“Ash Wednesday” Masses on February 21, 2012 at St. Augustine Church will be at 8:15 a.m., 12:10 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. Each Friday in Lent is a meatless Friday for Catholics of age, and we fast on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday.

Each Wednesday during Lent, from 7:30 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. beginning Feb. 29, we will have the Sacrament of Reconciliation at St. Augustine Catholic Church, which is located at the corner of 15^th & V Streets, N.W. in Washington, D.C. Please say a prayer for those in our Rites of Christian Initiation for Adults program.

You can read Pope Benedict XVI’s Message for Lent 2012 here. You might also want to visit the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Lenten Resources page,

Since my father’s death over a year ago, we have started the lengthy process of renovating the home we once grew up in.  A few weeks ago I dropped by to see the progress and was struck by the beautiful new wood floor that was installed in the dining and living room.  When I mentioned this to my sister she told me that the floors were not new at all.  They were the same floors that were there when we moved into the house in 1966.   This was hard to believe.  The floors had never ever looked this new even after hours of cleaning, stripping, waxing and buffing.  I was sure that the old floor was taken up and replaced with a new one.   In fact, the old floor had been restored.

God is like this.  God is in the restoration business.  Just like those that worked on the floor of my childhood home, when God restores something he makes it better than new!   When God comes across something lifeless he doesn’t just resuscitate, he resurrects!   When the paths of Jesus and the leper crossed in today’s Gospel he didn’t just heal him of his leprosy, he restored him to the community.   For this was the most painful consequence of an already horrible disease:  those with leprosy were required to separate themselves from the community so no one else would get infected.   They were alone. This is why the most shocking part of today’s Gospel was the fact that Jesus stretched out his hand and actually touched the leper.   However, instead of the man infecting Jesus, Jesus infected the man with his love, grace, power and healing.

The whole mission of the church and the ministry of evangelization are based on this foundational principle that the salvation of Jesus can restore lives beyond our wildest imagination (better than new) and it is contagious!   That is, we must spread it!   We must spread it through our school, our worship, our teaching and preaching, our outreach and service and all our mediums of communication (website, bulletins, etc.)   God’s word, his love, his mercy, his truth, his healing, his compassion, must never be quarantined within the walls of our church.  It must continue to grow into a world-wide epidemic until all have been infected by the joy of salvation!

The word “gospel” means “good news” yet in today’s first reading from the Book of Job, we hear words like slavery, misery, drudgery, and talk of troubled and restlessness nights.   In other words, not so good news!  Job is clearly having a bad day!  He actually sounds down-right depressed.   And he is not the only one.

How many of us know someone who is recently and suddenly unemployed?   How many of us know someone who’s seriously ill; or mourning the recent passing of a parent, spouse or child?   Many people facing a difficult time seek solace in sleep and instead, like Job, find the night dragging on without relief.    Sometimes they turn to more desperate measures like drugs, alcohol, unhealthy sexual activity or fantasy to escape the depressing reality of the present.   After a moments respite, reality returns – often with a vengeance.

There is another way.   When we find ourselves feeling powerless and vulnerable because of life’s circumstances we must choose to make ourselves more vulnerable to the care of God… and others!  So, how does one do that?!   Being “vulnerable to God” means you must pray daily!   Jesus needed to!   Being “vulnerable to others” means you must share what you are going through with a trusted friend.  Job was isolated and alone; exactly where the devil wanted him.  He will give you a thousand excuses why you shouldn’t leave this space.  Don’t fall for any of these lies.

The truth is this:  The Lord heals the broken hearted (Psalm 147) and hears the cry of the poor (Psalm 34). This is the reason that when God called the Apostle Paul to preach this Good News, he didn’t give him much of a choice: “an obligation has been imposed on me and woe to me if I do not preach it”!  (1 Cor. 9:16).   God doesn’t play when it comes to your life and well-being.  Woe to Paul and woe to us if we who have received the message of hope fail to share it with others.

We must tell the Job’s of the world that there is a Savior who heals, a God who cares and a hope that endures.   Actually, it would be best if we just showed them instead.

On a chilly Saturday, December 17th, kids’ eyes were wide open as they slowly walked towards Santa Claus, some with more apprehension than others.

Santa openly welcomed the little kids, with a jolly “Ho-Ho-Ho, Merry Christmas,” so he could take a picture with them, parents included in the photo.

Hundreds of kids came through our halls to receive toys for Christmas. It’s an annual three day effort of dedicated St. Augustine Church volunteers and as the distribution date draws close, it’s days of hard work, food, fellowship & laughter. Months prior, planning starts, getting donations, shopping for toys – 20 shopping carts full to be exact – a lot of logistics are reviewed in an effort to make the day go smoothly.

This is all work toward one goal of making a Christmas brighter for children who may not otherwise get a toy at Christmas. We had 800 kids this year who were on the list, including individual families and organizations that support kids that we support.

The toys that were left over were donated to The Hospital for Sick Children & St. Ann’s Infant & Maternity Home in the District. As the kids waited to meet with Santa Claus, they were entertained in the St. Augustine Room with arts & crafts and musical chairs that were lead by parishioner volunteers…..the kids loved it!

Toy distribution day is a day that unless you are there you cannot see the gratitude of the families and the kids’ faces as they leave. This has been a long standing tradition at St. Augustine for over 30 years, and I am sure it will continue for many more years to come.

Heart Disease is a broad term used to describe a range of diseases that affect the heart.  It’s also a leading cause of death in this country.   The psalm for today speaks of another type of heart ailment that is a leading cause of spiritual death:  the hardened heart.  The psalm exhorts us: “If today you hear God’s voice, harden not your hearts”.   When is the last time you had a checkup; a spiritual cardiogram?   Do you know the condition of your heart?

Like Moses, God calls us to be prophets who not only speak, but live, his message of truth, love and salvation.   He calls us to “adhere” to his will “without distraction” (1 Corinthians 7:35).  But you have to have the heart for such a mission.  When we discover that our hearts are not right; that there are spiritual abnormalities or irregularities present, then we must be willing to undergo emergency surgery at the hands of the most gifted Surgeon.  His hospital may be the Mass, the confessional,  a session with your spiritual director, or your prayer corner at home.  His scalpel is a double-edged sword and the Surgeon is the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 6:17).   We must “lie on the table” as it were, in a position of trusting surrender and take his Word to heart.  It will change us, heal us, deliver us and prepare us if we let it.   This surgery is to re-shape our hearts to be more like the heart of Jesus.

Jesus’ heart was anything but hardened when it came to his relationship to his heavenly Father.  This is why God’s work through him was so effective, powerful and unmistakable.  “What is this…? He commands even the unclean spirits and they obey him!” the people exclaimed (Mark 1:27).    God’s work in and through us, as members of the Church, can be no less powerful and effective if our ears are attuned to his voice and our hearts are receptive to his will.   “I tell you most solemnly, whoever believes in me will perform the same works as I do myself, and he will perform even greater works…” (John 14:12).  This is to me, one the most astonishing verses in the New Testament: that we could perform even greater works than Jesus did!   Jesus knows his Daddy pretty well!   God can even outdo himself in someone with a willing heart.   Is this you?  Are you that someone?  How’s your heart?

When God chose to create the heavens and the earth he made men and women his crowning achievement. He’s been preoccupied with us ever sense! Of all of God’s creation, human beings are the only part of it that he made capable of entering into a relationship with Him. Put another way, while God loves all that he has made, human beings are the only part of creation that can love him in return… or not. When people ask, “Why did God give us free will by which we can inflict such suffering and cruelty on one another” they are operating from the wrong premise. God didn’t make us free so we would do evil; he made us free that we might choose the good. Since God is the first and highest good, then we can conclude that God gave us free will with the desire that we might love Him first and foremost. But whether we will live our lives to fulfill His desires or live only to satisfy our own, is precisely our choice to make.

So, “the word of the Lord came to Jonah” instructing him to go to the people of Nineveh to warn them of their impending doom. Jonah had other plans and told God, “No!” He decided to take a cruise instead. It was at this point that all hell broke loose. A storm broke out, a crisis ensued. His dream vacation quickly became a nightmare… for him and for those around him! Everyone on the boat was in danger of drowning for no fault of their own. So, Jonah filled the crew in: “For I know that this great storm has come upon you because of me” (Jonah 1:12).

God called Jonah to join him in the mission to save the people of Nineveh. His “no” brought disaster to himself and others. Later his “yes” would bring blessing and deliverance. In today’s Gospel Jesus calls his first disciples to join him in his saving mission. Their “yes” would not be easy nor come without great sacrifice. But after more than 2000 years people are still benefitting from their willingness to accept Jesus’ invitation to follow him. When we freely chose to put our lives at the service of God’s will, God’s way, God’s word and God’s work; when we make God and the building of his Kingdom our daily preoccupation, then we become a saint-in-progress rather than a disaster in the making!

While the scriptures today speak of the gift of peace, many have been anticipating that the year 2012 would have just the opposite in store! There has been lots of talk about calamity on an unprecedented scale; even the end of the world as we know it! For others, the source of anxiety they feel entering in this New Year has nothing to do with cataclysmic disasters worthy of Hollywood blockbuster movies, but the much more real and painful realities of a struggling economy, the threat of foreclosures, the desperate pursuit of employment, health crisis and personal and family struggles.

What is the key to finding peace in the face of such predictions and realities? One way is to first realize that peace is not the sum total of one’s external circumstances. For that matter, neither is anxiety. Some people have peace even when their circumstances seem to be falling apart. Others seem to “have it all” and yet declare that they don’t see any point in living to see tomorrow, not to mention another year! It might help to ask ourselves how the Shepherds in the Gospel found peace or the teenaged mother specially chosen by God found it? First, they realized that peace is a gift and like any gift it requires unwrapping. In other words, wanting and wishing for peace will not make it miraculously appear. The pursuit of peace is necessary for it be received and experienced. This leads to the second reason that the Shepherds and the Blessed Mother experienced God’s peace: They discovered that peace is not only an extraordinary gift to be received and unwrapped, but an extraordinary Person to be known, loved and believed.

Prayer is the key to growing closer to the Him who is the Source of our Peace. Faith is the key to walking in the path of peace. As you consider making resolutions for the New Year (or pledge not to!), ask yourself what deliberate steps you need to make to grow closer to God. Then take action. No relationship gets stronger by accident, but by choice. “Seek the Lord”, the scriptures tell us, “and he shall be found” (Isaiah 55:6). This requires a deliberate choice and a passionate pursuit! When you want something bad enough you make a valiant effort to get it. It’s a simple formula: Closeness to God = Peace! Be hopeful and confident as you begin this New Year on this Feast of the Mother of God as you cherish the truth in your heart as she did in hers: The Peace that may seem out of your reach is actually in pursuit of you! Let Him in your heart to dwell, and know His peace in 2012.

Each year we celebrate the generosity and love of God displayed in the unlikely sign of a nativity scene. Generosity is represented in the mere fact that God gives us his Son, the longed for Savior to give us hope in the face of injustice, light to illumine our darkness and mercy to heal the wounds of our sins. Love is demonstrated in his desire to be as close to us as possible. Christmas announces from the rooftops a simple yet profound message: The Lord is near. The Lord is here…with us!

So, as church, a community of faith, how do we celebrate this generosity and love of God? We share it with others! Christmas is the gift that is celebrated by giving. Any Christmas celebration – whether an office party, a school Christmas pageant or Midnight Mass – misses the point if it doesn’t involve the practice of giving to others in some way! Co-workers exchange gifts; employers give bonuses when they can, and church goes give generously toward collections to support their communities in the mission of serving others! In dioceses and archdioceses throughout the country there are coat drives and toy drives and free Christmas dinners for those who need it.

Why do we feel compelled to celebrate this way? It happens because, the Good News of Christmas is too good to be kept to ourselves or whispered in secret. Even if we accept the charge of the Christmas song and “Go tell it on the mountain; over the hills and everywhere!” – Nothing will ever speak louder than our actions! The Good News of this season will never be proclaimed loud enough if we limit our announcement to mere words. Christmas must not just be celebrated, but shared!

Now that you know the key to having a fulfilling and unforgettable Christmas, I pray that you will have a very Merry Christmas by taking every opportunity to share its true meaning – in every way that you can!

Have you ever asked someone something and gotten a lengthy response that somehow never answered your question?   How frustrating, right?   Well, the priests and Levites in today’s Gospel know exactly how that feels because when they asked John who he was (not less than four times), he seemed to evade the question like a linebacker tries to evade getting tackled!

So, why doesn’t John give them a straight forward answer?  Because he thinks they are asking the wrong question!   “Who am I?  What does that matter?  Have you been listening to what I have been saying?  I am here to tell you about Someone else who matters more than anyone else ever could and ever will!”   He eventually relents and gives them a more direct answer that still makes his point: I am…the VOICE crying out in the wilderness”.    If he is only the voice then what matters is what he is saying.  The message, not the messenger, is what matters the most.   We have choirs with great voices, and clergy who know how to speak well.  Isn’t that wonderful?   Well, that all depends on what they are singing about and talking about!

Like Isaiah, the prophet, the Spirit of the Lord was upon John therefore his words had the force and power of the voice of God himself.  He earned the listening ears of many (and the wrath of others) not because of the eloquence of his voice but the profundity of his inspired message.  Relying on the One that matters and not himself, John was able to speak a truth that would make those who were open to it free; a Word that made the proud humble; a message that brought those in despair hope and a Name that could bring the sin-sick soul joy-filled relief!  Almost all of us have a voice to speak but will any of us choose to be a voice for God?  Will we heed the call to not quench the Spirit by which we were anointed in baptism?  If the answer is “yes” then we must first listen to his message so that when we speak, our words will have the power to actually make a difference and our lives will confirm the message we were sent to deliver.

Do you know what our number one obsession is as a society?  You might guess money or sex.   But I think the real answer is ourselves.  Yet, as much as we invest in and obsess about how we look on the outside, how few of us really take the time to look at what’s on the inside.  We go out of our way to seek out mirrors or even our reflections in the store window yet avoid opportunities to be quiet and alone with ourselves.  Maybe we are afraid of what or whom we might discover there if we do look.

It’s not for no reason that Jesus said, “Fear is useless” (Luke 8:50).  So, on the Second Sunday of Advent, despite our fears, we hear in the Gospel from “the voice” of one crying out in the wilderness named John the Baptist.   He calls us, in no uncertain terms, to do that one thing we would rather avoid: to take an honest look at ourselves on the inside.  He calls us to gaze, not on our navels, but on our hearts and our lives.  He sums up this invitation to honest introspection in one word: Repent!  But repentance without introspection is like scheduling surgery without first doing an X-Ray.   You don’t do the former without first doing the latter.

The new translation of the Confiteor Prayer (“I confess to Almighty God…”)   is a great start for this type of introspection because it cuts right to the chase: “I confess…my fault, my fault, my most grievous fault…”  Wow.  No excuses.  No blaming others, or the environment, or the kids, or your parents, or your pastor, or the parishioners, or the boss or even the economy!   Nope!  It was my fault, my choices, and my responsibility.  And what does such honesty and humility avail you?  Your healing, your being forgiven, your peace of mind, and your salvation!   God is about turning your most grievous fault into your most cherished blessing; taking you from where you are, to where you want to be… and ought to be (2 Peter 3:11)  – END