November 29 - 1st Sunday of Advent

Bellarmine University

“How to Conduct Yourself as You Wait”

Rev. Ronald Knott

November 29, 2015

                          When  you  see  these  signs  begin  to happen,

                           stand  erect   and  raise   your  heads   because

                           your  redemption  is  at  hand. Do  not let your

                           hearts  become  drowsy  and   that   day  catch

                           you by  surprise. Be vigilant  at  all  times and

                           pray that you have the strength to stand before

                           the Son of Man.                                    Luke 21

Advent is a lot like driving a car. We look back through our rear view mirror to where we have been and we look forward through our windshield to what is coming toward us.  We look back by re-reading the old stories about how our spiritual ancestors waited for the coming of the Messiah.  We look forward by re-reading the gospels so that we can be reminded of where we are heading. We wait in joyful hope between the first coming of Christ and the second coming of Christ. We not only wait in joyful hope, we are told to stand erect, with heads raised, We are warned not to take our eyes off the wonderful things Go has in store for us, not to doze off and miss the boat. We are told to pray always so as to have the strength necessary to stand face to face before God. 

Students! Here is the bottom line today. No matter how old we are or young we are, our days are numbered and the clock is winding down. We have no idea how much longer we will be here. It has nothing to do with age. Many young people your age and younger die every day through accidents, disease and violence. It is a sobering thought to know that death is always a possibility, no matter how young we are. All we have to do is think back a few short weeks ago. One of our students, Tylar Misbach, was here one day and gone the next! All I have to do is think of two of my students from St. Meinrad a couple of years ago. Fr. Jorge Gomez, age 32, ordained eight weeks, and Seminarian Stanley Kartiuki, age 32, were killed instantly in an intersection in Tulsa by a car that sped through a red light. They were students of mine just eight weeks early and a promising olife ahead of them. 

Even old people don’t always know when they are going to die. We have a monk at Saint Meinrad who is 105 and from the way he looks, he could be around for a while!  I recently anointed three people, one 86, one 96 and one 98. In all three cases, I left their beds thinking they would die quickly. I was convinced that the 86 year old would not last the night. He has been spotted at several social functions recently. One was taken off her respirator to die naturally. She was spotted downtown recently, in a beaded cocktail dress, to receive an award from the Center for Interfaith Dialogue. One I kissed good-bye, thinking I would see her, next time, in heaven. I called the next day and she was up drinking coffee and laughing on the phone. If you want to die, don’t call me to anoint you! 

It was this last one who really taught me what these reading today want us to know. As I said, she is 98. We were talking one day about death and I asked her if she was worried about her future. She answered, in a matter-of-fact way, “God has always taken care of me and I suspect he always will.” She really put me in my place on another occasion when we were again talking about dying. I started telling her all the stuff I was going to say at her funeral. After I finished, she looked me right in the eyes and laughed, “I hope you live long enough to be there!” She has a point! It’s just like her to outlive me! Truly, we know not the day or the hour.

Students! A good disciple, and I know many of you are seriously trying to be good disciples, a good disciple does not presume he has plenty of time. A good disciple always lives with the end in mind - not in a morose kind of way, but with the idea always tucked in the back of his/her mind. The best thing you can do to prepare to die is to live well now, each and every day, with all the deliberateness that you can muster.  Be “vigilant” and “alert” as the first reading tells us! That means to live “on purpose” and “with purpose.” If you live well, standing erect and your head up, then you will be able to stand confidently before God whenever the end does comes! The great American poet, Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr., put it: “Death tugs at my ear and says, 'Live. I am coming.”

How are we to wait?  (1) A good disciple loves God enough to want what God wants! (2) A good disciple never forgets who he is – a child of God. He respects himself and all others, without compromise. (3) A good disciple lives as close to the way Jesus lived that he can! (4) A good disciple is in command of himself. He stands up to his addictions and passions. (5) A good disciple never forgets that, in the end, good will triumph over evil. It’s not up for grabs. It has already been decided. For that reason, a good disciple never gives up. (6) A good disciple lives with the end in mind and knows for certain that it will be glorious. Therefore, he lives “in joyful hope for the coming of our Lord, Jesus Christ.”

Students! Many of the thoughts in today’s readings were also in our readings from two weeks ago. I have tried not to repeat myself, but I do want you to remember this! God has given you the precious gift of life. Take charge of it and care for it! Never forget who you are! You are a child of God. Respect yourself and all the children of God around you. Don’t worry about dying. Worry about living! Live well, one day at a time, and wallow in the peace of knowing that, in the end, everything will be OK!  Last of all, under no circumstances forget that death is simply the doorway to eternal life. This, my friends, is how we “wait in joyful hope for the coming of our Savior, Jesus Christ.”       

     

September 6 - 23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time

Bellarmine University                                            

Don’t Be Limited By Fear

Rev. Ronald Knott

September 6, 2015

Say to those whose hearts are frightened: “Be strong! Fear not!”

Isaiah 35:4-7a

I have spoken these words from Isaiah the prophet to myself for most of my life because fear has had a tendency to be a ruling force throughout my life. Battling fear is still part of my everyday life! The world can be a scary place sometimes. The words of Isaiah are, for that reason, words we all need to take to heart and reflect on seriously. 

When Isaiah first spoke these words to the people of tiny kingdom of Judah, they were basically surrounded by the powerful Assyrian empire which was swallowing up all their towns surrounding Jerusalem. Even in the face of imminent destruction, the prophet calls the people to face their fears and to know that, in the end, God’s faithfulness to them would triumph, even in the face of collapse and captivity by their enemies.  With all that going on around them, he says to them, “Be strong! Fear not!”  

It still happens after all these years. I get on a plane by myself heading out to some far-flung diocese to face hundreds of priests and realize that I am overcome with fear and doubt – fear of rejection and doubt about my capabilities.

Even though I haven’t had a disaster yet, on the contrary appreciative acceptance, I have to talk myself up and my demons down every time I take off on another speaking trip.  I can still remember being paralyzed by that same fear and doubt before opening the box my first published book arrived in – fear of rejection and doubt about my ability.

I have come to believe that many of us never become all we could become because of two things. (1) We are intimidated by the judging voices of others we can't, we shouldn't and we mustn't. (2) We are intimidated by our own criticizing, self-doubting voice.  Both voices say basically the same thing. “Who are you to do such and such? Who do you think you are, anyway? These demons must be slain or we will end up “settling” for a life marked by dullness, quiet desperation, resentment or even rage. Angelina Jolie said this, “If you ask people what they've always wanted to do, most people haven't done it. That breaks my heart.”

The secret to true personal freedom is the ability to face our fears, to stand up to our own cowardice and to do hard things for our own good. What I have learned from years of doing those things is that you end up amazed at the great things that will come to you, if you do!

Another thing I have learned is that it takes an amazing amount of concentration of the will to overcome the embedded negative messages we carry from childhood The good news is that with dedicated practice it is indeed possible to silence those messages and rob them of their power. I believe I am where I am today, able to do what I do,  because of my determination to not allow fear and doubt to control me. I am very happy that, with God's help and my willingness to keep trying, I was able to overpower my own crippling messages!  

The third thing I have learned is that there is wisdom out there that is available to us about overcoming fear and self-doubt that others can share with us. As you know, I collect motivational quotes and I regularly share some of my favorites on this subject in hopes that you can learn from them as well.

Fear probably defeats more people than any other one thing in the world. I once read that F-E-A-R stands for “fantasy events appearing real.” I read somewhere else that, statistically, about 90% of the things we worry about never happen, so Jesus was right, "fear is useless, what is needed is trust." How we handle fear determines whether we experience adventure or whether we are limited by the fear of it. Without scary, we don’t get to be brave!

I would say that my life has been enriched every time I have gotten up the guts to look fear in the face and say “No, you are not going to run my life! I may fail, I may get hurt, I may be laughed at, but again I might not, so once and for all be gone!” I had to stand down fear when I left home to go to the seminary at fourteen.I had to wrestle fear all throughout seminary so that I could stay in. I refused to be ruled by fear when I decided to be ordained, when I got my first, second, third, fourth, fifth and sixth assignment. I have had to deal with fear when I decided to retire and, because I refuse to stop growing and changing, I still have to deal with it. I deal with it by saying "no" to it in the most firm voice I can!  "What do you mean, I can't do it? Watch me!"  

Students! The words of Isaiah today are spoke to you as well! ‘Be strong! Fear not!”  Do not listen to the discounting voices of those who do not believe in you! Do not listen to that discounting voice in your own head that does not believe in you! Tell them both to shut up and listen instead to God’s voice in your own heart – that tiny whispering voice that gets drowned out in the noise of the world – that tiny whispering voice that you may not be able to hear because of the noisy, negative self-talk that comes out of other people's mouths or goes on in your own head – that tiny whispering voice of God who is telling you not to fear, but to be strong! 

Take it from one who has been there! God has great plans for you – he wants to take you to places who cannot even imagine for yourself! Do not let fear hold you back, wherever its source, from becoming who you really are and who you can become - your true self! Henry Ford may have said it best when he said, “Those who think they can and those who think they can’t are both right!  

August 30 - 22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time

Bellarmine University

“Hear the Word! Do the Word”

Rev. Ronald Knott

August 30, 2015

Humbly welcome the word that has been planted

in you. Be doers of the word and not hearers only.

James 1:21-22

You would never know it, but preaching the gospel is the primary duty of priests: not celebrating mass, not doing baptisms, not hearing confessions, not witnessing weddings, but preaching. Catholics have been disappointed with Catholic Church preaching for so long, they dare not expect it any more. When Catholics do find a priest who can preach, they tend to follow him from church to church like hungry puppies. Others just do without this spiritual food, year after year, or leave or join some Protestant denomination.

This problem, I believe, can be traced back to the Reformation, four hundred years ago. It is a bit simplistic, but in that painful divorce Catholics took the altar and Protestants took the pulpit. Protestants all but gave up the Eucharist and we all but gave up preaching.  That’s why most Protestant churches, at least until very recently, have a tiny little altar table and a huge pulpit, while most Catholic churches have a tiny little pulpit and a huge altar.

Catholics who leave us for a pulpit somewhere else must also know that they are going off and leaving the Eucharist. What we need to do, what we have been working on over the last several years, is to be able to offer both: a powerful celebration of the Liturgy of the Word followed by a powerful celebration of the Liturgy of the Eucharist.

Preaching is being taken more seriously than ever in our seminaries. I am no professional homiletics professor, but I have been teaching homiletics (preaching) at St. Meinrad Seminary. I constantly challenge priests in the retreats I lead here and abroad to take preaching seriously - more seriously than anything else they do. The downfall of most preaching courses is that they focus way too much on public speaking techniques and not enough on the faith of the preacher. What I stress with priests is that preaching must be the bedrock of their personal spiritual life. My belief is similar to what William Faulkner said, “If a story is in you, it has to come out.”  I always remind my students and my fellow priests that if the love of God is in our hearts, we will find an effective way to communicate it. If not, our homily will just be another speech about God. A homily is not a speech. The purpose of a homily is to turn on a bulb in listeners' hearts, to help the listener make a connection with God.The response to a good homily is "Ah,ha! Now I get it!"  As we learned in the seminary, “Nemo dat quod non habet.” If you ain’t got it, you ain’t give it.

The preacher, and readers of scriptures at Mass as well, must be the first to ‘humbly welcome the word” and to “be a doers of the word and not just speakers and readers only." Preaching, especially, is an awesome responsibility and the well from which it comes must be constantly filled!  The preacher must know himself, know others and know God, and be able to talk about it all three in a convincing way. Lectors don’t just “read to people,” they “proclaim the good news.”

        Humbly welcome the word that has been planted

          in you. Be doers of the word and not hearers only.

For the next few Sundays our second reading will be taken from the Letter of James. James is famous for his insistence that faith is lived, not just claimed and talked about. He tells us today, “Be doers of the word and not hearers only.” Later on we will hear him say, “What good is it to profess faith without practicing it? If a brother or sister has nothing to wear and no food for the day, and you say to them, “Good-bye and good luck! Keep warm and well fed,” but do not meet their bodily needs, what good is that? So it is with faith that does nothing in practice. It is thoroughly lifeless.”

My fellow Catholics, we cannot be ignorant of scripture and at the same time do as God has asked us. As the Letter to the Romans puts it, “Every one who calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved. But how can they call upon him in whom they have not believed? And how can they believe unless they have heard of him? And how can they hear unless there is someone to preach? Faith, then, comes through hearing, and what is heard is the word of Christ.” 

It would be wonderful if every one of us took the opportunity to study scripture in a formal way. Scripture classes are offered in almost every parish these days. The diocese has many continuing education classes available on scripture. However, one of the simplest ways to study scripture is to take advantage of our Liturgy of the Word each week. To get the most out of the Liturgy of the Word each week, three things must happen. (1) Readers must read well. (2) Preachers must preach well. (3) You must learn to listen well. 

(1) One of the hardest things to get across to lectors is that they are not just “reading to people," but “proclaiming the word of God.”   That means they must, not just be able to read the words on the page, but to be the medium through which people hear God speaking to them. That means the reader must be familiar enough with the text to convey its meaning. If the reader does not know what the words mean, how can he or she read it with meaning? Lectors are not just readers. They proclaim the word of God behind the words of the text. The role of the lector, standing in the pulpit, should be taken as seriously as the priest standing behind the altar. Incompetence, sloppiness or carelessness in the pulpit or at the altar should never be acceptable in our churches. Good liturgy strengthens people's faith. Bad liturgy weakens people's faith.     

(2) As a priest, my primary role is to preach. I have a long way to go, but of all the things I do, I take preaching most seriously. This is my 701^st  homily here at Bellarmine alone! I typically work a minimum of 10-12 hours a week preparing these homilies.  As you know, not all priests do that. Several years ago, for instance, I was reading an evaluation that one of our pastors wrote about one of our soon-to-be-ordained seminarians. He criticized the seminarian for “working too much on his homilies.” He went on to say that he “knew of no other priest, except for maybe the Vocation Director (me), who spent that much time on writing homilies.” This time the seminarian is right and the pastor is wrong! I was never more honored by his criticism. Preaching is not just one of many things a priest does, it is the single most important thing a priest does! 

(3) People must learn to listen well. The word “liturgy” means “the work of the people.” In reality, many Catholics still don’t get it. They come to liturgy and put the whole burden of a meaningful liturgy on the backs of us priests, the musicians and the liturgical ministers. Many come late, leave early and in between, sit with their arms folded, never singing or answering the responses or even mouthing the creed, with an attitude of, “OK, now entertain me, impress me and inspire me and, if you fail, I’ll blame you and leave here to tell the world that I don’t get anything out of Mass because of the boring priest and the lousy music.” The word, “liturgy” means “the work of the people.” We preachers, presiders, lectors, Eucharistic ministers and musicians are here to “help you pray,” not to “do your praying for you.” It is your job to pray over the readings before you get here, get here in time to hear them read and at least sit up and pay close attention when God’s word is read aloud. 

“Humbly welcome the word that has been planted in you.” Like the parable of the Sower and the Seed, it is not enough just to have good seed to sow (the word of God), not enough for the sowers to sow well (the lector and the preacher’s job), but the ground on which the word is sown must be fertile and receptive. That, my friends, is your job.Your job is to be good hearers of the word, good welcomers of the word and good doers of the word.    

August 23 - 21st Sunday in Ordinary Time

Bellarmine University

"Do You Want to Leave Too"

Rev. Ronald Knott

August 23, 2015

Many of his disciples no longer accompanied him, so Jesus

asked, "Do you want to leave too?" Simon Peter answered

him, saying, "Master, to whom would we go?"

John 6:60-69

Many people tell me that I'm nuts for being a Catholic priest. I hadn't been ordained but a day when the first person came out of nowhere to challenge me on this. I have told this story many times before, but it immediately comes to mind when I read this gospel. It happened at one of the receptions, following my first Mass.

I was standing there in my new black suit and Roman collar - a little proud of myself - when all of a sudden a stranger approached me and stuck a pin in my balloon. "I can't imagine anyone as intelligent as you seem to be would still be a Catholic, must less become a priest! I got out of all that craziness a long time ago!"

I stood there, shocked, like I had been shot at close range as she went down her well-rehearsed list of things wrong with the Church. When she finished, she disappeared into the crowd, never to be heard from again - at least that is what I thought.

Like me, St. Peter must have been challenged many times about his decision to stay that day, when so many others walked away because of Jesus teaching on the "bread of life" because he writes many years later, in the first of his two letters, "Always be ready to give an explanation to anyone who asks you for a reason for your hope, but do it with gentleness and reverence." (I Peter 3:15,16) When I am challenged, I try to follow his advice.

That first happened when I was 26. I am now 71. At 71, I agree wholeheartedly with Peter. "To whom would I go?" I have been offered a lot of so-called alternatives, I recognize more problems in our Church than most of you, but I can say this much in all honesty. I haven't seen anything yet that I would trade all this for! In the language of gospel music, I wouldn't take nothin' for my Jesus, his Church, and the work he has called me to do!

Students! One of the most important questions facing you in your young adulthood is, "Why do you stay in the Church?" Why do you choose to remain Catholic, when so many others your age are walking away? I am sure many of you have been challenged seriously, maybe even in an angry way. Maybe you have considered it. Maybe you have even tried it for a while. Maybe you remain because you are scared not to. Maybe you hang in there just to please your parents.

Well, let me tell you something. I was not "assigned" here by the bishop. I don't have to do this. I have plenty of other jobs - too many jobs, in fact. But I want to be here and I choose to do this because I want to help you be able to give yourselves, and those who question you, reasons to stay in the Church so that you do not "walk away,"  or worse, just "drift away." 

Yes, you heard me - "help give you reasons to stay in the Church." There are many people today who claim they want to be "spiritual, but not religious." Archbishop Dolan of New York described them this way, "They want to believe without belonging. They want to be sheep without a shepherd. They want to be part of a family, but they want to be an only child." The fact of the matter is, Jesus founded a church on Peter, one of those who did not walk away, and Jesus promised that "the gates of hell shall not prevail against it" and that he would "be with it always, until the end of time." The truth of the matter is, we are not individually children of God, we are each part of God's family with many children and, as a family, we are called to be our brothers and sisters keepers - to be responsible to, and for, each other. We are in this together! 

Melanie, Karen and I want to help you move from an inherited faith, to a personal faith. We find many of you you deeply spiritual, sometimes ravenously so, and we want to help you in your process of knowing God, loving God and serving God. We also want you to feel valued and appreciated by the Church - so hang in there with the rest of us who are on a serious spiritual journey. Each week, as I preach, I will try to help you find answers when "someone asks you for a reason for your hope," and, yes, I will try to do it "with gentleness and reverence."

By the way, the woman who challenged me forty-five years ago contacted me a couple of years back to apologize and to tell me that she had returned to the Church and was absolutely loving it for the first time in her life. As that great "theologian," Yogi Berra put it, "It ain't over till it's over."

If you do go away, for whatever reason, we want you to know that we will always leave a light on for you so you can find your way back. Like the father of the prodigal son, we will be waiting on the porch.

August 16 - 20th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Bellarmine University

CONVOCATION MASS:  “Watch Carefully How You Live”

Rev. Ronald Knott

August 16, 2015

Watch carefully how you live, not as foolish persons but as wise, making the most of the opportunity.

Ephesians 5:15-20

When I was preparing to preach on these words from St. Paul to the Ephesians, I immediately thought of the great American poet, Robert Frost, who ends his famous poem, THE ROAD NOT TAKEN, with these memorable words. “Two roads diverged in a wood, and I, I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference.”

Students, you stand at such a “fork in the road.” Starting today and over the next few years, you will have a whole series of important choices to make! As the road continues to fork, you will be free to choose from a variety of paths and each path you choose will have consequences! As you stand at each fork, weighing your options, you need to know that along with the freedom to choose will come the responsibility to choose wisely. In the past, your parents made choices for you and forced you to accept them, then when things did not work out and you could blame them for their choices. Today, with the freedom to make your own choices, you must now be ready to accept responsibility for your own choices you – good or bad – and live with the consequences of those choices.  That’s is why St. Paul’s words to you today need your careful consideration. “Watch carefully how you live, not as foolish persons, but as wise, making the most of the opportunity.”

Failure to choose, putting off deciding, is also a choice!  Failure to choose has tremendous implications as well! In this regard, there are plenty of people who try to follow the advice of Yogi Bera who said, “When you come to a fork in the road, take it!” George Bernard Shaw, on the other hand, has sounder advice when he said, “Life isn’t about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself!” I discovered his words during my own college days, and I have tried to live out his challenge about “being a force of nature instead of a feverish selfish little clod of ailments and grievances complaining that the world will not devote itself to making me happy.”  In another place Shaw spoke about being pro-active in creating the lives we want. “People are always blaming their circumstances for what they are! I don’t believe in circumstances. The people who get on in this world are the people who get up and look for the circumstances they want, and if they can’t find them, make them.”  

Students! In the great scheme of things, compared to the world as a whole, you are privileged to be here! Opportunity is knocking at your door! However, even if opportunity is knocking, you still need to get up and open the door! As one proverb puts it, “Opportunity may knock only once, but temptation leans on the doorbell!” Believe me, the temptation to blow this opportunity will be unrelenting. Like kids in a candy store, many college students have crashed and burned in their first semester! It has always been easier to “go with the flow” than “grab the bull by the horns.” That’s why the words of St. Paul to you today are so important! “Watch carefully how you live, not as foolish persons but wise, making the most of the opportunity!”

What happens if you do not watch carefully how you live, living like a fool and blowing this opportunity? It will be the difference between “having a life” and a joyless, dull, survival existence. You will no doubt be one of those people who Henry David Thoreau described when he said, “Most men lead lives of quiet desperation and go to the grave with the song still in them.” You will no doubt be one of those people that Thomas Merton spoke of when he said, “The biggest human temptation is to settle for too little.” You will no doubt be like those John Greenleaf Whittier spoke about in his great poem, Maude Mueller, who look back on their lives with sad regret for opportunities missed, “For of all sad words of tongue or pen, the saddest of these, it might have been!” There is nothing more stinging to live with than the knowledge of a great opportunity missed for which you, and only you, are to blame! The secret to making the most of this opportunity is to stand up to your own laziness and cowardice, to refuse to be ruled by your passions and addictions, to develop the personal discipline to delay gratification and to do hard things for your own good! In other words, you simply must take charge of yourself!

What happens if you do watch carefully how you live, living wisely and making the most of this opportunity? Again Thoreau puts it quite clearly when he says, “If one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with success unexpected in common hours.”  And again, “I know of no more encouraging fact than the unquestionable ability of man to elevate himself by conscious endeavor.”  Jesus put it this way when he said to us, “I came to bring you life, life to the full.” “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find, knock and the door will be opened to you!”

Students! Watch carefully how you live! Don’t be a fool! Make the most this opportunity!      

May 8 - Baccalaureate Mass

BELLA698

 “Making Your Bucket List Now”

Rev. Ronald Knott

May 8, 2015

Hold to deliberation and planning. Then you may go

your way securely and your foot will never stumble.

 PROVERBS 3

Over the Christmas holidays last year, I watched the 2007 movie, “The Bucket List,” starring Morgan Freeman and Jack Nicholson. It’s about two terminally ill old men on a road trip with a list of things to do before they “kick the bucket.” 

In one of my very favorite scenes, they are both sitting on one of the pyramids in Egypt. Morgan Freeman’s character says to Jack Nicholson’s character, “You know the ancient Egyptians had a beautiful belief about death. When their souls got to the entrance to heaven…the gods asked them two questions. Their answer determined whether they were admitted or not. “Have you found joy in your life?” “Has your life brought joy to others?”

Today, I want to talk to you about making your bucket list now, not wait till you are at the end of your life. If you are going to answer the two questions from the movie, in any degree of certainty, you must develop a plan and work that plan starting now – even if you have to make revisions along the way. To paraphrase an exchange between Alice and the Cheshire Cat in Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland, "If you don't know where you're going, any road will take you there."

Hold to deliberation and planning. Then you may go

your way securely and your foot will never stumble.

I believe in this practice so much that I actually wrote a book on it for the graduating class that I teach at St. Meinrad Seminary every year. It is called PERSONAL GROWTH PLAN. In that transition class, I challenge them to proceed into priesthood with the end in mind. I ask them to tell me where they would like to end up, spiritually, financially and psychologically when they get to my age. I remind them that if they want to end up there they need to start planning even before they graduate.

As part of the financial section of their personal growth plan, I give them each $100 to open their Individual Retirement Accounts and tell them not to trust the Church or anyone else to take care of them when they are old – even if other people are “supposed to” take care of them in the future To show them how right I am, I refer to a February survey of priests’ retirement plans that reveal that a majority of US priests’ retirement plans are underfunded. I try to get them to see that they could be left stranded after a lifetime of ministry, unless they act now – forty or fifty years out!   

It has been said that most people, who reach 65 or beyond, look back on their lives with regret. They wish they had set their priorities differently. It is a fact that choices made today, whether bad or good, follow us forever, one way or another. As far as that goes, not to choose is a choice! If we want a better tomorrow, then we have to start making better decisions today.

Graduates! Not every fairy tale story that begins with 'Once upon a time,' has a 'Happily ever after….’ ending. J. K Rowling said this: “There is an expiration date on blaming your parents for steering you in the wrong direction; the moment you are old enough to take the wheel, responsibility lies with you.” Our lives are the sum result of all the choices we make, both consciously and unconsciously. If we can control our processes of choosing, we can take control of more aspects of our lives. There is a certain freedom and exhilaration that comes with being in charge of ourselves – but there is also awesome responsibility!

“Have you found joy in your life?” “Has your life brought joy to others?”  If you are going to be able to answer those questions with conviction – forty, fifty or sixty years in the future - now is the time to start. Our first reading, from the Book of Proverbs, offers us a guide. It tells us to “hold to deliberation and planning,” “they will be life to your soul,” “you may go your way securely, your foot will never stumble,” “when you lie down, you will not be afraid” and “when you rest your sleep will be sweet.” 

More is required for success that merely “meaning well.” We have to have a plan and we have what it takes to bring it to reality. In speaking about discipleship, the passage from the gospel that we read tells us that if we set out to build a tower, we need to first sit down and calculate the cost to see if we have what it takes to finish it. Otherwise, after laying the foundation, we might wake up and realize that we do not have the needed resources to finish. Success is more than a good idea, a sincere wish or even a valid college degree.

I have often pondered what is it about certain people that makes them successful in achieving what they set out to do and reach their greatest potential? Is it luck? Do they have better connections with people of power and influence? Does God have favorites? I don’t think so! I believe they have two things: singleness of purpose in where they want to go and the disciplined personal habits that will take them there. Success requires that we have perfect clarity about what we want, constant vigilance to stay on task, regular reevaluation along the way and personal discipline to bring it to completion. One Native American Elder made this wise observation. "Inside of me there are two dogs. One of the dogs is mean and evil. The other dog is good. The mean dog fights the good dog all the time." When someone asked him which dog wins, he reflected for a moment and replied, "The one I feed the most."

Graduates! The truth of the matter is this! It is our light, not our darkness that frightens us! We were created in the image and likeness of God. We are temples of the Holy Spirit. We are light and salt to enlighten and give savor to the world. We are set on a hill to be seen. We have been given talents to invest. We are called to find joy in our lives and bring joy into the lives of others.  Nothing else is as important as these two things! Nothing! If we get these wrong, we have indeed failed at life no matter how far we go!  

Hold to deliberation and planning. Then you may go

your way securely and your foot will never stumble.

If you forgo deliberation and planning and if you fail to develop the personal disciple that goes with it, you could find yourself at my age being one of those million “could have beens, might have beens and should have beens.”  The real losers will be those people who get to the end, still blaming their parents, still blaming the times they lived in, still blaming the system that was so unfair to them or whatever other excuses they can come up with! The truth of the matter is, you have planning to do and choices to make! You can affect the outcome of your life by creating your bucket lists now and practicing the discipline it takes to work through that list - without lame excuses, without whining blame and without lazy shortcuts. As the ancient Greek playwright Aeschylus said, “God loves to help him who strives to help himself.” You can accept or reject that help.

Graduates! In short, you have been given a good education. You can use it or lose it. Ultimately, your choice comes down to this: you can run with the big dogs or you can just sit on the porch and bark!

May 3 - 5th Sunday of Easter

Bellarmine University

“Interconnected and Interdependent”

Rev. Ronald Knott

May 3, 2015

I am the vine, you are the branches.

without me you can do nothing.

John 15

Am I imagining it, or am I just an old cranky man? Is there a growing attitude of people who think and act as if they live on this planet by themselves, displaying a total disregard of how their behaviors affect other people, displaying an attitude of “I am going to do what I want and I don’t give a hoot how it affects you or anybody else”?

Recently, I am finding my anger level hitting the boiling point when I see people throw garbage out of car windows, roll down their car windows and turn their car speakers up so loud it that it rattles the windows of my house, carrying on loud cell phone conversations in public places, letting children run wild in grocery stores and restaurants, trashing public facilities and vandalizing public art, just to name a few.

This excessive individualism is, no doubt, a reaction to an over-emphasis on the common good, when individuals felt crushed and controlled.  It’s the age old story of running off both sides of the road, trying to balance the good of the community with the good of the individual.

This is a very old problem. It goes all the way back to the story of Adam and Eve.  According to that story, at the end of creation God, humans and the animals lived in harmony – interconnected and interdependent. As a colorful Baptist preacher said at one of my graduations, “In the beginning, God was happy being God. The animals were happy being animals. Human beings, however, were not happy being human beings. They wanted t be God one day and animals the next!”  Adam and Eve were tempted to believe they could do without God. Their children, Cain and Abel, were tempted to believe that they could do without each other. “Am I my brother’s keeper?” With this, we see the sin of denying our interdependence begin, a sin that has been repeated in a myriad of ways ever since. Interdependence is the recognition that we are responsible to and dependent on others. To deny it is a sin. Interdependence recognizes the truth of our dependence and independence and weaves them together in a delicate balance.

The scriptures are full of stories emphasizing our interdependence.  Today’s gospel presents us with one of many. In the gospel today, Jesus gives us the parable of the vine and the branches. The Father is the vine grower, Jesus is the vine and we are the branches.  Just as Jesus and the Father are one, we are one with Jesus.  “Just as a branch cannot bear fruit on its own unless it remains on the vine, so neither can you unless you remain in me. By this is my Father glorified, that you bear much fruit and become my disciples.”  We are interconnected, whether we want to recognize it or not. As Celie, in the movie “The Color Purple” put it, “It ain’t easy trying to do without God. Even if you know he ain’t there, trying to do without him is a strain.”

Saint Paul has many more examples of our interdependence. “I planted, Apollos watered, but God caused the growth.”  “Everything is lawful, but not everything builds up. No one should seek his own advantage, but that of his neighbor.” “Avoid giving offense, whether to Jews or Greeks or the church of God, just as I try to please everyone in every way, not seeking my own benefit but rather that of the many, that they may be saved.”  “As a body is one though it has many parts, and all the parts of the body, through many, are one body. Now the body is not a single part, but many. If one part suffers, all the parts suffer with it; if one part is honored, all the parts share its joy.”  No part of the body can say to another part I don’t need you!

The Kentucky motto is “United we stand. Divided we fall.” This could be the motto of our country, our church, our parishes, our schools, our marriages, our families and our neighborhoods. It is the message of our scripture today, as well as all of Scripture.  Some people advocate personal freedom and independence as the ultimate good; others advocate communal responsibility and interdependence as the ultimate good. Interdependence recognizes the truth in each position and weaves them together. It is only when people choose either independence or dependence, only, that we get into trouble.  We are both independent and dependent in a delicate balance. We are interdependent! We are interconnected and we need each other. No man is an island, but part of the main. As John Muir, the famous conservationist put it, “When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the universe.” 

This is a timely message for our country and our church. In both worlds, there is a meanness and a “them versus us” kind of attitude that make enemies, winners and losers, rather than partners of each other.  We have even found out recently that we cannot even do without the “illegal immigrants” who pick our vegetables, clean our hotel rooms, roof our houses, landscape our lawns, nanny our children and dig our ditches. We have found out that we cannot do without Middle Eastern oil or clothes from China. We have found out that we cannot do without people in places like India when we try to get our credit card bills straightened out or our computers fixed.. We are finding out that we cannot even keep our parishes going without priests from Africa, Poland and Central America. We are not as independent as we think we are. In fact, we are becoming more interdependent than ever, thanks to modern communication and travel.

“A branch cannot bear fruit on its own unless it remains on the vine.” This is true spiritually as well as socially. 

April 26 - 4th Sunday of Easter

Bellarmine University

"Good Shepherds"

Rev. Ronald Knott

April 26, 2015

I am the good shepherd. I know mine and mine know me.

John 10

I may be retired, but I am not finished yet. In fact, so far, I can hardly tell the difference. I am still running around the United States and Canada leading priests retreats. I have led over 100 of them in 8 countries and I have 15 more to go - this year and the next. The simplest way to put it might be to say that I go to these places to deliver my crash course in "team shepherding."

Because of a couple of little books I put together on the subject of "spiritual shepherding" a couple of years ago, called The Spiritual Leadership of a Parish Priest, Intentional Presbyterates and A Bishop and His Priests Together, I have probably spoken to well over 20,000 priests, bishops and Cardinals in over one hundred dioceses around the world.

All these invitations, are not about my great personal talent or ability, but about the crying need the church has for "good shepherding." As you already know, lay people are dying for quality spiritual leadership from their priests and are often left disappointed. For some reason, I was simply able to notice this and try to do something about it by writing about it earlier than a lot of others. I am known for my "simple, hard-hitting, straight forward and direct" speaking style.  From priests, I usually hear something like this: "You hit us right between the eyes, you pushed every one of our buttons and you got away with it!" From bishops I hear, "Thanks for saying things to my priests that I cannot say. They listened to you and they even laughed while you were doing it!" I always try to remember  the words of  Oscar Wilde who said, "If you are going to tell them the truth, you had better make them laugh or they will kill you."       

I am the good shepherd. I know mine and mine know me.

What has my work in dioceses around the world have to do with you?  I would say that it has everything to do with you. Most of you already know, at least intuitively that the most pressing need facing the Catholic Church today is the quality of its spiritual leadership - the ability of your designated shepherds to lead you to holiness. We still have about 67,000,000 Catholics on the books in this country, but we also about 20,000,000 who now call themselves as ex-Catholics, former Catholics or non-practicing Catholics. In the past, organized religion could impose unquestioned rules of behavior on its members, but not today! No amount of ranting and raving from our shepherds about how they ought to be listened to and no amount of new rule books will fix this. We need credible spiritual leaders who have the ability influence people, to inspire people, to move from where they are to where God wants them to be! Ordinations alone, Roman collars alone, new editions of the Catechism or Canon Law alone will not fill this gap. We desperately need spiritual leaders, not just in name, but in fact! Without "good shepherds," the flock will continue to be ravaged by wolves and it will continue to run away from hirelings who are only interested in what the sheep can do for them.

In the gospel we read today, Jesus is called the "good" shepherd. In my teaching at the seminary and to priest groups around the country, I like to point out that there are two possible Greek words for "good." Agathos means morally good as in she was a good person. That is not the word used here.  The word used here is kalos which means good at as in he was good at playing baseball or good at playing the guitar.  When the gospel says that Jesus was the Good Shepherd, it means to say that Jesus was good at shepherding, not just a good person. Jesus wasn’t just a fine person, he was good at finding grass and water – and he was good at keeping the wolves at bay!

When  speak to priests and seminarians, and most of them are very good people, holy people, I tell that that being holy, being good, is not enough! They must be good at leading you to holiness.  I always get a laugh when I tell them that their goal is not to have golden light coming from the priest’s house, but to have golden light coming from the homes of the parish. Their job is not just to become personally holy. They must be able to lead you to holiness.

Most of you will be called to be spiritual leaders as well - maybe not as priests, but certainly as married partners and parents. In fact, the Catechism is clear.  Those in Holy Orders and Marriage are both called to lead others to holiness - priests their parishioners and married persons their partners and their children. So those of you who are disappointed with the spiritual leadership of your priest must also examine your conscience about your own spiritual leadership within your families. You will be called to be good personally, but also good at leading your partner and children to holiness.  You must protect your children from predators, find the nourishment they need and teach them to graze safely in a complicated world, both physically and spiritually. You too must be good at being a marriage partner and good at parenting.  The "Good Shepherd" is a model for those of us in ordained ministry, but also those of you who will be marriage partners and parents. I will say to you what  say to our future priests, "If you are going to marry or be ordained, for God sake make sure you have what it takes to be good at it!"  

April 19 - 3rd Sunday of Easter

Bellarmine University

“PEACE BE WITH YOU!”

Rev Ronald Knott

April 19, 2015

Peace be with you!

Luke 24:35-48

I would describe myself, in my early years, as an “anxious” person. To be “anxious” is to be “uneasy and apprehensive about something uncertain” or to be “worried.”  It’s all about that awful thing mighthappen next.  Living in anxiety is a lot like living with a ticking time-bomb strapped to your leg – only all day, everyday. It is living in dread, living on “pins and needles,” “waiting for the other shoe to drop,” waiting to “hit bottom” after falling. It is no way to live and only those who have been there understand. 

As a small child, anxiety was a simple, passing experience – the terror of hiding under covers, wide-awake, after your older sister had told convincing ghost stories or during the height of a crashing, booming rainstorm.

As an older child, living with a parent who had a propensity for fits of anger and rage that came from nowhere, our home was an emotional mind field, loaded with unseen triggers everywhere. You never knew if your next step would set off an explosion of curse-filled name-calling – and worst of all, knowing that there was absolutely nothing you could do about it. There was nowhere to run and nowhere to hide from it. You had to stand and take it until the storm passed, only to have it return again without notice. 

As a young man still in school, it was about the fear of failure, fear of not being good enough, fear of rejection, fear of being laughed at and bullied, fear of not having enough to live on and the fear of going nowhere from where you were, the fear that “this” was going to be “as good as it gets.”

As a young priest, it was about being threatened by the Klan, being scorned in public for being a Catholic by Protestants and for being a liberal Catholic by fundamentalist Catholics, being stalked by a knife wielding schizophrenic, watching years of work and dreams crack and almost fall to the ground in front of you, sleeping with one eye open for years after having your home burglarized three times, being ashamed of being a priest and of being falsely accused, during wave after wave of bad news about the sexual abuse scandal, waiting for the results of a biopsy that might have been cancer. 

“Peace be with you!”

At 71, this may be the most anxiety free time of my life. Today, I know “peace,” the opposite of “anxiety.”  I have a safe place to live. I have enough to live comfortably and a little saved for the future. I have a few successes behind me and I have a variety of wonderful jobs to wake up for every day. I feel loved and accepted by myself and by most of those who know me.

But most of all, I am more at peace now than I have ever been because I have discovered the “good news” that Jesus came to bring. I know that I am loved by God, without condition, and in the end that everything is going to turn out OK, even if I may still have to face the challenges of old age, bad health and, God forbid, a painful death.  Because of the peace that God gives those who believe in his “good news,” I am confident that he will help me handle whatever comes my way, the rest of the way.    

“Peace be with you!”

As many of you know, I officially “retired” last June 30th. Before I retired, I worked for several years on a project that would help me and other retired priests across the country do exciting and interesting things we had always wanted to do, but never got a chance to do – things that would help the church and keep us engaged for several more years. I managed to get it funded, I was going to run it in my own retirement, it was all set to be launched when it blew up on the launching pad. Because the plans for my own retirement, as well as many others who were looking forward to this new program, were in ashes due to a couple of dysfunctional people, I was left angry and hurt and confused.  My peaceful center was shaken to the core. At my lowest point,  I wrote in my journal that I wanted to believe that when plan A falls apart, it just means that God has a plan B that he is about to reveal that could be even better.  Well, God’s plan B for me just may have been revealed over the Easter holidays! Indeed, we should be careful what we pray for because God is certainly capable of delivering some big surprises!

This last Holy Week, I went down to the Caribbean island countries of Barbados and St. Vincent and the Grenadines to help Bishop Jason Gordon with a prayer day for his priests preceding the annual Chrism Mass at the Cathedral of the Assumption in Bridgetown on St. Vincent. That was followed by leading services on Holy Thursday, Good Friday, Holy Saturday and Easter Sunday at two parishes in the center of the island.

Before you think white sandy beaches and beautiful hotels, think poverty, heat, bad roads and foreign mission work! I am still reeling from one of the most challenging Holy Weeks I have ever been through. The people were very poor, the water risky, the roads a mess and the whole island was lacking in beaches and gorgeous hotels.  However, the people were friendly, they welcomed me with open arms and they can put Catholics in this country to shame when it comes to singing in church!

I am going back. Bishop Gordon, himself a native of the island country of Trinidad, wants me to come back two or three times a year mainly to do some ongoing formation for his handful of priests and deacons, as well as help in parishes whenever possible. He wants me to do some of these thing in both of his dioceses - Bridgetown (Barbados) and Kingstown (St. Vincent and the Grenadines). It’s tough, lonely, uncomfortable and demanding work. One has to have the heart of a missionary and a huge amount of God’s grace to serve down there!

I had no idea this opportunity would present itself. I don’t know how fast I can get involved, but I am certainly willing to explore these possibilities. I started out in the home missions of our diocese, now it looks like I could end up, part of the year at least, working in the foreign missions. One toe at a time, I am willing to take the plunge.  My peace and excitement has been restored.

“Peace be with you!”

These words of Jesus were not only addressed to the terrified disciples, huddled together and cringing in fear, in that upper room after his crucifixion, these words are addressed to all of us today; whether you are a student worried about grades, finances or the fall-out of a bad choice made in the heat of passion; whether you are living in abusive relationship or an unsafe environment or with constant discrimination of being different; whether you are unemployed and in debt up to your ears or barely handling a chronic health problem; whether you are a single parent trying to make it on your own; whether you are religiously scrupulous and live in constant fear of a punishing God and can’t let go of it. Jesus addresses his words to you today. Peace be with you! Calm down! It’s going to be OK! When all is said and done, things are going to turn out just fine. I am with you! Trust me!

Anxiety is worry about what might happen. Peace is the awareness that everything will be OK no matter what happens.  Trust in God is the only way to peace. Peace is God’s gift to us and it is based on the “good news” that we are loved and that great things await us – because God said so!

“Peace be with you!”

April 12 - 2nd Sunday of Easter / Sunday of Divine Mercy

Bellarmine University

“The Whole Picture”

Rev. Ronald Knott

April 12, 2015                            

                              

   The community of believers was of one heart and mind.                                                  

 Acts 4

I cannot go through the Easter season without remembering the simple traditions we had growing up. Unlike today, when people buy clothes all year round, back then, especially in the country, Easter, along with Christmas and the start of the school year, was one of those times of the year when we got new clothes. New outfits also brought out the camera for pictures. Our family album was full of pictures of smiling kids, standing in front of the house, in new clothes: suits and ties for the boys, frilly dresses and hats for the girls, clutching Easter baskets. 

The family picture album is a very important part of remembering and sharing the history of the family: births, baptisms, first communions, confirmations, birthdays, graduations, anniversaries, going off to college or the military, Thanksgivings, Christmases, Halloween parties, beach vacations and proms. Smile! Look this way! Stand up straight! Say cheese!

As wonderful as a family picture album is, it never tells the whole story, does it? Unless you were really weird, you never got the camera out to get a shot of Mom the moment she was diagnosed with cancer, you probably didn’t get a shot of Granddad taking his last breath or Grandma in her coffin, you didn’t get a shot of dad in a drunken rage, uncles and aunts not speaking to each other or old girls friends that didn’t work out, you probably didn’t get a shot of Dad when he lost his job or the response on your parents face when they found out that your unmarried sister was pregnant. 

   The community of believers was of one heart and mind.                                                  

Acts 4

What we have here is a beautiful snapshot of the early church in its finest, on one of its best days.  It is only one beautiful snapshot among many beautiful snapshots of the early church. The Scriptures, however, are disarmingly honest and, unlike most families, has included some not so beautiful snapshots of the early church.

Not everything was sweetness and light. Keep reading and you will see another side of the very early church.  (1) We read that people sold their property and possessions and divided them according to each one’s need, but we also read that the Greek speaking widows complained that the Hebrew speaking widows were getting a disproportionate share of that division.  One of the couples, Ananias and Sapphira,  made a pledge to sell their property and give it to the church, actually held back some of the proceeds and later lied about it. They both dropped dead for lying. (2) We read that “all who believed were together,” but we also read that Paul and Barnabas, two of the greatest missionaries of the early church, had such a bad falling out that they had to part ways and quit working together. We also read that Paul called Peter, the first head of the church, “two-faced” because he followed one set of rules when he was with Jewish believers and another when he was with Gentiles. (3) Even Paul, before his conversion, we are told, is out rounding up Christian and having them jailed for heresy, even holding the coats of those who stoned  St. Stephen to death. A new convert by the name of Simon, we are told, was so amazed that the Holy Spirit was being conferred by the laying on of hands, seeing a gold mine of opportunity, offered to pay money for that kind of power. These are a few of the not-so-flattering snapshots of the church, even at its beginning, that Scripture has the courage to include.

If we read only the good passages, without reading the rest of passages, we can actually get a distorted picture of the church in its reality at its beginning. When we idealize our history and make it sound so perfect, we erroneously conclude that the church today has wandered so far as to be nothing like it “should” be, and because it is not as it should be, it is OK to leave it!   If you do not know of the other early church snapshots, you might be tempted to be critical and even bitter about the weaknesses of the church today.  I believe those who leave the church because it is “not like it used to be” simply do not know how the church “used to be!”

Jesus was right, the church is like a field of weeds and what growing together. We are blessed with our great saints, embarrassed by our miserable sinners and most of us are somewhere in the middle. After a dozen years or so of watching our sins and dirty laundry aired on TV around the world, we can now stand proud of one of our great leaders, Pope Francis. Even Protestants, Jews, Muslims and non-believers are pouring on the praise. Before him, we watched the funerals of Mother Teresa of Calcutta and Pope John Paul II, beloved by people great and small, within and outside the church. Over the next few years, the world will no doubt focus on the faith, strengths, simplicity, honesty and good works of Pope Francis, a man who has made all of us Catholics proud of our church once again.

Yes, the church is that field of weeds and wheat growing together. Yes, it is tempting to get disgusted by the sins of some of our members and leave in a huff, as if we are so good and righteous ourselves that we do not want to be sullied by association with them. But the fact remains, that that field of weeds and wheat grows within each and every one of us. As one native American Elder put it, “Inside of me there are two dogs. One of the dogs is mean and evil. The other dog is good. The mean dog fights the good dog all the time. Which dog wins? The one I feed the most!”

We have a saintly side and a sinner side and just as God loves us for better or worse, we must love Christ’s Church for better or worse. In the end, there is no room for self-righteous indignation over the sins of others, because if we are not part of the solution, we are part of the problem. To paraphrase one of our hymns, “Let the faith of the Church be renewed and let that renewal of faith begin with me!”