26th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Posted on September 28, 2019September 27, 2019 by Deacon Joe

Am. 6:1a, 4-7; Ps. 146: 7-10; 1 Tim. 6:11-16; Lk. 16:19-31

“Lay hold of eternal life” and fight the good fight! Jesus became poor in the flesh yet remained rich in his divinity to pour out riches to those who “pursue righteousness…Compete well for the faith” says the Lord. We are born with a competitive drive in fact, we love a good fight to win just look at all the sports options to drive our competitive fire. Friday night lights in every community are ready for the intensity of the game, the rush and the thrill of victory. How well do we compete for our faith? “Blessed he who keeps faith forever, secures justice for the oppressed, gives food to the hungry” and finishes the marathon of life. May we be blessed to say “I have run the race and fought the good fight…it is finished”.

We are reminded “Woe to the complacent in Zion!” Complacency is more than taking our faith for granted. It is depriving it of nourishment so that when the test comes, we find ourselves surrendering without a fight. The first nourishment and line of defense is the sacraments of the church. These prepare us for the fight as the foundation of faith. Through the sacraments Jesus pours out his riches in grace to provide us the weapons of virtue, knowledge, and wisdom. This does not come to the complacent but to the those who seek through prayer, devotions, study, and fellowship.

How much time do we spend in fellowship as a community? Tis the season for church festivals uniting ourselves in support of our parish. Study of our faith is power to be good in apologetics defending the faith. We recently had Scott Hahn speak at our parish, a minor miracle given his international ministry and we were blessed to have a packed church. Devotions both private and as a community like coming to Mass the first Friday of every month fill us with grace. Prayer is God’s time we give to be open to the spiritual work God wants to do in us.

Complacency says “not now God”, see in the intensity of life there is always something that is demanding attention, time, priority. The intensity of the world becomes the normative way and it deprives us of our time to mature in faith and wisdom of God. We judge ourselves as not complacent because we adhere to the intensity of worldly demands yet the spiritual life is dormant. We carry the spiritual life of a child hoping for the best and fearing the worst.

We are called to “Lay hold of eternal life” that is our mission statement. We do this when “we give life to all things…with faith, love, patience, and gentleness”. The rich man did not give life to all things, beginning with Lazarus “who would gladly have eaten his fill of the scraps that fell from the rich man’s table”. The self-indulgence of the rich man landed him in the “netherworld, where he was in torment.” There was no escape yet he begs for his five brothers to be warned. Abraham prophetically tells him “If they did not listen to Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded if someone should rise from the dead.” So true for Jesus came suffered died and rose from the dead and the world continues addicted to the sin of self-indulgence, they will not repent.

To fight the good fight in the world the first battle to be won is internal. It is the one that draws us to the intensity of sins of self-indulgence. Like an addict we keep seeking the intensity of a new high or chasing the memory of a past experience because the current experience has created a vacuum. The vacuum can only be filled by Christ. The battle within cannot be won without the power from above, God’s mercy and love. To lay hold of eternal life in this world is the victory for Christ and he shows us the way. St. Augustine says, “Trust the past to God’s mercy, the present to God’s love and the future to God’s providence.”

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Homily

25th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Posted on September 21, 2019September 20, 2019 by Deacon Joe

Am. 8:4-7; Ps. 111-2, 4-8; 1 Tim. 2:1-8; Lk. 16:1-13

Jesus entered the world into the poverty of a stable, grew up in the poverty of a carpenter’s son, walked and slept among the poor in his ministry, and died on the poverty of the cross, “he became poor, so that by his poverty you might become rich.” All the riches of the world are his yet the riches he offers are not material abundance but spiritual abundance in the graces of faith to believe, hope to trust, love to care, prudence to judge rightly, justice to be fair, fortitude to demonstrate courage, temperance for balance, knowledge to understand, and wisdom to know God.

Jesus chose solidarity among the poor to witness his love of humanity for we all enter the world poor and return to the dust of the world yet “He raises up the lowly from the dust”. In this we see the promise of being raised up from the dust to heaven with the riches we have received and not squandered. The Lord calls the poor in spirit blessed knowing our fallen nature brings us the poverty of sin yet his mercy endures forever.

We will all be asked to “prepare a full account of your stewardship” the graces we squandered and those we multiplied. Are we prudent as children of the light to recognize these gifts and invest them into the greater good of humanity? It is tempting to “fix our scales for cheating” as the steward trusted with the master’s wealth acting “prudently” in our own interest. The parable however was of a steward who was not prudent with the master’s property until he got caught for squandering his property. Lesson then is a “person trustworthy in very small matters is also trustworthy in great ones”.

If we serve the god of mammon, the material god then we are anxious to preserve our riches and least eager to share them, the scales are always tipped our way. Jesus is ready to share his riches with us, generous to those who “Ask and it shall be given you; seek and you shall find; knock and it shall be opened to you”. There is no limit to the degree of riches we can receive in Jesus. Unlike the megachurches who preach material wealth, look to Jesus and his witness on earth to see the fallacy of those false teachings.

Material goods are a blessing not as a reward for good behavior or a trophy of recognition as perceived in the Old Testament but a blessing for the purpose of doing a greater good in service to God. One of the criticisms of the Catholic church is the amount of wealth invested into some of its cathedrals and basilicas while people are walking on the streets hungry and poor. Those beautiful churches also feed the spiritual needs of the poor in comforting their lowliness as a visible sign of God’s presence closer to them than their suffering. The church, that is the people of God inside the building are called to respond to the physical needs of the poor.

In union both spiritual and physical needs are cared for as one body in Christ. With all the power of God and all the miracles Jesus manifested he never bestowed material wealth to the poor, to his parents, or his disciples. Instead he asked them to trust him and sent them out in poverty to minister to the world.

Today we are reminded one of our ministries to the world is for the “supplications, prayers, petitions, and thanksgiving be offered for everyone, for kings and all in authority.” As a society we choose sides and attack the authority in control when they don’t represent our views. They need the most prayer because their authority impacts the “quiet and tranquil life’ we seek. As we become more interdependent with the world in a global economy, a nuclear age, and the geopolitical tensions around the world no one is immune from the next global threat. There are wars of weapons, trade wars, virus attacks, environmental wars, and cultural wars. Our leadership needs our prayers and “This is good and pleasing to God our savior who wills everyone to be saved.”

The Lord pours out his riches into our souls to bring us the peace we seek in our homes, comfort in our suffering, forgiveness of sins, blessing for our work, joy in our hearts, the confidence to persevere in our challenges, help at the hour of death with the assurance that our names are written in the book of life for all eternity.

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Homily The Deacon Joe

24th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Posted on September 14, 2019September 13, 2019 by Deacon Joe

Ex.32:7-11, 13-14; Ps. 51:3-4, 12-13, 17, 19; 1 Tim. 1:12-17; Lk. 15:1-32

Come to Jesus! The Lord “will make of you a great nation” of saints for Christ apart from those who “have become depraved…”. Has God prodigally given his love on his people…see how stiff-necked this people is”. Depravity is the moral corruption of the soul that does not reflect the light of truth but the darkness of sin. Apart from Jesus and the Blessed Mother immaculate without sin the rest of humanity has passed through the darkness and fall of Adam. “Sinners who were not under the law will also perish outside of the law; sinners subject to the law will be judged in accordance with it…All have sinned and are deprived of God’s glory” (Rom. 2:12, 3:23). This we refer to in social sciences as the baseline of the human condition. There is a chant that says, “we fall down…we get up…we fall down…we get up”. The history of salvation is the fall and rise of nations of God. It begins with the fall of Adam and Eve meaning we pass through our own personal falls into sin and rise in mercy.

I recall the story of a confessor telling the penitent, “as soon as you walk out of the confessional you will sin”. Thank God, the Church and the Holy Spirit are given to us to recognize all sin is not equal between mortal sin and venial sin. God is a just judge who sees the mind, will, and heart that govern the intent of the soul and offers us mercy. “I will rise and go to my father…Have mercy on me O God; my sacrifice O God is a contrite spirit”. A contrite spirit often comes after the fall from pride and a return to humility. A contrite spirit recognizes our sinfulness, weakness, and in humility calls out to God the Father for mercy. The God of mercy “relents in the punishment” our sin merits and a contrite heart responds with “I am grateful to him who has strengthened me” as Paul says in the letter to Timothy.

The Lord not only forgives he strengthens us and transforms the sinner into a saint. Paul gives testimony of his transformation from a “blasphemer…persecutor and arrogant…acted out of ignorance” in his unbelief. Paul uses himself as an example of the love of Christ Jesus and his “patience as an example for those who would come to believe in him for everlasting life”. Christ is patient, kind, slow to anger and he is ready to moment we turn to him to receive us. It is a tragedy when someone says they cannot come to Christ for forgiveness because they have not forgiven themselves. It is a trap of the evil one to keep a soul in bondage for the depravity of their sin. Come to Jesus!

The Gospel is a reflection of three parables, the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the lost son. The focus is not the sense of loss but on “Rejoice”. “Rejoice with me because I have found my lost sheep…Rejoice with me because I have found the coin that I lost…rejoice because your brother was dead and has come to life again; he was lost and has been found”. Who found the brother, did he not come “to his senses” and return on his own? Jesus never stops seeking us in his patience, kindness and mercy. It is up to us to repent, receive sanctifying grace and return to the nation of saints. It is not a nation of race, territory, or geopolitical ideology. Those barriers foster moral depravity when they become “a molten calf and worshiping it”. This we see in our world when violence is justified as a means to an end, when dialogue is silenced with threats, and the Word of truth becomes relative. What do we do then? Come to Jesus!

The word “prodigal” has two concepts. One is a person who spends money recklessly as in the son who squanders his inheritance. He suffers the fall from pride to humility and is left with a “reality check” to return to the father. The second concept of prodigal is a person overly generous and giving an abundance. The father in the story is overly generous in giving what was his to one son and telling the other “everything I have is yours”. This is God the Father’s love for us in abundance ready to forgive and receive us back. In birth God gives us ourselves, the gift of life with a desire we give ourselves back to him. In baptism God gives us himself generously ready to pour out an abundance of grace for our inheritance. Our fall is squandering our grace in a world of depravity. God’s generosity is mercy.

In moments of solitude and prayer I get these inspirations, I believe we all receive and I considered it “God speaks”. This one came to me in one of those moments and I will close with it.

ORIGINALE VERBUM

Once was a “word”, a friend able to carry meaning sent forth to generate life and come to rest in understanding.

A life of relationship and unity of purpose to reveal truth and true meaning was defined in the word.

The word’s flight ascended higher above and descended deeper within creating a bond between other words as soul mates on a journey of understanding.

Then the enemy comes who undefined any meaning by redefining a flight of meanings through individuation, isolation, and rationalization in a complexity of contextual uses ever changing.

The intent of the enemy is an essence of purposeless subject and purposeful objects for power to be gained in one instant and discarded the next for a new intent ever fleeting.

The “new” word wills to cannibalize Sophia into prostitution; with image distorting mirrors of vanity for the kingdom of One…hell.

The original Word filled with grace and beauty allowed Sophia to unite faith and reason to ascend to heaven.

The “new” word is weaponized with self-defined technical innuendos to distort meaning in flight through reflective colored lenses for a disordered reality. The enemy hears himself alone while others are silenced.

Our hope is in the hollowed Word made flesh and not the flesh filled words that seek to disarm truth.

The original Word descends and breaks into consciousness the lost meaning. The word revealed in its’ full splendor is the original Word incarnate.

Come to Jesus in prayer, come to Jesus in song, come to Jesus in the Eucharist and receive the abundance of his love.

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Homily The Deacon Joe

23rd Sunday Ordinary Time

Posted on September 7, 2019September 13, 2019 by Deacon Joe

Wis. 9:13-18b; Ps. 90:3-6, 12-14, 17; Phmn. 9-10, 12-17; Lk 14: 25-33

“Do you love me?” That is the question posed to Peter and the question of the day for us. “In every age O Lord, you have been our refuge” for those who love you. Beginning with Genesis the story of salvation history has 7 wisdom warriors against the sin of the world “plus one”. They include Adam vs his fall; Abel vs Cain, Noah vs flood, Abraham vs wicked nations, Lot vs the wicked people, Jacob vs night visitor, Joseph vs. his brothers; and then comes plus one. “Plus one” is Moses who represents a new era as he battles the pharaoh. Moses brings in the era of Israel as a child of God. What these eight warriors share is the discipleship of abandonment to God.

Jesus is calling us to a greater love, a love of abandonment to his sacred heart. We hear the English word “hate” used by Jesus and for us that has a strong meaning of rejection and lack of love. It appears to imply a lack of love of others and even our own life. Jesus however is not posing a contradiction to his call to the greatest commandment for love of God and love of neighbor. Do we hate mother and father against the fourth commandment? No more than we would “hate” angels, saints or our Blessed Mother. The Greek word translated into the English has a different emphasis meaning a “preferential treatment” of placing Jesus before all else in priority of life. We are all made for the one body of Christ to be in communion. Spiritually we should not place anything or anyone before Jesus and when we do, we should hate the act of doing it.

In the English context we don’t hate the gift of our life, we place God before us and that requires of us an abandonment to God’s will and carry our cross. As disciples there is a sacrifice to bear. To bring it home to our reality, Jesus institutes his body as church. As members of that body we cannot be cafeteria Catholics, especially in matters of doctrinal teaching. Imagine that at the moment of death we face Jesus and our only response is “I met you halfway, like a brother.” Where will that get us, halfway to purgatory?

Many listened to Jesus and went away having “calculated the cost” and feeling his teaching was too hard. Others may think it sounds great but it is not the “real world” we live in. In whose world do we want to live in? The choice we make has eternal consequences. What is lacking is the first commandment, the Love of God above all else. Where else are we to go? We cannot save ourselves but God cannot save us without ourselves responding to Him. Love opens the heart and soul to wisdom from above. We receive wisdom through the Holy Spirit to respond to God’s divine will.

To please God, it begins with an abandonment to his love. Love leads to God’s revelation and a response to the wisdom from above. Left only to our humanity “deliberations of mortals are timid” and “what is within our grasp we find with difficulty”. God is within our grasp here present at the altar of sacrifice in the Eucharist and yet with difficulty we come to him especially through the sacramental life of the church. Baptism opens the door to the Holy Spirit to receive wisdom from above; then we need the gift of fortitude to have the courage to grasp it and make it our own. This is the incarnation of truth in our souls to overcome “the corruptible body (that) burdens the soul”. I find it amazing that by the grace of God there are the “Incorruptible” that is saints whose bodies have remained incorruptible. They are a testimony of someone who abandoned themselves to the will of God having had the opportunity to travel and see some of them. He is closer to us than we are to ourselves. The question remains, “Do you love me?”

Paul an “old man” not only “a prisoner for Christ” is our wisdom warrior abandoned to the love of God literally a prisoner awaiting his death sentence. He is the spiritual father of a slave Onesimus. We can say what the Pope is to Peter, the priesthood is to Paul, a spiritual Father to his people. Onesimus is a slave owned by Philemon. Paul is advocating for a slave to be recognized as a brother in Christ.

When Jesus asks Peter “Do you love me?” three times we think of it as a reminder of Peter’s denial three times. And yes, how often do we deny Jesus in his call to love him above all. It is also believed Jesus asks the question using the Greek word “agape” for love meaning unconditional love and Peter responds with the word “phileo” for brotherly love. If you have a brother or sister it is not always that hard to say “no” to them. Unconditional love is what Jesus asks of us today. Peter! God is before you and you respond with a weak brotherly love? How do we respond to God’s call?

In a world of hierarchy there is always an authority we respond to even within the church and yet obedience to authority is a fellowship of love in Christ for a greater good, the good of other. Today we are reminded that discipleship is more than “phileo” it is “agape”, unconditional and sacrificial love. Together we sacrifice and abandon ourselves to the love that is waiting for our response. “Yes Lord, you know that I love you”. It is a love without end. Amen.

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26th Sunday in Ordinary Time

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The Deacon

25th Sunday in Ordinary Time

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The Deacon

24th Sunday in Ordinary Time

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The Deacon

23rd Sunday Ordinary Time

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The Deacon