By Deacon John Cronin:

This weekend we celebrate Independence Day.

We rejoice in our freedom from tyranny.

But the worst kind of tyranny lies in the neglect of our own freedom.

As Christians, we are called to celebrate our independence every day.

Not independence from God, but from sin and death.

We are given the gift of independence by being totally dependent!

Dependent on Jesus.

On his power.

On his love.

On his Cross and resurrection.

He sets us free.

We are a people who love freedom and self-rule.

But Jesus tells us we cannot be truly free until we let God rule.

If we love God, our lives are really not our own.

We are caretakers of his amazing gift of life.

Over twenty years ago, I went to Manhattan College.

I was young, on a full scholarship, and had the world at my feet.

I thought I was free.

I thought I was the ruler of my own little Kingdom.

But the more I ignored God…

… the more I chased freedom from Him,

… the more miserable and enslaved I became.

I had run away from an earlier call to labor in His vineyard.

I placed myself into a desolate land of exile among my selfish and petty pleasures.

Exile from true joy and satisfaction in God.

At Manhattan, I had a friend:  Eugene Hamilton.

He was faithful to the Mass.

He was humble and kind.

And he exuded peace and contentment.

I didn’t get it!

How can a guy so bogged down by obedience to Christ and His Church be so free and happy?

[PAUSE]

Over the years, I lost contact with him.

But something about him moved me to remember my calling.

God planted one of the seeds of my salvation by the work of Eugene’s labors.

He’d never know the fruit of his labors.

After I came back to the loving arms of Jesus and Mother Church,

I heard that Eugene was diagnosed with terminal cancer.

He was only halfway through Seminary in New York.

He wouldn’t be able to finish.

But GOD, who began his good work in Eugene, would bring it to fulfillment.

All he wanted was to serve God as a priest,

To announce Jesus and His Kingdom.

To labor in His vineyard.

Rome gave permission for him to be ordained early.

You can read about his amazing life in the book called: “A Priest Forever”.

Death could not undo the life Eugene clinged to in Christ Jesus.

He let God rule the Kingdom.

He embraced his freedom in the Cross.

His joy and peace only grew stronger in his weakness.

We are called every day to let Christ rule the Kingdom,

No matter what suffering we endure,

Our pain and brokenness can be overcome by Jesus’s strength.

My prayer is that we truly love Jesus.

Because it is the only thing that truly satisfies the human heart.

.           May we rest assured in our call to a life of tremendous rejoicing.

Each day we are invited to a life of independence from sin and death.

A life of total dependence on the loving power of Jesus.

If we bull-doze our way through life in sinful pride

If we start to think freedom means that We are the gods of our own kingdoms,

Then we are saying NO to our own peace and happiness.

Eugene chose life in the face of death.

In my dissipated youth, I was more dead than Eugene lying in that coffin in the seminary chapel.

But Eugene helped me to see the beauty of God in my weakness.

If we realize our weakness our dependence on the author of life,

We are saying YES to our own happiness.

The Spirit of the Risen Lord penetrates the weakest hearts,

He gives us a new heart.

He gives us His own heart.

Admitting our weakness invites God to be our strength.

So rejoice!

Be free!

Let Jesus rule the Kingdom.

Join in His labor of love.

Taste his love in His body and Blood.

The blood that saves us.

That makes our weakness our greatest strength.

The strength of the Risen Lord who gives us everything worth having.

By Deacon John Cronin:

Today, Kellan Murphy Ryan will join the baptized.

He becomes one of the “children of God in Christ Jesus.”

We are all one in Christ Jesus.  So what does that mean?  [pause]

Jesus tries to explain this to his Apostles, but it’s not really sinking in yet.

He tells them that yes  he is the Messiah, but not like they imagined.

Many hoped for a political Messiah, who would defeat Roman occupation and make Israel a great earthly power.

But this view of an Emperor Jesus holds a fundamental flaw:

power is not for us to grab for ourselves especially by using the Son of God to do it.

The only power that lasts is the power of God.  And God is Love.

It is very easy to forget God.

We are very eager to control our own little worlds.

But God gave us the world.

He gave us our life.

He gave us our capacities to love.

And ————– he gave Katelyn and Paul, the amazing gift of little Kellan.

Jesus tells the Apostles the only path to true and lasting life is by denying ourselves.

The Psalm today is quite beautiful:

It tells how the human heart can only be satisfied under the shadow of God’s wings.

Under His loving power.

We are a people who were born thirsting for God.

Because we are made from God’s love.

And it’s not just our souls thirsting for heaven.

It’s our bodies: here and now, in the flesh:

pining and thirsting “like the earth, parched, lifeless and without water.”

Today, that thirst for God, has gathered us together in this place.

Today, we deny ourselves petty and passing pleasures that only leave us more thirsty and empty. We come as Kellan comes to the font of everlasting life.

We deny our old selves, isolated from God by sin and selfishness and pride.

We come here to be fed the food that lasts forever:  the Body of Jesus Christ.

Jesus said:  “whoever wishes to save his life will lose it,

but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.”

Now, none of us have a death wish.

Jesus is telling us how to live.  How to really be alive.

We’ll never be truly satisfied… …never filled with lasting joy,

until we are all-in.  Until we commit ourselves entirely to the Love of God.

Jesus is our bridge to that love.

We all know this in our bones.

Just think about Kellan’s parents.

Paul and Katelyn, like any parent, wants the best for their child.

What parent in their right mind …

What parent touched by the love of God…

Wouldn’t do anything,   give anything —  even their own lives

if it meant their beloved child would thrive in the world.

That is the love of God.

The unrelenting devotion us as his beloved children.

He would give anything, even his only begotten Son on the Cross,

so that we may truly live.

In baptism, we join Christ, flesh and spirit.  Body and soul.

Our old thirsty selves are washed away.

The waters of baptism quench our thirsts.

Together, we are one body.  We have put on Christ.

We live for the love of God.

He gives us all that is good in our lives.

Katelyn and Paul bring Kellan to the life-giving water today.

Kellan will join us in putting on Christ.

In Christ, no cross we must bear in this world, can ever rob us of our true happiness.

In Christ, when Kellan begins to thirst,

he will have his parents —– his Godparents —– and all of his brothers and sisters in this Church,

to help him know from where he can drink and be satisfied.

Praise be to our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

By Deacon John Cronin:

Tomorrow is Memorial Day.

The day our nation is called to remember.

We remember the armed forces who died for our freedom.

Who died so we may live.

 

This year, Memorial Day Weekend happens to fall on the Feast of Corpus Christi

The Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ.

We here today, are called to remember the hero of heroes:  Jesus Christ.

He died so that we all may live.

He made the ultimate sacrifice of his body and blood so we can be freed from death itself.

It is good to remember our dead.

But may we especially remember Jesus’ death.

Because his death offers life to us all, including our fallen heroes.

 

Every time we come to Mass, we hear the words of Jesus the night before he died:

“This is my body that is for you.

Do this in remembrance of me.”

As disciples, we receive the true presence of our God in this bread and wine of Holy Communion.

 

As I receive the Eucharist today,

I will ask Jesus to help me remember his perfect love.

His total gift of self so that we may truly live.

So that we like the 5,000 may eat and be truly satisfied.

 

Since the beginning of time, people have gotten into trouble because they forget.

They forget who they really are.

Who really satisfies them.

We are the beloved Children of God.

God gives us all that we truly need and more.

We may want something else entirely.

But God offers us what we truly need.

In my own life, I have found this easy to forget.

The more I chased after shiny apples, the hungrier I became.

We separate ourselves from God, and forget the taste of His love.

But Jesus came to us in our deserted places.

He took on flesh so we may reunite with the God who gave us life and love.

He asks us to remember that we are God’s beloved.

Right here  ——  Right now.

Jesus wants to feed us his Body and Blood.

He wants us to be satisfied with a foretaste of the heavenly banquet here on earth.

Can we let go of our anxieties and remember him?

To remember the love that death itself cannot stop?

 

As young children grow, they suffer what is called separation anxiety.

They grow fearful and insecure when separated from their parents.

As we grow, we form healthy friendships and are able to leave our parents.

We are secure in adulthood only if we remember.

Remember the love of our parents.

 

The Body and Blood of Christ is offered here today to help us remember Jesus’ love.

We only grow anxious when we forget and feel deserted.

The Apostles themselves grew anxious in the deserted place with the 5,000.

Their reaction was to send the hungry away.

But Jesus told his disciples:

“Give them some food yourselves.”

“Give them some food yourselves.”

If we are fed by Jesus’ love in the Eucharist,

Then we can bring that love into the deserted places of our daily lives.

If we remember his love as our anchor in life, we can help feed the hungry ourselves.

If we dare to perform acts of loving kindness, Jesus will supply more than we had ever dreamed of.

We will be truly satisfied.

 

So let us pray for our dead today.

But my prayer for you and for me is that we are truly fed in the Holy Eucharist.

And that we can bring the love of Jesus to those who still hunger for Him.

So, together, we are secure in the one body of Christ.

“Why do you want to be a priest?” 

“It stops me in my tracks.  I immediately think:  I don’t want to be a priest.  I believe God for reasons I may never fully understand has decided that for me.  God is persistent.”

Deacon John Cronin was raised in Watervliet, NY, and is a parishioner of St. Brigid’s Parish, where he was educated by the sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet. He attended La Salle Institute High School in Troy, NY and later earned a B.A. in Psychology and Government & Politics from Manhattan College in Riverdale, NY. John also earned a Masters in Educational Psychology & Statistics from SUNY-Albany, and later studied Childhood Education and Literacy. His versatile resume also includes careers in retail management and elementary education

Vocation Story

At Pope St. John XXIII National Seminary, I sometimes get cards from people who ask:  “Why do you want to be a priest?”  It stops me in my tracks.  I immediately think:  I don’t want to be a priest.  I believe God for reasons I may never fully understand has decided that for me.  God is persistent.  He knows me better than I know myself.  And only Jesus can help me to see as he sees and to love as he loves.

At first, I was drawn to priesthood around 5 years of age much like a child who is drawn to the heroics of a policeman or a firefighter.  At St. Brigid’s in Watervliet, New York,  Fr. Joseph Grabys was one of my heroes too.  He was always so joyful with us kids in the schoolyard, and he was sincere and intense in his worship.  By the ripe old age of 10, I was overcome with wonder at the limitless love of God glorified on the Cross.  I had served at the Stations of the Cross on Good Friday, and it left an indelible mark.

But I would drift away from God’s call in fear and recalcitrance until I was in my thirties.  While I enjoyed my pursuits in elementary education, I was left wanting.  I felt like St. Peter, bumbling about and adrift in his fishing boat.  But I finally decided to listen to Jesus and let down my nets in deep waters.  I was truly amazed at the power of Jesus.  But I was also afraid of being unworthy.  The beauty lies in the fact that no one is really worthy.  Jesus only asks that we let him love us, and our lives will be transformed.

I have felt his tender touch and his compelling invitation: “Do not be afraid….”  A life that once seemed mundane has been revived.  Once overlooked, my eyes can no longer be averted from beholding the abundance of grace that has sustained me all these years. What once looked like abandonment by a birth mother has been revealed as the grace of a woman choosing life.  And upon that grace was the love of my Mom and Dad who adopted me.  In holy simplicity and humility, they tenderly bore witness to lives of devotion to each other, to family, to faith, and to friendship.

The seminary is full of men who were given the courage to cast their nets in deep waters.  They are still sinners, but Jesus patiently reminds them they are beloved sons of His Father.   It is a common slip of the tongue to refer to the seminary as the cemetery!  And there is a certain amount of truth in that.  I was told by the dean of men in my first days at the seminary that I had come to the seminary to die. The Holy Spirit has the audacious task of helping us to let go of our selfish and petty desires:  to die to a life for self, and to live as Jesus lives:  completely for others.

The Apostles are a great source of hope that God can make lemonade out of lemons!  Despite their human frailties, they were touched by a loving God.  In their weakness, they could have turned away from God and said, “We’re not ready!”  It is like a husband and wife who may think they’re not ready to raise a child.  They’re may be right. But with God’s grace, they humbly open themselves up to being for another their child.  Anything is possible with God.  What may have been grounds for fear has been transformed into abundant joy, persistent peace, and lasting gratitude.  Please pray that all seminarians will persevere in casting their nets in deep waters, and in loving as God loves.

Allowing kids online without supervision ‘like sending them to an adult bookstore’

By Tom Tracy Catholic News Service

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (CNS) Parents who don’t supervise their children’s online activity and mobile device usage might as well be dropping off their kids at an adult bookstore filled with dangerous strangers.

That was the gist of a frank and wide-ranging conversation on Internet pornography and addiction that licensed clinical therapist and family therapist Peter Kleponis led for some 70 parents and young adult men and teens March 7 in the Miami Archdiocese.

The group gathered at St. Gregory the Great Church in Fort Lauderdale.

“Keep the computer use in a public area of the home you never leave a child alone with the Internet; if you leave a child alone with the Internet you might as well be leaving them alone with a perfect stranger that is how serious this is,” said Kleponis, who is a licensed clinical therapist and assistant director of Comprehensive Counseling Services in Conshohocken, Pa.

Kleponis specializes in marriage and family therapy, pastoral counseling, resolving anger, men’s issues, and pornography addiction recovery through the nationally recognized Integrity Restored program (see http://peterkleponis.com).

He is certified in the diagnosis and treatment of sexual addictions by the American Association of Christian Counselors’ Light University and Freedom Begins Here program founded by Mark Laaser, who has a doctorate in religion and psychology.

Research shows that age 8 is now the average age at which youngsters first encounter online pornography, according to Kleponis. Parents with young children and teens at home need to install parental filtering controls on youngsters’ cellphones and Internet services at home.

“Even with that, if your child is on the Internet and using any technology a parent needs to be standing behind them watching everything they are doing,” Kleponis said, adding that parents need to be aware that gaming systems with online connections and even public libraries and public access devices have also been widely used for viewing pornography without parental awareness.

“Up to the age of 11, we need to protect kids and they don’t even need to know this stuff exists, and for children 11 years and older we need to educate them about the dangers of pornography so they can reject it and say ‘No’ to it,” he said.

“I also don’t believe young children need to have smartphones, get them ‘flip phones’ or the ‘Cricket’ brand phone which is only used to call Mom and Dad.”

Kleponis’ presentation was in the context of widespread sexual addictions and research that shows pervasive pornography use even among religious-affiliated people including Christians. Before meeting with the lay group of men and teens, Kleponis first led a four-hour session for local priests and deacons who report that they increasingly address the spiritual dimensions of parishioners dealing with pornography issues.

He led them through a presentation of how porn addiction works and how it can be addressed, and he shared a number of statistics:

Every 39 minutes, a new pornographic video is being produced in the United States, and increasingly they are videos made by amateurs.

The pornography industry earns over $97 billion worldwide every year; $13 billion comes from the United States.

There are 4.2 million pornographic websites.

Forty-seven percent of Christians say pornography is a major problem in the home; 20 percent of men admit to accessing pornography at work.

The percentages of male/female visitors to pornographic websites: 71 percent are male and 28 percent are female, with a steadily growing ratio of young female viewers.

“Nobody is immune to this,” Kleponis said, “We are so concerned about the kids who are the number one users of Internet pornographers but adults have to be protected too, and we need to educate ourselves on the dangers of porn and new technology and all technology use,” he said, adding that he recommends the Covenant Eyes website www.covenanteyes.com for tools for staying abreast of Internet porn trends and Internet filtering tools.

Parents must have open communications with each other and a willingness to seek help if one adult member of the family is having a problem with porn, he said, adding that the deeper emotional and family problems underlying the porn use need to be addressed through counseling and support groups and 12-step programs.

“We need to do everything possible to protect our kids from this stuff because it is poison,” said Kleponis. He added that if young children are exposed to online porn there are good books and materials to help parents properly discuss the experience with kids.

“For teens, again we limit the screen time, and I suggest no more than two to three hours a day including school work online, and monitor all social media. And you never allow a teenager to isolate with the internet,” Kleponis said.

“The (Internet) access has to be done on the kitchen table where everybody can see that, and we need an online accountability service for computers, tablets and cellphones,” he added.

He advises parents to remind youngsters that they are simply trying to protect children from sexual predators and profit-seeking pornography merchants and that they have a right to supervise all communications devices and social media usage.

Increasingly, he added, there is a growing amount of homemade or amateur-produced pornography, adding yet another layer of worry and complexity for parents and educators.

***

Tom Tracy is a correspondent for the Florida Catholic, newspaper of the Archdiocese of Miami.