I must admit that I don’t brush my teeth as well as I should. I try to floss, I even keep floss in my car so if I am at a red light can quickly floss my teeth.

1-learned that Dentist recommend that we brush for 3 minutes, but average person brushes for 25 seconds. Brushing for 25 seconds is like a quick non reflective confession where we have failed to fully examine our conscience. A 25 second brush will not …fully clean your teeth, and a confession where we have not fully examine our conscience will leave something to be desired.

2- In order to have clean teeth need to daily floss, daily flossing is like daily examine of conscience.

3-To have good teeth need to get under the gums, need to get under the surface to the root of the sin.

How is the state of your teeth, how is the state of your soul?

Father Stefan

I am reminded of a poem that says, “It’s not the things you do, its the things you leave undone that give you  heartache at the setting of the sun.”

One of the things that I have learned, is that for Lent, we ought to do something and also to give something up.

Whatever we do ought to make us a better person, a more loving person.

I have one piece of advice that I would like to give you: whatever you do, make it different than what you did last year. Some people give up let’s say Coke for Lent Every Year.

It reminds me of the person who says, “Giving up smoking is easy, I have done it a thousand times.”

Let us ask the Holy Spirit to aid us in what we are to do this Lent. May you be creative in your Lenten Practice.

One of the things that I am going to do is reflect on a Love Letter from Jesus. In the Letter are 55 promises that Jesus gave us. I am going to reflect on one of these promises everyday.

Because there are 55, I am starting today. Today’s promise is, “You may not know me, but I know everything about you.” Psalm 139:1

From now until Easter I will put up another promise each day. May we reflect on these promises together. We can write the promise down, and maybe place it under our pillow when we go to bed.

We pray that on Easter Morning we will know more fully that we are a Beloved Son or Daughter of God.

Love and Prayers

Father Stefan

We are one Body in Christ and the Healing of the Family Tree

We read in the Catechism in paragraph 1476, “We also call these spiritual good of the communion of saints the Church’s treasury, which is not the sum total of the material goods which have accumulated during the course of the centuries. On the contrary the treasury of the Church is the infinite value which can never be exhausted which Christ’s merits have before God. They were offered so that the whole of mankind could be set free from sin and attain communion with the Father. In Christ, the Redeemer himself, the satisfaction and merits of his Redemption exist and find their efficacy.”

We also read in paragraph 1477, “This treasury includes as well the prayers and good works of the Blessed Virgin Mary. They are truly immense, unfathomable , and even pristine in their value before God. In the treasury, too, are the prayers and good works of all the saints, all those who have followed in the footsteps of Christ the Lord and by his grace have made their lives holy and carried out the mission the Father entrusted to them. In this way they attained their own salvation and at the same time cooperated in saving their brothers in the unity of the Mystical Body.”

At the Mass of the healing of the family tree, we begin by reciting the litany of the saints.  As Catholic we see the Saints in Heaven as our brothers and sisters in Christ. St Therese knew in her spirit that she was already in life a family member of the saint in heaven. This insight into the family of God carried her into death when she proclaimed that, “she would spend her eternity doing good on the earth and that she would send down to earth roses.”

She knew that we are one family and that the saints in Heaven truly care about us.  If this is true of the saints, it is also true of all the holy men and women that have died in our families.  When they look down from heaven they care in a special way for the people that were dear to them in life.

When I baptize a baby, I say to the family, “this baby is now a member of the family of God. God is the Father, Mary is the mother and all the angels and saints are their brothers and sisters.”

I also ask the parents after the baptism to go to the statue of Mary and entrust their baby to Mary – That Mary, as the baby mother’s, will keep watch and care for the child.

Let us look up and ask the great family of God in heaven to pray for us. May we ask in a special way for all the holy people in our families who have passed away to pray for us.

Love and Prayers

Father Stefan

We read in 1474 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, “The Christian who seeks to purify himself of his sin and to become holy with the help of God’s grace is not alone. “The life of each of God’s children in joined in Christ and through Christ in a wonderful way to the life of all of other Christians brethren in the supernatural unity of the Mystical Body of Christ, as in a single mystical person.”

And we read in 947 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, “ Since all the faithful form one body, the good of each is communicated to the others… We must therefore believe that there exists a communion of good in the Church. But the most important member is Christ, since he is the head…Therefore, the riches of Christ are communicated to all the members, through the sacraments. As this Church is governed by one and the same Spirit, all the goods she received necessarily become a common fund.”

These statements from the catechism remind me of something that I read many years ago in Hans Balthasar’s book, “Two sisters in the Spirit Therese of Lisieux and Elizabeth of the Trinity. “

He wrote how in heaven we will learn that all is grace and that everything we do that is good is the fruit of another person’s prayer. In his section on the theology of St Therese he wrote how in heaven the greatest theologian will be the best friend of a poor shepherd boy, because in heaven the theologian will see that all of his insights were the fruits of the prayers and good work of the poor shepherd boy.

So two people who on the surface had nothing in common in this life, will be the best of friends in heaven. Hans Balthasar, in commenting on the theology of St Therese, says God does this so that no one may boast of their accomplishments but will learn that , “All is Grace”.

St Augustine says so beautifully that in heaven there is no envy or jealousy. We will rejoice in the good of another as if it were our own. We will rejoice because we will see that all the faithful form one body.

As you read this reflect for a moment on the reality that every good thing that you have done is because of the prayers of another. Maybe this person lives on the other side of planet, maybe a person that lived 100 years ago?

I often think of all the people that pray for me. I am grateful for their prayers, and I will always try to remember that any good that I do is because of their prayers.

May we begin to live the life of Heaven now. May we remember that we are one body one Body in Christ and that any gift that I have is yours and any gift that you have is mine.

Together we form the beautiful Body of Christ.

Father Stefan

St Blaise and the Healing Mass

How many of you have been to mass and healing service? You might say I don’t think that I have been to one.  But you might have been to one and not realized it.

February 3 is the feast day of Saint Blaise, bishop and martyr.  St Blaise was a fourth century bishop.  Tradition tells us that a woman had a son who was choking on a fish bone, and the bishop prayed over the boy and he was healed.

From this event in the life of St Blaise rose the tradition of blessing the throats of people at mass on Feb 3.

At the mass the priest or deacon will say as he places two candles around the person’s throat, “through the intercession of St Blaise bishop and martyr may you be healed of every disease of the throat and of every other illness.”

I think there is a lot of theology in this prayer. First we are asking for the intercession of St Blaise. But we also in this prayer have a theology of the church’s teaching on suffering.

We are asking through the intercession of St Blaise to not only heal the throat but any other illness.

The prayer that the priest or deacon prays is part of the official liturgy of the church. I think we see the church’s teaching on illness. Namely that all sickness and disease is not part of God’s plan because we are praying for the healing of the throat and of every other illness.

I often meet people who never think of going to a mass and healing service. They might say those “charismatics are crazy”. Maybe without realizing it we go to a mass and healing service on the feast of St Blaise.

Like all healing services we have to have faith. When we get our throats blessed this Friday on the feast of St Blasie may we come with faith and expect to get healed.

If you have cancer, heart disease, back problems, or throat disease come with faith and allow God to heal you through the intercession of St Blaise bishop and martyr.

Blessing Father Stefan

Last Friday during the night, I had a dream. In the dream I was reading the book of Genesis and thinking of the person of Leah.

Now to tell the truth when I woke up, I had to think of, “Who was Leah?” I had some notion of her, but I didn’t know much about her. I did a little research and discovered that Leah is an important person in the bible.

The first time the bible mentions her we read this, “Leah had lovely eyes.” (Gen29:17) but the footnotes say lovely can be translated week or tender. Leah had a hard life and spent much time crying. Her eyes were weak from crying.

Patrick Reardon says, “The Lord looked after Leah, He had to. Nobody else would.”We all know the story of how Jacob wanted to marry Rachel but by a deception on the part of Leah’s father Laban he married Leah.  On the wedding night Laban switches Leah for Rachel. Later Laban claims that it is uncustomary to give the younger daughter away in marriage before the older one.  Laban offers to give Rachel to Jacob in marriage in return for another seven years of work. (Gen 29:16-30) Jacob accepts the offer and married Rachel.

Jacob was tricked in much the same way that he got the Father’s Blessing from Issac that was intended for Easu.

Leah was hurt for not being the first choice of Jacob. She was simply passed over because she was not as beautiful as Rachel. Jacob loved Rachel more than Leah. The bible even says, ‘ Jacob loved Rachel but hated Leah.” We even read in the book of Genesis how Easu was going to attack so Jacob put Leah and her children where the battle would take place but put Rachel and her children where it was safe. (Gen 33:2)

Leah was always faithful to Jacob, but she never was loved in return.  But God watched over Leah and Leah was faithful to God.

Leah still gave Jacob six sons and a daughter. Leah is the mother of Ruben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar and Zebulum. (Gen 35:23) She is the mother of 6 of the tribes of Israel.

Leah gave birth to Levi. It was from the tribe of Levi that came Moses, Aaron, King David, Elizabeth, John the Baptist and Peter.  Leah also gave birth to Judah. Jesus was born from the tribe of Judah.

In the end Leah was buried next to Jacob not Rachel. (Gen 49:31)

What can we take from this story? Well Rachel is an image of the beautiful church while Leah is an image of the suffering church. We are all more moved towards the beautiful part of the church and we flee from the suffering, ugly part of the church.

Also if we are honest we all have a “Leah” in each of us. We all have a part of us that feels unloved and unwanted. Jacob loved Rachel but hated Leah. But Jesus is unlike Jacob he loves Rachel and Leah, but in a special way Jesus is moved more towards the deserted wife. Isaiah says, “For more numerous are the children of the deserted wife than the children of her who has a husband.” (Isaiah 54: 4)

The very parts of us we feel are unloved, and unwanted are what God loves the most. God draws close to the “Leah” that is in each one of us.

In the end God blessed Leah. We see how such people as Moses, King David and even Jesus himself came forth from her.

We also read in the book of Ruth (4:1) how the memory of Leah was used as a blessing. Ruth was also an outsider a pagan.  She was a non Jew and Ruth looked to Leah for inspiration.

Boaz and Ruth get married and have a son named Obed. Obed is the father of Jesse, and thus the grandfather of David. Ruth is in the family tree of King David, and Ruth is even in the genealogy of Jesus. (Mat 1:5)

God used Leah and Ruth to bring about His Plan. Both were unlikely persons to be used by God.

I would be willing to bet that they both had hearts of Gold and lots of Faith.  Scripture tells us that God looks at the heart not at the appearance.

Tonight I am doing a mass for the healing of the family tree. I bet we all have a Leah and a Ruth in all of our families. Maybe this person was the black sheep of the family, maybe it is the person that no body understood, the person who had so much suffering in their life.

The story of Leah and Ruth tell us, it is often the people that the world never understood or accepted that are most pleasing to God. It is often these people that bring about the most blessing to our families.

So tonight at the Mass of the Healing of the family tree, we ask God to release all the blessing of the Leahs and Ruths that are in our family tree.

Blessing Father Stefan

Healing of the Family Tree and Judgment

Ratzinger writes, “ Judgment consists in the removal of the masks of death.” As Catholics we believe that there are two judgments: a particular judgment and a general judgment at the end of the world.

Theologians have often wondered why there are two judgments. When we die, we face Jesus, we look into His eyes and our eternal destiny is laid out for us.  If this is true why does the church and the scriptures talk about the general judgment at the end of the world. (Mat25)

Ratzinger writes, “lastly, we must bear in mind that Christ is not alone. The whole meaning of his earthly life lay in his building for himself a body, in his creating for himself a “fullness.” Since Christ’s body truly belongs to him, encounter with Christ takes place in the encounter with those who are Christ’s, because they are his body. And so our destiny, our truth, if it is really constituted theologically, christologically, depends on our relation to Christ’s  body and notably to its suffering members. To this extent the “saints” are our judge. In reflecting on the nature of the Last Day we saw that viewed from this angle, there is a significant interrelation between individual and general judgment. Even though the definitive truth of an individual is fixed in the moment of death, something new is contributed when the world’s guilt has been suffered through to the bitter end. It is at this point that one’s final place in the whole is exhaustively determined.”

At the final judgment we will see the effects of our actions both good and bad on the body of Christ. The saints tell us that those who are generous with the poor ought not to fear death because they will all be our advocates before Jesus. A friend of mine just recently passed away and she prayed for the souls in purgatory every day. She prayed for them because she knew that one day when she died, they would be her advocates before Jesus.

If someone is only interested in their own salvation, that person will not be judged favorably by the Body of Christ.

Jesus says at the final judgment , “I was thirsty and you gave me drink. I was naked and you clothed me, I was hungry and you gave me food, in Prison and you visited me. “ Jesus will say these beautiful words, “whatever you did for the least of these you did for Me.”

St Teresa of Avila wrote, about her fellow sisters “I believe they never go to Heaven alone; they will always lead many people along after them. Like good captains they will give whoever marches in their company to God.”

Father Stefan

Cardinal Ratzinger writes in his book “Eschatology” writes , “First, we can ask whether a human being can be said to have reached his fulfillment and destiny so long as others suffer on account of him, so long as the guilt whose source he is persists on earth and brings pain to other people. The guilt which goes on because of me reaching as it does deep into me, it is part of my permanent abandonment to time,  whereby human beings really do continue to suffer on my account and which therefore still affects me. Incidentally, this enables us to grasp the inner connection between the dogmas of Mary’s freedom from sin and assumption into Heaven. Mary is fully in the Father’s house, since no guilt came forth from her to make people suffer.”

This image of Mary’s Assumption seems very modern. Mary left no regrets. Because Mary left on tint of sin she can fully enter into Heaven body and soul. Do we not see a need for a Mass for the healing of the family tree in this theology?

How many people can say that they lived the Father’s Will so perfectly that they left no effects of sin on others? We cannot fully enter unto Heaven until all the effects of our sin are healed.

Do we not see a need for a healing of the family tree mass in this theology? At the mass we have hundreds if not thousands of family tree present at the foot of the altar. We are asking God to heal all the effects of the sins of these people.

How many people suffer because their Great Grandfather was a thief, or that there brother committed suicide? We could easily multiply hundreds of examples but I think the point is made. It is not hard to see how the effects of sin can live on for generations.

Ratzinger says that, “purgatory means unresolved guilt, a suffering which continues to radiate out because of guilt. Purgatory means, then, suffering to the end what one has left behind on earth.”

This means that as long as people suffer because of my sin, I cannot fully enter into heaven. Purgatory is that place where God heals all the effects of our sin. Purgatory is the place where God draws straight with crooked lines.

Mary who did the will of the Father perfectly, help me to not only confess my sins, but to help to make amends to the people I have hurt.

Blessing Father Stefan

It is Good that You Exist

I remember first reading John Paul’s II Encyclical letter, “The Gospel of Life.” One of many things that struck me in that letter was that it is simply good to exist,  “incomparable value of every human person. “ (gospel of life par 2)

It seems that we put some much emphasis on quality of life that we often forget that it is simply good that we exist.  Sometime we put so much emphasis on “quality of life” that we can send the message that if someone is poor, homeless then their life is of less value.

We are to have the mind of Christ.  It makes me think of the Gospel Story when Jesus commented on the women who put two coins into the temple collection. Jesus said to his disciples, “This widow put in more than all the others for she has given out of her need, but all the others gave out of their surplus.” (Luke 21 1-4)

This widow is an image of a poor woman who chooses life. The world says that her baby is of less value. This makes me think of this quote from Mother Theresa, “How can there be too many children? That is like saying there are too many flowers.”

Jesus would look at this woman as he looked at the poor widow who put in the two coins in the temple collection. Jesus would have commented on her remarkable faith.

At the Paul Stefan Home all of our mothers are homeless. We have seen the beauty of many babies coming into the world that might not have been born.  But we have also seen babies born sick, and in some cases living only a few day and going to God.

One of the things that we all have in common is suffering.  A rich woman who lives on Park Avenue and a poor woman both share the same suffering when they lose their baby.  This is one of the reasons that Jesus had to suffer on the cross because it is in our suffering that we understand each other. It is in suffering that we learn how to love.

I have seen such love and beauty. So many of these moms sacrifice themselves for their children. They exemplify this quote from Mother Theresa, “A life not lived for others is not a life.”

In a world of so much depression and sadness may we hear Jesus say to us, “It is good that you exist.” When we come to see our goodness then we can see more clearly the goodness of every single life.

Father Stefan

Spiritual Advisor of the Paul Stefan Home

Jesus, I Trust in You                                                  January 2012

 Jesus continually surprises and amazes me! He finds beautiful ways to get my attention and increase my trust in Him.

A few days ago, I ran into an old friend at the post office. Diane was with her sweet and bouncy 2-yr-old granddaughter, and the two of them were chatting happily, laughing and skipping their way into the post office. My heart rejoiced at seeing my friend, because she was a beautiful picture of vibrant health and love. We embraced and visited. Diane explained that in her fight against Leukemia, she almost died during the last two rounds of chemo, but that God must have a plan for keeping her around. With a brilliant smile, she exclaimed that she is healthy! Praise God!

Through this moving encounter, Jesus is showing me the importance of trusting Him…

Three years ago this month, I attended my first Charismatic Mass and Healing Service, celebrated by Fr. Stefan at St. Mary of Sorrows. At the Mass, God put on my heart to pray for Diane, who had recently been diagnosed with Leukemia. Throughout the Mass and Healing Service, God kept her on my heart, so I continued to pray for her.

At the end of Mass, Fr. Stefan invited everyone who wanted to be prayed over to come up. A bit nervous at not knowing what to expect, I walked up and got in line. I began observing people “going down” or “resting in the Spirit” as Fr. Stefan prayed over them. This was all new to me. I had thought that this resting in the Spirit was a bunch of hooey. It was my opinion that people were simply fainting or falling down on purpose, pretending to feel something they wanted to feel. And yet, here was person after person resting in the Spirit before my very eyes.

In the midst of this joyful atmosphere of music, singing, and praying, Fr. Stefan runs up to the microphone and says in a clear voice, “Raise your hand if you’re here praying for someone with Leukemia.” Goosebumps raced up and down my arms, because I was there praying for a friend with Leukemia. I was stunned and couldn’t move. Nobody raised their hand. In the next instance, Fr. Stefan added, “There’s been a healing from Leukemia.”

This revelation through Fr. Stefan was a profound message from God. In my heart, I wanted to believe that it was in fact my friend Diane whom God was healing from Leukemia. A couple weeks later, I spoke with Diane’s husband and shared with him what I experienced at the Mass and Healing Service.

I was so excited in fact that I began typing this testimony to be considered for publication in Fr. Stefan’s book on miracles. This message of healing had to be about Diane. But then, over the next few weeks, evidence of Leukemia returned in Diane. I was deflated, confused. I questioned and doubted whether God was healing her. I didn’t know what to believe. It is difficult to “claim” healing when we see evidence to the contrary. When friends and loved ones struggle through illnesses, how do we believe they are healed?

Jesus is teaching me that this is what our faith is all about…believing! I am still learning to praise God not just though the good times but through the storms in life. I am learning to trust that everything He allows in our lives is for our good. Our God is a God of love and abundance. He has a divine plan for each of us. Jesus’ message three years ago was a gift. I ask His forgiveness for doubting Him. Jesus, I praise You and thank You for healing Diane!

Jesus, I trust in You!