Fr. Damien, A Man of the Gospel

Today the Church around the world celebrates the third Sunday of Advent, also known as Gaudete Sunday.  As we wait together for the coming of our Lord and the fulfillment of our hope we are reminded of joy; joy which is the effect of God's presence with us.  Our attention turns, in the midst of our waiting, our impatience, our struggles with the present, to the sure joy of our faith, the joy of having God with us and being with God.  In our first reading today we are called to joy: "Shout for joy!"  "Be glad and exult with all your heart!"  We are filled with joy because our God is with us and is in our midst.  He has chosen to join himself with us, to forgive and liberate us, and to forever be our Lord, our Brother, our Savior.  "He will rejoice over YOU in gladness... He will sing joyfully because of YOU."

And so today we, with the Church throughout the generations, without fear and without hesitation rejoice in and announce the Gospel, the GOOD NEWS.  As our Holy Father, Pope Benedict, reminds us so often, the Good News is a person, it is Jesus Christ- who is love and came to be forever with us.

Sometimes it is tough to do this.  It's not always easy to express joy and to rejoice in the hope of our faith.  We all experience pain and weather what seems like more than our fair share of deserts.  And yet somehow God remains with us and against all odds fills us with joy.  It is not always easy, either, to find good examples and leaders who unreservedly and fearlessly announce the Good News.  Early on in my formation as a seminarian in Baltimore I had the awesome opportunity to be with and learn from a true hero, a true man of the Gospel who lived joy, Fr. Damien Nalepa of St. Gregory the Great Parish in West Baltimore, best known as Fr. D.

Fr. D. passed away this summer unexpectantly in his sleep.  His absence is surely still felt by many throughout Baltimore, but his witness lives on.  Fr. D. was a simple man who gave his whole life to the people of Baltimore and to living the Gospel.  He was a blast to be with and never stopped serving.  Fr. D. had a contagious joy that he spread everywhere he went.  He spread this joy with prisoners at the Baltimore City Jail where he served as chaplain.  He spread joy to the recovering addicts who would meet and congregate in the church basement of St. Gregs.  He spread his joy with the hungry who came through the weekly soup kitchen in the church basement, the young families who would come to the church food pantry, the countless who benefited from the Christmas giving program-- both givers and recipients.  He spread joy with his brother priests and life-long friends, those relationships which had been formed around the joy of Christ.  He spread joy with the surrounding neighborhood of Gilmore Homes.  And most of all, Fr. D. spread joy in the parish community, the CHURCH FAMILY of St. Gregory the Great, a booming and vibrant family of people from all walks of life who come together to worship, to praise, and to give of themselves for the community.  And so I could not think of a better example, a better icon, of Gaudete Sunday than Fr. Damien.

Maybe the story which best describes Fr. D. took place as I was leaving his viewing this past August.  As I crossed the intersection of Gilmor and Baker Streets, a man who was sitting on the park bench called out to me, "Hey father!  Come over here, I want to meet you."  It may seem odd, but after spending a summer at St. Gregs, I wasn't surprised in the least.  So I walk over to the park bench where this man, a middle-aged construction worker on his lunch break, and another man from the neighborhood stood up, "I want to shake your hand.  You knew Fr. D., didn't you."  They continued, "Yeah, we sure are going to miss him.  We all knew he was on our side.  He was here for us.  So we wanted to meet you; you're one of them, one of the pastors."  As the conversation continued, I was floored at how big of an impact Fr. Damien had on these two men and on the whole community.  They knew that he was there for them.  They knew that they were loved.  And it was because of this, because of this awesome impact that Fr. D. had on them, that they wanted to meet me, a friend of Fr. D and another Catholic who wanted to give his life to being with them and for them, like Fr. D had done.    

To be honest, this brief interaction was the proudest moment that I have ever experienced of being a seminarian.  I have prayed and gone to confession at the site where Jesus rose from the dead; I have dipped my hands into the Jordan River; I have shaken the pope's hand and kissed the ring of Peter; but those moments, as awesome as they were, made a whole lot more sense and were given a deeper understanding and appreciation after having encountered these two men who saw in a Catholic priest someone who mattered.  These men recognized, because of the clothes that I was wearing, that I was there for them out of a deep joy-filled love.  Fr. D. lived this joy-filled love day after day.  He talked to everyone he saw and was always looking for new ways to help, new ways to assist people with their needs for food, shelter, money, support, prayer, school supplies, etc.

Fr. Damien was also committed to justice, not as a concept or an agenda, but as the right thing to do for real people living in a real world.  He saw the West Baltimore community as his responsibility and therefore that community was also the responsibility of St. Gregory the Great Parish.  The church family on Gilmor and Baker streets announces the Good News and takes care of the people in their neighborhood.  They are an anchor, working for the wellbeing of the people of West Baltimore.  In my short summer with Fr. D. at St. Gregs we welcomed and blessed the homes/appartments of several new-comers to the area, visited men and women in prison, gave food to the hungry, sat and talked with people struggling from addictions, distributed clothes and school supplies, and asked/begged for money for the church.  We also worked with the youth of the parish and the surrounding neighborhood, praying with them and encouraging them to open their hearts to Christ.  Living the Good News for Fr. Damien was a constant.  It started inside the chapel with prayer and the sacraments and flowed out into the community in everything we did.

In his fight for justice, Fr. Damien was able to speak so that he was heard and make a difference in an area stricken with senseless violence and rampant drug-enduced despair.  He entered into these dark realities with a constant smile and an unwaivering determination.  He was known to literally chase drug dealers off of their corners saying, "We don't want your business here!  Go away!"  He started a program called the Gun Turn-In, a program that sought to get guns off the streets.  His thought was that the less guns out there, the less accidents or gun-related crimes there could be.  He also knew that taking a public stand for justice is always noticed, and being a person of peace does make a difference.  And so Fr. Damien was known for putting together peace rallies and taking the Gospel message of Peace and Reconciliation to the streets.

Fr. Damien Nalepa was a man of peace.  He was a man of joy.  He was a man of the Good News.  We are called to be the same.  We are called to be Good News to the poor, to be ministers of joy, to be Christians.

Today, on Gaudete Sunday, allow yourself to be filled with joy.  God can and will do it.  Then share joy.

Home in Charm City... the Land of Pleasant Living

I love Baltimore.  From all of the places that I have been in the past two years, there is no place that can compare to Charm City.  For lack of a better phrase—my roots are here—and I am thrilled to be home.  Directly after landing at BWI my parents and I met up with a lot of old friends at the infamous Ryan’s Daughter on Belvedere Square.  It was awesome to say the least. 

As can be expected, some things have certainly changed, both around town and within myself, over the past two years.

For one, it seems like zombies are really popular these days.  I don’t get it.  I thought the movie Zombie Land was pretty funny, but other than that I really don’t get the fascination with zombies.  It seems like some people are taking the whole thing pretty seriously… who knows.

Another big change has been adjusting to the lay of the land, especially with new landmarks.  I would have never said that I am all that good with directions and knowing my way around town—especially considering that ever since I started driving I have mapped out places in relation to either Charles St. or York Rd.  So some of my memories of where things are and different possible short-cuts have gotten a bit rusty, but that has definitely not been helped by the growth of different areas.  Who would have thought that Fallston would have a Walmart, McDonalds, Burger King, the Acme, and still be building… 

It has been absolutely incredible to be able to spend some quality time with family and friends.  My supervisor for the summer at Immaculate Heart of Mary parish, Fr. Michael Carrion, has been really awesome in encouraging me to spend time with family and friends, and so I have been able to spend most of the afternoons on Sundays with my family… a highlight from a couple of weeks ago was going to collect the eggs from the chickens at my parents’ house with my grandfather.  He has slowed down a bit in his old age, but I can’t remember hearing him laugh as much as when he was telling me how he started warning the chickens, “Either start putting out more eggs… or else!”

It has been awesome to spend time with my nieces and nephew!  My classmate from Baltimore, Chris deLeon, has taught me a valuable lesson.  He calls it expectation management.  So as I was coming home after having been gone for two years I followed my good friend’s advice and did a little bit of expectation management.  Well, I was totally blown away at how excited they were to see me and hear about where all I had been and then talk about what all they had been up to over the past two years and what all we are going to do this summer.  They, really my whole family, have been an incredible inspiration to me and have kept me going in times of doubt and struggles with discernment and trust.

I finally got to congratulate my sister Theresa and her husband Sammy and two of my best friends in the world, Ben and Jen Livingston, on getting married.  To be honest missing those weddings and the birth of my niece Samantha were some very difficult sacrifices, but it was awesome to be able to hug them and celebrate their weddings over some good food and the official beverage of Ireland.  It has been difficult too to be here, probably less than a 15 minute drive from them and not be able to spend all that much time together because of responsibilities around the parish.  We will have some good times, though, before September.

It is awesome to be in a parish, especially Immaculate Heart of Mary.  Fr. Mike is a great pastor who really pours himself out for the parish community, and the parishioners are a true family—there for and with each other.  I have really enjoyed working with and getting to know the parish staff, a great group that is really good at what they do, always looking for ways to improve and renew their ministry, and a lot of fun.  One of the daily highlights is our game of jeopardy at lunch.  I have been pretty busy around the parish, helping with daily Mass, Communion Services, wake services, funerals, giving reflections, spending time with parishioners, visiting the neighboring nursing homes and hospitals, and brainstorming possibilities for young adult ministry.  This has really been a great assignment and I am looking forward to experiencing and learning more during my time here.

This past week I was with my brother Baltimore seminarians.  Every year all of the men in formation get together for a week to pray together and spend time growing in fraternity.  We really have an excellent group of men who are in love with the Lord and his people.  We had a special privilege this year of having our newly ordained priests come and celebrate Mass with us and give reflections on their first month as a priest.  It was inspiring and a lot of fun to hear their stories, even the ones that were more liberally based on fact (Isaac).  It was great to spend the week with these men, goofing off and getting to know each other better.  It was also refreshing to meet the six new seminarians for Baltimore—four of whom are from Loyola Blakefield.  Roll Dons Roll.  The six of them are a bright group and a good addition to Baltimore.  You can really see the fruit of the combined efforts of Cardinal O’Brien and Fr. Austin as well as the rest of the diocese.  All in all it was an awesome and refreshing week that, based off of the seminarians who are very eager to serve in any way they can, gave a great preview of the future here in the Land of Pleasant Living.

One major thing that I have acutely noticed about the reality here in America, after having been gone for two years, that has been a bit troubling is the drastic divide between liberal and conservative.  It seems that the political realm and even in a lot of the cultural and religious identity of our national family is broken to the extent of distrust and a lack of willingness to dialogue.  Being in ignorance myself, I am sure that both sides have good arguments on any number of different issues—but as a proud American I am very uncomfortable with the situation and feel called to help bridge the gaps… not really sure how to go about doing that, but maybe we can all chip in and work on this together.

Lastly, I was able to go to an O’s game last night… they changed Camden Yards quite a bit… (I totally like the changes).  And it seems like National Bohemian is making a strong comeback… maybe we can negotiate a contract with them as the Official Beverage of the Premier See.  Something to think about.

As you can probably tell it has been a real joy to be back home.  My love for our Lord and his people has definitely been strengthened both by being away for two years and by being here in Charm City.  We are a people of Communion.  And it’s great to be a part of it.

Celebrating Together in the Holy Land

I recently read in a reflection written by Brother Roger of Taize that we can live the Gospel only together-- that living the Gospel requires community and communion. I think that this is so true and that I experienced this during my pilgrimage to the Holy Land.

Last month I went with 35 other seminarians and priests from the NAC to Israel for a two week pilgrimage. We were in Galilee for 6 days, including Christmas, and in Jerusalem for 6 days, including New Years. The trip was absolutely incredible and was filled with grace and many substantial periods of silent prayer with the Lord. From the moment we first arrived in Galilee through our last day in Jerusalem I was filled with a sense of being home-- a sense that I have been here before and this place where Jesus lived, taught, healed, and gave himself for us is in some way my home. And in light of what Brother Roger says, I think that I felt so at home in the Land of Jesus because there in some special way I was united with him and with countless Christians from over two thousand years in our effort to live the Gospel.

Like many religious sites which attract pilgrims, the Holy Land stands as a symbol and representation of the universality of our faith. We believe that Christ came

for all people-- for people from every corner of the globe. And it is truly awesome to see people from every corner of the globe coming to Christ on pilgrimage, in prayer, in service to one another, in their parish community, etc. It is an inspiring witness. And it was together that we, believers from all over the world, prayed at these religious sites, together in worshiping the God who came to our world for us and together in praying for our loved ones back home.

Our group celebrated Mass together each day at different religious sites of historical significance. We celebrated on the shores of the Sea of Galilee, on the Mount of Beatitudes (pictured above), in Capernaum where Peter lived, at Peter's Primacy where Jesus forgave Peter and commissioned him to feed his sheep. We celebrated at the spot of the Annunciation in Nazareth, at the chapel of the Upper Room in Jerusalem, in Gethsemane where Jesus had his Agony in the Garden, and in the chapel of the Basilica of the Holy Sepulchre on the site where Jesus was crucified, died, was buried, and rose from the dead. And at all of these celebrations we were mindful of those countless droves of pilgrims who have prayed and celebrated the Mass in these places.

One Mass stands out in particular. We were invited to join a German community of Benedictines

for Christmas morning Mass at their monastery in Tabga, the site of the multiplication of the loaves and fishes. In addition to our group and the Benedictines there were a fair number of German pilgrims there for the Mass too. And in their typical great hospitality the Benedictines did everything they could to help us Americans feel welcome. At the very beginning of Mass the main celebrant, one of the Benedictines, said with great joy in German and in English that today, Christmas, is an international cause for great joy and celebration. The birth of our Lord and Savior is a reality that breaks every barrier and brings life for every single person-- regardless of race and language. And really it is a reality that breaks those barriers forever. That Christmas morning we worshiped together, German and American alike. Our Mass was bi-lingual. We sang hymns in English and German. The readings and homily were in English and German. The prayers were in English and German. And how fitting. How fitting that we praise the universal savior together who came for all, united in gratitude and in faith.

Another international experience that stands out was while we were praying in the Basilica on the Mount of Beatitudes. Our group had spread out in the church and were praying silently on this spot where Jesus gave the Beatitudes when a large group of pilgrims from Africa came in and filled the church. They continued to then fill the church with their prayers and songs as they cried out to our God in their own way. It was interesting to note the differences in how we prayed. Our group sat quietly, spread out, many with Bible or Breviary out, whereas they packed in together and prayed out loud. We were all doing the same thing, but we were doing it somewhat differently-- each in our own way. But we were there together and there was a richness in our diversity.

The Gospel does not only call people together from different nations, but it also calls together people of different Creeds and denominations. To be clear, there is certainly much work to be

done in Christian Unity and the Holy Land is no exception. There are divisions between the Christian denominations and certain te

nsions continue to make those divisions clearly visible. But there is also the reality of people of all Christian faith traditions praying together. Though there was a clash between monks of two different Orthodox traditions in the same church three days before, I went into the cave area where Jesus was born in Bethlehem with Orthodox Christians. Though tensions continue to exist, people from each denomination go to these sites to pray-- and they go together. Orthodox, Roman Catholic, Protestant-- all go together to these places and pray side by side at the site of the crucifixion on Calvary. Side by side at the site where Jesus went on trial and was condemned to death. Side by side at the site where St. Stephen was martyred. Side by side on the site where Jesus rose from the dead. Every single day people from different denominations and different Christian traditions come together and pray side by side, recalling in great gratitude the loving actions of God on earth, bringing with them all of their loved ones from home.

One experience of this coming together really touched me. During one of the days that we were

in Jerusalem we stopped in to pray in a basilica that was built by the crusaders. It is very rare for a church, or much of anything, built by the crusaders to remain standing in Jerusalem. But this particular church building remains because of its beauty and its great acoustics inside. And so groups of pilgrims who visit this church typically sing, raising their prayers to God in this historic church. After our group had been there for a little while we sang the Pater Noster, the Our Father in Latin. The acoustics were impressive as the words of this prayer echoed throughout the church-- plus I think we did a pretty good job singing...

After we had finished singing we spread out. I went downstairs to see the lower level, and as I came back up the stairs I heard an incredible sound; a non-denominational group from America had gathered around the center of the church and was singing Amazing Grace. It was awesome. I sat down and listened to the prayers as they rose up from this circle of pilgrims. They continued their praise, song after song. And as they prayed my spirits were lifted. As they prayed I prayed. And in that moment we were together as Christians, praising our God. And it was good. It was fitting.

I also experienced this transcendental togetherness in the reality of praying in places where Christians have prayed for over two thousand years and being in communion with them. One of

the places where I felt really united to the countless millions of pilgrims who had gone before me was in a place just on the outside of Old Jerusalem where Jesus was held over the night of Holy Thursday, after being arrested in the Garden. Historians and scholars hold that during that dark night Jesus was lowered into a deep and lightless pit that was only accessible through a small hole, just wide enough to lower a person into the pit and pull them up out of the pit. And it was in this pit that Jesus stood and waited.

He had already firmly set his heart on the will of the Father. He had already resolutely determined to give himself, his very life, for all of humanity. He had already said Yes. But he had to wait. And he had to wait in dark silence. He had to wait in solitude.

He had to wait in uncertainty as to what the next day would bring.

While our group was in this pit together (there are now stairs that go down into the pit from the side) we prayed from Psalm 88: "I cry out before you... for my soul is full of trouble and my life draws near to the grave... You have put me in the lowest pit, in the darkest depths... and darkness is my only friend." Strong words that communicate stronger depths of agony. These are words that I imagine Christ would have prayed that night in this very pit. They are also words that countless pilgrims who have gone to the Holy Land may have prayed in that very pit. And how accutely we can relate to them. How powerfully and intimately we can relate to that pit. I imagine every pilgrim who has ever stood in that pit felt the knee buckling shock of standing with our Lord in his despair and fear and darkness. And what a gift, to stand there with Jesus, our Lord and our Brother, supporting him and praying for him and in union with him. And we pilgrims did that together-- together in the timeless and transcendent communion of our faith.

It is so beautiful too to know that in that pit I stood with Christ our Lord and Brother, all of the pilgrims who have stood in the pit over the years, and also every single person who has spent any amount of time in the pits of despair. Every one of us, to whatever degree, can intimately relate to the words of Psalm 88. Every one of us can relate to standing in a low and dark pit with uncertainty as to what tomorrow will bring. And because our God loves us-- Not one of us prays those hallowing words of Psalm 88 alone. Not one of us stands in our pits of darkness and fear alone. We are never alone. Jesus is there with us. Think about it; over that night as Jesus stood there in the dark depths of the pit-- he stood with us and we with him. And that will not change.

In addition to being together with Our Lord, Christians from around the world, Christians from all time periods, I was also in a special way with my family, friends, co-workers, students, parishioners, and fellow seminarians who I took with me on pilgrimage.

As our group celebrated the Christmas Midnight Mass in Galilee we prayed that our gift to God this Christmas might be these people that we bring with us on pilgrimage: may we bring them, their struggles, their joys, their petitions, their needs, and present them to the Lord at the sites where he taught, where he healed, where he called the disciples, where he prayed, where he was baptized, where he reconciled Peter to himself, where he instituted the Eucharist, where he was arrested, where he was held overnight in darkness, where he was put on trial, where he was crucified, and where he rose from the dead. In each of these places I brought these people-- my family, friends, co-workers, students, parishioners, and brother seminarians. And in the act of presenting them to God, in praying with them, I was together with them. I was together in communion with them as I prayed especially that they might share in the ultimate cause for hope and joy-- the Resurrection; especially that they might in some way experience a taste of the Resurrection now-- and that that taste might spark a fire in their lives to somehow live the Resurrection.

This pilgrimage to the Holy Land was awesome. It was personally a time of growing in intimacy and communion with the Lord and with his people. All of these experiences also deepened my understanding of and peace in my ongoing formation and training to be a priest in Baltimore. Part of the role that I hope to enter into in Baltimore is to be a witness to how we are united in so many ways that we may never know; united as Catholics as well as Christians. We are together. We pray together. We live together. We stand in the pits and on the mountain tops of our lives together with one anoty this reality. May we bear witness to our communion and work tirelessly for a greater visible union. And when we all, as people of faith, are persecuted-- as is the case for many Christians living in the Holy Land, as is the case for many Christians living throughout the Middle East and in parts of Africa, as is the case for many Christians in Asia, as is the case for many who suffer violence, and as is the case for people of faith in the United States as religious freedom and the freedom to follow one's conscience is threatened to be denied by the government-- may we stand together. And may we look to our Lord who is with us and to his Spirit who wants so much to guide us.

We are called to live the Gospel. And to live the Gospel together.