You gotta want it!!!

Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time. July 3rd, 2011

Many times homilies given at Holy Mass are based on the Gospel, but today I want to base this homily on the Second reading of this Sacred and Divine Liturgy. In today’s second reading we hear from St. Paul from the letter to the Romans. This past week we celebrated the feast of Sts. Peter and Paul; and so, it would be good to talk about St. Paul today.

In this letter St. Paul gives us advice about common struggles in our lives of faith. The Baptized Romans in Paul’s time were struggling with living out their faith just like we do. They found themselves struggling with a culture literally immersed in sin; especially the sin of hedonism--hedonism is the enjoyment of pleasure, entertainment and comfort in a way that is in opposition to the Holy Will of God. It’s not that God never wants us to enjoy pleasure, comfort or entertainment but that we must do so in a moral way, never placing our own will before His Will; in other words, never placing pleasure, comfort or entertainment before love of God and neighbor.

Pleasure, comfort and entertainment in Paul’s time had become the peoples’ god; while God, the true God was merely paid lip service, if even that; excessive pleasure and comfort had actually dulled their consciences. Remember that the Roman Empire at this time had dominated the entire known world. They had integrated many different religions and philosophies into their vast empire; no one religion or philosophy was thought to be better than another. You could basically believe what you wanted and practice in the way you wanted as long as you didn’t “push” your beliefs on others or onto the main stream culture; as long as you worship the Roman gods. The Roman’s practiced syncretism, that is, just mix all beliefs together and keep everyone happy and enjoy economical prosperity; whatever it took to keep the peace; in the end it was just plain paganism, a type of practical atheism. “What is Truth?”

And so enters St. Paul. St Paul was well versed in all religious and philosophical thoughts of the day; with keen insight, he addresses the situation in which the Baptized find themselves. Even though they had received the powerful life transforming grace of baptism, they still found themselves struggling with sin and couldn’t understand why. Our Holy Father, Pope Benedict says that St. Paul’s time is much like our own time. And so Benedict reminds us that even though St. Paul wrote close to 2,000 years ago, his writings still have great relevance in our lives today, maybe more than ever. The constant struggle between good and evil played out in our own lives, within our own selves, is the same as in Paul’s day; it is a struggle, better yet, a war being waged between our souls and our bodies, between the Spirit of God and the disordered desires of the flesh, that is our passions and our fallen human nature; it is a battle within.

For us who are trying to follow God faithfully, our soul or spirit desires to do good, to follow the Gospel; it desires to be kind and considerate to our neighbor, to our family and even to share with them the truth of our faith courageously and with confidence. But instead, we often are short tempered or fearful, or just plain rude because we are in a bad mood. Many of us truly do desire to repent from our sinfulness and convert to truth in order to draw closer in intimacy with Jesus. Yet, sin is so attractive that it seems we will never be able to turn away from it; it seems that following Jesus is just too hard and demanding for us, and we love our own will. Comfort is much easier. As Saint Paul himself says, the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak. In his letter, St. Paul addresses people who are perhaps down on themselves in their struggles and failures; perhaps he addresses me and you.

St. Paul first reminds them that they were baptized and have received the Holy Spirit: “If the Spirit of the one who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, the one who raised Christ from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also.” St. Paul reminds us that our baptism is a baptism into his death and resurrection. Through our own baptism, we have all died to that spirit of the world that opposes the Spirit of God. The death that works within us, that being the death of sin, is now reborn with the grace of Christ, who defeated death-sin on the cross. As Jesus was resurrected, so too are we resurrected or born again in the life of grace; and so in part, we share already in Christ’s victory of sin and death. The grace we receive in baptism has the power to give us all of the strength, courage, perseverance we need to finally win in our struggle with sin, with ourselves. But first we must first have faith in this Divine Power, call upon it, trust in it and in Charity use it and cooperate with it in our lives, persevering to the end of our lives on earth no matter the effort needed.

The problem is that too often we don’t call upon and so use the grace of our baptism; instead, we can be so lazy, spiritually speaking. We too often really don’t put up a big enough struggle to resist sin in order to practice virtue, and so we weaken or even lose our Baptismal Grace. St. Paul puts it this way, “you have not yet resisted to the shedding of your blood,” so in other words we need to keep trying harder. So many times we extend so much effort in the other activities of our life, but yet when it comes to our external salvation we don’t seem to think it’s worth the effort that is needed. Many there are who work hard for a crown that withers and fades, so work harder for the crown that never perishes, the crown of eternal life... Many don’t think that an effort even needs to be made, after all everyone goes to heaven. St. Paul says instead, “Work out your Salvation with fear and trembling”. He knew that even he could have lost eternal life; if St. Paul could have, what about you and me.

St. Paul today encourages us that we are not debtors of the flesh, to live according to the flesh and its desires. If we live according to the flesh and its desires, we will die (everlastingly); this is the truth, plain and simple. But, if by the Power of the Spirit we put to death the deeds of the body we will live; this also is the truth plain and simple. We have that Spirit available to us because we have been baptized into Christ death and resurrection; what hope we possess within us.

All of this, of course, doesn’t remove us from the struggle against sin; it doesn’t make it easy, but it does make it possible for us to overcome sin, if we only desire it and make the effort…we have to be determined. If we are not yet saints the problem isn’t with the grace of our baptism; no, the problem is with us, its that we don’t desire enough to be saints. However, in our struggle, Paul reminds us, we have the Holy Spirit, the Power and the Love of God, given to us mainly though the sacraments; it is the power to change our hearts, to make us Saints, that is one with God. As the saying goes, “we just gotta want it”…we’re talking about eternity here and our eternal happiness; as well as the eternal happiness of other souls. The Holy Spirit helps us to want it more than anything or anyone else; He leads us to the Sacraments of the Church to accomplish His work.

The Sacraments are intimate encounters with Christ, where we can take the burden of our sins and our labor to resist them, and give them to Christ’s redeeming Power. If we have lost the grace of our baptism or it’s power has become weak in our lives because of our failure to cooperate with it in order to resist the temptations of our flesh; as a result, if we have given into our passions in a disordered and moral way, then all is not lost, we can turn to Christ in Confession and have the heavy burden of our guilt taken away and our weaken state strengthened.

And if we need to nourish our soul because it has become thirsty for Christ’s love we can come to Holy Mass and give ourselves to Christ in order for Him to quench our thirst in Holy Communion. Feeding on His true flesh and blood nourishes our soul, increases our love and so makes us stronger to overcome the disordered desires of our flesh and blood. The Holy Eucharist is the unique way we can come before Jesus in our labors and in our burdens and find rest for our souls. “Come to me in the Holy Eucharist all you who are labored and burdened and you will find rest for yourselves. When we come before the Eucharist it is like standing before a source of radiation; we can’t necessarily feel its effects immediately on our soul, but nonetheless, the radiation of the Son—S.O.N., infuses our soul with His Divine light, Power and Love. We become like the One we adore.

May we today, in receiving Jesus in the Holy Eucharist, the fullness of Jesus Christ, beg our Lord for grace for this coming week to struggle and to never give up hope in our struggle against the one thing that keeps us from God’s love—sin. May we never choose love of comfort and ease over love, love of God and love of neighbor. Jesus our Lord and God truly present in the Holy Eucharist, we adore Thee and Love Thee, through your Mother and our Mother—The Blessed Virgin Mary, help us to love Thee and Adore Thee more. Amen.

The Answer to Everything!

Today we celebrate the feast of Corpus Christi. This feast explains to us to the point of everything. That’s right to the point of everything. When somebody is telling us something that we don’t understand or something in which we just don’t see the point, we respond with “What’s the point?” Well today we can ask the question, “what is the point of everything, everything that exists, everything that is, including you and me and life itself?” As I said, today’s feast actually answers this question, “What’s the Point of Everything?”

Let’s start by thinking about the answer to the following questions: I not going to call on anyone, but try to answer these questions to yourself in five words or less.

1. What is the deepest desire of the human heart?

2. What is the center, the point, the meaning of life?

3. How I can be truly happy?

4. What does it mean to be a woman?

5. What does it mean to be a man?

6. What does God look like?

7. How can we bring about peace in the Middle East and in the world?

8. How can we end world hunger?

9. How can we fix our seemingly insurmountable economic woes?

10. How can we know if there is life after death?

11. What is the greatest of the seven sacraments?

Were you able to answer all of these questions? Chances are you couldn’t give the answer to a lot of them, must less do it in five words or less… What would you think if I told you that not only can I give you the answer to each one of these questions, I can actually answer each one of them in one word; that’s right just one single word. There is a one-word answer for each of these above questions, and it's the same answer for each one. Can you guess it?

This past week I read an article by Bill Donaghy, a speaker for the Theology of the Body Institute. His article was the impetus for this Homily. In his article entitled “the Answer to Everything,” Mr. Donaghy said, that some scientists and philosophers have been trying for years to compile one overarching, all encompassing "Theory of Everything." He said, that, he believed that we have it already in our midst. Present in millions of places worldwide, nestled in golden boxes beneath glowing candles that never go out, for two thousand years the secret has been with us; the center, the point of everything, the Answer to our questions; the answer to all questions. You've guessed it... the Holy Eucharist.

Blessed Pope John Paul II, in his great encyclical on the Holy Eucharist entitled, “Ecclesia de Eucharistia,” or the “Church of the Eucharist,” said about the Holy Eucharist: "Here is the Church's treasure, the heart of the world, the pledge of the fulfillment for which each man and woman, even unconsciously, yearns."

Today is the day in which the Church around the whole world celebrates the Feast of Corpus Christi, the true Body and Blood of Christ. The Church has been celebrating this feast for millennia. Throughout these centuries the Church has been proclaiming the wonders of the Blessed Sacrament to everyone and anyone who would listen; anyone who would be open to the truth. She has been giving the secret to life; in fact the secret to eternal life; the true “fountain of youth” if you will. The Church tells us the Holy Eucharist is not a “theory of everything”; it is the Truth of everything; the Reality of everything; it is Truth Itself; Reality Itself; the Beginning and End of everything and everyone.

So as Mr. Donaghy says in his article, “So why don't people come a'runnin' to our churches and our adoration chapels? Why aren't the phones ringing off the hook asking for our daily and Sunday Mass schedules? I would add, “Why don’t we here at St. Patrick’s have to build a bigger Church to handle everyone? Why doesn’t every single person in a parish, in our parish partake
in the Eucharist Procession on Corpus Christi?” Mr Donaghy asks, “is it because of poor marketing skills?”

The following was supposedly overheard by a monsignor at a Papal Mass who was standing beside our beloved Blessed John Paul II (though it sounds a little pessimistic for him). Watching thousands come to Holy Communion in St. Peter's Square he is supposed to have whispered, "So many coming to Holy Communion, so little change."

Ouch! Oh we of little faith. Us Catholic’s have the answer, the only answer in fact, to all of the world’s mysteries; the answer to all the world’s dilemmas’; in fact, we have the answer to everything. And we have, without a question, the power to transform our world. The Eucharist is the Answer because it is Jesus Christ, the God-Man, the savior of the World among us; it is THE POWER.

Yet, Jesus can only transform our world through us. And this can only happen if we first allow Jesus to transform us; to transform us into saints, into His other selves. If the world is not being changed for the better the fault is that you and I, are not tapping into the most powerful reality in the entire universe; the power of Divine Love; the power of the Holy Eucharist, which is the power of God Himself. The same power that brought everything into existence out of nothing; the same power that keeps everything in existence.

Yet despite our great lack of faith, the power for transformation remains, and is available at our Catholic Churches; here at our Catholic Church of St. Patrick’s. The Eucharist is Power, the Source of all power. But it is only faith that unlocks this power; a living faith that not only believes, but adores, hopes and loves; and begs pardon for all of those who do not believe, adore, hope and love. A faith that in humility, reverence and awe, falls on its knees before this same Jesus truly present in the Holy Eucharist the Most Blessed Sacrament of the Altar. For, “if at the name of Jesus every knee must bend in the heavens and on the earth…What about the before the very person of Jesus?” And the Holy Eucharist is the very Person of Jesus Christ!!!

When we think we have an answer to a question but it doesn’t quite come to us, we say, “You know It's on the tip of my tongue!" Well exactly. In the Eucharist, the Answer to our questions, all of our questions; all of life questions and problems; to all of our own individual questions and problems; to all of the questions of the universe; is literally in our midst and on our tongue.

The Answer has been given, it has been given in the form of a gift; it's just that we Catholics have yet to fully unwrap it! At least some of us Catholics, for the saints and mystics have unwrapped it, and they show us how. They opened wide the doors to Christ in the Holy Eucharist, the doors of their hearts, minds and whole lives and He filled them to capacity; in fact, He filled them with Himself—God filled them with Himself.

Being filled with God is our destiny, that for which we have been created. We are in fact all capax dei - "capable of God." Dr. Peter Kreeft, a Catholic philosopher and writer said it well, "Your heart is like an infinitely large hole, and only God is big enough to fill it." And in the Holy Eucharist He has become just small enough it fill it.

Do we believe this? Do I believe this? Or do we keep trying to stick cheap imitations in the hole in our hearts? C.S. Lewis called this the long, sad story of humanity, this vain attempt at seeking something other than God that will make us happy. Our hearts are made for greatness, for Infinite Greatness. Nothing else but God will accomplish this, because our hearts have been made for God who is Infinite Greatest; and the Holy Eucharist is this Infinite, Great and Awesome God. Our hearts have been made for the Eucharist Alone.

Psalm 81 says, “I am the LORD, your God, who brought you up from the land of Egypt. Open wide your mouth that I may fill it. But my people did not listen to my words; Israel did not obey me." The Church, you and me, we are the new Israel. Will we listen to the Lord and obey Him, or will be like Israel of old and die in the desert?
God has given us the answer to everything; He has given us the Answer to the deepest longing of our hearts, will we take Him at His Word? The Eucharist is the Answer, because it is, “The true Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ; The Eucharist is very simply GOD! It is the very Person of Jesus Christ in His physical resurrected body; it is Him; it is Him; it is Him.

Do we believe it? We better believe it, because it true; but we better do more than believe it, we better fall on our knees before the Eucharist and adore, hope and love our God truly present there in every tabernacle and on every altar at every Holy Mass and during Holy Hours of Adoration. Jesus is however not content to stay in the tabernacle and on the altar because out of love for you, He wants to come into you and dwell within you and use your heart as His pillow.

The Church doesn’t need a better media consultant; no, the Church needs you and me to be saints; and saints are mad in love with the Holy Eucharist; He is the Point of their everything, the Answer to their everything. So, let us open our hearts wide to Eucharist; let us open our hearts wide to Christ. He is the answer to everything, for He is the God who is Love Itself.

“Oh Jesus, Source of Joy, Filler of Hearts, Food of Angels, Drink for the Thirsty. Draw us to you, show us the way to this Table, this Banquet, this Feast of Love, the Wedding Feast of the Lamb. Let us respond in a new way at this great Feast of Your Body and Blood, a way of absolute surrender. Give us a hunger in the pit of our stomachs, a yearning for You alone to fill us. For You are "the Church's treasure, the heart of the world, the pledge of the fulfillment for which each man and woman, even unconsciously, yearns."

Join me this afternoon, my brother and sisters in Christ as we take Jesus in solemn procession out into our streets proclaiming to all…God is with us—the Eucharist is the Answer to Everything!!!

The Trinity is Love

Homily on John 3:16-18--Holy Trinity

Today brings the return to ordinary time in the liturgical calendar; we have finished Lent, Easter and Pentecost. Now the Church starts this so-called “ordinary” time with two celebrations central to our Catholic Faith: the Holy Trinity and Corpus Christi. Today, we celebrate the Holy Trinity, the mystery of one God in three Divine Persons, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

The liturgy of this great solemnity invites us to contemplate the central mystery of our faith. And the Trinity is a great mystery; in fact it is the Mystery of all mysteries. It is a mystery of God’s own inner, intimate life and the very source of all gifts and graces; the Trinity is the source of everything including our very selves. So you can see how important this mystery is to our lives-it is the mystery of what is most essential to us-He Who created us, Who brought us into Being.

To help us enter into the contemplation of this mystery, that is to try to turn our hearts souls and minds toward it and to even to become one with the Mystery of the Trinity (for that is the goal of contemplation), to do this, we must begin by first understanding that we can never fully understand this great mystery. Here below, our intelligence is just not simple, pure, enough to really enter into full contemplation of the Trinity. Here below, we walk by faith, not by sight, so we will always stand in awe of the three persons who are one in being.

Actually, it is the simplest of persons, that is the humble saints, that have come to the deepest understanding of this central mystery of our faith. In fact, sometimes the more theologians or the great intellectuals have tried to get their minds around the mystery, the more errors they made. Either the Trinity loses their personhood or their essential unity—we end up with just one personhood or more than one God. If even trained theologians can mess up, what are we, who are not theologians, to do?

Well, just because we cannot fully understand this great mystery, doesn’t mean we can’t understand it at all. The fundamental stance we take in front of so great a mystery is one of awe. It is analogous to looking at something beautiful in nature, such as a sunset. The quality of the colors in the sky, the light rays turning color- we stand and say “wow!” It just leaves us speechless. So too with contemplation of God- the first stance is awe. We stand before God in prayer, looking with our minds at the mystery of the Three in One- we are in awe, Wow!

Today the Church helps us to contemplate the mystery of the Holy Trinity by helping us enter into the very center of the mystery of the Trinity-the center which is--Love. This revelation of God, in which He reveals to us that He is Love, is as were, a secret help given and revealed to us from deep within the Trinity, Himself. Never in the Old Testament did God reveal this mystery to anyone. God loved the chosen people-Israel, but he was a God who was distant and remote, a Master not a intimate friend. So the ideal of a God who would actually draw close to us, so close that He actually become Incarnate, became a man like us, was beyond their wildest dreams.

This incarnate God is who today’s Gospel passage speaks of. We read that God so loved the world, that he sent His only Son. God sent Him not to condemn the world, but to save the world. This revelation of the true purpose of Jesus coming into our world reveals what is the motive of God. And by knowing God’s motive, we can better contemplate the mystery of the Most Blessed Trinity.

God loved the world-this is His motive and this motive reveals who God really is--God is love. Yet, this Love did not just stay in heaven, it dwelt on this earth, and then this Love was sent into the hearts of all of those who would believe. So love is not just a quality of God, like we would say of us humans—we have love; so we could say that those two persons, that husband and wife really love each other, just like God really loves us. But the problem with this is that God doesn’t love like us—God doesn’t just love—God is Love Itself, or we should say God is Love Himself. In other words, we are not pure love, God is pure love; love is not our essence; but it is God’s. While the bond of marriage is deep, and we can say that two persons in marriage love each other, that a man loves his wife and vice versa, but love is not who the man is or who the woman is. Only in the Holy Trinity do we find Persons who do not just love each other, but are Love Himself.

Here is the heart of the mystery and here is where we enter in- we enter into the essential love the Father has with the Son and the Holy Spirit. The very life of the Divine Trinity is love and we, through our prayer and through our worthy and proper celebration of the Sacraments, being of humble and pure heart, can enter directly in. We are then caught up, as it were, in the loving gaze of the Father to the Son and Holy Spirit, the loving gaze of Jesus to the Father and the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit’s loving gaze to the Father and the Son. This love changes everything in our lives-it goes beyond mere emotions and feelings. Through faith, using our minds and our hearts, we are able to return to the source of Love in order to be loved, by Love, so we can in turn love one another and become one in Love.

So you see, the mystery of the Trinity is not an extraneous believe of our Catholic faith. WE can’t just ignore it and say it’s a mystery and leave it at that. The mystery of the Trinity is the starting point of all revealed truth, it is the source of our existence, the fountain from which proceeds our supernatural life, and it is the goal toward which we are headed and hope to attain; it is a Mystery to experience to enter into to and become one with in love; We are children of the Father, brother’s and co-heirs with the Son, and we are continually sanctified, made holy, by the Holy Spirit to make us ever more resemble Christ.

The more through study and intense prayer we deepen our understanding of this truth of our relationship with each of the persons of the Trinity, the more we, ourselves become living temples of this same Blessed Trinity. The more we adore the Blessed Trinity the more He comes to make His abode in our souls and the more we become like Love itself-Love reveals Himself to us and makes us His Own.

We hear the Blessed Trinity constantly invoked in the Holy Mass and all the Sacraments, because it is the central mystery of our faith. We were baptized in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit; and in their name also are our sins forgiven, in Their Name we became God’s Children. We begin and end many prayers by invoking the Father, through Jesus Christ, in the unity of the Holy Spirit. Often during the day we should say the prayer of adoration to the Trinity, “All Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit as it was in the beginning is now and ever shall be, world without end Amen.

God is my Father! If you meditate on it, you will never let go of this consoling thought!

Jesus is my Lord and Savior who has come not to condemn me but to save me.

The Holy Spirit is my Consoler, who guides my every step along the road.

Consider this often: you are God’s and God is
yours.

Dear Soul, remember you have been created by the Father, redeemed by the Son and sanctified by the Holy Spirit. You are a child of God, you belong to God and you are called to return to this God from whence you came. What Love you have given—Love Himself.

Holy Mary, Daughter of the Father, Mother of the Son, and Spouse of the Holy Spirit, pray for us that we may be worthy of the promises of Christ and return to that Love from whence we came—the Most Blessed Trinity. Amen.

Come Holy Spirit Come!

Today we end the Easter Season with the celebration of Pentecost and the coming of the promised Holy Spirit upon the Church. It’s really the celebration of the beginning of the Church. The eleven apostles, along with the Virgin Mary are in the cenacle, the Upper Room, united in mind, heart and voice, praying for the coming of the Spirit. And as a result, they receive Him in a most dramatic manifestation, as we just heard from the book of Acts. With the coming of the Holy Spirit and His sweet anointing from above the apostles are transformed from men cowering with fear to bold men proclaiming salvation by forgiveness of sins through the Lord Jesus Christ.

So many times, our Holy Father, Pope Benedict has asked that each one of us become more effective witnesses of hope. He has stressed that the world, so mired in despair and hopelessness, needs a strong witness from each and every Catholic. However, when we hear these words of our Holy Father, words that challenge us, we too can cower with fear just like the apostles did before that miraculous event occurred in the upper room.

I am sure if we try, we can make a long list from our daily lives of times when we have been called by God to give witness to Christ and our faith in Him and His Catholic Church, but failed in fear. Fear is that emotion which causes us to cower and so “go with the flow”, saying, “I am just plain afraid of what following Christ unreservedly might cost me!” Fear is what causes us to make excuses like, “everyone is doing it” “who I am to judge;” and so we can mediocre Catholics, becoming lukewarm and indifferent to what is really important in our life.

And what is most important in our life? It is our faith in and relationship with Our Loving God shown by our worship and adoration of Him in the Sacred Liturgy; that is, the Holy Mass and the other Sacraments. Additionally, flowing from this faithful and proper worship is our concern and love for the salvation of our neighbor; that is concern for whether or not those we know and love make it to heaven; especially the members of our family and parish family.

Because Christ has sent us the advocate we need no longer be afraid to witness to the truth; the Holy Spirit will strengthen us and console us; if we ask Him, if we call upon Him to help. Today He offers to each of us the very same supernatural gifts that transformed the apostles. These gifts, which we received at our personal Pentecost, that is at our Confirmation, these gifts have the divine power to transform us, to make us holy so we can live holy lives; and holiness of life is that universal language which speaks to the hearts of all men regardless of their tongue.

If we open our hearts and minds to the gifts of the Holy Spirit, these sublime gifts will enable and transform us to be bold witnesses to the hope and joy that we hold in our hearts…to be bold witnesses to the Risen Christ, just like the apostles in our reading today; we can lead others to Jesus and His love for them. The question for us today is however, “How do we more fully open our hearts and minds to the Holy Spirit in order to use, in our daily lives, His gifts that we received at our confirmation.

To begin with, we must be more docile to the Holy Spirit workings within our soul. It is He who directs our thoughts to the good, to the only one who is good and that is God. He directs us to carry out all that God expects of us for love of Him and love of neighbor for love of Him. Those inspirations you have to goodness and holiness are from Him, not from you but from Him.

And so it is He who leads us to be open to Christ’s teachings and commandments and accept them with our whole minds. It is He who gives us the strength to accept them with our whole will in order to live them in our lives, thus proclaiming by our lives the truth of Christ which alone gives authentic freedom and life and so which alone gives the hope that doesn’t disappoint.

Second, we must pray to the Holy Spirit. Prayer to Him opens us up to his working in our soul. Christian life in fact, requires a constant dialogue with God, One in three Persons, and it is to this intimacy that the Holy Spirit leads us. In our live of prayer we discover that because of our baptism and confirmation, the Holy Spirit and His divine power and love is present and moves in us. Only by Him can the praise and adoration of God grow within our hearts, fill our minds and come off of our lips. Through prayer, especially the prayer of the Holy Mass, we are able give ourselves to the Holy Spirit in the obedience of love and the meekness of love and become united with Him and become transformed by Him in love.

Finally, the Holy Spirit leads us to union with the cross, because in the life of Christ, the Resurrection, Ascension and Pentecost were preceded by Calvary. This order must be followed in the life of any Christian…The Holy Spirit comes to us as a result of the Cross—that is as a result of our total abandonment to the Will of God and His truth, of seeking only His glory and of renouncing ourselves and our wills completely.

The Holy Spirit leads us to accept the fruits of Christ cross in our lives by helping to offer ourselves unreservedly at the Altar and by leading us gently to the Sacrament of Penance, to confess our sins there, to raise our heart to God throughout the day and to carry out some particular work well. It is He who suggests to us and gives us the strength to live the Holy Mass by accepting all of the crosses in our daily lives, including doing our daily work well and by making some small sacrifice or accepting some discomfort, irritation or inconvenience as and act of love for God and sorrow for our sins and the sins of others.

Let us ask today for a renewal of the gifts of the Holy Spirit we received at confirmation; if you have been confirmed see me. Because you need, we all need these seven-fold gifts of grace to help us transform our lives and to help those around us to have faith and hope in Jesus Christ. It is impossible to lead an authentic Christian life without the Sacrament of Confirmation.
If we are docile to the Holy Spirit we can grow in the intimacy of our prayer and union with God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit will transform us into other Christs by helping us to die to self so that Christ may live and love in us. We will then participate in His work of Redemption, bringing the hope of Christ to the world around us by the power of the same Spirit who through the apostles first brought to the world the light of faith, the promise of hope and the fire of God’s love! (pause)

If we want to have a deeper friendship with the Holy Spirit, nothing is so effective as a close friendship with Mary. She it was who was opened, followed and obeyed, as no other creature ever did, the inspirations of the Holy Spirit. The Apostles, before the day of Pentecost, with one accord devoted themselves to prayer, together with the woman and Mary, the Mother of Jesus, Let us do the same at this Holy Mass and every Holy Mass as the Holy Spirit through the Sacred Priesthood makes present Heaven on earth in the Holy Eucharist, which is our only hope on earth. Come Holy Spirit come, come by means of the Immaculate Heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Thy well-beloved spouse. (x3) Amen.

The Eucharist is our resurrected and ascended Lord. The Eucharist is Jesus and where Jesus is there is our hope, there is Heaven on earth.

Today we celebrate the Feast of the Ascension of the Risen Lord Jesus, to the right hand of His Father in Glory. Yet, if you think about it, this seems to be a contradiction. After all, Jesus said in the Gospel we just read, “And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age.” So, if Jesus ascends into heaven, how can he be with us until the end of time? If Jesus wanted to be with us until the end of the world, how come he didn’t just stay in Jerusalem and be available to everyone there? If he truly loved us, wouldn’t he have stayed so that we could encounter him, personally, just like his disciples, so that we too could see him, touch him--hear him? These are good questions. How can we answer them?

In our own lives, we can certainly feel as if Jesus has left us alone, especially when we experience bad things, like the death of a loved one, a personal tragedy; but also we can seem abandoned by Jesus our God even in just the everyday struggles of life. In ordinary life we can often experience sadness or loneliness, or sometimes even incredible anguish. I believe the apostles and disciples of Jesus felt many of these things, especially after Jesus was cruelly crucified—he left them alone through the stark reality of his death and then later apparently, through his ascension into heaven. How did they overcome their anguish and how do we overcome our own? Where lies our hope in this life?..... Well, the answer is simple, yet hard; but the ascension gives us the answer. The ascension points to our hope.

At the Ascension the Disciples believed in Jesus’ promise. So we, like them, also must believe in His promise. They believed in faith that even though Jesus was with the Father in heaven, and at the same time He was with them; and not just in their memory or in their heart. They believed that Jesus was still on earth physically with them, in His resurrected and now glorified body.

This brings up one of the mistakes that many can make in their understanding about Christ’s ascension into heaven. The mistake is to think that Jesus is no longer with us here on earth. When we think of the ascension, we can wrongly picture Jesus standing before the apostles and then floating up into the clouds disappearing from their sight. This is not what the language of the Gospel means. We have to understand the words of today's Gospel mystically; because they are speaking of great mysteries.

Mystically speaking what does it mean, as we are told in today's Gospel, "and he was taken up into heaven."? Well first of all Heaven is not a place up in the sky somewhere beyond the clouds or beyond the stars at the edge of the universe; nor is heaven some type of other dimension or parallel universe, talk of which is so in vogue now a days; heaven is not the stuff of science fiction. Heaven is all around us because God is all around us. There is however, a veil that separates heaven from us. Heaven goes beyond our senses; even though it is all around, it transcends our ability to see it, touch it, taste it, hear it or smell it. Yet is more a reality around us than that which we can sense….we believe in what is invisible…

To be taken up into heaven means then to enter through that veil that separates heaven and earth; it is to go beyond our sense perception and behold that which we can only see now through the eyes of faith. To be taken up into heaven is to behold that reality above all other realities which no eye as seen, no ear has heard nor has never even entered into the mind of man. It is to behold that God who is all around as He truly is, to behold Him face to face, which means to become One with Him in an eternal union of unending Love. Heaven is the ultimate reality all around us, more real than what we can experience with our senses.

At His ascension then, Jesus in His human body enters through that veil and becomes the way, in fact the only way for us to enter through as well. And so Jesus' humanity has become a type of doorway, if you will, from earth to heaven. And so where He has gone in His human nature we can also now go with Him, in Him and through Him-He is the Way. By the way, we can do this not only at our death but beginning already here on earth; this is our hope.

Hang with me here... Because of the ascension, and the sending of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost to the Apostles, who were the first priests (which we will celebrated liturgically next week), Jesus' Human body can now be present both on earth and in heaven at the very same time. And so, in His Human nature, in His human body, blood, and soul--heaven and earth become one. In Jesus, heaven and earth unite.

The fact of the matter is, and this is very, very important to understand....the fact of the matter is, Jesus is also still on earth as He is in heaven. Not just spiritually, not just in the minds and hearts of the faithful, not just mystically in His Body the Church. Jesus is still present on earth in his human, corporal, physical and resurrected body. His human body, with all that makes up a human body: His hands and feet, His bones and blood and yes, His Human Heart alive and beating and His eyes looking lovingly at us, and ears with which to hear us, our pleading and our words of love.

The ascension was merely the end of His visible presence on earth, not the end of His physical presence on earth. Don't ever say, "when Jesus was on earth; and if you hear someone else say that correct them immediately. To say when Jesus was on earth is heresy. Jesus is still on earth, He is still on earth; He is still on earth.

But where, where is Jesus on earth as He is in heaven? At the Holy Mass, and only at the Holy Mass. It is at the Holy Mass that heaven and earth unite. At Holy Mass the veil is lifted and we entered into eternity and experience the resurrected and ascended Jesus sitting at His Throne at the Right Hand of the Father. The Heavenly Liturgy and the Earthly Liturgy literally become one; we worship and adore our God with all the angels and saints.

When we are in the presence of the Holy Eucharist we are at the same time both on earth and in heaven; in fact more in heaven than we are on earth. Where Jesus is there is heaven. Whether we encounter the Holy Eucharist, which is Jesus in His resurrected and ascended body, at Mass or outside of Mass in the tabernacle or at hours of adoration through Jesus in the Holy Eucharist we enter already through that veil that separates heaven and earth; we begin to process already that which we hope in; being embrace in the love of God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Yes we can't see with our human eyes the body of Jesus in the Holy Eucharist because we can't see Heaven. Yet, through faith we can know with certainty that He is really there and we can touch Him. "In faith God present in the Holy Eucharist can come to us, and show himself to the eyes of our heart." How we must present our self, before the throne of God at Holy Mass. Exteriorly, how we must act, how we must dress, even during the summer months, always wearing our Sunday best; dressed for the wedding feast of the Lamb not for a day at the park or the beach. Interiorly how we must present ourselves, how souls cleansed and made pure by confession,

Because Jesus is still on earth in the Holy Eucharist we discover that this, "The Mystery of Our Faith," is our hope in the present life of struggle and fear. But we must believe with our whole hearts and minds that He is really there in the tabernacle and on our altars after the words of consecration are spoken; and we must, we must, if we are to possess hope, live out that belief by adoring Him in the Holy Eucharist, falling on our knees and crying out in love, "Oh my God I believe, please help my unbelief. We must allow our encounter with the Eucharist, Jesus, to transform us.

The Eucharist is our resurrected and ascended Lord. The Eucharist is Jesus and where Jesus is there is our hope, there is Heaven on earth. …we go to heaven to the extent we go to Jesus Christ and enter into him… (Pope Benedict) Let us turn to Our Lady for help…Holy Mary, Mother of our hope, Queen of Peace, pray for us. Come Holy Spirit, Come by means of the powerful intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Your well-beloved spouse. Amen.

How can we love one another in the parish family if we don’t give ourselves...

Fourth Sunday in Easter-"Good Shepherd Sunday." May 15th, 2011

Today is commonly called Good Shepherd Sunday, since all the readings, antiphons, and the alleluia verse have a pastoral theme. In fact, the word “shepherd” or “sheep” appears in all the readings and verses except the first reading. In the first reading, though not mentioned, they are however implied, because Peter and the Apostles were the first shepherds of the sheep chosen and led by the Chief Shepherd Himself, Jesus the Good shepherd.

By the way, our English word “pastoral” comes from the Latin by the way of an Old English word which has to do with the task of leading, safeguarding and nourishing flocks, especially flocks of sheep. And so early in Christianity, “pastoral” was applied to the priestly work of bishops and priests chosen by Christ to be our visible and audible shepherds and so the visible sign of His presence and His audible voice. This is why scripture uses this concept of shepherding so evident in today’s readings…Jesus is the good Shepherd but He continues His work of shepherding the sheep of His flock, the Catholic Church by and through bishops and priests who are in union with the visible Chief Shepherd the Holy Father, the Pope.

The word “pastoral” is also related to the word “Parish” which is also a Latin derivative, through it reflects the Greek. The original meaning of “parish” interestingly, is “alongside one’s house.” The parish is our home alongside our earthly homes. In fact, it is really where we can encounter our true home, heaven, alongside our earthly homes; and so, it is even more deeply our home and our family. This is why the early Christians viewed themselves as strangers passing toward their true home, heaven; heaven which is reflected in a unit of the Church in miniature, namely the parish. This means that the institution of the parish is at least 1500 years old, its structure dating from the emergence of the Church from the catacombs during the early fourth century.

A parish is truly a spiritual sheepfold wherein the work of the Good Shepherd is carried out by an ordained priest who acts in the authority and in the name, and so in the Divine Power of the Good Shepherd. The faithful and the active sheep of the parish are called to assist the priest, so he can faithfully share in the work of the Good Shepherd. If the shepherd and the sheep are faithful to the voice of the Good Shepherd, shown by their faithfulness to the Chief shepherds on Earth, the Holy Father and the bishops in union with him, then by its nature, the parish reflects all dimensions of Jesus’ loving care for us.

Thus, it is in a parish, our parish, that Jesus says, as He does in today’s Gospel, “I know my sheep….” And “ mine know me…” For it is in a parish church, such as this, that we gather every Sunday as a whole, as a family, and diligently listen to His voice in the readings. And then listen to the readings explained in the teachings of the Church expounded in the homily.

And so it is here in our parish family where we allow Jesus to “know us” which really means to love us. And in His love He feeds
us by His word; and gives us, by His word become flesh, the Holy Eucharist which is the source of all grace and love because it is Him, Jesus, the Good Shepherd in Person in his Risen Body and Blood. Known by His love, we then come to know and so love the Good Shepherd in return.

By the Holy Eucharist, if we participate with faith, and so with full, active, conscious participation, we can actually enter into a Holy Communion of Love with the Good Shepherd, thus being filled with His love and life, with His very being, in order to be shepherded and come to bear good fruit, the fruit of love. In our lives we can then share this fruit of God’s love, life and Communion with others, helping one another in the parish get to heaven, and helping even those not of our flock get to heaven. As Christ’s flock, as His family, we are truly called to be a “Family of families helping one another get to heaven!”

It is here in our parish church that we first enter Christ’s sheepfold, through the spiritual rebirth of the waters of baptism. Here we achieve maturity in faith, through Confirmation and so through the gifts of the Holy Spirit. It is here that we come as prodigal children when we suffer an illness of soul cause by our sin so that we may experience God’s loving mercy, His forgiveness and healing. Here marriage vows are taken. It is from here that the oils of the Last Anointing are brought to the seriously ill in order that they may be healed, primarily spiritually; and if it be God’s Holy Will, even healed physically as I have myself witnessed on occasion.

Today’s second Reading recalls that through we were once scattered, we are now one in Christ. We are now gathered into this parish; in other words, it is Christ the Good Shepherd who has gathered us as one flock, as one family. Here as well we are connected to the larger flock of Christ, as found in the Diocesan family and the family of the Universal Church. Here at this parish, in this flock, the portion of Christ’s larger flock in the world, we encounter the life of which today’s Gospel speaks; here we can receive this life if we open ourselves to it in faith and love.

To bring all this down to a very concrete level, three basic expectations can be assigned by the Good Shepherd to each member of a parish flock. They are: 1. Registration; 2 involvement, and 3. Support, which includes both spiritual and financial support. Too, there should be concern for outreach; a thrust beyond parish limits that can be implemented by social service such as through St. Vincent de Paul, and a thrust for social services by ecumenical activity and education programs.

One Archbishop said that, “The real purpose of parish is, in fact, to develop saints who praise God together, who as a community, who as a family, carry out the two great Commandments…” And what are the two great Commandments? First and foremost is the Adoration of our God, which means to love Him with our whole heart, and with our whole soul, and with our whole mind, not only as individuals but together as a family. And the second springs from the first and is like it; because of this love of God we must then love our neighbor as ourselves.

These two Commandments are carried our principally through Holy Mass and our presence and active participation in it. It is here that we encounter the Good Shepherd, as we can nowhere else; and through this encounter here we can enter into a loving intimate encounter with our Heavenly Father. And so it is here that through our encounter with God, our Communion with God, we can then enter into a Communion of love with one another, a loving communion which has it’s source in the Communion of Love of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost.

It is only through this encounter, brought about by encountering, listening to and following the Good Shepherd, that we can have life and have it more abundantly and share that abundant life with our world. It is through the Holy Mass and our Communion with Good Shepherd and through Him with the Father in the Communion of love of the Holy Spirit that we follow the spirit of the first generations of Christian and all the other faithful Christians up until our own time. In our parish we and they are one, in the Oneness of the Most Blessed Trinity.

This oneness in the God who is three in One, and the God who is Love, allows us and empowers us to love one another. Again, this love of one another begins first and foremost in our parish family, for Charity begins at home. Love is shown by deeds. Full, active and conscious participation in the Sacred Liturgy must, MUST be followed by full, active and conscious participation in our Parish family life. This is not an option in our Catholic faith or in our efforts to “love one another.”
Somewhere along the lines of the past decades came the erroneous idea that to be a faithful Catholic all one had to do was to show up for Holy Mass. Nothing could be further from the truth. Yes, we must celebrate the Holy Mass, but then we must live the Holy Mass, giving of ourselves for the love of the other; and this begins right here in St. Patrick’s parish family.

But, how can we love one another in the parish family if we don’t give ourselves, if we never volunteer, if we never give of our time, talent and treasure to support the parish family, if we never participate in our parish family’s life out side of Holy Mass?
The fact is, is that it is an active parish life that helps us to love one another in our individual families and in our community. Our world will only be transformed when our parish families are renewed. And or parish family will never be renewed until more and more families and family members of the parish family revolve their lives around the Good Shepherd truly present in the Holy Eucharist. And from that source of Divine Love and Mercy, revolve their lives around the parish family’s life.

Our parish family of St. Patrick’s is a piece of heaven on earth because here is Jesus the Good Shepherd in the tabernacle and on the Altar at Holy Mass and Holy Hours of adoration. Where Jesus is there is heaven because there is love and so there is the God who is Love!!! The Eucharist is the Good Shepherd and so it is only through Belief, adoration, trust and love of the Holy Eucharist that we enter into the flock of the Good Shepherd.

Holy Mary, Mother of God, Mother of our parish family, pray for us sinners, help us all to grow closer in love to your Son, the Good Shepherd, truly present in the Holy Eucharist, the Most Blessed Sacrament of the Altar. Amen.

Stay with us, for it is nearly evening and the day is almost over.

For anyone has not seen all that as gone on in the past week, we could ask them the question found in this week Gospel… "Are you the only visitor…who does not know of the things that have taken place… in these days?" In this past week we have all been witnesses to unbelievable historical events. I am not speaking here of the death of Bin Laden, that was indeed big news. But, I am speaking of an event that has even more ramifications for our world and our future, and that is the Beautification of John Paul II.

Present at His beautification were about 1.5million people. Present at His funeral by the way, was, it is estimated, the largest crowd of people ever gathered. Blessed John Paul when He lived was a man who was seen by more people in person than any other man in history—He was a man who had convened the largest gathering of humanity ever in one place and at one time.

As sure all of you remember his funeral just six short years ago. I remember that the overall press coverage was positive. And many of the networks at the time even had priests & theologians as guest commentators. But I also remember that this niceness in some of the media outlets very quickly changed after the funeral into a type of cynicism. Shortly after John Paul’s funeral some of the media pundits began saying, “You know the pope was a nice old man but he was really out of touch with modernity. He was just too conservative, not with the times.” They began then to say the same old tired line, “You know, the Church needs to change; it needs to go along with rest of the world, with the current opinion polls.”

The world here was trying to apply political titles to a man that didn’t fit into “political titles.” John Paul wasn’t conservative or liberal. The fact is John Paul gave us the truth, and truth is also neither conservative nor liberal, it is just the truth; it is the way things are; it is reality as it is.

John Paul, when he was alive, listened to all of his and the Church’s detractors-he listen to the pundits. He was intelligent enough however to critique their viewpoints and point out where these viewpoints were wanting and untrue. He pointed out all of the errors in these so-called expert’s modern views very clearly, and he showed why they were false. And for those who take the time and effort to read them, his many writings continue in our day to point out the errors in our day and point to the way to happiness and life…to Christ.

One only has to read these works, where he responds to the hard issues such as homosexuality, abortion, contraception, euthanasia, open divorce, woman priests, the dignity and sanctity of the human person, marriage; love and responsibility, etc., to see his responses show clearly and definitively by the light of the Gospels, why so many of the modern viewpoints and ideas are just plain wrong and will always be plain wrong no matter if the vast majority thinks differently…for right is right if no one believes it and a wrong is wrong if everyone believes it.

I remember during the funeral coverage of John Paul II, one reporter upon interviewing Fr. George Rutler, a regular on EWTN television, posited this question to Fr. Rutler, “If only the pope was for birth control, if only the pope was more modern, if only the pope wanted woman to be priest. Tell us about your thoughts in hearing that, Fr. George Rutler.” Fr. Rutler responded. “If only the pope had done all those things… nobody would be covering His funeral…”

Fr. Rutler went on to say, “For a man who is so out of touch with the times and so irrelevant he is getting the biggest funeral in human history. No other funeral has been bigger, period, bare none. Mother Theresa, some of the others, the big ones, the other heads of state, Ronald Reagan, they pale in comparison to Pope John Paul the second. That would not have been the case if he would have just gone with the flow. Look at all the religious sects and denominations which have fallen apart because they have follow exactly the prescriptions of some of those commentators.

Isn’t this so true what father Rutler said. One hears commentators in the media even today who come off like theologians with no idea or understanding of the teachings of the Church, or reality for that matter. Even worst, are those priest and theologians in the Church, who deny the unchangeable teachings of the Church, as if they themselves were the pope teaching dogma to us. They speak so authoritatively and knowledgeable but they have neither authority nor knowledge. Fr. Rutler went on to say, “These issues that people talk about very glibly have been tried and failed miserably. That is why John Paul II has said we are living in a culture of death. Some of these issues have been reduced to political terms that they cannot be. They are not political matters.” In other words, John Paul the II taught us, and our current Pope, Benedicts continues to teach us, that you just can’t take a poll in order to find the truth. And so, truth doesn’t come from a majority view; it comes from God. The majority can be wrong, and in many cases it is. The fact of the matter is, is that truths of our Beautiful Catholic faith are true because they come from God, not from Man.

This all just underscores the fact that all of us need to learn and understand our Catholic faith more and more so that we can overcome the current attacks on our faith, attacks, which will become even more severe in the days to come. Ordinary Catholics will not survive what is coming down the pike.

This why the Beautification of John Paul is so important to us; we still need him to help us from his place in heaven. And we need to study John Paul the II’s writings to learn the truth from them in order that truth may save us and set us free. We need as well to read Pope Benedict’s writings and learn the truth from them as well. God as given us these two great pontiffs at this very pivotal time, to use the words of JPII, “this decisive time” in the history of our world…This is part of God’s Divine Mercy on us and on our world.

This brings us to why I personally loved John Paul the Second. I didn’t love him because of his charismatic personality or that he was the people’s pope. I loved him because he gave us the truth, the truth that I need and you need to reach heaven and our eternal salvation. John Paul not only preached the Gospel to the entire world with superhuman strength, but he brought the very light of Christ to all whom saw him, heard him, and touched him. In the end, this is what attracted people to John Paul II and this is why the Holy Spirit led the Church to Beatify him.

What people saw in John Paul II was the same Person the disciples on the road to Emmaus saw in the breaking of the bread—Jesus Christ. People saw JPII, but what they really were attracted to was Christ Himself--they saw Christ and His truth and love alive in JPII; and were our hearts not burning when he explained the scriptures to us.

And John Paul saw Jesus in the breaking of the bread. And there at the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, along with the Sacrifice of Jesus to the Father, John Paul throughout His life offered Himself as a sweet oblation of love. The Holy Mass, the Holy Eucharist was His entire life, and from it He derived all His energy, love and his deep prayer life. From His willing sacrifice of self on the altar of Sacrifice John Paul was able to bring the Light and the life of Christ to a world ever more steeped in darkness, but at the same time, a world so hungry for the truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

We must follow His great example. John Paul showed us that humans are capable of imitating the very being of God—Who Is Love- in the giving oneself in a total gift of self for the love of the other. In his pontificate John Paul went out to the world, and Benedict continues to do the same, all in order to show us the way of living this type of love so that we can have life and have it more abundantly.

Shortly before his death, John Paul proclaimed 2005 as the year of the Holy Eucharist. By doing so he gave us the very secret to, I don’t say his success, but to his holiness, his deep prayer, his power to bring hope, joy and love to everyone he met. His secret was the Holy Eucharist; The Holy Eucharist was and is the secret of all the saints.

The Eucharist has the power to transform us into the light of Christ for the entire world—It is the power, divine power of the Risen Christ Himself. But it requires--demands, a response on our part—a yes on our apart…a total yes. The Eucharist calls us to conversion, to turn away from the old self to a new self in Christ. It requires a death to self, a contempt of self in order to arise to new life, one which allows Christ to live anew in us, to love God above all else.

As John Paul II wrote in the Encyclical on the Eucharist, the Eucharist leads us to conversion and penance. And conversion and penance open our hearts to the transforming power of Jesus Christ truly present in the Eucharist. Only in, through and with this power, the power of the Risen Lord--His own power, can we truly change, becoming the Light of Christ to the world, to every one we meet. This is the calling of the Second Vatican council, the universal call to holiness.

We must see Christ in the breaking of the bread so that He can change our hearts into His Heart in order to take Him and His love out into the world, into our homes, our work, our schools, yes even our sports. This is the great example John Paul the second showed us; it is the same example that our currently Holy Father Benedict shows us.

Let us then follow JPII's example and give God our total yes, at this Holy Eucharist. Let us beg him for the grace to accept the divine mercy He gave to us in our beloved Pope, in his life and in his death and now in his beatification. And let us offer it through the heart of the immaculate one, just has John Paul did. The Holy Father found the purest reflection of God's mercy in the Mother of God. And from the mother he learned to conform himself to Christ. Totus tuus (Cardinal Ratzinger Funeral homily for JPII).

Blessed Mother, help us to do the same. Here is our yes, our whole lives take it and offer it for us to your divine Son Jesus. Totus tuus, Mother, totally yours.

(Let us end with the last part of Cardinal Ratzinger’s, now Pope Benedict, funeral homily for John Paul the II.
“None of us can ever forget how in that last Easter Sunday of his life, the Holy Father, marked by suffering, came once more to the window of the Apostolic Palace and one last time gave his blessing urbi et orbi. We can be sure that our beloved pope is standing today at the window of the Father's house, that he sees us and blesses us. Yes, bless us, Holy Father. We entrust your dear soul to the Mother of God, your Mother, who guided you each day and who will guide you now to the eternal glory of her Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.” (Cardinal Ratzinger Funeral homily for JPII).”

Blessed John Paul II from your place in heaven, “Stay with us,
for it is nearly evening and the day is almost over.”