Friars Corner: Keep your eyes on Jesus in his church

Fr. Bob Hilz, TOR

Joshua 24:1-2a, 15-18b; Psalms 34:2-3. 16-21; Ephesians 5:21-32; John 6:60-69

I was in the hospital for minor surgery this week and still recovering. I have been thinking about the readings this weekend and asking myself, “Where are we in our Catholic Church and our American culture?” The first reading speaks about Joshua, the successor of Moses, leading the Jews after their 215 to 430-year stay in pagan Egypt. They had abandoned Yahweh and were serving pagan gods. Joshua challenged the leaders and people, “Decide today whom you will serve.” He said. “As for me and my household, we will serve God.”

Where are we today? At the end of St. John chapter 6, most of Jesus’ disciples left because of his teaching of “eating his body and drinking his blood.” Jesus turned to the apostles and asked if they would also leave. Peter said, “Master, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and are convinced that you are the Holy One of God.” My answer, like Joshua and Peter’s, is “as for me and my ministry in our church, I shall follow Jesus.” None of us are saints yet, and hopefully, we want to grow and mature in our faith. Giving God only 50 minutes at Mass once a week will not produce much significant growth in our personal lives or in the pagan culture around us.

What to do?

How can we grow and mature? First, we need to get to know Jesus personally in the gospel stories. Second, we need daily prayer and some spiritual reading. Make sure we are in the kingdom of God and living it out. Third, it is helpful to find a men’s, women’s or Marriage Encounter group that can help us grow and stay on track. Fourth, frequent Mass is the best meal on earth and Jesus is our “bread of life.” The church has been doing this since the Last Supper 1985 years ago. We have not split off from anyone to form our own church as 33,000 other church leaders have done. These are some powerful clues to help us grow, mature and make sure we are headed for heaven when our time on earth has come to an end.

The second reading of St. Paul today speaks about wives being subject to their husbands. We are not Moslems, and that has to be reworked today. The divine power of the Sacrament of Marriage helps couples create a new cooperative relationship together from the uniqueness of each partner that never existed before. That process is not easy. A marriage-mentoring program with older couples in parishes would be very helpful.

Clergy scandal

The sexual abuse by clergy etc., in our church is certainly very sad and shameful. As a priest, I ask forgiveness of all those who were abused by their clergy. Jesus is the only one who can go back into our past to bring his healing and love there. Fr. Bill McCarthy’s book A Catholic Compendium of Inner Healing, is the best I have seen. Fr. McCarthy is the founder of My Father’s House in Moodus, CT. Queenship Publishing Co, in Goleta, CA, publishes the book.

There are many causes for this abusive behavior like there are causes of alcoholism. As with alcoholic priests and bishops, we did not know how to respond at first. How do the persons and victims get healing? Children come out of homes yet now half of all marriages end in divorce. What happens to the growth and mentoring of the children, both boys and girls? Dr. James Dobson, founder of Focus on the Family has worked on helping mentor couples and men for a very long time. I believe he is an American icon. You can find his many books at Focus or Amazon.

Let’s not leave the Catholic Church completely as many did when several years ago the Mass went from Latin one Sunday to English the next. As there were no Latin Masses to go to, many just left the church. When we see a problem like this, do something about it. Let’s be positive and not negative. My father, who is with Jesus in heaven, saw a need for young adults when he was a young man. He started a Young Adult ministry in his parish of St. Peter’s in Steubenville, Ohio. Much good came from that group.

Tips for spiritual warfare

Lucifer (Satan) and his other fallen angels and countless human followers are trying to get God thrown out of our country. They are working very hard in many different ways. Here are a few more tips for our spiritual weapons in this war against the dark side.

• Young people need to get their sexuality in the right order.
• I was told a few weeks ago by a priest exorcist in Trinidad that the drugs that come across our border from Mexico are cursed by evil spirits, which help lead users to addiction and death. Neal Lozano’s bookUnbound is helpful in getting people free of evil dark side forces.
• Many girls and women are sexually abused because of our abusive pornographic culture. Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, can heal our past and bring us healed close to his heart.
• Another person who has a few short books in the exorcism area of freedom is Robert Abel, a young Catholic Evangelist from the Denver, CO area, www.CatholicWarriors.com. His $1.00 book, Spiritual Warfare Prayers, is very powerful in breaking lots of demonic things thrown at us.
• Don’t leave us. Most parishes have good and some very holy priests. Find a good Catholic church to help you. Then help build up that parish with your gifts.
• Get involved in a small share group so you can help each other grow.

Validly ordained and holy priests were empowered in a continuous line since Easter Sunday. We are One Catholic and Apostolic community worldwide, hopefully growing in holiness. These are just a few “pearls of great price.” There are many more. Let us not leave the one Church that Jesus Christ directly founded. Fake news will not get us into heaven. Have a wonderful and Spirit-filled week.

Love and blessings,

• Fr. Bob Hilz
  fbhilz@gmail.com
  (© 2018 Fr. Bob Hilz, TOR)