bg-image

Homily

17th Sunday Ordinary Time

Posted on by Deacon Joe

Gn. 18: 20-32; Ps. 138: 12-3, 6-8; Col. 2: 12-14; Lk. 11: 1-13

“Will you sweep away the innocent with the guilty?”  “For the sake of those ten (innocent), I will not destroy it.”  Thus history has proven the great mercy of God.  Generation after generation each lives with the corruption of its time.  Where is God, we ask?  He is attentive to the outcry against the sins of this world that rise up to him and has sent us his son to spread his mercy.  Jesus Christ comes to nail our sins to his cross that we be raised with him in glory.  His mercy however must be won one soul at a time.  The good harvest must remain among the weeds for now.  Abraham of old spoke for the innocent as Jesus now speaks for those who turn to him.

The Lord is attentive to those who cry out to him for help but often we look to take things into our own hands before seeking the Lord’s justice and guidance in spirit and truth.  We can be following our own truth and be truthfully in error.  Turn to any news channel and you hear opposite positions from individual recognized for their knowledge and each holds to be true.  Colossians reminds us we can be living a life of death in our transgressions and he will bring us back to life in him if we first recognize our sinfulness and in contrition turn back to him with a resolution to avoid the sin in our lives.  As long as we hold onto our truth and not ask, seek, or knock on the door of God’s mercy we remain at risk of the grave sins of Sodom and Gomorrah.  A godless nation cannot survive but its destruction will come from its own doing not God. 

How are we to turn back to him?   We are to say the prayer he gave us and then live it and proclaim it.  Live the holiness of God’s name by seeking holy lives.  Alone it cannot happen.  It happens when we are in communion with God.  We remain in communion when we come to Mass, we pray, we ask, seek, and knock in search of God’s will in our lives. 

Call on the kingdom of righteousness to be lived in our actions.  Being in the kingdom does not offer an easy road.  The kingdom is a place of love and peace where we come to rest knowing we are not alone in this world.  The world remains a Sodom and Gomorrah and evil brings about tragedy in the living dead who are far from the glory of God.  God is with us in every moment we seek him, not simply because we are Christian but because we are Christ centered.  The kingdom is a spiritual compass pointing the way to God. 

Receive the daily bread in the Eucharist, in the Word of God, and in the Holy Spirit.  Pray for forgiveness of our sins to the God of mercy with a contrite heart.  Hope that we may overcome the daily test of battle for our souls from the evil one so that the final test at the hour of our death to a mortal life will have long been won in dying to ourselves and rising to Christ in our daily living.  The victory will have been won as we pass into the eternal kingdom.  Who desires not a peaceful death after a long journey of life?  Those prepared will express the confidence of readiness to enter into life beyond this world.  Can we say if death came like a thief in the night this day I am at peace and ready to meet my creator? 

Finally, pray for the grace of perseverance.  Persist in prayer and let prayer guide your perseverance along the way of the Lord.  The Father is ready to give us the gift of the Holy Spirit in abundance to a soul well prepared to receive it.  Are we prepared?  Do we rise to prayer and does our prayer lead to right judgment in doing the will of God?  Words are not enough.  A well prepared soul has nailed their sins to the cross and is a new creation. 

Tags
Shared this
Views

263 views


The Deacon

Accompanied by ..
Copyright by TagleStar 2016
Powered by TagleStar Website Development

bg-image

Homily The Deacon Joe

16th Sunday Ordinary Time

Posted on by Deacon Joe

Gn. 18: 1-10a; Ps. 15: 2-5; Col. 1: 24-28; Lk. 10: 38-42

“It is Christ in you, the hope for glory.”  Christ is our blessing but we must do justice and persevere “with a generous heart” to live in his presence.  The world demands “what have you done for me lately?”  Our response is “Christ’s justice” not as the world demands but in his glory. 

We live in an age of constant stimuli demanding our attention.  We look at it as a challenge to be good at multitasking and take pride in doing more at once and in less time.  The expectation is that we will have greater productivity and more outcome of success.  If this is true then there should be more time in our day for silence, contemplation, prayer, and God.  The balance and rebalance of our lifestyle should produce a harvest of time between our commitments to family, work, church, and to our personal growth in Christ.  Does it?  Temperance is one of the gifts of the Holy Spirit to be in balance with our humanity and spirituality living in Christ and serving in justice for his glory.

“He who does justice” must “think the truth in his heart”.  Where is this truth to be found?   In the movie the “Passion” Pontius Pilate seemed lost in asking what was “truth” as he is pressured to do “justice” before those who called for Jesus death and the truth in his heart knowing the innocence of Jesus.  His choice was to crucify the holy one for his own self-preservation in maintaining control of the crowd.  The truth was in his presence and he failed to do justice.  As Christians the truth has been placed in our hearts, we have either to respond in the presence of Christ in justice or once again crucify him in our hearts. 

Today’s readings we have a contrast between Abraham, Martha and Mary.  Abraham was so ready to serve the Lord who appeared to him by offering the three men water to bathe their feet, food to be refreshed giving of his fine flour, choice steer, curds and milk and waited on them as a favor.  This is a generous heart in action out of love of God and neighbor and it yields a harvest.  The desire to serve others brought Abraham a blessing from God when the men promised him that Sarah “will have a son.”   The Lord’s presence moves the hearts of the believers into acts of love and the rewards are greater than we can imagine. 

Martha is “burdened” thus her heart is not in her “serving” Jesus it is in her self-preservation.  It is all about her.  Jesus reminds Martha who is “anxious and worried about many things” taking time to listen to Jesus is “the better part and it will not be taken from” Mary.  In fairness to Martha she acted in many ways as Abraham in responding to having a guest show up in the home.  The difference was she did not recognize the Lord in her presence acting out of her burden not her love. 

Mary is moved in her heart to be still before the presence of Jesus.  She is attentive to the truth she witnessing acting out of prudence, justice, fortitude, and temperance.  These are the gifts of the Holy Spirit she was experiencing in the presence of Jesus.  Prudence because she made a conscious choice to respond to the “need of only one thing…the better part” as Jesus states.  Justice because the spirit called her to be a witness to Jesus teaching.  Fortitude because she knew her sister wanted her help yet there are times when we must choose between several options of which there is no wrong but one is the better part and it takes courage to make that choice.  Finally, temperance is finding that right balance in our lives to be still for God and to be active for God.  The active contemplative seeks to do both by being mindful of God in all things for a greater good. 

The lesson from Abraham is service is an opportunity to receive God’s blessing when we are generous in our giving of ourselves.  From Martha we learn when we make service all about ourselves, we suffer our own burden and little is gained.  In Mary we recognize the “better part” begins by being attentive to the Lord in our presence.  We are all familiar with the expression “work is never done”.  God’s work is never done either so whose work are we attentive to ours, the world’s or where God is calling us to serve? 

I remember as a child visiting at my grandmother’s house in Mexico.  She had dirt floors and in the winter season they used a tin basin to burn wood to keep warm.  The morning routine was to water down the dirt floor to keep the dust down and pack the dirt.  Today you buy a floor sweeper to run around the rooms.  No sooner has it swept that dust begins to settle on the floor.  The convenience of technology is not simplifying our lives unless we make a conscious decision to focus on our priorities.  God is a priority in which we can be active through him, with him and in him. 

Most of us live active if not overcommitted lives and the world is ready to push information overload and steal any time left.  Even our vacations may be planned to fill every hour of the day and the downtime is for social media posting, likes, and following other peoples lives. In other words, we are continuously tempted to fill our minds and time with activities with little lasting value.  The expression “what difference does it make?” is an important thought to ask ourselves.  A better way to reframe the question is “what difference can I make in Christ?” 

Christ will make a great difference in us if we allow him into our lives at every moment to be an instrument of his love, peace, justice, and wisdom.  We will make a lasting difference for ourselves in heaven and an immediate difference in the lives of others.  Christ in us is the difference for true justice.  Invite him and you will be the difference he desires for this world. 

Tags
Shared this
Views

261 views


The Deacon

Accompanied by ..
Copyright by TagleStar 2016
Powered by TagleStar Website Development

bg-image

Homily The Deacon Joe

15th Sunday Ordinary Time

Posted on by Deacon Joe

Dt. 30: 10-14; Ps. 69: 14, 17, 30-31, 33-34, 36-37; Col. 1: 15-20; Lk. 10: 25-37

“…written in the book of the law”–The word “law” sets to mind a set of rules commanded and enforced by a controlling authority.  It is the first of several definitions but the most common understanding of the word.  Christ Jesus is the word of authority made flesh.  He is the antithesis of a controlling authority set by law to enforce rules.  The law is commanded by “being” a creation of God, a natural law “already in your mouths and in your hearts; you have only to carry it out”.  The controlling authority is our free will responding to the law within.  When we were born God gave us a gift.  It is the gift of self.  We fulfill the law through our free will. 

The “firstborn of all creation” came to rule by love, “the image of the invisible God.”  Jesus is God with us.  The bracelets that were popular for a while had the letters “WWJD” What Would Jesus Do.  We follow as Christians the will of God through Jesus.  We are called to be a visible image of the invisible God. 

The natural law of love is in our hearts, we have only to carry it out.  If love is in our nature one would think we are all great lovers of God and neighbor.  We have only to look at the world to see something went wrong.  Why is there so much evil then?  We can also ask ourselves “where is the peace and love in my life?”  What is missing?  Missing is uniting our will to the will of God.  The natural law of love is given at birth then the enemy of love comes.

Love is visible in an infant ready to respond to an act of love.  An infant is totally dependent on love to thrive.  Food and water alone are not sufficient nurturing for a child to thrive.  A child responds to two hearts of love beating in the womb, the child’s and its mother’s heart.  You are a child of God.  The heart of Jesus unites to our hearts in the Eucharist.  We are all the child in need of the mercy of God’s love. 

We are the victim on the street stripped of love.  We have been robbed of our innocence and purity when we are exposed to all the sins of the world seeking our weakness to cause our own fall from grace.  Who can resist the lure of the wolf in sheep’s clothing dressed in white and gentle to the touch?  Inside ready to be poured out is the trauma of a tragedy ready to happen. If we only understood the natural law of “consequence” we would seek first the will of God. 

Every act will have a just reward or punishment by consequence of natural law.  It may not only impact the person but generations to come.  The aborted child, the child raised by adoption, the sinner who turns their life around and uses that past to help others in the future has consequence.  One decision impacts a world of people.  The unknown is whether we will respond with “yes” to God or not. 

Love begets love and evil begets greater evil.  Those intoxicated with evil in any of its form sins against their own flesh and the outcome is but certain death.  It is death to self, to our identity as a child of God, to natural beauty and goodness.  In the end it is death to love, the essence of life left on the street of abandonment. 

Before we judge “not me, I have what I need” let us ask ourself “how well am I at loving?”  Am I one to show mercy when I am offended and hurt or when I see the less fortunate?  Is my love connected to them or only for myself and my select few?  Our capacity to love is our capacity to experience God and his mercy.  Our incapacity to love is our sense of abandonment from God’s mercy and love.  God is present yet without mercy we are isolated on “skid row” with poverty from love.  Life becomes a poverty without peace.

The command “Go and do likewise” is the assertion of truth.  It is not imposed on humanity it is what makes for humanity in God’s image.  This is what holds us together, the unity of the church with Jesus as our head to be Christian.  By nature, I am an introvert.  Introverts make the minority of the population 1:3 ratio introverts to extraverts.  Give me a book and a comfortable chair and I am detached from the world.  I would drive my mother crazy growing up because I buried my head in a book and people I avoided.  She would say, “I just want to hear you talk.”  If she could see me now standing before you preaching, maybe she is (after death).  God works miracles and has a sense of humor at it. 

Love is about attachment.  “Go and do likewise” is not easy and I must work at creating attachment, especially with the stranger.  There are some people who “never met a stranger” in the sense their interests in people moved them to reach out to others.  God bless them.  You may be like me or more of an extrovert yet both are commanded by love to reach out.  Love is transformative and it will change you as much as you allow to be that change agent in others. 

Christ is “the firstborn of the dead”.  He did not rise as a spirit but in body and spirit.  St. Thomas felt with his hands the wounds of Jesus and the disciples ate fish with him on the seashore.  He made himself present in the body.  We are to prepare our bodies for the resurrection.  Jesus carried the scars of the sins of others hate but we will carry the scars of our own sin as a sign of our redemption in Christ.  Now is the time to heal those scars before death and regain the purity of our bodies and souls. 

Before death as in after death our bodies and souls are our nature to live out in the image of the first born of creation, Jesus Christ!  “Go and do likewise”. 

Tags
Shared this
Views

229 views


The Deacon

Accompanied by ..
Copyright by TagleStar 2016
Powered by TagleStar Website Development

bg-image

Homily The Deacon Joe

14th Sunday Ordinary Time

Posted on by Deacon Joe

Is. 66: 10-14c; Ps. 66: 1-7, 16, 20; Gal. 6: 14-18; Lk. 10: 1-12, 17-20

“Peace be with you!”  Sealed by the Holy Spirit, let us bear the marks of Jesus.  “…for I bear the marks of Jesus on my body” says St. Paul.  The Greek word for marks is “stigmata” which is understood to reference Jesus’ five wounds.  It is possible St. Paul bore the stigmata literally but this is not known through tradition.  It is believed St. Paul is speaking in reference to the suffering and persecution he endured for Christ “through which the world has been crucified to me” he states.  These marks came from his persecutors who wanted to continue the Jewish law of circumcision for Christians.  St. Paul’s challenge to them as it is to us is to bear the sign of the cross as a “new creation”.  This sign we accept by faith at our baptism. 

Recall the rite of baptism begins with the priest making the sign of the cross on the child claiming the child for Christ.  He then invites the parents and godparents to do the same.  Together the Church, parents, and godparents have a responsibility to raise the child in the faith.  We are a new creation to be conformed to Christ by living our sacramental life “be sealed with the gift of the Holy Spirit”. 

Sealed with the gift of the Holy Spirit comes with a cross.  Our faith will not only be challenged, it will be attacked.  Early in the Christian church many were persecuted and martyred.  Among them was St. Perpetua and St. Felicity in the year 203 not only for claiming to be Christian but refusing to deny their faith.  “Two days before the scheduled execution, Felicity went into labor delivering a baby girl.  The guards made fun of her, insulting her by saying, “If you think you suffer now, how will you stand it when you face the wild beasts?  Felicity answered them calmly, ‘Now I’m the one who is suffering, but in the arena, another will be in me suffering for me because I will suffer for him’.  She gave birth to a healthy girl who was adopted and raised by one of the Christian women of Carthage.”  (www.catholic.org)

Saints Perpetua and Felicity carried peace of Christ to their death.  The seventy-two who were sent were to offer “peace” to the household.  “If a peaceful person lives there, your peace will rest on him.”  We offer each other a sign of peace in our Latin rite with the words, “Peace be with you” and the response “and also with you”.  This peace can only rest on a “peaceful person”.  Are we at peace in Christ?  The world is ready to disrupt our peace if we dare speak of our faith in the public square and even when we dare not it intrudes on our peace. 

We live in times when it is tolerated or even accepted by the mainstream culture to have public cursing, hate speech, and militant groups who riot to promote hate through the veil of freedom of speech and to organize.  In contrast through the same veil we have peaceful marches to rally for “Life” and the protection of the unborn.  The irony of the story of St. Felicity is that for the persecutors to “kill a child in the womb was shedding innocent and sacred blood” (www.catholic.org) In the midst of hate in the killing of Christians the unborn was held as sacred.  Today the unborn is seen as a commodity of “choice” to be terminated even at the moment of birth.  The godly choice is to love them both. 

Peaceful people are not silent people no more that St. Paul was not silent in the midst of persecution.  His desire was to evangelize and “let no one make troubles for me”.  In Paul we see our normal humanity, no one wants trouble for themselves but they can also not deny themselves.  The early Christian martyrs refused to deny themselves.  St Perpetua said it best when her father frantically wanted her to deny her faith and prevent her death.  She said to him “Pointing to a water jug ‘See that pot lying there?  Can you call it by any other name than what it is?’ Her father answered, ‘Of course not.’ Perpetua responded, “Neither can I call myself by any other name that what I am—a Christian.”  It takes courage to stand up for our faith.  It takes the “grace of our Lord Jesus Christ” as a peaceful person.

The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ is the power given to the seventy-two to subject even demons at the name of Jesus.  The world needs the peace of Jesus but as the song says, “let it begin with me”.  We must first subject the demons of sin in our lives if we hope to bring peace into the world.  It begins with us and it is nurtured in our home. Husbands and wives, when your spouse calls you what is your response?  “Si mi amor” with words of endearment or “What do you want?”  Siblings, if your brother or sister takes something of yours how do you ask for it back?  “Please return it to me” or “You better give it back!”  

“Let the peace of Christ control your hearts; let the word of Christ dwell in you richly”.  This peace in our hearts comes by bearing the marks of Jesus.  The seal in our bodies is renewed in the Eucharist.  The world of Christ is the guiding light for the soul to dwell in.  The fullness of Christ “source and summit” is our celebration in the Mass.  Each of us is given a harvest to work.  Where you are is a harvest waiting for you and you will not know the impact of your harvest until we reach heaven.  You may also not know until the impact God was waiting for you make by saying “yes” and was missed and lost.  It can extend as far as we are willing to go.  We have the “power to ‘tread on serpents’ and scorpions and upon the full force of the enemy and nothing will harm you.” 

I have a 1984 Mercedes sports car.  I was asked how fast have I driven it?  I responded the “speed limit”.  Most vehicles come with greater power than we will ever utilize out of prudence.  We treat the power of the Holy Spirit in the same way.  It is a gift underutilized.  We are a people of faith, hope, and love.  Let us challenge ourselves in the arena of life to call on the power of this gift and “another will be in us with his power because we will be in him”.  Peace be with you. 

Tags
Shared this
Views

242 views


The Deacon

Accompanied by ..
Copyright by TagleStar 2016
Powered by TagleStar Website Development