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Bulletin Column: Sunday August 16, 2020

Dear Followers of Jesus,

I adore the Canaanite woman. She is in the top ten of my favorite people. I want to make sure I find her to share coffee when I get to heaven. She must be the patron saint of people who don’t get their prayers answered, since she seemed to discover Jesus’ healing for her daughter.

Matthew 15:21-28 invites us into the dialogue with Jesus and a woman who is considered to be an outsider. She comes to Jesus with a burdened heart. She knows intuitively that Jesus can heal her daughter who is tormented by a demon. She loves her daughter and wants the best for her.

Jesus really gives her the cold shoulder. In fact, the disciples try to talk with Jesus about sending her on the road, to get her out of their hair. The woman persists. Jesus says that his presence is for the lost sheep of the house of Israel.

The woman turns the conversation around and stops Jesus in his tracks. She insists that even the dogs can eat the scraps that fall from the table. I love this. Jesus finds such great faith in the stranger and foreigner. Jesus proclaims, “O woman, great is your faith!”

Most of us live our lives flying by the seat of our pants. We do not know where to turn when something major happens. Most people are not connected with the scriptures or the stories of Jesus and we feel left out when our lives take a turn for the worse. We blame God for not healing us, or at least stopping the bleeding. These months of COVID-19 give us the example of being lost, not knowing clearly what to do or where to turn.

If your life feels out of control, then listen to this woman. Sit with this story and find your place in it. These gospels are not just cozy little stories that we tell at Mass because we do not know what else to say. These stories are brim full of grace, saturated with hope and overflowing with God’s real presence. In these days of racial divisions, even more violence and hatred, our lives are covered with despair. We need a model for us so we can turn to Jesus who loves us clearly. We need the gumption of the Canaanite women.

The woman was an advocate for her daughter whom she loved. I have to believe that she is also an advocate for people she never met. It is easy for us to pray for people we love, too. We face more difficult times when we come to Jesus on behalf of people we do not know or who have never seen. I invite you to come to Jesus especially for people you have never met, especially people who are completely different from ourselves. We must do so. We need to pray for people ingrained in the deep racism that shreds people’s dignity. We need to offer our lives in prayer for people who sell drugs to our children without our knowledge. We need to be at peace when the threats of war and violence capture us.

I hope you learn something from this woman. Pray for couples that are struggling to be faithful with each other. Pray for runaway teens and children you have never known who face sex trafficking. Pray for our immigrants longing to find a safe place. Pray for your neighbor who is depressed. Pray for those who live in fear and feel afraid to walk on this earth. Allow the Canaanite woman to call you out of your shyness about coming to Jesus. Jesus is the one who heals us.

God give you peace,

Fr. Ron

PRAYERS OF THE FAITHFUL

Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time

August 16, 2020

Let us pray for the troubled and the lost, that we may ask the Heart of Christ for the guidance and compassion we need in uncertain times.

We pray to the Lord.

Let us pray for those who face unknown disease and illness, for the mentally ill, and emotionally unstable, for our loved ones in hospitals and rehab units, that Christ may reach out to touch every fragile life.

We pray to the Lord.

Let us pray for our children who continue their learning and schooling, either at home or in classrooms, that God may direct our next generation to respect every human life.

We pray to the Lord.

Let us pray for peace on our streets, hope in every heart, and harmony in every household, that God may lift up our poor and suffering.

We pray to the Lord.

Let us pray for people who have lost their jobs, for those who struggle with childcare and finding the resources to raise children among this pandemic.

We pray to the Lord.

Let us pray for kindness among those with whom we disagree, that love may prevail in our communities, our family lives, and in our parishes.

We pray to the Lord.

Let us pray for our loved ones who have died. In this Mass…

We pray to the Lord.

Saint Maximilian Kolbe, Priest and Martyr, Painting by: Ronald Raab, CSC 2015

Saint Maximilian Kolbe, Priest and Martyr, 1894-1941

This is a crude finger painting. It is meant to be incomplete and simple because there is no easy way to interpret this man’s faith, life and death. This Polish Franciscan priest died in Auschwitz on this day in 1941.

Crown: The red crown was given to him in a vision when he was 12 years old. He had a vision of Mary who presented him with two crowns, one white that would become his reward in heaven, then a red crown, representing his martyrdom. He accepted both crowns from Mary, the Mother of God. 

Mary, the Mother of God: Mary’s appearance to Maximilian gave him purpose in life. Notice how the blue beads of the rosary co-exist and even blend into the barbed wire. I must believe that the painful pieces of wire in the concentration camp became a rhythm of prayer for him. The wire knots of the fence became a sequence of prayer so that he could keep his faith alive. As the artist, I hold on to this notion. 

The brown shirt: Fr. Kolbe was a Franciscan priest. He dedicated his life to the proclamation of the gospel; the passion, death and resurrection of Christ Jesus. The red mark represents the martyr of martyrs, Jesus. 

The prisoner uniform: At the same time, he was a prisoner and his number was, 16670.

The drops of blood on his face: There were ten people put to death by lethal injection. The blood stains represent those who died with him. The blood comes from the martyrs crown. He took the place of a man who had a wife and children. That man was then present at this canonization in 1982. 

The green background: The green background represents hope for the people who died and hope for the people who lived through such anguish and suffering. The green backdrop invites us all into our own suffering and the realization that “everything will be alright.” I believe this message is the key to his priesthood. I know it is the eternal message of my own priesthood. 

The gold halo: Maximilian’s halo is hope to us all, that our faith in Jesus, in the suffering of this world, leads us safely home. 

Click here to listen to my 60-Second Sermon published by Liturgical Press, Collegeville MN

CLICK HERE TO listen to today’s homily

Bulletin Column

August 9, 2020

Dear Believers in the Christ,

I grew up on a small lake in Michigan. Often during the summer while enjoying boating, swimming and water skiing, an afternoon storm would blow across the lake. We learned to spot the warning signs.  White caps whipped across growing waves. The oak leaves on shore would flip bottom side up in the wind. The water turned a deep blue-black. We learned that we had about ten minutes to dock the boat and to get to safety on the shore.

Today’s gospel, Matthew 14: 22-33, shows us a summer storm. The disciples do not make it to safety, so Jesus walks on the water. In the panic of the disciples, Jesus offers them words of hope once again, “Take courage, it is I; do not be afraid.”

We hear this invitation of Jesus differently this summer. The storms of pandemic, financial misfortune, academic uncertainty, civil unrest from generations of racism, have toppled our control and overthrown our lives like nothing else in this generation. Our young people will hold this summer in their memories for the rest of their lives. They will continue to live out their fears for many years to come.

“Take courage, it is I; do not be afraid,” is the promise of Jesus no matter the storm and the its consequences. This is our faith as Christians. We possess a moral obligation to reach out to our young people, our family members and strangers alike to help each other in the storm. I worry about our next generation, our youth, our children who have a growing sense that this storm is too overwhelming.

Many of our teens and young adults are living in fear. We have to be on the lookout for those who want to give up. We must be attentive to those who slip into despair. Please do not hesitate to get professional help for anyone who is struggling to cope in the storms of this summer. Please be attentive to our teens, most especially.

Our history of faith reveals to us that we have an opportunity to enter the storm and be changed by it for the good. However, this takes time and perspective and real honesty. We have an opportunity as families to explore how this summer storm can change our lives and perspectives about the value of life, the beauty of being alive, and the courage it takes to be human and in relationship with others. Getting to this new shore, this new perspective, takes much work on our part, both at home and within the Church.

Perhaps this is the summer even though we are not together when we really learn to lean on the mystery of community and the Church. Perhaps this is the time when we can accompany those who may want to give up and share with them the value of what faith is all about. Hope buoys fear. Hope is a lifeline that we all need in these days of uncertainty. Love is not a wasted value in stormy times. Faith helps us get to the other side, the shoreline where rest restores us. These are not pious words, but the mystery that endures in Jesus’ passion, death and resurrection.

As we listen to this gospel story today, we take note of the word, “courage”. Jesus speaks to the disciples, “Take courage, it is I; do not be afraid.” Courage is not just a grand or heroic notion. “Courage” comes from the Latin word, “cor” which means, “heart”.  In French, Sacred Heart is “Sacra Coeur”. In the center of our fear then, we are to invite Jesus into our hearts because his heart will calm us. The Heart of Christ, the Sacred Heart will show us how to navigate our storms. His Heart will reveal to us how to pray and how to live and how to serve. The Sacred Heart will lead us to the other side of the virus, if we have the courage and faith to offer him our fear.

No matter the storms we face in our lifetime, we turn in faith the one who walks on water to save us. The Sacred Heart of Jesus instills courage within us to move to safety, to travel back to shore with delight and hope. The Sacred Heart also shows us how to walk with people in the storms. Courage means that we give our hearts to people. Courage invites us to share our hearts with the lost, the forgotten, the orphan and the widow and the one who fears the virus. Courage is heart to heart hope in Jesus.

Take courage. Take heart. Storms pass. Love prevails.

God give you peace,

Fr. Ron

Prayers of the Faithful

August 9, 2020  Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Let us pray for Church authorities and leaders across the world, that they may help transform apathy into compassion, hopelessness into contentment, and hatred into peace.

We pray to the Lord.

Let us pray for all who face the storms of fear in these days of pandemic, that families may lift up loved ones with faith and courage.

We pray to the Lord.

Let us pray for those who are lost among the waves of despair and discouragement, that they may rest their hearts in the consolation of Christ Jesus.

We pray to the Lord.

Let us pray for people who are greatly affected by these times of uncertainty, unemployment, and disillusionment about racial divides, that God may lift them to the safe shore of comfort and love.

We pray to the Lord.

Let us pray for our families and friends who are ill, that comfort and reassurance from the Heart of Jesus may guide their unsteady futures.

We pray to the Lord.

Let us pray for our loved ones who have died, that they may now rest upon the eternal shore of heaven. In this Mass…

We pray to the Lord.

CLICK HERE to listen to my homily written below

Gospel MT 14:13-21

Homily for August 2, 2020

My dear followers of Jesus,

Is there enough for me? Will others also be fed? These questions haunt the disciples amid the starving crowd.

These questions become our questions in our hunger, in our appetite for spiritual food. Does Jesus really care about my loneliness during these COVID-19 months? Does Jesus care that my son has lost his job or that I have not touched my new granddaughter or that my nephew thinks about suicide because of his isolation?  Does Jesus care about my need to be safe with all my health problems or that I have not been physically touched in months?

Well, Jesus remedies the hunger of his people by collecting five fish and two loaves of bread. He suckles the many thousands. He shows the disciples how to bless bread, break it, and share it, in order for him to satiate people’s hunger. There were even unexpected leftovers, more than enough to benefit each person’s hunger.

This is a foreshadowing of our actions at the Eucharist here today. There is enough even for your hunger and mine.  There is plentiful redemption for your unbelief and loneliness. There is food for change in our frustrations along racial divides and violence on our streets.

The Roman’s text asks, “What will separate us from the love of Christ?”  Today, not even our global pandemic or our uncertainties about life, will separate us from our beloved. Jesus finds our sorrows, our disappointments, and he feeds us with miracles. He pushes away our fear to find us. He quenches our souls with miraculous love.

Jesus feeds us here. Mercy is more than a morsel. There is enough for each of us to be satisfied.  He also invites us to break open our lives, as he does the bread. We can feed others with love because love is what we receive here. We really can love beyond our fear. There is always enough for every person’s hunger under heaven.

The hand of the Lord feeds us, he answers all our needs.

God give you peace.

Bulletin Column

Dear Believers in the Christ,

In today’s gospel, Matthew 14: 13-21, people walked from their villages to be with Jesus. These people brought their sick to be healed. Word traveled fast even though people were on foot. Hope lit up their imaginations even though it took much work and effort to walk to the place where Jesus was gathering them. Curiosity roused people to set out to discover this miracle worker, Jesus. The Holy Spirit ignited their desire to set out and search for all that could free them.

As people gathered together, Jesus was once again moved with pity. This notion of pity is revealed in several passages in the gospels. Pity is the beginning of compassion. Jesus’ heart was moved by the suffering and complications of people’s lives. His heart overflows with love and tenderness. Pity can be a negative word in our day, when we stand on the sidelines of suffering and do not act to help folks who most need us. The word “pity” can be condescending, when we only pity people at arm’s length.

Jesus becomes the model of offering compassion and tenderness when he engages people who need help. He allows others’ sickness, disease and uncertain circumstances to change him. He not only enters people’s pain, but he also learns from them. This model of love continues for us who ache to help others as we learn that life for many people is not easy or fair. This movement of pity becomes the beginning of justice, the beginning of hope for those who are marginalized and discouraged by life. Jesus lifts up the poor. He welcomes the lost. Jesus embraces the leper and the sick, the outcast and the sinner.

This notion of pity in this gospel reveals itself in a new way. So, the disciples are now concerned about people because they were in a deserted place. People were hungry. People needed the basics of life and the disciples were becoming aware that Jesus was not providing for them. Something needed to happen.

Jesus begins to turn the concerns of the disciples back in their direction. Jesus says to the disciples that they should offer people food. Jesus here is trying to teach them that their pity toward people’s hunger must be turned into action. Their pity must become active compassion. Jesus reveals to the disciples that feeding his followers is going to become an on-going problem. Jesus invites his followers to consider their own miracles, their deepening faith, and loving concern for those who need food.

With five fish and two loaves of bread, new miracles happen. Imagine how the disciples felt at such a meager supply of food for all of those people. They must have felt helpless and embarrassed that Jesus would have even suggested such a way to feed the people. We can all feel this moment. We all understand that moment when we feel we do not have enough, when life itself is not enough, when our own faith and actions seem meager and insufficient.

Then the miracles really let loose. Not only were people fed, but they were satisfied. This statement overwhelms me. In many ways, I can imagine how Jesus fed the crowd, but the fact that they were satisfied is entirely a new miracle. Thousands of people received food to survive their trip home. Baskets full of leftovers must have fed the disciples as they packed up for their next journey. I also imagine that the faith of the disciples was taken to a new level as they witnessed this incredible moment on a hillside in the heat of the day.

The disciples witnessed how pity moved Jesus into action. Jesus wanted his disciple to also learn such a beautiful way to engage their faith. Pity, from the heart of Christ Jesus, is compassion in action. I wonder whom we are called to feed? How shall we engage our faith in compassionate action? How does people’s hunger for justice, love, and concern, change us who believe in such miracles? I am sure when we engage people’s hunger because we believe in Jesus, we too, shall be satisfied.

God give you peace,

Fr. Ron Raab, CSC, Pastor

Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

August 2, 2020

For those who are malnourished in faith, that the Eucharist may provide faith in Christ Jesus for the discouraged and joyless.

We pray to the Lord.

For world leaders, that integrity and wisdom may guide those who lead every nation into the future.

We pray to the Lord.

For those who live in sacristy, that the hungry, the uneducated, the hopeless, may experience the abundance of God’s grace and protection.

We pray to the Lord.

For the newly professed members of the Congregation of Holy Cross who spoke their vows of poverty, celibacy and obedience on Saturday, for their future vocations and safety of their return to Notre Dame.

We pray to the Lord.

For all ill members of our parish communities and families, that God may bring healing and satisfaction.

We pray to the Lord.

For our beloved dead and for all who grieve. In this Mass we remember…

We pray to the Lord.

CLICK HERE to listen to today’s homily

Gospel MT 13:44-52 OR 13:44-46

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Bulletin Column

Dear Believers in The Treasure,

Matthew 13: 44-52, uncovers for us a rich, profound, and unimaginable treasure, The Kingdom of God. Today’s text invites us into another image of the Kingdom of God, a follow up from last Sunday. I love this image of the Kingdom. The treasure is so often lost on us. Sometimes we ignore the real meaning of our lives and seek purpose and love elsewhere. Sometimes we do not even realize that the spiritual journey has at its core…love.

This may seem like a weird question, but what is the spiritual journey for? Why do we pray? We sometimes get caught up thinking the spiritual journey is for our own personal redemption in Christ. It can become a life insurance policy that will get us to the pearly gates. It becomes a ticket we purchase on earth to reserve a seat at the party of heaven. So often we think the journey is to stay on a certain path that is outlined for us and not to veer off the road, lest we don’t get our heavenly reward.

However, the spiritual journey here on earth is to uncover, to reveal, to enter into the mystery, of love. This love forms our lives, motivates our actions and helps heal the world. The Kingdom is revealed to us in our baptism. The well of our baptismal lives is deep, never emptying, and profound. The riches we seek are in front of us. The treasure in the field is buried before our very eyes. The love that God has for us is unveiled in the mystical journey of prayer, silence, the sacraments of the Church, and in a heart that is curious.

Curiosity is a gift from God. The older I get, the more I realize that the spiritual journey stems from a curious heart that knows it does not possess all the answers. So often we are given answers to questions we don’t even ask. We are given a set of rules and regulations that choke the human heart.

When I was a young religious, I remember seeking out the stories of our men who were missionaries or who served in various ministries in the United States. Holy Cross priests and brothers from around the world would come to the seminary for more education or renewal. I remember, along with my classmates, sipping breakfast coffee with these holy men and listening attentively. We listened to stories that seemed unimaginable about people in utter poverty or those in political turmoil from overthrown governments. They spoke not only foreign languages, but they spoke the stories from their people. These stories became treasures for me. Their stories opened up my life to become curious about God and the role of the Church. Their stories served as fuel for my commitment of prayer and service within the Church.

The more I look back, the more I realize that curiosity is a spiritual shovel. The more we pursue love and life; the more God is revealed to us. Curiosity ultimately reveals God’s message here on earth. We are loved. We are given purpose, meaning and integrity now under heaven. The journey to find God is deep, the field is large, the purpose is to live life for others. Curiosity also means we make mistakes, sometimes we quit digging, sometimes we lose our way, and sometimes we get resentful and often we get hurt. However, prayer with love and curiosity attached, becomes our life work, and our life mission.  This is the goal for what it means to be human. Prayer becomes the foundation for peace among people, reconciliation among enemies, and hope for the lost and forgotten in our society. The treasure is given to us to give others, the treasure is a way of life and a way to share the very purpose of Jesus’ passion, death and resurrection.

I so desire to keep going. I so want the pearl of great price and the treasure in the field of my heart. I know it is just behind my selfishness and obstinance. I want to unearth my pride and to hold the miracle of God’s love for me and the world in my tired heart. I would sell everything for that.

“The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure buried in a field, which a person finds and hides again, and out of joy goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.”

 God give you peace,

Fr. Ron

Prayers of the Faithful

For our bishops and all who lead us in faith, that their lives of prayer may bring us wisdom, truth, and a new understanding of gospel peace.

We pray to the Lord.

For our struggling families, for the unemployed, for those who face the consequences of addiction, that we may offer the hope of the gospel.

We pray to the Lord.

For those who are discouraged by life’s stress and misfortune, that God may offer consolation and offer us the pearl of justice.

We pray to the Lord.

For an end of war, violence and hatred, that God may bring us peace in every land and nation.

We pray to the Lord.

For our children who question their futures, for our grandparents who live in fear, for all those we love, that God may bring us together in harmony.

We pray to the Lord.

For our beloved dead. In this Mass we pray for…

We pray to the Lord.