Author: Father Cioppi

Do I want my life to be fulfilled?

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Today’s Gospel according to Mark is a wonderful inspiration for the beginning of our Lenten Journey. “The Spirit drove Jesus out into the desert.” (Mk. 1:12) You get this sense of a gale wind, picking Jesus up and almost carrying Him into solitude and silence.

And what happens to Jesus when He is alone and becomes quiet? Jesus is “tempted by Satan.” (Mk. 1:13)  Jesus was “among wild beasts.” (Mk. 1:13) We know what that feels like, don’t we, when temptations bother us and our conscience is reminding us of the right thing to do. What we can forget in those times is the finish of that sentence – “and the angels ministered to Him.” (Mk.1:13)

When we get temptations in our mind, we have our conscience to remind us what is right and we have the Angels, lifting our hearts to God to set our whole person in righteousness.

So, in the desert, that great metaphor of our life with God, we have a choice: God or Satan; good or evil; light or darkness.

And then Mark reminds us that Jesus comes here to King of Prussia to proclaim the “gospel of God:” “This is the time of fulfillment…repent and believe!” (Mk. 1:15)

I am looking for fulfillment in my life, aren’t you? What is going to make my life complete? What is the ultimate purpose of my life?

My friends, Jesus proclaims to us now, this very minute that if we want to find fulfillment, real and true, we have to “repent and believe.”

It is good to be driven out into solitude and silence by the Spirit where we will be tempted but where the angels will help us find our way: to fulfillment, to peace and the prosperity of holiness which are the only riches in this life that truly matter.

Together, let this be our parish’s prayer, “Your ways, O Lord, make known to me; teach me your paths. Guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my savior.” (Psalm 25)

The Miracle of Forgiveness

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“They were astounded and glorified God saying: We have never seen anything like this.” 

I hope you paid close attention to Sunday’s readings because this is one of those weeks when each reading clearly reveals the depth of God’s love for us. In the gospel we just heard, Jesus uses a miracle at Capernaum to show us his unconditional love and the promise of new possibilities.  Jesus’ healing of the paralytic gave the man a fresh start and a chance to experience again the goodness of life.  

Of course I’m not speaking about the physical healing that came through the word of Jesus.  I’m talking about the miracle of the spiritual and emotional healing of the paralyzed man as Jesus forgave his sins and, in doing so, revealed the mercy and love that is God.   Continue reading “The Miracle of Forgiveness” →

The Sacraments of Initiations – Quiz Answers

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How did you do in answering last week’s questions on the sacraments of initiation?    Here are the answers:

1. What are the sacrament(s) of initiation?

a. Baptism, Confirmation and the Eucharist.

The sacraments of Christian initiation—Baptism, Confirmation, and the Eucharist—lay the foundations of every Christian life. The faithful are born anew by Baptism, strengthened by the sacrament of Confirmation, and receive in the Eucharist the food of eternal life.

2. True or false: After Baptism takes away original sin, our will is no longer inclined toward evil. Continue reading “The Sacraments of Initiations – Quiz Answers” →

"Moved with pity, Jesus stretches out His hand"

Posted on by Father Cioppi

Today’s Gospel reveals something significant about Jesus. He is presented a man with leprosy perhaps the most feared disease of the time. This disease alienated and repulsed everyone and drove people to reject and disgust these poor human beings even in their agony.

Even though this leper who had no right to speak to Jesus without a certificate of cleanness, broke the law; Jesus does not drive him away.  Jesus welcomes him by confronting his desperation with understanding and compassion. He stretches out his hand and touches him. Jesus breaks through the fear filled conventions of the time and touches the humanness of this individual to declare a universal truth about the dignity of the human person. Jesus did not see a man who was unclean, but rather a simple human soul in desperate need.

Jesus sets in motion the long-awaited Kingdom of God where love replaces hatred, compassion replaces apathy, and light replaces darkness. If a leper of our time were to approach us, would we reach out to them? Would we touch them?  Would we bring them light or allow them to stay in the dark, do you think?

“Moved with pity, Jesus stretches out his hand and touches us and says: BE MADE CLEAN!”

How Well Do You Know….

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…The Sacraments of Initiation?

Over the last three months I’ve commented on the Church’s Sacraments of Initiation.  Now it’s time to test your knowledge of them with a brief quiz.  Let’s see how well you do!  (Hint:  If you get stuck, all of the answers can be found in The Catechism of the Catholic Church. )

 

1. What are the sacraments of initiation?

a. Baptism

b. Baptism and Confirmation

c. Baptism and Eucharist

d. Baptism, Confirmation and the Eucharist

e. Baptism, Reconciliation and the Eucharist

2. True or False: After Baptism takes away original sin, our will is no longer inclined toward evil.

3. True or False: Original sin is a personal sin for which we are responsible.

4. True or False: Baptism is necessary for salvation. Continue reading “How Well Do You Know….” →

When Jesus speaks, we should listen

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Today our society has many self-inflicted anxieties about material life and success.  St. Paul would like us to be free of anxiety and able to concentrate on our natural ability as human beings to be in union with God.

Moses speaks with alarming clarity, “A prophet like me the Lord your God will raise up; to him shall you listen.” Listen for what? Listen for the words of Jesus Christ. Here, today, in this place, our parish gathers to listen and to understand. ‘Jesus entered the synagogue and taught.’

The first action we performed as a People was the sign of the Cross and the greeting: The Lord be with you! And as a People you responded: And with your spirit! We were opening our hearts, extending our spirits to the Lord of Hosts so that he may enter, so that we might be ‘astonished’ by what he teaches us.

The gospel says he comes with the authority of God. Jesus has the authority to change hearts, to obliterate fear and to destroy anxiety over material concerns. Jesus approaches a man with an unclean spirit, who, like us is afraid of change. He cries out, just like we might, ‘Have you come to destroy my comfort zone? Have you come to change me?’

Then the man confesses as we do in the Creed: ‘I know who you are, the Holy One of God!’ Immediately Jesus rebukes the fear and says, “QUIET” “Come out of the man!” Jesus’ one command obliterates the man’s anxiety and fear; he destroys his old self-inflicted wounds, and ‘with a loud cry the fear came out of the man.’ All were amazed because Jesus is God with a “new teaching with authority”

When Jesus says, ‘Quiet,’ should we be enslaving ourselves to worry about the things we need to do? Should we be anxious and afraid that we don’t have the time to finish what we started to do?  Should we be worrying about what the future has in store for us? No! When Jesus says “quiet” we should be let our whole body and soul be still and be united as a People in our silence before God so he can heal us by driving out any unclean spirit that possesses us and can speak clearly so we can understand his will for our parish and our families.

My friends, our destiny lies in our union with God. All will be well if we root ourselves in that one priority: God first, God always, God alone. “Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?” (Matt 26:6)

The Psalm in today’s Mass bids us to be here and do what we are meant to do. With determination, focus and with great humility, let us open our hearts and minds to Him, “Come, let us bow down in worship; let us kneel before the Lord who made us. For He is our God, and we are the people he shepherds, the flock he guides.” (Psalm 95)

“Lead me Lord!…I cannot see the way…lead me kindly light.”

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John Henry Newman, an established Anglican went to Rome to discern if Jesus was calling him to become a Roman Catholic. One day, on his voyage home he prayed. “Lead me Lord!…I cannot see the way…lead me kindly light.”

The words brought such peace to him that he was able to hear clearly the voice of Jesus. Newman became a saint and was a significant mind in the Catholicism of nineteenth century.

His life begs the question of us, do I believe? Do I trust Jesus who speaks to me so vitally in the Scriptures, Who commingles with my humanity in the Eucharist? Am I confident that He will lead me where I need to go?

Blessed John Paul said, “Only faith enables us to experience the presence of God in Christ in the very center of our life.” We can only reach our core as human beings with silence. Only with a stilled heart can we really listen for His Voice.

We stand in the middle of an age that longingly desires to see God’s face and yet is willing to give Him up for material priorities and thus be enslaved by material things.

Even our freedom is compromised in our choice to stay away from the Christ who forgives yet it is only in Christ that the true meaning of the human condition and our supreme dignity as children of God comes alive and lives freely in communion with Him.”

Faith in the Son of Man, John Paul II states “is the heartbeat of the new evangelization, because faith actively opens our hearts and minds more and more to the teachings and light of Christ.”

But as people of faith we must overcome our fear of letting go of material things in order to lead others out of fear and into the lights of confidence, safety and joy, not just in being human but being God’s holy children!

To understand faith we must seek Him in the Family of the Trinity and be willing to let go of our pride, our plans and our prejudices. We must be able to give everything to him as he has for us.

“Lead me Lord!…I cannot see the way…lead me kindly light.”

Here am I, Lord; I come to do Your Will.

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“Here I am Lord, I come to do Your Will.”

As our parish comes together this weekend in its weekly worship of God, we enter this holy place with a sense of the sacred. This place is different than our homes, our workspaces and our marketplaces. Here, at the footstool of God, we rest our love, our worries, and our material responsibilities and we stand before God with nothing but our hearts opened to receive Him.

We have listened to the Prayer, the Readings and the Psalm and what have we heard; that we are members of a larger Body than ourselves; that this Body is Christ and with this Body we should glorify God.

The Gospel reveals this conversation with the disciples, reflecting our own search for God; “Teacher, where do you stay that we might come to You?”

Jesus answers us: “Come and See.” In other words, drop everything that clings to you, material things, emotional things, things that hold you back from righteousness, like sin. Understand clearly what is happening here before you: “God has prepared a table for us, and how precious is the chalice that quenches our thirst.” (Ps 23)

And what do the disciples do in their quest; they find Peter and they go and stay with Jesus. We have our own Apostle in the person of our Archbishop and we walk with him to Jesus.

And finally, “Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own,” you are a part of the whole.

Suddenly our parish, our Archdiocese is back with Samuel, resting in the night, hearing the voice that beckons us here into God’s presence. What should we do? Say to the Lord, “Speak Lord, You servant is listening” and in the silence of our hearts sing gently with the psalmist: “Here am I Lord; I come to do your will.”

"We are copartners in the promise!"

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This Advent and Christmas season we have become like the Magi, searching for the promised One who changes our lives and the life of history. “The Magi enter the manger, see the Child and fall down in worship (Mt 2: 11). Outwardly, their journey was over. It seemed as though they had reached their goal.

However, at this point a new journey began for them, an inner pilgrimage which in fact does change their lives. These men were not expecting to see a child. They were expecting to see a man, a King! They were coming from a world of chaos looking for peace! What they found was a vulnerable Child lying in a manger offering ways to peace.

They had to change their ideas about God and about human beings, and in doing so; they had to change themselves. They had to see that God’s power is not like that of the world. God’s ways are not as we imagine them or as we might wish them to be. This is where the wise men’s inner journey begins.

God contrasts the noisy and pretentious power of the world with the defenseless power of love, which submits to death on the Cross and is born ever new throughout history. This love connects each of us to the divine and ushers in the Kingdom of God.

They can no longer ask how this can serve me. Instead, they will have to ask how I can serve God. They must learn to lose their life in order to find it.

God has given us many good examples of what it means to be a faithful Christian. The Magi from the East are just the first in a long procession of men, women and children who have searched for the God and lived lives of virtue in spite of persecution. Look around you, there are living witnesses among us who can teach us about God’s power to love and to forgive.

Matthew says, “Going into the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother, and they fell down and worshipped him” (Mt 2: 11).

Dear friends, let us approach this mystery like the Magi with sacred silence and divine humility, for as Paul says in Ephesians, “ we are copartners in the promise of Christ Jesus through the Gospel.”

 

 lasix or furosemida