THE CONCHO PADRE POST

Jesus is reminding us of a tough lesson.

He tells us to stop being hypocrites, to stop looking like Christians on the outside while being self-centered, arrogant, and egotistical on the inside.
• The word “hypocrite” comes from the Greek word for “actor”.
• Actors pretend to be someone they’re not. That’s OK on stage, but not in real life.
• Jesus is encouraging us to take off our masks, to stop pretending, to once again be true to our true selves.

That is a hard lesson for us, for two reasons.

• First, we don’t like to admit that we sometimes act like hypocrites. But the fact is, we do. We try to deceive, to wheedle, to give the right impression, even if it’s false. We try to hide our motives. We are all hypocrites in some way.
• Second, we are afraid that if we take off our mask, God may reject us. And no one wants to be rejected.

But Jesus gives us a reason to trust him enough to accept this hard lesson.
The reason is that he already knows us through and through, and even so, he loves us.

He repeats this three times, when he says that the Father sees what we do in secret.
• That means he has seen all of the most selfish, vitriolic, and morose chapters of our ongoing interior monologues. Everything. He knows it all.
• And yet, he still loves us with the tender love of the perfect Father, the perfect friend. He still wants us to live close to him – closer and closer, actually.
• That’s why he keeps telling us to give alms and pray and fast “in secret”. He wants us to stay close to him, to live our lives in intimate friendship with him.

The ashes that we use today are meant to remind us of these things.

First, they remind us that we are sinners. Although we are children of God, at the same time we are still children of this fallen world.
• Ashes are lifeless dust. Insofar as we still give in to our tendencies to selfishness and sin, we too are lifeless dust.
• Sin separates us from God, who is the source of all life.
• Without God’s redeeming spirit in us, we would have no hope of eternal life.

Second, the ashes remind us that our sins, our acts of selfishness, cause damage.
• These ashes are made from the palm branches we used on Palm Sunday last year. They symbolized Christ’s victory over sin.
• Our sins forfeit that victory. They destroy the life that God means us to live, just as the palm branches from last year’s Palm Sunday were destroyed to make these ashes.

Third, and most importantly, the ashes remind us that in spite of our sins, in spite of our deep-seeded selfishness, God hasn’t given up on us.
• Christ is our Redeemer! He claims us for his own.
• We still have a mission in his Kingdom; he still wants us to be his ambassadors.

Yes, we are marked with ashes, because we are sinners, but the mark is given in the sign of Christ’s cross, which won for us the grace of a fresh start and a new life.
We are marked on our foreheads, because Christ wants us to go boldly into the world as his representatives.
He is not ashamed of us; he wants our friendship. He is our Savior.

Christ’s love, this love that never wavers, no matter what, can transform our lives.
It is the same love that took Jesus to the cross, and then took him out of the grave.
Isn’t there part of our lives that need to be resurrected? Isn’t there part of our hearts that need to be touched anew with this redeeming love?

There is a simple way to let this love in.
• It’s a way that Christ himself designed.
• It’s a guaranteed method, guaranteed by Christ.
• It’s called going to confession.

Confession is both an antidote to the hypocrisy Christ is warning us about and a reassertion of our confidence in his unfailing love.
• By going to confession we take inventory of the many ways in which we have given in to selfishness, failed Christ, and caused damage to ourselves and others.
• And after taking that inventory, we get on our knees and ask God’s forgiveness; we let his grace do spring cleaning in our souls.
• This is the surest way to take off our masks.

At the same time, it reasserts our Christian identity.

• When we confess our sins through this sacrament, we make a clear statement that we still belong to Jesus, we want to do things his way, and we trust in him.
Christ wants to resurrect the parts of our lives that have been deadened by sin, hypocrisy, and fear. Today, in this Mass, let’s promise that we will let him do so, that we will take off our masks and give his grace free rein.

The Concho Padre

Angelo Catholic School will offer their annual “Fat Tuesday” pancake supper this evening beginning at 5:30 pm in the cafeteria on the Sacred Heart campus. Come on out and enjoy some pancakes and sausage before we begin the holy season of Lent tomorrow. Everyone is welcome. No charge, but donations will be gratefully received.

The Concho Padre

Like everyone else, I was caught completely by surprise this morning when my pager went off and it announced the Pope’s resignation. I have been told that in the room where the Pope announced it to a number of Cardinals, that you could have heard a pin drop. While this was kept very secret, there were some events and happenings that gave one the impression that something very serious was up at the Vatican.

I was in the Holy Father’s presence, just a month and a day ago, on Jan. 9. At the audience, he didn’t look well at all, but seemed to be struggling to keep going. Also they had changed the format for the audiences. Usually, the groups were called out after the Pope had arrived, which took a considerable amount of time. However, in January, the groups were called out before he arrived. When he came in, he simply gave his talk in several languages, gave the Apostolic Blessing, and basically left after a few handshakes. It has also been greatly noticed that the Pope was on a moving platform any time he entered St. Peter’s in processsion.

Additionally, in the last few months the Pope has made some appointments regarding those who have been serving him over the past few years, making them bishops, archbishops, and in one well-deserved case, a Cardinal. These were all seen as “Thank You” appointments. So, the quiet speculation was that His Holiness was sick, and he was rewarding everyone who had closely collaborated with him. The idea of a Papal Resignation was far from most of our thoughts, even though at one time earlier in his papacy, he had said that a Pope should resign if he could not carry out the office.

Benedict XVI obviously spent a lot of time in prayer about this choice. His love of Christ is without question. His love of the Church is without question. His decision took a great amount of courage. His decision took a great amount of honesty. His decision took a great amount of humility.

Let us pray for our Holy Father as he approaches the end of his pontificate. Let us pray that the Holy Spirit will guide the Church in the days ahead as we pray for the arrival of a new Pontiff.

That’s is for now, but I am sure there will be lots more to come as I get a chance to continue in the blogosphere.

The Concho Padre

At an ordinary consistory of the College of Cardinals this morning, concerning the canonizations of new saints, the Holy Father, Benedict XVI, announced to the Cardinals present that he intends to resign the Papacy on February 28. Here is the Holy Father’s Statement as released in English by the Vatican.

Dear Brothers,

I have convoked you to this Consistory, not only for the three canonizations, but also to communicate to you a decision of great importance for the life of the Church. After having repeatedly examined my conscience before God, I have come to the certainty that my strengths, due to an advanced age, are no longer suited to an adequate exercise of the Petrine ministry. I am well aware that this ministry, due to its essential spiritual nature, must be carried out not only with words and deeds, but no less with prayer and suffering. However, in today’s world, subject to so many rapid changes and shaken by questions of deep relevance for the life of faith, in order to govern the bark of Saint Peter and proclaim the Gospel, both strength of mind and body are necessary, strength which in the last few months, has deteriorated in me to the extent that I have had to recognize my incapacity to adequately fulfill the ministry entrusted to me. For this reason, and well aware of the seriousness of this act, with full freedom I declare that I renounce the ministry of Bishop of Rome, Successor of Saint Peter, entrusted to me by the Cardinals on 19 April 2005, in such a way, that as from 28 February 2013, at 20:00 hours, the See of Rome, the See of Saint Peter, will be vacant and a Conclave to elect the new Supreme Pontiff will have to be convoked by those whose competence it is.

Dear Brothers, I thank you most sincerely for all the love and work with which you have supported me in my ministry and I ask pardon for all my defects. And now, let us entrust the Holy Church to the care of Our Supreme Pastor, Our Lord Jesus Christ, and implore his holy Mother Mary, so that she may assist the Cardinal Fathers with her maternal solicitude, in electing a new Supreme Pontiff. With regard to myself, I wish to also devotedly serve the Holy Church of God in the future through a life dedicated to prayer.

From the Vatican, 10 February 2013

Benedictus pp XVI

Early on the morning of Sunday, Jan. 27, a young man kicked in two of the faceted glass doors of the Cathedral, and then proceeded to damage a stained glass window of the Sacred Heart of Jesus which had been in the original church before the cathedral was built. It was over 100 years old.

I just received an estimate from the artisans who will be attempting to repair these. It is a whopping $17,140.00! Of course we are covered by insurance with some deductible, but I would rather that this whole thing have never happened.

It is so sad. We pray for the young man who did this. We forgive him, but of course he is still responsible for his actions.

The Concho Padre