Father Nick Blaha Homily Cast

First, thank you for your prayers for the principal search. I am pleased to announce we have hired a principal for the coming school year, Alex Weibel. Read about it at https://telegra.ph/Welcome-Alex-Weibel-as-Principal-of-Christ-the-King-School-05-20

Early in the morning on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalen went to the tomb, and found the stone moved away from the tomb door. So she came running to Simon Peter, and that other disciple, whom Jesus loved; They have carried the Lord away from the tomb, she said to them, and we cannot tell where they have taken him... The disciples went back home; but Mary stood without before the tomb, weeping. And she bent down, still weeping, and looked into the tomb; and saw two angels clothed in white sitting there, one at the head, and the other at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain. They said to her, Woman, why art thou weeping? Because they have carried away my Lord, she said, and I cannot tell where they have taken him. Saying this, she turned round, and saw Jesus standing there, without knowing that it was Jesus. Woman, Jesus said to her, why art thou weeping? For whom art thou searching? She supposed that it must be the gardener, and said to him, If it is thou, Sir, that hast carried him off, tell me where thou hast put him, and I will take him away. Jesus said to her, Mary. And she turned and said to him, Rabboni (which is the Hebrew for Master). Then Jesus said, Do not cling to me thus; I have not yet gone up to my Father’s side. Return to my brethren, and tell them this; I am going up to him who is my Father and your Father, who is my God and your God.

John 20:1-2, 10-17

What I need is the meekness by which the prince of this world is destroyed.

-- Saint Ignatius of Antioch

A prayer request: https://ctkclassical.org/employment.html

Jesus Christ still lives upon earth as surely, though in another and what must be called a "mystical" sense, as He lived two thousand years ago. For He has a Body in which He lives, a Voice with which He speaks. As two thousand years ago He assumed one kind of Body by which to accomplish His purposes, so He has assumed now another kind of Body in which to continue them; and that Body consists of a unity of a myriad of cells—each cell a living soul complete in itself—transcending the sum of the cells and yet expressing itself through them. Christianity, then, to the Catholic is not merely an individual matter—though it is that also, as surely as the cell has individual relations with the main life of the body. But it is far more: it is corporate and transcendent. The Catholic does not merely as a self-contained unit suck out grace through this or that sacramental channel; the priest to him is not just a viceregent who represents or may misrepresent his Master; a spiritual life is not merely an individual existence on a spiritual plane. But to the Catholic all things are expanded, enlarged, and supernaturalized by an amazing fact: he is not merely an imitator of Christ or a disciple of Christ, not merely even a lover of Christ; but he is actually a cell of that very Body which is Christ’s, and his life in Christ is, as a matter of fact, so far more real and significant than his individual existence, that he is able to take upon his lips without exaggeration or metaphor the words of St. Paul—“I live—yet it is no longer I what live; it is Christ that liveth in me”; he is able to appreciate as no separatist in religion can appreciate that saying of Christ Himself, that unless a man lose his life, he cannot save it.

--Robert Hugh Benson, The Mystical Body and Its Head

Upon this hil Y fond a tree,

Undir the tree a man sittynge,

From heed to foot woundid was he,

His herte blood Y sigh bledinge:

A semeli man to ben a king,

A graciouse face to loken unto;

I askide whi he had peynynge,

He seide, Quia amore langueo.

I am Truelove that fals was nevere.

My sistyr, Mannis Soule, Y loved hir thus.

Bicause we wolde in no wise discevere,

I lefte my kyngdom glorious.

I purveide for hir a paleis precious;

Sche fleyth; Y folowe. Y soughte hir so,

I suffride this peyne piteuous,

Quia amore langueo.

Delivered at the Good Friday Passion Service, Christ the King Classical School

Delivered at Blessed Sacrament Church

In perfect renunciation lies unlimited fruitfulness. 

--Hans Urs von Balthasar

Dado en la parroquia de Christ the King

The language of theology, properly understood, gives birth to the language of love. 

--N.T. Wright, What Saint Paul Really Said

I pledge to seek the truth
and to love all that is good and beautiful.
I will strive to achieve clarity of thought,
nobility of character, and purity of heart.
Therefore, I will pursue my education with
diligence, humility, and honor, embracing
excellence and renouncing mediocrity.
I will assume responsibility for my actions.
I will treat my peers, my teachers, and
myself with the utmost dignity and respect.
And I will aspire above all to wisdom and
to a life of faith, hope, and charity,
so that I might fulfill my destiny
as a Christ-like Thinker for the Kingdom of God. 

Christ the King Scholars' Pledge

"Our ordinary activities are not an insignificant matter. Rather they are the very hinge on which our sanctity turns, and they offer us constant opportunities of meeting God, and of praising him and glorifying him through our intellectual or manual work."  

--Saint Josemaría Escrivá

As a pastor, I am always open to listening and accepting thoughtful feedback, which I value and need in order for my priestly service to be fruitful. I sincerely wish for there to be a deeper spirit of collaboration with the people of these parishes. I am praying for the grace to respond to what feels like a curse with a blessing. It is hard.

So, as a gesture of good will, I hope that re-forming the CTK Pastoral Council will provide an ongoing forum for this kind of communication and collaboration. More specifics will be shared soon. Please begin praying for its fruitfulness.

During Advent, the priests of the Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas will be walking through the basic Gospel message. This week focuses on the fourth part of the Gospel: that our response is the obedience of faith, worship, and surrrender.

During Advent, the priests of the Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas will be walking through the basic Gospel message. This week focuses on the third part of the Gospel: that God has rescued us through the incarnation, death, and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth.

Este Adviento, los sacerdotes del Arquidiocesis predican sobre el mensaje basico del Evangelio. Hoy, tratamos del tercer paso: Dios nos ha rescatado de la esclavitud y dominio del pecado por la encarnación, la muerte, y la resurrección de Jesús de Nazaret.

During Advent, the priests of the Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas will be walking through the basic Gospel message. This week focuses on the second part of the Gospel: that we are born on a battlefield and that a spiritual enemy is intent upon our enslavement and degradation. 

"Hell is not to love any more, madame. Not to love any more! That sounds quite ordinary to you. To a human being still alive, it means to love less or love elsewhere. To understand is still a way of loving. But suppose this faculty which seems so inseparably ours, of our very essence, should disappear! Oh, prodigy! To stop loving, to stop understanding—and yet to live. The error common to us all is to invest these damned with something still inherently alive, something of our own inherent mobility, whereas in truth time and movement have ceased for them; they are fixed for ever. Alas, if God’s own hand were to lead us to one of these unhappy things, even if once it had been the dearest of our friends, what could we say to it? Truly, if one of us, if a living man, the vilest, most contemptible of the living, were cast into those burning depths, I should still be ready to share his suffering, I would claim him from his executioner, to share his suffering! The sorrow, the unutterable loss of those charred stones which once were men, is that they have nothing more to be shared." 

—Georges Bernanos, Diary of a Country Priest

During Advent, the priests of the Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas will be walking through the basic Gospel message. This week focuses on the first part of the Gospel: that we are created, and we were meant to be loved and to love.

“Something I constantly notice is that unembarrassed joy has become rarer. Joy today is increasingly saddled with moral and ideological burdens, so to speak. When someone rejoices, he is afraid of offending against solidarity with the many people who suffer. I don't have any right to rejoice, people think, in a world where there is so much misery, so much injustice.
"I can understand that. There is a moral attitude at work here. But this attitude is nonetheless wrong. The loss of joy does not make the world better - and, conversely, refusing joy for the sake of suffering does not help those who suffer. The contrary is true. The world needs people who discover the good, who rejoice in it and thereby derive the impetus and courage to do good. Joy, then, does not break with solidarity. When it is the right kind of joy, when it is not egotistic, when it comes from the perception of the good, then it wants to communicate itself, and it gets passed on. In this connection, it always strikes me that in the poor neighborhoods of, say, South America, one sees many more laughing happy people than among us. Obviously, despite all their misery, they still have the perception of the good to which they cling and in which they can find encouragement and strength.
"In this sense we have a new need for that primordial trust which ultimately only faith can give. That the world is basically good, that God is there and is good. That it is good to live and to be a human being. This results, then, in the courage to rejoice, which in turn becomes commitment to making sure that other people, too, can rejoice and receive good news.” 

--Pope Benedict XVI

Este Adviento, los sacerdotes del Arquidiocesis predican sobre el mensaje basico del Evangelio. Hoy, tratamos del primer paso: Somos aquí para ser amados y para amar.

Christianity does not solve “problems”; it merely obliges us to live them at a higher level. Those who claim that it does solve them entangle it in the irony of every solution. --Don Colacho

1. El moderno ambiciona reemplazar con objetos que compra lo que otros tiempos esperaban de la cultura metódica de los sentimientos. 

2. El amor utiliza el vocabulario del sexo para escribir un texto ininteligible al sexo solo.

--Don Colacho

Please note: my father never let me drive on the interstate!       

“We sense that the human body is a precious thing, worthy of our reverence. It is not a tool, not an object of consumption like a steak or a keg of beer, not an animate provider of pleasure. It is the outward expression of a profound mystery, that of another human being.”
― Anthony Esolen

Credit to Father Robert Sokolowski for the summary formulation: God plus the world is no greater than God alone.

Delivered at Christ the King Catholic Church

Cuando hombres pequeños hacen sombras largas, se acerca el atardecer.

"We should live in such a way that our lives wouldn't make much sense if the gospel were not true." --Dorothy Day

To learn more about the prisoner whose writings were read in the homily, visit: nguyenvanthuan.com

Delivered at Blessed Sacrament Church 

“Out of every one hundred men, ten shouldn’t even be there, eighty are just targets, nine are the real fighters, and we are lucky to have them, for they make the battle. Ah, but the one, one is a warrior, and he will bring the others back.” 

--The Cynic Epistles

De cada cien hombres, diez ni siquiera deberían estar allí, ochenta son sólo carne de cañón, nueve son los verdaderos luchadores y somos afortunados de tenerlos, pues ellos darán batalla; ah, pero uno, uno es un guerrero; y él traerá de vuelta a los demás.

It’s said that words instruct, but examples inspire us to follow.  Do we not want to see Christians who, in the midst of all the darkness, are still able to stand above it all in clarity, calmness, and confidence, who, in the midst of all the lack of peace and joy, the egoism and hate, still stand there in the purest peace and cheerfulness? 

----Franz Jägerstätter

"All the way [to the guillotine] the Carmelite sisters sang: the 'Miserere,' 'Salve Regina,' and 'Te Deum.' Beholding them, a total silence fell on the racous, brutal crowd, most of them cheapened and hardened by day after day of the spectacle of public slaughter. At the foot of the towering killing machine, their eyes raised to Heaven, the sisters sang 'Veni Creator Spiritus.' Sister Teresa, their prioress, requested and obtained permission to go last under the knife. The youngest, Sister Constance, went first. She climbed the steps of the guillotine 'with the air of a queen going to receive her crown,' singing Laudate Dominum omnes gentes, 'all peoples praise the Lord.' She placed her head in the position for death without allowing the executioner to touch her. Each sister followed her example, those remaining singing likewise with each, until only the prioress was left, holding in her hand a small figure of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The killing of each marter required about two minutes. It was about eight o'clock in the evening, still bright at midsummer. During the whole time the profound silence of the crowd about the guillotine endured unbroken."

eu·ca·​tas·​tro·​phe ˌyü-kə-ˈta-strə-(ˌ)fē 

A sudden and miraculous grace: never to be counted on to recur, a fleeting glimpse of joy, joy beyond the walls of the world, poignant as grief.

Delivered at Our Lady of Most Holy Trinity Chapel on the campus of Thomas Aquinas College, Santa Paula, California

As fire transforms into itself everything it touches, so the Holy Spirit transforms into the divine life whatever is subjected to his power.

Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraph 1127

There is a much greater distance between the nature of man, or even between the nature of the highest of the angels, and grace, than there is between grace itself and glory. No created nature, however perfect, is the germ of grace, whereas grace is indeed the germ or the seed of eternal life, semen gloriae. Hence when the sinner is absolved in the confessional, an event occurs which is proportionately of greater importance than the entrance of a just soul into heaven.  

--Father Garrigou-Lagrange

"He loved humankind. And that’s why he died as the bridegroom who has gone off to rescue his bride from the robbers’ hands. And they bind him and torture him to death, but he sees his sweetest friend sitting at the table with his executioners, bantering with them and mocking his pain and his loyal love. 

I realized that this mighty love sustains everything in the world—even the fire in Hell. For if God wanted to, He could take our souls by force; then we would be completely powerless in His grasp. But since He loves us the way the bridegroom loves the bride, He will not force her; if she won’t embrace Him willingly, then He must allow her to flee and to shun Him. I have also thought that perhaps no soul is lost for all eternity. For I think every soul must desire this love, but it seems too dearly bought to let go of every other precious possession for the sake of this love alone. When the fire has consumed all other will that is rebellious and hostile to God, than at last the will toward God, even if it was no bigger in a person than one nail in a whole house, shall remain inside the soul, just as the iron remains in a burned-out ruin... 

I was so afraid. For I understood that the torment of God’s love will never end as long as men and maidens are born on this earth, and that He must be afraid of losing their souls—as long as He daily and hourly surrenders his body and his blood on thousands of altars and there are those who reject the sacrifice."

Sigrid Undset, Kristin Lavransdatter

Full text of the homily available at:

https://www.thomasaquinas.edu/news/fr-blahas-homily-baccalaureate-mass-holy-spirit

«La tradición musical de la Iglesia universal constituye un tesoro de valor inestimable que sobresale entre las demás expresiones artísticas, principalmente porque el canto sagrado, unido a las palabras, constituye una parte necesaria o integral de la liturgia solemne.» 

--El Concilio Vaticano Segundo

In the final three paragraphs of the fascinating memoir he wrote while still Prefect of the Congregation, Cardinal Ratzinger explained the significance of the bear: 

According to legend, on his way from Germany to Rome in the early 700s, St. Corbinian’s horse was torn to pieces by a bear. Corbinian reprimanded the bear, loaded onto it the pack the horse had been carrying, and made the bear haul that burden all the way to Rome. Only then did Corbinian release the bear. 

Then Cardinal Ratzinger quotes Psalm 22 (“When my heart was bewildered, I was stupid and ignorant. I was like a dumb beast before You. I am always with You). He tells us that in those very words, St. Augustine spoke of the burdens he carried once he became bishop: 

A draft animal am I before You . . . for You.
And this is precisely how I abide with You. 

How often, continues Cardinal Ratzinger, writing the last paragraphs of his memoir . . . 

did Augustine protest to heaven against all the trifles that continually blocked his path and kept him from the intellectual work he knew to be his deepest calling! But this is where the Psalm helps him avoid  bitterness: ‘Yes, indeed, I am become a draft animal, a beast of burden, an ox — and yet this is just the way in which I abide with You, serving You, just the way in which You keep me in your hand.’ 

And then, years before he became Pope Benedict XVI, Cardinal Ratzinger says: 

The heavily laden bear that took the place of St. Corbinian’s horse, or rather donkey — the bear that became his donkey against its will: is this not an image of what I should do and of what I am?

For God there are only individuals.  

Nicolás Gomez Dávila, Escolios a un Texto Implícito

Para Dios no hay sino individuos.  --Nicolás Gomez Dávila, Escolios a un Texto Implícito: Selección, p. 26.

Delivered at Christ the King Catholic School

"As they stared blankly, in dumb misery deepening as they slowly realized all they had seen and all they had lost, a capricious little breeze, dancing up from the surface of the water and blew lightly and caressingly on their faces, and with its soft touch came instant oblivion. For this is the last, best gift that the kindly demigod is careful to bestow on those to whom he has revealed himself in their helping: the gift of forgetfulness. Lest the awful remembrance should remain and grow, and overshadow mirth and pleasure, and the great haunting memory should spoil all the after-lives of little animals helped out of difficulties, in order that they should be as happy and light-hearted as before."  

The Wind in the Willows

This is an old idea--one that started way earlier than the last time I used this image, three years ago in the lectionary cycle. 

"Accordingly, two cities have been formed by two loves: the earthly by the love of self, even to the contempt of God; the heavenly by the love of God, even to the contempt of self. The former, in a word, glories in itself, the latter in the Lord. For the one seeks glory from men; but the greatest glory of the other is God, the witness of conscience. The one lifts up its head in its own glory; the other says to its God, 'Thou art my glory, and the lifter up of mine head.'”
Saint Augustine, The City of God, Book XIV, Chapter 28

[The Church needs] a change of mindset, particularly concerning laypeople.  They must no longer be viewed as ‘collaborators’ of the clergy, but truly recognized as ‘co-responsible’ for the Church’s being and action — thereby fostering the consolidation of a mature and committed laity.

Pope Benedict XVI, Address to the Roman Clergy, 2009

If we believe in God we should not say, “I believe in God,” but rather, “God believes in me.”

Nicolas Gomez Dávila, Scholia on an Implicit Text, 1128

There are those who, while they recognize the glory of God as well as the importance of man and the call addressed to him in general, believe in false humility, that the call is meant for all others but not for their own person. They deem their own person too wretched to dare assume that they may refer the divine call to themselves. They would hide in a corner and play the part of mere onlookers. The sight of their wretchedness impels them to exclude themselves from the great dialogue between God and man. This ostensible excess of humility, for all the diffidence it involves, is not free of an element of pride. For here, once more, man presumes to decide himself where he stands, instead of leaving that decision to God. Yet, this is precisely the test of true humility, that one no longer presumes to judge whether or not one is too miserable to be included in the call to sanctity but simply answers the merciful love of God by sinking down in adoration.

Dietrich von Hildebrand, Transformation in Christ 

We are living in a time when flowers are trying to live on flowers, instead of growing on good rain and black loam. Even fireworks, for all their prettiness, come from the chemistry of the earth. Yet somehow we think we can grow, feeding on flowers and fireworks, without completing the cycle back to reality. Do you know the legend of Hercules and Antaeus, the giant wrestler, whose strength was incredible so long as he stood firmly on the earth? But when he was held, rootless, in midair, by Hercules, he perished easily. If there isn’t something in that legend for us today, in this city, in our time, then I am completely insane.

Professor Faber

"Although nothing is to be seen, the soul senses very sharply the presence of an evil power which wants to influence it to give up: the sins are too many and too horrible to allow any hope.  But it also senses another spiritual power present.  It may be the guardian angel soothing the soul, reminding it, though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow: reminding the soul of the bottomless mercy and love of the heavenly Father whom it is to meet very soon now."

Read the Baroness' journal entry about her near-death experience:

https://www.catholiceducation.org/en/religion-and-philosophy/spiritual-life/preparing-to-be-called-to-account.html

"What were his thoughts during this part of the journey? As in the morning he watched the passing of trees, thatched roofs, tilled fields, the changing vistas appearing at every bend in the road, an occupation soothing to the spirit that may almost take the place of thought. Nothing can be sadder or more profound than to see a thousand things for the first and last time. To journey is to be born and die each minute. Perhaps somewhere in the vague recesses of his mind he perceived parallels between this series of dissolving views and our human life. All the elements of life are in constant flight from us, with darkness and clarity intermingled, the vision and the eclipse; we look and hasten, reaching out our hands to clutch; every happening is a bend in the road… and suddenly we have grown old. We have a sense of shock and gathering darkness; ahead is a black doorway; the life that bore us is a flagging horse, and a veiled stranger is waiting in the shadows to unharness it."

Hugo describing the thoughts of Jean Valjean, on the way to court

Free. Total. Faithful. Fruitful.

Delivered at Christ the King Catholic Church, 9:30am 3 October 2021

A brief explanation of what School of Home at Christ the King is all about.

Preached at Christ the King Catholic Church, 9:30am Mass, 5 September 2021

"In your observance of the commandments of the LORD, your God,
which I enjoin upon you,
you shall not add to what I command you nor subtract from it. 
Observe them carefully,
for thus will you give evidence
of your wisdom and intelligence to the nations,
who will hear of all these statutes and say,
‘This great nation is truly a wise and intelligent people.’"
Deuteronomy 4:6

Sálvense de esta generación perversa.

Hechos de los Apostoles 2, 40

Preached at Blessed Sacrament Church, 8 August 2021

Preached at Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church
27 June 2021

This homily revisits a set of reflections on fatherhood first given in 2015. I find the truths here worth perennial contemplation. 

The Scriptures this Sunday are full of imagery of leafy gardens and strong, branching trees. These are the images the Scriptures use for living well ordered lives--which is precisely the goal of "Ordinary Time," which is a bit of a misnomer. Better to call it "ordered time," to evoke the ordering of our lives around the sacred mysteries celebrated in Christmas and Easter, Corpus Christ and the Holy Trinity. 

As we pass from the heights of celebration, let's make good resolutions to follow through on the inspirations and consolations we received in those transformative seasons. 

May your people
exult for ever, O God,
in renewed youthfulness of spirit,
so that, rejoicing now in the restored glory of our adoption,
we may look forward in confident hope
to the rejoicing of the day of resurrection.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God, for ever and ever.

Preached at Christ the King Church, the Octave of Easter, 2021

"Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, communion without confession, absolution without personal confession. Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ."

Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Take, Lord, and receive all my liberty,
my memory, my understanding,
and my entire will,
All I have and call my own.

You have given all to me.
To you, Lord, I return it.

Everything is yours; do with it what you will.
Give me only your love and your grace,
that is enough for me.

"What is a farm but a mute gospel? The chaff and the wheat, weeds and plants, blight, rain, insects, sun — it is a sacred emblem from the first furrow of spring to the last stack which the snow of winter overtakes in the fields.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson

"Every good Christian ought to be more ready to give a favorable interpretation to another's statement than to condemn it. But if he cannot do so, let him ask how the other understands it. And if the latter understands it badly, let the former correct him with love. If that does not suffice, let the Christian try all suitable ways to bring the other to a correct interpretation so that he may be saved."
Saint Ignatius Loyola

“Christ is always present in his Church, especially in her liturgical celebrations. He is present in the sacrifice of the Mass, not only in the person of his minister, but especially under the Eucharistic species…, in the sacraments…, in his word…, and when the Church prays and sings…. Rightly, then, the liturgy is considered as an exercise of the priestly office of Jesus Christ."

--The Second Vatican Council, Sacrosanctum Concilium

“What was visible in our Savior has passed over into his sacraments.”

--Saint Leo the Great

Christmas joy that lasts.

This homily was delivered in Spanish.

Yo pasé unas semanas meditanto y escribiendo este retrato de palabras para nuestras familias de la escuela Christ the King Clasiscal, y me gustaría compartirlo con ustedes como meditación sobre la importancia y dignidad de la familia.

Avoid the peddlers of outrage and despair. Do not retreat into a Stoic withdrawal and observe with grim satisfaction as the world crumbles about you. Cultivate the hope of the saints that nothing given to God is given in vain.

I have labored in vain, I have spent my strength for nothing and vanity;
yet surely my right is with the LORD, and my recompense with my God. (Isaiah 49:4)

"If I go on living in the flesh,
that means fruitful labor for me. 
And I do not know which I shall choose. 
I am caught between the two. 
I long to depart this life and be with Christ,
for that is far better."

After a brief note on the Good & the Bad over my first year as pastor of Christ the King, Blessed Sacrament, and Our Lady & St. Rose, I present the possibility that the coming year will be not Ugly, but Beautiful. The Good, the Bad, and the Beautiful.

In this lengthier homily, I try to articulate the reasons--both practical and fundamental--as to why the style of music is changing at our parishes. Comments and feedback is always appreciated.

Teach me, my Lord, to be sweet and gentle in all the events of life; in disappointments, in the thoughtlessness of others, in the insincerity of those I trusted, in the unfaithfulness of those on whom I relied. Let me put myself aside to think of the happiness of others, to hide my little pains and heartaches, so that I may be the only one to suffer from them. 

Teach me to profit by the suffering that comes across my path. Let me so use it that it may mellow me, not harden or embitter me; that it may make me patient, not irritable; that it may make me broad in my forgiveness, not narrow, haughty or overbearing. May no one be less good for having come within my influence.

No one less pure, less true, less kind, less noble for having been a fellow‐traveler in our journey toward eternal life. As I go my rounds from one distraction to another let me whisper, from time to time, a word of love to You. May my life be lived in the supernatural, full of power for good, and strong in its purpose of sanctity.

Dear Jesus, help me to spread your fragrance everywhere. Flood my soul with Your spirit and life. Penetrate and possess my whole being so completely that my life may be only a radiance of Yours. Shine through me and be so in me that every soul I come in contact with may feel Your presence in my soul. Let them look up and see no longer me, but only Jesus.

Saint John Henry Newman

The Father Gilbert Prayer Book © 1965

Virtue and holiness is its own reward; sin is its own punishment. Deliver us, Lord, from hoping from any reward other than You.

Come, Holy Spirit, come!
And from your celestial home
Shed a ray of light divine!
Come, Father of the poor!
Come, source of all our store!
Come, within our bosoms shine.
You, of comforters the best;
You, the soul’s most welcome guest;
Sweet refreshment here below;
In our labor, rest most sweet;
Grateful coolness in the heat;
Solace in the midst of woe.
O most blessed Light divine,
Shine within these hearts of yours,
And our inmost being fill!
Where you are not, we have naught,
Nothing good in deed or thought,
Nothing free from taint of ill.
Heal our wounds, our strength renew;
On our dryness pour your dew;
Wash the stains of guilt away:
Bend the stubborn heart and will;
Melt the frozen, warm the chill;
Guide the steps that go astray.
On the faithful, who adore
And confess you, evermore
In your sevenfold gift descend;
Give them virtue’s sure reward;
Give them your salvation, Lord;
Give them joys that never end. Amen.
Alleluia.

"Monotheists believe their God created 1 billion trillion stars in the parts of the universe observable with telescopes on the Earth or in space—with a maximum of around 5,000 of them visible to the naked eye—so the inhabitants of earth would have a pretty sky to observe at night." --Atheist Tim Sledge

This homily was delivered at Our Lady & Saint Rose Church on Quindaro Boulevard the first weekend of public Masses in the Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas.

After the homily, I've included a reading of Francis Thompson's poem, "The Hound of Heaven," which I reference in the homily. I hope you enjoy the reading in full. Thanks to Mike and Katie Cotter for the beautiful leatherbound copy of the poem, from which I read.

P.S. The Spanish word I was hunting for was sabueso. 

Happy Easter to all!

Delivered at Blessed Sacrament Church, 10 April 2020

Father Connor Danstrom (of Three Dogs North fame) mentioned he puts out the audio only of his Masses on his podcast. I found the idea appealing--a chance for the faithful to use their imaginations a bit. Amazon won't be delivering my high quality mics for another month or two, so the quality isn't great. It's just not up to me any more.

After a brief comment on the intercession of Saint Joseph in our community, we pause and try to swallow the improbable reality that God was tempted, and what that can mean for our own mortifications and determination to remain obedient to God even when tempted.

This homily for Catholic Schools Week is an invitation for all our parishioners to dig deep into the question: why do we have a Catholic School? Is it worth the time and money?

The silence we keep is the condition of growth in prayer, and can even become prayer itself.

You see, there's good fire, and then there's bad fire...

This homily was the first homily Father Blaha delivered at the English-speaking Masses at Blessed Sacrament, Christ the King, and Our Lady & St. Rose.

Using the Litany of Trust by the Sisters of Life, it's not a tough thing to discover where the Spirit is trying the heart.

I thought I'd be wobblier.

The line on that hook is ever so fine, but it reaches to the heavens

" Lightly men talk of saying what they mean. Often when he was teaching me to write in Greek the Fox would say, ‘Child, to say the very thing you really mean, the whole of it, nothing more or less or other than what you mean; that’s the whole art and joy of words.’ A glib saying. When the time comes to you at which you will be forced at last to utter the speech which has lain at the center of your soul for years, which you have, all that time, idiot-like, been saying over and over, you’ll not talk about joy of words. I saw well why the gods do not speak to us openly, nor let us answer. Till that word can be dug out of us, why should they hear the babble that we think we mean?"

CS Lewis, Till We Have Faces

David understood that conflict among the Anointed was nonsense. Why can't we?

The first of a three part series: why should we believe God exists? Why should we think about arguments about why God exists?

The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me,
because the LORD has anointed me
to bring good tidings to the afflicted;
he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim liberty to the captives,
and the opening of the prison to those who are bound;
to proclaim the year of the LORD's favor,
and the day of vengeance of our God;
to comfort all who mourn;
to grant to those who mourn in Zion --
to give them a garland instead of ashes,
the oil of gladness instead of mourning,
the mantle of praise instead of a faint spirit;
that they may be called oaks of righteousness,
the planting of the LORD, that he may be glorified.
They shall build up the ancient ruins,
they shall raise up the former devastations;
they shall repair the ruined cities,
the devastations of many generations.
Aliens shall stand and feed your flocks,
foreigners shall be your plowmen and vinedressers;
but you shall be called the priests of the LORD,
men shall speak of you as the ministers of our God;
you shall eat the wealth of the nations,
and in their riches you shall glory.
Instead of your shame you shall have a double portion,
instead of dishonor you shall rejoice in your lot;
therefore in your land you shall possess a double portion;
yours shall be everlasting joy.
For I the LORD love justice,
I hate robbery and wrong;
I will faithfully give them their recompense,
and I will make an everlasting covenant with them.
Their descendants shall be known among the nations,
and their offspring in the midst of the peoples;
all who see them shall acknowledge them,
that they are a people whom the LORD has blessed.
I will greatly rejoice in the LORD,
my soul shall exult in my God;
for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation,
he has covered me with the robe of righteousness,
as a bridegroom decks himself with a garland,
and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.
For as the earth brings forth its shoots,
and as a garden causes what is sown in it to spring up,
so the Lord GOD will cause righteousness and praise
to spring forth before all the nations. 

Isaiah Chapter 61

Asking God to accept our sacrifice implies it might not be. This homily addresses what must be offered, how it is to be offered, under what forms it is to be offered, and by whom it is offered in order to be a pleasing sacrifice to God.

We're grateful to Phil Couture for making the trip from Denver, Colorado to speak to us about his years as a missionary to the homeless on the streets. Phil offers some insight on how to help the people asking for help.