One of the long-standing traditions in most homes, is the placement of a nativity scene under or near the family Christmas tree, or on larger display outside of the home. Whether that nativity scene is new to the family or has been in the family for many generations, it is the culmination of what Christmas is all about: our Savior coming in our humanity as a baby, born in a stable in Bethlehem. This nativity Scene, or crèche, offers to all us a visual connection with the true meaning of Christmas—Jesus coming to be with all of us.

The word crèche comes from the French language meaning “manger” or “crib,” with its origin as a nursery, but now refers more to the nativity. Though not the original thought of St. Francis of Assisi, it was St. Francis who brought the manger scene to life. After a visit to Bethlehem, it was St. Francis, a deacon, who, on Christmas Eve of 1223, was visiting the central Italian town of Greccio to celebrate midnight Mass at a Franciscan hermitage. When Francis realized that the hermitage would not hold the congregation for Midnight Mass, he found a cave near the town to set up the altar. Along with the setting up of the altar, it was Francis who had locals from the Italian village, to dress up as Mary and Joseph, and the other nativity characters, along with real animals. This was the backdrop as they celebrated Midnight Mass. Needless to say, this tradition caught on and many other nativity displays began to show up, not only in Italy, but now across the world, allowing the people to interact with Jesus’ birth, as they reflected also on their own village lives, and the involvement of the local people in the display.

Even during times of revolution where nativity scenes were banned in public, many Christians turned to setting up these crèches in their homes in devotion to our Lord and Savior. (Sound familiar? Even our own display here in our city, down by the river, had to have a letter displayed inside, explaining why it is there on public land.) This remains today a visual reminder to all of mankind, and has a special place in the heart of Christians around the world, of the night when our dear Savior was born, as a little child, in poverty, in a stable and laid in a manger, no crib for a bed.

Recently in talking to younger children about different physical things they see in church, the stained-glass windows came up. They were intrigued to know that they were originally there to tell the story of salvation to those who were illiterate. A brief history of stained-glass windows in the Catholic Church follows, along with a depiction of our own church’s biblical scenes told through stained glass.

Stained-glass windows date back to the fourth century when they were used in churches to depict biblical scenes for an illiterate population. They were used as a teaching tool and would help to inspire and encourage people through this visual way of telling the story. The use of many vibrant colors and designs became an important part of the story for it enhanced the beauty and truth of the creative world we live in.

For the Catholic population, the stained-glass windows in Catholic Churches would showcase many different biblical scenes and saints, all by following and expressing the teaching of the Faith, and a wonderful means of education and inspiration.

For Christians, light represents God’s ever-giving grace and presence amongst us, and as the light flows through these windows they are a reminder to all of us, to be that light to those we meet in our daily lives. The red color in the windows represent sacrifice, the blue represents divine love, green symbolizes growth and life, with purple indicating royalty and penance, and gold, signifying heavenly glory.

Our own windows depict the following scenes: In the gathering area by the side entrance, where we have funeral viewings, the window depicts the Raising of Lazarus. At the main entrance, we see the depiction of the Wedding Feast at Cana and the Coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. Walking into Church we see the Presentation in the Temple with the prophet Simeon holding the Christ child, and the depiction of the Finding in the Temple. On the north side of the church, you see Jesus on the large panel as the Good Shepherd, along with smaller panels showing the Baptism of Jesus, the Sermon on the Mount, and the Resurrection. On the south side, you will see the Coronation of Mary, along with the smaller panels depicting the Annunciation, the Nativity, and the Immaculate Conception as the Assumption of Mary. Just outside of the front confessional is a depiction of Jesus healing a woman of her infirmities and forgiving her sins.
 
There is nothing better than to walk into Church, and let your eyes take you on a spiritual journey of salvation history as depicted in these stained-glass windows. Take your children along on the journey.

Our very protection of human life is fundamental, the very basis of our Declaration of Independence. All of our rights, that we must truly cherish and fight for, depend on the right to life itself, for if that right is ever taken away, eliminated, all other rights will follow that lead.

Roe vs. Wade a disastrous decision in 1973 has been overturned on the federal side, leaving this decision of whether to allow the legal killing of a child in the womb of their mother up to each State. Yes, to kill a child of God in the womb of life.

Even the word abortion has started to take on a commonality that is defined as a miscarriage. There are miscarriages of course and we mourn the loss of a child of God in those times, and the effect it can have on all those husbands and wives who are praying to begin or add to their families, but the active participation of ending the life of a child in the womb of life, in over 90% of all cases, comes down to an act of someone not wanting that child of God, a world of self and selfishness.

The Catholic Church has always led the fight to end the killing of a child in the womb, Euthanasia, assisted suicide. The deliberate killing of a child in the womb is the destruction of the very work of God, his creation. “You formed my inmost being, you knit me in my mother’s womb.” That is right, in my mother’s womb. It is not health care or one’s own rights to decide whether or not another person should live or die.

Come November we will start to hear about the coming of Christ, the first coming as a small child in the womb of our Blessed Mother Mary. Jesus came into our world as a small child, Mother Mary carried him in her womb, until his birth of which we celebrate at Christmas. There is also, during this time of our readings, the second coming, when Jesus will come to us again, and we call it the “End Times.” In reality the end times for all us is when our good Lord calls us all back to himself, and we do not know the time.

What a gift the women of this world have been given, for they have that God-given ability to procreate, to have children. The world has lost the gift of millions who were knit together by the hand of God, who hold the very future of mankind in their God-given talents to make a difference for all of mankind, all because another person made the decision that they have no worth, and that they are not truly a life. October is  “Respect Life” month, where we are called to form, as God formed us in the womb of life, we are called to form our own consciences and have the moral courage to respect this beautiful gift of life from the very moment of conception, until our natural death.

Lord, I do thank you for the gift of my life and for all of my brothers and sisters. Give me the moral courage to always stand on the side of life, the life that was gifted to me, and to all of us by your own hand as you gently knitted me in my mother’s womb. Form my conscience to always defend the inherent, the innate gift of a child in the womb of life. Amen.

“HE AIN’T HEAVY FATHER…HE’S MY BROTHER”
    
This beautiful saying has become synonymous with helping each other out as we journey together in life until called back to our Creator.  It has always meant a lot to me and I pray it does for you too. Its origins date back to 1918, a year after Father Flanagan began “Boys Town”, a home for unwanted or abandoned youth. That same year Father Flanagan had just taken in Howard Loomis an abandoned polio-stricken boy who was being carried on his back, by another young boy as they went up some stairs. Father Flanagan asked one of the older boys who would carry Howard, if carrying him was hard. The older boy responded with those words, “He ain’t heavy Father..he’s my brother.” A photo of this same older boy carrying Howard earlier in the year at a picnic, became the story line and the visual (statue of one boy carrying another) for Father Flanagan’s “Boys Town.”

It was 1969, fifty- one years later that Bobby Russell a song-writer wrote a beautiful song, while battling cancer, that was performed and became a big hit for the singing group the “Hollies, and it was titled, “He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother.” This beautiful song as performed by the Hollies, now became synonymous with charity, with helping on another. If you know the song you already know how it draws you in, and if you have never heard it, then it is time to look it up, and listen. It very much reminds me of the poem “Footprints,” where when we are having a hard time in life and we think that we are walking alone because we only see one set of footprints, that is when we find out that in those time Jesus was carrying us. This is what society needs today, we need to see that Jesus walks with us in every aspect of our lives and carries us when needed. “I am with you until the end of time.”

Here are just a few of the lines of that song, “So on we go/His welfare is of my concern/No burden is he to bear/We’ll get there. If I’m laden at all/I’m laden with sadness/That everyone’s heart/Isn’t filled with gladness of love for one another.
 
But I’m strong/strong enough to carry him. HE AIN’T HEAVY, HE’S MY BROTHER
 

      It’s been a busy couple of years at Calvary Cemetery and Good Shepherd Mausoleum.  Here is an update.  
      To better enhance the beauty and surrounding area around the mausoleum you will notice in the front, a flagpole, a large stone with a Jesus at Gethsemane placed on it, along with two large trees and many boxwood shrubs and other plantings.  All of these items were donated.  Along the sides and in the back of the Mausoleum there are four poured concrete pads.  We are awaiting the arrival of four large concrete benches for people to sit on and reflect.  On the side of each bench pad there are new shrubs.
In the back of the mausoleum there are two bench pads, along with a spot for a large Jesus statue with outstretched hands.  This is coming at the end of August or September.  On each side of the Mausoleum we will be bringing in the large transplanted trees.  Five are needed and two are spoken for.  Inside the Mausoleum there are pews that were donated and cut down to fit along with other benches, credence table, etc.  These will be stained this summer.
At Calvary Cemetery all of the machinery is now in the building by the highway.  The building will be painted very soon.  The large pole building in the middle of the new section has been sold and will be removed.
There will be a large opening to drive into the Cemetery from Highway 54.  That will also be done this year.  A new informational sign for the cemetery is in the planning stage.  Many thanks go out to all the volunteers who came out to help edge around the first section of headstones.
If anyone is interested in purchasing one of the last three trees at $700.00 each, which includes transport and transplant of the trees in the fall, please contact me.
 

Father’s Day, and every day, is and should always be a reminder of the role of a father in the family, and in society. We must pray for the fathers who play such a pivotal role in family life, and the stability of the family, for along with their wives they teach and witness to their children the importance of faith, love and the importance of the domestic church, the family unit. The Catechism of the Catholic Church calls the family the “original cell of social life…the microcosm of the Church as a whole.” It is a proven fact that fathers who take their children regularly to Church will find that a greater percentage of their children will also go to church later in life.

Society is undermining the role of fatherhood, the importance of having a father in the home, and in a child’s life. It is important to note that not all have had a father as a role model, and that there are many single mothers and fathers in the world we live in.

For many of us we pray for the repose of the souls of our fathers. June 13th of this year marked the 40th anniversary of my own father’s passing at the age of 56. Like many, my dad was my hero, my role model, someone I looked up to. As I have mentioned before one of the nicest things that was said to me after church one Sunday,
was a woman who stated she knew my father, and that I reminded her of him. That was one of those times when a mist came to my eyes, the mist of love of a father.

In 1972 as I was near the end of my deployment overseas in the Army, a beautiful song came out that was written by David Gates of the singing group Bread. It was written in tribute to his own father who had passed away while he was still quite young.  His father did not live to see the success as a singer/songwriter of his son, but his memory is kept alive in this song.  I have always loved this song, but it became even more loved after I lost my own dad.

You sheltered me from harm / kept me warm, kept me warm / you gave my life to me / set me free, set me free...you taught me how to love / what it’s of, what it’s of / you never said to much / but still you showed the way / and I knew from watching you I would give anything I own, give up my life, my heart, my home / I would give everything I own just to have you back again, just to touch you once again.My prayer is that all who still have their father, will give them a hug and let them know how much you love them. God Bless all the fathers.

     “As the beautiful poem states by Lawrence Binyon; “They shall not grow old, as we that are left grow old, age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.  At the going down of the sun and in the morning, we will remember them.”
     This Memorial Day let us pray and remember those who did not return from war.  Those who left this soil to serve their country in war time.
     Every Memorial Day there are several programs on the television that depict soldiers in war time.  Every year they show one moment in time, and they use that specific shot in several different films, and it shows the storming of the beaches on June 6th, 1944.  In that slide one young soldier is just coming off from the landing barge and running through the water and then just reaching dry land, the beach, and falls from enemy fire. To me that depicts the sacrifice of so many who were called by their country and freely gave of themselves, and in this case their very lives for their country and the freedom for all Americans to live free. 
     That young sldier had dreams, they all wanted to go home to their families, to live the American dream, and yet died young, forever young.  On this Memorial Day let us think of that one soldier, representing all who did not come home, the true price of freedom that we all enjoy.
     I still wear a POW bracelet and have for many  decades now of Major Michael Davis O’Donnell who lost his life attempting to rescue fellow soldiers in Laos.  His remains were repatriated about 10 years ago, but I will continue to wear it in honor of all who fell in the Vietnam War, and those still unaccounted for.
     This is a poem that Michael wrote from Vietnam just a couple of months before he was lost:
 
“If you are able save for them a place inside of you and save one backward glance when you are    leaving for the places they can no longer go.  Be not ashamed to say that you loved them, though you may or may not have     always.  Take what they left and what they have taught you with their dying and keep it with your own.  And in that time when men decide and feel safe to call the war insane, take one moment to embrace those gentle heroes you left    behind.”

     Pope Saint Pius X received four priests in the apostolic palace one day and greeted each of them individually.  The first introduced himself as a       university professor.  The second priest served on the faculty of a seminary.  The third practiced canon law in his chancery.  The fourth priest simply said, habeo curam animarum, which means, “I have the care of souls.”  In a very beautiful way this priest was telling Pope Pius X that he was a parish priest and then he asked for His Excellency's blessing.  Instead of giving him his blessing, it was Pope Pius X who knelt before the parish priest and asked him for his blessing.
     On this Good Shepherd Sunday, regardless of the cycle of the Liturgical year, we hear about the analogy of Jesus as the Good Shepherd.  The Good Shepherd who in year A is like the shepherd who protects his sheep, for he is the sheep gate which guards his sheep from those who wish them harm.
     In year C of the Liturgical year, we hear that Jesus is the caring shepherd, who knows and calls each of his sheep by name and they know him.
     In year B, this Liturgical year, we hear that Jesus is the model of the shepherd who was willing and did die, and like the rain that falls on both the good and the bad, he died for all of mankind.
     On this fourth Sunday of Easter we pray for more vocations, more Good Shepherds to lead the church, to guide the flock through lives of service, spreading the good news, of spreading the truth, the moral truth so desperately needed in today’s world.
     It is hard to be Christian in a society that is more worried about feelings then it is about the moral truth.  It is when we do not stand up for the truth that we find the ethical bar of society being lowered, and it weakens our own moral compass.
     We are called not to judge, but we are also called to adhering to loving and not judging the person, but the Good Shepherd also demands we also tell them the truth.  We are all called, and truly are children of God through baptism, which allows us by faith to know   Jesus, not just know about Jesus.  Regardless of what cycle we are in we are all called to reflect on what kind of shepherd we are.
     We were all designed by God to hear the voice of the Good Shepherd, through our own internal voice, our properly-formed conscience.  We all feel comfortable with the depiction of the Good Shepherd, who leads us beside the still waters, refreshes our souls and protects us in those times when the wolves of the world, relativism, materialism lead us away, embarking to find us and bring us back to the fold.  Jesus not only smells like the sheep, but he also willingly died for his sheep.
     A small portion of a Carole King song said it this way; “….and when my soul was in the lost and found, you came along to claim it.”
 

As Catholic Christians we walk into Church or pray the rosary and bless ourselves either with a crucifix on the rosary, or the crucifix in the center of the Church behind the altar.  At this time of Lent as we near Good Friday, let us remember what that crucifix represents, through the pain and suffering that Jesus went through, redeeming all mankind, and the personal freedom to seek that Cross for their eternal life.

What did Jesus really endure during those hours culminating in his death?  Christians recall Jesus praying in the Garden of Gethsemane to the point where his sweat became drops of blood.  This is a real phenomenon where the capillaries within the sweat glands can break, under extreme stress and emit blood with sweat.  After Jesus’ arrest, and without any sleep, he was blind-folded, spit on, beaten, all while in custody.  Jesus was then ordered to be scourged, which the Romans were masters at, with the ability to take what they called a flagellum, (scourge) an instrument consisting of heavy leather thongs, or bands that had lead or bone parts affixed on the end of them.  These heavy whips were then brought down on the shoulders the back and the legs of Jesus all the while having his hands, and his wrists tied together to a post above his head.  This brutal scourging would cut through the skin, and repeated blows would open the deeper tissues, the capillaries, veins causing blood loss.  The Romans knew exactly how and where to contact the body with these whips, causing the most damage without killing the recipient of these 39 blows.  Jesus by this time his face already beaten, and bloodied beyond recognition, now faced nerve damage, extreme pain and loss of blood,    dehydration, and extreme weakness as they weaved and then placed a crown of long sharp thorns, not just placed, but forced down on his head again causing copious blood to stream down his face, as he stood with a purple robe on his body, hearing the crowd yell for his crucifixion.

That slow walk to Calvary with Jesus carrying his Cross across his already brutalized shoulders, fell many times due to his loss of blood, his dehydration, until they reached their destination.  They ripped off that robe, tearing those open wounds, and threw him down on that wooden cross and proceeded to nail his hands and feet through the part of the wrist and feet not to break bones but to inflict pain and allow the hands and feet some ability to move in order to prolong the suffering.  Crucifixion brutalizes the nerves and the  crucified endures inhuman pain and suffering.  Jesus would have to push up on his nailed feet with nearly paralyzed muscles in order to breath in.  All the while enduring three hours of endless pain.  Though a young healthy young man, he would be beginning to feel the chest pain from the filling, by fluid, of the pericardium, the sack around the heart, and now compressing the heart.

With his lungs now filling with fluid Jesus struggled to speak those final seven words from the Cross, each time having to deal with the extreme pain of just trying to lift  himself up to breath, and yet speaking out forgiveness from that Cross.   After a grueling three hours of agony, Jesus’ heart beating even faster and no longer able to carry the load, it would begin fluttering and Jesus feeling death   coming over him, and with all he had left he said,               “IT IS FINISHED.”

The strong words of the title were spoken by Flannery O’Connor, a devout Catholic in 1950, in response to Mary McCarthy a career writer and fallen away Catholic, about the Eucharist, after she said, “I think of the Eucharist as a symbol.”  Flannery O’Connor who herself will become a prominent Catholic writer was quick to respond, “If it’s a symbol, to hell with it.”

When one hears that over half of practicing Catholics do not see the Eucharist any more than just a symbol, it is time for a Eucharistic Revival.  In the Catechism, #1324 it says; “The Eucharist is the source and summit of the Christian life.”  The other sacraments of the Church, the Church ministries, and all its works, are attached and point to the Eucharist.  Thomas Aquinas said that Jesus’ power is in effect in the other sacraments, but he is truly present in the sacrament of the altar.

The substance of the bread and wine become the substance of Christ’s body, while the appearance   remains as bread and wine. (Transubstantiation) Jesus used many times, when he spoke, parables, analogies to help those who heard his words better understand their meaning.  

In many of our Scripture readings we hear what Jesus said about the bread of life, the bread of eternal life.  “Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures for eternal life.”  (John 6:26-27)  “Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness and died, this is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die.” (John 6:49-50)  Jesus then says, “I am the living bread that came down from heaven.  Whoever eats of this bread will live forever; AND THE BREAD THAT I WILL GIVE FOR THE LIFE OF THE WORLD IS MY FLESH.” (John 6:51)

Jesus spoke to his disciples about eating his flesh and drinking his blood and many were driven away.  Jesus could have easily said wait I was not talking literally only symbolically, but instead he continued, “For my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink.”  (John 6:55)
    
The bread of life discourse shows that the disciples of Jesus understand that this Jesus they have been following, meant exactly what he had said.  Even Jesus knew that this was a statement he had to make and when those who heard it had left, he turned himself to the twelve and asked, “DO YOU ALSO WISH TO GO AWAY?

“Through Him, with Him and in Him,” is the Eucharistic prayer that we hear at Mass, and very well describes that which we are about to partake in.

Through general reading of what sacraments are, we come to understand that they are signs, signs of grace, and through them we receive grace.  Thomas Aquinas simply said; “They cause what they signify.”  The Eucharist is necessary to nourish a life of grace.  It is the mystery of water and wine that we come to share in the divinity of Christ.  Just as he comes into our life to share in our humanity.

Bishop Robert Barron explains the substances of bread and wine changing into the Body and Blood of Jesus, while remaining in appearance bread and wine, by saying, “The same God who made bread and wine from nothing and sustains them from moment to moment can transform the deepest ontological (the nature of existence) centers of those things into something else.”  Pope Benedict defined this very well when he said, “...the bread and wine lose their independence as creatures and become through God’s power, pure signs of Christ’s presence.”

An important statement to remember is that of Thomas Aquinas when he said, “God does not know things because they exist, but rather that things exist because God knows them.”  Jesus’ words in his ministry have an effect and they transform or alter to whom or what he is referencing.  That is why when we now come to the Last Supper and we hear Jesus say; “This is my Body” and “This is my Blood,” that altered, changed that bread and wine into his Body and Blood.

Bishop Barron said, “This efficacious or effective word of Christ...endures in the Church...in its preaching, its teaching, its sacraments and above all in the  Eucharistic liturgy.”  The priest states these words of Christ at the Last Supper, at each Mass and then in the person of Christ (Persona Christi) he states Jesus’ words, “This is my Body, which will be given up for you...the chalice of my Blood, the Blood of the new and eternal covenant.”

The real presence of Christ in the Eucharist is the effect of power of the word, the word which is Jesus himself.  If the elements of bred and wine were merely symbols we would be able to say “TO HELL WITH IT“  But they are truly the presence of God through the word of Jesus, and now the priest, and it has an effect on our lives as Christians for when we receive and say Amen, we are saying, “I BELIEVE”.