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Homily

22nd Sunday Ordinary Time “to deny himself”

Posted on by Deacon Joe

Jer. 20:7-9; Ps. 63:2-6, 8-9; Rom.1-2; Mt. 16:21-27

To deny himself the “call” or his humanity, that is the question.  “You duped me, O LORD, and I let myself be duped” in order to “know what is the hope that belongs to our call.”  Jerimiah’s interior crisis is a sign of Jesus’ coming as he becomes the object of laughter, mocking, violence and outrage but Jerimiah tries to deny himself and cannot just as Jesus cannot deny the Lord for he would be denying himself his divinity, the “call” for which he came to fulfill and so Jesus lets himself be “duped” as a lamb for slaughter to fulfill his divinity, his “call”. 

In the gospel, Jesus rebukes Peter for appealing to his own humanity and the humanity of Jesus.  “God forbid, Lord!  No such thing shall ever happen to you.”  Jesus immediately recognizes this seduction from Peter calling out “Get behind me Satan!  Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me”  If we wish to come after Jesus in search of him then the first obstacle is our humanity, the interior crisis of our comfort opposed to the cross of self-denial, sacrifice, and following Jesus in responding to the divine call.  Jesus comes to renew our fallen nature not to succumb to it.

Our thoughts carry a fallen nature for pleasure, profit, power, and prestige.  We seek pleasure and avoid pain yet sacrifice for the good is worthy of pain as an offering to the “call”.  We seek the security of profit beyond our needs yet in gaining “the whole world” we forfeit life itself in a premature death to our call.  We seek power for a false sense of control what we claim as our entitlement only to see death quickly steal away our entitlement in exchange for life.  We seek prestige as a place of honor at the table of our accomplishments yet if “getting to the top” only leaves us looking back at the brokenness of our past have we lost our place at the table of the Lord?  This is the internal crisis we face to deny our very self is to gain ourselves the glory of God. 

“Then the Son of Man will come…and then he will repay all according to his conduct.”  He does not promise a reward according to our faith alone but to our conduct which is the true sign of responding in faith to our calling.  What have we gained?  We satisfy the thirst of our soul seeking to break the chains of our humanity and set us free to be in the presence of the Lord in his divinity.   The “coming” is both now and forever.  Now he comes to the aid of our transformation beginning with “the renewal of your mind, that you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and pleasing and perfect.”  This is “the hope that belongs to our call” both now and forever to be in the presence of the Lord. 

The “call” is responding in the moment to the will of God in order to remain in communion that is in relationship with him discerning truth, beauty, goodness, and unity in perfect love.  To be in perfect love or not to be, that is the choice and the call of the cross.  In this moment what does thy will declare of us? 

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Homily The Deacon Joe

21st Sunday Ordinary Time

Posted on by Deacon Joe

Is. 22:19-23; Ps. 138:1-3, 6, 8; Rom.11:33-36; Mt. 16:13-20

Jesus the key to heaven!  “I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven.”  Jesus speaks to Peter these words which have since been a “key” and the cross of division not unity for the Christian people.  For Catholicism “you” represents a person, Peter, the Vicar of Christ and his successors and to Protestantism represents the church self-governed by the people.  Where the truth lies holds the key to authority and the cross in responding to the resistance. 

In the first reading, the Lord’s servant Eliakim is given the “robe” of authority by the Lord, the “key to the House of David”.  The “key” has the power to “open and shut” and Eliakim is “fixed…like a peg in a sure spot, to be a place of honor for his family”.  Here we see a person not only given the “key” but a sign of the “key” to come in Jesus.  Old Testament history from Abraham to Jesus is a succession of leadership for the people of God who hold the place of honor, responsibility and accountability that is the cross in serving our God the Father. 

Jesus is the “key” to heaven.  He entrusts Peter with himself to remain with us in the Eucharist, body, soul, and divinity and in the priesthood in “persona Christi”.  Peter and his successors are the “rock” to sustain the church where the key lies.  We pray, “do not forsake the work of your hands”.  The work is the church with Jesus as the cornerstone of this foundation of faith.  The fruit of this work is the people of God for the harvest is plentiful but laborers are few as scripture reminds us.  In this we recognize the call to the priesthood is not being heard while the population continues to increase. 

We are also reminded, “For who has known the mind of the Lord…”, only what comes “from him and through him and for him are all things” revealed.  The church then is the deposit of faith coming from Jesus and through him to all the Fathers, Doctors, saints, and people of our God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  Jesus divinity is working through our humanity when we call upon him, invite him into our presence, and respond in acceptance of his will in our lives.  The mind of the Lord speaks to our mind, his love to our hearts, and his will to our will for courage to proclaim our faith in him and come and follow. 

Jesus, the key to heaven is the way, the truth, and the power “and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it”.  The power to “bind and loose” comes from Jesus through the church and not apart from it.  We all share through our baptism a role as priest, prophet, and king in the church of God.  In this role we share the cross to serve under authority in the body of Christ.  Our obedience in the church is to Christ himself and woe to those who would open the gates of the netherworld inside the church to sin and bring judgment upon themselves.  Even if the attempt happened, we have the power of exorcism to reject Satan and renew the church in times of crisis. 

These are times of crisis as we witness scandals in the church and in the world seeking to divide the people of God as wolves in sheep’s clothing.  While professing inclusiveness, tolerance, and diversity we witness an attack on tradition, symbols of faith, and violence for restitution of past sins in the world.  How did we get here and how do we recover from this? 

It began with an attack on the family.  Divorce and abortion were the first divide to bring division in the covenant of love facilitating disposable relationships.  Children were the next divide superseding the values of home with the values of the institutions of learning to plant the seeds of agnosticism.  The new harvest of individuation murdered the belief of a universal truth for the logic of separatism in identity, no longer male or female, good or bad, right or wrong, only self-justified.  Once self-justified the next step of attacking other political, economic and civil institutions out of self-righteousness falls into the world of acceptable tolerance. What remains is to bring down the institutions of faith and that has already begun.  This is the culture of death and many are being lost and few are responding to this attack. 

We recover from a culture of death by returning to the source of all life and unity, God in the Trinity.  Jesus holds the keys to the kingdom in all Christianity.  The Church is the bride of Jesus as a mother to “bind and to loosen” with the authority of Jesus guided by the Spirit in the Vicar of Christ.  The God of love is also the God of the laws of heaven and we are to follow the source of all truth as we profess, “Jesus saves!” 

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Homily The Deacon Joe

20th Sunday Ordinary Time

Posted on by Deacon Joe

Is. 56:1, 6-7; Ps. 67:2-3, 5, 6, 8; Rom.11:13-15; Mt. 15:21-28

Jesus’ house of prayer! In the eyes of the world according to today’s gospel Jesus would be labeled racist, sexist, and misogynist.  He denies the woman pleading for her daughter three times, first he ignores her “does not say a word in answer to her”, sexist, then he claims “he was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel”, racist, and finally he directly rejects her “It is not right to take food of the children and throw it to the dogs”, misogynist.  Do not be surprised if in our times the world will take these stories and use them to reject religion and faith in God.  There is a greater truth revealed in this story that Jesus is about to demonstrate as the faith of the woman is tested.  The greater truth is revealed in both a personal response to the woman and in a universal response to humanity. 

In the personal response, Jesus says to the woman’s pleading “great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish.”  The perseverance of this woman overcame the test of faith.  How quickly are we to give up on prayer when God is silent to our pleading.  The question in our minds is “where is God?”  Jesus denies her three times, just like he asks Peter “Do you love me?” three times.  This is the mystery of faith to respond to the Trinity.  Do you love me in the Father?  Do you love me in the Son?  Do you love me in the Spirit?  Who do we pray to, the Father, the Son, or to the Holy Spirit?  Jesus heard Peter’s response the first time just as he heard the woman’s request but the totality of faith and love must be complete in Jesus’ house of prayer. 

In the universal response, we often speak of scripture in the “context” of salvation history.  In Jesus “time” meaning in historical time for all time is “Jesus time”, the Jewish community did not view the gentile people in salvation history.  Jesus is taking this Canaanite woman’s pleading to demonstrate to the Jewish followers who he was “sent” to recognizing the historical significance of “the people of God”.  We see in the second reading St. Paul speaking as the “apostle to the Gentiles” to make his race “jealous” for having rejected Jesus but through the mercy God is giving to the Gentiles he may “save some of them”.  Here we see the prophecy of Isaiah manifested as “The foreigners who join themselves to the LORD, ministering to him, loving the name of the LORD, and becoming his servants…keep the sabbath…hold to my covenant…them I will bring to the holy mountain and make joyful in my house of prayer”.  This is fulfilled in the Gentiles who will be his servants in his house of prayer.

In listening to Christian radio on the way to home from work the person said in a study only 37% of Christian’s believe in salvation through faith only.  She then claimed to find in scripture many passages that supported the doctrine of faith only.  In our first reading we see how faith is revealed in action and while faith is the first step of conversion it is not the “only” step in salvation.

Returning to the beginning of this homily, we see in our time a revolutionary movement to reject faith in God.  While hundreds can gather to protest social injustice, church gatherings are treated as pandemic spreaders.  The real intent is to prevent the spread of the gospel, threaten civil penalties for church gatherings, and force institutions of faith to adopt practices contrary to their faith or bring injunctions until they submit or are bankrupt.  The revolution against faith institutions is spreading in the cultural war and we are a target.   Jesus will again become the target by attacking the head of the church the body will disperse.  Will we deny him or will we defend him by our proclamation of faith in action and enter into his house of prayer? 

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Homily The Deacon Joe

19th Sunday Ordinary Time

Posted on by Deacon Joe

1 Kings 19:9a, 11-13a; Ps. 85:9-14; Rom. 9:1-5; Mt. 14:22-33

We live what our faith proclaims!  In today’s gospel reading, Peter proclaims faith in Jesus saying “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.”  As long as his faith was in Jesus he walked with courage on the water.  When his faith focused on nature, his humanity, the waves “how strong the strength of wind was” he began to sink in fear calling out to Jesus to be saved.  Jesus response, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?” 

Jesus answers Peter with one word, “Come.”  With all the sound of the wind, waves, and a rocking wooden boat Peter heard Jesus’ one word to come.  Elijah is also listening for the Lord in the first reading but he does not hear him in the wind, the earthquake, or the fire.  The Lord comes to Elijah in the “tiny whispering sound”.  Jesus himself “went up on the mountain by himself to pray”.  If our faith is to respond to the voice of the Lord, we must silence our hearts and minds and open our souls to hears in the quiet the command of Jesus. 

One of my favorite places for retreat is Lebh Shomea in Sarita Texas.  By its name Lebh Shomea means a “listening heart”.  We arrive in silence, remain in silence and leave in silence among the natural wildlife as we come to pray.  The estate was bequeathed to the Order of Oblates and became a House of Prayer.  One of the rules of Lebh Shomea is “silence” in all areas, at meals, in the Library, outside, and even when going as a couple we are to walk apart and keep the rule of silence, that is to maintain a listening heart. 

One of my first experiences going to Lebh Shomea was seeing all the natural wildlife.  As I walked about the property the deer would simply move to keep their distance from me.  It seemed natural for each to respect our space.  It also seemed the animals sensed my own restlessness before I was able to quiet my mind and heart beginning to enter into a more contemplative state of prayer. 

 After being there for a few days, I was walking praying the rosary when I noticed the deer no longer reacted to my presence and I had become part of the environment.  As I prayed the rosary, one doe began moving towards me.  At first, I was surprised and as it approached me, I just stood still waiting to see what would happen next.  It came right up to me and looked at me and then at my rosary, turned and walked away.  I realized then that the sound of the rosary in this quiet environment attracted it to me.  In the silence I had become an accepted member of their environment. 

It is in the quiet that we become united to the Lord able to listen for his voice.  Our faith proclaims what we receive in our “listening heart”.  Like Peter we often are attentive to the world around us and find ourselves proclaiming what the world proclaims, fear, injustice, sickness, lust, self-righteousness.  Jesus is the just one who we are to listen for and respond to his invitation to “Come.”  Come and proclaim our faith by our acts of virtue.  Focus on Jesus and fear not the invitation to proclaim the power of the Lord in our lives.  We live what we allow into our faith, this will always come out in our actions.  Whether we walk on the spiritual water or sink in the ocean of life it is an act of what we proclaim by faith.  Live the Godly faith and we will enter into the spiritual waters of faith, hope, and love with Prautes (Greek meaning “a still heart”). 

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Homily

18th Sunday Ordinary Time

Posted on by Deacon Joe

Is. 55:1-3; Ps. 145:8-9, 15-18; Rom. 8:35, 37-39; Mt. 14:13-21

“What will separate us from the love of Christ?”  Will anguish over a virus, or distress over a hurricane, or persecution by a political structure, or nakedness of our sin, or peril from unemployment, or the sword of death?  Even death brings us to the love of Christ “to all who call upon him in truth”. 

Truth is the path of love and to love God with all our heart and soul is the first truth of life.  To “heed” him in truth is the sign of our love.  Love is an active obedience to the will of God.  How are we to “listen, that you may have life”?   We must first receive him in order to listen to him.   The Lord is inviting us to “come to the water!”  The first act of love and truth is through the water of baptism.  “Without cost” we are invited to receive him the true bread of life who does “satisfy” and we become members of the renewal “the everlasting covenant, the benefits of David.” 

Having received him in water we can now listen to him in spirit as he speaks to us through his Word, the bread that satisfies in the Eucharist, in all the sacraments and through the church meaning the magisterium of the church and the people of the church.  “The Lord is near to all who call upon him in truth.” 

Five loaves and two fish feed five thousand plus.  Really!  Yes, really for “Heed me, and you shall eat well” says the Lord who is near.   “Why spend your money…for what fails to satisfy?” says the Lord.  In a highly commercialized world where everything becomes a “need” to satisfy nothing lasts except a continued “need”.  Truth is God satisfies!  He is our peace as we heed his voice and follow his truth.  

What separates us from the love of Christ is when we fail to heed him, we separate ourselves denying him as we deny his word and fail to listen in Spirit and truth.  Consider how many times God was ready to respond with his love if only we followed his command, “Come to me heedfully, listen, that you may have life”.  The “I” of our ego kept us from him and the pride of our heart wanted to do it “our way” as he waited for us to call upon him, we denied him once again. 

Come and be satisfied at the waters of life, at the bread of salvation in the Eucharist, with the Word of truth in scripture and remain in his presence.  The goodness of the Lord is everlasting and today he invites us to receive what satisfies the longing of our hearts and the needs of our being. 

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