Category Archives: Ask Fr Cory

A couple of our Religious Education students had some questions for me. This week’s are from Karsten Davis.
Question: What do you take away for Lent?

In the past, I’ve done many things over the years. I’ve given up food, like candy or chips. I’ve stopped watching TV or playing video games. I’ve tried to spend more time in prayer. I’ve tried to do more reading. This year, I decided to spend less time in front of a computer or phone. I’ve also decided to get back to some exercise by jogging a couple times a week.

Lent can be hard. Between not eating meat on Friday, giving something up, trying to be more prayerful, and more, Lent can be a challenge to live. Sometimes we’ll fail due to forgetfulness. Sometimes we’re just weak and fall back into old routines and habits we’re trying to change. If that happens, we just need to get back at it!

Question: Do you say a whole Rosary a day?

That’s one thing I’m not very good at. I do pray the Rosary, just not every day. We all have prayer habits, and that’s not one I’ve been really good at picking up. I still need to work at it! Sometimes it can be boring, though. It takes a little while and we repeat prayers over and over.

Even though I don’t pray the Rosary as I should, I know it’s important. It’s a very powerful prayer, as we are thinking about Jesus and His life, while also asking His Mother, Mary, to pray for us. There are also lots of promises given to us by Mary for every time we pray the Rosary.

Question: When were you born? Did you used to be in a sport?

I was born on June 27, 1976. That means I’m going to be 44 years old at the end of June. We lived in a very small town (smaller than Malta!) in north eastern North Dakota called Lankin. My dad was a farmer at the time, though we moved off the farm when I was very young.

While I like watching sports, I’ve never been very good at playing them. I did play baseball for a while, and basketball for a few years. I also did track in high school, but I wasn’t one who did well in sports. I prefer to watch sports, especially baseball and football.

A couple of our Religious Education students had some questions for me. This week’s are from Karsten Davis.

Question: Where’s your favorite place to pray?

I’m fortunate enough to have a small prayer room, called a chapel, in my house. I can go down there at any time and pray before Jesus without being interrupted or disturbing others.

A lot of people can’t take a whole room and turn it into a prayer place, but we all need a quiet place to pray. Whether it’s our bedroom, a small corner of a guest room or living room, having a place set aside for prayer helps us focus on Jesus a little each day.

Question: Where is the farthest place you have gone on Easter? Where is the farthest church you have ever gone?

The farthest place I’ve ever gone on Easter was during my time in the US Air Force. I spent one winter deployed to an Air Force Base right outside Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. This meant I spent both Christmas and Easter there. This is about 7000 miles from here!

The farthest church, however, isn’t quite as far. Before I was ordained as a priest, I studied in a seminary, which is school for men considering the priesthood. My seminary sent me and my classmates to the Holy Land, where Jesus lived. We visited a large number of churches during our time there. That was “only” 6600 miles away.

Question: Do you have a tradition on Easter?

A lot of families have interesting traditions on Easter, don’t they? Whether a big meal, or Easter egg hunt, or dying eggs, or making Easter baskets, there are a lot of things people like to do each Easter.

As a kid, my family would do a lot of those kind of things. My parents would make Easter baskets full of candy, and we’d color the Easter eggs, and have a big meal. Now, as an adult and priest, I don’t do a lot of those things. Easter is a very busy time for me, and is very tiring, so I don’t do a lot.

The week after Easter, though, I like to go home and visit my parents. They live a little over 700 miles away, so it’s a long drive! I’m always glad to see them when I get there, though.

A couple of our Religious Education students had some questions for me. This week’s are from Beau Merriman.

Question: Why do you wear a cloak?

The long black cloak that I wear, which altar servers also wear, is called a cassock. It dates back a long, long way (over 1500 years!) as the traditional clothing of a priest. Although I don’t always wear it, especially throughout the week, I do wear it for more formal occasions, like Sunday Mass.

The cassock is meant to be simple clothing, like a uniform. Ideally, a priest should be recognizable, but without wearing flashy or fancy clothing. Seeing a man in a cassock should allow for quick recognition that he is a priest, much like a deputy’s uniform does for members of our county’s sheriff’s department. The black shirt with a white tab that I wear throughout the week serves much the same function, but the cassock is more traditional and formal.

Question: Why do you wear black clothes?

You might hear an adult say, “Black makes you look slimmer”. While that might be true, that’s not the reason why I wear black. The only thing that’s going to make me look skinnier is exercise and eating healthier, which I’m trying to do.

As a priest, I wear black because it’s a symbol of dying to myself. It’s also a sign of poverty, as black dye was the cheapest and easiest to make. My priesthood is not about me, but about Jesus and His People, so I have to die to what I want to do with my life and instead live it for Jesus and for all of you. I’m also called to live a much simpler life, giving up family and many things I want for myself.

Question: Why do we have colorful windows?

A simple answer would be, “Because they’re colorful instead of just clear.” But that’s not the full reason, of course.

A lot of churches, especially older ones, have beautiful stained glass windows. These windows are made up of small pieces of colored glass that make up an image of the saints, symbols of our Faith, and more. They help to teach the faith in images, much like a picture book for little children does. While newer churches haven’t continued this tradition, St. Mary’s here in Malta was built with colored glass as decoration. It also helps to keep from being distracted by seeing things happening outside while we’re praying in the Church.

A couple of our Religious Education students had some questions for me. This week’s are from Beau Merriman.

Question: Why do you light candles at the beginning of Mass?

It seems strange to use candles at Mass, doesn’t it? After all, we have electricity and lights that do a better job of lighting everything up. They might have needed them a long time ago for light, but not anymore.

Of course, we don’t use candles to provide light to see as we do with light bulbs and lamps. The candles are what we call a symbol: they show something more important. They are a reminder to us that the Light of Christ is in the world. When we see a lit candle in church, whether the red one by the tabernacle or the ones on the altar, it’s a reminder to us that Jesus is here. During Mass, we light candles to remind ourselves that Jesus is coming to us.

Question: Why do you read stories to us?

As Mass, a number of stories from the Bible are read. One from the Old Testament, one from the New Testament, and one from the Gospel. These stories are telling the stories of Jesus and His work to bring all people to Him.

When I read from one of the Gospels, I’m telling the story of what Jesus himself did and said. The Gospel reading is especially important to remind us of what Jesus wants us to do as His followers. He taught so that we might know Him and follow Him, so we listen to Him that might do what He asks us to do. I read the Gospel out loud so that I might explain what it means for us today.

Question: Why do you put your fingers together when you pray?

During Mass, there’s a certain point in which I pick up the bread, which we call the host, and repeat Jesus’ words, “This is my body.” The same happens with the wine when I say, “This is my blood.” From that point on, that is no longer bread and wine but Jesus Himself.

Just like bread you might have for a sandwich, this bread can leave crumbs. If any crumbs come off after I say those words, they are Jesus as well, so I don’t want them to fall on the floor or something like that. There could be crumbs on my fingertips where I held the host, so I keep my fingers together to hold them until I can brush them off into my chalice, which also contains Jesus.

For some of us, it probably feels like we just celebrated Christmas and New Year’s Day, but now we’ve started the Lenten season. Every year, we’re reminded of the need for increased prayer, fasting, and abstinence. And every year, we might grumble and complain about having to “give something up”.

Interestingly, more and more secular research and practices have shown the benefits of many traditional Lenten practices, in both our physical and mental health. Practices once seen as distinctly Catholic, and ridiculed for that reason, are now encouraged by secular practitioners.

During the Lenten season, we often try to take up a new habit or get rid of a bad habit. Whether it’s stopping smoking, more exercise, more reading and less TV, Lent is often a time to make some small change to ourselves. Many of us do return to our old ways after Easter, but that doesn’t always happen.

Interestingly, scientific studies have shown that a sustained period where we can focus on this change of habit can significantly help in making that change stick. Current studies have put the average time for making a habit stick at 66 days, which is a bit longer than the 45+ days of the Lenten season, so we need to be willing to continue that practice after we’ve entered into the Easter celebrations. This doesn’t negate the benefit of changing habits during Lent, however.

For two days during Lent, Ash Wednesday and Good Friday, we are asked to enter into a fast from food. Instead of our accustomed 3 full meals a day, we’re asked to only have 1 regular meal and 2 smaller snacks. Not a difficult fast by any means, as traditional fasting was much more severe.

Now this idea of fasting has carried over into secular realms. There has been significant research into intermittent fasting, eating one meal a day generally somewhere between the hours of 3-5 PM, as a sustainable weight loss plan. There is also significant evidence that occasional fasts can help with overall physical health.

Of course, during Lent we’re encouraged to spend more time in prayer. Both private and public opportunities for prayer are presented to us, and we know they will help our spiritual life. Our Lenten prayer should draw us closer to Our Lord.

In addition to the spiritual benefits, it’s long been known that prayer also benefits our physical and mental lives. Basic meditation is encouraged to reduce stress and aid in psychological healing from trauma. Meditation also helps with decision making, learning, and more.

This is just a small sample of the awareness that is developing within the secular world surrounding traditional Lenten practices. The spiritual benefits should be enough to encourage us to embrace these practices, but the physical and mental benefits are nice additions!

Last week, I wrote about how we as disciples need to go further than just the minimums in our journey with Christ. He calls us to a deeper love of Him and neighbor.

This week’s Gospel shows how deep that love needs to go. Can we truly love our neighbor, especially if they’re an enemy or have hurt us in any way? It’s extremely difficult, even painful, to do so. Loving our enemy can and will be one way we need to “take up our cross” as we follow His way.

Our Lord shows us what this looks like, as He often does. During His extremely painful suffering on the Cross, did Jesus hold it against the Jewish leaders and Roman officials? Did He criticize His followers for abandoning Him? No, He offered forgiveness as He cried out, “Father, forgive them, they know not what they do.” He ordered forgiveness to those who hurt Him, those who spit on Him, those who left Him alone, those who killed Him.

Can we do this? Yes, but it takes a great amount of humility to do so. It takes the risk of pain, suffering, humiliation, self denial. It takes the strength to “turn the other cheek”, sometimes literally, and accept the blows that come.

So, why do this? Saying, “Jesus said so” is a perfectly accurate answer, but the better answer is, “Jesus did it.” To be a disciple is to be a follower or student of a master. It’s to sit at His feet, learn from what He does and says, and then go out and emulate Him. Our goal as disciples is to hear Our Lord say, “Well done, my good and faithful servant. Since you were faithful in small matters, I will give you great responsibilities. Come, share your master’s joy.”

The challenge for us is to be true disciples who have learned and continue to learn from Our Lord, and love as He did even to the greatest pain we can imagine. That’s what it means to “be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect.” If we accept this challenge and genuinely show the love of neighbor that Our Lord modeled, we will be greeted by Him as good and faithful servants. That alone should make it worth the risk of pain and difficulties that come with discipleship.

It’s not easy being a Christian. Following Our Lord as a disciple means much more than mere belief in Him. It means going deeper in our relationship with Him and our brothers and sisters. It means living in ways that are not always understood even by those who claim the title of Christian without living it.

The Gospel passage this week is a good example of how we are called to live. Our Lord takes the commands of the Father given to the people of Israel, and goes further. He calls us to a higher standard of not merely doing the minimum commanded. He calls us to a “righteousness [surpassing] that of the scribes and Pharisees”, otherwise “you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.”

The scribes and Pharisees were zealous for following the Law of Moses, as they thought it needed to be followed. This often meant setting up additional rules around the Law that they expected to be followed with the same rigidity. They were not content to hold themselves accountable, but also held their fellow Jews to follow the same standard and were quick to condemn anyone who didn’t.

In one way, Our Lord is actually praising the Pharisees and scribes for their desire for faithfulness to the Law. At the same time, He challenges us to go deeper in our love of neighbor than just mere observance of the commandments.

This is where the difficulty in following Him comes in. It’s not enough to avoid murder, but also to avoid murdering someone’s reputation. It’s not enough to avoid adultery, but also to avoid lustful thoughts and looking at another with lust. It’s not enough to avoid false oaths, but also to avoid being deceitful in words.

It’s difficult, but worth it. Our Lord promises us that if we are faithful to Him and his teachings, we will enter into heaven: “whoever obeys and teaches these commandments will be called greatest in the kingdom of heaven.” This should be our greatest desire as disciples: to enter the kingdom of heaven and to be seen as faithful servants to Our Lord.

How much do we really think about salt? For most of us, not much. It’s just something we usually have available at our dining table or on the counter top while cooking. Some of us have to watch how much salt is in our diet due to medical conditions. We also use salt for other purposes, such as to deice the walks and driveways during this winter season.

Salt, however, is an incredible substance. Just a little bit can bring out lots of flavor in our foods. It can work as a preservative for foods that we might want to keep from spoiling for months or even years. It dilutes into water and lowers the temperature where ice forms, which is why we use it on our walks, while also raising the boiling point. Salt is a very simple substance that affects everything it touches, but often becomes invisible while doing it.

Looking at it this way, it’s easy to see why Our Lord called us to be the salt of the earth. As Christians, we are called to influence the world subtly, not drawing attention to ourselves, but allowing our quiet influence to bring out the “flavor” of Christ in the world. We are called to preserve that which is good and holy, protecting it from the destructive elements of sin. Our influence can keep our culture from becoming “frozen” and rigid, while also protecting against “boiling over” into violence.

The challenge for us as Christians is to use our influence within the culture, but to do so while “diluting” into the culture so that we don’t stand out. Our very lives need to bring the flavor of Christianity to the whole world, doing so unconsciously as just a part of our day-to-day living. The greatest compliment we could ever receive as Christians is to go unnoticed for our acts of love toward our neighbors.

This, of course, goes contrary to human nature. We want to be recognized. We want people to notice us and give us credit for our work. The corruption of sin on our souls leads to the temptation towards pride, so that our “flavor” is tasted and not Christ’s. Just as salt can become overpowering and end up hurting the flavor of food, our pride can cause us to become more important than Our Lord. Obviously, we want to avoid this!

As Christians, we do need to be the salt of the earth. Just as humble salt does so much for us, we need to be humble salt for Our Lord!

Every year on February 2nd, we celebrate the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord, the feast that marks the day that Our Lord was first presented in the temple 40 days after his birth. Mary and Joseph did this to fulfill the requirements of the Mosaic Law for a sacrifice of thanksgiving to God and ritual purification of the mother.

One traditional name for this feast is Candlemas. Because the Presentation celebrates the light of Christ coming into the world to scatter the darkness of sin, it was customary to bless the candles that will be used for Mass throughout the coming year. This practice has faded away in many places, but a remnant remains in the blessing of individual candles and procession.

As Catholics, we know that blessed objects have spiritual power. Many sacramentals, such as Rosaries and medals, are blessed to provide spiritual protection and aid. Blessed candles are especially powerful helps to our prayer life, and provide a strong support against evil.

So, what can we use these candles for? The first, and most obvious use, is to light during our times of prayer. The light of the flame represents Jesus, the Light of the World, present to us. Observing candle flames can help to focus our thoughts and guide us spiritually in our time with Our Lord.

A blessed candle is a great tool against the power of darkness and evil. Traditionally, the Rite of Exorcism would use a blessed candle to show the power of the Light of Christ against the darkness of the devil. When temptations to sin come, especially at night, the light of a blessed candle can help to dispel those temptations.

Even natural dangers can be eased through the light of a blessed candle. A long standing tradition is to light a blessed candle for protection against storms, such as the blizzards that arrive every winter or the severe thunderstorms that rumble through the summer evenings. Of course, there is also a practical effect: the candle can be used for a bit of light when the power goes out after sunset.

This year, I encourage you keep your blessed candle in a place where you might pray, and allow the candle to show the Light of Christ to your families and to the world!

One of the greatest fruits of the Second Vatican Council was the renewed focus on and desire for the Sacred Scriptures. Although the Church has always venerated and encouraged knowledge of the Scriptures, that didn’t always translate into encouragement on the parish and individual levels. Many stories have been told of pastors and bishops who discouraged their people from reading the Scriptures, and so biblical literacy suffered within the Catholic Church.

Today, however, there is a great desire and encouragement to study and read the Scriptures. We almost have an embarrassment of riches in helping us understand the Word of God. Translations, commentaries, reflections, bible studies, homilies, videos, and much more are easily available. In some cases, we can find out everything we want to know about the Scriptures with just a click of a mouse.

The challenge now is to separate “the wheat from the chaff,” to use the image from the Scriptures itself. The abundance of resources means that both good and bad are equally available. We need to find people and organizations that are trustworthy for their faithfulness to the teachings of Christ passed from generation to generation through His Church. Just because a particular commentary or reflection sounds good to us and agrees with what we think doesn’t mean that the commentator is expressing something in line with Our Lord.

For those who desire to study the Scriptures, permit me to make a couple recommendations. A great source for both audio and video commentaries, as well as individual and group study programs, is the Formed.org site that we have available free of charge for us, and contains a lot of great content. Dr. Scott Hahn’s St. Paul Center is also a great source, including a weekly commentary on the upcoming readings for Sunday Mass. We even have a great Scripture scholar within our diocese, with Fr. Joe Ponessa and his Come and See series of books. This is not an exhaustive list by any means, but a good start to better understanding the Word of God.

Through the Scriptures, we can hear Jesus speaking to us, if we are open and are willing to seek Him out. The great wealth of resources available help us to do that!