What would it be like to go to
confession to a Saint? Would I be nervous, anxious, scared? Would a Saint see
right through me – knowing more about me than I know about myself – seeing my
embarrassing behaviors and hidden prejudices? But would I also come out confession
whispering, “Phew!” – having received a sacrament – having received a breath of
fresh air – having received the gift and
grace that God forgives me? And in time for some sins, can I forgive myself?
What would it be like if there
was a holy priest here at St. Mary’s, Annapolis,
who had a great reputation as a saint – the “go to” priest for confession? What
would people walking or driving down Duke of Gloucester Street think, if they
saw a single line of people all the way up from the bridge over Spa Creek heading
into church?
Such a priest was stationed here
at St. Mary’s way back in the 1860’s. His name was Father Francis Xavier
Seelos. In the literature about Father Seelos, writers keep saying lots of
people wanted to go to confession to him – here at St. Mary’s, as well as in
Pittsburgh, in Baltimore, Cumberland, Detroit, New Orleans, and in the many
places where he preached parish missions.
As to long confession lines at
St. Mary’s to get to Father Seelos, I was disappointed because I didn’t find
any writer saying exactly that - especiallybecause I did read about long
lines of people wanting to go to confession to him in several other places where
he was stationed.
Listen to what the Annals of the Baltimore Province of the
Redemptorists from 1867 say about Father Seelos when he was stationed in New Orleans, his last
assignment. “Here, as in all other places where he had been, he soon became a
universal favorite. Germans, English, French, Creoles, negroes, mulattoes, all
admired and loved F. Seelos. Though he was by no means a great proficient in
English, and still less so in French, there were hundreds of highly educated
Creoles and Americans who came miles, and stood for hours before his
confessional, in order to have the happiness to make a general confession to
him. And we all remarked that whoever went to him once, would never afterwards
go to any other director. It was a common belief among the people that he could
read the secrets of the heart.” (p. 317, Vol. 5)
It was at St. Philomena’s Parish
in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (1845-1854), that Seelos’
reputation as a great confessor began. It was his second assignment as a
Redemptorist. Perhaps it was because he was stationed with a future Saint –
John Neumann – whom he went to confession to – that he knew what it was like to
go to confession to a saint.
Francis Xavier Seelos was a
creative preacher, but it seems to me, he loved being in the wooden confession
box more than the wooden pulpit. But he was not wooden. He was warm and
compassionate. Being a Redemptorist, he knew our motto and vision statement, “Copiosa Apud Eum Redemptio.” With
Christ there is copious or fullness of redemption.
In Father Carl Hoegerl and Alicia
Von Stamwitz’s book, A Life of Blessed
Francis Xavier Seelos, they mention a sermon by Father Seelos where he
says: “I here publicly give you permission to bring it up to me in the
confessional and to call me a liar, if you come to confession and don’t find me
receiving you in all mildness.” In other words, you might be filled with fear
and trembling, but I promise peace (p. 49) – and if you don’t experience that, yell,
“Liar!”
It was great to read that,
because being good confessors is supposed to be a key trait of Redemptorists.
Our founder, St. Alphonsus de Liguori, not only has the honorary titles of
Doctor of Prayer and Patron Saint of Moral Theologians, he also has the title
of Patron Saint of Confessors. He wrote a whole book for priests on how to be a
good confessor. He wanted Redemptorists to bring Christ’s redeeming love to
folks – and one key way was to experience God’s forgiveness in the sacrament of
reconciliation – still usually called “confession”.
So when people went to confession
to Father Francis Xavier Seelos here at St. Mary’s, they were going to
confession to a wonderful and warm saint.
Whenever I sit in a confessional
at St. Mary’s, I think about all the Redemptorist priests who heard confessions
here in Annapolis
for the past 150 years. I say to myself: Blessed Francis Xavier Seelos heard
confessions in this very church – well not in these boxes – but in this church.
I read in Robert L. Worden’s book which just came out, “St. Mary’s Church in Annapolis,
Maryland: A Sesquicentennial
History, 1853-2003” (pp. 125-126) that the present confessionals were constructed
in 1914. Henry Robert, our sacristan, took me outside the church and pointed
out how the outside walls of our church on the prayer garden side or the street
side protrude where the present confessionals are.
Sometimes when I see people lined
up to go to confession, I reflect about how going to confession has helped me
all through my life. I begin by thinking about going to confession as a kid in the
Redemptorist Parish of OLPH, Brooklyn.I’d tell the usual kid stuff – “distobeying”,
lying, stealing, fighting with my brother – and at times probably made up some
stuff to make it sound good. In time, I didn’t have to make things up –
graduating to sins of pride and laziness, etc.
I also remember what happened one
Saturday afternoon when I was a kid. It was back in the 1950’s, when Catholics
went to confession a lot more than today. Every Saturday eight confession boxes
were in operation in our big parish. That afternoon every priest had a line
except for one confession box. The light was on – meaning there was a priest in
there - but nobody was going to him. I didn’t know why, but I guess I had a
kid’s intuition: don’t go near the lion’s den. Then a man came into church –
stood in the back for a moment – measured the lines – and perhaps because he
was in a rush – headed for the confession box that had no line. Wrong move.
Suddenly, everyone in the church smiled as well as being shocked, because they
heard quite clearly the priest in the “forbidden box” yelling at the guy who
thought he was making a great move.
“Woo! Uh oh! O no!” And I must
have said to myself, “If I ever become a priest, I’ll never do that.” It was
the same thing I said about a grouch on our block. We’d be playing stickball on
the street. There weren’t that many cars back then – hey it was just after
World War II and New York City
had great public transportation – so our street was not that busy. The black
macadam street was our “Field of Dreams”. Sewer covers in the center of the
street were home plate and second base; two trees were first and third base. It
was great, until a ball went into the grouch’s front yard. That was a “No! No!”
The rule was: don’t get caught by the grouch trying to retrieve a Spalding –
that wonderful red bouncy ball every kid loved in the 1950’s. And when the
grouch grouched, I’m sure everyone said, “When I grow up, I won’t yell at kids who
hit a ball into my yard.”
Was Francis Xavier Seelos yelled
at – or did he hear the stories every priest hears about someone leaving the
Catholic Church because some priest yelled at them? I don’t know, but I do
know, he loved hearing confessions.
In fact, when he was
semi-conscious, dying of yellow fever in New
Orleans at the age of 48, he thought the Redemptorist
priests and brothers around his bed were there to go to confession, and he
would start with the confession prayers.
Confession is good for the soul. The
sacrament or reconciliation is a great gift. It’s a chance to name our sins, to
confess them, and hopefully in time to get beyond them.
Fritz Kunkel once described the
purpose of confession as: “To bring to light the unknown, the unconscious
darkness, and the underdeveloped creativity of our deeper layers.” Certainly
people who receive the sacrament of reconciliation down through the years have
had this experience. It begins with the call and need for confession – the call
to sit and pray in a church for a while, and then to stand on line with other
sinners – to articulate one’s sins – the roots of which are deep – and often
need a lifetime of weeding from the garden of our soul.
Jesus was off on helping people
discover forgiveness and healing. And he tells us to forgive seventy times
seven times. He also said, “Let him without sin cast the first stone.”
Hopefully, all of us have had
wonderful experiences in the sacrament of confession – experiencing Christ and
his forgiveness seventy times seven times – and if any of us have experienced
some rock throwing from a priest, that we can forgive him and get beyond that
horror.
Everyone knows the priests here
at St. Mary’s are not saints. Hopefully everyone who goes to confession here
will taste a bit of the joy and “Good News” people who went confession to
Father Francis Xavier Seelos experienced. He’s has not been canonized a Saint
yet, but he is half-way there, being beatified on April 9, 2000. Hopefully the priests here, keep
moving forward one step at a time – as a result of the example the long line of
great Redemptorists who have gone before them.
Andy Costello (2004)
SIT WITH SEELOS
INTRODUCTION
Today, October 5th, is the feast day of
Blessed Francis Xavier Seelos.
He died on October 4th, the feast day of St.
Francis of Assisi, so they picked today, October 5th, as Seelos’
feast day.
The title of my homily is, “Sit With Seelos.”
In the Marian Prayer Garden at St. Mary’s Church - on
Duke of Gloucester Street, Annapolis - there is a bench that has spots for 2
people to sit with a Statue of Blessed Francis Seelos.
Coming home to our rectory - we come into our house from
the parking lot - through our prayer garden.Half the time I see someone -
usually just one person - but sometimes two - sitting there with the life size
bronze statue of Francis X. Seelos.
If it’s just one person sitting there, we often joke as
we go by that person, “You can go to
confession to him, you know.” And people have joking said in reply, “I often
do.”
So that’s the background of the title of my homily: “Sit
with Seelos.”
TRY IT - YOU’LL LIKE IT
Suggestion: try sitting down with Seelos, you’ll like it.
I was down in our Seelos shrine in New Orleans a few
times.They have the identical statue -
but the bench is a tiny bit different there. It has arm rests.Our Seelos bench is different. It doesn’t
have those arm rests. So ours fits 2 people more comfortably.
I preached down there in New Orleans, a few years back and told them we have a similar
Seelos statue. It was made at the same
time: one was for St. Mary’s Annapolis and the other for the Seelos Shrine in
New Orleans.
And I suggested to the folks down there to sit with
Seelos and go to confession and pray with him - as I have done here in
Annapolis.
Nice.
New Orleans is the official Seelos Shrine.
St. Mary’s Annapolis is an unofficial Shrine for Seelos
in that he worked and lived at St. Mary’s - as well as New Orleans and elsewhere.
His cause for canonization is in process.
WHAT TO PRAY FOR?
Now what to pray for when sitting on the Seelos bench.
First of all make a goodconfession. Seelos was a great confessor. People came from everywhere to
go to confession to him.
I have written about this somewhere. In that talk, I said
that the confession lines were always very long - very, very, very long - at
Annapolis, Pittsburgh, New Orleans - and in the many places he was.
He preached parish missions from 1863 to 1866 - in
Detroit, Wisconsin, St. Louis, and all over the place.Having preached parish missions out of Lima,
Ohio for 8 ½ years before I came here to Annapolis,I know how Redemptorist preached missions go
and how important confessions are to the life of a Catholic.
So pray for forgiveness of sins.
Next pray for a sense of humor.Seelos preached and pushed laughter!
When he’s canonized a saint, if I’m alive.I’ll continue the message from his life to
laugh. Loosen up and laugh. Lighten up and laugh. He started a Laughter Club at
St. Mary’s when he was stationed there.
Next pray for patience.While at St. Mary’s he ran into two Redemptorists who tried his
patience. One was the first pastor of St. Mary’s: Michael Mueller - who could
be a very strict priest and person. In the lobby of St. Mary’s - center door -
next time you get married or go through that door, notice and read the marble plaque
on the wall there. It’s in memory of Michael Mueller.He wrote a book: The Catholic Dogma: Extra Ecclesiam Nullus Omnino Salvalltur [1888] "Outside the Church There Is No Salvation." That was a teaching by some in the Catholic Church.
Then there were the jokes about Catholics or Baptists or
Moslems arriving in heaven. I’m sure you heard that joke. St. Peter takes
someone to their resting place. When
they weant by certain halls, St. Peter would go, “Shish! When asked why by the
new arrival, St. Peter would say, pointing to a group, “Shish, they think they
are the only ones up here.”
Well, Mueller criticized Seelos for being too easy going
with our seminarians when he was in charge of them.
A Redemptorist name Gabriel Rumpler also gave Seelos
grief - for being too easy going. Well, Rumpler, a genius of sorts, was known
for his rigorism and his strictness. In time he had to go to a mental hospital.
I have heard enough Catholics complaining in the last 50
years how angry they are because they were taught by strict, strict, Catholic
Religious teachers. In time, this caused some to dropped out of our faith.
They blame their scrupulosity - everything is a sin - on
those folks.
CONCLUSION
The title of my homily is, “Sit with Seelos.”
Sit on the bench. Pray for laughter, forgiveness, patience
and understanding of all the folks in your life.
Pray for Seelos smile.
October 4, Seelos died in New Orleans, of Yellow Fever.
His dates: 1819-1867.
His place of birth: Fussen Germany. He was one of 12 children.
He came to America - to New York City - in 1843.
When Seelos was dying many, many folks in New Orleans
were praying for him - because the Newspapers were keeping an account going of
his sickness.
A hurricane was going on that Oct. 5 - but the city
showed up for his funeral.
“The three great elemental sounds in nature are the sound of rain, the
sound of wind in a primeval wood, and the sound of outer ocean on a beach."
Henry Beston [1888 - 1968]
A FEW THOUGHTS
ABOUT
SAINT
THERESE LISIEUX
INTRODUCTION
Here are a few thoughts about St. Therese Lisieux
[1873-1897] - also known as St. Therese of the Child Jesus.
As you know St. Theresa of Lisieux is a well known Saint
in the Catholic Church.
A question: why.
I don’t know about you, but every year at this time, I
wonder what it is that makes this saint so well known. I wonder if I had more
answers to the question: what intrigues, or what impresses, or what gets us
wondering about her.
Here are a few possible answers to why she is so popular - or why she impresses people.
SHE DIED AT 24 OF TB
Die young and you’ll have a lot of people at your
funeral.
I counted 74 cars at my brother’s funeral. He was just
51.I’ve noticed - having done many
funerals - that many people show up at the funerals of young people.
I remember Fred Fisher’s funeral during my first
assignment at Most Holy Redeemer, 3rd Street, New York City.He was in his 90’s.I think he had put money down for 2 days for
his wake. That must have been years earlier, because only 4 people showed up
for his wake: 2 nuns and 2 priests. Myself and John Radley were the priests who
concelebrated his funeral. The 2 nuns shopped for him and cleaned his apartment
every week. That was it.
St. Therese of Lisieux was young when she died - and many
have learned about her after her death as well.
When I read about her death by TB or consumption, I think
of all the young people who died too, too early.I think about my dad’s two sisters: both nuns
whoboth died early of consumption. I
don’t know who and how many people were at their funeral at such a young age.
Sister Matthias died at the age of 28 or 29 in Portland
Maine.I went to her grave a few times.
Her dates on the stone are: 1884 - 1913. Her sister died as well - same
sickness. She had not become a full nun. I have her dates somewhere - around
the same age.Their sister, Sister Mary
Patrick lived and worked as a nun for over 50 yearsin that motherhouse for the Sisters of Mercy
in Portland, Maine.
Dying so young can leave deep impressions.
ST. THERESE SIMPLIFIED LIFE
Another message from her life that might have made her
famous was her message of simplicity.
Do everything with love. It’s as simple as that.
Keep it simple - especially the little stuff.
She laughed and kept it light - knowing the heavy message
of simply doing all with love.
THIRD, WRITE YOUR LIFE
People in her convent knew she had it - so she was asked
to write her life and that life was published and made her famous.
Each of us can ask: Do I have it? Is my story worth writing? Is my story worth
hearing?
She had it: the secret of life. As already indicated,
it’s love.
The gospel story of the rich young man tells it all. He goes to Jesus and asks,
“What should I do?”Answer: it’s written
in the Law. Love the lord our god with heart, soul, strength and love your
neighbor as yourself.”
She did that. The rich young man said he did that. But
what else? Want more, sell all and come follow me. Therese did that. He didn’t.
Read her life. It’s entitled, The Story of a Soul.
Write your life. Give it a title. Talk to Jesus in prayer
about it.
See what she came up with.
I love it that others didn’t think some of her stuff was
holy enough and cut it out. Some of that stuff has been restored. Read Ida
Gorres book, The Hidden Self and you can
hear about that.
Read biographies and autobiographies and you’ll think of
your life.
CONCLUSION
Why did she became so popular?
I think that’s 2 things one can do: keep it simple and
write your life.
As to dying young, no.
Ooops - as a postscript - let me mention something I noticed
while doing some homework for this homily.
I once said in a sermon that I predict women will be priests
some day. It got some lady ticked off, because Pope John Paul II had said, “No
way!” And he was the pope and is now a saint.
So who cares about my prediction. If this ever happens I’ll
be long dead. But - not to upset you - and ruin my homily - by making a wrong
statement, I still think that the sun has billions of years to go - and the
church is only 2000 years old - so for someone to say that the church won’t go
that way in the next billion years, seems far fetched.Women only got the vote in the last century.
Margaret Thatcher was head of England, so women priests, I won’t fight over
it.However - here’s the however I
spotted when reading up on St. Therese of Lisieux. Surprise St. Therese once said
she had a desire to be a priest. Her reasons were for holy reasons. My reasons
are several - all for the good of the church and the people of God. One reason
would be curiosity, I’d love to see the outfits and the changes and surprises
that would happen.
I always remember a mass in some church where the altar
cloth on the main altar had 4 red thread markers for the 4 corners - to get it
right. Well I saw this lady in the benches with a face. Something was bothering
her. I followed her stare and sure enough the altar cloth was off balance -
even though it had the 4 red thread markers.So after Mass I asked her what she seemed bothered about. It was the
altar cloth.
Are women better than men in keeping cloths and stuff
straight. I know I’m a slob - and don’t notice details. But I do know some very
neat priests!
Thought for today: "One of the best ways to make yourself happy in the present is to recall happy times
from the past. Photos are a great memory-prompt, and because we tend to take
photos of happy occasions, they weight our memories to the good.”
Gretchen
Rubin Picture: Double Exposure of our immediate family at Bliss Park. Obviously, I am the favorite.
Sunday, September 30, 2018
PURSUED BY GRACE
INTRODUCTION
The title of my homily is, “Pursued by Grace.”
I was doing what many people in the United States was
doing on this past Thursday: listening to the hearings of Doctor Christine
Blasey Ford and Judge Brett Kavanaugh.
I was driving up to Doylestown, Pennsylvania to see my
sister Mary for the day - my day off. It’s a 3 hour drive and I heard
everything in those hearings up to 12:30
and then re-caps in the evening on my way back to Annapolis.
I am a bit nervous - in what I say from the pulpit -
because it might trigger stuff that sounds political. I’m not trying to be political in an example I
want to use that I heard the other day. I’m well aware of different takes on all of
this.I am aware of thedivisions in our country - that gets some
people to say, “Let’s not talk about this - especially at the dinner table.”
Yet I was taught in preaching that it can be helpful if
one uses current examples and what’s happening all around us when preaching.
THE COMMENTTHAT HIT ME
Senator Amy Klobuchar was asking Judge Kavanaugh about
the effects of drinking and she mentioned that her dad - was an alcoholic - and
a member of AA big time.She used the phrase - “pursued by grace”.She said, her dad was pursued by grace.
That triggered thoughts in me. I even said to myself -
while driving - “What a great title and thought for a homily?”
Pursued by grace.
When I got back I looked it up and found out that her dad wrote a whole
book with that title: “Pursued by Grace: A Newspaperman’s Own Story of Spiritual Recovery.”
QUESTION: DOES THAT TRIGGER ANY THOUGHTS FOR YOU?
Have you ever felt the pursuit of God for you?
Have you ever pursued God? Ofcourse…. You’re here at Mass.
Better way to put this: name the moments - name the
memories - when we had deep thoughts and
experiences of Grace and God that hit us
There are two directions for all of this: God searching for us and our searching
for God.
It goes both ways.
We’re using the Gospel of Mark this year, but in thinking
about this, the gospel stories in Luke 15 - right there in the middle of the
gospel of Luke - hit me. It has 3
stories.
The first and second story is about God in search of us:
pursued by grace.
The third story is the story of God waiting for us to
start pursuing Him.
The first story is about a shepherd in search of a lost sheep. The second story is the story
about a woman looking for a lost coin. The third story is the story of a Father
waiting for his lost son to come home.
There they are: two experiences we have all had -
searching and being searched for - being found.
Picture yourself as a sheep wrapped around the neck of
God. I’ve had that experience in prayer. It got me crying tears of joy. Imagine the stinky underneath - underbelly of
a sheep around God’s neck. Thank You, God. Thank You God, for finding me - stinky me.
Picture yourself as a lost coin. Biblical commentators
think it’s one of the precious wedding coins women in the middle east sew to
their best party garment - and this woman lost one coin - and would not let go
till she found it. Picture God as the woman embracing that found coin - or ring
- of what have you - anything that is precious - us in the warmth of God’s
hand.
I assume searching and finding, pursuing and being
pursued, is part of the marriage story
of all of you who are married.
Who chased whom?
I like the saying, “A man chases a woman till she catches
him.”
I love the love story of my mom and dad.I’ve thought about it a lot. I like to ask
couples where and how they met and what happened next. I assume you have all
asked your parents their story.
My father liked the look of my mother when they were
teenagers in Ballynahown, County Galway, Ireland. I talked to my father’s
brother once when I was in Ireland. My Uncle Cole told me that my dad would
hide up on a hill and watched my mother down in the field below near their houses.
Her friends knew he was up there. She knew he was up there. He didn’t know they
all knew he was up there.
My father’s brother, Cole and my mother’s sister, Brigid,
got married and lived all their life in Galway, Ireland. My mother and father, came to America separately. My dad wrote love
letters from New York to my mother in Boston for 10 years asking her to marry him. His last letter said,
“If you don’t marry me, I am going to become an Irish Christian Brother.”
I’ve told this story before - but I love it, because - if
she didn’t finally say, “Yes” - I wouldn’t be here. Moreover, if they didn’t
have that 4th child, I wouldn’t be here either.
Surprise! I didn’t find out till this year, that there
was to be a number 5 child, but my mom slipped and fell and had an early on
miscarriage. What else don’t I know? Family history is very important history.
When I heard about that miscarriage, I said, “Bummer, I can no longer say the
youngest in every family is the best, because they quit when they finally got
one right.”
Lost and found -
pursuing and being pursued - discovering and being discovered….
Human pursuits. That’s my first thought when I hear the
phrase, “Pursued by grace.”
Gracepursuits -
God pursuits … the theme of this homily.
So first of all, I think of those 3 stories by Luke.
Next, I think of the titles of two books by Abraham Joshua
Heschel: Man’s Quest for God, 1954
and God in Search of Man, 1955.
Next, I think of Francis Thompson, the British poet, who
wrote the famous poem, The Hound of
Heaven. He the addict, with a hundred problems, pictured God as a Hound,
picking up his scent and chasing, pursuing him. Look that poem up. Make it part
of your spirituality.
I think of Saint Augustine who both sought God and ran
from God and he tells it all in his tell all book, The Confessions of Saint Augustine.I hope that too is part of your spirituality.
Listen to these words and thoughts from Augustine: “You
called, You cried, You shattered my deafness, You sparkled, You blazed, You
drove away my blindness, You shed Your fragrance, and I drew in my breath, and
I pant for You.”
That’s God pursuing us.
“Here’s another famous quote from Augustine: “You have
created us for Yourself, and our heart cannot be stilled until it finds rest in
You.”
Here are the words of his famous conversion moment in a
garden, “I was weeping in the most bitter contrition of my heart, when I heard
the voice of children from a neighboring house chanting, “Take up and read;
take up and read.” I could not remember ever having heard the like, so checking
the torrent of my tears, I arose, interpreting it to be no other than a command
from God to open the book and read the first chapter I should find. Eagerly
then I returned to the place where I had laid the volume of the apostle. I
seized, opened, and in silence read that section on which my eyes first fell:
“Not in revelry and drunkenness, not in licentiousness and lewdness, not is
strife and envy; but put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for
the flesh, to fulfill its lusts.” No further would I read, nor did I need to.
For instantly at the end of this sentence, it seemed as if a light of serenity
infused into my heart and all the darkness of doubt vanished away.”
CONCLUSION
Today's readings bring out that the Holy Spirit, the Wind of God, blows into our lives in many different ways. Feel the breeze of God. Breath God into our lives. I don’t know how this national story will turn out - but it
will be part of our history. It has blown into our bodies - into our mind -in ways we're not used to it yet.
And it will have its impact on us for the rest of our
lives.
I didn’t read Jim Klobuchar’s book: Pursued by Grace: A Newspaperman’s Own Story of Spiritual Recovery.
I’ll look for it - because of that short comment by his daughter, Senator Amy
Klobuchar of Minnesota. I have always suggested to folks to read biographies
and autobiographies, memoirs and diaries, and write and talk to each other
about each other’s lives.
Now I have an added question: Looking at your story, how
were you pursued by grace, how were you pursued by God?
