Monthly Newspaper • DIOCESE OF BRIDGEPORT

For the past week, I have been battling a form of bronchitis that has proven to be quite stubborn. Later today I will be visiting with my pulmonologist to see if he has any suggestions on how best to get the congestion in my lungs eliminated. My sense is that the passage of time may be the best medicine.

Falling sick is a mixed blessing for me. In addition to slowing (or stopping) my busy schedule, it also affords me time to reflect. While no one wants to become ill, the experience of sickness does have a spiritual benefit. It forces us to recalibrate our lives, remember the things that really matter and surrender in an even deeper way to God’s love and mercy. For me, it also provides time to sit still, pray and reflect upon the blessings that God has given me (especially my good health) and surrender to those things over which I have no control. For me, such surrender is easy to avoid when I am busy with my duties. It is much easier to do when I am sick and sit alone with God as my companion. As such, being sick is an opportunity for both spiritual and physical healing.

Tomorrow we celebrate the feast of Our Lady of Lourdes. It is also the World Day of the Sick. I invite you to pray for all those who are sick, especially our sisters and brothers who are battling the coronavirus throughout the world. May the healing that only our Lord can give be theirs.

The previous reflection originally appeared on Bishop Frank Caggiano’s Facebook page. Follow the Bishop for daily reflections and weekly videos.

In this morning’s Gospel taken from the fifth chapter of Saint Mark’s Gospel, we hear the story of the healing of the man possessed by Legion- a group of evil demons. Jesus orders the evil spirits that have tormented the man to enter into a herd of swine which subsequently hurled themselves off a cliff. It was one of many miracles that demonstrated the great mercy that Jesus had upon the afflicted, sick and possessed.

What I found curious in the passage was the reaction of the crowd when they heard of the miracle. Saint Mark states, “Then they began to beg him (Jesus) to leave their district”. Instead of rejoicing in the man’s cure and seeking healing for others, they asked Jesus to leave. Why?

In an age when most people see Christianity as a religion filled with complex rules and doctrines that are not easily reconciled with modern, secular society, Saint John Henry Newman offers us this reflection:

“May God the Father give us a heart and understanding to realize, as well as to confess, that doctrine into which we were baptized. His only-begotten Son, our Lord, was conceived by the Holy Spirit, was born of the Virgin Mary, suffered, was buried, rose again from the dead, ascended into heaven, whence he will come again, at the end of the world, to judge the living and the dead.”

This Monday, I traveled to the headquarters of Catholic Relief Services in Baltimore to continue my orientation work and to meet the staff. It gave me an opportunity to thank everyone at CRS for the extraordinary work that they do on behalf of the poor, marginalized, those who are struggling to overcome natural and man-made disasters and their efforts to give hope to the youth of the world.

Monday is also the traditional day to celebrate Epiphany- the feast when we commemorate the visit of the Magi to the Christ Child. Since the Magi were Gentiles and non-believers, their search for the Christ Child and the homage they gave the Lord when they arrived in Bethlehem, powerfully reminds us that our Lord has come for the salvation of all peoples. His life and love alone can bring true healing, reconciliation, forgiveness, and peace to every human person. Epiphany literally means “to the Light.” It is the manifestation of the Divine Light of God’s love who comes to us in His fullness in the Christ child born in Bethlehem.

The work of CRS brings Christ’s light into the darkness of millions of lives that are overshadowed by conflict, natural disasters, sicknesses such as Ebola and the scourge of war. I can think of no better way to commemorate the coming of the Light of Christ into our broken world than to spend this day with the staff of CRS.

The previous reflection originally appeared on Bishop Frank Caggiano’s Facebook page. Follow the Bishop for daily reflections and weekly videos.

As we prepare for the start of a new year, let us pray for the rebirth of a spirit of true tolerance and respect throughout our nation, especially in light of the increasing acts of hate and bigotry that we see almost daily.

My heart was sickened to hear about the recent incidents of antisemitism in my former home of New York City. One of those attacks was witnessed by one of my family members, occurring only three city blocks from where I grew up as a boy. It is frightening, disgusting and appalling to think that a person would be singled out for harm or abuse simply because they are Jewish. The same would be true if someone were harmed or insulted because of their ethnic, racial or economic background. Those who perpetrate such acts of hatred and violence must be stopped. They do not stand for the values that unite us as a country and form the heart of our Christian faith.

The previous reflection originally appeared on Bishop Frank Caggiano’s Facebook page. Follow the Bishop for daily reflections and weekly videos.

On Saturday we will celebrate the winter solstice, which is the one day of the year where the night is longest and the daylight shortest. It will be the first day of winter. It is also a day that brings consolation because while the world around us grows colder, the daylight will slowly be increasing, eventually bringing with it the warmth of spring and the heart of summer.

As we continue our preparations for the birth of the Eternal Light into the world in the manger of Bethlehem, perhaps these next two days would be a good time to meditate on the ways by which you and I may have allowed spiritual darkness to grow in our own lives since last Christmas? Are there parts of our lives that remain mired in the darkness of sin and we find ourselves unable to break free? Do we find ourselves more or less convicted of the truth of our Catholic faith than we experienced last Christmas? Over the last year, do we enjoy greater or lesser peace in our hearts, effected by the challenges that we have faced or continue to deal with in our lives?

Every Christian battles against the presence of spiritual darkness in his or her life. It is a consequence of our sinfulness. However, even if such darkness at times grows in our lives, the birth of Christ is our herald of true hope, that such darkness can recede and eventually be defeated by the love and mercy of Our Savior. It is up to us to spend the time to name the various forms of darkness that surround us or battle against us and to bring them to the crib of Christ this Christmas, to allow His light to scatter whatever darkness we face.

While it is the natural cycle of life that darkness grows and recedes in the passage of the seasons, in the spiritual world, the darkness need not grow or remain into our lives. We only need to ask the Christ Child to give us the light of His grace and allow Him to help us to defeat our spiritual darkness wherever we find it.

The previous reflection originally appeared on Bishop Frank Caggiano’s Facebook page. Follow the Bishop for daily reflections and weekly videos.

Tuesday is the first time that the Feast of Our Lady of Loreto is being celebrated throughout the whole church, being elevated to the rank of a Memorial on the Church’s universal calendar. Pope Francis made this decision earlier this year and it expresses his great faith and confidence in the intercession of Our Lady during these challenging times.

The city of Loreto has been a pilgrimage site for centuries because within its Basilica is the Nazarene house where Our Lord, Our Lady and Saint Joseph lived during Jesus’ early years. The house itself has been a place of prayer since the fourth century, surviving a number of attacks through the centuries. It is now located in a beautiful Basilica where thousands come each day to venerate the place where the Holy Family made their household.

I am deeply grateful to Archbishop José H. Gomez for the trust he has shown in me by appointing me to serve as the chair of Catholic Relief Services. In the months ahead, I will do whatever I can to assist the work of the Board and to strengthen the work of CRS in serving the poorest of the poor throughout the world.

Most Catholics I have met do not know a great deal about CRS and its work. However, its mission is essential and its scope is large. CRS is the global services organization of the American Catholic Church and it serves people in 114 countries around the world, assisting in times of natural disaster and providing for long-term development assistance to empower the poor, vulnerable and marginalized through education, agricultural assistance and technical support.

As I continue to reflect upon my ad limina visit to Rome, my heart remains filled with many feelings. What is interesting is that the same two feelings come to mind regardless of how many times I have visited the Eternal City.

The first is a deep sense of awe and wonder at the universality of the Church. A simple walk down the Via Della Conciliazione (which is the large avenue that opens onto Saint Peter’s Basilica) reveals the breadth and scope of believers who are united in faith to the Successor of Peter. They are young and old, rich and homeless, speaking a symphony of languages, all united by one Lord, one faith and one baptism. It is remarkable and humbling to see people of every race and language spiritually united into one family of faith and to remember that I am one of them.

The second emotion is gratitude for being part of something that has endured for centuries. To think that we now walk on streets in modern Rome which sit upon ancient streets that saw the martyrs die for their faith, countless people walk in prayer and bishops who participated in the great Councils of the Church are amazing. The long history of the Church, with all its triumphs and failures, evokes in me a deep sense of hope that despite our present challenges, some of which is grace, the Church will endure until the Lord returns to claim His people and lead them to glory.

Rome has its share of challenges, as does every modern city. However, to visit there is to encounter a spiritual reality far greater and more beautiful than any other city can offer.

The previous reflection originally appeared on Bishop Frank Caggiano’s Facebook page. Follow the Bishop for daily reflections and weekly videos.

As the annual meeting of the bishops continues here in Baltimore, the Church celebrates the feast of Saint Frances Xavier Cabrini, an immigrant from Italy who came to the United States to serve her fellow Italian immigrants in New York. She and the other members of her order founded schools, hospitals and orphanages, often raising money by begging on the street. By the time of her death in Chicago, she had started over 65 different institutions that served children, the poor and sick. She was a remarkable woman of faith, courage and determination and is the first US citizen to be canonized in our church.

The first day of the ad limina visit began this morning with a Mass celebrated by all the bishops from New England in the Basilica of Saint Mary Major. On this feast day of Saint Charles Borromeo who was a bishop who helped reform the church of Milan after the Reformation, Archbishop Blair of Hartford served as the principal concelebrant. He reminded all of us who are bishops that we are called to witness to a life of genuine holiness. Only in this way can we, as bishops, foster true spiritual renewal in our local churches.

As I sit here at Seattle International Airport, I am deeply grateful to have had the opportunity to share faith with over 800 people last night on the critical topic of the “Gospel of Life.” I was deeply impressed by the spirit and enthusiasm of those who participated, especially the young adults who attended. Unfortunately, jet lag got the best of me last night, so I was not able to attend the young adult social that followed my presentation. I am sure that it was a lively and uplifting gathering.

On Monday we celebrated the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary. We recall the gift of the rosary as a powerful means by which we can meditate on the mysteries of Christ’s life through the intercession of the Mother of God. It also provides us a simple tool that we can use often to deepen our life of prayer.

For the past year, as I drive each day from my residence at Saint John Fisher Seminary in Stamford to the Catholic Center in Bridgeport, I have adopted the habit of praying the rosary in the car. At first, it was in partial response to the busy pace of my life, trying to ensure that I prayed the rosary each day by better utilizing my time in the car. As I drove, I would often listen to the news on the radio that repeated the same stories over and over again. Now my time in the car has become a spiritual haven, creating a place of peace and reflection, despite all the traffic around me. What was once wasted time has become valuable time with the Lord and Our Lady. In fact, there are even times that I slow my driving to ensure that I have enough time to pray the rosary before I arrive at the Office. It seems that Our Lady can even help me to follow the traffic laws!

A few weeks ago, when I was visiting with my niece and her family, my grand-niece proudly announced that she had learned a prayer at school which she wanted to recite for us. The prayer was the Guardian Angel Prayer, which she prayed with great attention and a big smile. It gave me tremendous consolation to see this young girl recognize, celebrate and ask for help from her guardian angel- a practice that too many Christians have forgotten in our secular world.

The simple truth is that guardian angels are real, present in our midst and our great spiritual companions in the life of faith. To neglect their presence or to forget to ask for their help is no loss to them, only a loss for us. They always stand by us, seeking ways to help us to avoid evil and do the will of the Father who sent them to our aid. The only thing we need to do is ask.