Month: October 2020

Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near. Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. (Philippian 4:4-7, NRSV)

This blessing of St Paul to the Philippian community was written during a time of great duress. Paul was in prison when he wrote these words to the Philippian community. Christianity was experiencing persecution, as a religion by Imperial Rome, as a sect within Judaism, and, also experiencing great division within itself. Though both Peter and Paul had largely settled their differences by the time this letter was written, the conservative Jewish Christian church of Jerusalem was still a very divisive element in the early Christian Church, so much so, that the great scripture scholar Raymond Brown found written evidence that it was James’ Christian community in Jerusalem that alerted the Roman authorities of the presence of Peter in Rome at the time of the first Roman persecution.[1] Even within the Christian community of Philippi there were factions vying against one another.

Yet, in the midst of all this unrest, outside and within the Christian community, Paul insists that the Philippian community must not be consumed by worry, but to rather be joyful. They are to do what they can, and leave everything else up to God, who ultimately will resolve all conflict. In doing what is humanly possible, they must trust God to do that which only divine intervention can accomplish. In their trust of God to reconcile all things, they will find peace.

As I read these words, I was reminded of another time of great unrest in our world. In the Autumn of 1938, Nazi Germany invaded Sudentenland. Totalitarianism ruled a great deal of the world; Hitler in Germany, Mussolini in Italy, Franco in Spain, Stalin in the Soviet Union, and Hirohito in Japan. The United States was just recovering from the Great Depression in which many Americans were displaced and unemployed, and many family farms destroyed by drought resulting in the Dustbowl. Fascism and Communism was seeking its hold within the nation as Franklin D Roosevelt began The New Deal.

It was during this time that the film You Can’t Take It With You was released. The film directed by Frank Capra, is, in my opinion, a cinematic metaphor of this blessing from Paul to the Philippians. Grandpa Sycamore presides over a large home filled with an eclectic people comprised of family members, extended family members, acquaintances, and, essentially, the neighborhood in which his house is located. Earlier in life, Grandpa had decided to quit his quest for great wealth and power in order to focus his life on building up relationships within his family, his neighborhood, and his community. He refers to the people in these relationships as “lilies”, derived from Jesus’ parable of the Lilies of the Field. Within the story, conflict does occur, the relationships that Grandpa had steadfastly built up during his lifetime nearly come to an end, but Grandpa’s ultimate trust in God to make things right prevails. Grandpa does what he is able to do and puts the rest in the hands of God. This is beautifully expressed in the closing scene of the movie in which Grandpa presides in many ways at what liturgists would call a “home eucharist.” All the protagonists, family and extended family members are gathered around a large dining room table as Grandpa prays this meal blessing.

“Well, sir (God), here we are again.
We’ve had quite a time of it lately,
but it seems that the worst of it is over.
Of course, the fireworks all blew up,
but we can’t very well blame that on you.
Anyway, everything’s turned out fine
as it usually does.
Alice is going to marry Tony.
Mr. Kirby, who’s turned out to be
a good egg, has sold us back our house…
…and he’ll probably forget
all about big deals for a while.
Nobody on our block has to move.
And with the right handling…
…I think we can even thaw out
Mrs. Kirby in time.
We’ve all got our health,
and as far as anything else is concerned…
…we still leave that up to you.
Thank you.”[2]

So, here we are today. The world is in as great a mess as it was in the time of Paul, and in the time that the movie, You Can’t Take It With You, was released in 1938. There is a rise in totalitarian leaders in Poland, Italy, and Hungary, a totalitarian leader in Russia, North Korea, China, Venezuela, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, what’s left of Syria, and a wannebe totalitarian leader wishing to establish his own family dynasty in the United Sates. Our nation is torn by racism, white vigilante groups armed with AK-47’s roaming our city streets and countryside, exacting their own brand of justice. A nationwide pandemic has largely destroyed everything under the umbrella of the entertainment industry, livelihoods of many families and family businesses wiped out, resulting in widespread poverty, homelessness, and hunger, and, worse of all, the deaths of over 228,000 people and rising in the United States. On top of all the infections and deaths of Covid-19, we have an administration that is working hard to take away all medical care of those most vulnerable.

Yes, the situation is very bleak and desperate, and the peace, for which we all seek, very elusive. This blessing from Paul in his letter to the Philippians seeks us out. First, Paul reminds us to do what we can to better the situation, namely, 1) to get out and vote rebuilding order, compassion, love, and mercy within our society. Secondly, Paul reminds us that after we have done all we can do, then to let God do all the rest. As Grandpa Sycamore says so very succinctly, “We’ve all got our health, and as far as anything else is concerned… we still leave that up to you. Thank you.”

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[1] In the book Antioch and Rome: New Testament Cradles of Catholic Christianity, © 1983, Paulist Press, co-written by Raymond Brown and John Meier, Brown cites written evidence from James’ Christian community in Jerusalem to the Roman authorities, just prior to the Nero persecution of the Christians, that Peter was present in Rome. 

[2] From the movie, You Can’t Take It With You, © 1938, script by Robert Riskin, directed by Frank Capra,  based on the play of the same name © 1936, by George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart, and released by Columbia Pictures.

I just found today that my new song cycle of piano music, “Musical Reflections On A Pandemic” is digitally being released on Amazon Music, iTunes, and many streaming services. On the Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young live album, Four Way Street, Neil Young introduces a song with the words, “Here is a new song that is guaranteed to bring you right down. It is called, ‘Don’t Let It Bring You Down’.”One might think that a collection of music entitled, “Musical Reflections On A Pandemic”, might just hold a similar experience for the listener.

While there are some songs that are somber in nature (let’s face it, living through a pandemic is NOT a cakewalk), the majority of the songs are not cloaked in somber tones. In spite of the 223,000 recorded deaths in the United States at the time that I write this, life does go on. People still get married, infants are born, children play with puppies in the yard, adolescent love continues its clumsy exploration, love deepens in couples sheltering in place, and heroism is displayed by all those first responders and medical personnel in our hospitals and clinics. There is plenty of hope to be had in the midst of all the grim news we see, hear, and read in the news.

I have been present to many people at times of crises in their lives during my forty-two years of ministry. The time I have spent in isolation with my wife, Ruthie, and our family as we have sheltered in place these long months, have given me plenty of time to reflect upon the crises many people are facing during this pandemic.

I began the composing of this music first by meditating on how this pandemic has affected our lives. This led to the writing of ten poems. The music is programmatic in that it reflects the sentiment expressed in each poem. During the composing music process, I found an interactive relationship between the notes in the score with the words of the poetry. There were times in which the music dictated a change to the text of a poem. Of course, the change in wording would then be reflected in the musical score.

While the majority of the music is decidedly in the genre of the Romantic period, the listener will find elements representative of the Baroque period, Medieval Dance, and Impressionistic periods of music.

While one can simply just listen to the music, for a deeper experience of the music I would suggest to the listener to first read and reflect on the poem, and, then, listen to the music.

I hope that the listener will find the music on this album, spiritual, meditative, enjoyable, and an aide in coping with these very trying times in our lives.

TABLE OF POEMS AND SONGS

1. Juxtaposition 1: Prelude for a Dying Loved One and a
2. Fugue for a Newborn Infant.
3. An Estampie for Would Be Lovers
4. Song for the Unknown Dead
5. Frolic for Children and Puppies
6. Juxtaposition 2: A Berceuse for a Deceased Loved One and a Waltz for Newlywed Couples.
7. Sheltering in Love: A Rhapsody for Ruthie
8. Feast of Fools: A Pandemic Danse Macabre
9. March of a Solitary Sentry
10. Nocturne for Our Medical Heroes
11. Hymn for Our God of Many Faces

With the feast of All Saints Day and All Souls Day, two feasts in the Catholic Church which I really regard as one feast, it is natural for one’s thoughts to think of the deaths of loved ones and friends. With most birds migrating to warmer climates, the days getting colder, and nature transitioning into the cold, darkness of winter, it only amplifies a general feeling of loss.

With the death of my brother, Bill, on February 1, 2019, I have no living members of my nuclear family, with the exception of Ruthie, our children, and our grandchildren. My mom and dad, and all my siblings have died. My brother had indicated that he wished his cremains to be buried on the grave of my sister, so my whole family is buried together at Roselawn Cemetery in Roseville. Given this, I was surprised, when suggested by Ruthie that we go visit their gravesites, my reluctance to travel to the cemetery to “pay my respects”.

I can give a number of practical reasons for not visiting their gravesites. First, they are buried an hour and twenty minutes from my home. Second, after a year in which I have had four surgeries on my left ankle, I am not very steady walking on uneven surfaces. My family is buried inn an unlevel, slightly hilly plots in the cemetery. I feel very leery about trying to walk up and down a hill to get to and from their burial sites. Third, with the third wave of the Covid-19 pandemic causing rising infections and deaths in the State of Minnesota, I am very reluctant to leave my home to go anywhere but the grocery store. With the number of Minnesotans who actually believe the falsehoods of our current president about the pandemic, and selfishly refuse to wear masks in public places, much less socially distance themselves from others, I try to avoid most public places (though I do note that the chance of being infected at a cemetery is slight to none).

Now all the reasons stated above are reasonable and practical. Over the next six months, I expect that I will grow more steady to walk on uneven surfaces. Over the next year, I expect that a vaccine will be developed in which I can place my trust so that I can be inoculated against the Covid-19 virus, thus making the long trip to the cemetery more reasonable and safe.

However, as reasonable and practical as these reasons may be, they are not the primary reasons why I do not feel compelled to go visit the gravesites of my mother, father, sister, and brother.

Over forty-two years of active church ministry, I have played, prayed, and presided over the funerals of countless people. I remember one month in which I was involved in over 20 funerals (the Angel of Death was certainly circling over the Church of St Wenceslaus that month). At an average, I was probably involved in 40 to 50 funerals a year. In spite of the number of funerals in which I have been involved, I never have grown callous about death and the impact of a loved one’s death on family, friends, and community. So why my reluctance to go visit the graves of my family? Am I some heartless bastard? Far from it.

Science informs us that our bodies wear out over time. I am a living example of this. I have had three artificial hip replacements, a knee replacement, and presently, a heavy duty metal plate with ten screws in my left ankle. I have so much metal in me, that my former pastor, Fr Kevin Clinton, called me Robo Deacon. I remember at an IANDS (International Association of Near Death Studies, an association of scientists, medical doctors, and near death survivors), the body being referred to as a “space suit” in which a person’s soul navigates our world. Over time, the “space suit” wears out and can no longer be used anymore. Over the 20+ years of my sister’s chronic illness, I visibly saw the disintegration of my sister’s body by her chronic illness. As mighty and powerful as my sister’s spirit is, and her strong will to live regardless of her illness, her body deteriorated to the point to which her spirit could no longer inhabit that body. Ruthie, our daughters, and I were with her when she died. I remember my father saying that at the time of her death, my sister’s face relaxed into a smile.

Paul, in the fourth chapter of his second letter to the Corinthians, speaks to this. “So we do not lose heart. Even though our outer nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being renewed day by day. ¹⁷ For this slight momentary affliction is preparing us for an eternal weight of glory beyond all measure, ¹⁸ because we look not at what can be seen but at what cannot be seen; for what can be seen is temporary, but what cannot be seen is eternal. (2^nd Corinthians 4: 16-18, New Revised Standard Version)

In this part of his letter, Paul acknowledges that our bodies naturally waste away. He then informs us that this world and all we know is only a temporary place of being, for that which is real, that which is eternal lays just beyond our sight in our present plane of existence.

Paul continues at the beginning of the 5^th Chapter using the metaphor of our bodies as a tent that is gradually destroyed. “For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. ² For in this tent we groan, longing to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling— ³ if indeed, when we have taken it off we will not be found naked. ⁴ For while we are still in this tent, we groan under our burden, because we wish not to be unclothed but to be further clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. ⁵ He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who has given us the Spirit as a guarantee. ⁶ So we are always confident; even though we know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord— ⁷ for we walk by faith, not by sight. ⁸ Yes, we do have confidence, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord” (2^nd Corinthians 5:1-7, New Revised Standard Version)

These two passages from Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians have changed how I approach death, and the practice of visiting the graves of my loved ones. In the Catholic Church, to show respect for the human body in which the soul of a person is enfolded, we bury the human remains or cremains of the ones we love. We mark the places, in which the human remains or cremains are buried. However, if what Paul writes in his letter to the Corinthians is true, namely, that the human soul yearns to jettison the “tent” in which we dwell and are burdened so that we may be clothed with our heavenly dwelling, the place in which our “tent” is buried is emptied of our presence. Who we are, our souls, no longer inhabit the dead body that is buried. Who we are, our souls, are now clothed in the glory of God. All the gravesite marks is that this person once lived and walked this earth. Who that person is is gone and has moved on to a different plane of existence.

The funeral prayers of the Catholic Church are seemingly contradictory. In one set of prayers, principally the burial prayers, they speak of the bodies of our loved ones being buried in this place until the second coming of Christ. The prayers give the impression that the souls of our loved ones are trapped in the decaying body or cremains buried in the ground until the time when Jesus comes at the end of time.

 In second set of prayers, that of the funeral, the prayers speak of our loved ones leaving this plane of chronological time and entering into the timelessness of metaphysical time. Their souls are not trapped in their graves, rather, the second coming of Christ has already happened. The Last Judgment has already happened.

So why the contradiction in these prayers? The first set, those set in chronological time, are for those of us still living in chronological time. We tick off the years, the months, the days, the hours, and the minutes. For we who are trapped in chronological time, the fact is that the bodies of our loved ones are there buried at the cemetery. However, for our loved ones who have died, the second set of funeral prayers apply. They have entered metaphysical time, no longer trapped by the rising and setting of the sun year after year. They have entered into the freedom and joy of God’s timelessness. Their eyes have been opened and they look upon and now live in eternity.

 I don’t need to visit the gravesites of my father and mother, my sister and my brother, to honor the memories of who they were. Who they are not imprisoned in a grave awaiting the second coming of Jesus. The very genes of my father and mother are a huge part of my own genetic makeup. I carry them in my body. For me, they are very much alive and well and present to me. All I need do is merely think their name, and they are there by my side. I remember them and many of my extended family and friends by name every night in prayer. I honor the date on which they were born in this world, and honor the date on which they were born into eternal life.

The only meaning their gravesite holds for me and for the world, is that they once lived and inhabited this earth. However, they have moved on to something far better than what this world offered. They are alive and well, and have reached the promise and happiness for which they longed while alive in their bodies. And, so, I am content to allow their bodies to rest at Roselawn Cemetery. I have no need to visit them. They are always here, present to me, at the mere thought of their name.

Today, this meme was posted on my Facebook feed. It brought back a flood of memories for me of that time. I did not fight in the Vietnam War. Though I was in college, I never applied for a student deferment from the draft because I thought it was unfair to those of my generation who were not in college. Why should I receive a privilege that was unavailable to those who did not? The year I was eligible for the draft, it had evolved into the lottery system. A number was assigned to a person’s birthday. As it happened, the number that was assigned to my birthday was 266. Had I been born a day before or a day after my birthday, my draft number would have been 60 or 158. The draft board went up to 254 that year. From that moment on I was given a new draft status, 1-H. I ended up not being drafted into the armed forces.

However, I never forgot those who fought, died, and those wounded by that war. The irreparable psychological damage caused by combat was as grave as the physical wounds suffered by these men and women who served. Many died in the Vietnam War, but didn’t know it as Agent Orange completed that task many, many years later.

On this anniversary of what now has been seen as a major failure of American policy with such a high cost in human life, I resubmit a prayer song I composed back in 1975 for those who fought and died in that war. It was one of my first piano musical compositions. I think the song equally applies to all those who have fought in the Gulf War, in Iraq, and in Afghanistan.

In the Star Tribune today, a news story of the complicity of Jeff Sessions and Rod Rosenstein in the horrific criminal and racist policy of Donald Trump, Stephen Miller, and the rest of the racists in his administration and Department of Homeland Security was reported by the Inspector General of the Justice Department.

In reading about this account, I think of the same kind of policy that Heinrich Himmler and Adolf Hitler contrived in their “final solution” to the Jewish population.

I remember how shocked and outraged I was when this policy was first being implemented by trump, miller, sessions, and Homeland Security in the summer of 2018. In my many years of ministry, I have ministered to and with the Latino community, some documented and some undocumented. This segment of our population is no more criminal than the Caucasian or any other community. The hardest workers I have known have been Latino men and women. Their understanding of the blessings of the greater community far stronger than many of us who come from Northern European ancestry. The harm inflicted on these suffering families by trump and those complicit in trump’s crimes is irreparable.

Jesus makes it very clear in the Gospel of Matthew the importance of welcoming the refugee. “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory. ³² All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, ³³ and he will put the sheep at his right hand and the goats at the left. ³⁴ Then the king will say to those at his right hand, ‘Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; ³⁵ for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, ³⁶ I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.’ ³⁷ Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink? ³⁸ And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing? ³⁹ And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?’ ⁴⁰ And the king will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.’” (Matthew 25:31-40, New Revised Standard Version)

It is very convenient for many who call themselves Christian to forget that Jesus, Mary, and Joseph were political refugees who fled for their lives to Egypt. Herod the Great who slaughtered a countless number of children in his attempt to kill Jesus. It was only after Herod’s death, that it was safe for Jesus, Mary, and Joseph to return to Palestine.

¹³ Now after they (the Magi) had left, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Get up, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you; for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him.” ¹⁴ Then Joseph got up, took the child and his mother by night, and went to Egypt, ¹⁵ and remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet, “Out of Egypt I have called my son.” ¹⁶ When Herod saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, he was infuriated, and he sent and killed all the children in and around Bethlehem who were two years old or under, according to the time that he had learned from the wise men. Then was fulfilled what had been spoken through the prophet Jeremiah: ¹⁸ “A voice was heard in Ramah, wailing and loud lamentation, Rachel weeping for her children; she refused to be consoled, because they are no more.” ¹⁹ When Herod died, an angel of the Lord suddenly appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt and said, ²⁰ “Get up, take the child and his mother, and go to the land of Israel, for those who were seeking the child’s life are dead.” ²¹ Then Josepha got up, took the child and his mother, and went to the land of Israel. ²² But when he heard that Archelaus was ruling over Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. And after being warned in a dream, he went away to the district of Galilee. ²³ There he made his home in a town called Nazareth, so that what had been spoken through the prophets might be fulfilled, “He will be called a Nazorean.” (Matthew 2: 13-23, New Revised Standard Version)

I decided to channel my anger, my outrage, into two musical prayer songs for piano in my cycle of songs, Psalm Offerings Opus 10. I composed these two songs in a very short period of time. They were published by CD Baby in September of 2018.

Here are the two songs:

Today is the feast of Don Yackley. For those who do not what a feast is, it is the date on which a person dies. Why would we celebrate a day filled with such sadness? The Catholic Church views that day as the day a person is born into everlasting life.

Now I know that many ultra-orthodox Catholics would criticize me for ignoring October 7th as the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary. I counter that criticism by saying the Mother of Jesus has multiple feasts, including three Solemnities (Immaculate Conception, Mary, Mother of God, and Assumption), along with many minor feasts. Given the giving nature of Mary, as pictured especially in the Gospel of Luke, Mary is not a glutton and would easily concede this day over to Don. Besides which, the feast is the celebration of the defeat of the Turkish fleet by the Christian fleet at the sea Battle of Lepanto. The defeat was attributed to the praying of the rosary. While I would never deny the power of prayer, the intercessions of the saints, in this case, Mary Mother of God, on our behalf, on a day like today, we never take time to think about the tremendous loss of human life on both sides of that sea battle, and pray for those who died in that battle. This is something I think should be rectified.

However, today is Don’s feast day. I see the presence of Don, and his business partner, Kevin, everywhere in my home. Ruthie and I appreciate the wonderful transformation Don and Kevin accomplished in the many rooms of our home.

If I remember correctly, it was in the winter of 2016 following the 5 pm Saturday night Mass that Don and Jackie told me that he was initially diagnosed with ALS. I felt devastated by the news. I went home and began composing the following piano song as a prayer for Don and Jackie. I completed the song two days later, recorded it and gave it to Don and Jackie.

Our lives touch and impact the lives of many people. Don’s life was a tremendous blessing for my family and I. I still grieve his passing as I rejoice that his body is no longer imprisoned by such a devastating disease. Rest in the joy and peace of God’s reign, good friend.

READINGS: IS 5:1-7,  PHIL 4:6-9, MT 21:33-43

Another week has passed by as we enter into this 27^th week of Ordinary Time. The events of this week have continued the pattern of that of the past three years, namely, disruptive, unsettling and generally horrific for our nation, and the rest of humanity. The scriptural readings for the past four or five weeks has been eerily prophetic for our time.

Through the prophet Isaiah, God warns the people of Israel that they must not be complacent about being the Chosen People of God. Their self-righteousness will be their downfall and they will be destroyed by their enemies unless they repent and transform their lives. They have a choice to make. Repair their relationship with God, and live by the statute of God’s justice and peace, or choose to continue to follow their own path and suffer the consequences. As world history informs us, they chose to abandon God and go their own way. The Babylonian King, Nebuchadnezzar, invaded Judah, leveled Jerusalem, destroyed the Temple, and enslaved all but the poor of Judah, exiling them to Babylon.

Jesus in the Gospel tells the parable of the Landlord and his Vineyard. It is clear that the rebellious people who torture and kill the messengers of the Landlord, and later, kill the son of the Landlord, is Jesus’ thinly veiled reference to the Jewish religious leaders of his time. Jesus warns them, as did Isaiah did the Judeans of his time, that their self-righteousness and their complacency will be their downfall. He concludes the parable by stating that the Reign of God will be taken from them and given by God to those who are more worthy, namely, the people they despise the most. Jesus often tells the religious leaders of his time that the most despised people, the prostitutes and tax collectors, will be first into the Reign of God.

I spoke much about the danger of self-righteousness in last week’s homily. Again, self-righteousness is just selfishness and self-centeredness disguised in respectable clothing. In this time of great political unrest, most of us, including myself, are tempted to clothe ourselves in self-righteousness. The question that raises itself for myself is whether in my speaking out on important events, is this being outspoken motivated by self-interest or motivated by interest in others? The intent behind being outspoken is extremely important.

In Catholic theology around the reception of sacraments, the intent of the one receiving the sacrament is equally important as the sign of the sacrament. For instance, in receiving the sacrament of reconciliation (formerly known as confession), it is equally important that the one receiving absolution for his/her sins, is truly repentant of the sin being absolved, as it is in receiving absolution from the priest. If the recipient of the absolution is not repentant and intends to keep on committing that particular sin, all the absolutions given by all the priests in the Church will NOT absolve that sin. In the baptism of children, it is the intent of the parents that their child to be raised according to the laws of Christ and the Church is as important as the pouring of water and speaking of the baptismal formula by the deacon or priest. In fact, in baptism, the parents are asked three times in the ceremony whether they know what they are getting into, what that intends, and how that will impact their raising of their child. In the sacrament of matrimony, it is the couple who actually do the sacrament. The priest or deacon merely witnesses that sacrament for the Church, and in the United States, witnesses the marriage for the State. It is the three questions of intent that the couple do prior to the exchange of vows and rings that is the MOST important part of the sacrament. The couple MUST FULLY intend to: 1. freely and without reservation enter into this sacrament; 2. promise to remain faithful to one another for the rest of your lives; and, 3. open their lives to have children and raise them according the laws of Christ and his Church. If either the bride or the groom do not intend to live by these three intentions, the sacrament does NOT happen.

The bottom line is that the intent behind our words and our actions is as important as the words we speak and the actions we take. Are the words and the actions we take fueled by a desire to better the lives of others, or is it fueled by only desiring to better ourselves to the detriment of others. Is it about others, or only about me? This is the question we must ask ourselves as we take our stance on issues. If it is only about me, than St Paul in the 11^th chapter of his first letter to the Corinthians would label me a “noisy gong.” Jesus tells us over and over and over again in the Gospels, that self-glory was not the reason why he incarnated as a human being. He didn’t come to BE served, he came to SERVE others. The first will be last and the last will be first, he teaches the self-righteous of his time. Pope Francis has told the Catholic self-righteous that atheists will get into heaven before the self-righteous.

Now reexamine the events of this past week and the players in those events and evaluate to your best the intent behind what they did. Was it all about self-glory, or was it about serving others. Now we must do the same for ourselves. If our intentions were true, if our words and actions were more about the common good for others, then we will rest in the peace of God, of which St Paul writes in his letter to the Philippians, that surpasses all understanding, which guards our hearts and our minds.