Stay Awake

My dear friends in Christ,

“Therefore, stay awake, for you know neither the day nor the hour." This admonition that ends today’s Gospel prepares us to be confronted on the Solemnity of Christ the King with the litany of those we are tempted to ignore, or simply don’t recognize, when the Son of Man comes to us as hungry, naked, sick, in prison, or a stranger. If this Gospel can be distilled into two words – “Stay awake,” in two weeks’ time it will evolve into “Stay aware.” For each of us, this passage should be heard as a warning directed toward our own examination of conscience. St. Bonaventure teaches us that the ideal is not only to pass from the exterior to the interior to discover the action of God in the soul, but also to discover God in all things.

Next Saturday we celebrate the Dedication of the Basilicas of the Apostles Peter and Paul in Rome. The Basilica of Saint Peter, in which the most important ceremonies of the Catholic Church are celebrated, stands on the site of a much smaller basilica erected in the years 324-349 by the Roman emperor Constantine to honor the tomb of the first Pope, the apostle Peter. Saint Paul's Outside the Walls is a major basilica built outside Rome as the traditional burial place of Saint Paul. After his execution and burial in Rome in the 1st century AD, Saint Paul's followers erected a shrine over the grave. Early Christians frequently visited the site to honor the great Apostle to the Gentiles who authored more than half of the New Testament.

May God bless you all!

Father John