The Mustard Seed

 Mark 4:30-32  Again he said, "What shall we say the kingdom of God is like, or what parable shall we use to describe it?  It is like a mustard seed, which is the smallest of all seeds on earth.  Yet, when planted, it grows and becomes the largest of all garden plants, with such big branches that the birds can perch in its shade."

Some of our youth in the Way are currently off-island on a pilgrimage.  When they return to Guam, they will tell their experiences to the brothers in their communities.  It is always good to listen to their experiences.  These pilgrimages have also fostered vocations for some of our young men and women.  It is where they hear God calling them to the priesthood, the convent, or to itinerancy. Some of the young men in the pilgrimage may answer God's calling to the priesthood.  And when these sons of Guam answer the calling, they will be sent by their communities to a seminary in the U.S. mainland or another country where they will continue their studies to the priesthood.  They will serve the universal Church in either the U.S. mainland or the country they were sent.  The NCW started as a small mustard seed whose faith continues to grow among its members.  It continues to promote and foster vocations even when the Guam Redemptoris Mater Seminary was sold.  It continues to be fruitful in promoting vocations and in the new evangelization.    

Kudos to the young men and women who are participating in the pilgrimage off-island.  Imagine how eager these youth were to participate in a pilgrimage rather than attend a rock concert.  They will continue to evangelize in their pilgrimages off-island so that the vocations and the Catholic Church in the U.S. mainland and other countries will increase.   

In Response to Question From Jeff

This post is in response to Jeff who emailed me from Colorado.  His email was not published since it was addressed to me.  Nevertheless, he asked me a question in the email that I believe is worth addressing in my blog.  The NCW members may even find the question and answer beneficial.  Jeff's question was: 

Also was curious to ask you about this article below — The archbishop recognized the good that the movement has brought to many people’s lives, and he noted that it is recognized and approved by the Holy See.  However, it is imperative that it adhere to liturgical norms, he said, and this adherence “will only enrich the fruits of the Neocatechumenal movement.” https://cruxnow.com/global-church/2017/03/guam-bishop-aims-resolve-distress-neocatechumenal-way/Arap  

 First of all, the link is not working.  Nevertheless, you stated "The archbishop recognized the good that the movement has brought to many people's lives, and he noted that it is recognized and approved by the Holy See.  However, it is imperative that it adhere to liturgical norms..."  I assume you meant Archbishop Michael Byrnes. 

The Holy See gave the Neocatechumenal Way the Statutes and General Directory.  The Statues of the Neocatechumenal Way is what we are supposed to follow.  According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, the term "Statutes" is defined as: 

1 : a law enacted by the legislative branch of a government

2: an act of a corporation or of its founder intended as a permanent rule

3: an international instrument setting up an agency and regulating its scope or authority

In short, the word "Statutes" means "LAW" and is even synonymous with "LAW."  Therefore, the Statutes of the Neocatechumenal Way, which was approved and ratified by the Holy See, is what the Way is mandated to follow.  In fact, it is the LAW, that we are to follow.  This LAW was given to us by the Vatican, and it is this LAW that the NCW should strictly follow.  In a speech, Pope Francis listed 7 points.  According to the seventh point, Pope Francis stated:

SEVENTH: The Neocatechumenal Way is the one that knows the most about the Christian Initiation. Consult them and, if necessary, correct the catechists, the communities…(because to correct is to love)…but correct with the Statutes in your hands.

Notice that in the Statutes, the Easter Vigil is mentioned (Article 12, Section 1).  The Holy See has given the NCW permission to celebrate the Easter Vigil on its own.  Unfortunately, our critics believed that the NCW is being disobedient simply because of this rule found in the Liturgical book (the bold is mine):

Of this night’s Vigil, which is the greatest and most noble of all solemnities, there is to be only one celebration in each church. 

Thus, our critics falsely accused the NCW of disobedience despite the fact that we have told them that we were given permission to celebrate the Easter Vigil apart from the parish Easter Vigil, and we were branded as liars.  The only time our critics believed us was when it was reported in a Catholic news article that the Vatican had allowed the NCW to celebrate the Easter Vigil.  This is the very reason why Article 12, Section 1 was placed in the Statutes.  According to that news article (the bold is mine):

The episcopal council of the Rome diocese, in a document distributed March 1, said the unity of the diocese — seen especially through the unity of the bishop and pastors of parishes in the celebration of the Eucharist — is especially important to emphasize during the triduum: the Holy Thursday Mass of the Lord’s Supper, the Good Friday liturgy of the Lord’s Passion and the Easter vigil Saturday night.

“To express visibly the unity of the holy people of God and express the deepest meaning of belonging to an ecclesial community,” the council said, those who frequent non-parish churches, chapels and oratories or who belong to special groups, associations or new movements “are exhorted to take part in the celebrations of the Easter triduum in parish churches.”

An exception exists for “national churches,” like the U.S. Catholic community at St. Patrick Church in Rome, and for members of the Neocatechumenal Way, whose Vatican-approved statutes allow for small-group celebrations of the Easter vigil, Father Midili said.

Exceptions were made for members of the Neocatechumenal Way, whose Vatican-approved statutes (LAW) allowed it.  And what else did the LAW mentioned?  It also mentioned the Eucharist (Article 13, Section 1-4).  Therefore, the NCW is also mandated in their statutes (LAW) to celebrate the Eucharst in small communities.  The Statutes declared that the celebrations of the Eucharist in the Way are part of the Sunday liturgical pastoral work of the parish and open to others who are not in the NCW communities.  The Eucharist in the NCW is celebrated following the approved liturgical books of the Roman Rite and with the exception of the explicit concessions of the Holy See.  Those explicit concessions can be found here.  

The NCW is mandated to follow its approved statutes (law) given to them by the Holy See.  And as long as the NCW follows its Statutes, it will bear more fruit.  As for the Archbishop, his role is to continue to be in communion with the Pope.  And Pope Francis have already given his support and blessings to the NCW. 

Congratulations to Deacon Ashton Wong!

 Ashton Francisco Wong, another son of Guam was ordained a transitional deacon on May 23, 2021 at the Cathedral Basilica of the Sacred Heart in Newark.  You can find the information here.  Ashton will be ordain a priest in 2022.

Ashton Francisco Wong

Home Parish   
Holy Family in Nutley

What inspired you to discern the priesthood?

Before the seminary, I lived my best life: as a teenager on Guam, I was a successful scholar-athlete; this culminated in a basketball scholarship to Dallas University. I enjoyed all the benefits of being a popular high school athlete: attention from girls, going to parties, and living the ‘good’ life. Although I had everything I wanted – success in academics and athletics, an abundance of friends and admirers, and a secure career path – I felt empty and unsatisfied.

Ashton Francisco Wong

Through the Neocatechumenal Way, I encountered the love of God actually and concretely in my life. I was looking for life from people and things that couldn’t give me life. I found authentic fulfillment in my encounter with Jesus Christ, especially through the Eucharist.

On World Youth Day, I witnessed many priests who were happy with their vocation. They were happier than I was, even though I had sports, fame, friends, and girls. I wanted to know why they were happy, and I wasn’t. So, I decided to respond to God’s call. So far, he hasn’t given me a reason to leave the seminary. The best years of my life have been this time in the seminary.

What inspired me to discern the priesthood was God’s persistent interest in me even though I was not interested in him. He won me over with his faithfulness and generosity, undeserving as I am.

What saints have influenced your discernment the most and why?

The saint that has influenced my discernment the most has been St. John Paul the Great. He was a talented man who loved sports and had every reason to hate God (World War II was not nice to him). In his suffering, he didn’t reject God but sought him out.

He was an awesome Pope whom the Lord used to renew the Church. Although he was very talented at many things (academics, theater, sports) and could have made a career in any of these things, he responded to God’s call to the priesthood. What made him attractive was not his talent, good looks, or personal brilliance, but his relationship with the Lord manifested in his priesthood and papacy. I guess he’s great because he allowed the Lord to work greatly in his life.

His life is a huge help for me because the allurements of the world are tempting. Although John Paul II had more reason to pursue worldly success, he didn’t. His life reassures me that God wants to give me the best, that he wants to give me a life that the world can’t possibly give me.

Congratulations to Father Gabriel Camacho!

 Gabriel Camacho was a seminarian in Guam RMS and a son of Guam.  He was recently ordained a priest on May 29th by Cardinal Joseph Tobin in the Cathedral Basiica of the Sacred Heart in Newark.  Congratulations to Father Gabriel Camacho!  According to the article: 

 

Gabriel Celis Camacho

Age: 31
Birthplace: Tamuning, Guam
Home parish: St. Columba’s Church, Newark; Dulce Nombre de Maria Cathedral Basilica, Hagåtña, Guam
Education: Bachelor of Sacred Theology (Lateran University); M.A. in Systematic Theology from Seton Hall University

Growing up in Guam, Father Camacho did all the things that were expected of him. He studied hard, got a good job, a car, and a social life. Yet, something was still missing.

“The Church came to find me and offered me an alternative, which I fought against for many years,” he explained. “Seminary life and becoming a priest was never appealing to me. ‘What a sad and boring life,’ I would say. But as I was entering my sophomore year of college, this part of my Life was the clearest definition of a ‘sad and boring Life.’ It was necessary for me to hit rock bottom to submit to entering into a seminary. My best decision yet.”

Father Camacho entered the seminary in 2009 and was immediately struck by the various backgrounds of his fellow seminarians who came from all different parts of the world. With this diversity came different personalities and cultures.

“Since the very first day, I saw the seminary as a kind of Zoo, with all sorts of animals living together,” he said. “There are five different ways to play soccer, 13 different opinions about which country has the best food, but only one way to eat pasta.”

Father Camacho said the challenges were the fondest memories: “To put a bunch of men, from different backgrounds, under one roof. Only God can do that! To witness disagreements and arguments on one day, and then see them smiling and laughing together the next? Only God can do that!”

When asked why he wanted to become a priest, Father Camacho responded, “Why not be a priest? If this is how God wishes to bring happiness into my life, Amen! So be it!”

These are challenging times, he said, but that is precisely the point.

“Everyone is looking to be secure, to be safe, but more than anything, we are all, including myself, just looking to find happiness, to find a sense of satisfaction. Happiness can only be found in doing what God has planned out in our lives. That is based on personal experience. He is our Father, and He only wants what is best for all of us. Why on earth would I depart from this awesome adventure? I say, ‘Lord, let us move forward.'”

Pope Francis and the Great Reset

Most Catholics are unaware that a century ago, the Catholic Church proposed its own "Great Reset" or "New World Order" started by Pope Leo XIII and Pope Pius XI.  This Great Reset or New World Order was grounded on Catholic social teaching, based on the human person and centered on God.  The Catholic World Report wrote about this information,  According to the Catholic World Report   

A century ago the Church proposed its own version of a Great Reset, rooted in Catholic social teaching. But much of this teaching is forgotten, simply ignored, or even misrepresented.

Catholic social teaching has been called the “Church’s best kept secret”, and with good reason. The two foundational encyclicals (Pope Leo XIII’s Rerum Novarum [RV]and Pope Pius XI’s Quadragesimo Anno [QA]), other encyclicals on social topics, the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC), and the Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church provide a cohesive vision for society. In addition, we have the writings of those who developed the theology of the Church’s teaching as well as those instrumental in composing the encyclicals....

Taken together, these very clearly present the basic ideas of Catholic Social Teaching. Yet, much of this teaching is forgotten, simply ignored, or even misrepresented.  

The Pope's plan for "New World Order" is anchored on God and based on the human person while the Biden Administration and the Left-wing radicals left God out of the picture, and is not even based on the human person.  Much of Pope Francis' "New World Order" came from the encyclicals of Pope Leo XIII, Pope Pius XI, and St. Pope John Paul II.  According to the The Catholic National Register (the bold is mine):

'Great Reset' Plan Parallels Some of Pope's Initiatives - But there's a Crucial Difference

Like the plan's promoters, the Holy Father also believes the global economy needs to be reshaped coming out of the pandemic; but unlike them, his vision is anchored in God's grace.......

Cardinal Gerhard Müller, prefect emeritus of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, said he welcomes economists and politicians meeting to discuss the world economy, as the economy must benefit everyone and not a select few. But he wonders what “image of humanity” is held by WEF members and those of other similar select groups. As for the initiatives such as the Great Reset, he takes a decidedly jaundiced view. 

Without directly referring to the initiative, he told the Register Jan. 29 that two sides — “profiteering capitalism, big-tech giants of Western countries” and the “communism of the People’s Republic of China” — are today “converging and merging into a unified capital-socialism,” producing a “new colonialism” that the Pope has “often warned against.” 

The goal, Cardinal Müller believes, “is absolute control of thought, speech and action.” 

Rather than follow such initiatives, which he describes as theological-political visions linked to liberation theology, he believes the Church should apply the social doctrine of the Church “in its original and authentic formulation given by Pope Leo XIII in his encyclical Rerum Novarum and by Pope John Paul II in his encyclicals Laborem Exercens and Centesimus Annus.” The world, he said, needs “well-founded, solid, clear and effective” theories “that refer to the great values of the Western tradition” and which “really bring order to the world.” 

But perhaps the most significant danger of the Great Reset initiative is its utopian-atheistic vision, according to some critics. Schwab and Malleret, for instance, never once mention God or religion in their book, or leave any room for the transcendent.  

Therefore, this "New World Order" that the Pope speaks of is based on something that was already written a century ago by Pope Leo XIII. 

In Addition, Pope Francis also spoke about climate change. He believed the rhetoric that "97% of scientists believed that climate change was primarily caused by humans as they continuously burn fossil fuels."  The problem with this rhetoric was that it was never proclaimed by scientists or any study. It was proclaimed by politicians.  

The one who made this claim was former President Barack Obama. The second person who made the same claim was John Kerry (another politician).  And when asked to cite the study showing that 97% of scientists believed that climate change was primarily caused by humans, he backed down. This rhetoric is completely false.  Most in the political world believes that climate change was primarily caused by humans, but the scientific community is divided on the issue.  

So, when it comes to climate change, who should I listen to....the politicians who claim 97% or the scientists who are divided 50-50?  I would go by the scientist because they are the experts.  And the experts cite a number of various factors causing climate change and are still researching as to what percentage human activity have on climate change.  The 97% is completely false.  See the article here.  

When Pope Francis says that as stewards of the earth, mankind has a responsibility to take care of the earth, this is truth.  However, when he says that 97% or the majority of scientists say that climate change was primarily caused by humans, this is NOT truth.  This is why I disagree with the Pope's stand on climate change.  The Pope here is not citing truth because there is no research study showing that 97% of scientists believe climate change was primarily caused by humans.  This claim was made by politicians while the scientific community remains divided on the issue.  According to the Fraser Institute:

In 2012 the American Meteorological Society (AMS) surveyed its 7,000 members, receiving 1,862 responses. Of those, only 52% said they think global warming over the 20th century has happened and is mostly man-made (the IPCC position). The remaining 48% either think it happened but natural causes explain at least half of it, or it didn’t happen, or they don’t know. Furthermore, 53% agree that there is conflict among AMS members on the question.

So no sign of a 97% consensus. Not only do about half reject the IPCC conclusion, more than half acknowledge that their profession is split on the issue.

When the Pope speaks of politics, foreign policy, sports, science, and anything outside the realm of faith and morals, he can make a mistake.  This error does not make him a false prophet or a Left-wing radical.  Cardinal Muller made clear that the Pope does not have the same beliefs as the Left-wing radicals.    

                        

Cult of Covid

This post is in response to Anthony who made the following comment from my last post: 

UncertainApril 14, 2021 at 12:35 PM

I have seen it not work. I know it does not work. Could we speculate that maybe it works for some? Sure - but there is no evidence and I have seen the evidence where it does not. We have identified 3 patients so far who got the vaccine and then admitted with COVID, and this game is still early. I push you mostly not to participate in abortion in any way, where the benefit is not evident. This is my concern for all of you.

https://nypost.com/2021/04/07/thy-children-shalt-suffer-and-other-commandments-of-the-cult-of-covid/amp/?__twitter_impression=true

First of all, the COVID-19 vaccine is not a guarantee that you will not get the virus. That is not the purpose of the vaccine. So, yes, you can still get the virus even after being vaccinated.  The main purpose of the vaccine is to stimulate your immune system to produce antibodies, so that when you do get the virus, you have a better chance of fighting off the virus and surviving.  Rather than going through the news report, you can find more information on the vaccine in the Mayo Clinic website.  The Mayo Clinic is a non-profit organization that employs physicians, researchers, and scientists.  You can find a vast array of information as well as questions and answers on the COVID-19 vaccines at the Mayo Clinic website. 

Secondly, I oppose abortion, and I have participated in its opposition through demonstrations and even through this blog. A person has a right to express their opinions on abortion, and they should.  We should challenge our Christian brothers who support abortion and even correct them with charity.  

Joe Biden (the President of the U.S.), Nancy Pelosi (Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives), and Andrew Cuomo (Governor of New York) are all Catholics who support abortion.  In Guam, our Governor, Lou Leon Guerrero is also Catholic and supports abortion.  This only tells me that some of our Catholic brothers did not receive proper catechesis and were poorly educated on Catholic moral teachings.  And whose fault is this?  Unfortunately, it is the fault of some of our Bishops.  The NCW, on the other hand, has done an excellent job in giving proper catechesis on the family and the sanctity of life, but this needs to be communicated throughout the entire Catholic community who are not members of the Neocatechumenal Way.  In other words, the bishops need to go back and re-educate the Catholic faithful on the sanctity of life and God as the Author of Life by giving them proper catechesis.     

Thirdly, I have read the weblink you sent, and this is my comment on it:  

The vaccine is not the problem.  The cult of Covid are the leftists who now control the White House and Congress, Big Tech, the mainstream media, and most of the public educational system in the United States. They are the cult of Covid.  They use "covid" as an excuse to ban journalists from entering the facilities in the southern border.  But the truth is....they ban those journalists because they did not want the American people to see the humanitarian crisis in the southern border that the government had created.  The state of Texas declared a state of emergency along its borders.  And both the President and Vice President say nothing about the crisis.  It is not only right of worship that is being jeopardized, but the liberties of the American people are being eroded by the Biden Administration, Big Tech, the mainstream media, and the rest of the left-wing radicals. 

Finally, I have also read the last weblink you provided in my last post, and this is my comment on it:  

Rome, Pope Francis, and the Vatican are not the enemy.  The enemy of God and man is Satan.  The Catholic Church is a hierarchy founded and commissioned by Christ.  She is the only true Church.  Christ created only one Church.  He did not create 50,000 different churches.....only one Church, and that would be the Catholic Church.  She holds the fullness of truth.  Critics may find Pope Francis a confusing pope, but Christ is still the Head of the Catholic Church.  And it is Christ who leads His Church into all truths and will be with her until the end of time.  The Catholic Church has stood for over 2000 years and will continue to stand no matter how much Satan attacks her.  Why?  Because the gates of Hell will never prevail against her.  The recent attack against the Catholic Church were the sex abuse scandal.  The scandal started in Boston in 2002, and the Catholic Church is still standing.  The attack we are seeing against the Church (and all Christian churches) today are the government lockdowns.  Covid is being used as an excuse to keep the church in lockdown in spite of the vaccines.  However, there are a few courageous priests in the U.S. fighting back and bringing lawsuits against the government to get the churches opened.           

COVID-19 Vaccine

 This post is in response to the anonymous poster who wrote the following comment, which can be found here: 

AnonymousApril 12, 2021 at 8:58 PM

Diana, this is outside the topic. Did you know that the COVID-19 vaccine has an indirect link to aborted babies. Yet, Archbishop Byrnes gave the people the ok to take the vaccine. Isn't that immoral? As Catholics, aren't we supposed to oppose abortion. Rohr wrote something about this in his blogpost, and he seems to have a point. Just saying.

 First of all, your post was published under "The Mystery of Divine Providence," which I think is more on-topic than you realize.  We just finished the Holy Triduum recently.  On Good Friday, Christ, who was an innocent man, died.  Killing an innocent man is evil.  Nevertheless, the day of His death is called "Good Friday" because something good will come out of it.  By rising from the dead, Christ has conquered death and brought redemption to mankind. That was the good thing that came out of it; however, killing an innocent man is still an evil act.  Nothing changes that.  According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church:  

CCC 312  In time we can discover that God in his almighty providence can bring a good from the consequences of an evil, even a moral evil, caused by his creatures:  "It was not you", said Joesph to his brothers, "who sent me here, but God...You meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive."  From the greatest moral evil ever committed - the rejection and murder of God's only Son, caused by the sins of all men - God, by his grace that "abounded all the more", brought the greatest of goods: the glorification of Christ and our redemption.  But for all that, evil never becomes a good.

CCC 324 The fact that God permits physical and even moral evil is a mystery that God illuminates by his Son Jesus Christ who died and rose to vanquish evil.  Faith gives us the certainty that God would not permit an evil if he did not cause a good to come from that very evil, by ways that we shall fully know only in eternal life.

God allows or permits evil to occur because he respects the freedom of man, but our faith assures us that God can derive something good from that evil although we may not know what it is until later in time.  Killing an innocent man is still evil and always will be.  In the same way, abortion is evil and always will be because abortion is murder.  Yet, God allowed abortion to happen.  

Regarding the COVID-19 vaccine, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith stated:  

"Based on the criteria, the congregation held that "it is morally acceptable" to receive COVID-19 vaccines that have used cell lines from aborted fetuses "when ethically irreproachable COVID-19 vaccines are not available."   

So, the Vatican is saying that even if the COVID-19 vaccines have used cell lines from aborted fetuses it is acceptable to take the vaccine. The Pfizer and Moderna vaccines are the ones mainly used in Guam. These vaccines may have used cell lines from an aborted fetus in laboratories, but what other vaccines are available that does not use an aborted fetus?  There are none.  

Abortion is evil, but God permitted abortion to happen.  Why he allowed such evil to happen, we would not know until at a later time.  And now we know.  In the mystery of God's divine providence, God brought something good from the moral evil of abortion committed by men and women.  But for all that, abortion is still evil.

Just as Christ's death brought redemption to man, the deaths of those innocent unborn children produced a couple of effective vaccines to save mankind.  And only God has the power to do this.  So, we can be assured that what the Congregation for the Doctrines of the Faith has said is sound and true.  We place our trust in God and the Catholic Church.  So, yes, we should follow what the Vatican says.  Archbishop Michael is in union with what the Vatican says.  Although it is still the choice of the person to decide whether he/she should take the vaccine or not, Pope Francis encouraged everyone to take the vaccine.  

Happy Easter!

 Christ is risen!  Alleluia!  Happy Easter!

Prayers For Kiko Arguello

 Dear brothers and sisters of the Way, 

As you know, Kiko Arguello, the Founder of the Neocatechumenal Way has fallen ill and is in the hospital.  Please pray for him.  The condition of his health will be updated in the official website of the Neocatechumenal Way, which is located at the top of this blog.  

Have a Happy Easter Vigil.  

Diana

The Mystery of Divine Providence

 One of the good news is that Pornchai has finally returned to his native home of Thailand.  You can read about it here.  Another article was sent to me by Father Gordon, which I find interesting.  Sometimes we wonder why bad things happen.  Why do injustices take place?  Why are the innocent punished while the guilty allowed to go free.  In the Neocatechumenal Way, we often say that God has a plan.  This plan always include our salvation and the salvation of others.  We don't always see what God is doing until later in time.  You can find the following article here.  

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It's Lent.  It's Late.  It's Time to Find Our Way Home

Cardinal Timothy Dolan presides over Palm Sunday Mass in an empty Saint Patrick's Cathedral

Like no other time in history, forces in our culture are driving us toward a rapid retreat from God and the tenets of faith.  Lent is our time to decide who we are.

Writing the "Blessed Among Us" column for the February 2021 issue of This Day Prayer for Today's Catholic, Robert Ellsworth penned the story of Maryknoll priest, Servant of God Francis X. Ford.  I was looking for the Mass readings for the First Sunday of Lent when I came upon Father Ford's story.  One sentence caught my eye:  He died in prison on February 21, 1952.

That was one year before I was born.  Francis Ford was one of the first Americans to join the newly founded Maryknoll missionary society just out of high school in Brooklyn, New York in 1912.  After priesthood ordination in 1920, he joined the first group of four Maryknoll priests on a missionary journey to China.  It was there that he died, 32 years later, in a Chinese prison.  

Father Ford spend many years in Kaying, in southern China.  During that time he witnessed the Chinese Catholic population there rise to over 20,000.  He chose to remain there during World War II, but after the war, during China's Communist Revolution, he was imprisoned for suspected espionage.  He was never tried, but during his imprisonment he was starved, beaten, and paraded before mocking crowds anxious to please the Communist regime.  

During that time, the Chinese Communist government confiscated farm lands and equipment of the Church and at all American-supported mssions, including Fu Jen University at Peking. 

Priests in the areas most affected by Marxism were working under extensive restrictions.  Some restrictions were self-imposed by the priests to avert Communist persecution of their people.  

Wholesale arrests took place beginning in December 1950 when the American bishop of Wuchow and 21 Maryknoll missionaries were imprisioned.  The usual charge was suspicion of espionage.  Througout this persecution, Father Ford never wavered from his faith.  He wrote from prison:

"Grant us, Lord to be the doorstep by which the multitudes may come to Thee, and if... we are ground underfoot and spat upon and worn out, at least we shall become the King's Highway to pathless China"  - Servant of God Francis X. Ford, 1952.

My first reaction to the story of Father Ford was to wonder what he may today think of the secret concordat signed by Pope Francis, and recently renewed, surrendering to the Chinese Communist government the authority to appoint Catholic bishops in effective abandonment of the Underground Church to which Father Ford gave his life.  

But more on that in a futre post.  This one is about Lent and not politics.  Well... at the moment I actually have a hard time separating the two.  Lent really is about politics, but only in the sense that conversion of the heart means putting - and keeping - our politics in their proper place.  Politics are a means to an end - the end hopefully being a fair and just society functioning in defense of unalienable human rights.  

But Lent is also about the End itself; our end.  It asks some fundamental questions of us.  Who are we?  Where does our treasure lie?  Where are we going spiritually?  Are any of our recent struggles - to which we have given so much of ourselves and our attention "paving the King's Highway" through a pathless humanity?  Are the affairs that embroil us and others to Christ? 

Since this post began with the story of an American priest who, though innocent died in a Chinese prison, I am faced with the possibility that I, too, though innocent, may die in an American one.  As the clock ticks into another Lent - my 27th in prison that feels more probable than possible.  I am not sure what I am supposed to do with that probability.  It is easy for us, as a society, to point to human rights abuses in China while the plank in our own eye blinds us to ourselves.  

Stumbling into the story of Father Francis X. Ford was a gift to me.  Just as in his Chinese prison, I, too, was beaten, starved, and paraded before humiliating mobs.  None of that happened lately.  It was all along ago, but like Father Ford, it left me at a crossroads.  I had to come, as he did, to accept my Cross as "pavement on the King's Highway" for another.  Like all of us, I ultimately came to this world from dust, and to dust I shall ultimately return.  In the time and space in between, I have been assigned a task.  As Saint John Henry Newman prayed, "I may never know it in this life, but I shall be told it in the next."

I confess that I was bitter for a time.  I wanted revenge more than I wanted justice.  I consumed it, and then it consumed me until the great mystery of Divine Providence placed my friend, Pornchai Moontri in my path.  He never did or said anything to make me think this, but he was like an immovable roadblock that would not let me pass.  His life events of abandonment being used, and then discarded into years of solitary confinement left him alone in the fires of Gehenna, that ancient place of huan sacrifice to a false god (2 Kings 23:10).  

It was there that we met, and I came to see that my bitterness would be just the right ingredient that would push him over the edge, lost in the abyss forever.  I cannot adequately describe this today, but I was mysteriously driven by grace into something that I once ascribed to Pope Benedict XVI as he left the papacy.  I had to devote myself to "The Sacrifices of a Father's Love." 

Fatherhood is waning in our culture, and the culture has a festering wound because of it. This absence is in no place more evident than in prison where eighty percent of the young men who land here grew up in fatherless homes.  In Pornchai's life, this wound was deeply felt.  Abandoned by his first father, he was sacrificed to the fires of Gehenna by someone who exploited and abused him horribly, and then discarded him.  Pornchai told me one day that I am the only person in his life to always act in his best interest.  

I felt duty bound to make the sacrifices for Pornchai that others should have made, but did not.  This became complicated.  I had to all at once be his friend, his father, his priest, and a mirror of the Church that I had come to resent because it discarded me.  I discovered that to accomplish what I was called to do, there cold be no more "me."  In the process of sacrifice for another, my identity as a man and as a priest was restored.  I cannot explain exactly how, but I never before in my life felt more like a father and a priest han the day Pornchai told me: 

"I woke up today with a future when up to now all I ever had was a past." - Pronchai Moontri.

It was not long after this that Pornchai was received into the Church on Divine Mercy Sunday, 2010.  He chose, a syou know, the name Maximilian as his Christian name.  He chose it in honor of my Patron Saint, Maximilian Kolbe, whose apostolic witness, and undaunted devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mayr was based on one immutable truth: "Love alone creates." 

You might recall that I began this post with the story of Father Francis X. Ford whose life I encountered as I searched for the Mass reading for the First Sunday of Advent.  The Second Reading is from the First Letter of saint Peter (3:18-22): 

"Christ suffered for sins once, the righteous for the sake of the unrighteous, that he might lead you to God.  Put to death in the flesh, he was brought to life in the Spirit.  In it he also went to preach to the spirits in prison..." - 1 Peter 3:18-22

The Great and Terrible Adventure of Sacrificial Love

A friend sent me a story recently, purportedly true, and published in a recent issue of Reader's Digest.  The story is set in a third grade public school classroom. The young teacher was discussing the anatomy of whales.  She mentioned that some of the largest whales eat only tiny marine life because their throats are small.  An eight-year-old boy's hand shot up at this:

Boy:  "My book of Bible stories says the Prophet Jonah was swallowed by a whale."

Teacher:  "That's not possible.  You should not believe everything you read." 

Boy: "But I have to believe the Bible.  God wrote it." 

Teacher: "Well, in this case God was mistaken." 

Boy:  "When I go to heaven, I'll ask Jonah if it's true." 

Teacher: "What if Jonah isn't in heaven?" 

Boy: "Then YOU can ask him." 

The story made me laugh out loud because it takes a surprising turn back onto the antagonist - in this case the teacher.  As much as we dislike suffering in any form, I have found that the mystery of Divine Providence sometimes causes suffereing to make a surprising turn back onto itself.  I wrote a post sometime ago entitled, "Saint Maximilian Kolbe and the Gift of Noble Defiance."  The account of Saint Maximilian's gruesome death in an Auschwitz starvation chamber is painful.  At the very same time, it is also hopeful. 

Without the spontaneous sacrifice Maximilian made to exchange his life for a young condemned prisoner, that man would never again have known freedom.  HIs children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren would never have been born.  On a wider scale, the thousands of others suffering in Auschwitz who heard of this story were themselves inspired to respond to evil and suffering with their own noble defiance.  And wider still, the world would have been deprived of this powerful account of the sacrifice of a father's love that has inspired millions.

My friend Pornchai was not drawn to the Catholic faith because of anything he heard or read.  It was because of something he witnessed, something that never wavered.  Shortly after he was received into the Church, Pornchai asked one of his notorious questions.  His head would pop down from his upper bunk in the dark of our prison cell so that he appeared upside down as he asked, "Should we ask God for a happy ending when Father Maximilian never had one?" 

I was left to ponder that question for days before I could answer that.  "You, Pornchai are his happy ending."  I do not know if it was adequate, and I ponder it still, but in the mystery of suffering, immense good has come from this saint.  It leaves me in a terrible spiritual quandary that I have written before.  I despise prison.  I still, after 27 years, feel pangs of bitterness for being falsely accused, and waves of resentment for, as Father Richard John Neuhaus once described, "a Church and a justice system that seem indifferent to justice."  

But I shudder to think of who and where Pornchai might be today ad I not been here.  God did not send me to prison.  That was the work of greedy, lying men and corrupt officials.  But then God did something with it that I could never have imagined.  People write to me now, expressing concern that I must be heartbroken by my friend's absence.  I am not.  I miss him, but behind that is an inexplicable sense of peace that the task given to me by God - a task that could be given to none other - has been fulfilled by the great gift of something that I did not eve know was within me:  the sacrifices of a father's love.

I still hate prison, false witness, and corruption - perhaps now more than ever - but I cannot second guess this magnificent work of Divine Mercy.  Our Church, like the world in which it lives, is permeated with the influence of evil.  It is also filled with the sacrifices of its heros like Father Francis X. Ford, Saint Maximilian Kolbe, and the enduring presence of selfless sacrifice extended back over 2,000 years.  

It's Lnt.  It's late.  It's time to find our way home.  As Saint Peter once asked of Christ - putting all politics aside - "towhom shall we go? You have the words of everlasting life."