Thoughts and opinions from a Priest in the PNCC
The Young Fogey posted the results of a personality quiz he took.
I recalled taking the same quiz back in 2006. I couldn’t remember my typelogic, so I had to go to the Internet Wayback Machine to find a copy of my website.
I found that I had scored as an INFP. I think it ties to another quiz I took in January of this year which pegged me as a Melancholic.
Saints John and Paul, Martyrs, (362)
St. Virgilius of Trent, Bishop and Martyr, (405)
St. Pelagius, Martyr, (925)
All who heard these things took them to heart, saying,
—What, then, will this child be?—
For surely the hand of the Lord was with him.
Faith! Faith is about our lives and what we do with them.
As we come to the end of the month of June, a month dedicated to Sacred Vocations, it is wise to stop and consider life, and our choice of vocation, in light of St. John the Baptist’s example.
Isaiah sets the tone:
The LORD called me from birth,
from my mother’s womb he gave me my name.
As Catholic Christians we are about life. We know that the Lord creates life. We joyfully cooperate in the creative act, and we ponder the mystery of it all.
How and why is life given? What is the particular moment at which life is given? Once given, why is there suffering and pain?
Frankly, any answer that exists apart from faith is lacking.
Can we fathom the depths of God’s wisdom? Can we answer all the questions? Can we, in our weakness, even grasp the answers to the questions that wend their way through our lives?
God pointedly told Job:
Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge?
Gird up your loins like a man, I will question you, and you shall declare to me.
Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell me, if you have understanding.
God’s majesty is beyond our comprehension and His ways are far beyond our ways. The questions we ask and the answers we seek are meaningless groaning.
Yet, Isaiah found hope in God’s promise to Israel:
Though I thought I had toiled in vain,
and for nothing, uselessly, spent my strength,
yet my reward is with the LORD,
my recompense is with my God.
Jesus came as the fulfillment of God’s promise; as we are knit together in our mother’s womb, so too Jesus was knit together in Mary’s womb. As Paul points out:
From [David’s] descendants God, according to his promise,
has brought to Israel a savior, Jesus.
Jesus took on human life and human form, and by doing so showed us the awesome respect and dignity with which we must hold every human life.
He gave us all the answers we need.
Life is valuable. Carrying out the Father’s will is our call. Suffering, when it comes, holds salvific power.
John came to us, the forerunner of the Christ. He came to do God’s will. He came, not as an angel, but as a man, also knit together in Elizabeth’s womb. He came to suffer as well.
In light of what he knew, he suffered for seeing Israel’s corruption. In light of what he knew, he allowed himself to be subjected to ridicule, insults, arrest, and ultimately martyrdom.
His life, and his choice of God’s way holds immense value for all of humanity.
The Gospel closes with two lines.
The first:
—What, then, will this child be?—
In hindsight we know the answer to the question that haunted the hill country of Judea. He shall be the forerunner of the Messiah.
The second:
For surely the hand of the Lord was with him.
The hand of the Lord was with John because he chose to do the Father’s will.
That, my friends, is the question the Holy Church asks you. Will you do the Father’s will? Will you allow us to teach you, to show you the way to best accomplish the Father’s will?
Look around you my friends. In Iraq, our Christian brothers and sisters have the hand of the Lord upon them. Christian women are being raped. Young Christian men are being tortured and killed. The old are being held for ransom and are later made refugees, with no home to return to. All for Christ.
In North Korea and China Christians are being tortured and killed, for the name of Christ.
In this country speaking out as a Christian subjects one to derisive laughter. You are scorned because you will not allow the killing of children, the mentally ill, or the old. You believe in things like sin and God’s promise of salvation from sin through repentance and conversion of life.
Brothers and sisters,
The hand of the Lord is upon you. You need only recognize the call you have received. It is a call to conversion of heart. It is a call to build God’s kingdom. It is the call to bring all to Jesus Christ.
To our young men, and men on their second or third careers, the hand of the Lord is upon you. You are being called to serve, to proclaim the Kingdom of God, as John did. To baptize, claiming all who come, as members of Jesus’ body, His Holy Church.
Being a Catholic Christian, certainly the questions will persist, but the answers are here and they are true.
On this Solemnity ponder the third to last line of the Gospel:
All who heard these things took them to heart.
Allow St. John’s proclamation to reach you. Go, and do as he did. Leap for joy, for the Christ is among us.
Solemnity of the Nativity of John the Baptist (translated)
St. Prosper, Bishop, (466)
St. Febronia, Virgin and Martyr, (304)
St. Gallicanus, Confessor, (352)
Nicole’s Italia
On Thursday my daughter graduated from kindergarten. After graduation mom and dad took her to Nicole’s Italia. We held her Christening reception there not all that long ago (so it seems…).
I’ve always found the food there to be of high quality at a reasonable price. The owner is typically on-site and he’s really a wonderful and generous host.
My wife had Chicken Parmesan, and it was perfect. I had Veal Saltimbocca which consisted of a veal cutlet sautéed in a Marsala wine sauce on a bed of spinach and covered with a layer of prosciutto and provolone. Also excellent. Their children’s menu is extensive and includes every kid’s Italian favorites plus the typical kid’s standbys.
If you are in the Capital Region and in Guilderland, stop by at Nicole’s in the 20 Mall (2080 Western Ave., Guilderland).
Jesse’s
I love Texas Hots. For the uninitiated Texas Hots are hot dogs covered in Texas Hot Sauce, onions, and mustard.
I fell in love with Texas Hots back in Buffalo. You can’t drive 10 miles without running across a hots restaurant. I always thought Louie’s was the best (they even have a Wikipedia entry). In Buffalo, Hots restaurants were typically run by a Greek family, in Louie’s case, the Galanes family.
There’s also the world famous Ted’s Hot Dogs which was started by Theodore Spiro Liaros in a small shack under the Peace Bridge in Buffalo. I ate there after many a trip to Crystal Beach.
Anyway, there was nothing to compare to Louie’s or Ted’s here in the Capital Region, that is until Jesse’s opened.
Jesse’s is a Texas Hots lovers dream come true. Located at 1800 Western Avenue, on the side of Cosimo’s Plaza in Guilderland, Jesse’s fulfills my need for Texas Hots.
Jesse Caprotti Jr. opened the restaurant this year bringing his family’s Texas sauce recipe to the area.
During the 1960’s and 70’s, and up until their passing, Jesse Sr., and Betty Caprotti’s successful stand in Kingston, NY served the same Texas Hots, using the same family recipe, to locals.
You will always find Jesse Jr. in the kitchen and his family, including his daughter Colette at the counter. They are wonderful folks, and if you’re miles from Buffalo or Kingston, you couldn’t find better than Jesse’s.
Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe.”
Taken from the 20th Chapter of the Gospel according to Saint John, Verse 29.
When we think of Jesus’ time on earth we think in very narrow terms. He spent thirty-three years on earth in His human body. Of those thirty-three years, three were spent in public ministry.
We look at Jesus among us, and we wonder, exactly how many people did Jesus touch? How many saw Him?
We know that He fed over five thousand, as we heard on Corpus Christi:
Now the men there numbered about five thousand.
Today He spoke to the twelve. We also know that He sent out the seventy as recounted in the Gospel according to St. Luke:
After this the Lord appointed seventy others, and sent them on ahead of him, two by two, into every town and place where he himself was about to come.
Let’s look at some statistics.
At the time of Jesus the population of Israel was about 550,000 people. Jerusalem had about 70,000 residents.
Jesus went from town to town. People came to him in droves. Remember the commotion when He visited Jericho:
He entered Jericho and was passing through.
And there was a man named Zacchae’us; he was a chief tax collector, and rich.
And he sought to see who Jesus was, but could not, on account of the crowd, because he was small of stature.
So he ran on ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see him, for he was to pass that way.
Remember the difficulty found in reaching Jesus when he was in Caper’na-um.
And when he returned to Caper’na-um after some days, it was reported that he was at home.
And many were gathered together, so that there was no longer room for them, not even about the door; and he was preaching the word to them.
And they came, bringing to him a paralytic carried by four men.
And when they could not get near him because of the crowd, they removed the roof above him; and when they had made an opening, they let down the pallet on which the paralytic lay.
Jesus was seen by many, including His being seen by over five hundred following His resurrection, as St. Paul recounts:
For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures,
that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures,
and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve.
Then he appeared to more than five hundred brethren at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep.
Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles.
Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me.
Jesus was a prominent public figure and He was seen by more than that small band we typically associate with Him. It wasn’t just the twelve and a few women. He touched large portions of Israel. Those who didn’t see Him certainly heard of Him. They heard the message.
The prophet Zechariah tells us:
…when they look on him whom they have pierced, they shall mourn for him, as one mourns for an only child, and weep bitterly over him, as one weeps over a first-born.
The inhabitants of Jerusalem saw Him. He taught in the Temple precincts daily. He was put on public trial, and was publicly humiliated and executed. They looked on Him whom they pieced.
Jesus was no secret and Zechariah’s prophecy was not unknown.
Yet, the weeping was muted, and was limited to a small band. When Peter stood up on the day of Pentecost many, but not all, came forward to be baptized.
Jesus knew it. He told the twelve:
The Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes
Brothers and sisters,
It is to us. We are to deny ourselves and take up our cross daily and follow Him. We are to do so for His promise of salvation. We are to be about making Him known. Is there anything we would not sacrifice for our salvation based on Jesus’ promise?
Whoever loses his life for my sake, he will save it.
It is a joyful promise. It is a hope filled promise. It is a promise for us and for all of humanity.
That is why we must preach and teach Jesus. That is why we must talk about Him, about Him more than we would talk about the latest TV show, the great book we just read, the gossip from Hollywood, or our favorites for President. We must proclaim the good news. Jesus is alive. Follow Him!
We inherit that responsibility in our baptism into Jesus, our baptism into His body. The baptism Paul speaks of which makes us heirs of God. Heirs who will inherit heaven.
Christ’s coming will bring to fulfillment Zechariah’s prophecy:
On that day there shall be a fountain opened for the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to cleanse them from sin and uncleanness.
That day will be brought about by our believing without seeing, by our faithfulness to our call:
Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it — George Santayana
For a snapshot of why Poland stood tough against German hegemony at the recent EU Constitutional summit read Polish premier’s attack on Germans shows that the wounds still fester from the Daily Mail.
St. Audrey, Abbess, (679)
St. Agrippina, Martyr, (262)
St. Libert, Bishop, (1076)
From the Catholic News Service: Stop politicizing homilies, Vatican nuncio tells Catholic Polish clergy
WARSAW, Poland (CNS) —“ The Vatican’s ambassador to Poland has called on Catholic clergy to stop preaching politicized homilies.
“I wish liturgical services in Poland would not turn into public rallies and just dispose people to be more human and more Catholic,” said Archbishop Jozef Kowalczyk, the Vatican’s ambassador, or nuncio.
“We need priests, not politicians —“ and if politicians, then politicians of God’s word,” said the archbishop, whose sermon was carried by Poland’s Catholic information agency, KAI. “We also need evangelists, not economists —“ we have enough of those already in Poland to do the job. Let’s work on their spirit and conscience so they’ll become true professionals in serving all society. This is the mission of a priest…”
To which my friends in Poland, going to church and looking for spiritual sustenance would say, Deo gratias.