Father Paul Weinberger, Pastor
St. William Roman Catholic Church
Greenville, Texas
February 5, 2006
5th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Simon and those who were with Jesus pursued Him and on finding Him said, “Everyone is looking for You.”
In the Name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit
Amen
Today, I would have to say that it isn’t the case, not everyone is looking for Jesus. It is obviously not the case. Some of the things people get involved with, there is no way Jesus is anywhere near them and what they are doing.
”Everyone is looking for you.”
This sounds so natural and we always want to be in the business of looking for Him. An encounter with Our Lord is what we desire the most. St. Augustine says that there is nothing that can satisfy the human heart but Our Lord Himself. That void cannot be filled with things or pleasures, but only by the One Who made the body and soul; and this is the Lord Himself.
The Gospel today mentions curing the sick and those possessed by demons, just as last week’s Gospel mentioned Jesus curing a man, who was possessed by a mute spirit, a demon! The Gospel says,
When it was evening, after sunset they brought to Jesus all who were ill or possessed by demons. He cured many who were sick with various diseases and drove out many demons not permitting them to speak because they knew Him.
The final sentence says,
So Jesus went into the synagogue, preaching and driving out demons throughout the whole of Galilee.
It is interesting how St. Mark’s Gospel underlines the work of Jesus with demons. Today it is a mistake for anyone to say,
“Oh well, those were psychological problems back then, but they didn’t have a way of diagnosing those problems.”
Well then, you are going to have to deal with the Chief Exorcist of Rome, Fr. Gabriel Amorth. He has written a few books. He wrote this one, “An Exorcist Tells His Story”, and it was translated into English. It was published in 1999 and he’s already personally performed over 30,000 exorcisms and so by now he may have doubled that. It is interesting to read what Fr. Amorth writes because this is where our faith meets the practical end, the faith and applying that faith, especially to the sick, to those who are possessed.
Fr. Amorth says that so many people err pretending that demons do not exist and leaving it all at the door of psychology. He said this is a mistake and does everything he can to show why it is a mistake. The word ‘exorcism’ itself is a word that is understood because it is of Greek origin. When someone says exorcist or exorcism, it is kind of has an Oooooo, spooky tenor to the word, but an exorcism is a blessing. Saying, “blessing,” one does not get the same effect but saying “exorcism,” just to make sure we did a focus group survey…just kidding! We don’t need to. So, the word exorcism means blessing.
If you can think of a scale from zero to ten, with ten being possessed and zero being no interest by the other team whatever, Father Amorth says that many people who are afflicted by the other team are not possessed and that they fall somewhere on the scale from zero to ten. No one is a zero but somewhere along that scale. The cases that are a ten, Fr. Amorth has to sort out and deal with them. It is interesting to see that he is working in Rome, which I would say is the most prominent Diocese in the world.
Fr. Amorth is continuing the work of Jesus in his duty as an exorcist. Jesus had a special interest in forgiving sins and curing the sick as well as casting out demons. The church must continue the mission in imitation of those three years of public ministry that Jesus began in the Church. If those members who make up the Church do not continue the work of Christ, then the Church will be chopped down and thrown away wherever the continuation of Jesus’ work does not occur. The Church itself will never be chopped down and thrown away totally because the Church is founded by Christ, but there are those individuals in parts of the Church that walk away from the mission of Christ and they do not wish to participate in continuing His mission and they will be cut off and thrown into the fire. Our Lord Himself says this many times in the Gospels.
In a very brief way, Fr. Amorth mentions on page 80 and 81 of his book, the different kinds of disturbances that the other team can use on individuals; anything from zero to ten. On this page Fr. Amorth says,
In “all cases” the cure is the same, prayer, fasting, the Sacraments, a Christian life, charity and exorcisms.. “blessings”.
It is interesting that the cure for the people that are afflicted, especially speaking of the possessed, the medicine that is used for them, the spiritual medicine that is applied so to speak, is the same daily spiritual vitamin that all of the rest of us are supposed to be taking; prayer, fasting, the Sacraments, a Christian life, charity and many blessings. There is a perfect symmetry to this and it is a one to one correspondence. The same things that are needed for the terribly spiritually oppressed or possessed are the same for all of us who are not so terribly afflicted by the other team and only by the grace of God we are not. Our Lord wants us to be strong and healthy so He gives us everything we need…the recommended daily allowance… if you will. To access those blessing we have to participate in His mission, prayer, fasting, Sacraments, Christian life, acts of charity and many blessings.
On Friday we had many blessings here. On the feast of St. Blaise we had the blessing of throats. There were sixteen scheduled times for blessings but we just continued steadily throughout the day. When someone came in they received their blessing and turned around and went on their way. Many people came during the course of the day and many blessings were imparted.
St. Blaise lived very close to the time of Christ, around the year 316. That is a lot closer to the time of Christ than say, 2006. He was a bishop in Armenia and in order to pray, he moved outside the city to the wilderness where he lived in a cave and spent his days in prayer. The people brought their sick to the saint. He seems to be prefiguring the work of St. Francis by at least nine hundred years. Even the animals brought their sick to St. Blaise and what is most interesting is that the animals would wait until he was finished with his prayers and not bother him. When he finished his prayers he would attend to the sick animals as well as the people who came forward. In fact, that is how he got caught. It was against the law then to be a Christian and some soldiers were looking for animals to put into the arena and came across all these animals near a cave and they found Bishop Blaise in prayer. If that were the particular characteristic of being identified as a Christian, how many of us would ever go to jail.
“Me pray? Are you kidding?”
Yet, prayer is what got the saint thrown in jail and he continued his work in jail. There is a story that says that a woman had a pig and a wolf carried it off. She asked the saint for his help so he made the wolf give the pig back. Well, she probably made bacon out of the pig sooner or later or the pig probably didn’t profit much by the intervention and the wolf probably just went out looking for a snack somewhere else.
There was a woman whose daughter had just died or was just about to die, who had a fish bone stuck in her throat and couldn’t breathe. The saint prayed over her and the bone came forth and the little girl was alive and well. She never gave her mother a moment’s trouble after this. Well, I just made up that last part. [Laughter] Of course she did! But the saint cured the little girl. The prayer we use for the blessing of the throats is this;
“Through the intercession of St. Blaise, Bishop and martyr, may God deliver you from every disease of the throat and from every other evil. In the Name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.”
Do you notice how it speaks of the mission of St. Blaise, which is only possible by God’s grace? It asks that through the ‘intercession” of the saint, that “GOD” deliver you from throat disease and every other evil. So this saint was continuing the work of Christ until he drew his last breath. He is still continuing that mission from Heaven by his intercessions for us and that is why we invoke his name. People around the Altar of God in Heaven are indeed alive…the saints in Heaven are alive and they intercede for us as they adore God in Heaven.
The works of the Church involve all of us. The Feast of St. Blaise comes on February 3rd, the day after the Presentation, which is forty days after Christmas. The Feast of St. Blaise also starts nine days of prayer leading up to the Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes on February 11th. Who can think of Lourdes in France without thinking of all those crutches, canes and wheelchairs that have been left behind in Lourdes because they were no longer needed?
Look at your bulletin on page eight and you will see what the Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI is offering. He is offering indulgences and is spending the spiritual patrimony of the Church like a drunker sailor. He is offering indulgences far and wide during the days, which are leading up to the World day of the Sick in Lourdes. This year it will be held in Adelaide, Australia. Look at the second paragraph.
For this reason, Plenary Indulgence will be granted "to the faithful who, under the usual conditions (sacramental Confession, Eucharistic communion and prayer in keeping with the intentions of the Holy Father), and with the soul completely removed from attachment to any form of sin, participate on February 11 at the cathedral of Adelaide, or at any other place decided by the ecclesiastical authorities, in a sacred ceremony held to beseech God to grant the goals of the World Day of the Sick."
Sounds like the Church is pushing us in the direction of prayer, Sacraments, and acts of charity. That is what the church is always doing, promoting the mission of Christ. This sounds like a lot of lawyer legalese but what he says in the next paragraph is that those who care for the sick and are unable to get away on that day for some reason can receive the plenary indulgence and tells us how.
"The faithful who, in public hospitals or in private houses, like 'Good Samaritans' charitably assist the sick - especially those with mental problems who require greater patience, care and attention - and who, because of the service they provide, cannot participate in the aforementioned ceremony, will obtain the same gift of Plenary Indulgence if on that day they generously provide, at least for a few hours, their charitable assistance to the sick as if they were tending to Christ the Lord Himself, with the soul completely removed from attachment to any form of sin, and with the intention of observing, as soon as they can, the conditions required for obtaining the Plenary Indulgence."
The faithful who, "through sickness, old age or similar reason, are prevented from participating in the aforementioned ceremony, may obtain the Plenary Indulgence if, with the soul completely removed from attachment to any form of sin and with the intention of observing, as soon as they can, the conditions required, they spiritually participate together with the Holy Father in the aforesaid ceremony, pray devotedly for the sick, and offer - through the Virgin Mary 'Health of the Sick' - their physical and spiritual sufferings to God."
So, if you can’t make it that day the Holy Father is pulling out all the stops. For those who are ill themselves, in the second paragraph, if they can offer just a slice of their suffering for the sick and the suffering then they can also obtain a plenary indulgence. This is tremendous when you think about it! What is another word for indulgence? It would be a grace or a blessing. The Pope is the successor of St. Peter and he is in the business, if you will, of making sure that people far and wide have the opportunity of being blest in a great way. Let us see…prayer, fasting, living the Christian life, Sacraments, acts if charity, and many blessings as Fr. Amorth says. This is the mission of the Church and we have to apply ourselves more and more, pastors and people. If some part of the Church does not carry on the mission of the Church of Christ and they don’t put their nose to the grindstone or their shoulder to the wheel, then that part of the Church will cease to exist. It will be cut down and thrown away and in a similar way, individual Christians will suffer the same fate. This is our mission; otherwise we are just taking up ground like the fig tree that our Lord cursed. The tree was beautiful but it wasn’t producing figs as it should and he ordered it to be chopped down and thrown into the fire.
In your bulletin you will see a partial listing of the schedule for yesterday, February 4th. We had CCD from nine to eleven, at eleven we had Mass for First Saturday and after that we had an hour of Adoration in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament exposed and then at the end we had Benediction.
Father holds up the monstrance to explain it to the congregation for those who are unaware.
This is the vessel that is used…this circle is a piece of glass allowing us to view the Sacred Host when it is placed inside the compartment. Most people have probably never seen this vessel, which is called a Monstrance; like demonstrate, a monstrance is used to expose Jesus, Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity in Holy Communion for those who wish to be in His Presence and for those who are “looking” for Him. It is called, “Exposition of the Most Blessed Sacrament.” Yesterday Exposition ended with Benediction, which is a longer word for blessing.
Why a Holy HOUR? Remember what Jesus said to His Apostles and to us before He was arrested?
Stay awake and pray that you may not be put to the test, the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak.
Again and again he has to chide the Apostles,
Can you not stay awake and watch with Me one hour?
That is where the Church gets the custom of the Holy Hour. At the end of the Holy Hour as I said, is Benediction, and the Monstrance is raised with the Most Blessed Sacrament, which has been place behind this glass and the priest traces a cross in the air with it. As Jesus in the Most Blessed Sacrament passes your direction, you make the sign of the cross and bow your head. This has been going on for centuries. Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament and Benediction are part of the mission of the church because everyone should be looking for Jesus to be in His Presence in this Church because He is here in the Tabernacle. You will come to this Altar during this Mass as well, and you will be doing what those people in the gospel did when they brought their sick and those who were possessed by demons to Jesus and He helped them.
The fact is that there is no blessing I can consider that the Church can impart that is greater than this blessing because, you are being blessed by Our Lord Himself. At the end of Mass when the priest blesses the people, it is Christ blessing the people through the priest. Everyone makes the Sign of the Cross and it is like someone being thrown a ball. When a blessing is offered, acceptance is being acknowledged by making the Sign of the Cross. The same with Benediction; the Most Blessed Sacrament is raised and a cross is traced over those in attendance and the people recognize their acceptance of such a great blessing by making the Sign of the Cross. If you notice on Sunday, we have a Holy Hour here at 2:30 pm. At 3:40 we conclude with Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament and the Divine Praises.
Monday at 6pm we will also have a Holy Hour as you can see by the schedule in your bulletin. The same for Tuesday and then on Wednesday it is at 5pm. You will notice that they are all for the sick and suffering. Thursday morning we have a Holy Hour at 9 am and then on Friday at 5pm. Saturday, on the Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes we will have a Holy Hour at 10 am. By the way, this Monstrance I have here to show you belongs to this parish and it is a beautiful Monstrance, which has been here quite a while.
When you think of making a Holy Hour and you are not able to be present for the whole hour that is ok. The optimum is to stay for an hour but it is not like Mass on Sunday. If someone comes into church on Sunday after the readings and the Gospel has been proclaimed, there is a time out and a flag on the field, you have to attend another Mass.
Inaestimabile Donum. Instruction Concerning Worship of the Eucharistic Mystery
a) The Mass
1. "The two parts which in a sense go to make up the Mass, namely the Liturgy of the Word and the Eucharist Liturgy, are so closely connected that they form but one single act of worship."(10) A person should not approach the table of the Bread of the Lord without having first been at the table of His Word.(11) Sacred Scripture is therefore of the highest importance in the celebration of Mass.
Now this is not the same with a Holy Hour. If you can come to Holy Hour ten or twenty minutes, come for that length of time or even longer if you are able. You receive blessings just being in His Presence. People sought out Jesus and being in His Presence because of His ability to cure them of their sickness and to cast out demons. The optimum would also be that if you can come for just ten minutes, make sure it is the last ten minutes when the Most Blessed Sacrament will be raised in blessing over all. So there is a difference in being late for Sunday Mass and attending Holy Hour and I wanted to note that difference. Some may not like coming to Holy Hour late or leave early and it would be ashamed to let that kind of thought distance us from Our Lord’s Presence.
Think about what will be happening in six weeks. In six weeks, here and across the world we will begin the Forty Days of Lent beginning with Ash Wednesday. On that day people will stream into Churches across the world and we will hear the words of Our Lord in the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 6, When Jesus says,
…when you fast, when you pray, when you give to the poor.
When, He says and not if, you do these things He says this is how you are to do them.
When you fast, do not fast as the hypocrites do, when you pray, do not do as the hypocrites do and when you give to the poor, do not do as the hypocrites do.
So, prayer, fasting and giving to the poor are three that Fr. Amorth mentions, along with receiving the Sacraments, living the Christian life and blessings. The church exists to continue the work of Christ by imparting the blessings and offering the Sacraments, which are tremendous blessings, especially after Baptism, then there is Confession and Holy Communion, which can be received again and again. These are ways Our Lord wishes to strengthen us and to help us if we are afflicted in any way.
We had the priest here from Lourdes last week to present the Pilgrimage, In the Footsteps of St. Bernadette. The Knights of Columbus had him over at their hall, which was packed. The Knights did a great job hosting that event. Fr. Duguay mentioned that people go to Lourdes to take the waters of Lourdes, which has an obvious element of spiritually curing the physically ill. He said that for every miracle on the books in Lourdes connected with the waters and Our Lady, there are ten miracles connected to the Eucharist. There is a great procession every day in Lourdes with Our Lord exposed in the monstrance. This Eucharistic Procession is led by the sick and suffering on stretchers and in wheelchairs. They are leading the procession. They are not put in the back of the line because they are in a wheelchair or on a stretcher. They are all being cared for through the charity of others. There are ten miracles there in the Presence of Our Lord for every one miracle connected with the waters.
We have to think about what we are going to be doing during Lent in six weeks. I have a friend that says he has this plan. For every hour during Lent that he watches television, he is going to spend one hour in prayer. If people adopt that here, what I predict is this; I predict that on the first day of Lent or on the day before some will decide to just quit watching television. Why will that declaration be made? Well, that way, they don’t have to pray. If there is zero hours spent on television then there can be zero hours dedicated to prayer. I guess I am just not getting to some people. [Laughter]
The fact is, the church is continually offering us these spiritual aids…prayer, fasting, the Sacraments, promoting the living of a Christian life, and to perform acts of charity to our neighbors, especially the sick and the suffering and to receive many blessings because this indeed is what is found in the Presence of Christ.
Simon and those who were with Jesus pursued Him and on finding Him said, “Everyone is looking for You.”
In the Name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit
Amen