our baptisms to become saints! Yes, you heard me! We are heaven-bound! We are called to become saints!

What is a saint? Most of us have developed our ideas about holiness from a well-intentioned, but narrow, view of canonized saints. In its effort to hold up before us models of holiness, the church has sometimes elevated some saints to the point that they have sometimes become super-human! Some saints come off as life-hating masochists.  Mostly virgins and celibates, some might admire them, but most people do not see themselves imitating them!  My favorite definition of sanctity comes from Kentucky’s famous Trappist monk, Thomas Merton. This is the definition of holiness that guides me personally. “Sanctity,” he writes, “is not a matter of being less human, but more human that other men. This implies a greater capacity for concern, for suffering, for understanding, for sympathy, and also for humor, for joy, for appreciation of the good and beautiful things of life.”   This is the same message as the Beatitudes in today’s gospel! To borrow an idea from an old commercial, holiness is about “being all that you can be.”  Holiness, then, is not about being perfect, but about becoming the very best human being we can become: the best spouse, the best parent, the best church member, the best student, the best doctor, the best teacher, the best politician, the best artist, the best social worker or the best priest! The Catechism of the Catholic Church tells us that married couples and priests are not only called to become holy, but they are called to lead others to holiness. Married couples are called to lead their spouses and children to holiness. Priests are called to lead the faith communities entrusted to them to holiness. It goes on to say that if we do it right, it will make us holy in the process!

In other words, we become holy, not by mimicking the saints of old, but by answering our own unique calls.  We become holy, not by wearing sandals, a hair shirt and living on bread and water, but by living out our own unique call, not somebody else’s call.  We hear our calls by listening to our hearts.  While it is true that some people in the Bible received their calls in visions and dramatic events, most of us receive our calls in a simple, quiet knowing, the proverbial still, small voice within us.  To hear our call we do, however, have to shut up long enough for God to get a words in edgewise!  It helps to spend some quality time with God. Most of the time, calls are not shown to us directly, but are mediated through other people, symbols, dreams, symptoms, happenstance and synchronicities. We need to recognize that our calls can come in many disguises. Our unfolding as human beings requires that we be in constant dialogue with God who has called us to co-create ourselves, to do something with our lives and to contribute to the world God has given us.   

Someday, after we have done something with our lives, after we have become all we can be, God will call us home to be with him forever. At our funerals, we will be carried into church, one last time. Our bodies will be sprinkled with baptismal water and we will be covered over with a large white pall, a huge reminder of our white baptismal robe.  At the end of our funeral Mass, dressed in that white robe, our family and friends will commend us to God with these words, “May the angels lead you into paradise; may the martyrs come to welcome you and take you to the holy city….May choirs of  angels welcome you…..”  Then, we too, will be on our way to sainthood!  Some day, in the not-too-distant future, the church will gather on an All Saints Day, like this one, to honor us!

 

 

 

"CHURCH CHAT" #52

 I thought this cartoon was a good way to celebrate the end of this year's "Saturday CHURCH CHAT Column." Next Saturday, I will begin another year with my new "QUESTIONABLE ADVICE COLUMN."

REFORMERS HAVE A HARD LIFE

 

ARE YOU LOOKING FORWARD TO "ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE?"

 

 

JESUS: ONE TO BE IMITATED OR ONE TO BE WORSHIPPED?

Let me be clear about two things as I wade into probably a very touchy subject for some people. (1) I know what I believe and, as a retired priest, I am now freer than ever to write about my beliefs in my own blog! (2) I believe in the "real presence!" I accept the words of the Catechism of the Catholic Church where it teaches us what to believe about the "real presence" of Jesus in the Holy Eucharist.    

However, I am not one to spend a whole lot of time making "Holy Hours" in front of a monstrance! My "holy hours" consist mainly of working with deliberate intensity on inspirational homilies in hopes that people will be inspired to imitate the Jesus that they have just received at Mass, especially in their daily lives and when they get home from church! Yes, I believe in the "real presence" of Jesus at Mass. I believe that he is truly present there, mainly for the purpose of becoming our "bread for the journey and strength for the trip" - our spiritual nourishment for the upcoming week - as we grow deeper in discipleship through our conscious implementation of the teachings of Jesus! 

Cardinal Thomas Collins, retired Archbishop of Toronto, Canada, validated my belief and practice one day when I was responsible for getting him invited to lead a Prayer Day for the opening of the seminary school year when I was a staff member at St. Meinrad Seminary. I had just led him and his nearly 800 priests for two weeks of retreat (nearly 400 priests each week), for two years in a row. The last year I was asked to  add an additional fifth week for his seminarians at St. Augustine Seminary in Toronto. 

During his Prayer Day presentation, one of the local seminary students, during the question and answer time, asked Cardinal Collins what he thought of making "Holy Hours." His response was memorable and insightful. "Yes, I think "Holy Hours" are a good thing! However, if you get a call as a priest to go to the hospital to see a person who wants you to come, "go!" Leave your Holy Hour and go!" 

I think I heard several of them gasp out loud in shock! Personally, I wanted to applaud! I believe in the "real presence," yes, but I believe even more in the fact that Jesus is more of a model for our living than he is one who wants to be worshipped! Did he not say, "Come, follow me!" "Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven." "If you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar. First, go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your gift." "Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me." I remember these words, but I can't remember Jesus saying, "Come, worship and adore me!" As the hymn "Lord, Whose Love in Humble Service" reminds us in verse #4, "Called from worship into service, forth in your great name we go, to the child, the youth, the aged, love in living deeds to show, hope and health, good will and comfort, counsel, aid and peace we give, that your children, Lord, in peace we give, that your children, Lord, in freedom, may your mercy know and live." 

It was that day that I realized that seminary training had seriously changed. Over the next several weeks it became clearer and clearer to me just how much it had changed. I was running a post-ordination program parallel to an initial-formation program at the same seminary. The seminary training that I grew up with focused mainly on "preparing us to do ministry." It seemed to me that the seminary training program that I saw when I came back had morphed into a training program focused much more heavily on "personal piety." In my programs, seasoned priests would say things like, "Father, by the time I do all the ministry that I am required to do every day, I don't have time for prayer." During their deacon year especially, when seminarians were getting a taste of ministry, I would hear things like, "Father, by the time I finish my rosary, my Liturgy of the Hours, my Chaplet of Divine Mercy, my Holy Hour and my Stations of the Cross, I don't have time for ministry!"  What I was hearing was a lot about "my" personal piety! As a pastor several times, this worried me greatly. I could imagine that "future priests" might soon understand Christianity as having more to do with "believing in Jesus" and "worshiping Jesus" and less to do with "imitating the example of Jesus" in a world that desperately needs some inspiration for modeling the ministry and actions of Jesus! Our job is to promote "serious discipleship," not merely "personal piety." Personal piety serves discipleship! It can never become a substitute for discipleship! 

Is being a Christian really more about worshipping Jesus or more about modeling his example? I worry about this new zeal for "Eucharistic Devotion" and whether it is now almost replacing a zeal for service to the poor and marginalized! It has never been about one or the other, but about the first serving the second! For one thing, if adoration of the eucharistic presence does not lead to helping people turn their gaze toward helping others become mature - spiritually, ethically, emotionally and relationally - then what is the point? Jesus does not need to venerated as much as he needs to be imitated! For another thing, adoration of the eucharistic presence and having Jesus safely secured in a monstrance and simply carrying it through the streets, where we can take him out and put him away at will, is not as messy as carrying him within us when we are out in the streets serving our communities by trying to imitate his ministry! As I used to tell seminarians fixated on their own personal piety, "Your job as a priest is not just about you seeing to it that you have golden light coming out of the rectory for all to admire, but for you to drive through the parish and be able to see golden light coming out of the homes of your parishioners!" It was a way of reminding them that if their presence doesn't make an impact, their absence won't make a difference.  

For me, "personal piety" practices are fine, but so that I can "help the People of God exercise faithfully and fully the common priesthood which it has received," (Pastores Dabo Vobis #17) preaching has always been much more pressing and important to me! That is why I will be buried holding a Lectionary, rather than a Rosary. As Vatican II taught us in Presbyterorum Ordinis (I,4),"Priests have as their primary duty the proclamation of the gospel of God to all." As the Catechism of the Catholic Church says clearly in #1534, 'Holy Orders is directed toward the salvation of others. If it contributes as well to personal salvation, it is through service to others that it does so.' When the Lectionary was placed in my hands at my ordination to the deaconate by my bishop, here is what he said; "Receive the Gospel of Christ whose herald you now are.  Believe what you read, teach what you believe and practice what you teach."  

 

Even when it comes to Christianity, this is the question I have always liked to ask myself! Is Christianity just about believing in Jesus and venerating Jesus or is it even more so about imitating Jesus? Who cares whether I believe in Jesus or whether I venerate Jesus if I fail to live like Jesus, treat people like Jesus would treat them and yet still do not have the ability to inspire others to do the same?    

 

THE HEART OF IT ALL: LOVE OF GOD, SELF, OTHERS - EVEN ENEMIES

 

You shall love God with all your heart, all your soul,

all your mind and your neighbor as yourself. The

whole law depends on these.

Matthew 22:34-40

For the last few weeks, we have been reading about the battle between Jesus and the religious teachers of his day in the Gospel of Matthew. Since Jesus was very popular among the ordinary people on the streets, these jealous religious leaders could not attack him directly so they resorted to trying to trap him in his speech so that they could have something to accuse him of should there be a religious heresy or political sedition trial. They are determined to “get” Jesus, one way or another, and they eventually succeeded in having him killed!

Last week, we read that they thought they had Jesus cornered. First, they schmoozed him with false flattery to get him to open up. “Teacher, we know that you are a truthful man and you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth.” They then asked him whether it was lawful to pay taxes to Caesar or not. They thought they Jesus had boxed in with their clever “damned if you do and damned if you don’t” dilemma. If he said “Yes, it is lawful” he would offend and lose his followers who hated Caesar and his taxes, but if he said “no it is not lawful” then the Roman government would come after him for sedition.   Jesus outsmarted their trickery by answering, “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s!”  

Today they are back for another try. The trick question today is: “What is the greatest commandment?” They knew that scripture scholars could not agree on this so they thought they could discredit him with somebody no matter what answer he gave. Again, Jesus outsmarted them again by placing the love of God and love of neighboring on the same plane - making them equal - rather than prioritizing them as they were hoping.    

There you have it! Basic Christianity is about fully and completely loving God, oneself, one’s neighbors and even one's enemies. Does that mean I have to love God, myself and others with all my heart, soul mind and strength if I dare to claim the name “Christian?” You mean I am supposed to make God and others the most important considerations in my life, even while truly loving myself? To be honest, most of us can’t say that God is that important to us, much less ourselves and those around us!

I would love to be able to say that God is always at the center my life, that I truly take care of myself and that I love all people all the time, but sadly I quite often put myself ahead of God and the needs of others. Some days I do better than others but, thankfully, God is very patient with me and loves me anyway.  He is always giving me as many second chances as I need! I have always taken great comfort in knowing that my best is good enough for God.

Today, I want to say a few more words about taking these two commandments seriously. None of us will ever measure up completely to the Great Commandment – the one that summarizes all other commandments - but this is the brass ring for which we all should reach out for! To take God seriously, to seek to love him, ourselves and others with all we have, there are things we must do. To call ourselves “Christians,” there are some basic things we must strive for! Let’s all examine our consciences as I list some of them! As that famous quote asks, “If you were accused of being a Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict you?”

1.     We must want what God wants. To be able to even want what God wants, means we have to understand the Scriptures, listen to the Spirit within us and stay consciously connected to God through prayer.

2.     We must remember who we are. We are holy. We are holy, not because of what we have done, but simply because we are “created in the image and likeness of God” and, through our baptism, we are adopted permanently as children of God. If we are to love ourselves properly, we must accept our holiness, neither exaggerating who we really are nor denying who we really are!

3.     We must want to live by the same values Jesus lived by: having a loving kindness toward everyone, especially the most weak and vulnerable, even our enemies; striving to do God’s will no matter the consequences; using Jesus’ own life as a pattern for our own.

4.     We must be in command and control of ourselves, have a handle on our addictions and our passions, so that we can go in the way that God wants us to go. We must constantly question our own motives, making sure that we not only do the right thing, but also do it for the right reason.

5.     We must never give into hopelessness, whether it is about the future or about other people because we know that the war against evil has already been won. Even though we may continue to lose many more painful battles, the war is already won! God’s kingdom will come and nothing we do, not even the gates of hell, can stop it.

6.     Regardless of our failures, loving God and each other with our whole heart, soul, and mind is something we should strive for, even though it is something we will never accomplish completely. God wants a relationship with us as long as we live, even if it is off-and-on, rocky and imperfect!    

Today, we are challenged to get serious about God, not in some loud, noisy, fanatic and superficial way, but in a long haul and to the core-of-one’s-being kind of way. Loving God and one’s neighbors with all our hearts, souls and minds does not translate into noisy religious fanaticism. I, for one, cannot stand in-your-face religious fanatics! The loving that Jesus talks about is about knowing that we are loveable to God and about a simple way of living that places that love back onto God, ourselves and everybody around us. That is the spirit of these two commandments and that is what the spirit of God’s whole law is all about!   

How can we possibly hope to love this way? We can do it only with God’s help! Let us therefore go to that table to be fed and strengthened on the Body and Blood of Christ! With God’s help all things are possible!

 

 

               

 

"CHURCH CHAT" #51

 NEVER FORGET TO REMEMBER THIS!  

YOU ALWAYS SEE WHAT YOU LOOK FOR

Given at Little Sisters of the Poor

9-21-2026

Feast of St. Matthew 

The Pharisees said this about Jesus to his disciples, "Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?" Jesus heard this and said, "Those who are well do not need a physician, but the sick do.

Matthew 9:9-13

As I sat down to reflect on today’s gospel, where Jesus was attacked and condemned for being seen hanging out with the so-called riff-raff and trash of society, I immediately thought of a little hand-written list of New Year’s Resolutions that someone sent me. It was in a child’s handwriting. Here is what it said, “This year I want to be more like Jesus. I want to hang out with sinners. I want to upset religious people. I want to tell stories that make people think. I want to choose unpopular friends. I want to be kind, loving and merciful. I want to take naps on boats!” Evidently, the person who wrote that, adult or child, was very familiar with the Scriptures because that is exactly what Jesus did!

On this Feast of St. Matthew, we read about how Jesus “hung out with sinners.” His critics could not stand the fact that Jesus welcomed sinners and ate with them. They wanted him to condemn them! Jesus gave them a perfect response. “Those who are well do not need a doctor, but sick people do!”

Those of you who know me, know that what Jesus did, is my normal practice! As a priest, I have specialized in reaching out especially to fallen away Catholics. For 15 years, I wrote a weekly column in The Record called “An Encouraging Word.” After 500 columns, I started this blog by the same name entitled “An Encouraging Word.” The personal philosophy behind my ministry as a priest has always been to look for goodness to affirm, rather than sins to condemn! I believe with all my heart that “we see what we look for!” If we look for sins to condemn in people, we will find plenty of them to condemn! However, I personally believe that the opposite is also true! If you look for goodness in people to affirm, you will find plenty of goodness and virtue to affirm as well!”

This was certainly true leaving St. Thomas Seminary here in Louisville! That training clearly focused on “sins to condemn.” When I entered St. Meinrad Seminary in the Fall of 1964, I entered into a new form of training that emphasized “goodness to affirm.” It changed my life and gave my ministry a new way to look at myself and to look out at you! Personally, I have never been inspired to change and grow through condemnation, but I have been inspired to change and grow through encouragement! Besides, who wants to come to church if you keep being condemned all the time? My firm belief is that most people are doing the best they can under their circumstances. Sometimes, all they need is a little encouragement from the pulpit!

I know I am right following the example of Jesus in today’s gospel. I have done it all my 56 years of priesthood and it works. In my own defense, I can point to one place in particular – the Cathedral of the Assumption from 1983-1997 when I was pastor. When I arrived, the parish was down to 110 old ladies who lived mostly in the high rise around the corner. When I left, there were 2,100 registered parishioners from 67 zip codes.

How did we do it? For one thing, we simply preached the “good news” of God’s unconditional love, especially for those who felt judged and unloved! In the words of Pope Francis, we became “a hospital for sinners!”

We welcomed sinners and fallen-away Catholics. As the “mother church of the diocese,” we liked to say to them, “Welcome! You can always come home to mother!” They came in droves because they knew they would not have to sit there and be condemned and be “put down” every Sunday, but rather hear about God’s love and mercy! As Jesus knew, “You can catch more flies with honey than with vinegar!” Personally, I was never inspired to change and grow through condemnation, but I was inspired to change and grow through encouragement…and so were they!

JUST TAKE A GOOD HARD LOOK AT IT - DON'T LOOK AWAY!

Just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.

John 3:14-21

If you have ever been in the hospital or flipped through the phone book looking for a physician, you’ve seen the image – two winged serpents wrapped around a staff. It is known as the caduceus. The caduceus has been the symbol of the American medical profession for nearly a hundred years – a decidedly odd symbol for doctors until you begin to investigate where it came from and its underlying meaning.

This ancient symbol of healing, referred to in today’s gospel, is a reference to a story in Chapter 21 of the Book of Numbers – our first reading today.  In their trek across the desert from the slavery of Egypt to the freedom of the Promised Land, the People of God underwent all sorts of trials and troubles. The one mentioned today is their plague of biting winged serpents. After praying for delivery from this awful plague, God instructs Moses to make a bronze image of the same serpents, put them on a pole and invite the people to take a good hard look at it. When they looked at it hard and long, they recovered.

Now this may sound like some kind of voodoo magic, but it isn’t! It’s primitive psychology! All you nurses, doctors, psychologists and mental health professionals, listen up now to this truth! What Moses did here is still good practice! What he is saying here is that the road to healing is always through facing the problem and looking at it squarely. Failing to look at problems squarely is the best way to keep them going!

The worst thing you can do, if you have a mysterious lump on your body, is to pretend it isn’t there! You need to pay close attention to it and have a professional examine it carefully and as soon as possible. The worst thing to do is to look the other way and pretend that it isn’t there! Healing begins with noticing.  

The worst thing you can do, if you or one of your friends or relatives has a drinking or drug problem, is to look away and pretend that it isn’t there! Reality must be faced squarely and help must be sought as soon as possible. The worst thing to do is to look away and pretend the problem does not exist! Recovery begins with facing facts squarely! That’s why people in AA must first of all say to themselves and others, “I am an alcoholic!” before their healing can begin!

Moses didn’t put it this way, but this is what he meant – all of us need to “wake up and smell the coffee” in several areas of our lives! As a culture, we are addicted to our denials. Whatever it is, we need to open our eyes and take a good hard look at reality and quit going to sleep just because it is comfortable and feels good for the moment!

And, yes, on a spiritual level, looking at Jesus dying on the cross – looking intently at it and understanding what it means – not looking away and not avoiding our responsibility in considering its implications - is the path to our eternal life as well! Looking at Jesus on his cross will help us understand that Jesus did not come to condemn us, but to save us! All we have to do is look at him on the cross, believe in him and his love for us and we will be saved. Just as the people of Moses’ time looked at an image on a pole of the serpents that were killing them and recovered, we can look at Jesus on the cross and recover from what’s killing us - our sins!

 

My sisters and brothers, today’s readings are about facing ourselves, facing our addictions and owning them, facing our shabby treatment of others and owning it and, yes, facing our sins and owning them. It is about taking a long, hard look at reality as a path to healing and forgiveness! As Jesus himself said, “The truth will set you free!”