Mon 7th Week of OT Homily

1st Reading: Jas 3:13-18

Responsorial Psalm: Ps 18:8-10,15

Gospel: Mk 9:14-29

Everyone looks too tame inside of this chapel. After reading this Gospel I expect to see something which resembles a horror movie, but I do not see it. Where are the people who are being thrown into convulsions, why is nobody foaming at the mouth, and why is nobody being thrown down out of their seats? I feel a little ripped off! Everybody here is truly tame compared to this Gospel passage, but thankfully so because if not our seminary's counseling services would be kept so busy that there would be no time for the counselors to even sleep. This seminary community is truly a tame place compared to anything that we heard in Mark's Gospel.

As we approach this Lenten season on Wednesday we must ask ourselves if our inward disposition matches what we present on the outside. It is not good for us to walk around acting as if everything in the world is okay when in all actuality we are such a mess inside that we resemble the child possessed by a demon. Lent is the perfect time to confront these inward dispositions and begin to put them to rest, so that we may better grow towards the love that Christ shares with each of us. No matter how large or small these dispositions may be Christ desires that each us open ourselves up to Him, so that we may become greater disciples.

Whenever we confront growth in any area we must do so through prayer. The apostles failed at cleansing the child because they failed to trust in prayer. As we enter into Lent and confront our own demons we must trust in prayer. Through the power of prayer we allow Christ to enter into our lives and thus joy will be brought to our hearts. No matter what short coming or struggle that we may face in the process of formation to the priesthood Christ is always present asking us to enter into a deeper relationship with Him through prayer. Through trust in the healing power of prayer we can begin the path towards righteousness which will tame all that going on inside of the silence of our hearts.

6th Sun of OT Year B Homily

1st Reading: Leviticus 13:1-2,44-46

Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 32: 1-2, 5, 11

2nd Reading: 1 Cor 10: 31-11:1

Gospel: Mark 1:40-45

Over my Christmas break I was assigned to a parish in Knoxville, Tennessee that had a school attached to it. One morning at the school's morning Mass the readings spoke about leprosy. The priest asked the children if they knew what a leper was and a bunch of hands shot up in the air. He called on a girl in the front pew who was in kindergarten and she answered with all the confidence in the world that a leper was an animal with black spots on it.

So what exactly is a leper and how does leprosy pertain to all of us?

Of course at least 99.9% of us know that a leper and a leopard are two totally different things. Today's reading from Leviticus informs us about leprosy and tells us what action must be taken with those who suffer from its burden. We are told that lepers are those who suffer from the rotting of their flesh and thus they are proclaimed as being unclean and need to be thrown outside of the community, so that it will not spread to others. When we move into the New Testament with the Gospel of Mark we see this same amount of fear being placed inside of the leper. The priest of the temple had already proclaimed this man as unclean and thus he was thrown outside of his community. To be a leper is not a pleasant thing, not only because of the rotting of your flesh, but most importantly because you have been separated from your community. I can imagine no punishment greater than having to leave behind everything that I know and never being given the opportunity to go back to it. To put it simply the life of a leper is doomed because everyone is afraid of you, nobody knows how to cure you, and you have been separated from friends and family.

Of course a leper is so foreign to us that we might as well be talking about leopards. Indeed a leper might be foreign to us, but we have more in relation with them then we may realize. If we glance into the lives of the people of this world including those who live in Jasper or attend Holy Family Church we will be able to see the life of the leper being played out continuously. There are those who are present who feel that they have been punished by disease and know not where to turn in their pain. People who have felt the sorrow of separation through divorce or children moving far away for school or work, and yet they have been left behind and now feel cast off. Maybe work or school may be weighing heavily upon you to the point that you feel a great pressure that can never get better. No matter where we find ourselves we can defiantly say that we each share in our moments which connect us to the leper who has been cast out of the community.

When we speak about our resemblance to the leper we cannot forget how we have made ourselves unclean through committing sin. Since the Fall of humanity through the sin of Adam and Eve we have been unclean. Despite having our sins washed away in the waters of baptism we continue to fall into sin and make ourselves unclean. Going back to the wisdom of children I think of a class that I once attended which concerned original, mortal, and venial sin. The assignment was to draw a picture which represented each of these sins. Mortal sin was often depicted as killing somebody while venial sin was often drawn as stealing. One girl hit the nail on the head because she drew a sick person for the one who had committed venial sin and drew a person placed inside of a body bag concerning the person who committed mortal sin. This girl did not confuse a leopard with a leper here, but instead was able to recognize the reality of sin within our lives. Sin is our own choice to enter into the life of the leper because through it we have decided that we want to be cast off from the community. When we have been cast off from the community we have placed ourselves in the trap of the body bag that represents mortal sin.

Thankfully Christ hears each of our cries as he heard the cry of the leper in the Gospel of Mark. Upon hearing this cry which was made with great faith Christ stretched out his hand and touched him. At the instant that he was touched he was cured from everything that ailed him. Thanks to this healing touch the leper was now able to become part of the community again. No longer would this man have to dwell on the outside, but finally through his great faith was able to enter into relationship with Christ. No matter how busy our lives become or how much we live in fear we can no longer live in exile. With great faith we should come before Christ and hand over all our joys and fears. No matter what we bring to Him He will not run away in fear, but will be prepared to console and heal us.

The Church extends its hands to us like Christ extended His hand to the leper. We have been given Sacraments that are not here to punish by casting us off, but instead welcome us to enter into the love and mercy of God. Love and mercy is shown through each of the seven sacraments which are presented to us. If we are sick and in danger of death, Anointing of the Sick is present to bring healing to our troubled bodies and souls. No matter the sin that dwells within us we know that the Sacrament of Reconciliation exists to extend its arm of mercy and forgiveness to each of us. We also have the great Sacrament of Christ's Body and Blood that is found in the Holy Eucharist. It through this Sacrament that people of different backgrounds join together as one community of faith.

When we are troubled, filled with fear, and believe that we are all alone may we place our trust in the extended hand of Christ because it will only be here that we will be proclaimed as clean.

Bishop Stika's Response to HHS Mandate

Bishop Stika has released his letter concerning the HHS Madate. I encourage you to read it and also do everything possible to help combat it. As a nation where the people value the freedom that has been bestowed upon them we cannot allow these freedoms to begin to be pushed away. Above all may we join in prayer concerning this mandate. You can also view this response at the Diocese of Knoxville website by clicking here.

February 2, 2012

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ:

I write to you having just returned from my Ad Limina visit with Pope Benedict XVI who shares deeply the concerns that I and all the U.S. bishops have regarding a matter that calls for our steadfast prayer, solidarity and action. On January 20th, the federal government cast aside the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution and essentially stripped Catholics and citizens of any faith of our Nation’s first and most fundamental freedom—our religious liberty.

In a decision that the Obama Administration calls “fair and balanced,” the mandate of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services forces almost all employers, including Catholic employers, to include sterilization, abortion-inducing drugs, and contraception in their employees’ health coverage. Additionally, almost all health insurers will be forced to include these “services” in their health policies. And regardless of a person’s conscience, almost all individuals will be forced to buy that coverage as a part of this Administration’s policies.

This ruling will have dire consequences upon Catholics nationwide and the millions who are ministered to and served through our Catholic schools, higher education institutions, hospitals and charities. It is these that bear the name “Catholic,” founded as expressions of our Christian witness as disciples of Christ, that the Administration now deems to be secular in nature and subject to their manipulation. In so ruling, Catholics are compelled to either violate their consciences or to drop health coverage for employees and to suffer the penalties for doing so.

Let us not be deceived. What we are witnessing, as Pope Benedict XVI stated, is the drastic shift from “religious freedom to a mere freedom of worship without guarantees of respect for freedom of conscience.” This shift is but a thinly disguised way of silencing the moral witness of Catholics in protecting the sanctity and dignity of every human life, in defending marriage and family from attacks upon it, and from sowing the seeds of our faith through our works of mercy. It is an attempt to put a bushel basket over the light of our Catholic faith (Luke 11:33) and to keep it a private matter to be expressed only inside a church, and even then with limits.

And so I join with my brother bishops throughout our nation in emphatically stating that we cannot and will not comply with this unjust law! It is time for Catholics to act.

But no call to action is first without a call to prayer. And so I ask you to join me in prayer and fasting to ask God for the strength and wisdom to fight this unjust law. I ask you also to contact Congress and to ask them to reverse this decision and enact legislation that protect the rights of conscience. You can do so through the U.S. bishops webpage at www.usccb.org/conscience

With my blessing and prayers for all of you and your loved ones.

Sincerely in Christ,

The Most Reverend Richard F. Stika

Bishop of Knoxville

Fathers of Mercy Pictures

I have attached a few pictures from my retreat with the Fathers of Mercy in Auburn, KY. I was blown away by the community's hospitality, prayer life, and love for the tradition of the faith. This retreat was the one that Canon Law requires me to make prior to ordination to the priesthood, so I have one more step crossed off the list. You can check out their website by clicking here.