John's Black Friday Shoes

Jesus rose from supper and took off his outer garments. He took a towel and tied it around his waist. Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples' feet and dry them with the towel around his waist. He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, "Master, are you going to wash my feet?" Jesus answered and said to him, "What I am doing, you do not understand now, but you will understand later"... ....You call me 'teacher' and 'master,' and rightly so, for indeed I am. If I, therefore, the master and teacher, have washed your feet, you ought to wash one another's feet. I have given you a model to follow, so that as I have done for you, you should also do." (John 13: 4-7, 13-15)

In the gospels of Mathew, Mark, and Luke, we read about how Christ instituted the Eucharist during the Last Supper just hours before he would be handed over to the authorities and crucified. In John's gospel, however, the focus is put on Jesus washing the feet of his apostles. Jesus tells them (and us) "you should also" wash the feet of others. In this teaching, Christ commands us to be humble, to serve, and know that true love does not exist without sacrifice.

But, you might be thinking to yourself, this is a reading we typically reflect on during our Holy Thursday celebrations. Why bring it up on "Black Friday?"

I admit I have never participated in the "Black Friday" insanity. I hear it can be a fun time and that there are some great deals out there if you are willing to wake up early and fight the crowds.

However, last year's "Black Friday" will be a day that I'll never forget. I was fortunate enough to help lead a group of teenagers from our parish in assisting with the Labre Project through John Carroll University. St. Benedict Joseph Labre was born in 1748 and is the patron saint of the homeless. In short, the Labre Project is focused on bringing friendship to the homeless of Cleveland. The friendships are more important than the warm meals and clothes that are used to help make the initial connections. They go out every Friday night but sometimes they need help from outside the campus community. On holidays and other parts of the year, many students are home and unable to assist so there are opportunities for other groups to plug-in.

Watching the young people of my parish minister to these homeless men and women was very inspiring. At one point, I saw one of our teenagers take her gloves off and give them to woman who was living under a bridge and had no gloves on despite the freezing temperatures.

During another portion of the evening, we met a man named John who, along with his wife, had just gotten off the streets and were living on the third floor of a house on the west side of Cleveland. John only had one arm and he and his wife had very little outside of the comfort of living indoors for the first time in while. When it was made clear to us that John was in need of some shoes, a group of us walked to the John Carroll van which was parked on the street. Even though it was snowing out, John walked barefoot with us to the street. And while he was probably well into his 50's, John exhibited the joy of a child on Christmas morning in anticipation of getting new shoes.

When some of the JCU students found shoes that would fit him in the van, he immediately sat down in the tree-lawn to put them. However, due to him having only one arm, he struggled in trying to put them on. Upon seeing this, a girl named Kaitlyn that was from our parish knelt down in front of him without hesitation. As Kaitlyn took his shoes and slid them on John's feet, I stood there in complete awe. For I think it was at that exact moment, I felt like I was witnessing what Jesus had done 2,000 years ago in that upper room. While she was not washing his feet, the parallels between what I was seeing and we read about in St. John's gospel left me in a near state of shock where I could barely even move because it was such a beautiful and powerful experiene. Kaitlyn, like Jesus Christ, completely humbled herself to kneel on the side of a busy street to help put shoes on this man whom she had only known for a short period of time. And while I can't speak on behalf of John, I can only assume that gift of the shoes he received pales in comparison to gift of love that was given that night.

So as we start this season of preparation leading up to celebration of Christ's birth, I hope you don't get too caught up in "Black Friday" deals or any of the other noise that comes during this time of year. Once you look beyond the lights, the bells, the trees, the cookies, the parties, and gifts, you will see a very humble God. A God who humbled Himself enough to come into this world as a tiny infant in a manger. He would grow up to be a teacher, a healer, and a redeemer. And just like how His life started, Jesus showed perfect humility in the the final hours of his life.

Kaitlyn, ten other teenagers, three other adults, and myself will partnering with the students who organize the Labre Project once again this evening. I don't know the names of who we will meet this time but I do know that in serving them, we will be serving our Lord. (Matthew 25: 40). Now that is better than any other deal you can find on Black Friday!

The Labre Prayer
Saint Benedict Joseph Labre, you gave up honor, money and home for love of Jesus. Help us to set our hearts on Jesus and not on the things of this world. You lived in obscurity among the poor in the streets. Enable us to see Jesus in our poor brothers and sisters and not judge by appearances. Make us realize that in helping them we are helping Jesus. Show us how to befriend them and not pass them by. Saint Benedict Joseph Labre, you had a great love for prayer. Obtain for us the grace of persevering prayer, especially adoration of Jesus in the Most Blessed Sacrament. Saint Benedict Joseph Labre, poor in the eyes of men but rich in the eyes of God, pray for us. Amen.

Five Questions with Fr. Joe

Drum roll please....

Here is the first instalment of "Five Questions with Fr. Joe." Thank you to those who have submitted a question and thanks to Fr. Joe Mamich for his responses. The subject matter covered vocations, the Bible, the forgiveness of sins, Saints, and Christ's message to the world. Enjoy!

1) What is a good, non-threatening way to talk to a young man or woman about their call to holy orders? Did anyone ever approach you when you were younger? How?
This is easy! Just approach the person. When I was younger, people did in fact approach me and say things such as “hey, have you ever thought of being a priest” or “as a teen, you seem to have an active faith life; have you ever thought about being a priest?” It might seem weird at first to approach someone and say something like this, but it’s worth a shot. Most of the priests that I know, mention being asked a question similar to that…and for others, one person’s question began a lifetime of priestly ministry!

2) How do we answer skeptics questions regarding the discrepancies in the Bible? (i.e. If the Bible is without error, why do the gospels at certain points conflict?)
As Catholics, we say that the Bible is true in matters of faith and morals. By the power of the Holy Spirit, the writers were kept free from error in these matters. As Catholics, we do not believe that the Bible is meant to be taken literally, as if it was a social studies book, but seen as a book of truths for faith and morals. As you mentioned, there are incidents within the four Gospels that offer differing accounts of the same event. One of the main reasons for this is because each one of the Evangelists were writing from his own perspective. In much the same way, if four people were to witness an accident; all four would have a different perspective on the same event.

3) In this day of age, it is very difficult to have a serious relationship without being intimate. The fact is morals in society have changed drastically. So can we be forgiven for having premarital sex?
I think we need to define what we mean by “being intimate”. Very commonly, this is used to refer to sexual relations, but “being intimate” really means much more. It’s about sharing one’s life, love, hopes, and dreams with another person. It’s not just about physical intimacy. While it seems to be true that society’s norms have changed, yet what Jesus asks and expects of us as Catholic-Christians has not. We are called to respect the dignity of ourselves and others by seeing physical intimacy as the outflow of the emotional intimacy that married couples are called to possess. In terms of being able to be forgiven for premarital sex; of course, we can. There is only one sin that cannot be forgiven…that is a sin against the Holy Spirit. Premarital sex is not that.

4) In the Apostles Creed we profess our belief in the "The Communion of Saints." What is, or who are, The Communion of Saints and why they such a big deal in the Catholic faith?
As you said the Communion of Saints is a big deal in the Catholic faith. This term refers to the “holy men and women of all places and times” (Opening Prayer from All Saints Day). These are the believers who have been faithful to Christ – both on earth and in heaven – that help to urge us on our own journey through life. As Catholics, we believe that Baptism brings a person into the body of Christ. As such, we join with this group of believers, or as we find in Hebrews, “this great cloud of witnesses”, that try each and every day to live out Christ’s commands to love God and our neighbor as he taught. Therefore, the Communion of Saints is somewhat like a team – in which all of us are teammates – striving towards one goal – unity with God forever in heaven.

5) Lots of people watch the Super Bowl. Not everyone reads the Bible. If Jesus had a commercial during the Super Bowl I bet he would tell us all something really important but he would have to be concise. If Jesus had a 30 second commercial during the Super Bowl, what would he say?

This is a really good question and a very applicable one to our lives. While it’s hard to imagine what Jesus would want to say, I believe it would be something very simple. He would probably invite those watching to “come and see” how he lives, what he does, and how he makes a difference in people’s life. Then, he’d probably encourage us to remember two things – love God above all things and your neighbor as yourself. And finally, end the commercial by saying, what you have seen…go…and do likewise…for this will secure your place in heaven! Something along those lines – simple yet when lived truly – so profound!

If you have questions for Fr. Joe, please send them to me at blog.of.daniel@gmail.com

Would you please pass the gratitude?

"Rejoice in the Lord always. I shall say it again: rejoice! Your kindness should be known to all. The Lord is near. Have no anxiety at all, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, make your requests known to God. Then the peace of God that surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus." (Philippians 4: 4-7)

"It is good to give thanks to the Lord, to sing praise to your name, Most High. To proclaim your love in the morning, your faithfulness in the night, With a ten-stringed harp, with melody upon the lyre. For you make me jubilant, Lord, by your deeds; at the works of your hands I shout for joy." (Psalm 92: 2-4)

We are coming up on that one day of the year where we get together with friends and family to load ourselves full of turkey while we watch the Detroit Lions typically lose on national television. Thanksgiving!

But Turkey Day, as some call it, is more than just, well, turkey. It is also more than plotting out your Black Friday plan of attack. It is more than watching the Macy's parade and pulling the wishbone. It is, of course, about giving thanks.

It is the one day where schools and business are closed and the Government is shut down just so we can reflect on the many blessing in our lives and be thankful. This notion of gratitude, however, didn't start with Pilgrims and Indians.

The scriptural passages above are just a few of the many examples in the Bible where we are reminded of the need to give thanks to God. Furthermore, every time we celebrate mass the priest says, "Let us give thanks to the Lord, our God" and then the congregation responds, "It is right to give Him thanks and praise."

However, the sad reality is I think we all have some major room for improvement in this area. We often dwell on what is going wrong in our lives and first take that to prayer. We tend to take all sorts of things, big and small, for granted. We fail to realize that even through the hardships we endure that God is working miracles and bestowing grace upon grace on us.

I once received an email that talked about someone who had died and entered into heaven. This soul was getting the grand tour by one of God's angels. The angel took him to huge room packed full of other angels who answered phones and frantically wrote down notes. It was explained to the man that this is where prayer request come in to. Typically the nature of these prayers ranged from request for improved health, success with a job interview, help with broken relationships, and other desperate pleas for divine intervention. The man was then shown a much smaller room where just two angels sat in silence waiting for the phones to ring. The man asked what this room was all about and the angel explained that this is where the prayers of thanksgiving come to.

When I first became involved with youth ministry, we would have the teenagers write down on a weekly basis things they were thankful for. Sometimes they would write down just one thing while other times they would list two dozen different things. What they were thankful for ranged from the big things (family & friends, their faith, God's forgiveness, their senses, the Sacraments, free will), to the practical things (clean drinking water, a warm home, clothes to wear) to seemingly small things (strawberry ice cream, a new video game, an extension on an English paper). There were no right or wrong answers. The point of the exercise was to just get the teenagers to recognize all the wonderful blessing that have been given to them.

In this week leading up to Thanksgiving Day, I challenge you to do the same. You can make a long list of things or just keep a post-it by your computer and add one thing every day. See how many you can come up. Perhaps you will give start to forget about the things you don't have and will find yourself being grateful for things you never appreciated before. We become happier people when we are mindful of all we have been given. Again, there are no write or wrong answers, just be truly appreciative of it. Furthermore, feel free to post a comment to this blog post with just one thing you are thankful for. Lets see how many things we can come up with.

In closing, I just want to THANK you for reading this and for just being you. I pray that you have a great Thanksgiving Day and many amazing days of giving thanks year round.