Rockaway Retreat

This past week I had the pleasure of taking some much needed days of rest and retreat - my first days of retreat in months. I was free from the parish from Wednesday afternoon to Saturday afternoon and I spent that time on the Oregon coast. 

The Holy Cross house at Surf Pines was being worked on, so I accepted the gracious invitation of the Good Shepherd Sisters to use their house in Rockaway Beach, Oregon.

Unlike the house at Surf Pines, this house is directly on the beach, so even just sitting in the living room, or lying in bed, I had phenomenal views of the Pacific:

I had plenty of time to sleep in, pray, read, and walk on the beach. I'd never spent any length of time in Rockaway and the beach there is quite nice:

I also took an afternoon and drove the Three Capes Loop, probably for the last time given that I am leaving Oregon in July. The Three Capes are Cape Lookout, Cape Kiwanda, and Cape Meares, which includes a cute little lighthouse,

and great views of the cliffs:

I concluded my drive with a couple of beers and dinner at Pelican Brewery in Pacific City, Oregon. During my time on the coast I also made the requisite visit to the Tillamook Creamery for a scoop or two of German Chocolate Cake ice cream!!

While I would have enjoyed having even more time for retreat, I am grateful for what I had. It was a valuable time for prayer, especially as I will be in the throes of transition for most of 2009! 

Homily for the 4th Sunday in Ordinary Time (B)

“The people were astonished at His teaching . . . for He taught as one having authority and not as the scribes.”

The people in today’s Gospel would have been accustomed to hearing the preaching and teaching of the scribes and rabbis. They would also have heard any number of itinerant preachers, just like Jesus, as they made their way through Capernaum. They may even have gone out into the desert to hear John the Baptist preach his message of repentance.

And yet these people notice something crucially different about the teaching of Jesus of Nazareth: “He taught as one having authority and not as the scribes.”

Just what is the nature of Jesus’ teaching and authority that makes it so noticeably different from that of the scribes?

If we think about it for a moment we have all known teachers, bosses, police officers, coaches, sadly even priests and religious, who don’t carry authority well. Insecure in who they are, their authority and power rest solely in their title or office.

As a result, they can wield authority like a weapon, lest anyone sense their vulnerability. They are quick tempered and difficult to please and as a result are feared by many. They insist on the black and white of the rules and are always suspicious that others are attempting to undermine their authority.

Or, on the other hand, they might quickly cede the authority of their office to others, lest something be expected of them personally. In these instances they are incapable of making decisions themselves and are desperate to be everyone’s “friend,” instead of their teacher, coach, boss, or parent.

Perhaps, if we’re honest with ourselves we might even recognize in these descriptions some patterns of leadership or parenting that we too fall into from time to time.

But, you and I have also known teachers and bosses, and coaches and priests who do carry authority well. Graced with good self-knowledge, they’re comfortable in their own skin and confident in the role they have been given. Everyone knows that they’re in charge and yet everyone feels encouraged and supported as well.

Their authority comes from within, from who they are, not just from the title they have been given.

Friends, this is the crucial difference in Jesus’ teaching that the people in today’s Gospel immediately perceive. Unlike the authority and teaching of the scribes, which comes from the Law – a reality external to who they are – Jesus’ authority and teaching comes from within Himself, from who He is.

A few weeks ago we celebrated the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord. The Scriptures we heard proclaimed that day recounted that Jesus came up from the waters of the Jordan and heard a voice from Heaven saying: “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”

I said then, and I say again now, that Jesus’ awareness of this central reality of His life was what defined everything else about Him – everything else He said, and everything else He did. It was the source of Jesus’ true identity and thus the source of the authority and power of His teaching.

To make just this point, in today’s Gospel, Mark interrupts his synagogue scene to record another event, which gives answer to the people’s question. A man possessed by an “unclean spirit” is brought forward and the demon, recognizing who Jesus is, says: “I know who you are, the Holy One of God.”

The answer to the people’s question is that Jesus’ authority, power and teaching come from who He is, from His identity as God’s beloved, and from the centrality of His relationship with His heavenly Father.

I also said a few weeks ago, that by Baptism we share in Jesus’ relationship with the Father, and that we need to come to know the deepest reality of who we are as God’s beloved.

We need to drown out the many contrary voices within ourselves and around us and concentrate solely on the divine voice that calls us beloved.

When we don’t concentrate on that central reality of who we are, we get ourselves into all sorts of trouble. We search desperately for the contentment that only living as God’s beloved can truly bring. We try to fill the hole that’s left behind with all sorts of other things: drugs and alcohol, sex, possessions and power.

But, increasingly cut off from our true selves, we become divided, like the possessed person in today’s Gospel. Notice the demon says, “What have you to do with us?”

And so in today’s second reading, St. Paul says to the Corinthians, and to us: “I should like you to be free of anxieties,” and adhere to the Lord “without distractions.”

Friends, we certainly cannot expect that we will be able to exercise leadership or authority of any kind in an appropriate way, if we are anxious or internally divided.

If we want to be better supervisors or employers, better teachers or parents – or more to the point, if we want to have true self-confidence and exercise authority gracefully – then like Christ Himself, we must ground our identity in our relationship with the Father, and then see that everything we say, and everything we do, comes out of our identity as the beloved of God.

A Snow Day of a Different Kind

Right as I finished saying the morning Mass it began snowing as the forecasters here had predicted. We got about two inches of snow by lunch time - but since the snow was barely starting as the school day began, we did indeed have school.

Our principal, Anna Raineri, decided that during their recess periods the school children would be allowed to play outside. The kids were absolutely ecstatic about the whole thing, and kept thanking her for "the snow day" she had given them.

While there were plenty of good natured snowball fights, nothing got out of hand. And throughout the day there was a palpable sense of joy over such a simple but beautiful thing.  

A Perfect 100

Last night Josh, Stacey and I returned to the Rose Garden for another Blazers' game, against the Washington Wizards. Once again we had a great time and the Blazers won, this time in convincing fashion.

The game was never in doubt in the second-half. What was in doubt was wether or not the Blazers would score 100 points. This is crucially important, because whenever the Blazers score 100 points or more in a game, every fan receives a coupon for a free Chalupa at Taco Bell ;)

It had been a low scoring second quarter, so when the second half started Josh and I predicted we wouldn't make it to a hundred. But the Blazers pulled their shooting percentage up in the second half, and the final minutes of the game saw us hovering around 94 points.

With the win assured, the Portland fans were able to turn their attention to the Chalupa chase. The crowd started chanting "Cha-Lu-Pa, Cha-Lu-Pa" as the jumbo-tron flashed images of our beloved late-night snack. With seconds to go, the Blazers scored their 100th point on their final possession and the crowd erupted. We got a huge kick out of the whole thing.

Even today, after the Spanish Mass I overheard a little boy talking about how he had been at the game . . . I joined him and his family in conversation, and sure enough, the magical score and the treat it earned us came up!

Homily for the Feast of the Conversion of St. Paul

Today is the Third Sunday in Ordinary Time, and our Gospel moves us chronologically from Jesus’ Baptism in the Jordan, which we celebrated a few weeks ago, to the beginning of His public ministry, His first publicly spoken words, and the calling of the first Apostles.

Today, January 25th, is also the day on which the Church typically celebrates the Conversion of St. Paul. This feast would usually be skipped when it falls on a Sunday, because Sunday celebrations take precedence.

But since this is a special jubilee year celebrating the two-thousandth anniversary of St. Paul’s birth, our Holy Father gave special permission for this celebration of St. Paul to be observed on a Sunday.

And so we heard from St. Paul twice today: in our first reading, we heard St. Paul describing the circumstance of his conversion and his own call as an Apostle, and we also heard, in our second reading, part of St. Paul’s Letter to the Corinthians

These two sets of readings fit together almost seamlessly and with one voice they speak to us about the nature of our own call as followers of Christ. Together, these readings speak to us about ‘when’ we are called and ‘what’ we are called to do.

First, the ‘when.’ In today’s reading from Mark’s Gospel, we hear Jesus’ first publicly spoken words: “This is the time of fulfillment, the Kingdom of God is at hand.”

His message is unmistakably immediate and present. THIS is the time of fulfillment. The Kingdom of God IS AT HAND. NOW is the acceptable time.

St. Mark’s succinct and direct style of writing heightens this sense of immediacy. He recounts that Jesus sees Simon and Andrew, and James and John, fishing on the Sea of Galilee. Mark says, “He called them . . . then they abandoned their nets and followed Him.”

No questions are asked. No conversation ensues. Mark does not give us any indication of deliberations or preparations the fishermen might have made. He states that they are called, and that they immediately stopped what they were doing and followed.

As you know well, for us believers, these Scriptures are not dead letters. These words are addressed as much to us as they were to the men of Galilee who first heard them – and the present moment that these words speak of is ‘now’ for us as it was ‘now’ for them.

Friends, THIS is the time of fulfillment. NOW is the acceptable time. And our response must be as immediate as that of the first Apostles.

We should ask ourselves, if our responses to Jesus’ invitation were recorded, would they be as immediate as that of the Apostles in today’s Gospel? Or do we not, more often, have any number of reasons and excuses for delaying our response.

We are too busy to make time for prayer or to make time for works of charity. We are too comfortable in our own patterns of sinfulness to reform. There is always some other time, in the imagined future, that will be better for us to respond to Jesus’ invitation.

But no – the time is NOW. As St. Paul warns the Corinthians in today’s second reading, “time is running out . . . the world in its present form is passing away.” We cannot delay or make excuses, we must drop what we are doing and follow Him NOW.

St. Mark takes note, at the beginning of today’s Gospel, that Jesus begins His public ministry “after John had been arrested.” Not a particularly auspicious sign. In fact it was an obviously ominous sign of the fate that would await Jesus as well. And yet it was precisely the right time for Jesus to begin His Father’s work.

The same is true for us as well. Whatever our sins or struggles – whatever our misfortunes or fears, the time to heed Jesus’ call and do the Father’s will is always ‘now.’

Having made sufficiently clear that the ‘when’ is now, we can address the ‘what’ that we are called to do in the present moment. And in fact, this is the very question on the lips of Saul as he is knocked to the ground and blinded while on his way to Damascus:

“Who are you, sir?” Paul asks, and when the voice from Heaven answers “I am Jesus the Nazorean whom you are persecuting,” Paul’s immediate response is “what shall I do, sir?”

The answer lies in Jesus’ “inaugural address” from today’s Gospel: “the Kingdom of God is at hand. REPENT and believe in the Gospel.” That is always the very first thing we are called to do.

Like the Apostles called in today’s Gospel, we must stop what we are doing, drop everything and leave behind our former selves, our previous way of living. We must abandon the nets that entangle us in all sorts of sinful, destructive thoughts and behaviors. We must repent and truly believe the Good News that Jesus ushers into our lives.

In turn, Jesus says to us as surely as he said to Peter, Andrew, James and John, “come after me and I will make you fishers of men.” Our conversion, our turning away from whatever held us bound, toward Jesus who sets us free is not merely a movement for our own sakes. It is always a movement that is meant to take others up into the life of the Gospel. Like St. Paul, we are to be “witnesses before all to the things [we] have seen and heard.”

Friends, in these early weeks of Ordinary Time and early weeks of a new year, we are given the opportunity to go back to basics, to reflect on some of the fundamental elements of Christian discipleship.

All our readings today remind us that it is always the right time to answer the Lord’s call, to repent of our sins, follow after Him and join His evangelizing mission. Through the intercession of St. Paul and all the Apostles, may the Eucharist we are about to receive strengthen us to accept this invitation and this commission.

PDX Rally for Life

This past Sunday I led a group of parishioners downtown to participate in the Rally for Life at Pioneer Courthouse Square. We traveled by chartered bus and joined nearly seven thousand others in peacefully protesting on behalf of the unborn.

This event has been held in Salem, the state capital, in past years but moving it to Portland led to a significantly larger crowd.

As always, I was most grateful for our Archbishop, John Vlazny. He opened the formal program with a prayer and then gave a brief speech later in the event. His remarks were perfectly pitched for the most unchurched state in the Union. 

He forcefully made the point, that science, not merely opinion or a particular faith tradition, tells us that human life begins at conception. Therefore, our opposition to abortion is in fact a human rights crusade. Like the abolitionists and Civil Rights activists before us, our Biblical faith, and our American ideals, further assure us that life and liberty are God-given rights and that the God of Life will prevail.

Timely Message

In this week of an historic Presidential Inauguration, the 36th anniversary of the Supreme Court's Roe v. Wade decision, and the annual March for Life in Washington DC, CatholicVote.com has released this powerful video:



Let's pray for our new President and all legislators - that they may have a change of heart and mind and seek to defend the human rights of all, including innocent life in the womb. Let's pray for women in crisis pregnancies and work together to help them as they strive to choose life. Let's pray for women who have had abortions and work to help them recover from the violence they too have suffered.

Oy Vey, I'm Stuffed!

With Monday being a holiday, both Ken and Julie Hallenius were able to join me for lunch downtown on my day off. We made plans to visit Kenny and Zuke's a Jewish delicatessen just off Burnside.

I'm not sure how long they've been there, but I only recently came to know about the place. I was downtown for something else and I noticed a line of people waiting to get in. My curiosity peaked, I drove around the block to get a better look, and saw the sign above on the window - and a jam packed dining room of very happy people.

The biggest problem Ken, Julie and I had was that we wanted to try everything on the menu. We did our best, each picking a different sandwich and sharing a plate of latkes, but I'll still need to go back to try the bagels, the knish, and the matzoh ball soup.

The long list of root beers was a great place to start. Ken and I each tried a couple. Then, as we pondered the rest of the menu, we shared the latkes. They were good, though small in circumference and too thick for my liking - more like falafel than a pancake.

The sandwich more than made up for it. The pastrami Reuben I had was very, very good. I decided that it needed more sauerkraut and thousand island dressing but the quality of the meat was simply amazing and it was grilled to perfection on lovely home-baked bread. And the shoe-string fries were awesome too. (Be sure to visit their website via the link above for more amazing photos of their offerings. Warning: you may drool!)

The three of us shared some rugelach for desert and I introduced Ken to the egg cream. He liked it, Julie did not. We left stuffed, and took away doggie bags with leftovers for another full lunch the next day. In the immortal words of the Governator: "I'll be back."

Happy Feast Day . . . and a New Blog!

Today is the feast of Blessed Basil Moreau, CSC the founder of the Congregation of Holy Cross. I think it's therefore a very auspicious day on which to begin a new blog covering the lives and ministries of Holy Cross priests and brothers . . . and that's precisely what I've done! 

Frs. Ed Obermiller, CSC and Jim Gallagher, CSC of the Holy Cross vocations office asked if I would work with them to publish just such a blog as part of their effort to get the good news out about all of the great work the men of Holy Cross are doing day in and day out - and to give people a better sense of our lives in general.

Please go and take a look at the new blog: Spes Unica!

Hit and Miss

This past Monday I had the pleasure of spending the evening with Ken and Julie Hallenius.

We started the evening with dinner at Serrato an Italian restaurant on NW 21st Street. This restaurant has long been on my list of places to visit. One reason is that it receives high marks in customer reviews on local websites. But the more interesting reason is that I have reason to believe I am distantly related to the owners!

Unfortunately, I wasn't blown away by the experience. The fried calamari was terribly bland, and on the other extreme the rigatoni with Italian sausage was unnecessarily strong on the heat. Oh well, you can't win them all.

We decided to cool our palates with some after dinner drinks at Clyde Common. I haven't yet eaten at Clyde Common but it is regularly named one of the top restaurants in the city, so I'll have to get there eventually. But apparently Clyde Common is also well known for its bar.

I rely on Ken to keep me up to date on these types of things, and he tells me that one of the great mixologists on the west coast has recently joined the staff of Clyde Common making it one of the true destination watering holes in the city.

We were ably served by two young barkeeps named Justin and Ansel who not only treated us to some interesting concoctions, but kept us entertained as well.  Seeing that Ken knew his way around a bar's obscure elixirs and techniques, our bartenders were more than happy to talk shop with us. They also gave us a sampling of some of those obscure elixirs, including an artichoke liqueur which was absolutely heinous!!  

To beat all, we also met an ND Alum who was generous enough to buy us a round!

My discovery for the evening was the "Scofflaw" which apparently is a classic cocktail recipe. I'd never heard of it before, but I'll be keeping my eyes open for it from now on. There's no doubt that the company and the cocktails more than made up for the less than exceptional meal.

Homily for the Second Sunday in Ordinary Time (B)

One of the things I like most about traveling is that it gives me the opportunity to spend time reading on the plane and in the airport. This past month, on my trip home for Christmas, I had the opportunity to finish off a couple of books, both of them memoirs that I had been working on over the previous weeks and months.

The first was “Big Russ and Me” by Tim Russert, the famous journalist and moderator of Meet the Press who died suddenly last spring. Russert wrote this book about his growing up in Buffalo, New York and all the lessons that his dad, Big Russ, had taught him along the way.

The other was “Called Out of Darkness” by Anne Rice, the well-known author of so many vampire novels, including “Interview With a Vampire.” After living for over thirty year as an atheist, Rice wrote this spiritual autobiography upon her return to the Catholic faith of her youth.

Of course, these are, in many ways very different books by very different people. But what struck me about both authors’ reflections was how the Church played such an instrumental part in their upbringing and had shaped their way of thinking and living for the rest of their lives.


Tim Russert paints a picture of his growing up in 1950s Buffalo: attending Catholic school, serving Mass in his home parish and working in the rectory to help pay for high school.

He tells of praying grace before meals, of abstaining from meat on Fridays, and of the Sacraments being rites of passage in school and in the neighborhood. Perhaps most importantly, he tells of a handful of nuns and priests who helped him believe in himself, work hard, and to trust that politics and journalism could in fact be means of service.

Just seven months ago, when Tim Russert died so unexpectedly, his colleagues spoke not only of his work ethic and expertise, but of his deep devotion as a son, as a father, and as a faithful Catholic who simply refused to ever miss Mass on Sunday.

Ann Rice paints a very similar picture of growing up in 1940s New Orleans. She remembers being enthralled by the lives of the saints and praying to their statues at home, and in the church where she attended daily Mass. She tells of New Orleans’ civic calendar revolving around the Church’s yearly feasts and seasons.

And perhaps most importantly, she speaks of being moved, even as a child, by the beauty of her parish church and realizing even then that its beauty was not at all separate from the beauty she also appreciated in the city’s many gardens and tree-lined streets.

Even after struggling with her faith, and leaving the Church, and living as an atheist for thirty years, Anne Rice found that all of her life as an author had been profoundly influenced by her Catholic sensibilities. All these many years later, her deep love of the Eucharist has drawn her back to the Church and she has published two novels on the life of Christ.

As different as these two lives and stories are, what makes them so similar is how thoroughly they are immersed in the life of the Church.

As children, every aspect of their lives was in some way touched by Christ, because every aspect of their lives involved the Church. The Church was able to form every aspect of these two famous people in innumerable ways, and it affected them for the good throughout the rest of their lives.

In today’s Gospel, we are given a metaphor and an invitation for precisely this kind of immersion in the life of the Church.

Hearing John the Baptist announce that Jesus is the Lamb of God, Andrew and another disciple follow after Him. When Jesus turns to question them, they ask, “Rabbi, where are you staying” and He responds, “Come and see.” And the two follow him to where He “was staying and they stayed with Him that day.”

Where is Jesus staying? – Where is the home of Jesus? – Where does Jesus abide?

Where else does Jesus abide, where else does Jesus make His home, but in the Church He founded, the Church that is itself His very body!

If we, like Andrew, want to know this Jesus who is the Lamb of God, we need to find the place where He is staying, and we need to spend the day with Him there – that is to say, we need to have every aspect of our lives, not just an hour a week, immersed in the life of Christ’s Church.

You can tell an awful lot about a person by taking a look around their house, can’t you? So then what might this house where Jesus is staying look like? Let’s imagine together, for just a moment or two, what we might find in Christ’s house.

What are the books we might find on the shelves? Certainly the Scriptures, and the lives of the saints, and the writings of the Church Fathers. But also the great works of literary history, like Dante’s Divine Comedy and Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales. And we’d find more modern novels and stories by Graham Greene, Flannery O’Connor, Shusaku Endo and hundreds of others.

What art would we find on the walls and in the hallways? The great sculptures of Michelangelo and Bernini, and the paintings of the masters like Bl. Fra Angelico, and Caravaggio and the moderns like Salvador Dali

What music would be playing there? Certainly the great hymns and Gregorian chant of the Church’s worship, but also the polyphony of Bach, Byrd and Palestrina, and the symphonies of Mozart and Beethoven.

What food would we be invited to enjoy there? – The Eucharist, of course, is the great banquet of Christ’s Church, but there would also be great wine, Trappist beer, Capuchin coffee, and all the special foods made to celebrate the feast days of saints, like Joseph, or Lucy, or Nicholas.

Who are the other guests that we would meet in this house? The Apostles and all the martyrs and saints, the great friends of Jesus throughout history would undoubtedly all be there.

The point isn’t that you have to be impeccably cultured to know Jesus – the point is that the Church is not merely somewhere we go once a week to pray. The Church is an entire world, a culture, a way of thinking and being. It is beautiful and joyful. It is filled with all the world’s treasures – filled with any and every kind of art, music, food, literature and person that is inspired by Him, and in turn, capable of revealing Him to those who partake of them.

As He did to Andrew in today’s Gospel, Jesus turns to each of us and asks, “What are you looking for?”

The fulfillment of our every longing is to know Jesus Christ, and to do that, we must follow Him to the place where He dwells and stay there with Him. May Christ make the beauty, the rhythms and the rituals of His Church the very center of our lives and the very air we breathe.

Christmas Wrap-Up

In the midst of everything else I had to post about from last weekend, I forgot to mention that I hosted a Christmas Party here at Holy Redeemer rectory! 

Knowing that the weeks before Christmas are really busy for people, and that they are technically weeks of Advent, not Christmas, last year and again this year, I chose to host my open house in early January . . . in the days leading up to the Baptism of the Lord and the end of the Christmas season. 

Since most of the invitees are CSC priests or lay employees of the University of Portland, this timing is perfect - it's right as everyone is returning from break but before the students have arrived and classes have started. So we had a great turnout of about thirty people.

As you can see, some of the attendees were dressed to impress in holiday finery and/or Christmas colors . . . and I swear that we didn't plan this at all!

I should add this little note: I HATE taking down Christmas decorations - it is a most depressing chore. While I will still have to handle all the rectory decorations I need to give thanks for being spared the same task in the church. A wonderful group of ladies from the Altar Society, along with our hard-working custodian handled everything on Monday as I was taking my day off. Boy did that make my plans for Tuesday much more pleasant!

Announcing: "The Gift of the Cross" Fr. Andrew Gawrych, CSC, Ed.

With the overwhelming success of last year's "The Cross: Our Only Hope" Fr. Drew Gawrych, CSC has edited another collection of daily reflections penned by Holy Cross religious, this time specifically for the Lenten season. Once again yours truly has written an entry.

The book is now available through our own publishing house, Ave Maria Press, or through Amazon.com. At just $3.50 this is a steal as it will undoubtedly contain some truly amazing reflections about our congregation's charism.

Movie Review: Doubt

Last week, I snuck out to catch a movie that many people had been asking me about. I saw Doubt.

Some people have been surprised that I chose to see this particular movie. Their instinct coincides with my original impression: that I would not be interested in seeing a movie that involves a priest under suspicion for his relationship with a school-age boy.

However, after speaking with several friends who had seen the movie, and reading a few trusted reviewers I decided to go ahead and see it. I was glad I did.

The movie is not about the priestly sexual abuse crisis and there isn't even a hint of anti-Catholicism. Rather, an unsubstantiated accusation against a priest is the context in which much deeper themes are explored. To my mind, the movie is really about truth, instinct, how we "know" what we know, and of course, doubt.

I think Philip Seymour Hoffman is one of the best actors of our generation, so I was not at all surprised by how well he played the role of Fr. Flynn. But Meryl Streep was beyond amazing as Sister Aloysius. I can't imagine anyone being more worthy of best actress awards. She simply nailed the Bronx accent and every other aspect of a terrifying Mother Superior and Principal of that generation. 

Her performance alone makes seeing this movie well worth it. When you do see it, give me a call and we can have a conversation about who I think did and did not do anything immoral. For now, let's just say that the writer and director do a great job living up to the movie's title.

Seattle Daytrip

After the ordination Mass I spent the day bumming around Seattle. My first stop was for lunch at Dick's Drive-In on Broadway. This is apparently a Seattle landmark and it was recommended to me by Ken and Julie Hallenius. 

I really enjoyed the burger, fresh cut fries and chocolate shake that Ken and Julie recommended I have. They were even right about the tartar sauce they suggested as a dipping sauce for the fries.

The only way they steered me wrong was they didn't tell me to order TWO burgers ;)

My next stop was Pikes Market where I walked off lunch, took in the sights for awhile, and visited Piroshki Piroshki to buy a snack for later ;)

Finally, I went to the Seattle Center and the Experience Music Project. The EMP is the brainchild of Paul Allen, the co-founder of Microsoft. He helped fund a museum in honor of Jimi Hendrix the Seattle-born music legend. It grew into a tribute to Seattle's contribution to rock music and then ended up including a museum to the history of science fiction books and movies. I know, weird.

The museum was actually pretty terrible but since my expectations were low it wasn't much of a disappointment. I don't think rock and roll types know how to curate museums very well. Some of the artwork was interesting, including this tornado of musical instruments:

and there was an interesting display on the Hatch Show Print shop in Nashville, Tennessee and their iconic wood-block music posters.

But even the architecture, designed by the world famous Frank Gerhy, is merely typical of his work: avant-garde, but basically ugly and ultimately functionally poor as well.

Still, none of this was enough to ruin the day. It was great to get away and to be at the ordination, and my meals and and rambling were delightful.

Seattle's Cathedral of St. James

The floodwaters receded quickly and I-5 was opened much sooner than expected, a little after noon on Friday. So I was able to make it to Seattle after all for a priestly ordination at St. James Cathedral.

Fr. Tom McMichael was ordained today by Archbishop Alex Brunett of Seattle.  Fr. Tom, his wife and two adult sons converted to Catholicism from Lutheranism several years ago. Since Tom was a Lutheran minister, the Holy Father granted a dispensation from the promise of clerical celibacy so that Tom could be ordained a priest.

When Tom was completing his theological studies at Mt. Angel Seminary he assisted here at Holy Redeemer on Sunday afternoons. It was a pleasure having him here and I was honored to concelebrate his ordination today. Thanks be to God for the gift of another priest, and may He bless Fr. Tom's new ministry!

The Cathedral of St. James has been beautifully renovated and the Liturgy was reverently celebrated. One of the great surprises of the day, however, was that the Archbishop presided ad orientem - that is, toward the east.

In the picture above, the presider is facing the congregation, which happens to be south. Today, when the Archbishop presided he stood on what would be the left of the altar in this picture, facing to the right, or east. This meant he was not facing the majority of the congregation as is typical today in most parish churches.

This was my first experience of this particular form of ad orientem Liturgy and I was most impressed. It honestly seemed to be the most natural thing in the world, though I am sure to the uninitiated it would have seemed slightly odd.

[UPDATE - A priest source informs me that actually, the Cathedral apse faces true east, so the Archbishop was really facing south when he presided. This makes less sense to me liturgically, but in a certain sense the point remains the same: it is not necessary for the presiding priest to face the people, as together all present truly face the Lord for the Eucharist.]

There was also a most exciting moment as the Liturgy began. I was seated with the concelebrating priests directly next to the Cathedral's magnificent Marian shrine, when a candle fell into the poinsettias below. We heard the crackling of burning leaves and then saw an entire plant turn into a "burning bush." 

A quick thinking and acting usher saved the day by stomping the fire out - but for a minute I thought things might get out of hand. After Mass, when I paid a visit to the shrine to light a candle, as requested by Ken Hallenius, everything seemed to be in fine order.

Homily for the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord

Today we celebrate the Baptism of the Lord and the end of the Christmas season. Over the past three weeks, with the shepherds and the Wise Men, we have found Jesus as a little babe in the crib at Bethlehem.

With them we have marveled at the fact that God is made man, emptying Himself to share our human condition. He is fragile, dependant as all children are. He is poor – born in a stable surrounded by animals and laid in a manger. He is an exile from his homeland and He is sought by ruthless murderers.

Today, we find Jesus an adult, emerging from the hidden years in Nazareth, coming to the Jordan to be baptized by John. But we find Jesus in no more glamorous a setting: He is standing in the muddy waters of the Jordan, standing alongside all the sinners of Israel, who have come to John to repent of their sins and be baptized.

Like the thought of God’s Son being born in a barn, this scene is almost scandalous – and John the Baptist himself recognizes that. He says, “I need to be baptized by you, and yet you are coming to me?”

Jesus’ response is crucial for understanding this seeming contradiction: “Allow it for now, for it is fitting to fulfill all righteousness.”


Just as he emptied Himself, and took on flesh, shared in our human condition, Jesus now also stands alongside us in our sinfulness – even though He Himself was completely without sin.

He does all this to fulfill righteousness – to right the world which has been turned upside down by our sins; to make us righteous, and to put us in right relationship with His heavenly Father.

This is the essence of Jesus’ mission – to bring us into a sharing in Jesus’ relationship with the Father. That is why in the opening prayer of this Mass we had the audacity to pray: “may we who share His humanity, come to share His divinity.”

That’s precisely what Jesus has given us: a share in His divinity. And so, the feast of the Baptism of the Lord doesn’t just commemorate Jesus’ Baptism two thousand years ago – it reminds us that on the day of our Baptisms we were incorporated into Christ Jesus – we were made a part of His body, we were given a share in His relationship to the Father – and the Father said to us, as he said to Jesus in today’s Gospel: “You are my beloved child in whom I am well pleased.”

“You are my beloved. It is certainly not easy to hear this voice,” is it? “We live in a world so filled with other voices: ‘You’re no good; you’re too ugly; you’re too fat; you’re worthless.’”

So much of our society and our own psyches can drown out this voice that calls us ‘beloved.’ Indeed, this is one of the “greatest enemies of the spiritual life" because the drowning out of this voice keeps us from hearing the truth and dignity of our identity (Henri Nouwen's "Life of the Beloved.")

So how is it that we can come to hear this voice in our lives and come to know ourselves as God knows us – as His beloved?

The entire life of the Church, every aspect of Christian discipleship is meant to aid us in hearing the Divine voice that calls us ‘beloved.’

The Scriptures are the great love story between God and His beloved – us – and His plan unfolding through time to save us. The Liturgy and Sacraments are manifestations of Christ Himself, and through them He continues to make us God’s beloved. And the lives of the saints are the stories of all those who heard the Divine voice, allowed their lives to be shaped by it, and so came to live the life of Christ, the beloved.

But as we start this new year I want to suggest just one other spiritual practice as a means of hearing this Divine voice: silence. It is only when we silence all the other voices and noises of our hectic world, and listen in silence that we will be able to hear God’s persistent whisper.

I know that we are all extremely busy, and in the midst of family and work and all the various forms of media that fill our lives, it is tremendously difficult to find time to “waste” in silence.

But I don’t think it is an accident that our observance of Christmas begins on a Silent Night and ends with us hearing God’s voice calling us His beloved. If we want to reap the fruit of Christmas throughout the year – if we want to experience the Christ child’s gift of peace – if we long to know in our innermost selves that we are indeed God’s beloved, and live our lives as such – then we must certainly quiet ourselves so that we can hear His voice saying: “You are my beloved child, in whom I am well pleased.”

I Like the Snow Better

I was supposed to drive to Seattle on Saturday to attend an ordination to the priesthood at the Cathedral of St. James. Unfortunately, we have been having so much rain in northwest Oregon and southwest Washington that there is major flooding in the region.

As you can see, I-5 between Portland and Seattle is closed because a twenty mile stretch is under water where the Chehalis River has crested at nearly 75 feet. The good news is that the rain is ending and the next week is supposed to be warm and dry. The bad news is that the interstate is likely to remain closed until Monday.

I think I'd rather have snow keep me from traveling - it's much prettier and much more fun.

Wild Beauty

Throughout the fall, the Portland Art Museum has been hosting an exhibit of photographs of the Columbia River Gorge. Some of the photographs date from the 1860s and show the Columbia in its untamed state prior to the building of several hydroelectric dams, including the Bonneville Dam. 

I have been wanting to see this exhibit since it opened, and was encouraged not to miss it by several parishioners who enjoyed it very much. With the exhibit closing this weekend I ducked out of the office this afternoon to go and see it.

My favorite pictures were some of the black and white pictures from the 20s and 30s that show the river frozen over during some of the harsher winters in the Gorge.

I was very glad that I did indeed catch this exhibit before it closes this weekend. I'll also look forward to driving back into the Gorge in the coming weeks and months with a new appreciation for the way it once was.

No Line On The Horizon

I was extremely excited to see that the current issue of Rolling Stone magazine contains an article about U2's forthcoming album. The boys' offering will be entitled "No Line On The Horizon" and is set for release on Monday March 2nd, 2009. I know where I'll be Sunday night at midnight!!

The City of Brotherly Love

I mentioned earlier that during my time at home I visited friends in Philadelphia. I spent a lovely afternoon with Mr. Gerry Olinger, CSC touring his hometown, and then spent a great evening at the home of Scott and Laura Cullen.

I hadn't been to Philadelphia in a long time, so it was fun to see the "Rocky Steps" . . . 

. . . the Liberty Bell, Independence Hall . . . 

. . . the Betsy Ross House, and the Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul, where John Cardinal O'Hara, CSC served as Archbishop of Philadelphia.

Gerry and I also walked around the famous Reading Terminal Market and drooled at all of the wonderful food vendors. 

Back on Staten Island I was honored to preside at several Masses at my home parish. That also gave me the chance to catch up with Mr. Richard Tuite, who taught me in eighth grade and is studying for the permanent diaconate, and his son Danny who is a seminarian for the Archdiocese of New York. It was especially nice that my grandmother was able to join my parents and I for one of those Masses and then to have breakfast together afterwards.

I also had the chance to go bowling with my aunt Ginny. I hadn't been in ages and I was pretty pleased with how I did.  We had a great time.

And somewhere in the midst of all that I found at least a little time to just relax around the house with Mom and Dad, which is perhaps my favorite part of my trips home. Oh, and it doesn't hurt that they feed me pretty well too ;)

Homily for the Feast of the Epiphany of the Lord

Well, we haven’t even made it through Twelve Days of Christmas and already the stores have dismantled their decorations and the radio stations have stopped playing Christmas music. And yes, though I cringe to see them, there are already Christmas trees out at the curbs.

For the Church, however, Christmas isn’t over quite yet! From Christmas Day until New Year’s Day, the Church observed the Octave of Christmas, celebrating each day as if it were an extension of that great feast.

And now we continue our celebration still further through the Christmas season, through today’s Feast of the Epiphany, all the way to the Baptism of the Lord next Sunday.

In her wisdom the Church knows that the mystery and wonder of the Christmas miracle is too deep, too profound, to be absorbed so quickly. Our ancient tradition offers us the opportunity to slow things down a bit, to resist the temptation of our culture to simply rush busily from one thing to another.

So next weekend if you’re tempted to complain that the Church is still decorated don’t dare say it to me!

Instead, let’s take the opportunity this season allows us to dwell in the mystery of the Christmas miracle – to go beyond the stories we know so well even from childhood, and appreciate their deeper meaning for our lives of discipleship.

On this Feast of the Epiphany we are given the story of the Three Wise Men, the Three Kings, the Magi. Even if you don’t know that tradition names them Caspar, Melchior and Balthasar, you probably know that they were astrologers, scientists, who followed the star to Bethlehem to see the newborn King of the Jews.


But let’s not settle for staying at this level of the story, relegating the Magi to a corner of the crèche. I’d like to suggest a few ways the Magi can teach us something about our own discipleship.

Moved By Wonder

First of all, let’s recognize that “the Magi set out because of a deep desire which prompted them to leave everything behind and begin a journey. It was as if they had always been waiting for that star” (Pope Benedict XVI).

What moved them was much more than an intellectual pursuit of astronomy. “They were led by fascination – they were moved by wonder” (Deacon Greg Kandra). The Three Kings so much longed to know the promise the star offered that they trusted, they allowed themselves to be led by its light.

Is your life marked by wonder or has that virtue faded with your youth? Do you still marvel at the wonder of creation and appreciate the epiphanies that are all around you? Do you literally and figuratively keep your head up, searching for the light, or does your head more often hang low, your eyes attentive only to the broken parts of life that lie at your feet.

The Magi, and this Feast of the Epiphany invite us all to have a child-like sense of awe at life’s wonders and to trust enough in God’s promise that we allow Him to bring us to Himself, the way the star brought the Magi to Bethlehem.

Seekers of the Truth

Let’s also note that the Wise Men were truth-seekers. They looked into the heavens, into the scientific world around them, and tried to understand the truth, to discover the meaning of human existence.

And they were adept at discerning the truth: they not only correctly read the sign of the star, they also correctly interpreted the Scriptures, AND they understood the angel’s message in their dream.

Each and every one of us is meant to be a seeker of truth. Just as He did for the Wise Men, God offers us His creation and His Scripture as a means of knowing His truth.

But much more than that, like the Magi we are invited to see that Truth is not an abstraction; truth is a person: Jesus the Christ. Arriving with the Magi at the crib we are called to find in Jesus, more than a guru or a moral teacher, we are supposed to recognize in Him the very meaning and the perfection of human existence.

The Feast of the Epiphany asks us if we truly recognize that Jesus is the meaning we have been longing for. It invites us to use Scripture, prayer and the Sacraments as a means of knowing and following Jesus, who is the Way, the Truth and the Life.

They Worship And Offer Gifts

When the Wise Men find Jesus, St. Matthew says that “they did him homage – they opened their treasures and offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.”

We all know this detail of the story, but do we understand what it means for our lives?

The Magi’s gifts not only show the world who Jesus really is, they also symbolize that they are giving their very lives over to Jesus. The Wise Men invite us to worship Jesus by making our lives a gift as well.

When they offer Him gold, which indicates that Jesus is a king, we are invited to lay aside all our loyalties to other powers and leaders – we are even meant to lay aside our own need for control and to yield only to Jesus.

When they offer Him frankincense, which indicates that He is a priest, we are invited to sacrifice our own lives on His altar. We are meant see our daily sacrifices as offerings of love for our brothers and sisters.

When they offer Him myrrh, which indicates that He is a prophet, we are invited to become heralds of His truth and His love. As Isaiah says in the first reading, we are meant to become a light for all the nations to walk by.

They Were Changed

Finally, St. Matthew says that the Magi, “having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, departed for their country by another way.”

This is not only to say that they outsmarted Herod’s sinister intentions, it is to point out that their encounter with Jesus has changed them. They didn’t go back the same people they had been before.

Has our celebration of Christmas changed you? Does your encounter with Jesus in the Liturgy and Sacraments of the Church make you go home a different way – making better choices and living a holier, more Christ-like life?

The Feast of the Epiphany reminds us that this is supposed to happen, and that it’s never too late for it to happen.

With the Magi, and indeed all creation, we come before the babe of Bethlehem with wonder and awe; we worship and we adore; we find the truth and meaning we have been longing for. May our lives be changed by our encounter with Christ so we can announce to all the world the joyful news of His coming.

Welcome 2009!

". . . We'll take a cup of kindness yet,

for auld lang syne."

Happy New Year to one and all!