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Homily

Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity – Mystery of one God

Posted on by Deacon Joe

Ex. 34:4b-6, 8-9; Dan. 3:52-55; 2 Cor. 13: 11-13; Jn. 3:16-18

Mystery of one God in three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is revealed to the disciples and to us through Jesus.  It is the love of one God in unity to the divine will that we may all be saved.  His name “The Lord” is now given as “Father”.  “The Lord” who Moses bowed down and worshiped is now the “Father” who we embrace with the grace of the Son to receive the gift in fellowship with the Holy Spirit.  He is “Our Father” in one body and three persons from the beginning of time.  From the old to the new the Word remains an act of love for the world but the world must respond to this love to receive its salvation. 

This great mystery of one God comes to us in the Son as the true sacrifice of love.  Believe in the Son and in his sacrifice to receive eternal life.  Belief it not simply done by an expression of word but as the word manifested in our act of love, sacrificial love.  The history of Christianity is a history centered on sacrifice.  Too often Christianity takes this famous bible passage of John 3:16 to proclaim we are saved by faith alone.  This sets us to be free to then follow our own ways.  Jesus left us his witness to remain obedient to the Father as he was obedient, to love through sacrifice as he sacrificed himself, and to listen to God through the Holy Spirit we have received. 

“The Lord, the Lord a merciful and gracious God, slow to anger and rich in kindness and fidelity…so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life”.  In this the promise of the Old Testament is fulfilled in the New Testament in the person of Jesus, second person of the Trinity.  Today we need the Lord’s mercy upon our nation and the world as we prepare to celebrate the 250th anniversary of this nation we pray that we remain “one nation under God”. 

The powers that seek to undermine our foundation do so under the false pretense of inclusivity that in order to be open to all we must be a nation that is agnostic, trust in the power of the people rather than in God we trust.  It is an ideology destined to fail as it has been proven throughout history as nations rise and nations fall under the power of the people.  A nation consecrated to God trusts in a power greater than itself, humbled to worship the God of creation and the Lord who is a “merciful and gracious God”.  We must not be silent in our faith but be ready to proclaim it in word and deed.  The freedom we live was won by the sacrifice of many who have not only shed their blood but stood with courage to proclaim a nation of faith in God. 

Free will dictates we make a choice and the choice we are to make is to embrace God in the Trinity, God with us in the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.  The opposite choice is to remain “a stiff-necked people” where condemnation comes from rejecting faith in his name.  In who are we to believe?  Many will claim science as ultimate truth but science is limited focusing on the study of the elements of truth, incomplete and evolving.  Others look to a political nirvana that exists in theory with no potential of survival in a fallen and broken human nature.  Finally, left without a place to turn many are left to believe only in themselves, never at peace without the unity to God or neighbor. The most holy Trinity reflects the need for unity. 

Who do we serve, science, politics, oneself, or someone greater than and creator of all that is above, below and most importantly with all?  The Lord, Our Father from the beginning is a unity in communion as a Trinity.  This the church proclaims as a revelation from God, our Lord and Father in the Son through the Holy Spirit as the source of life itself.  Do we believe?  Eternity is dependent on the answer.  This is the choice this nation finds itself on the streets of good versus evil as we approach our 250th anniversary.  With who do we stand?   

Who do we serve one God in three Persons or an endless list of ideologies, religions, and broken away denominations?  God is a unity of one and until we accept this unity to love God as one united to the one body in the Trinity and our neighbor as one with us in our one Lord and Father, we have a way to journey in the desert of faith. 

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Homily

Pentecost Sunday “Jesus is Lord”

Posted on by Deacon Joe

Acts 2:1-11; Ps 104:1, 24, 29-31, 34; 1 Cor. 12:3b-7, 12-13; Jn. 20:19-23

“Jesus is Lord!”  Can we say it?  This is a confirmation that the Holy Spirit is active in us. This is the time when the Church is celebrating the sacrament of Confirmation for many of our youth.  It confirms the gift of the Holy Spirit but the gift comes with a mandate.  The mandate is our call to go forth and proclaim what we believe.  We believe that Jesus is Lord of our life, he suffered and died for us and rose on the third day.  We believe that he ascended into heaven and will come again.  Until then he leaves us with the Holy Spirit to be our light and lead us to salvation. 

This is also the time of year when many are graduating from High School, college and higher degrees to bring closure to one phase of life and begin a new mandate.  It is a mandate to go forth into the world and serve your purpose.  The baptized and confirmed Christian knows that when we serve God first the doors will be opened to us.  The world is wanting to be served first waiting for the sacrificial blood of the willing to meet its needs.  The world is not our enemy but it is not a friend, it simply needs to be served.  Jesus is our friend.

Sacrifice underlies both our service to God and to the world.  With God the sacrifice brings eternal rewards.  With the world the sacrifice is temporal and ends with mortal death.  Thus, we are in the world but not of the world.  We are called to a greater purpose than profit, prestige, or power.  In the world there is despair when we hear of all the suffering, crime, war, and disease.  We are not a people of despair but of hope. 

The disciples felt despair after Jesus died because their hope was that he would transform the world and bring a new world order by governance.  Jesus’ resurrection was a confirmation that he came to transform the world from within the life of each person.  He governs our souls and sends us the Holy Spirit to be that light to lead us that we may transform the world by our witness of faith.  It is the fire to be all that God created us to be.  The world crucified Jesus and has never stopped searching for ways to separate itself from him by rejecting that there is one truth, one God, and one way to salvation. 

The Holy Spirit come to lift us up in the battle of life with gifts of prudence to have right judgement, justice to act in fairness, fortitude to have courage to act, temperance to seek right balance and many more.  The Holy Spirit is our ally, our advocate, our comforter, and our rescuer.  It is always good to pray, “Come Holy Spirit, take possession of my heart, strengthen me by your grace”. 

The confirmation of Jesus is Lord came to the disciples through the Holy Spirit in a visible image of “tongues as of fire”.  The disciples were proclaiming in different languages “the mighty acts of God” in the person of Jesus.  They were being given their priesthood to speak and fulfill all that Jesus had commanded them to do.  Thus, by doing what Jesus commanded with power and authority there could be no doubt of the proclamation that Jesus is Lord. 

This Spirit given to the disciples though one Spirit came with different gifts that each may fulfill one part of the body of Christ yet each gift reveals the same truth “Jesus is Lord”.  Today we each have each received our gifts to serve a divine purpose. In fulfilling our gifts, we come closer to God and to his divine will. 

Today we continue to receive our inheritance of the Holy Spirit’s gifts through the sacramental life of the Church though many gifts, one Church, one faith, one Lord.  “The manifestation of the Spirit is given for some benefit”.  The benefit is a reciprocal blessing whereby placing the gift at the service of the Lord we become the blessing of the Lord and are blessed with even more graces to grow in holiness.  This is the law of reciprocity, we cannot outgive the giver of all that we are and offer of ourselves to our Lord and to our neighbor. 

Jesus breathes on the disciples the power of his love and desire for mercy raising them to his priesthood to “forgive and to retain sins”.  It is a tremendous gift and responsibility for them and a great opportunity for us to receive God’s mercy but it requires an act of humility to admit our sins.  When Jesus washes the disciples’ feet at the Last Supper, he is reminding them that they are clean but not completely.  The stain of sin remains but as he raises them to the priesthood he provides for them a church and a sacramental life to wash us clean. 

Jesus says, “As the Father has sent me, so I sent you” and he breathed on them the Holy Spirit.  Let us go forth with courage and trust to be all that God is calling us to be.  Fear not because Jesus is Lord and faithful to his promise to be with us until the end of time and into eternity.

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Homily

Ascension of the Lord – The Promise

Posted on by Deacon Joe

Acts 1:1-11; Ps. 47:2-3,6-9; Eph. 1:17-23; Mat.28:16-20

The promise of the Lord is the baptism with the Holy Spirit.  The promise of the Lord is “I am with you always, until the end of the age”.  The baptized live with these promises where death has no power proven by the “many proofs…appearing to them” that is the apostles revealing to them the kingdom of God.  The promise of the Holy Spirit comes with power to overcome all our trials but it must act in unity with our will, our prayer, our desire to live by the guidance of the Holy Spirit, to believe and not doubt. 

This our hope and salvation as Jesus visibly ascends only to remain as the invisible God with us.  The disciples went to the mountain of Galilee and “when they saw him, they worshiped but they doubted.”  What a contradiction to see, worship and still doubt what you see. It reminds us only in Christ can we do all things through him who strengthens us.  The promise cannot manifest itself in doubt.  The weakness of our humanity cannot be our trust to lead us simply by our human understanding.  Believe and go forth trusting in the promise in faith and the victory is ours. 

In the midst of uncertainty as the disciples found themselves even in seeing the resurrected Jesus, they doubted his real presence.  In the midst of uncertainty how often do we doubt the presence of God and promise that Jesus is with us?  In receiving the body, blood, soul and divinity of Christ in the Eucharist how many remain in doubt to his real presence even after seeing Eucharistic miracles where the host turn into flesh and drips blood?  The power of faith to believe is the coming together of our will to the will of the Father to give life in the spirit of truth. 

Jesus provided “many proofs” he is alive yet they doubted.  The human spirit desires what only the Holy Spirit brings to the soul, the voice of God.  God enlightens the soul to truth out of the  darkness of doubt through the waters of baptism; it confirms us in faith to the divine will to witness against the passion of idolatry; it feeds the hunger for love out of his own body and blood in the breaking of the bread; it brings conviction of sin to be cleansed in confession against condemnation of the law; it fosters unity in one body with the Trinity and fellowship of humanity against division of relativity; it raises sacrifice for a greater good against indulgence of narcissism; it brings peace and joy where there is fear and confusion; it is God with us  and who can be against? 

God sees the depth of the heart’s prayer as worship with doubt or worship in faith.  Jesus asks Martha, “Do you believe this?”.  He was referring to himself as “the resurrection and the life”.  Martha responds “Yes, Lord.  I have come to believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God…”  First, Martha came to believe indicating faith is a journey and each of us are on that path with its’ own share of joys and sufferings that bring us to this revelation.  Second, Martha arrived at a point of faith that allowed Jesus to perform the miracle of faith in raising Lazarus. 

The Spirit is present and active but where are the believers who have arrived without doubting in this power of God present in us and with us?  We remain as the people of God in the desert looking beyond for the promise land wandering, waiting, hoping, yet doubting.  Jesus is with us yet we must arrive in our faith as he walks beside us while our hearts are burning, wandering and wondering.  Believe and receive the promise waiting to be revealed. 

There was a radio talk show in which the person interviewed came to believe and converted from atheist to Catholic.  The one statement that had a profound impact in her conversion was when they heard “what if you just believed for 30 days what do you have to lose”.  She decided to act in faith what she was discerning and see what would happen knowing that if nothing happened the worst thing in the end she would “eat some crow” for her foolishness.  The encounter with God was not delayed as after only a few days there was a new profound faith giving birth in her soul that was left with no doubt.  Let us come to believe and set doubt aside so God can enter into our faith and make greater miracles of us, through us, and for us. 

For forty days Jesus appears to the disciples after the resurrection and before his ascension to bring conviction and instruction as to the kingdom of God.  They were to “wait for the promise of the Father…in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit”.  This promise is given to us who wait upon the Lord in faith already believing and “shout to God with cries of gladness”.  Thank you, Lord for receiving me who receives you this day present to manifest power and glory in this humble servant for this I know your promise is everlasting.  God is faithful to the promise let us respond in faith to his Spirit of truth and revelation. 

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Homily

6th Sunday of Easter – Spirit of Truth

Posted on by Deacon Joe

Acts 8:5-8, 14-17; Ps. 66:1-7, 16, 20; 1Peter 3:15-18; Jn. 14:15-21

The Advocate is the Spirit of Truth.  It is him who comes to us and remains with us when we follow his commandments.  Our act of faith is to follow his commandments with a spirit of trust which leads God to fulfill his promise to us.  Who is in the driver’s seat, the Spirit of Truth that leads the way or are we still holding on tight to the wheel? 

The Spirit of Truth is one that hears the cries out to God in good times and in bad, in joy and in sorrow, in love and worship and in surrender to love.  The Spirit of Truth is faithful when we empty ourselves of our attachments and allow him to fill us with his truth in unity with his love.  This is our conversion to the goodness of God.  Still holding tight to the wheel? 

The driverless vehicles are already on the road.  Some are happy to allow technology to take over while they focus on their own self interests while riding from place to place.  Others are fearful to let go of the wheel with the old adage “what can go wrong will go wrong”.  Some don’t even like to use cruise control and let go of the gas pedal.  Trusting technology is an act of faith to a lesser degree but it reveals to us something of our own level of trust in God.  To say “I believe” in God does not reveal how far we have come to trust in God. 

 A sign that the Spirit of Truth is active in our lives is how we trust in God.  We trust in God when we sanctify Christ in our hearts.  Christ is our hope regardless of what is going on in our world.  This hope is visible in the way we live our lives and the way we respond to the world not only with hope but with the peace of Christ that remains within us.  The Lord’s greeting “peace be with you” is not just an opening invitation of peace but a sustaining peace that remains with us in the light of hope and in the darkness of evil, God’s will be done and will prevail. 

The Spirit of Truth cannot be deceived.  Recall the adage “you can fool some of the people some of the time but you cannot fool all of the people all of the time”.  Well, you can never fool the Spirit of Truth at any time and keep a conscience clear.  When the Spirit of Truth resides in us then we can still try to deceive others by our passions but we cannot deceive ourselves and believe it.  The truth that resides in us will not rest until we bring reconciliation with God and others.  This is a blessing though some may consider it a curse, the moral conscience to do right.  A moral conscience comes from God’s law of serving a greater good. 

Keeping his commandments gets tested not only from within but also from without by a world that does not know him and lives not by a Spirit justified by God’s truth but by the spirit of self-justification.  The spirit of self-justification follows the principle that “it’s all about me”.  Because it is all about me then if you disagree with me, you are the enemy that must be “cancelled” or eliminated. 

That is the lesson seen in the crucified Christ and the experience we live with in a culture of cancellation and death.  If they could crucify Christ who walked doing what is good and spoke of Godly truth then we can see how easily the world can finds ways to silence, cancel, and if needed destroy a person for the act of practicing their faith in the public square.  The Spirit if Truth is not bound by the walls or limited to personal beliefs.  It is a Spirit of freedom to be lived, to be shared and to even be proclaimed.   

1st Peter in his letter calls us to testify to God’s power in us when we “suffer for doing good, if that be the will of God.”  The “if” reminds us not all suffering is the will of God when evil remains in this world.  The will of God comes in suffering from keeping his commandments.  These works represent his truth coming the “Spirit of Truth” as our Advocate when we respond with “gentleness and reverence, keeping our conscience clear”.  This is our hope and our challenge calling upon the Advocate in our struggles when faced with adversity.  Let us let God be our driver and we will arrive at our destination in good hands. 

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Homily

5th Sunday of Easter – The Mystery of Faith

Posted on by Deacon Joe

Acts 6:1-7; Ps. 33:1-2, 4-5, 18-19; 1Peter 2:4-9; Jn. 14:1-12

What is the mystery of faith?  We say it in every Mass after the consecration.  It is the real presence of Christ in the bread and wine as Christ’s body and blood, a reality accepted in faith more than by reason.  Many do not believe even among some Catholics that the Eucharist is the real presence of Christ because it sounds too cannibalistic.  It is seen with only human understanding, reduced to mere symbolism.   

Easter is the revelation of Jesus resurrected yet maintaining the capacity of being in body and blood.  It is the divine body and blood that we are now receiving in the Eucharist.  How can this be?  In the same way that he reveals to us that to see him is to see the Father, he is in the Father and the Father is in him adding to the mystery of faith.  Not only that but to complete the mystery of faith, the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit are one God. 

To add to the mystery of faith, Jesus does not “cancel” the priesthood so that we may all be led by a good pastor of the sheep.  This is what the reformation tried to do in separating itself from the Catholic church.  It claimed by our baptism we are all priests, prophets and kings so no need for as priest.  In doing so however no more consecration of bread and wine so it had to be a mere symbolism. The first reading tells us that “even a large number of priests” became obedient not by giving up their priesthood but by joining the priesthood of Jesus. 

The first Apostles are revealing to us today in the scripture the priesthood of Jesus.  The community was growing and they found themselves having to ensure that the community was being taken care of for basic needs.  They saw this as “neglect” of the word of God and of the priestly role to “serve at table”.  This was their first obligation to proclaim the word and consecrate the bread and wine into the daily Eucharist.  The solution was to appoint “seven reputable men, filled with the Spirit and wisdom” who they laid hands on them to assist in the care of the church and thus was created the first deacons.   

The origins for the call to the diaconate was to serve the needs of the people.  In being “reputable”, they were trusted with the resources of the church and not prone to scandal.  In being filled with the Spirit and wisdom they served as a channel of grace to minister to the needs of the people as the hands of the church.  Deacons are called apart out from the people but not to the priesthood become the bridge living “in the world but not of the world” uniting church and people as a visible Christ.  The diaconate is to go forth as a voice for our times in our homes, work places, and in the community. 

Jesus is our cornerstone “the way the truth and the life”.  This is our invitation today, just as the Father dwells in Jesus and Jesus in him, we are invited to dwell in Jesus and “offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ”.  The complaint we hear from people is that they come to church to “get something” by being here.  Jesus is here waiting to receive what we are ready to offer him, our worship and praise, our fruits even our very selves.  It is in giving that we receive.  If we come to church with the idea of “Jesus show me what you got, show me the Father” not ready to empty ourselves to his love and mercy then we leave just as we came in.

In our times it is often repeated “the church is the people” who share in the one priesthood by baptism.  This focus on the people is meaningful and part of Vatican II’s effort for the people to be more engaged in the church.  It is not meant to deny Jesus his institution of a church to lead the people in his divine plan of salvation. 

The mystery of faith is also the church.  The church is born in the one priesthood of Jesus Christ!  Ecclesiology is the study of the nature of the “church” and traditionally Pentecost celebrates the descent of the Holy Spirit on the disciples of Jesus after his Ascension as the birth of the church.  These are the priests set apart to lead the people.  Pope Leo last Sunday, also called the Good Shepherd Sunday ordained a group of men to the priesthood in which he told them “You are a channel, not a filter.”  The good shepherd leads people to Christ with an open gate to add to a “holy nation, a people of his own” with love and mercy as we place our trust in him. 

The mystery of faith rises and descends from the Eucharist as the source and summit of the church. Can there be church without the Eucharist or the Eucharist without a priest?  Let us continue to pray for the priesthood and the call for vocations as the cornerstone that Jesus left us as his way to remain with us. 

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Homily

4th Sunday of Easter – The Good Shepherd

Posted on by Deacon Joe

Acts 2:14a, 36-41; Ps. 23:1-3a, 3b-6; 1Peter 2:20b-25; Jn. 10:1-10

Jesus is the Good Shepherd.  His voice is what runs through our minds, hearts, and will to do the Father’s will.  He leads us through right paths for he himself is the way the truth, and the life. 

The Good Shepherd’s voice calls out to “Save yourself from this corrupt generation…which does not enter the sheepfold through the gate but climbs over elsewhere is a thief and a robber.”  When Peter stood up and proclaimed to his generation “this Jesus whom you crucified…they were cut to the heart”.  Salvation comes through repentance and baptism but first the word of God must cut to the heart and reveal our sin before us.  Sin is the thief and robber that climbs into our lives unsuspectingly to steal our hearts with temptation until we become “normalized” by a corrupt generation. 

The sin of each generation is a thief and robber in search of souls for a self-indulgence trying to feed on the pleasure principle, “if it feels good then indulge” until it becomes toxic but by then the heart is compromised and it stands at the gate holding us in bondage to “steal, slaughter and destroy”.  The thief lays the “feel good bag of goodies” to savor but it is our response that is the sin we possess.  Fault always is personal to be rejected with virtue.  Corruption came from the beginning, the genesis of sin after creation by free will and it remains “mia culpa” by our choice.  “For you have gone astray as sheep” but now we hear the voice of truth to lead us back. 

Truth leads to wisdom of a greater understanding beyond ourselves.  It is not about “me” it is about salvation for “us”.  Easter is this gift of salvation in Jesus giving of himself for us in his passion, death and resurrection that all may be saved through the “good shepherd”.  Jesus proclaims “I know my sheep, and mine know me.” 

How does Jesus recognize his “sheep” and how do we recognize our Lord?  We are recognized in being “patient when you suffer for doing what is good, this is a grace before God”.  Jesus is the example we should follow that he may see himself in us.  In this Jesus recognizes his own who are responding to evil with good.  How then do we know Jesus?  Jesus’ revelation comes in the voice of truth that cuts to our hearts “and the sheep follow him”.  The voice of the shepherd burns in the hearts of his sheep and it cannot be denied. 

“The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want”.  The people of Israel sought freedom he gave them salvation.  They sought a king for this earth and he gave them a kingdom in heaven.  They wanted someone to rule over them and he gave them a shepherd to follow.  They wanted to conquer other people and he gave them the power to conquer their own corruption. 

What do we “want” from the Lord?  We seek freedom from disease and pandemics he gives us salvation from sin.  We want to preserve our kingdoms we have built and he promises one in heaven.  We want leaders for nations to rule and he gives us himself calling us to follow his example.  We want to conquer in this world all our enemies and we are given the power to conquer the enemy of the world and victory over death.  Jesus is the promise of life more abundantly. 

The abundant life in Jesus Christ is the good news!  In him is our courage to “walk in the dark valley, I fear no evil”.  The corruption of each generation remains in a kingdom not our own but the Lord has called us by name and if “today you hear his voice harden not your hearts” salvation is at your doorstep. 

Our heads are anointed with oil of salvation at baptism and we receive the gift of the Holy Spirit to keep our hearts burning for truth, goodness, beauty and unity in one God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  Open the doors of hearts to “dwell in the house of the Lord for years to come”.  Today we pray for the doors to the church to be opened and a return to the banquet of the Lord in the Eucharist until we enter the heavenly banquet closer to us than we recognize in the mystery of faith. 

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Homily

Third Sunday of Easter – Faith and Hope

Posted on by Deacon Joe

Acts 2:14, 22-33; Ps. 16: 1-2, 5, 7-10, 11; 1 Peter 1: 17-21; Lk. 24: 13-35

Easter time is our reminder that “Your faith and hope are in God”.  This is our “final time” in which he reveals himself to us as human and divine, in the sacrifice of the lamb, and in the breaking of the bread.  He is true God and true man that we may come to believe and live in the faith and hope of our salvation and eternal life.   This is the time of our “sojourning to live our works of faith and hope that we may pass this final test and come into his glory. 

A house divided cannot stand so in times of crisis, war, and the cry of the suffering the first crisis is of faith to stand the test of faith amid the fears and to never lose hope.  This Sunday’s readings reveal the disciples’ crisis of faith at the death of Jesus and the continuation of Jesus’ formation of church in his real presence, “the breaking of bread”. 

Three areas of “church” division among Christianity in our times are addressed in our reading summarized as “sola scriptura”, church “authority”, and salvation by “faith alone”.  Jesus opens the scriptures to us but it is in the breaking of the bread that he is made known to us.  How often have we read scripture or listened to the same passage and yet our spirit seems dormant.  Then one day it speaks to our heart and our eyes are opened to how it speaks to our life. 

On the road to Emmaus the eyes of the two disciples were prevented from recognizing him.  The word becomes revealed to their life situation, it “burn(s)” in their hearts and they come to believe in the risen one as their eyes are opened to recognize him the breaking of the bread.  Jesus vanishes but now their faith is strengthened and their hope is renewed as they come to realize the significance of the breaking of bread in which Jesus remains burning from within their soul. 

“Sola Scriptura” meaning the “Bible alone” is a main source of division between Catholic and Protestant faith.  Today many Christian denominations follow “Sola Scriptura” as the only infallible source of authority for Christians.  The “breaking of the bread” is seen as the revelation of the word of God to open the eyes of the disciples but not his real presence.  Jesus revelation to the disciples on the road to Emmaus came first as a revelation of scripture and then as he breaks the bread to his real presence before them to remain with them body, blood, soul and divinity in the bread. 

Today in the Catholic church we celebrate both in the Mass with its two parts called the Liturgy of the Word and the Liturgy of the Eucharist.  This journey of faith on the Road to Emmaus is our journey of faith “on the first day of the week”, resurrection Sunday.  It is the confirmation of the “Last Supper” to be continued in Tradition.  The Eucharist is the body, blood, soul, and divinity of Christ’s revelation to this very day.  Jesus remains with us in the Eucharist to strengthen our faith and hope in his mercy and love despite our weakness for sin.  

Church “authority” closely follows in a “house divided among itself” for Christianity.  “Then Peter stood up with the Eleven, raised his voice, and proclaimed: ‘You…indeed all of you…Let this be known to you, and listen to my words.’ Peter is given the keys to the kingdom by Jesus after Peter denied him during the Passion.  The primacy of Peter is the “authority” to follow in Jesus’ self-sacrifice as a “Holy Father”.  The word without the authority of the church to bring unity is a house divided among itself.  Left to our own authority we divide into our “denominations” with what interpretation of scripture we identify with as our “truth”. 

The disciples on the road to Emmaus knew the scriptures as faithful Jews but it is the person of Jesus who “interpreted to them what referred to him in all the Scriptures”.  This gift of interpretation is passed on to his disciples to build the Kingdom of God in one holy, catholic, and apostolic church.  Today it is the “Chair of Peter” passed on to each Pope to carry forth into generations to come. 

Salvation by “faith alone” is the third major pillar of division among the Christian “house” filled with rooms called denominations.  Peter proclaims, “If you invoke as Father him who judges impartially according to each one’s works…as of a spotless unblemished lamb”.  Powerful authority to declare not by “faith alone” does the Father judge impartially but “according to each one’s works”.  Faith is the seed of salvation and works the fruit of salvation.  The seed without works dies but the works produced by the seed are the works of God through us, not our own.  The principal argument made against “works” is the conception that they are “our works” to merit heaven as if there is a scale that tips the works in our favor earning our justification.  Far from it for to be Christian is to surrender ourselves to the works of God as instruments of his grace working in us for the salvation of souls.  It is God’s grace, his gift of love, mercy, faith, and hope to be witnesses and bring forth the good news.  These are the works of God that bring salvation who the Father judges how we fulfilled them. 

It is believed that Martin Luther could not reconcile personal sin because of his own scrupulosity and thus came up with the theory of salvation by “faith alone”.  He lost hope of the human capacity to fulfill the call to be “perfect” as God is perfect.  Our hope is in the mercy of God to be washed clean of our sins with God’s perfect love.  Our works reflect our cooperation with God’s grace as we participate in God’s salvific work.   

Finally, the goal of the Christian is to come before the Lord as a “spotless unblemished lamb” that is without sin.  Who then will be saved?  This past week we recall the Lord’s promise of mercy to the whole world in Divine Mercy Sunday.  In confession and the breaking of the bread we receive atonement for our sins when we come to Jesus.  This is our redemptive gift but we must respond or carry our sin with us into the fire of purification, our purgatory in this life or in the next.  Let our eyes be opened to his revelation from the foundation of the Church.  The pandemic of death is not a virus but a house divided among itself in a crisis of faith.  I believe in one God and in one Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church. 

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Homily

Second Sunday of Easter – “Receive the Holy Spirit”

Posted on by Deacon Joe

Acts 2:42-47; Ps. 118: 2-4, 13-15, 22-24; 1 Peter 1: 3-9; Jn. 20: 19-31

It is the evening of the resurrection referred to as “the first day of the week” and Jesus appears to the disciples ready to deliver a great gift.  The gift is wrapped with a bow he declares as “Peace be with you”.  The bow of peace brings joy to the disciples in order to be ready and open to receive the greater gift of the Holy Spirit. This is the gift that comes with power to give witness to the resurrection of Jesus.  This is the gift that transforms the lives of the disciples into vessels of authority to forgive sins, to heal the sick, to cast out demons, to offer up the body and blood of Jesus in the Eucharist. 

The resurrection brings us the joy of peace.  It is the peace to know his victory over death.  It is the peace of eternal life.   It is the peace to live in peace regardless of what this world brings us.  It also is the peace to open our minds and hearts to receive the Holy Spirit and give testimony to the resurrection of life. Even in this life we are to become a new creation through the sacramental life of the church.  The Lord offers us his peace which we can accept by the act of trusting in him or we can refuse by holding onto our own worries and anxieties.  This day is also the celebration of Divine Mercy Sunday in which the words he gives us to accept are “Jesus, I trust in you”. 

We are all familiar with the expression Let go and let God”.  The mercy of God requires our trust in him.  It does not mean we sit still waiting for life to happen, to the contrary it means we go forth in peace trusting the guidance of the Holy Spirit to direct our hearts, minds and actions towards the will of the Father.    The disciples devoted themselves to “teaching” and to “communal life, the breaking of bread and to prayers”.  They had a mission to fulfill and it started with understanding their purpose in building up the church.  The mission remains the same to add to the number being saved.  It is our mission and it begins with bringing our children to the sacrament of baptism and being raised in the faith. 

We hear today that our “inheritance” is kept in heaven “safeguarded through faith” to be revealed in the final time.  In other words, we must persist in faith and not lose heart because of the trials we encounter in this life.  Each time we are “tested by fire” we have a choice to turn from God asking “where were you God when I needed you” or responding with “Jesus, I trust in you”.  We are weak but the power of God is waiting for us to stand by our faith and persevere through our trials. 

Thomas represents all of us when our faith questions God even though we have already accepted Jesus by faith.  Our faith wants to see evidence of his presence in order to believe.  Thomas wanted to see the nailmarks in his hands and the wound on his side.  We start with prayers that are conditional “if you do this for me Lord, I will believe, I will go to church, I will stop committing this sin”.  God hears the prayer of an unconditional heart who surrenders to his love and remains hopeful for God’s time as the right time. 

Here we are 2000 years later believing in Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God.  Is this the faith of our parents who we follow simply by tradition or is this the faith built on a strong foundation of trust, trials, and having a personal relationship with the one we love?  The life we have by faith comes with the power of the risen one who is opening the window to his mercy or we remain wandering in the desert still searching for what is this life all about. 

“Jesus, I trust in you.” 

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Homily

Easter – A Triduum of sacrificial love

Posted on by Deacon Joe

Easter is a Triduum of love in the person of Jesus Christ.  The mystery of the Jewish Passover is revealed in the person of Jesus Christ, his passion, death and resurrection.   Through his sacrifice of love, Jesus brings us salvation and passage into heaven. 

Holy Thursday seen as the institution of the priesthood and the eucharist comes with the words “Do this!”  Good Friday, the only day without the celebration of the Mass is the paradox of being “Good” when at the same time the Lord is being crucified and proclaims on the cross “It is finished!”  Holy Saturday is the “Proclamation of the Exultet” from darkness to light with the lighting of the Easter candle, a sign of the Lord’s resurrection and the conquering of death concluding with Easter Sunday.  Thus, Easter is not a day or a moment but a living out of life through a process of love that begins with a command “Do this!” and so by doing it we enter into the life of Christ, his sacrifice, death, and resurrection. 

“Do this!”  Jesus command to his disciples to follow “the way”, his way before his death was to take his high priesthood as son of God and bestow it to his disciples.  It is the call to his royal priesthood.  This was not a public proclamation but a solemn event to those he called to be his disciples in order to give them a mandate of love through an act of charity by washing their feet.  This was “the way” of continuing to multiply the “loaves” of bread to feed his sheep and tend to his sheep through his body and blood in the Eucharist.  Jesus taught publicly many lessons but he reserved to these disciples a call to a life apart, a sacramental life, and a sacrificial life for the stranger making disciples of all nations. 

How is it that on a day when “sin” tries to claim its victory over God in the crucifixion of Jesus we recall it as a “Good Friday”?  Is there anything more of a paradox in life than to see Jesus crucified and call it “good”?  It is good that Jesus remained obedient to the Father through all his suffering even till death on a cross.  It is good that “it is finished” in bringing us the final victory over sin and death so that at the name of Jesus sin and death can have no power over us.  “Death, where is your sting?” It is good that we never forget this day in the life of faith so we may endure our own suffering knowing grace and patience until the day of our deliverance.  Yes, it is good to recall “God doesn’t give us what we can handle, God helps us handle what we are given” by our “cries and supplications” and by his grace to the God of deliverance. 

Exult for we have come from darkness to light, from death to life, and from sin to holiness.  Exult for the history of salvation is revealed to us in order to give us wisdom and understanding of the mysteries of faith.  Exult because now is the time of deliverance from the power of evil from the days of Adam and Eve to a new creation in Jesus Christ.  Let us exult for we now are transformed into the creation of the temple God longs to live in when we surrender into the waters of our baptism to rise again as he did from the darkness of death.  This is the “Proclamation of the Exultet” to rise again from our darkness. 

Rejoice children of God in Easter Sunday as the temple is raised again as promised in three days.  Rejoice because in rising from the dead he appeared to his disciples with a new command to forgive sins with the power of the Holy Spirit that is to come into them.  Rejoice children of God for our Shepherd is with us as we listen for his voice.  From the day of birth of mother church in the institution of the priesthood to the rising of the Son of God we rejoice for we are not alone, never abandoned nor forsaken by the Lord who suffered his passion in order to remain with us until the end of time.

Easter, a Triduum of love has been called the “silent times” in which we have offered our sacrifice of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving during our Lenten season in order to experience the resurrection of the Lord in our own mind, body, and spirit.  In these silent times God speaks and his words are both universal to the world as they come also to each of us to say, “Do this for love of me.”  In the quiet of our hearts, we now come to Lord to receive his glory and to celebrate our own victory as we pass through from death to life in Christ. 

Happy Easter!  Happy Resurrection Day! 

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Homily

Palm Sunday of the Lord’s Passion

Posted on by Deacon Joe

Mt. 21: 1-11; Is. 50:4-7; Ps. 22:8-9, 18-20, 23-24; Phil. 2:6-11; Mt. 14:27-66

The Lord’s Passion, it has begun.  It has begun what the prophet foretold a “king comes…riding on an ass…a beast of burden”.  It is the burden to come for the sins of the world.  Those who worship cried out “Hosanna to the Son of David” and those filled with hate “crucify him”.  His betrayer, one of his own disciples for thirty pieces of silver.  Did this have to be simply to fulfill a prophesy?  It had to be because of a fallen humanity that no longer served God but served itself under the guise of religion in order to exert power over the people. 

Jesus is the suffering servant to this day whose death on the cross is not just a historical event but an active suffering that remains in his soul for our sins and failure to respond to his love and gift of mercy.  The world remains in a culture of death that by it’s action cries out “crucify the innocent and release the sinner”.  Jesus institutes the Mass, that is the cup that does not pass him by in his body and blood as a perpetual sacrifice for our sins.  Why do Catholics continue to leave Jesus on the cross even though the resurrection has also come?  It is because both can be true at the same time his perpetual sacrifice for our active sins and his resurrection for those who have been redeemed. 

This day of the Lord’s Passion, we prepare to live the Easter Triduum recalling Jesus’ prayer “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me; yet, not as I will, but as you will.”  In his humanity it seemed intolerable to endure the cross but in his divinity the spirit came to his aid to bear the unbearable.  This is our cry in our suffering that this too will pass us by and we can overcome all trial and tribulation.  It also is the willingness to accept the will of God who provides the strength to overcome the cross.  The cross is also a gift to bring about sanctification if we unite it to serve a greater purpose as revealed by God.  The flesh is weak but the spirit is strong when supported by the grace of God. 

The Lord’s Passion reminds us how easy it is to promise but how difficult it can be to fulfill.  We see this in Peter and all the disciples who each claimed they would not deny Jesus.  When the time came and the “shepherd” was struck the “sheep of the flock” scattered in fear.  How easy it is to renew our baptismal promises, as easy as it is to forget them in the moment we are tested when we leave the sanctuary.  Jesus knows this would be and so he suffers his passion once again. 

We must not lose sight of Jesus words when he says he could call on the Father and, in a moment, he could call the whole Passion off “with twelve legions of angels”, “but then how would the Scriptures be fulfilled which say that it must come to pass in this way?”  Jesus reminds us of the gift of the will to follow the path of the Word, God’s purpose for our life or separate from him to follow our own design and consequence.   Jesus could not deny himself his own mission for the redemption of the world.  Are we living our mission as designed by our creator? 

Peter walked with Jesus and yet claimed “he did not know the man”.  He was right even after three years he did not come to know the man until after the resurrection that his eyes were opened as he witnessed “the bodies of many saints who had fallen asleep were raised” from the tombs appearing to many.  The resurrection is the proof that reveals and confirms our faith, “Truly, this was (and is) the Son of God!” 

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