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Homily

26th Sunday Ordinary Time: Actions speak louder

Posted on by Deacon Joe

Ezek. 18:25-28; Ps. 4-9; Phil.2:1-11; Mt. 21:28-32

“Actions speak louder than words.”  This is a common expression we speak when we want to make it clear we want to see some conviction in the words we hear.  In the gospel today, Jesus proclaims the right action of sinners speaks louder than the words of the chief priests and elders.  The gospel speaks to obedience to the will of the Father.  The priests and elders claim righteousness by their proclamations while their hearts are resistant to the revelation of Jesus.  The actions of “tax collectors and prostitutes” to believe and accept the words of “John” (the Baptist) opened the kingdom of heaven to them. 

St. Paul in his letter to the Philippians also speaks of right action being united in heart, mind and love by looking out for the other will complete his joy in being united to Christ.  St. Paul speaks to a new commandment greater than obedience.  It reveals a deeper obligation to allow the love of Christ to dwell in us.  If Christ dwells in us then our words are confirmed by our actions.  It is no longer we who live our lives but Christ who lives in us doing the will of the Father in offering his love to the other.  What happened to our will, our identity, our freedom?  It is transformed into the perfect being without sin and our joy will be complete. 

In the secular world we speak of the “Golden Rule” by treating others as we would like to be treated.  It is a rule of equity and fairness but St. Paul speaks of a different standard by stating “humbly regard others as more important than yourselves”.  This is the standard of Christ on the cross, a sacrificial giving of ourselves so that Christ will be manifest in us and through us.  This is being of the same mind and same love “in the Spirit” of compassion and mercy. 

Ezekiel speaks to turning “from the wickedness he (sinner) has committed and does what is right and just…he shall surely live.”  Death comes from “iniquity he committed” thus sin carries death to our doorstep.  Sin carries the death of mind, body, and spirit.  When we sin against the body through indulgence, passions, and/or self abuse the body dies “a thousand deaths” slowly until it is no more capable of sustaining mortal life.  When we sin against the mind of God in our mind, we attach our thoughts to our psychological fears, obsessions, and pride to fall victim of our own thinking.  When we sin against the Spirit of God our spirit becomes invaded by other spirits of darkness and it is no longer “I” who lives but the darkness that lives in me and God no longer recognizes us.  How are we to overcome all these trials?  It begins with proclaiming “Jesus Christ is Lord”.  The word is made flesh in our being to be lived in right action.

Darkness turns to light when our tongues confess “Jesus Christ is Lord” with right action.  There is power in the Word of God.  It is the power to move us to right action.  One day as a counselor of children of abuse under the care of the State, I had a young child of eight who was in a state of depression.  She was separated from her home, her siblings, her school.  Not only had she been repeatedly molested as a child but also had a history of heart problems. 

After several meetings in which I did not see progress, I asked if she could say, “God loves me”?  She could not repeat the words.  I asked if she could say “I love myself”?  Again, she would not say those words as her whole body language appeared sunken, doing poorly in school, and having a difficult time adjusting to foster care.  Even with some coaching of positive affirmations she refused to say those statements.  I then asked her simply to repeat the words slowly after me.  It was a transformative moment.  The next session her foster mother said she was doing so much better at home and playing like a normal child. 

Words matter but actions speak louder and must reflect our words to be confirmed in the heart. In counseling people don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care. This is the beginning of unity. Actions do speak louder when united to “thinking one thing”, Jesus Christ is Lord!  Amen. 

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Homily

25th Sunday Ordinary Time – Not fair!

Posted on by Deacon Joe

Isaiah 55:6-9; Ps. 145:2-3, 8-9, 17-18; Phil.1:20c-24, 27a; Mt. 20:1-16a

Not fair!  How often have we heard those words from our children or felt in our hearts “life is not fair!”  Our God says, “Let the scoundrel…turn to the Lord for mercy…who is generous in forgiving”.  Not fair claim the self-righteous unless we happen to be the scoundrel then righteousness turns to gratitude.  That is why the Lord says, “so high are my ways above your ways and my thoughts above your thoughts.” 

Mercy is for all who call upon the Lord.  The parable by Jesus in the gospel is more about the Lord’s generosity to confront our sense of entitlement.  Each laborer received “the usual daily wage” even though all did not work the same hours.  The laborers “grumbled” with a heart of injustice, “not fair”.  Yet we know “The Lord is just in all his ways and holy in all his works”.  What we fail to see is that this life of ours is the beginning of all things the Alpha of the Lord’s work in us, but the Omega is the eternal yet to come when all justice is revealed to us.

Not fair that we wait for justice!  Give thanks that the Lord is generous with these days of ours to correct our sin and seek holiness while there is still time before we face the test of justice, the purgatory of life, the call to give an account of our own to the Master.  Let us pray to be worthy works of his love as his servants. 

Perhaps St. Paul gives us some understanding in his letter to the Philippians when he says, “For to me life is Christ and death is gain.”  This complete surrender to God is a pearl in the ocean of fish.  There are many fish in the ocean of humanity but few pearls willing to surrender completely to the Lord.  There are many religious but few saints.  There are many scoundrels but few repentant souls.  That is why the Lord is near to all who call upon him in truth.  In his goodness comes mercy as a Father of love.

St. Paul reminds us we are the “works” of the Lord, the works he is free to accomplish in us and through us as we surrender to him.  St. Teresa of Calcutta prayed to be a “pencil” in the hand of the Lord.  Her life was a storybook of surrender accomplishing the works of the Lord.  We each have our state in life as single, married, widow, parent, religious, layperson, clergy with works waiting to be accomplished for the Lord.  The beauty of serving the Lord’s works is the transformation of our being as a work of holiness in the hands of the Lord.  Call upon the Lord in truth and be transformed as we put our trust in him. 

Consider the heart of our Blessed Mother Mary alongside her son in his passion. He came into the world with all his works of love offering forgiveness, mercy, healing, compassion for the sick and poor, and teaching for the just and his reward by humanity was to crucify him. She held all things in her heart knowing she carried the divine child in her arms with the gift of seeing him again in the resurrection only to see him depart in the clouds. Her total surrender from the beginning claiming “I am the handmaid of the Lord” sustained her faith, hope and love beyond what this world could see. She did not seek fairness only offered up her love. This was her fiat for us to follow.

The heavens rejoice when we offer our self up in union with the sacrifice Jesus makes for us.  Let us make an act of surrender this day in prayer:  Lord of love and generosity, I consecrate myself to your sacred heart in surrender of my mind, will, and spirit to be transformed as a work of your presence in this world to accomplish the “works” your will for me in this day by the graces of your generosity in truth and obedience to your command.  In my weakness come to my awareness your constant presence, your ways above my ways, and your thoughts above my thoughts that I may see your hand at work in me.  Amen. 

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Homily The Deacon Joe

24th Sunday Ordinary Time God is mercy

Posted on by Deacon Joe

Sir. 27:30- 28:7; Ps. 103:1-4, 9-12; Rom.14:7-9; Mt. 18:21-35

God is mercy and mercy is forgiveness!  “Remember your last days” before you proclaim “no justice no peace”.  We are called to “forgive your neighbor’s injustice”.  Why do we “hug them tight” our wrath and anger when they are the poison of death while others remain alive?  In part, it is because we fail to see ourselves in the sinner.  In the heart we give thanks we are not like them and justify our “’righteousness” for anger and vengeance. 

False righteousness is like rejecting the leper for his visible disease while walking in ignorance of the invisible cancer growing inside.  “Remember death and decay and cease to sin!”  Jesus likened “the kingdom of heaven” to a king who “settles accounts with his servants” and whether “we live or die we are the Lord’s” with an account in need of justice. 

Justice is the offering of Jesus for our sins to the merciful.  It is conditional on our forgiveness of our brothers and sisters, neighbors and strangers “from the heart” for the injustice.  Jesus speaks to the disciples that “heaven is likened…(to) his master (who) handed him over to the torturers until he should pay back the whole debt”.  As servants of the Lord there is a place for those who fail to forgive for their debt which as a Catholic church we identify as purgatory.  Purgatory is for the chosen who remain with the stain of sin of unforgiveness among others. 

We live in times when the streets proclaim “no justice no peace” seeking reparation for a history of people who have long passed from the earth.  Some believe you can be the victim of other’s history standing in for another’s suffering with expectation of compensation as an entitlement.  They “hold them tight” wrath and anger for a historical identity as victims without personal sacrifice of suffering in the name of social justice.  This is likened to blaming God for the sin of Adam and Eve for falling into a world of sin and suffering.  It is a ludicrous philosophy of victimization for all creation. 

Who do we need to forgive?  It begins in the domestic church, husbands and wives must forgive each other from the heart; children forgive parents for imperfect parenting at best and abandonment or abuse at worse; forgive our friends and neighbors who we have stopped talking with.  The root of forgiveness lies at the seed of love from the home.  It begins with a decision to forgive and a prayer of petition to receive the grace of forgiveness in the heart.  We don’t wait for a feeling to forgive to arrive before forgiving.  We act on the command of God to forgive and trust God with our heart to bring us peace.

It is said by the grace of God many have not seen the inside of a prison.  Among those who have been imprisoned some leave more vengeful than before to commit more crime while others are humbled to never return.  One man appeared on AGT (America’s Got Talent) telling his story of being convicted of a crime against a woman who identified him as the perpetrator.  He had three witnesses who testified he was home at the time of the crime but was convicted and served 37 years in prison before DNA proved his innocence.  Singing kept him hopeful with courage to persevere.  Released his dream to appear on AGT came true as a man of peace.  He survived because his heart was not imprisoned by the walls of wrath and anger.  Many more live outside the walls of prison but their hearts are imprisoned by wrath and anger while they hold tight the key of freedom, the choice of forgiveness.  Choose forgiveness and receive mercy. 

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Homily The Deacon Joe

23rd Sunday Ordinary Time: “There I am”

Posted on by Deacon Joe

Ezk. 33:7-9; Ps. 95:1-2, 6-9; Rom.13:8-10; Mt. 18:15-20

“There I am in the midst of them”, the Great “I Am”.  Those who gather in prayer to fulfill the law of love, I am there.  I am there in your joys and sorrows; I am there in your conflict between each other; and I am there to heal the broken hearted.  Let us pray then together as one body of Christ for the sick, sorrowing, the sinful and speak as commanded by the Spirit to their hearts that they may not be hardened.  If God is love and love fulfills the law then the law of God makes him present in our love to speak with faith and courage and not be silent. 

I have often in counseling others expressed to others “don’t love me the way you love yourself”.  Our love of self is imperfect at best and dysfunctional at the worst.  Imperfect love of self is conditional for pleasure, profit, power and prestige.  When we satisfy these passions, we recognize a false pride that is only temporal.  Dysfunctional love takes these same conditional passions to a greater degree of harm of self and others.  It creates a dependency and/or an obsession spiraling into sickness and death of true self.   Can anyone desire this type of love from “neighbor” or offer the love of Christ which is truth, beauty, goodness and unity?  How can we then bring our brokenness into our relationships of conflict and find a peaceful resolution.  Only with the one true mediator, Jesus Christ do we come into the presence of the Father who promises, “there I am”. 

Jesus speaks to our hearts in the Holy Spirit that we may speak as “watchman” for the house that is “church” of God’s people.  The devil has no trouble speaking out through others calling out “hypocrites” those sinners who dare to speak seeking to silence them Souls who are given a voice to speak truth, goodness, beauty, and unity become “cancelled” in the current culture of oppression.  The devil lies ready to counter truth by calling out our hypocrisy, to counter goodness by calling out our sinfulness, to counter beauty by calling out our jealousy, and to counter unity by calling out our self-righteousness.  Just as the devil used Peter to chastise Jesus and Jesus responded with “Get behind me Satan” the devil uses those we love to bring division to our relationships and prevent reconciliation. 

In the same manner when Jesus asks “But who do you say that I am?”  Peter responds with the inspired truth “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”  The revelation to speak was revealed by the “heavenly Father” to Peter, a sinful man, a follower, a hypocrite who later denies Jesus three times, prideful and self-righteous but at that moment there was the heavenly Father revealing truth to the disciple.  We cannot say “who am I to speak?” when our first grace to speak came at baptism with the gift of the Holy Spirit.  To speak as “church” when two or three are gathered in his name is a command from God who warns “I will hold you responsible for his death” if we dare be silent.  Our salvation depends on it!  

Am I here for me or thee, that is the question?  Until our faith is cemented in how we answer this question we risk our salvation and play with fire from hell.  Often it is heard “where is God?”  This is heard in the midst of suffering or tragedy and it begs the question where is the fulfillment of the law of God?  Obedience is not the greatest of virtues aspired by humanity.  We place conditional limits to our obedience just as we place conditional limits to our love returning to the question, “am I here for me or thee?”  We don’t bring peace to conflict through conflict avoidance.  We bring peace to conflict following the formula of subsidiarity given to us in scripture today, starting with the individuals who hold the power at the principle level of where the conflict lies, brother to brother and sister to sister before turning to authority to bring reconciliation. 

Godly reconciliation is not a “compromise”, a fifty-fifty agreement, or a settlement of jurisprudence but reaching for a greater truth that brings salvation.  This greater truth comes from the “Great I AM” who promised “there I am”.  Speak now before this moment is forever gone.  Speak now in the Holy Spirit of truth to bring the goodness of God the Father, through the beauty of Jesus love on the cross, to bring the unity of reconciliation in heaven. Speak now through prayer at the urging of the Spirit.

A voice of truth in our times is not to be silenced through the culture of “safe spaces”, political correctness, or threats of being “cancelled” through an overall attack on our very humanity. There is a cross to bear when God speaks through us. All the great saints were threatened to be “cancelled” for disrupting the norms of their times. Holiness is not for the weak. We are all called to be great saints for our times.

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