Inbox Inspiration: February 19, 2024: Pope Francis on Immigration - 1-2

 

INBOX INSPIRATIONS

February 19, 2025

 

Pope Francis on Immigration – 1    

 

Dear Friends,

On February 10, just over a week ago, Pope Francis wrote a letter to the Bishops of the United States of America. The topic: immigration. Obviously, this issue is very much in the forefront in our country and in much of the world. Ever since his election as Pope in 2013, Francis has expressed his deep, even passionate concern for refugees and immigrants. I want to share a few excerpts from the Pope’s very recent letter.

 

Francis begins by laying out his concern and its spiritual basis.

“The journey from slavery to freedom that the People of Israel traveled, as narrated in the Book of Exodus, invites us to look at the reality of our time, so clearly marked by the phenomenon of migration, as a decisive moment in history to reaffirm not only our faith in a God who is always close, incarnate, migrant and refugee, but also the infinite and transcendent dignity of every human person.”    

 

Pope Francis reaches back almost seventy years and quotes the words of Pope Pius XII in his Apostolic Constitution on the Care of Migrants.

“The family of Nazareth in exile, Jesus, Mary and Joseph, emigrants in Egypt and refugees there to escape the wrath of an ungodly king, are the model, the example and the consolation of emigrants and pilgrims of every age and country, of all refugees of every condition who, beset by persecution or necessity, are forced to leave their homeland, beloved family and dear friends for foreign lands.”

 

Pope Francis then continues with his own reflections.

“In fact, when we speak of ‘infinite and transcendent dignity,’ we wish to emphasize that the most decisive value possessed by the human person surpasses and sustains every other juridical consideration that can be made to regulate life in society. Thus, all the Christian faithful and people of good will are called upon to consider the legitimacy of norms and public policies in the light of the dignity of the person and his or her fundamental rights...”

 

I will share more of Pope Francis’ letter in next week’s Inbox Inspirations. Immigration is an international and even global issue. I believe that, in trying to address this, we must take account of the perspective of the gospel and our Catholic moral tradition.              

 

Fr. Michael Schleupner 

February 26, 2025

 

Pope Francis on Immigration – 2    

 

Dear Friends,

Today I am sharing some more excerpts from Pope Francis’ recent letter to our American bishops on immigration.   

 

The Holy Father is aware that this is a multi-faceted issue. He expresses concerns for both immigrants and for the protection of the society/country into which they are entering or have entered.

“The rightly formed conscience cannot fail to make a critical judgment and express its disagreement with any measure that tacitly or explicitly identifies the illegal status of some immigrants with criminality. At the same time, one must recognize the right of a nation to defend itself and keep communities safe from those who have committed violent or serious crimes while in the country or prior to arrival.”

Here I want to inject my own personal thought. Contrary to some public statements that have been made and some opinions that have been expressed to me, the Pope and the American bishops show a balance on this issue. But they still express the concern of Jesus Christ for the “stranger” – “Come, you who are blessed by my Father. Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world…For I was…a stranger and you welcomed me” (Matthew 25:34-35). In today’s world, Jesus’ word “stranger” must include refugees, migrants, asylum seekers, and immigrants. Jesus says that when we care for them, we care for him. It is that clear. 

 

We can also see Pope Francis taking account of both respect for law and care for the immigrant.

“This is not a minor issue: an authentic rule of law is verified precisely in the dignified treatment that all people deserve, especially the poorest and most marginalized. The true common good is promoted when society and government, with creativity and strict respect for the rights of all…welcomes, protects, promotes and integrates the most fragile, unprotected and vulnerable. This does not impede the development of a policy that regulates orderly and legal migration.”

 

Toward the end of his letter, Pope Francis speaks to all of us.

“I exhort all the faithful of the Catholic Church, and all men and women of good will, not to give in to narratives that discriminate against and cause unnecessary suffering to our migrant and refugee brothers and sisters. With charity and clarity we are all called to live in solidarity and fraternity, to build bridges that bring us ever closer together, to avoid walls of ignominy and to learn to give our lives as Jesus Christ gave his for the salvation of all.”   

 

Fr. Michael Schleupner 

Inbox Inspiration: January 15, 2024: The Holy Year of Hope - 1-5

 

INBOX INSPIRATIONS

January 15, 2025

 

The Holy Year of Hope – 1    

 

Dear Friends,

Pope Francis has proclaimed 2025 as a Holy Year of Hope. What is a Holy Year? 

 

These specially designated years find their origin in the Jewish tradition. The Hebrew Scriptures speak of a Jubilee as occurring every fifty years (Leviticus 25:10). Ideally, this was to be a time when slaves or prisoners would be freed, debts would be cancelled, the land would lie fallow, and God’s mercies would be particularly manifest. Scripture scholars generally agree that these practices were not literally implemented. Certainly to us, and maybe to the people of those times, they were not practical. Nevertheless, the emphasis was on God’s love and mercy and on our mercy, forgiveness, and reconciliation with one another. 

 

In our Christian history, the first Holy Year was proclaimed by Pope Boniface VIII in 1300. The original intention was to have a Holy Year every 100 years. However, since 1300, the frequency of these years has changed and eventually, Pope Paul II in the year 1470 determined that we would have a Holy Year every 25 years. These are considered ordinary Holy Years. There have also been extraordinary Holy Years, such as the Holy Year of Mercy declared by Pope Francis in 2016. 

 

A very visible beginning of a Holy Year is the opening of the Holy Door. There is a Holy Door in each of the four major basilicas in Rome: Saint Peter’s, Saint John Lateran, Saint Mary Major, and Saint Paul Outside the Walls. Each of these Holy Doors is ceremonially unsealed and opened to mark the beginning of a Holy Year and then sealed and closed at the end of the year. Pope Francis himself opened the Holy Door at Saint Peter’s on December 24, 2024. 

All persons of faith are invited to enter these special churches through the Holy Door during this year. The four Roman basilicas have the primary Holy Doors for the universal Church, although the Pope can designate other Churches throughout the world as also having Holy Doors. For example, there is a Holy Door in the Notre Dame Basilica-Cathedral in Quebec City.  Diocesan bishops can designate certain churches as places for prayer and for receiving the traditional indulgences attached to a Holy Year. More on this in next week’s Inbox Inspirations.   

 

Fr. Michael Schleupner 

January 22, 2025

 

The Holy Year of Hope – 2    

 

Dear Friends,

The opening of the Holy Door is the most visible, concrete expression of a Holy Year. The four Roman basilicas have the primary Holy Doors for the universal Church. Entering a church through one of these Holy Doors signifies our desire to follow Christ as “the way” (John 14:6), to heed Jesus’ caution to “enter through the narrow gate” (Matthew 7:13), or to be centered on Jesus as “the gate” (John 10:7) of the sheepfold.

Diocesan bishops can designate certain churches as places of pilgrimage for the special prayers that are encouraged in a Holy Year. In the Archdiocese of Baltimore, Archbishop Lori has designated the National Shrine of the Basilica of the Assumption and the Cathedral of Mary Our Queen in Baltimore and then seven other shrines or shrine churches throughout the Archdiocese. 

 

There seem to be five traditional elements that form the spiritual practice of a Holy Year.

1.   A pilgrimage or visit to one of the special Holy Year churches (explained above). 

2.   A renunciation of attachment to sin. The idea is to identify any areas of sinfulness that are consistent or habitual, maybe addictions, and resolve to move away from them and avoid situations that lead us to them. We entrust ourselves to God’s power or grace for this.  

3.   Confession. This follows from the above. One of the purposes of a Holy Year is the forgiveness of sins. The Sacrament of Reconciliation is a special part of our tradition that both forgives us of sin and strengthens us to grow spiritually. Ideally, this is be celebrated in the pilgrimage church.

4.   Communion. It is probably obvious that the reception of the Eucharist would be part of the Holy Year practices. This deepens our relationship with the Lord and strengthens us for living this. The reception of Communion also reminds us that we are always God’s beloved, even if we are imperfect and in need of spiritual and/or personal growth. 

5.   Prayers for the Pope. This again has always been part of Holy Year practices. So, we pray for Pope Francis in his leadership of the universal Church. Next week I will focus on Pope Francis’ Holy Year statement. This is why I have first given all of this background last week and today.    

 

Fr. Michael Schleupner 

January 29, 2025

 

The Holy Year of Hope – 3    

 

Dear Friends,

On May 9, 2024, Pope Francis formally announced the Holy Year of 2025. He did this through a document called Bull of Indiction of the Ordinary Jubilee of the Year 2025. A papal bull is a formal declaration by a Pope, the word bull coming from the Latin word bulla which means seal. So, this is a document stamped with the Pope’s seal to make it official. The word Indiction (a word we do not use) means an announcement or proclamation. Jubilee is the original term in the Old Testament for Holy Year. So, this Bull of Indiction announcing this as a Holy Year is thirteen pages long. Today I am sharing some highlights from it just to give a flavor of what Pope Francis is thinking. 

 

Pope Francis begins with these words: “Spes non confundit” which means “Hope does not disappoint” (Romans 5:5). That is the title or theme of this Holy Year. We are look to Jesus as “our hope” (I Timothy 1:1). Pope Francis quickly turns to the human reality of hope in a way that is needed and poignant for the present moment.  

“Everyone knows what it is to hope. In the heart of each person, hope dwells as the desire and expectation of good things to come, despite our not knowing what the future may bring. Even so, uncertainty about the future may at times give rise to conflicting feelings, ranging from confident trust to apprehensiveness, from serenity to anxiety, from firm conviction to hesitation and doubt. Often we come across people who are discouraged, pessimistic and cynical about the future…For all of us, may the Jubilee be an opportunity to be renewed in hope.”       

 

The Holy Father places the theme and calling of the Holy Year in the context of the three theological virtues: faith, hope, and charity. “Since we are justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ…and we boast in our hope of sharing in the glory of God…Hope does not disappoint, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us” (Romans 5:1-2, 5). The Pope goes on to say: “Here we see the reason why this hope perseveres in the midst of trials: founded on faith and nurtured by charity, it enables us to press forward in life.”

 

Next week I will share some more highlights from this papal document.        

 

Fr. Michael Schleupner 

February 5, 2025

 

The Holy Year of Hope – 4    

 

Dear Friends,

Today’s column shares some additional highlights from Pope Francis’ statement, “Spes non confundit,” the Latin words for “Hope does not disappoint” (Romans 5:5). These words are the theme of this Holy Year. 

 

The Holy Father notes that the reason for visiting certain designated churches or shrines during a Holy Year is to give us a sense of pilgrimage or journey. As persons of faith, we are to see our lives as a journey. “The Jubilee Churches…can serve as oases of spirituality and places of rest on the pilgrimage of faith, where we can drink from the wellsprings of hope, above all by approaching the sacrament of Reconciliation.” Pope Francis sees this sacrament as part of our journey since a journey involves ongoing growth and conversion.   

 

Then the Holy Father calls us to see signs of hope in the signs of our times, interpreted in the light of the gospel. “We need to recognize the immense goodness present in our world, lest we be tempted to think ourselves overwhelmed by evil and violence. The signs of the times, which include the yearning of human hearts in need of God’s saving presence, ought to become signs of hope.”      

“The first sign of hope should be the desire for peace in our world…” Pope Francis lifts this up even in the midst of existing warfare. He prays: “May the Jubilee remind us that those who are peacemakers will be called ‘children of God’ (Mt 5:9). May diplomacy be tireless in its commitment to seek…a lasting peace.”

The Holy Father also sees “enthusiasm for life and a readiness to share it” as a sign of hope. “For the desire of young people to give birth to new sons and daughters as a sign of the fruitfulness of their love ensures a future for every society. This is a matter of hope; it is born of hope and it generates hope.”    

 

Then Pope Francis shifts the focus. “During the Holy Year, we are called to be tangible signs of hope for those of our brothers and sisters who experience hardships of any kind.” He goes on to mention specifically prisoners and those sentenced to the death penalty, the sick and disabled, the young and the elderly, migrants and refugees, and the billions of poor. “We are called to be tangible signs of hope” for these people.      

 

Next week I will conclude these highlights from this papal document.        

 

Fr. Michael Schleupner

February 12, 2025

 

The Holy Year of Hope – 5    

 

Dear Friends,

Today’s column will conclude some highlights from Pope Francis’ statement, “Spes non confundit,” the Latin words for “Hope does not disappoint” (Romans 5:5). These words are the theme of this Holy Year. 

 

The Holy Father begins his concluding paragraphs by again connecting hope with faith and charity. 

“Hope, together with faith and charity, makes up the triptych of the theological virtues that express the heart of the Christian life (cf. 1 Cor 13:13; 1 Thess 1:3). In their inseparable unity, hope is the virtue that, so to speak, gives inward direction and purpose to the life of believers.”      

 

Pope Francis goes on to ask: “Yet, what is the basis of our hope? To understand this, let us stop and reflect on the ‘reasons for our hope’ (cf. 1 Peter 3:15).” 

“‘I believe in life everlasting.’ So our faith professes. Christian hope finds in these words an essential foundation… The problems of life and death, of guilt and suffering, remain unsolved, so that people are frequently thrown into despair. We, however, by virtue of the hope in which we were saved, can view the passage of time with the certainty that the history of humanity and our own individual history are not doomed to a dead end or a dark abyss, but directed to an encounter with the Lord of glory. As a result, we live our lives in expectation of his return and in the hope of living forever in him.”  

 

For the renewal of this hope, the Holy Father asks us to recall the new life we were given in baptism. During the Jubilee or Holy Year, “it is worth recalling how that mystery has been understood from the earliest centuries of the Church’s life. An example would be the building of baptismal fonts in the shape of an octagon, as seen in many ancient baptisteries… This was intended to symbolize that Baptism is the dawning of the ‘eighth day,’ the day of resurrection, a day that transcends the normal, weekly passage of time, opening it to the dimension of eternity and to life everlasting; the goal to which we tend on our earthly pilgrimage (cf. Rom 6:22).”             

 

With that thought and image, I conclude these reflections on the Holy Year of Hope and Pope Francis’ document proclaiming this.       

 

Fr. Michael Schleupner 

Inbox Inspiration: December 18, 2024: "In the beginning was the Word - 1-4

Inbox Inspirations

December 18, 2024 

"In the beginning was the Word..." - 1

 

Dear Friends,
John starts his gospel with these unforgettable words: “In the beginning was the Word…”Let’s first place these words in context.
 
Two of the four gospels, Matthew and Luke, begin by telling us about the birth of Jesus. From these two gospels we have those warm stories and vivid images: an angel appearing to Joseph; the angel Gabriel appearing to Mary; the journey to Bethlehem; the birth of Jesus in a manger; the visits of the shepherds and of the magi. These stories convey in a very memorable way the birth of Jesus, Emmanuel, God-with-us.
Mark’s gospel does not tell these stories. Instead, it starts with the adult Jesus being baptized by John the Baptist and then beginning his public ministry. Nevertheless, at Jesus’ baptism there is a voice from the heavens saying to him, “You are my beloved Son.” So, while Mark doesn’t tell us about Jesus’ birth or attribute the name Emmanuel to him, he still wants us to know right away Jesus’ identity as the “beloved Son.” 
 
Then, there is the fourth gospel, with its first words quoted above. Like Mark, John gives us no details about Jesus’ birth. His is the last of the four gospels to be written and maybe John figures that everyone already knows those details. Unlike the other three gospels, John begins in his very first sentence with an understanding of who Jesus. He begins with theology.    
 
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” The first eighteen verses of this gospel are called the Prologue –the preface or introduction. No question, the Prologue of John’s gospel sets the stage for the entire narrative that he tells. It tells who Jesus is, the Christ, the Word spelled with a capital W.
So, I recommend that we read this Prologue, John 1:1-18 here in this late Advent time and/or in the Christmas Season. It will inspire us in an entirely different way from the other gospels. I will be commenting on several of the key points in this Prologue in my next two Inbox Inspirations, those of December 25 (Christmas Day) and January 1 (the Octave Day of Christmas and New Year’s Day). John’s Prologue will enrich this season for us.
 
Fr. Michael Schleupner 

December 25, 2024

 

“In the beginning was the Word…” – 2    

 

Dear Friends,

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God.” These words are chapter 1, verses 1 and 2 of John’s gospel. John is focused on what he calls “the Word.” What is this “Word”? And why is there a capital Where? To try to understand this, we must first go back to the Hebrew Scriptures, what we call the Old Testament.

 

In the Hebrew Scriptures, there are many passages about the “word” of God – spelled with a small w. In Genesis, God creates the world by speaking (Genesis 1:1-5). Other texts state that God has created through his word: “By the Lord’s word the heavens were made” (Psalm 33:6). The prophet Jeremiah speaks of his calling: “The word of the Lord came to me” (Jeremiah 1:4-5). 

Then the “word” also came to be identified as God’s wisdom. “Lord of mercy, you have made all things by your word and in your wisdom have established humankind” (Wisdom 9:1-2). The next step is that some texts personify God’s wisdom as some kind of heavenly figure who was present when God created (Proverbs 8:27-31). In other words, the “word” was more than other creatures or created beings, but not a divine person or deity separate from the Creator himself. 

 

The next and crucial step comes with John’s gospel. He has reflected on the reality of Jesus, the Christ or Anointed One of God. John makes the breakthrough in seeing that “the Word”shares God’s identity in such a way that God’s unity is not affected. The Word is one with and yet distinct from God (the Father). Therefore, the use of a capital W for “the Word”! So, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” And then, to make it absolutely clear, John adds: “He was in the beginning with God.” 

John is saying that everything that the Father is, the Word is. They are one and yet they are two. 

This is the breakthrough and revelation of the first two verses of John’s gospel. I will continue with this next week and hope it is a helpful reflection for this Christmas Season. 

   

Fr. Michael Schleupner 

 

My primary source for this is The Gospel of John (Catholic Commentary on Sacred Scripture) by Francis Martin and William M. Wright IV.     

January 1, 2025

 

“In the beginning was the Word…” – 3    

 

Dear Friends,

So, in the first two verses of his gospel, John is very clear: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God” (John 1:1-2). The Father and the Word are one and yet they are two. Maybe we need to quickly recall two things here: this is only chapter 1 of John’s gospel and eventually John will also talk about the Spirit, and the word or concept of Trinity was not yet in use when John was writing. 

 

John goes on to say more about the Word of God or the Word that is God. “All things came to be through him, and without him nothing came to be” (John1:3). The understanding I have learned about this is that the Father’s expression or thought of himself is the Word. In fact, the Word is such a perfect image of the Father that it is also a person, the Son. “The Word perfectly reflects all that the Father is, expressing all that can ever be created. God the Father creates what he sees imaged in his Word, and thus nothing came to be without the Word.”      

 

John continues. “What came to be through him was life” (Genesis 1:4). Genesis reveals that all things, both animate and inanimate, were created by God. With John’s insight in 1:3, we know also that all is created through the Word. Nevertheless, animate or living beings were and are the highest forms of creation. This includes plants, animals, and humans. And the highest of these is human life since we have a soul or spirit and have the capacity for a relationship with God.

I have to think that this is why John goes on to say that “this life was the light of the human race” (Genesis 1:4). Light is attributed to God throughout all of Scripture and, later in John’s gospel, Jesus himself (the Word made flesh) is called “the light of the world” (John 8:12 and 9:5). So, the life given to us is the light for the human race.  

 

I will conclude these reflections on the Prologue to John’s Gospel next week.  

 

Fr. Michael Schleupner 

 

Non-Scriptural quotation is from The Gospel of John (Catholic Commentary on Sacred Scripture) by Francis Martin and William M. Wright IV.     

 

January 8, 2025

 

“In the beginning was the Word…” – 4    

 

Dear Friends,

John realizes that Jesus of Nazareth, born in Bethlehem, is the Christ. The name or, more accurately, the title Christ literally means the Anointed One. It meant Messiah and was another way of referring to the One who was long ago promised by God. In identifying Jesus as the Christ, John also realizes that in him God is fulfilling all the prophecies of the Hebrew Scriptures and revealing himself fully to us. There had been many things spoken by God to his people through the centuries. There had been many words. But now, John realizes that in this one person, Jesus, the Christ, God has spoken fully and completely. Jesus himself is the full communication of God to us.  

And so, as John says right in chapter 1, verse 1 of his gospel, Jesus is “the Word.” He is not just a word or another word of God. He as a person is “the Word,” the full expression of the Father to us. And so, John spells this word with a capital W. It is the name of this person.   

 

John also realizes that “the Word” was always with God. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God” (John 1:1-2). And now, the Word has entered the world and taken on our humanity as the person Jesus. “And the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us, and we saw his glory, the glory as of the Father’s only Son, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14). 

Notice: John now also speaks of “the Word” (and this means Jesus) as “the Father’s only Son.” The Son and the Father are one and yet they are two. They are distinct and yet the unity or oneness of God remains. The Word is “full of grace and truth,” as is the Father. Because of this, we know the Father, God, in and through Jesus. “Whoever has seen me has seen the Father” (John 14:9). Therefore, Jesus, the Word, the Son is our light (John 8:12), and, as John says, “the light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it” (John 1:5).

 

I hope these columns (the Inbox Inspirations of December 18 and 25, of January 1 and today) have been good reflections for this Christmas season.                          

 

 Fr. Michael Schleupner 

Inbox Inspiration: December 4, 2024: Some Thoughts about Mary - 1-2

 INBOX INSPIRATIONS

December 4, 2024

 

Some Thoughts about Mary – 1    

 

Dear Friends,

Every year on December 8, our Church celebrates The Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary. In anticipation of this liturgical holyday, I am sharing some thoughts (by no means all that could be said) about Mary. These are the result of some of my reading. 

 

A feature of Mary’s life that we can overlook is that she was poor. The society in Israel in her day was basically agrarian and was divided into two classes: an upper class (about 10% of the population) and a lower class (about 90% of the population). Mary was the wife of a carpenter, Joseph, and thus belonged to the lower class. In fact, carpenters and other artisans were less well off than the peasants who worked the land and did the farming. Remember the incident where some in the upper class put down Jesus because he was just the son of a carpenter (Matthew 13:55).

 

Mary as a wife and mother must have worked hard at home. She and other women in her class stayed at home to raise the children – in her case, Jesus. She was probably also responsible for tending a garden to grow herbs, vegetables and maybe grapes. Then, she would preserve some of this food so that it would last through winter months. Mary would regularly, maybe several times a week make bread from available grain and flour. This was a staple of the family diet. As a wife and mother, she was also responsible for making clothing for the family. Mary was doing all of this while also raising and watching over Jesus until he could work with Joseph as a woodworker or carpenter. 

 

The point of all the above is that Mary worked hard, probably long days. She did this as part of a family that lived at subsistence level – working just to get by, day by day. After she was widowed (we assume that Joseph had died since he is never mentioned in the accounts of Jesus’ public ministry), Mary’s situation would have been even more difficult. Women in that culture had few rights and no right of inheritance. Maybe this is one factor behind the touching scene where Jesus, dying on the cross, entrusts Mary to John as his mother and entrusts John to Mary as her son (John 19:26-27).  

 

Next week’s column will continue these reflections. 

  

Fr. Michael Schleupner

December 11, 2024

 

Some Thoughts about Mary – 2    

 

Dear Friends,

If you have not had the opportunity to read last week’s issue of Inbox, I recommend that you do so before reading today’s. Today’s reflections are built upon those of December 4. You can access that column through the link given below. Having said that, here goes.

 

It is probably correct to picture Mary as a poor, hard-working, perhaps physically strong woman. She probably had Mediterranean dark hair and dark eyes. She would have dressed in very simple, homemade clothing.   

 

In contrast to this, some and perhaps much of our Christian art has depicted Mary as dressed in rather beautiful robes, usually with the color blue, often mixed with white or red. For example, there is the Annunciation by Sandro Botticelli ((1445-1510), the Madonna and Child by Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519), and the Immaculate Conception by Bartolome Murillo (1617-1682). These are paintings which I find inspiring and beautiful. 

Nevertheless, the question is: why did these and many other artists of medieval, renaissance, and more modern times depict Mary or at least her clothing in a way that is probably not historically accurate? I wonder if the artists did this as a way to convey in external garb the inner spirit, beauty, and holiness of Mary. The rich, beautiful colors bring to us Mary’s clear, singular, and complete response to the calling of God. These externals convey what is internal and lived by Mary. That is what we celebrate on our December 8 feast in honor of The Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary.        

 

One more idea! Our doctrine of the Immaculate Conception means that Mary was conceived without original sin. She was free from this from the first moment of her existence in her mother’s womb. 

Some of our Catholic theologians add that, while our doctrine speaks of the absence of sin, it also proclaims the presence of grace. The Immaculate Conception means that Mary was uniquely blessed with the gift of God’s grace from the first moment of her life. Additionally, this gift to Mary anticipates the gift of grace that God wills for all of humanity in the incarnation. God, in the birth of Jesus the Christ, seeks to gift all human beings with the divine, redemptive love and invites our positive response to this grace. 

           

Fr. Michael Schleupner 

Inbox Inspiration: October 30, 2024: To Tell the Truth - 1-2

 

INBOX INSPIRATIONS

October 30, 2024

 

Tell the Truth - 1

 

Dear Friends,

When I was a child, probably around five or six years-old, my mother once said to me: “Michael, never tell me a lie because I can see it all over your face.” Maybe mom said that because I had just lied about something, and she knew it. 

Well, mom was right in what she said to me. I have come to know that my facial expression gives away what is going on inside me – what I am really thinking or feeling as sometimes opposed to what I am saying. I suppose I would be a bad poker player! Importantly, mom’s warning also helped to teach me right from wrong when it comes to telling the truth. 

 

The basis for the Christian teaching against lying is the Eighth Commandment: “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor” (Exodus 20:16; Deuteronomy 5:20). The Catechism of the Catholic Church says that we humans tend by nature toward the truth. This is because God speaks the truth to us and we are made in the image and likeness of God. We are being most like what we are created to be when we tell the truth. 

Saint Augustine briefly and pointedly says this. “A lie consists in speaking a falsehood with the intention of deceiving.” Lying is a failure in justice especially if it is intended to deceive or manipulate others into thinking and acting in ways that they would not have otherwise done. It is an offense against charity. It is disrespectful of others. And lying is destructive of society. It undermines trust among people and tears apart the fabric of relationships that should bind us together.        

 

The obligation to tell the truth and not falsehood lies upon each one of us. Additionally, journalists and civic authorities have a special responsibility for the common good of society. They need to be careful to communicate what is true. The Catechism of the Catholic Churchstates that “Nothing can justify recourse to disinformation for manipulating public opinion through the media.”   

Lying is a sin. If it has serious consequences and seriously injures individuals or society as a whole, it is a serious (mortal) sin. 

 

I will say more about the importance of telling the truth next week.   

   

Fr. Michael Schleupner 

November 6, 2024

 

Tell the Truth – 2  

 

Dear Friends,

Lying is a sin. Deliberately or thoughtlessly speaking an untruth is a sin. If doing this has serious consequences or seriously injures individuals or society as a whole, it is a serious (mortal) sin.

 

Saint Paul is very clear and to the point about telling the truth. “So, stop telling lies. Let us tell our neighbors the truth, for we are all parts of the same body” (Ephesians 4:25). Paul sees us all as connected and parts of the same body, the living body of Christ on this earth. By extension, I see Paul’s statement as including even those who are not baptized or Christian, since Christ’s love and saving action is intended for all humanity. Accordingly, we are to respect one another by not lying and by being truthful.

 

Lying is harmful for a variety of reasons.

Ø Lies can damage trust in relationships. This is true of all relationships, whether personal or professional. Trust, once injured, can be very difficult to rebuild.

Ø Lies can hurt another person emotionally. They can lead another to feel betrayed, deceived, and manipulated. 

Ø One lie often leads to another lie. This can create a web of deception that is unhealthy for the person telling the lie and for those who are its objects. And, by the way, the word objects is accurate because lying treats the other as an object and not as a person who deserves respect.

Ø Lying can damage the reputation of another. This is serious because it is often difficult to restore our reputation once it has been injured. In the long run, lying will also damage the reputation of the one who tells the falsehood. 

Ø Telling the truth is a moral or ethical value. Lying can lead to an erosion of morals or ethics in general. It can lead to an overall disregard for the well-being of others.            

Ø Lying can tear apart the spiritual fabric that holds a family or community or even a nation together. It undermines relationships. It can lead to a very self-focused, self-centered environment that can become destructive.

 

The bottom line is that truthfulness leads to and is part of integrity. We are called to expect this of ourselves and we have a right to expect this of others also.  

 

Fr. Michael Schleupner