VIEWS

El matrimonio de 73 años de mi padre y mi madre volvió al punto de partida hace varias semanas cuando mi mamá y el resto de nuestra familia guiamos con amor a mi padre al objetivo de su matrimonio desde el principio: un encuentro misericordioso con nuestro Padre celestial cuando se termina esta vida terrena. La pequeña iglesia donde celebramos la Santa Misa del funeral estaba llena a rebosar con las personas que habían sido tocadas por la verdad, la bondad y la belleza de la unión profundamente amorosa y fructífera, aunque no perfecta, de mis padres.

It’s not easy to get your head around the concept of the kingdom of God and its meaning for your own life. Then, just when you think you understand, it eludes you again.

During my childhood, long before the days of downloadable music and satellite radio, there was vinyl (which, curiously, is making a comeback!). In our home, there was quite a collection of record albums, and my mother exposed us to the music of Schubert, Beethoven, Chopin and all the great composers.

While reading this week’s Scriptures a song from the 2005 David Crowder Band album, “A Collision,” came to mind. One line in the song says, “Everybody wants to go to heaven but nobody wants to die.” The reading from 2 Maccabees describes how many members of the Maccabee family were tortured and martyred by the occupying Greek army. To a person, they all welcomed death rather than violating their faith because they knew they would see God upon their death.

If there’s one thing this rancorous political season has revealed, it’s that America is in a battle for its soul. Who are we and what do we stand for?

Amid last summer’s series of tragic shootings in cities across the country, a news story reported that the alleged gunman who killed several police officers in Dallas had received tactical instruction at a private self-defense academy two years earlier.

Hoy quiero considerar el trabajo pastoral de los sacerdotes, que, en la dirección espiritual y confesión, buscan ayudar a otros a encontrar la Amoris Laetitia, “La alegría del amor”. Previamente durante este año, el Papa Francisco, que ha hecho de la confesión un tema constante de su pontificado, escribió en su reciente libro, “El Nombre de Dios es Misericordia”, “Es importante que vaya al confesionario, que me ponga a mí mismo frente a un sacerdote que representa a Jesús, que me arrodille frente a la Madre Iglesia llamada a distribuir la misericordia de Dios. Hay una objetividad en este gesto, en arrodillarme frente al sacerdote, que en ese momento es el trámite de la gracia que me llega y me cura”.

Today I wish to consider the shepherding work of priests, who, in spiritual guidance and in confession, seek to help others to encounter the Amoris Laetitia, the “Joy of Love.” Earlier this year, Pope Francis, who has made Confession a constant theme of his pontificate, wrote in his recent book, “The Name of God is Mercy,” “It is important that I go to Confession, that I sit in front of a priest who embodies Jesus, that I kneel before Mother Church, called to dispense the mercy of Christ. There is objectivity in this gesture of genuflection before the priest; it becomes the vehicle through which grace reaches and heals me.”

When I pointed out in a homily that not all saints are officially canonized, a woman said to me after Mass, “That may be true, but the great saints get to wear a crown in heaven, like St. Paul in today’s epistle!” It got me to thinking: Are there trophies for us in heaven, blue ribbons as eternal accessories?

The 40-something eternally optimistic guard looked particularly young and fit for his age, especially considering his condition. He was a kidney transplant recipient in need of a second transplant.