burger

Fr. Mark Berger is a pastor from Cincinnati who has a passion for missionary work and prayer in different cultures. He is also involved in teaching and helping those dealing with addictions. Fr. Mark emphasizes the importance of being a parish priest and connecting with people at a deep level. He encourages the audience to let their soul catch up before engaging in conversations with Jesus. He shares a message from the Lord about being apostles of peace and reconciliation. He believes that finding the way of peace in one's heart is crucial and shares a powerful image of broken things representing the brokenness in our lives. Fr. Mark Berger was born and raised in Cincinnati, attended Roger Bacon High School, and was ordained a priest in 1980. Many of you might know him because he has been a pastor or assistant pastor at a number of parishes in the Cincinnati Archdiocese. You know also that he returns for the fifth year to our conference. Currently, Fr. Mark is the pastor of St. John the Evangelist Parish in Westchester, a suburb of Cincinnati. Fr. Mark has a true appreciation for the greater world around us. One of his chief interests is missionary work, so he spent time in countries in different parts of the world, living in varying cultures, to get a sense of the Church and the Third World. An outgrowth of that experience is that he has first-hand knowledge of prayer in many cultures, and he brings the best of that to us here. Fr. Mark's life extends far beyond his responsibilities as a pastor. He preaches many retreats, teaches people to pray more deeply, serves as a spiritual director to many, and works with alcoholics and other people dealing with addictions. You will soon recognize when you experience his presentation that he is one of our most powerful speakers and why he returns for the fifth time. Gentlemen, let's give a warm welcome to one of our own Cincinnati natives, Fr. Mark Berger. It is good to be here. You know, I must say before I begin our prayer that I have been going to breakfast for the last twenty-some years with the same six guys, and I must say we call it the Isle of Testosterone because those guys can say what they can't say to their wives. It never stops them from saying it in front of me, but anyway. And they have been teasing me since the posters came out for this event, and all the advertisements, and it lists all of the speakers' great accomplishments. Hall of Fame people and all wonderful stars and all this kind of stuff. And they look at mine and it says, a priest since 1980, graduated from Roger Bacon, and that's all it says. And they're like, wow, you graduated from high school. So when I was in prayer early this morning, I asked God, if you were to choose an introduction for me that I should share with this group of men today, what should I say? And what came back in prayer, God has a sense of humor, but he said, two words. And I thought, I wonder what that's going to be, because I could think of some words my brothers would say, but we won't go into that today. Two words. Perish priest. There is no greater profession, there is no greater gift that God could give to any man than perish priest. And for twenty-nine years, that's what I've been doing, and I will never want to do anything else but to be a parish priest. And someone asked me, well, why is that the case? And I said, I think of John Dillinger, because John Dillinger was asked, why do you rob banks? And he said, because that's where the money is. And so I asked myself, people ask me, why would you want to be a parish priest? And I say, because that's where God is. God is most present for most of us at the parish level. When I look out on Sunday and look at the wonderful people of Westchester, and they all look back at me, and I can look beyond the eyes to know what goes on in their life, because I know the inside story. I look out and think, there is Jesus looking me in the face. And when I'm at the altar on Sunday, sometimes I'm in nine places at once, because God takes me deep in prayer. But when I look up, they're looking back at me. In the eyes of my brothers and sisters at Westchester, I see the face of Jesus. And I can say when I look out at you, I see the same thing. And what we're going to do now is we want to enter into one of the most important parts of today. This is the part in which you can have a conversation with Jesus from the heart. But before we can even get to that level of conversation, we have to do one particular thing. Albert Schweitzer is one of my favorite heroes. And I remember reading in some of his writing that when he was in Africa as a doctor, after having a successful career doing other things, people would come to him and say, come, my mother is sick. And he'd get up and he'd run, literally run through the jungle to find these villages where these sick people were. And on one occasion, he was doing that. He ran through the jungle and he ran ahead of the guy who was leading him because he knew where he lived. And he ran as fast as he could. And when he got there, the woman's son finally caught up with him and said, stop. And he said, what? Jesus said, stop. Do not put a hand on my mother until you sit down here and let your soul catch up with you. Because you ran faster than hell. And that scares me. If you're going to touch my mother, let your soul catch up. And Albert Schweitzer decided that he would make that a part of everything he did as a doctor. That before he rushed into little rooms where people were dying, before he went into the operating room, before he did anything, he would sit and let his soul catch up. And he was asked how he did that. He said, I sit on a stump and I close my eyes and I always remember the one who walks with me. I always remember. And so this morning, I'm going to ask you before I talk about anything, and I have a message for you from the Lord that is a powerful one. It's been burning in me for a year. But before you get ready to hear that, you have to let your soul catch up. And so if you would just close your eyes. And when our prayer ministers here begin the music, always remember that the person sitting next to you is Jesus. And he is here today for you. And there's a message he has for you. And he wants you to hear it, not just with your ears, but with your heart. And he wants you to see the world in a new way after today. So get ready. Let your soul catch up. Just close your eyes and pray. Here in this moment, love flows among us. Stay with me now as my moments draw near. Always remember, I will be with you. Always remember, trust in me. Share in my suffering. Share in my passion. Though shadows gather, God is here. And now let me speak to you. A word that I think is coming directly from the Lord. It's a word that's been with me since last year's conference. Because before last year's conference, I struggled whether I should even come here. Because I told God, I don't think I have anything to say. And his response to me in prayer was, but I do. So when he says that, you got to show up. But this year, I had no struggle. None. Because God would not shut up. He kept talking and he continues to talk even now. But what I want to remind you of, early this morning, I got up way before the sun and I was sitting in my usual prayer place. And the image that came into my mind was of the apostles. And I looked at the apostles and I said, Lord, why are you showing me the apostles? And what came in prayer was, I am sending you as an apostle of peace and reconciliation to the men at that conference today. I am sending you as an apostle. And an apostle is one who is sent. And what happens is when God sends us an apostle, what an apostle does is deputize other apostles. So that when you leave here today, the Lord will be sending you as an apostle. To do what? And I asked that same question. I said, what kind of apostle and what am I supposed to do? And he just said, pray the office, which I was supposed to be doing instead of sitting there. So I picked up the briefery and did my prayers and I came to the canticle. And these words were shouted at me in my heart from the canticle of Zechariah. You, my child, shall be called the prophet of the Most High, for today you will go before the Lord to prepare a way for him to give his people knowledge of their salvation by the forgiveness of their sins. In the tender compassion of a loving God, the dawn from on high shall break upon all of us to shine on those who dwell in darkness and the shadow of death and to guide their feet into the way of peace. And that is why I am here. To help you find, if you have not found already, the way of peace, the way of peace in your heart, because the message I have is for you. It's not just some speech I wrote up because I did that and I had to tear it up. It's not just something I thought up. It came in prayer. It came powerfully and it said, you must speak this. And so I am. I am speaking it to you. And it began just about a year ago with a prayerful experience in which God showed me an image. And before I tell you the image, I'm going to ask you to think back to when you were young boys and to think back to a particular time, the first time as a young boy, when you broke something. Do you remember that? If you're me, you don't because there's a lot of broken things since then. But think back to the first time that you broke something because there are two responses little boys have after having broken something. The first, if they're trusting, they'll say, it's broke, fix it to somebody. Or if you're like me, the first thing is to say, hide it quick before somebody finds out. And I would imagine that most of you have done both of those, but more often or not, when something gets broken and it's our fault, the temptation is to hide it. That's the background. And then I sat down to pray. And as I closed my eyes, what I always do is ask God to give me an image. And the image that came was the image from the prophet Ezekiel, in which he has this image of a vast desert and is covered, this big plain is covered with dead men's bones. And there's a whole passage in Ezekiel that describes that dead men's bones. And as I looked out at this image of these dead men's bones, I started walking through them and the bones changed. They became broken things, lots of broken things. And as I looked at those broken things, a voice said to me, you must remember that in your past, in everyone's past, there are many broken things. And sometimes the broken things in our life affect us deeply and we carry them around for years and years. And what the Lord said to me was, when you break things, when things in your life are broken, pay attention to the voices that come. I remember in my training, I had studied St. Ignatius. And St. Ignatius, when he teaches spiritual directors, tells them, pay attention to the voices. Some voices come from God and they are a blessing. Some voices come from ourselves and sometimes they can be a blessing, but sometimes not. And then there is the subtle, destructive, horrible voice of the evil one. And when we break things, when we break ourselves, when we find ourselves being broken, there are several sets of voices that come. The one that most of us hear first is a very destructive one and it is not from God. And what it says is what most of us do. It says, don't tell anyone. Whatever you do, no one must know that you broke things. And more importantly, no one must ever know that you are broken. This came very powerfully to me because, as the introduction said, I do a lot of work with addicts and alcoholics. And I remember at the time that I had this experience in prayer, that same day, there was a young guy that came to me, been married and has little children, and I had been trying to convince him, because I know his wife well, that he really is an alcoholic and he really does need to change. But he saw himself as a broken person and nobody could know. He didn't want anybody to know that he had this struggle inside himself. And so we are sitting in my office and I said to him, Joe, you know you're an alcoholic. He said, I know. But do you think anybody else knows? And I said, I think the entire world knows that you're an alcoholic. The only one who doesn't know that is you. And he said, but I'm so ashamed. I can't face my brothers and let them know that I'm an alcoholic. And I said, they already know. He said, how do you know that? I said, because they told me. You've got to talk to my brother. And I said, I will after I talk to you. And they said, what do you mean I'm an alcoholic? And I said, well, your brother Joe told me that there's alcoholics in his family and you're one of them. And he said, I've been trying to hide that for years. So the voice that comes when we look at ourselves and we see ourselves as broken, that voice that comes from the evil one says, don't tell anybody. And we think if we keep it quiet, it will go away or get better on its own. Or if we feel terrible about the things we've done in our past, the evil one will say, don't tell anybody. No one needs to know. And all the while you don't tell anybody, it's chewing on the inside and it's destroying your peace. And so when people say, I love you, you'll say, yes, but if you really know me, you wouldn't love me if you knew me, if you knew all the broken things in my life, if you knew all the ways that I'm broken. And so that evil voice comes back and says, don't tell anybody. Don't tell them you're weak. Don't tell them you're afraid. Don't tell them you don't have it together. Don't tell them you don't measure up. Keep that to yourself. Hide it and do lots of things to keep it hidden. But then comes the voice of the Lord, the voice of the Lord that comes and says, listen to this. I love you. You are precious in my eyes and I love you. I would give anything for you. I love you. But most of us will turn that voice off because that other voice that says, keep it quiet, keep it to yourself, that voice drowns all the others out. And so as I was praying with this, I said, Lord, what is the reading that you want to give me for this coming year's conference? And I kept choosing readings that I thought would be really good, really good. And then I would go to prayer with them and I would get, no, that's not it. And I did that for seven readings. So finally I said, all right already, then what reading should I use? And the one that I got, I read and I said, I'm not going to read that. And I'm going to read that now. This is the reading that I think every one of us needs to hear. And when you first hear it, you may say, I don't want to hear that because that's what I said. And even this morning, early in the day, I said, I'm going to read this reading and see if maybe I can get away with not reading it. But here it is. This is from the book of Revelation. This book, which talks about end times and is a special kind of language. And it's a book that many people avoid because it scares the living daylight out of people, but it has lots of wisdom. And I remember when I read this, I was living as a hermit in Israel. And I remember as part of a study program, I went to the plain of Megiddo, which is where we get our Armageddon from, where the great last battle is supposed to be held. And this is the reading that I read. I opened the Bible and said, God, give me a comforting reading. As I sat on the plains of Megiddo, a reading from the book of Revelation. The Amen, the faithful witness, the one who is true, the source of God's creation has this to say to you. I know your deeds. I know that you are neither hot nor cold. I wish that you were one or the other, hot or cold. But because you are lukewarm, neither hot nor cold, I will spew you out of my mouth. Now you keep saying, I am so rich and secure and I want for nothing. But little do you realize how wretched you really are, how pitiable, how poor, how blind, how naked. But come now. Take my advice. Buy the gold refined by fire if you would be truly rich. Buy it from me. Buy from me the white garments in which to be clothed if the shame of your nakedness is to be covered. Buy from me the ointment for me to smear on your eyes if you would see once more. Now remember this, my brothers. Whoever is dear to me, I often reprove and even chastise. But be earnest about it. Therefore, simply repent. For here I stand knocking at the door and if anyone hears me calling and opens the door, I will enter his house and have supper with him and he with me. And I will give the victor the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I myself won the victory and took that seat beside my father on his throne. So now, let him who has ears hear the Spirit's words to the churches. The Word of the Lord. Uncomfortable reading until the end. Here I stand knocking at the door. This time we are spending together today, this time we are here at this moment, the now moment, is the time when the Lord is knocking on the door of your heart. He's knocking. We can hear that voice that says, tell no one. Or we can hear the voice that says, you are precious in my eyes and I love you and I'm knocking on the door of your heart. Let me in. It is okay to be weak because it's in our weakness that we find real strength. It's okay to not know where you're going because God has your plan and he knows where he wants to lead you. Trust him. One of the things that is a curse that I endure is I'm always lost. The best thing that has ever happened since the invention of the wheel is the old GPS thing. I have one of those and it's wonderful, except I don't always trust it. Last night I was going to some friend's house for dinner and I put on my GPS and it said, turn right here. And I thought, I can't be right. So I turned left and I was lost. And I kept hearing recalculating. And so today I want to remind you that if you think that you have to stay in charge, that you have to direct where you're going, you have got to give your heart and your life to the one who knows the right way. And he's going to say over and over in your life, like he says in mine, recalculating. But until we can look at each other and say, I'm screwed up, I am weak, I don't have it together, I'm depressed or I'm angry or I'm lost or I'm afraid, and most especially I've been hurt and I'm broken, until we can say that to each other, we're doomed to be alone, isolated, angry, cold-hearted, and in our faith, lukewarm. And because you are lukewarm, I spew you out of your mouth. Because I would rather you be either hot or cold, but lukewarm doesn't do it. And what makes for tepid souls, what makes for lukewarmness is an inability to speak the truth, an inability to go to another human being, reflect yourselves and say, I need your help, I'm lost, I'm hurt, I've broken many things, I've been broken, I am broken, I am wounded and need of healing. And the Lord came to heal us. Now you know my favorite patron saint of broken people is Saint Peter the Apostle. There is one person in Scripture who is always screwed up, it's Peter. That's why they made him Pope, you know. God put him in charge, not because he was smart, because he was dumb. And dumb people learn better than smart people. I know, I've been both. But, some of the most comforting words, you know as Jesus is coming to his death, he says at the Last Supper, one of you is about to betray me. And we all know Peter's response, oh not me, I'll never do that. And then he hears those words before the cock crows three times, you will betray me. And what that must have done to Peter. But then Jesus says something else. This is what he says, it's in Luke's Gospel. He turns to Peter and says, Peter, I have prayed for you that your own faith may not fail. And when you have turned back to me, because God knew he was going to fail, when you have turned back to me, it will strengthen your belief and you will be a strength to your brothers. I have prayed for you Peter, so that when your faith may fail, I will strengthen your faith. And then after you have turned back to me, you will strengthen your brothers. Today, listen to the Lord who prays for you. He prays for you and you're going to hear some music when the Lord prayed under the trees. The Lord was in the Garden of Gethsemane and he prayed for each one of us. Because he knows what we've been told not to tell anybody else. He knows. He knows the brokenness we carry, the things we have broken and the things that have broken us. He knows them all. And what he says to Peter, he says to you and to me, I have prayed for you so that when you fail, I will give you what you need. And then I will send you to strengthen your brothers who also are weak and broken and lost and in need of healing. And I will use you as an instrument having been healed yourself to heal others. It is so important that we realize that the one who's knocking at the door is not standing by idly waiting for us to open, but is praying for us. So as this music begins, please close your eyes and open the door of your heart. And whatever in your life you have broken, ask him to forgive you. And whatever in you is broken, if someone has wounded you, if someone has hurt you, ask for healing. Because the Lord is praying for you right now. When you prayed beneath the trees, it was for me, O Lord. When you cried upon your knees, how could it be, O Lord? When in blood and sweat and tears, you gave your life for me. When in tears you dismissed your final fears, when you faced the cold, you stood for me, O Lord. When their triumph was complete, it was for me, O Lord. When it seemed like your defeat, they could not see, O Lord. When you faced them all alone, you were silent as a stone. And the tree became your crown, you came for me, O Lord. When you stumbled up the road, you walked for me, O Lord. When you took your deadly load, that heavy tree, O Lord. When they lifted you on high, and they knelt you up to die, and when darkness filled the sky, it was for me, for me, O Lord. This morning before I celebrated Mass, I realized that I was being sent here as the Prophet of the Most High, an apostle of peace. And before I even read the readings at Mass, I said, Lord, give me a prophet's message. What is the prophet's message that men need to have before they approach the Sacrament of Reconciliation? What is that message? And I opened up the scriptures, and the first reading assigned for today is from the Prophet Hosea. Hear these words as the words of a loving God who cherishes you, who calls you friend. Hear these words. Come, let us return now to the Lord. It is he who has called you, and he will heal us. He has struck us, but he will bind up our wounds. He will revive us after two days, and on the third day he will raise us up to live in his presence. Let us know, let us strive to know the Lord. As certain as the dawn is his coming, and his judgment shines forth like the light of day, he will come to us like the rain, like the spring rains that waters and washes the earth. He will come, and he is coming, and he is here for you. And what he asks from you is he knocks on the door of your heart, that if you are carrying something that's broken, if you've heard those words that say, don't tell anybody, today is the opportunity to go and tell someone and be healed by the Lord. It's traditional for us at this conference to ask people to renew their baptismal promises, and so that's what I'm going to ask you to do now, is to recall that you are here today, you are the beloved of the Lord, and you share a unique relationship with him through your baptism. The Lord loves you deeply, and what he wants is a response that is heartfelt. So when I ask you these questions, which you've renewed every year at Easter, which were spoken for you if you were baptized as an infant, or which you spoke to yourself if you were baptized as an adult, can I ask you these questions, and from the bottom of your heart, please respond to the love of the one who has called you here today. He is here walking among us, and he wants to heal you and set you free. And now at the risk of making you stand up, please stand. And so, brothers and sisters, we are the Lord's own, and we get the chance to renew the promises that were made when we were baptized, and that we may renew every year. And so I ask you, do you reject Satan and all his works and all his empty words? Do you believe in God, the Father, the Almighty, who created the heavens and the earth? Do you believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord, who was born of the Virgin Mary, was crucified, died and was buried, rose from the dead, and is now seated at the right hand of the Father? Do you believe in the Holy Spirit? Not yet. The Holy Catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sin, the resurrection of the body, and life everlasting. This is our faith. We are proud to profess it as disciples of the Lord Jesus. He walks among us today. He calls us not his servants, not just apostles, not just ministers, not just brothers. He calls us friends. And so as we conclude this part, and you prepare yourself to celebrate the great sacrament of healing, which is reconciliation, to tell another man, to tell God, that you want to be healed. Remember who Jesus is. He calls you friends. What a friend we have in Jesus, all our sins and grief to bear. What a privilege to carry everything to God in prayer. Oh, what peace we often forget. Oh, what needless pain we bear. All because we do not carry everything to God in prayer. Every trial and temptation, if there's trouble anywhere, we should never be discouraged. Take it to the Lord in prayer. Can we find a friend so faithful who will all our sorrows share? Jesus knows our every weakness. Take it to the Lord in prayer. Amen.