Scripture reminds us that, during the end times, Elijah will return. Jesus said that he already came, in the person of John the Baptist. What about the end times? The end times are the times of the Messiah, when God’s own Son came to earth to redeem His people.

So when we hear that the end times have come, it does not mean that the end of the world has come. It means that the end of the world is at hand. Why? Because eventually the end of the world comes. It does not mean that when the Messiah comes, that is the end of the world. It means that the Messiah is coming to bring God’s people back to the Father, to return us to where we ought to be. So Elijah was that one who prepared the way. He is the precursor of the Messiah. He prepares the way for the coming of the Lord.

So, in a real way, all of us are called to be precursors, to prepare the way of the Lord. We don’t know when that hour will come. We don’t know when the end of the world will come. We don’t know when our life will end because Jesus can come for us at any minute. So it does not matter to me personally if the end of the world will come today if I am going to lose my life before that. What is important is that we prepare to meet the Lord. That is the message of John the Baptist, the message of Our Lord Jesus Christ, the message of the Gospel. To prepare our hearts to meet the Lord.

When Jesus came, people thought that He was going to come again on the clouds in their lifetime. But He has not come yet that way. If He did, it would put an end to these world problems. I don’t know if we will see that end, but you and I will see our own end. We know that the Lord will come to take each one of us to His Kingdom. Let us prepare for that day.

God love you,

Father Finelli

So Pilate went back into the praetorium and summoned Jesus and said to him, "Are you the King of the Jews?" Jesus answered, "Do you say this on your own or have others told you about me?" Pilate answered, "I am not a Jew, am I? Your own nation and the chief priests handed you over to me. What have you done?" Jesus answered, "My kingdom does not belong to this world. If my kingdom did belong to this world, my attendants (would) be fighting to keep me from being handed over to the Jews. But as it is, my kingdom is not here." So Pilate said to him, "Then you are a king?" Jesus answered, "You say I am a king. For this I was born and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice." Pilate said to him, "What is truth?" (John 18:33-38)

When Pilate asked Jesus to tell him who He was, I don’t think Pilate was a true skeptic. I think he was asking Jesus sincerely, “Who are you?” He wanted to know. He was a man who was a product of his own time and place. He didn’t have the gift of faith.

Sometimes I think that, in our world of today, there are many people like Pilate. They are searching but they live for today. They don’t know that there is a future. Some people live as if this is it—what we have here and now is it—this is the end of everything—there is no heaven or hell—after we leave, that’s the end of us.

So is there a heaven? And where is heaven?

Most of you believe there is a heaven or you wouldn’t be reading this. Thanks be to God there is a heaven and an afterlife. So where is heaven? Heaven is out of this world. Heaven is the kingdom that Jesus talks about. The kingdom of Jesus Christ has no temporal possessions. Everything here is going to disappear some day. There are no senators or congressmen. He has no army to defend Him. He told us, “If I had an army, my attendants would be fighting to keep me from being handed over.

So where is the kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ? Where is heaven? Jesus tells us in Luke’s Gospel (17:21),”Behold, the kingdom of God is among you.” The kingdom of God is among you? What, are you crazy? It doesn’t seem too much like heaven in this world that we live in! The kingdom of God is among us who believe, who have faith in God, in the Lord Jesus Christ. Heaven begins now. We don’t just wait for heaven. When we close our eyes and walk through the door, that is heaven, yes. But heaven begins here and now where the Presence of God, the Presence of the Lord Jesus Christ is. Because Jesus is with us who believe, heaven begins here and now.

You know that old saying, “the eye is the lamp of the soul”? You know how sometimes you look in the newspaper and you see an ax murderer or somebody like Hitler—look at those old pictures of Hitler. Look into their eyes. It’s really eerie. It’s almost like you feel fear because you can see hell. Hell begins now, too, for those who are anti-God, anti-faith. I’m not talking about the ordinary person who doesn’t believe in God but about those who enter into the depths of evil. For a man like Hitler, hell began when he walked this earth. God willing, he had some kind of change of heart before he died.

For us, heaven begins here and now because God is with us. We have the Lord Jesus Christ and we have to foster the Kingdom of God. We have to seek the Kingdom of God and strengthen it in our lives. Jesus said, “Seek first the Kingdom of God and all things will take care of themselves.” How do we do that? We do that first and foremost through the sacraments. Jesus comes to us. He brings His grace and roots it more firmly in our hearts, souls, and lives. We experience the Kingdom in prayer. I’m not saying we have experiences all the time because we can’t base our faith on feelings, but I bet that most of us have experienced the Kingdom in some way or other. Have you ever entered into prayer? After Communion, I try to enter into prayer deep within. It’s hard to do because there are so many distractions. But every now and then, when I am in the church or in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament, I’ll close my eyes and I’ll somehow get rid of those distractions and enter into that place where there is such a peace that I’d just like to be there forever. I bet you’ve experienced that. Or you go to certain places and find that peace. I often go to the Trappist Monastery up in Spencer, Massachusetts. I had a funeral up there for a priest friend of mine last Friday. When I walked into the chapel, it was almost like water was poured on me. I could feel the peace. That’s a taste of heaven! God gives us these tastes of heaven to give us a deeper longing for the Kingdom because you and I are destined to be in God’s Kingdom for all eternity. So let us pray that we may foster and deepen that peace in our lives so that not only may we experience His Kingdom within our hearts and our souls but that we may spread that Kingdom to all people whom we meet so that they may come to recognize Jesus Christ as their King.

God love you,

Fr. Finelli

True Vocation Involves Suffering and Sweetness

“Then the voice that I had heard from heaven spoke to me again and said, "Go, take the scroll that lies open in the hand of the angel who is standing on the sea and on the land." So I went up to the angel and told him to give me the small scroll. He said to me, "Take and swallow it. It will turn your stomach sour, but in your mouth it will taste as sweet as honey." I took the small scroll from the angel's hand and swallowed it. In my mouth it was like sweet honey, but when I had eaten it, my stomach turned sour. Then someone said to me, "You must prophesy again about many peoples, nations, tongues, and kings." (Revelations 10: 8-11)

In the book of Revelation, we get a “taste” of John’s vocation, pardon the pun. John talks about the scroll. He gives us a sign of what his vocation was like. He said, “When he ate it, it was sweet to the mouth.” When the Lord called him, there was sweetness and joy. He was filled with happiness, and then, when it went to the stomach, it turned sour. John had bitterness in his life because of his vocation.

The vocation, the call from God, the call to do God’s work is sweet. It’s a joy to follow our mighty Lord, but, just like the ministry of Christ, we can’t always have joy in our lives. Our lives have to have suffering, too. We go up to Mount Tabor where we experience the glory of the Lord as the Apostles did who went up with Him. Peter said, “Let us build three tents. We’ll stay here. This is awesome!” But they could not stay. They had to come down. We have the point where we have to go to the cross with our Lord. Peter came to the Lord and said, “Oh, Lord, don’t go that way!” He didn’t’ want Jesus to be crucified. What did Jesus say? “Get behind me, satan.” He had to go to Calvary.

It’s the same with all of us. We can’t just have the joy or the mountaintop. We can’t just have the resurrection. We have to have the cross as well. We have to have both. If you find somebody who is always in the glory, that’s not a true vocation. All of us are called to share in Christ’s cross and suffering, and then we find resurrection.

God love you,

Father Finelli

The Church as the New Temple

When Jesus went into the Temple and overturned the tables of the money changers, we might ask why He did it that day and not any other day. What he saw that day was an every day occurrence. Those working in the Temple had to sell the animals that were needed for the sacrifice. So why does Jesus flip out? Why does He flip everything over, cause chaos, and drive all the money changers out?

 Really, the rabbis should have known what He was saying. He was saying that their sacrifice was coming to an end. Jesus said, “Destroy this Temple and in three days, I will raise it up.” They knew that He wasn’t talking about a building because in Sacred Scripture, had they read the prophets and prophecies, they should have known that Jesus was saying He was the new Sacrifice, that He came to abolish the old sacrifice for a new Sacrifice. There would no longer be sacrifices of animals. There would no longer be need of an animal because the Father sent the Lamb of God. 

Animal sacrifice was empty. It had no power to forgive sin. It was a symbol. The rabbis would place their sins in a symbolic way on the animal and sacrifice it and then the people would eat the animal as a sign that they shared the sacrifice. So Jesus was coming to bring the new sacrifice of His own Body that would be destroyed, and in three days He would raise that Temple again. What a gift! That God Himself would become our sacrifice. That’s why our churches are so sacred.  

It’s interesting that, when Mother Angelica built her shrine of the Blessed Sacrament, she didn’t call it a basilica or a church. She called it a temple because the temple is the place of sacrifice. In reality, our church is a temple. It’s where the Son of the Living God, the Lamb of God, Who did away with the old sacrifices, is Himself sacrificed. This church is Calvary for us. It is the place where our sins are forgiven. We are brought back, or the past is brought to us, so that we partake of the Lamb of God Who was sacrificed for us. It’s just like the Old Testament. They had to eat of the flesh of the lamb. Now in this Sacrifice of the altar, He gives us His Flesh and His Blood to eat so that we can experience the effects of our redemption.

 We have just celebrated the Feast of the Dedication of St. John Lateran. That’s really the Pope’s basilica. We think of St. Peter’s as being the Pope’s Church. It really isn’t. St. John Lateran is because it is the Church of Rome and the Pope, as Bishop of Rome has St. John Lateran as his basilica, his cathedral. In reality, that’s our cathedral. Why would we celebrate a dedication? Because the church is a sacred place. It’s the place where you come for the sacrifice of Christ but also where He’s alive and His Presence remains. So our church is different from a temple. God hovered over the area in the desert where only the Commandments were present, but God comes down and visibly remains in our temple in the Sacrifice that was meant for our salvation. 

God love you,

Father Finelli

Praying for the Dead in Purgatory

On All Saints’ Day, we recognize how many unknown souls go to the kingdom. But we also know that some of us won’t go straight to heaven. There is a place called Purgatory where we have to go to be purified. Maybe some of those who think they are perfect will be surprised to find out that they aren’t—that they have to go to Purgatory to be purified rather than go straight to heaven.

Purgatory is a great gift because it shows us how merciful Almighty God is. If God weren’t merciful, if His mercy did not reach out to us, if we were not perfectly pure and perfectly holy when we left this life, we would have to go to hell, because you can only go to heaven if you’re perfect—that is completely purified, completely holy. Purgatory is the place where those, who are destined to go to heaven, go first to be readied for heaven. These are those who have lived a good and holy life but who died with some imperfection, some venial sin or fault or failure on their souls. They did not die in mortal sin, because, with a mortal sin on your soul, you can’t go to heaven.

Purgatory shows God’s love for us. He loves us so much that He created Purgatory for us. We don’t know where Purgatory is, or even if it is a place somewhere, or if it is something that happens when we are passing through this life. But we know that it’s God’s love for us in action. It’s kind of like when you are going to a wedding and you have been working in the garden. You don’t go to the wedding dressed in your dirty clothes. You don’t go to the wedding before you take your shower and cleanse yourself. You take a shower and put on your best because you want to be the best you can be to go to that wedding. When we go to that wedding celebration in the Kingdom of Heaven to be with that Bridegroom, the Lord Jesus Christ, we want to be the best we can be.

During the month of November, we pray for our brothers and sisters who have died with imperfections, with some faults and failures. We feel unity with them, on the Feast of All Souls on November 2, when we pray especially for the dead, but also all through this month. Those who have gone before us are still with us. Imagine! The souls in Heaven and Purgatory are behind a veil. If we could only see behind that veil, we would realize that they walk among us.

You hear all these ghost stories. I believe these ghost stories are often of people coming back to us because they need our prayers. Just look at the lives of the saints. How many times was Padre Pio frightened because a soul from Purgatory came to him and said, “Pray for me.” Usually, because he was in a monastery, a deceased priest or friar would come to him and say, “Pray for me because I didn’t live my religious life as I was called to live it.” Imagine, in those days, they didn’t live their religious life the way they were called to live it! They had great penances and said many prayers! But they would say, “Pray for me because I need to go to heaven.” What an awesome reminder to us to pray for those who have gone before us!

Each year during this month we pray for the souls in Purgatory. And we ought to pray especially for the souls we don’t know. We do pray for people we do know, but imagine the ones who have no one to pray for them. Imagine the ones who have no family member who believes in heaven, Purgatory or hell—they just believe in this life. No one will make a sacrifice for the deceased or to offer a prayer for them.

The Scriptures talk about praying for the dead and offering sacrifices for them. Judas Maccabeus found out that some of his soldiers who died in battle had amulets, that is, good luck charms, because they were looking to false gods. But Judas Maccabeus collected money for these soldiers and sent it to Jerusalem to offer sacrifices for those who died so that they might be freed and go to heaven.

Scripture tells us that we will be purified as gold in a fire. Those who purify gold hold it over the fire in a metal cup and the gold separates out from the impurities. That’s what happens in Purgatory. What is already beautiful become radiant and the impurities are burned away!

So during this month of November, let us remember those who have gone before us and pray for them, especially for those who have no one to pray for them.

This is a good month to pray the complete Psalter for all deceased penitents of all times, as the CFP Rule states. This is praying for the dead, and for those who have no one to pray for them. Imagine! Those in the CFP who die will have other penitents praying the complete Psalter for them, at least once a year. What a great gift of prayer!

God love you,

Father Finelli

The Example of the Saints

“By keeping the memorials of the saints – first of all the holy Mother of God, then the apostles, the martyrs, and other saints – on fixed days of the liturgical year, the Church on earth sows that she is untied with the liturgy of heaven. She gives glory to Christ for having accomplished his salvation in his glorified members; their example encourages her on her way to the Father.” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1195)

From the early days of the life of the Church there has been a devotion to the men and women who lived heroic lives. Usually, those who received this popular acclaim had given their lives for the Faith. During the times of persecution, Mass was often celebrated in the catacombs on the tombs of the martyrs. This tradition was continued through the relics o the martyrs which were place in the altar stone before it was consecrated by the Bishop.

The saints remain an important part of the life of the Church today. The Liturgy has various ranks for the celebration of the saints. One might ask why we celebrate the saints. First, we must point out that we do not worship the saints. The saints are our brothers and sisters who have accomplished what we are striving for. These are the men, women, and children who lived lives of heroic virtue. They are our family awaiting us in the kingdom.

Reading the lives of the saints gives us inspiration in daily life. They show us that it is possible to be fully committed to Christ and the Church even in our times. Let us turn to them for help in our struggles and strive to be like them in the total commitment to Christ.

God love you,

Father Finelli

Seeking Signs

The Pharisees said to Jesus, “Give us a sign that we might believe.” They were always looking for signs from Jesus. Jesus had just given them a great sign of the coming of the Kingdom of God because He had just cast out a demon. Who could cast out demons except for God Himself? Nobody except for God Himself and anybody to whom God had given that authority. In fact, the Pharisees used to cast out devils, but Scripture commentaries tell us that the Pharisees were just like the Egyptian priests who really didn’t cast out devils. They used to perform a ritual that looked almost like a magical spell but it really didn’t work. Jesus really gave a sign of Who He was, that He was the chosen one of the Father, the Messiah, that He was God among us. He gave this sign by casting out devils because there was no one before Him who could do that.

Jesus’ sign to the Pharisees  is a powerful sign to all of us of the power of God over all creation. There are devils, but we are looked after. The grace of God protects us as long as we remain in the sacraments and prayer.

So let us give thanks to the Lord Who gives us signs in our lives. We have many signs. We have the Eucharist. We have the sacrament of Penance (Reconciliation) where God forgives us. We have all the signs that God gives us, but then He gives us daily signs in our own personal lives, little signs. But we have to be open to the signs that God is giving to us. How many times do we know that God is there, but we pass Him by? How many times does God prove His love for us but we pass it by? We need to reflect and to think about our lives. Don’t let those moments of grace pass us by. Think about them. Let them affect our daily lives. We are not alone in this world. God’s Presence still continues in this world, and He is with us to overcome all evil in our lives.

God love you,

Father Finelli

Encouraging Religious Vocations

Jesus told His disciples that “the harvest is great but laborers are few.” He then gave a description of what is expected of those who are his disciples. What he says is really interesting. “Pray to our Heavenly Father, and He will send more laborers into the harvest.“

We have seen a great vocation shortage in the Church in our time. It seems, thanks be to God, that vocations are coming back in our Providence, Rhode Island, diocese. Why? Because in our diocese there is prayer for vocations. Prayer is the answer to the vocation crisis. There is no other answer. If you want vocations, Jesus says, “Turn to our Heavenly Father. Ask the Father and He will send vocations.”

Sometimes I think priests are embarrassed to talk about their vocations. It’s very harmful if they keep silent because every priest is to be a vocation director. If the priest does not love his vocation, there is something wrong. It’s kind of like a sculptor who does not like to sculpt or a painter who does not like to paint or a construction worker who does not like to build things. We ought to like what we are doing!

All of us, in a sense, are called to be vocation directors. All Roman Catholics are called to find good men to serve the Church. We want good men to serve, and we think of some whom we know who we think would make good priests. They might have some attributes that would be suitable for the priesthood. Maybe some of these young men may not have thought of being a priest. You might mention to a young man, “Did you ever think of becoming a priest?” Or you might say to a young woman, “Did you ever think of giving yourself to God as a bride of Christ? Did you ever think of entering the convent?” You’ll be surprised at what happens when you say things like that. Sometimes you will have a young person who will say, “I never thought about it. But I’m going to.”

We do have one young man in our parish who is a definite, but besides him, there are other young men here who are thinking of becoming priests. We need to pray for these young men. There are also young women, about three or four , who have expressed a desire to become religious sisters (nuns), women consecrated to the Lord. What an awesome gift! We don’t see too many vocations but they are out there. You and I need to pray for vocations, encourage vocations, and they will come. If no one asks the young person, how will they hear the voice of God? Sometimes the Lord uses us as His voice. He is not going to come down from heaven and shout. That’s not how I heard my vocation. I never heard a voice from heaven or a loud thunderclap! But I did have an inner call, encouraged by those around me.

So let us make a great commitment to pray for vocations. We have them in our parish and they are in every parish. I sometimes think that there ought to be something coming down from the bishops. If a parish does not produce a vocation every ten years, then maybe they don’t need a priest. Wouldn’t that solve the vocation crisis? Maybe then parents would be willing to give their sons and daughters to the Church. If they aren’t willing, do they deserve a priest?

One time I gave a homily on vocations. It was at my first parish, in fact, a very well to do parish. After my talk, a lady come up to me and said, “I have a son, but I’d never let him become a priest.”

I said, “Why?”

“Well, until the Church allows priests to get married, I’d never let my son become a priest.”

Well, you know what, M’am? You would want me or another priest to be with you when you are dying, wouldn’t you? But maybe you won’t have anybody because you are not willing to give your son to Christ. Maybe that boy had a vocation, but she closed the door.

God love you,

Father Finelli

St. Michael and the Other Archangels

In the book of Revelation (Chapter 12: 7-10), we hear about the battle Michael the Archangel led against the devil (Lucifer) and all his cohorts who turned against God in the beginning. But the battle never ended. That battle will go on until the end of the world because Lucifer (satan) is the one who, Scripture tells us, is “like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.” The devil is out to get us!  Many people don’t believe in the devil, but the devil believes in God! He probably has more faith than all of us put together!  He knows the Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist. He knows when God is present. He knows where the saints are. If you read the lives of the saints, they get attacked.

 I recently bought a great full-length movie, done in Italy, on the life of Saint Padre Pio. The language of the movie is Italian so you have to read the sub-titles. There is one scene in the monastery in the middle of the night when you see the friars running through the monastery. They rush to Padre Pio’s room and you see the friars standing there, listening, because there is this ruckus going on. You see Padre Pio being thrown around the room. You see the friars pounding on the door. “Pio! Pio! What are  you doing in there?” When they finally get the door open, the devil has left and you see a beaten Padre Pio. He used to be beaten by the devil on different occasions. That is something that God allows to happen to certain chosen souls. 

It’s important for us to know that we have an enemy. But it’s also important to know that we have someone at our side. We actually have three “generals” that we know of, standing at our side. But there are also many more. Saint Michael appears in four places in Sacred Scripture. He appears in the Book of Daniel two times. Once he appears in the Book of Jude, verse 9, where he fights the devil over the body of Moses. He also appears in the Book of Revelation. Then we have Gabriel who also appears four times in Sacred Scripture. Twice in the Book of Daniel and twice in the Gospel according to St. Luke where he announces to Zechariah that he would have a son and also brings the good news to Mary, that she would be the chosen one, that she would be the Christ-bearer, the Mother of the Messiah. Finally we have St. Raphael who only appears in Sacred Scripture in the Book of Tobit where he accompanies Tobias on his journey and finally delivers Tobit’s daughter in law from the devil. 

So we see the three angels who are doing the work of God. Michael is often looked upon as the “judgment of God.” He casts satan out of heaven and casts him out of the lives of God’s people. Gabriel is looked upon as the “angel who speaks the message of God, who brings the word of God to God’s people.” Raphael is looked upon as “the healing agent.” When Tobit went blind, Raphael came with the healing powers of God to anoint Tobit’s eyes.  

We ought to cultivate a devotion to the angels, especially to Saint Michael. We can see that the battle is raging. Anybody who does not see the battle is spiritually blind. They need to shake themselves up, pick up that newspaper, and you see the battle taking place. It might be taking place in a physical way before us, but that is only a sign of what’s happening all over the world. Look at all the extremists who are using religion to fight a battle. The real battle is the one beneath that, the one that causes divisions between people and nations. Pope John Paul II often said that we need to take up that prayer to St. Michael the Archangel that was said for so many years at the end of Mass.  Foster a devotion to St. Michael. *

You can probably look at your lives and see times when the devil was there, tempting and trying to cause fear. He causes confusion and discouragement. We know we are at war, but we know there is a victory. We have a leader who leads us in the name of Jesus—Michael, the great Archangel. 

God love you,

Father Finelli

* The Confraternity of Penitents suggests praying daily to St. Michael to help end the moral degradation of our own individual nations. The prayer to St. Michael is on this link.

The Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Other than the birthday of Our Lord on December 25, the Church celebrates only two other birthdays. One is the Feast of St. John the Baptist who was the precursor of Our Lord and the other is the birthday of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Queen of All Saints. Normally we celebrate the day that the saints went to eternal life, the day that they were born into eternal life in the kingdom. But it is different with Mary.

The feast of her nativity has been celebrated since the sixth century. It actually started in the East and spread to the West through some Eastern monks who were visiting Rome. From there it developed and spread pretty quickly throughout the entire Catholic Church.

Of course, only God knows the exact day on which the Blessed Mother was born. The day of September 8 was chosen because it was the first day of the Byzantine Calendar, and from this came the date of the Feast of the Immaculate Conception which is nine months prior to this on December 8.  In the same pattern, we have the birth of Our Lord on December 25 and then the Annunciation nine months before on March 25. Just as normal pregnancy is nine months, so, too, do nine months elapse between the conceptions of Our Lord and His Mother and their births. Why does the Church schedule these feasts nine months apart? To bring these feasts into our daily lives. To celebrate not only the thoughts of the past or the anticipation of heaven but to make present that, in our daily walk, we are walking as well with Jesus, Mary, and the saints.

When we celebrate the birth of Our Lord, it's the greatest feast because we celebrate the birth of our salvation. But the Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Mother is also an important feast and one of great joy because she's the one who was chosen for Our Lord and for us. She was predestined by God, that is she was called by God, chosen for a special role in salvation. We are all predestined in this sense, as we are all called to be faithful to the Gospel. Our Lady was called to be that one who would be the Christ-bearer. Imagine that! The Mother who was made by her Son. Imagine if we could make our own mother. How would we make our mother? We'd give her all the virtues and gifts we could give her. So, before He was conceived in the womb, before He became flesh, the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity made His Mother. He created her in all perfection. He gave her the greatest gifts and the greatest virtues, and she was then given the choice. She responded with full heart.

Mary's life is really summarized in that great prayer we call the Magnificat. "My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord." Everything about Mary and about her life, about her Immaculate Conception, about her graces and virtues, go back to Her Son. She sings, "My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord" because she is the perfect creation of Our Lord Jesus Christ. She is the perfect creation of the Father and the Holy Spirit. Thus she is that model for each of us, the image of the perfect Christian. God puts forth the grace and she responds to that grace, yet turns her praise not to herself but to her God. So we give thanks for the birth of the Blessed Mother because she is not only the Mother of God but she is also our Mother. She shows us the way to her Son.

God love you,

Father Finelli

Heaven and Hell

Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net thrown into the sea, which collects fish of every kind. When it is full they haul it ashore and sit down to put what is good into buckets. What is bad they throw away. Thus it will be at the end of the age. The angels will go out and separate the wicked from the righteous and throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth.  

Matthew 12: 47-50 

Jesus talks about the end time, about heaven and other things. He said that the fisherman, when he drags his net, brings in all sorts of things. We know that this is the case with fishermen. They bring in trash, tires, and you name it as well as fish. Then they have to sort it all out. This is what Jesus speaks of in one of his parables. At the end of time, the Lord will separate the good from the bad and the wicked from the holy. He tells us that there IS heaven. The kingdom of heaven is like, He says. He tells us that the bad things will be thrown into the fire to be burned. It's a reminder to all people that there is a place called hell. There is also a place called heaven. We are all going to be judged at the end of our lives. We will all come before the judgment seat of God. 

Our world needs to be reminded, I think, that there is a place called hell. Even though you might live thinking, "Do whatever you feel like. If it feels good, do it," our Lord Jesus says, "No!" We have to live according to His ways and teachings and law so that we can be with Him in heaven. 

God love you,

Father Finelli

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Something Greater Than the Temple

Jesus said, "There is something greater than the temple here." What's greater than the temple? What could have been greater than the temple for the Pharisees and the scribes? What could have been greater than the temple for Our Lord and His apostles? Well, our Lord is saying that He is greater than the temple. He is the new temple. He is reminding us that He has come to give us a new faith, a new temple, a new goal. He wasn't focusing so much on them eating the grain on the Sabbath. He was coming to proclaim to them that He is the new Moses, the new giver of the law. He tells us something pretty interesting. "I desire mercy, not sacrifice." Some people say, "Oh, see that. We don't have to sacrifice. We don't have to do penance." No. He is saying that, "The old sacrifice of the lambs in the temple is not needed any more. There's a new sacrifice. It's the sacrifice that I'll bring about on the cross. It's the sacrifice of the new temple." Our sacrifice. The one sacrifice of Christ that we celebrate during the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass because it's made present here. It's not a new sacrifice because, if this were a new sacrifice, it wouldn't be the sacrifice of Christ on the cross. He renews the sacrifice daily at every Mass throughout the world. 

So what is that mercy He desires? It's the desire that, through this sacrifice on the cross, through this sacrifice that's renewed on the altar, He brings us His mercy. Because He brings us His mercy, you and I are called to be merciful to others. The Pharisees were not merciful. They were always judging others because they were so rigid and locked into their law that they forgot about the Spirit. I'm not saying that we have to throw away the Law, but Jesus renews the law. It's the law of love. He brings about a new way to live the law. He didn't do away with the Old Law. He just deepened and strengthened the covenant because when we live the law with love, it's a whole different thing. When you live the law out of rigidity like the Pharisees did, there is no bending, no way of bringing life. But Jesus brings the law of love. He brings life because He is the temple, He is the Church. Jesus is the Church. Where there is no Jesus, there is no Church. Because we have Jesus in the sacrament of the altar, this is the Church.

God love you,

Father Finelli

Mary Magdalene: Called to Be a Lover of God

People think of St. Mary Magdalene and often think of the prostitute, the woman from whom Jesus cast seven devils. But I think there is a different perspective to consider Mary Magdalene. Even though she had a former way of life, she was one who was touched by Jesus. She was changed forever and never went back. Jesus touched her life and she fell in love, not in the way of that heretical Dan Brown book The DaVinci Code or the way of the Gnostic Gospel of Thomas, but a pure and holy love that changed her life because she knew that it was her God coming to save her. The Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the Living God, came into her life and touched her life and she was never the same.

"I saw him who my heart loves," it says it the Song of Songs. It's a person chasing after the one he or she loves. And that is really how we are called to be. The only difference between Mary and most other people, most of us included, probably, is that Jesus touched her life and she never went back to her old ways. She changed completely. She gave her heart completely to the Lord. You and I--I am not saying you necessarily, not picking out any particular person--usually the human trait is that we open up to the Lord and then we take a step backwards. That's really life, life's struggle of seeking the Lord. What happened with Mary was that, when Jesus met her as a prostitute, He didn't look at her as a prostitute or a sinner or a person filled with demons. He looked at her as someone He was calling to be a great saint. I think that is what Jesus does when He looks at us. He doesn't necessarily look at our sins. He looks at us and He says, "This is what I expect of you if only you will accept it." She accepted it with all her heart, soul, and being and she was transformed. Every time I think of Mary Magdalene now, I think of the Passion of Christ, how Jesus changed her life. She was always seeking Him. She was Mary at the cross, reaching out to Him, standing by the cross. That is where her power came from, the cross. Pious tradition tells us that, after the crucifixion, the apostles didn't know what to do, but Mary Magdalene went off and became a hermit to spend her time in contemplation and prayer. She had found the one she loved and she never left Him. He left her for a time, but she remained with Him.

We, like her, are called to be lovers of the Lord in whatever state of life we are. If we are connected with the Lord Jesus, we will understand that He is madly in love with us and that He calls us to be madly in love with Him. So that reading from the Song of Songs isn't only one way. We are seeking Him but He is seeking us. He sees what we are called to be--great saints of Jesus Christ.

God love you,

Father Finelli

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The Covenant That Sets Us Apart 

In the Old Testament, God calls His people out of Egypt to bring them forth into a covenant, into a relationship. He wants to make them a people. What makes them a people?  The Lord says, "If you live My law, you will peculiarly my own."  A people who are different, a people set aside for God. That's what makes us different from the rest of the world. You and I live the teachings of Christ in His Church. If you and I don't live the teachings of Christ in the Church, then we are no different than the pagans really.  As Jesus said, in the Gospel, "What makes us different from the pagans?  The pagans love one another.  They love their friends.  We love our friends, too, so we are just like everybody else."  But if we live the teachings of Christ and His Church, we are different. We are set apart. 

To bring us into covenant, there are two things that God did with the Israelite people. He gave them a law to live.  That made them different from everyone else. That set them apart, because the pagans lived as the pagans lived, but God's people first and foremost respected God.  They set apart His day. They respected one another.  They treated one another with dignity. That's what the Lord God does. That's what the teachings and commandments of the Church do. First of all, we respect Almighty God. We respect His day, His call, His way of life for us. We also respect one another.  We respect not only one another but every human being, every person, because all people, from the moment of their conception until natural death, are created in the image of Almighty God. 

The second thing that God did is, because they accepted His call to live the life, He gave them a way to worship Him which really set them apart because the pagans worshipped everything that there was--trees and rocks and volcanoes and they sacrificed people to these things.  The Jews sacrificed to the Lord, the One God, Who gave them a law to live and a law that said they were to no longer sacrifice people but an animal which represented their sins, offering their sins, their sacrifices to God.  The Lord confirmed that and renewed that for us because we no longer sacrifice an animal, a lamb. Rather Jesus, the Son, on our behalf sacrifices Himself, the Lamb of God. So every time we are at Mass, the covenant is renewed.  At the second part of the Consecration, at the Consecration of the Precious Blood, the priest says, "This is the new and everlasting covenant in My Blood."  The Lamb of God, the Lamb of the Father, is sacrificed on this altar, the same sacrifice as on Calvary 2000 years ago, not a new sacrifice. It's renewed here for us so that the sacrifice is made present in all time, in all people, all over the world. That is what sets us apart.

We come to worship because we are living as He told us to live. He makes us His chosen people. We are living the covenant because the Lamb is sacrificed and we eat the Flesh and Blood of the Lamb. How awesome that is! That we are called and set apart by the Lord, to be His chosen people, not just by words, not just by baptism, but that baptism makes it part of our life, by making the covenant part of our lives by worshipping the Lamb.

God love you.

Take Time for Silence

Then the LORD said, "Go outside and stand on the mountain before the LORD; the LORD will be passing by." A strong and heavy wind was rending the mountains and crushing rocks before the LORD--but the LORD was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake--but the LORD was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake there was fire--but the LORD was not in the fire. After the fire there was a tiny whispering sound. When he heard this, Elijah hid his face in his cloak and went and stood at the entrance of the cave. A voice said to him, "Elijah, why are you here?" (1 Kings 19:11-13)

People now seem to be hunting for God. They look in so many different places. Sometimes you see these televangelists on TV and it seems that the more intense they look and the louder they preach, they seem to think that the Lord's going to come because of that. But I think that the Lord always comes in silence.

If you look at the above incident in the life of Elijah, when Elijah heard a great noise, a boom, a loud response, an earthquake, Elijah expected it to be the Lord, but it wasn't. The Lord came in silence. He came in quiet. When we consider this, we can see that when God sent His only Son, He didn't come with any trumpets or drums. He came in the silence of Nazareth at the Annunciation and the quiet of Bethlehem at His birth. He was born in a stable where everybody least expected Him to come.

When I was at a site of reported apparitions a week ago, actually a week ago on Thursday night, on June 8, there was an apparition and many of the priests were invited to it, by special invitation only. A monsignor who traveled with us and I were invited into the seer's house. We went into this little room, maybe the size of half the sacristy, and we sat there and prayed the joyful and sorrowful mysteries of the Rosary and then the Chaplet for Peace which is seven Our Fathers, Hail Mary's, and Glory Be's together and the Apostles' Creed. And then Our Lady came in silence. At the end of that apparition, I felt the deepest peace I've ever felt in my life. I've felt peace before, but this was the deepest peace, so deep that I can't describe it. I just wanted to sit there and not move, but finally our silence was disturbed by the translator who said, "All right. Go out now."

That's where we find the peace of God, in silence and quiet. That's why it's so important that, in church, we foster a spirit of silence before and after Mass, so people who want to sit in the presence of God can let God enter the depths of their soul, mind, and body because, when you let the peace of God into your soul, it doesn't just affect your soul. God's relationship with us affects our bodies, too. The effects are far reaching. Because we are created body and soul, God affects the whole person who we are. Whenever you have a spiritual experience of the Lord, you may have an emotional experience, too. God will affect your emotions. So this is why we, as people of God, must take time for silence, time for prayer when we don't say or do or look at anything but we just close our eyes and be with God. I rather be before the Blessed Sacrament, push everything out, and be with Him. It takes time to learn to do this, and we can't expect that we just close our eyes and, whoosh, God is there. No, we have to get used to this prayer of silence. We have noise in our lives, so we have to get used to the experience of silence in our daily lives. Let's take some quiet time many times during the day. We can't only take quiet time when we come to Mass. Take quiet time when we eat lunch, before and after we eat. We need to take quiet time in the evening before we go to sleep, to just be with the Lord.

I remember a priest whom I knew who had cancer. As part of his therapy, every day he would gaze at the crucifix and sit in silence and just gaze upon the Lord. And he found His peace in silence. Jesus came in Bethlehem in silence, as the Lord came to Elijah in the silence, as we contemplate the silence of the Eucharist, let us make time for silence in our lives.

God love you,
Father Finelli
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While Apollos was in Corinth, Paul traveled through the interior of the country and came (down) to Ephesus where he found some disciples. He said to them, "Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you became believers?" They answered him, "We have never even heard that there is a Holy Spirit." He said, "How were you baptized?" They replied, "With the baptism of John." Paul then said, "John baptized with a baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe in the one who was to come after him, that is, in Jesus." When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. And when Paul laid (his) hands on them, the Holy Spirit came upon them, and they spoke in tongues and prophesied. Altogether there were about twelve men. (Acts 19:1-7)

In this reading, Paul was asking if the believers had received the Holy Spirit and they said, "We don't even know that there is a Holy Spirit." It sounds like some people in the Church today. "The Holy Spirit? The Holy Spirit is just for charismatics. The gifts of the Holy Spirit are just for the charismatics." So people say. But how untrue that is! The Lord depends on each one of us to use the gifts He has given us, to be moved by the Holy Spirit to touch the world in which we live. There is no way that this world, in the mess it is, is going to be evangelized without the power of the Holy Spirit working in the Church. There is no way that the world is going to change unless you and I, like the apostles, are animated by the Holy Spirit. Now you don't have to run around and pray in tongues. I believe in all of those gifts, all spoken of in the Acts of the Apostles--prophecy, tongues, healings, deliverance, exorcism, you name it--all those gifts are given to the Church even today. But the most important gifts are those that help us to grow in holiness. We need the Holy Spirit to help us to grow in holiness.

Our Lady said, through Father Gobbi, that the world, the Church, is being prepared for a new and second Pentecost. We really need to pray for that. We need the power of the Holy Spirit to come upon the earth and upon the Church in a special way, to transform the Church. The Church is in a big mess now. There is confusion everywhere you turn. One says one thing, another says another thing. Things that are said by the Pope are blatantly ignored. We need the Holy Spirit because the Holy Spirit is the One Who brings unity, the "glue" Who cements each of us together. So as we celebrate the Feast of Pentecost, let us pray in a more intense way for our parish family, for ourselves, for the Church throughout the world, that the Holy Spirit will set alive within us the gifts He's already given.

We have the Holy Spirit. Sometimes we hear the Pentecostals or different denominations within the Protestant Church say, "Are you born again? Do you have the Holy Spirit?" Some Catholics seem to not know. Of course we do! We were baptized. We were confirmed. We have the gift of the Holy Spirit. Talk about gifts. We have the Giver! We received those gifts in baptism and confirmation. Whatever gifts He wants to use, all we have to do is pray that He frees us and that we are willing to let Him move in our lives. So each and every day we should pray, "Come. Holy Spirit! Use me in the way that You see fit, for my own conversion and transformation to become holy as God wants me to become holy but also for the conversion of the world."

God love you,

Rejecting Christ, Accepting Christ

Jesus talks about those who have the opportunity to know Him but reject Him. What are the excuses people make? I think there are many. First, inconvenience. Jesus is inconvenient. It's not convenient for me to go to church on Sunday because my kids play sports or because I want to go shopping or because I want to do this or that. Or I'm going to have to change if I accept the Lord and follow the Lord in my life. Well, I can't shack up with my girlfriend any more or I can't do the things that I'm doing because they would be against the Gospel. There are so many excuses people use.

I think that, although we may go to Mass and try to follow the Ten Commandments, we still make excuses in our lives not to follow the Lord fully, because each and every day we can go further and further. I was impressed when I was watching a movie about Pope John Paul II. Each day of his life, he didn't just stay stagnant; he went deeper and he went further in his relationship with God because, if you don't go further and you don't go deeper with the Lord, what do you do? You go backwards.

I think we have to look into our lives and ask ourselves, how can we open our lives, how can we open our hearts, that Jesus might come more fully into them? How can we be more deeply converted? How can we give ourselves more completely? How can we open the doors more completely? How can we change? Because the Lord wants to come more fully into our lives. In fact, He'll come more fully into our lives until we close these eyes of ours and we are six feet under--that's when He can't come any further., that's when the door is completely closed, that's when we no longer have an opportunity to open ourselves to His grace.

So let us pray that we may open more fully, that we might let the Lord come. That's our prayer, that the Lord might come, transform us, make us new, that He might find a resting place within our hearts.

God love you,
Father Finelli

Because we live a terrible life, maybe as young people or children, doesn't mean that we can't go to the Kingdom. One example is a good friend of mine, Father John Corapi. You know Fr. Corapi. You watch ETWN. You've seen Fr. Corapi.  He lived a wild life. He was a classic example of that classical story of the man who demanded his inheritance and went off and then became a prodigal son. A man who had everything, ended up in Hollywood, had a great real estate business, ended up turning to cocaine and the most despicable things he could think of, until his mind was completely burned out from drugs and a wild life.  But the Lord touched him, and today's he's a priest of the Lord. He had a major conversion and came back to the Lord.  He's found the Lord, he's faithful to the Lord, and thank God for that. But he has to remain faithful until death, like you and I. We have to remain faithful to the Lord until we reach the Kingdom. That person who might live a horrendous life just might wind up meeting the Lord, just like Jesus said to the Good Thief, "This day you will be with Me in Paradise."

Where's the justice in it all? God's ways are not our ways. Thank God for His great mercy. Thank God for His great love because, in reality, all of us are not worthy of the Kingdom. Only God makes us worthy because we respond to His light and grace. So let us pray that we may always be faithful to His Love, that we might be faithful to our baptismal call each and every day of our lives, because, as St. Augustine said, "if not for the grace of God, there go I."

We can look at the worst person on the face of the earth, the person who lives the most despicable life, and sometimes we tend to do that. "Look at how terrible he is." "Look at how terrible she is." We act kind of like the Pharisees did in the Gospels. "She's a prostitute. How can Jesus love her? How can He forgive her? How can He be in her presence?" The grace of God touched her. She changed. If not for the grace of God, you and I can do worse. How awesome that is, isn't it? The mercy and love of Almighty God. We really have to pray for those in the world, those around us who are far from the Lord's grace, and ask God to touch them with His Divine Mercy. At any moment, any one can be saved. Anyone can have the grace of conversion. That is our life, what we are about--bringing everyone we meet to the joy of the Kingdom. Let us pray that God might open their hearts and  that we might keep our own hearts in the grace of God.

God love you,
Father Jay Finelli

The Real Purpose of Fasting and Abstaining

During the first week of Lent, the Church brings to our attention readings on fasting and how important fasting is for our lives. But they set it into a context.

On Ash Wednesday and Good Friday, Catholics fast and abstain. In addition, every Friday during Lent, Catholics abstain from eating meat. Sometimes people get confused between fasting and abstaining. Abstaining isn't fasting. Fasting isn't abstaining. Abstaining is "giving something up." Giving up eating meat on a Friday, which we Catholics do. Fasting is "eating small portions." It might even be eating only bread and water or eating only one meal a day. We fast and abstain. So what's it all about? What should be our attitude when we fast?

Scripture tells us that those who fast should not put extra work on those under their charge. They should not be quarreling or fighting. They should have a changed life. Fasting really should change our lives. It should open our hearts to the grace of God. So if, when we fast and abstain, we go around all day being grouchy and mean to everyone, we are losing the grace that God is offering to us. Fasting and abstinence should open our hearts to the grace of God. It should open our hearts to become more like Christ. Remember, Jesus emptied Himself so that He could do the Father's Will. That's what we do when we fast and abstain. We empty ourselves first and foremost from sin.