Bishops Weekly Column Blog

The homily below was delivered on the sixth Sunday of ordinary times, Sunday February 15^th 2009, at Our Lady of Solace Church in Brooklyn.

Last week, I was on my annual retreat. In the retreat house where I was, there was a unique holy water font with the inscription which read “Domene, si vis potes/me/mundar, Lord, if you will, you can make me clean,” the words of our Gospel today. What wonderful words to remember when we enter the Church and bless ourselves with holy water.

I love to watch children dipping their fingers, and sometimes hands, in holy water fonts. Children love to play with water. Perhaps that is because their Baptism was not so long ago. We need to constantly remember our own Baptism when we were made clean of original sin and became God’s very own sons and daughters.

The possibility of being made clean from leprosy and more is contracted in the Old Testament reading from Leviticus and in the Gospel of Mark.

Moses receives the command from God to expel the person with leprosy from the camp. When he sees someone coming, the leper must cry out, “unclean, unclean.” This adds only insult to injury. There seems to be no possibility of being made clean and the priests are charged with making the judgment for continued exile from the people.

By contrast, Jesus, the new Moses, is approached by a leper who in faith says, “If You will, You can make me clean.”

Jesus, moved with pity, touches him, cures him and sends him off to the priests to get a declaration of the cure, but not before the man is admonished to tell no one else of his cure. This is an almost impossible order which he does not keep. He tells everyone.

Leprosy still exists in our world today as Hanson’s Disease. In the last century there was a leper colony on the Island of Molokai in Hawaii, which still exists. Fortunately, today there are very few inhabitants on Molokai. To that leper colony was sent a young Belgian priest called Damien de Veuster, who once assigned to that colony never left.

One day as he was preaching at Mass, he said “We lepers” and the other lepers quickly understood that now he shared the fatal disease with them, a disease, without a cure at that time, which rotted limbs and extremities and disfigured faces. He will soon be canonized a Saint, not just because of the work which he did, but because of his holiness.

Mother Teresa of Calcutta one day was caring for an abandoned leper and was observed by a visitor who said, “I would not do that for all the money in the world.” To which she responded, “Neither would I.”

Where do we stand as people of faith in the face of not only the incurable diseases (eg AIDS and Cancer) of our world today, but more importantly the spiritual diseases which affect our world today? Do we believe that Jesus can still cure and make clean that which seems to be hopelessly disfigured? Are we willing to accept the conditions Jesus set for the man cured by leprosy?

Remember, he had to go to the priests and, in a sense, humble himself before them. Is this not like obligation to confess our sins to a priest?

And then be made to keep it a secret because God heals and cures whom and wherever He wills? It is not for everyone, especially for those who do not humbly ask in faith.

My dear sisters and brothers, we are invited to the banquet of the Lord which the Saints tell us is like a medicine for the soul. But do we want to become better? Do we want to become clean? The means are available for us. Penance and the Eucharist offer us the infallible means for healing and spiritual health.

May we say with faith and humility today, “Lord if you will, you can make me clean.”

The homily below was delivered on the fifth Sunday in ordinary times, Sunday, February 8^th 2009.

All monotheistic religions have had a problem in trying to reconcile the existence of God with the existence of evil and suffering.

In pre-Christian times, the Roman philosopher, Epicurious (Yes, Epicurean is not just about good food), in a very logical way and in the vein of natural religions. He attempted to analyze the problem of a good god with the existence of evil.

He reasons in this way:

1) If God wants to eliminate suffering from the world and cannot, then He is weak and not omnipotent.
2) If God does not want to eliminate evil, then He is more evil than weak.
3) If God wants to and can eliminate suffering and evil, then why does it exist?

Natural religion, as we, cannot negotiate between the goodness and Omnipotence of God. So what is the answer?

The Book of Job which we have heard in our first reading is God’s revelation in the Old Testament. The Book is 60 pages long in the Bible, yet this book offers no clear answer, but just raises more questions. The so called friends of Job who come to cheer him up in his misery, only really actually torment him in his misfortune, for they asked the wrong questions and drew erroneous conclusions.

But first, a little reminder of who Job was and his problems. His was rich, had a wife and 10 children. In one day wind blew down his house (a tent), and he lost his whole family. Thieves took away all his flocks, which were extensive. He is not only destitute and alone, but also covered with sores, sitting on a dung heap when he has to deal with the problem of evil.

The friends reason with him saying, “Suffering is a punishment from God for some evil done and so suffering is repayment.” But he was an innocent and good man. “Suffering is a means to make man wise and faithful to God, so it is a test willed by God.”

“Suffering is a correction, like medicine which God uses to make man better, so that suffering is part of God’s teaching for men.”

Job responds with faith saying: “If we receive good things from God, why not the evil?” “Naked, I came forth from my mother’s womb, and naked I will die.”

Pope Benedict XVI in Deus Caritas Est says, “Certainly Job could complain before God about the presence of the incomprehensible and apparently unjustified suffering in the world.”

In his dialogue with God, he is offered contemplation, which only makes it worse.

The Gospel today gives us a better understanding of how God views suffering and, therefore, evil. It is Jesus, the God/man who heals and saves. First, Peter’s mother-in-law, then in the town some are cured of sickness and demonic possession. Jesus went about preaching and casting out demons.

So what do we do in the face of evil and suffering? We must act like Jesus; we try to eliminate it to the best of our ability. Jesus did not cure and heal every person in the town, or in all of the Galilee or all of Israel. But, those whom He heals saw had now a different answer to the vexing question of why does God permit evil. Jesus can dispel it, so we also can dispel evil with the help of God. As St. Paul tells us in the Second Reading, “I have become all things to all, to save at least some.” We should follow St. Paul’s example and reach out to others in their need. We cannot assist everyone, but some good we can do to some people will assist in dispelling evil in the world.

Our Eucharist today gives us the opportunity we need to join our human suffering to that of Jesus for the salvation and transformation of the world. As the bread and wine become the body and blood of Christ, so too do our human lives with all their problems become in God’s hands a relief to the world to dispel evil.

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Homilía

V Domingo Tiempo Ordinario – B

Toda religión monoteísta ha tenido problemas tratando de reconciliar entre la existencia de Dios y la existencia de la maldad y el sufrimiento.

En tiempos PRE-Cristianos, después de que el libro de Job fuese escrito, nuestra primera lectura a la cual regresaremos, toca el tema del sufrimiento. El filosofo Romano, Epicurious, (Si, Epicúreo y no se trata solamente de buena comida) si no de una manera muy lógica y de manera en vana de una religión natural.

Me explico;

1) Si Dios quiere eliminar el sufrimiento del mundo pero no lo hace, entonces el es considerado flojo y no Omnipotente.
2) Si Dios no quiere eliminar la maldad, entonces el es mas malo que flojo.
3) Si Dios quiere y puede eliminar todo sufrimiento y maldad, entonces ¿Porque existen?

Religión natural, como la nuestra, no puede negociar lo bueno con un Dios omnipotente. Entonces; ¿Cual es la respuesta?

El libro de Job, que hemos escuchado en nuestra primera lectura de hoy es sin duda uno de los libros más controversiales del Antiguo Testamento, en el se encuentra la revelación de Dios, trata uno de los temas más discutidos y contestados: el sufrimiento humano. El libro contiene sesenta largas paginas en la biblia, sin embargo, no nos da una contestación clara, si no mas preguntas.

Los famosos llamados amigos de Job que vienen para alegrarlo en su miseria, solo terminan atormentándolo por su desgracia.

Job era un hombre rico, tenía una esposa con diez hijos. Un día un viento muy fuerte soplo sobre su tienda, la tienda se desrumbo y el no solo perdió su tienda, sino a toda su familia. Luego llegaron ladrones y le llevaron todo su rebaño. No solo estaba Job destituido y solo, si no que quedo cubierto de llagas y heridas, sentado en un montón de estierco teniendo que después negociar con el problema de la maldad.

El pueblo razono con el y dijeron; “El sufrimiento es un castigo de Dios por algo malo que hemos hecho por lo tanto el sufrimiento es el pago de nuestras deudas. A pesar de que el era un hombre inocente y bueno. El sufrimiento es un medio para hacer al hombre sabio y fiel a Dios, por lo tanto es una prueba de la voluntad de Dios.

El sufrimiento es entonces la medicina, como la medicina que Dios usa para hacer del hombre un hombre bueno, el sufrimiento es parte de la enseñanza divina para el hombre.

Job con fe responde; “Si nosotros recibimos cosas buenas de Dios, ¿Porque no las malas?” “Desnudos, venimos a este mundo del seno de nuestra madre, y desnudos moriremos.”

El Papa Benedicto XVI (dieciséis) en su carta Deus Caritas Est dijo, “Seguramente Job pudo quejarse ante Dios acerca de la presencia y de el incompresible y aparentemente escandaloso sufrimiento en el mundo.”

En su dialogo con Dios, el solo ofreció contemplación, que solo empeoro la situación.

El Evangelio hoy, nos da un mejor entendimiento de cómo Dios ve el sufrimiento y también el mal.

El Evangelio nos muestra muchas veces a Jesús aliviando el sufrimiento humano, sobre todo curando enfermedades y expulsando demonios. Y sabemos que a veces Dios sana y a veces no, y que Dios puede sanar directamente en forma milagrosa o indirectamente a través de la medicina, de los médicos y de los medicamentos. Toda sanación tiene su fuente en Dios. También puede Dios no sanar, o sanar más temprano o más tarde. Y cuando no sana o no alivia el sufrimiento, o cuando se tarda para sanar y aliviar, tenemos a nuestra disposición todas las gracias que necesitamos para llevar el sufrimiento con esperanza, para que así produzca frutos de vida eterna y de redención.

¿De redención? Así es. Nuestros sufrimientos unidos a los sufrimientos de Cristo pueden tener efecto redentor para nosotros mismos y para los demás.

Por lo tanto es Jesús, Dios y Hombre que nos sana y nos salva, primero sano a la suegra de Pedro, luego sano a muchas personas del pueblo, curándolo de las enfermedades y de las posesiones diabólicas. Si, Jesús iba predicando y expulsando demonios.

Entonces; ¿Que hacemos en cuanto al sufrimiento y la maldad? ¿Actuamos como Jesús? ¿Tratamos de eliminarlo lo mejor que podamos? Recordemos Jesús no curo a todas las personas del mundo, no sano a toda Galilea o Israel, si no las de los pueblos que el anduvo. Pero todos los que el sano, y todos los que lo vieron tenían una contestación diferente a la molesta pregunta del porque Dios permite el mal, para después desvanecerlo y luego nosotros poder disiparlo.

Hermanos; porque el sufrimiento humano es tan controversial, el Papa Juan Pablo II también tocó el tema con frecuencia, sobre todo en sus visitas a los enfermos, a quienes exhortaba a ofrecer sus sufrimientos por el bien y la santificación propia y de los demás. Y en 1984 nos escribió su Encíclica “Salvifici Doloris” sobre el tema. Allí nos dice, basado en muchos textos de la Sagrada Escritura: “Todo hombre tiene su participación en la redención. Cada uno está llamado también a participar en ese sufrimiento por medio del cual se ha llevado a cabo la redención ... Llevando a efecto la redención mediante el sufrimiento, Cristo ha elevado juntamente el sufrimiento humano a nivel de redención. Consiguientemente, todo hombre, en su sufrimiento, puede hacerse también partícipe del sufrimiento redentor de Cristo” (JP II-SD #19).

Volviendo al tema de Job, el se lamenta, reclama y llega a la desesperación, pero cree en Dios y lo invoca.

Que los seres humanos suframos, unos más otros menos, cuándo sufrimos y por qué, descansa totalmente el la Voluntad inexplicable de Dios, Dueño del mundo y Dueño nuestro. Pero sabemos, también, que Dios dirige todas sus acciones y todas sus permisiones, a nuestro mayor bien, que es la meta hacia la cual vamos: la Vida Eterna.

Cathedral Club of Brooklyn
New York Hilton
January 29, 2009
Most Reverend Nicholas DiMarzio, Ph.D., D.D.
Bishop of Brooklyn

In the Gospel reading at Mass this morning, St. Mark reminded us “Is a lamp brought to be put under a bushel or under a bed and not on a stand?” I am especially grateful to you in the Cathedral Club for the public demonstration of your own faith and for your efforts in highlighting the many good and charitable works of the Catholic Church in our city.

In 1988, Pope John Paul II, of happy memory, in his Apostolic Exhortation Christifideles Laici wrote “Adversely affected by the impressive triumphs of continuing scientific and technological development and above all, fascinated by a very old and yet new temptation, namely, that of wishing to become like God (cf. Gen 3:5) through the use of a liberty without bounds, individuals cut the religious roots that are in their hearts; they forget God, or simply retain him without meaning in their lives, or out rightly reject him, and begin to adore various "idols" of the contemporary world.”

If we accept as true that our generation has “cut the religious roots that are in their hearts” the question each of us must ask is, “Will I enlist in that army that will combat the aggressive atheistic secularism that appears to be overwhelming our culture?” If we do enlist in that army, then as soldiers in this epoch battle, we ourselves must be physically, morally, and spiritually prepared.

At the outset, we must examine those areas in our own life still in need of conversion. The charge of hypocrisy can inflict a crippling wound that distracts from the real fight. Despite these charges, we must be prepared to soldier on because we are convinced that man is destined for redemption and at the depths of his soul he is drawn to what is true and good.

Our Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI, in his first encyclical, Deus Caritas Est, maps out the plan of battle: an exposition of the positive vision of the Church for humankind. The great success of his Holiness’s Apostolic Visit to our nation and city last year ought to confirm to us that men and women continue to “Thirst” for the life giving waters of the Gospel and the Sacraments that only the Church can offer. The charitable endeavors to which you are committed and the radical example of our Brooklyn heoes, women like Sr. Mary Franciscus and men like Monsignor Bernie Quinn are the finest arrows in our quiver for proposing the faith.

We must boldly bring that light of Christ into the chaos and confusion of the world and be unafraid to invite others to join us in this great campaign. Like Don Quixote, it may seem to the world that we are jousting with windmills. Only God alone may know of all the good work that is being carried out in the name of Christ right here in our city, our state, nation, and the world.

At the same time, I urge you to protect our flank. Do not underestimate our enemy. We face monumental attacks that distract from the positive vision and the work we seek to accomplish. As many of your know, the State Assembly has proposed legislation that would have a devastating impact on our Church and exploit a painful chapter in our history; namely, the statue of limitation rollback for cases of sexual abuse of minors.

The Gospel this morning also said, “For there is nothing hidden except to be made visible. Nothing is secret except to come to light.”

In the last five years, we in our Church have learned much from historic failures. Thus, we have put into place safeguards that protect children from abuse or exploitation by any church employee or volunteer. Each adult must undergo a criminal background check and participate in our Virtus program, our children learn the techniques of predators through our Child Lures Program. The Diocese is voluntarily audited to ensure the processes and procedures really protect children and can stand as a model for all.

All allegations of abuse are immediately referred to the appropriate District Attorney and a vigorous investigation is headed up by an agency of retired NYPD Sex Crimes detectives. Finally, and most importantly, we seek to honor our obligations by offering therapy and assistance to those that allege abuse by a priest, church employee or church volunteer. Let me just assure you that the cost of all of these efforts is almost $2 million a year.

Despite these best efforts, the State of New York would target the Church with the passage of legislation which would retrospectively repeal the Statute of Limitation and expose the Church to litigation from as far back as 50 years ago, that would be impossible to defend against. Meanwhile, a child abused in public school still only has 90 days to file a claim suing the appropriate municipality for abuse. And consider this, in our state, over the last 50 years, there have been 300 priests accused of abuse. In the last 5 years, over 500 teachers have been accused of similar misconduct.

The Church needs advocates like you to raise your voices and say:
Pass Legislation that really protects children|
Pass Legislation that Recognizes the Pain of all Victims
Stop Targeting Our Church.

But our enemy is drive. Bogging us down in fighting this legislation means we are unable to direct our full attention to fighting for relief for the parents of children in Catholic schools and as a consequence our schools begin to close.

I ask you to consider:
The City of New York spends $14,000 per pupil a year to educate a child in the public schools. The state reimburses Charter schools at a level of $12,000 per pupil per year.
In Catholic schools, our yearly cost is $5,500 per pupil and the average tuition is about $3,500.
In the Diocese of Brooklyn, because of people like you, the Church was able to give away almost $12 million in assistance to children in our schools.

While I am grateful to Governor David Paterson for restoring mandated service funding, language, however, with not appreciation that the state even considered slashing the paltry sum they give to us for services they require is offensive.

If the situation were not so dire, it would be laughable. The people we elect to represent us propose legislation that would require us to close our churches. They fail to recognize the contribution we make to the education of Catholic and non-Catholic children in our City so they will not lift a finger even as our schools close. To top it all off, our elected officials want to force Catholic institutions to perform abortions and procedures they find immoral. No, it is not enough that your tax dollars fund procedures we deem immoral, but now advocates of the Freedom of Choice Act (FOCA) in Washington and the Reproductive and Privacy Protection Act in New York want to force us to be complicit in what is perhaps the greatest ontic evil of our day.

So, we need soldiers in this great battle to fight back the forces that would seek to take away our churches, allow our schools to close, and require us to give up hospitals and child care services. This is why we need you, and how appropriate because this is why the Cathedral Club was founded by Father George Mundeline, later Cardinal Mundeline of Chicago, 109 years ago.

We as a Church need advocates. I wish to thank Secretary Nat Wienecki for his words tonight. They demonstrate the power of a Catholic education which truly prepares one for life. I want to make particular note of his work on immigration reform that was proposed by President Bush and opposed by many in his own party. You see our politics do not fit easily into right or left categories, conservative or liberal. I believe that undocumented immigration is not good for the immigrants or the country. We certainly need a revision of the system of legal immigration. No matter what Lou Dobbs says on CNN, the Church does not advocate for open boarders. The positions attributed to the Church are not valid. Rather, what we propose is not a political ideology but, values founded upon the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

I mourn the events that led many Democrats to embrace policies irreconcilably opposed to the Gospel of Life. I am profoundly saddened by the hardness of hearts of those in the Republican Party who fail to heed the words of our Lord “It is mercy I desire not sacrifice.”

Our Holy Father reminds us “…to say that we love God becomes a lie if we are closed to our neighbor or hate him altogether. Saint John's words should rather be interpreted to mean that love of neighbor is a path that leads to the encounter with God, and that closing our eyes to our neighbor also blinds us to God.” My prayer is that we who are Catholics and proud members of the Cathedral Club will be advocates for our neighbors “the unborn child, all who have been marginalized or abused, our school children and the parents, the alien in our midst, those impacted by the darkness of war, and the soldier serving in distant lands”. I am very grateful to our President George Prezioso and all our members for we can be confident that as our club grows and we engage both great political parties, together we may manifest in our lives and the policies that we espouse Deus Caritas Est, God is Love.

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