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Homily The Deacon Joe

In the one spirit – 26th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Posted on by Deacon Joe

Num. 11:25-29; Ps. 19:8, 10, 12-14; James 5:1-6; Mk. 9:38-43, 45, 47-48

In the one spirit, “For whoever is not against us is for us.”  “Would that the Lord would bestow his spirit on them all!” without licentiousness or duplicity. The Lord has come to bestow his spirit on all who receive through baptism the gift of the Holy Spirit.  We are all called to prophesy to our faith as priest, prophet and king in baptism.  While the Christian church in the world has divided into many denominations, they hold onto the one sacrament of faith that is baptism that bestows on all from the same spirit. Meanwhile the Catholic Church holds true to the seven sacraments of life that are the fullness of truth in Jesus Christ. 

In the seven sacraments the church recognizes the significance that the body and soul must both live in the spirit as one, there cannot be any duplicity that satisfies the flesh without the spirit to guide it to holiness.  Therefore, for each aspect of the flesh there is a sacrament to raise the flesh into holiness.  In the flesh we are born, but in the spirit, we are reborn through baptism.  In the flesh we require food to live and oh are we so ready to feed our bodies.  In the spirit, we feed on the body and blood of Christ in the Eucharist to be transformed in the spirit.  In the flesh we grow in maturity and gain our knowledge.   In the spirit, we grow in wisdom to be in covenant with God through Confirmation.  Together the sacraments of Baptism, Communion, and Confirmation represent our full initiation into the Church, that is into the body of Christ in the one spirit. 

In the flesh we heal the wounds of the body from the physical injury from play or from trauma.  While in the spirit we heal from our sinful wounds from our pride and passions that injure the image of God in our creation.  Thus, with an act of humility we seek reconciliation in the sacrament of Confession.  In the flesh we seek immunity from bacteria, viruses, and the environment that causes us illness and disease.   While in the spirit, we reject the attack from the evil one who desires our death with the healing power coming from the Anointing of the sick.  Together they represent our victory over death and our readiness to “possess the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ” in the one spirit. 

In the flesh we procreate to continue life in the world by living in the natural law of God’s creation.  In the spirit, we create the bond of unity in marriage to build up the kingdom of God.  In the flesh we live an orderly life to be united in harmony with each other with laws to support the common good.  In the spirit, we are given God’s law through the magisterium of the Church to create order in our faith practices through the sacrament of Holy Orders.  Thus, we raise up the flesh to live beyond our passions and enter into the spiritual life with Christ through the sacramental life of the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church. 

In this we recognize that in God’s creation we join the life of the flesh with the life of the spirit of God to be in unity through God’s sacramental church.  This unity is to extend into daily living, our home, work, business actions, and our relationships not only with friends and family but also with the stranger.  Thus, today St. James is addressing the “rich” who hire “workers” and “withheld their wages” while storing up “treasures” for themselves.  The “cries” of these workers have reached the “ears of the Lord of hosts”.  St. James’ theology is simply a unifying principle between our faith and our actions, doing the right thing both in our private and public life. 

St. James’ message to us is that our private life of faith must mirror our public life in the world.  In other words, “Church and State” cannot be a life of duplicity where we claim to be Catholic or Christian but our private beliefs are separated from our call to work, our business actions, or our politics.    In fact, St. James warns “you have fattened your hearts for the day of slaughter.  You have condemned; you have murdered the righteous one, he offers you no resistance.” St. James is reminding his listeners what was done to Jesus by their duplicitous interests claiming to be sons of God while protecting their public interests. 

James takes us on this train of thought we can apply to our world from worker’s rights beginning with wages, to those condemned to the death penalty, to the innocent murder of the “righteous one” who offer “no resistance”.   There is no one more righteous to life this day than the unborn killed in abortions by the thousands each year “fattening” the wallets of the abortion industry and of those whose politics defend it. 

Duplicity is the world’s remedy for believers within the “church” creating a separation of church and state but for the “Lord of hosts” it is the formula that “will devour your flesh like fire”.  Duplicity is trying to live a double life, one for God and one for the world and have “tried to store up treasure for the last days” only to see this wealth “rotted away”.  In duplicity there cannot be one reality but the creation of two false illusions that of serving two Gods.  Will either of them at the end claim the duplicitous servant as their own or will he be rejected as a child of neither one with a “millstone…around his neck”.  Jesus warns us that this is the day and the time to correct our sinful acts than to go into Gehenna.

Gehenna literally translates from Hebrew to “valley of hell”.  It was a place near Jerusalem where children were sacrificed to the god Baal.  Child sacrifice goes back in scripture to Abraham and his son Isaac where God prevented his sacrifice.  The “massacre of innocents” by King Herod orders the execution of all male children two years old and under near Bethlehem who the Church recognizes as the first Christian martyrs on Holy Innocents Day.  When Mary appears to Juan Diego, Aztecs were having human sacrifices to the gods as a normal part of the culture.  This week the Archbishop of San Francisco, Salvatore J. Cordielone published on his website (sfarchdiocesse.org) that abortion is “nothing short of child sacrifice” and he quoted Pope Francis who said, “Abortion is more than a problem.  Abortion is homicide…It is a human life, period.”  This is our Gehenna and we cannot be silent. In the past it was the “C” word of cancer that was not spoken because it represented death. Today it is the “A” word of abortion that represents death and without fear we must be willing to face it with an honest discussion.

It is by our “hand” that we sin when we raise it up to strike and condemn another including the hands that are raised to vote for death and end life.  It is by the “feet” that we set the path we walk that takes us to live out a duplicitous life in the kingdom of the world.  It is by our “eye” that we look upon evil and allow it to enter our soul to capture our passions.  It is by the love and mercy of Jesus that we can separate ourselves from our sins leaving behind our past sins to enter into the kingdom of God.  It is by the sacramental life of the Church that Jesus offers us a path to return to righteousness.    Let our hands raise up in praise of God, let our feet follow the path coming from the word of God and let our eyes behold Jesus on the cross for our sins, in the eucharist to be healed in our souls, and through the sacramental life in his body the Church for our salvation. 

If God is with us who can be against us?  We can only be against ourselves if we compromise our faith for the works of the world.  In counseling it is a principle of change that if we are to change a behavior that harms us, we cannot simply let go without having a positive behavior to replace it.  The behavior we are letting go creates a vacuum that will be filled with something else that could be worse than the first.  Scripture reminds us we can be freed from a demon but without change a greater legion of demons can enter us.  We need to prepare ourselves to allow something of greater good to come into our lives or we will either return to the past or find something else just as harmful. 

It happens every day when someone decides they are going to give up a habit.  You give up smoking but you start to eat more and gain weight.  You give up “hard” drugs but increase alcohol that is the slow killer.  You go on a “killer” diet, hint, hint “killer” only to rebound and gain more weight as soon as you stop the diet.  Wellness is finding the good lifestyle habits that replace the harmful ones.  Spiritual wellness is increasing our spiritual muscle with lifestyle habits that put an end to the sinful ones.  Prayer, fasting, meditating on the word of God, coming to receive Communion as often as we can, and spending time in adoration are all spiritual exercises that work as an anti-death lifestyle against sin and a pro-life lifestyle from God. 

Returning to the Lord’s call to receive a share in the spirit of truth.  The Lord comes down in the cloud and bestows some of the same spirit of Moses on seventy plus two.  Moses is the head of the Israelites yet the spirit is given to many others to share in the leadership of the people.  It is in this spirit that the church calls others into the clerical ministry to be deacons, priests and bishops with the Pope as the Vicar of Christ to head his church.  It creates the order of the church but even when not present the spirit is free to call others to give testimony to the truth as God wills. 

Thus, even in our separated brothers and sisters there is a spirit of truth “for whoever is not against us is for us.”  Yet the church holds that the fullness of truth comes from Jesus given to the first disciples who have by succession established a line of leadership we call the Catholic church. That gift of the spirit which we are all baptized spreads the many gifts of the Holy Spirit but the same spirit.  We each have a calling to live the truth of the gospel, without duplicity and without jealousy of the gifts of the spirit given to each.  Let us ask and seek the gifts of the spirit to receive the fullness of truth.  Let us let go of our sins and live in the one spirit without licentiousness or duplicity.  Let us enter into the fullness of the gospel truth given to us by the most righteous one himself, Jesus Christ. 

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Homily The Deacon Joe

“The Passion or the passions” – 25th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Posted on by Deacon Joe

Wis. 2:12, 17-20; Ps. 54:3-8; James 3:16—4:3; Mk. 9:30-37

The Passion or the passions that is the question?  The “Passion” comes from the “just one”, the “Son of Man” who comes as the “servant of all” with the wisdom from above to remain “pure, then peaceable, gentle, compliant, full of mercy and good fruits, without inconstancy or insincerity.”  The Passion is the works of love to be the image of God.  The passions “ask wrongly” and do not receive the wisdom from above from the “just one” for they come with “jealousy and selfish ambition” to make “war within your members” and covet to be first.  The passions are all about self-image.   

Be perfect as the Son of Man came to show us the way to perfection through the “Passion” as “servant of all”, anything less comes from the passions of selfish ambition.  If we do not receive because we ask wrongly what is then the question to ask?  It might be tempting to quickly jump into the assumption of asking “Lord what is your will for me?”  Then we go on and do what we think is best by our own ambition and live our life.  When was the last time we asked “Lord what are my faults?”  Before we can change the world, we need to change ourselves into the image of the Son of Man with the wisdom of above to live by the virtues from above and discern right action. 

If God is calling us “through the Gospel to possess the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ” then the first question to ask is “Lord who am I?”  “Who am I made in your image so that I may possess your glory?”  What are my faults to correct and my strengths to master that I may be perfect in doing your will?  Then God in whose image we are made will reveal himself to us to know thyself in him and in him we will see ourselves for what we are called to be as his servants.

Consider before Jesus ever sent his disciples out to proclaim the gospel, he spent time with them to reveal himself to them.  He was teaching them that they may see themselves in the truth and correct their selfish ambition to covet with the desire to be first. Then they are sent to proclaim the gospel as servants of the Lord.  One of the temptations for the disciples after Jesus’ passion, death and resurrection was that their followers tried to make of them as “gods”.  Imagine, they were now performing miracles and exorcising demons and being held up as “gods”.  It would be tempting to see who has the bigger crowds following them “thinking not as God does, but as human beings do.”  Their transformation however, was as servants of the Lord to sacrifice themselves for the gospel. 

This week in the liturgy we have celebrated the Exaltation of the Cross where Jesus takes the form of a slave raised on the wood of the cross and we have celebrated our Blessed Mother as Our Lady of Sorrows standing by the cross of the Lord’s passion.  We are invited to enter into the passion of Christ for “what is lacking in the sufferings of Christ for the sake of his body, the church” (Col. 1:24) something to be grasped.  Let us learn the meaning of redemptive suffering.  As members of the body of Christ we can unite our suffering to the Lord’s passion for our salvation and sacrifice for the sins of the world “that this world might be saved through him”.  This is what we mean when we say “offer it up”.  What world are we leaving behind for our children to suffer in or to rejoice in?  It will be rejoicing in the Passion of Christ or suffering in the passions of our humanity. 

The passions of our humanity will cause us to stumble and fall especially the passion of pride.  Pride never asks “what are my faults?”  Now you may say “why ask, when everyone else is quick to point them out”.  We hear it from our wife or husband, our kids, our parents, our boss, even our neighbor will call and complain.  Pride will come to the defense to say “who made you my judge?”  We don’t want to hear it from anybody, not even from God.    Our first act of passion is the need to make an examination of conscience and recognize our faults.  Know thyself to take up our cross in our weakness that we may be strong in faith and do the will of God.   

We “put the just one to the test that we may have proof of his gentleness and try his patience” with our passions.  Our sins “beset the just one” that is he is troubled to suffer our rebellion against his mercy and love.  We have him carry the cross of our sins rather than repent. We ask wrongly for the Lord to uphold our life while wanting to remain attached to our passions.  We are to freely offer our sacrifice of repentance and avoid the near temptation to sin.  Sin is self-centered thus when we turn from sin, we become other centered to offer our service for the greater good.  

Let us join in his Passion to be the “last of all and the servant of all”.  We enjoy being served at the table but are we also ready to get up and be of service.  Nothing like having children to shock us out of the “me” world into the “other” world and get up at all hours to serve.  Now our duty as parents is to teach our children to love and to serve each other.  To love God above all things and to serve in the works of salvation. It begins with the love of parents and the works of service in the home as children learning to be responsible, to care, and even willing to make a sacrifice for a greater good.  The first school of salvation is the home and the first act of service a child can learn is to pray.  Pray for the needs and good of all that our offering of prayer will teach us to ask rightly and receive the gifts to be of greater service in the kingdom of God.   

The Passion or the passions, which are we living?  When we look up at the cross, do we fear living the Passion with Christ?  Consider that in our fallen nature there is a cross to bear each according to the divine plan of salvation.  We see it in the lives of saints and in others and in ourselves who bear the cross of suffering through illness, abandonment, abuse, rejection, death of loved ones, and so many conditions and circumstances outside of our control.  We live it in our own flesh and suffering and it has been given a label, depression, cancer, diabetes, anxiety, learning disabilities, addictions, psychosis, and today it’s COVID but tomorrow it could be something else. 

Victor Frankl who was imprisoned in a concentration camp during World War II founded his school called “logotherapy” meaning “Man’s search for meaning” and stated “the last of human freedoms (is) the ability to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances.”  We can choose the attitude of Job, “the Lord giveth, the Lord taketh, blessed be the name of the Lord” (Job 1:21).

There is a story of a woman who said to Jesus, “Lord, I cannot bear this cross please give me another.”  Jesus said, “if you wish enter the room of crosses and choose the one you want to carry.”  The woman went into the room of crosses and set hers down.  She then went about the room but each cross seemed too hard to bear.  Then she came upon the cross that appeared lighter than the rest so she picked it up and went to Jesus and said “Lord I will carry this cross.”  The Lord replied, “the cross you chose is the cross you set down but now you have found the will to carry it.” 

The Blessed Mother suffered her seven sorrows joined to the passion of Christ.  In her we can recognize the blessing of redemptive suffering for the love of Christ she remained at the cross to bear her sorrow and to receive her consolation “woman behold your son”.  She was to remain his mother through the service of the children of God.  We see how the disciples turned their human passions into the service of Jesus becoming apostles of the cross to carry his love and mercy.  Their lives were transformed to remain pure and peaceable with good fruits and with constancy in good times and in bad.  Let us learn to do the same.  Let us now live our redemptive suffering. 

When Jesus was raised up on the cross our Blessed Mother remained at his feet without fear able to sustain with courage that which she could not change.  What she could do is to accompany him in his greatest suffering.  Can we remain with Jesus this day in the things we cannot change and allow him to use our suffering for the conversion of souls?   Can we say “yes” to Jesus in his passion when in our passions we want to say “no”.  Some days the only thing we can do is to do nothing but remain present with Jesus and allow him to do the work of salvation in us and in others. 

The Passion or the passions is the war we inherit that is left to fight.  Let us fight the good fight, let us run the race, let us claim our victory over self and our legacy will stand as a testimony not so much for everything we did because it is not about us, but for in whose image we stood with courage joined to the image of Christ. 

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Homily The Deacon Joe

“Get behind me, Satan!” – 24th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Posted on by Deacon Joe

Is. 50:4c-9a; Ps. 116:1-9; James 2:14-18; Mk. 8:27-35

“Get behind me Satan!”  These words should be on our lips to rebuke evil putting on the armor of God by calling on the name of Jesus to lift us up out of the darkness of sin, suffering, or temptation.  How are we to lift up our faith?  It is in the name of Jesus and through the works of God that our faith is not only lifted up as an offering but it continues to grow into holiness so we may already “walk before the Lord, in the land of the living”.  Heaven can’t wait for the dead to rise when Jesus can be present to us this day among the living in holiness.  When “the cords of death” encompass us and we fall into distress and sorrow we not only call upon the name of the Lord to save us but let us rebuke the source of evil with the words of Jesus, “get behind me Satan”. 

Poor St. Peter, he stumbled his way to holiness in an emotional rollercoaster with Jesus.  Peter and his brother Andrew are the first to be called to follow Jesus leaving everything behind.  In the gospel today, it is Peter who receives the spirit of knowledge to call Jesus “the Christ”.  It is here that Jesus calls Peter the “rock” upon which he will build his church.  Peter is no sooner lifted up in spirit that he comes crashing down as he tries to “rebuke” Jesus.  Really Peter, your first act of authority as the “rock” of the church is to turn on Jesus with the spirit of pride only to be rebuked back to reality with the words “get behind me Satan”.  Peter is a great witness for us to recognize just because we are saved and belong to Jesus doesn’t keep Satan from trying to have us stumble back into sinful living. 

Satan doesn’t quit on Peter and he doesn’t quit on us trying to have us stumble and fall.  We can’t try to blame Satan either justifying our actions with “the devil made me do it”.  Satan influenced the thinking of Adam and Eve to commit sin and he tried to influence the thinking of Jesus in the desert so we remain his target but Satan does not control us either.  He is the Father of lies and that is his weapon to have us believe his lies and act upon them.  In the movie “The Passion” during the agony in the Garden, Jesus is in prayer when Satan appears personified constantly speaking to Jesus to weaken his resolve but Jesus remains in prayer and stamps on the head of the serpent.  “Get behind me Satan” is our way of stamping on the head of Satan and calling him out. 

We see in the Mount of Olives Jesus foretelling of Peter’s denial of him three times.  Peter responds as humans do “Even though I have to die with you, I will not deny you.”  Tough talk but we all know how far Peter falls that very night after Jesus’ arrest denying Jesus three times as soon as Satan appears to fulfill the words of scripture, “I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be dispersed”.  Satan doesn’t quit trying to influence us with the same efforts to have us deny Jesus and disperse the sheep of God.  “Get behind me Satan” for the Lord opens our ears that we may not rebel or be put to shame for denying Jesus or the works he calls us to serve. 

Yet after Jesus resurrection when he appears to Peter and the disciples, Peter is once again called to rise up and proclaim his love for Jesus three times by feeding and tending to Jesus’ sheep.  In Peter we see how Jesus does not give up on Peter and he does not give up on us calling back to his mercy with love.  In Peter we also learn that our faith in Jesus comes to life with the “works” of love or it is dead.  Faith and works are two sides of the same coin, can’t have one without the other.

Satan influenced the church persecutors with the same concept “I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be dispersed”.  The chief priests and entire Sanhedrin felt that if they just did away with Jesus then his followers would disperse and the movement would be dead.  The Romans who persecuted the early church had the same idea.  They went after the apostles and the bishops to make a statement and bring fear to the followers but the more they killed the greater the number grew.  Satan’s influence to bring terror and death only gave the people greater faith to proclaim the gospel and to take care of each other. 

What about the terror and death that surrounds us, is it cause for us to disperse because we don’t see God or understand the mystery of suffering, or fear our own persecution if we speak out against the culture of death around us.  Who speaks for the life of the unborn or for the persecuted Christians around the world?  Do we say to Jesus, “I will never deny you” but remain silent in the face of sin? Today on the 20th Anniversary of 9/11, “we never forget” the innocent in the face of evil. Never forget the influence of Satan and evil that can enter the heart to bring death. We remember them and the lives forever changed but we also recall that in the end God triumphs over evil.

One of the “Big” lies of Satan is the lie of relativity we all hear and many come to believe and it goes like this, “Truth is in the eyes of the beholder”.  Jesus heard it from Pontius Pilate when he asked, “What is truth?”  For Pilate it was a rhetorical question for he did not accept Jesus’ answer “For this I was born and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth.”  For Pilate and for many today one person’s truth is another’s false reality but not for Jesus.  Come to the truth, come to Jesus.  As our famous protestant brother and writer Rick Warren wrote “Its not about you”. 

How often does our thinking spiral into fears, visions filled with “what if” and our imagination goes wild with negative thoughts that distress us, disrupts our peace especially because at the moment there is no danger, no crisis, no visible enemy or is there?  Could it be the enemy we call out to get behind us, that is to get away from us?  This may be the moment when the unseen enemy is before us and we need to rebuke him by name “get behind me Satan!”  If we think that by ignoring Satan, he will ignore us we are mistaken.  He only targets our vulnerabilities even more with as many evil spirits we allow into our mind to beat us and shame us.  In the moment of darkness when the “snares of the netherworld” seize upon us and we fall into distress we are to call upon the Lord’s salvation and rebuke the evil one with the Lord’s name.  The Lord hears those who are brought low and comes to save us. 

I have to say that almost every day I receive mail from many groups, ministries, and movements with images of Jesus coming in the poor, the hungry, the suffering seeking help to fund their projects.  When you respond to one it seems we get ten times more mail from others seeking support for doing the works of God.  You may have had a similar experience and it can be overwhelming to see what the need is.   Your heart goes out to all of them and usually their letters come with a little gift knowing that they are investing in your generosity.  It brings reality into focus not only of the struggle of others but that we cannot even count the blessings we have received from God.  The truth is always before us. Jesus is always before us but we must be open to the truth. Jesus brings the truth into the world, Ephphatha, be opened!

To be Christian is to be giving of oneself with our works of faith in time, talent and treasure.  “What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone says he has faith but does not have works?  Can that faith save him?  So also, faith of itself, if it does not have works is dead.”  Faith alone does not save. Faith is meant to moves us to do the works of salvation and the works of salvation create life so that in Christ death has no sting, no power, no glory for “he is not God of the dead, but of the living, for to him all are alive” (Lk. 20:38).  That is why we not only pray for the dead but for the dead to pray for us because theirs is not a final death but a death to this body while their souls are more alive in the truth of Christ. Philippians 2:12 reminds us, “So then my beloved…work out your salvation with fear and trembling.” The evil one is at large seeking the ruin of souls. “Get behind me Satan!”

The Lord God opens our ears to hear him in his word, to touch his body and blood in the Eucharist, to walk among the faithful to follow the truth “before the Lord, in the land of the living.”  Heaven can’t wait for tomorrow when Jesus makes himself present to us today.  We enter the land of the living to taste and see the goodness of the Lord when we come to Jesus to wash away our sins and receive him in the Eucharist.  This is that day and the hour has come to proclaim our faith in the truth of Jesus. Be renewed, and go forth to love and serve the Lord in all his works. 

The Lord will bless the land we stand on and guide the path we walk that we may radiate his love and glory to the world.  When we receive the Lord, we receive his mercy and faithfulness to be faithful in all our works.  “Justice and peace have embraced” coming from heaven to be with us in Jesus as he appeared to the disciples after the resurrection proclaiming “Peace be with you.”  God dwells in us as we receive Jesus and we enter into the land of the living freed from the stain of sin.  As the song reminds us, “this is holy ground, were standing on holy ground” and the Lord will keep us along the path of holiness with ears and eyes open to his mercy and love.

“In the name of Jesus, get behind me Satan” is a powerful prayer.  In it we reject Satan and all his empty lies and we embrace Jesus, the Father’s only begotten Son, united to the Trinity, the angels and saints and to the one Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic church first entrusted to Peter as the first Pope, that is “Holy Father” of the church despite his faults and his past.  Peter rises to embrace the works of Jesus with great faith and so are we to do.  The truth is this world is about salvation through Jesus Christ.  Don’t leave this world without him.  Jesus saves! 

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Homily

“Ephphatha! Be Opened!” – 23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time

Posted on by Deacon Joe

Is. 35:4-7a; Ps. 146:7-10; James. 2:1-5; Mk. 7:31-37

“Ephphatha! Be opened!  Be opened to Jesus who does all things well.  “Here is your God, he comes with vindication; with divine recompense he comes to save you.”  We live in times when the hearts of many are frightened from all the signs of threat to life.  The threat of a virus that continues to mutate and survive to strike again, the threat of nature’s storms that leave communities devastated, the threat of a culture of death from ideologies that promote death by abortion, death by euthanasia, death by weapons of mass destruction, death by torture and most prevalent is death by acts of mortal sin.  The Lord reminds us this day to “Be strong, fear not!”  Fear is from the evil one but the “Lord sets captives free.” 

What fear do we bring to the Lord this day?  What is holding us back from the love and mercy of God afraid to let go and let God?  Is our heart frightened from an illness, an addiction, or a sin that has us captive?  Do we fear not for ourselves but for someone we love who is being held captive, blind by a culture of death, living in sin and deaf to the truth of God’s love and mercy?  Who do we need to bring to the Lord this day, our sons and daughters, husband or wife, ourselves?  We can bring ourselves to be opened to his healing love.  We can also bring our loved ones through our prayers to God to be rescued and saved from the darkness.  The prophesy of Isaiah is fulfilled today in the gospel by Jesus.  Jesus is the one we turn to who gives us the “springs of (living) water” and call us to be opened to receive his grace. 

St. Monica prayed for her son for years and divine providence guided her to the bishop of Milan, St. Ambrose and it was through St. Ambrose that St. Augustine was converted from a life of sin to a journey towards sainthood.  That is the power of prayer to those who love him.  God is open to us, to our prayers and to our salvation and he can open our souls to his healing power.  Be opened!  God “choose those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs to the kingdom”.  God recognizes the poor who have so little are open to receive much because by their poverty they come to trust more and see the hand of God meeting their needs no matter how small or how important their need, God works in their life and their love grows with each answered prayer.  The poor who trust in God hold a treasure chest of answered prayers for their faithfulness to “pray, trust and don’t worry” as Padre Pio would say. 

If God looks into our spiritual treasure chest within our souls, what will he find?  He will be seeking songs of praise and worship, prayers of thanksgiving, Holy Masses offered for our deceased loved ones, sacrifices of penance, fasting, and abstinence, and acts of charity for the poor.  When we look into our treasure chest what do we see that God is already aware of?  Is it filled with worldly treasures and we have to dig deep to find an act of charity?  Spiritual treasures rise to heaven and give God glory while earthly treasures become lost, buried, or forgotten.  The God of our salvation desires the treasure of our souls adorned with acts of love, mercy, and charity and it all begins with being opened to receive him first. 

Will our souls be opened to receive him and will he see in us the image of his body and blood surrendering to the will of God?  Be opened to receive the graces that arm us for this world and the grace to carry the cross for our salvation.  God seeks shepherds and warriors not wannabes but doers of his word.  Let our souls be opened by giving praise to the Lord.  “Praise the Lord, my soul” to be opened to love, mercy, and healing.  When we praise God, we are already being opened to receive his “divine recompense” and to live by his divine will. 

Salvation comes with healing and it is a miracle that we are here this day and not among the walking dead from sin or six feet under buried by the storms of life.  We have already risen by our baptism to salvation to give praise to God with eyes opened to the light, ears opened to the truth, and hearts flowing with streams of living water to satisfy the thirsty soul that longs for God.  When we remain in him, we rise each day to our Easter time to give thanks for the glory of God that resides in us.  Fear not and praise much to be strengthened in moments of weakness that we may not fall into despair. 

I ask myself why did Jesus touch the deaf man with a speech impediment. He touched his ears and with spit touch his tongue.  Would we allow someone to touch us this way?  Probably not unless we had much faith in the one who is present to us.   Jesus has the power of the word to simply say and it shall be done and we will be healed.  Yet, Jesus is using God’s creation of nature sanctifying both the nature of elements from where our nature comes from and sanctifying us as he heals us.  Jesus comes to make all things new in God’s call to perfection from the beginning of creation.  He desires for us to return to his perfection and promises to do so in the resurrection of the body. 

If we think of the sacraments, we recognize that each sacrament has a visible sign of the invisible grace being received.  There is water for baptism, bread and wine for the Eucharist, oil for healing, baptism, and confirmation.  Jesus is there present to us in the sacrament calling us to be opened to receive him.  Now imagine what will God do with our brokenness in the resurrected body to come?  He will make all things new raising our humanity to his divinity.

Jesus shares by his humanity our suffering and he carries the burden of our suffering and our sins in his body in perpetual atonement for you and I.  Now is the time for healing, now is the time for repentance, now is the moment to be opened for conversion and renewal.  What is holding us back?  What is our fear?  Underlying all our fears is sin, the sin of pride, the sin of disobedience, the sin of disbelief. 

The sin of pride says I believe but I am not ready to humble myself.  In St. Augustine’s Confessions he recounts his prayer, “Lord, make me chaste, but not yet.”  Are we still holding back saying “Lord, not yet”?  We all carry the desire to say, “I want”.  “I want control of my life.  I want more…I want it my way”.  It begins in our childhood when we begin to say “no”, no to our parents, no to rules, no to authorities, and no to the God of our parents.  We close our ears to truth for the lies we want to believe.  Lies like “I thought I didn’t need anybody.”  We become mute to the name of God refusing to even speak of God in our lives that is until something bad happens and we are humbled by the reality of our nothingness without God.  Now is the time to be opened and to speak “God be with us”.  Now is the time to ask, “God what is your will for me?” 

The sin of disobedience because we do not trust.  Our trust issues say, “I don’t trust an institution of religion there to keep people oppressed”.  We have all heard it said, “the church is full of hypocrites” then come join your people and be among your own kind.  Be opened to what it is to be “church” that is one body of believers supporting the gift of God’s freedom, love and mercy.  Without God we are oppressed by all the sins of this world and only he can set us free of bondage.  God calls us to be “one” united in faith belonging to the one body of Christ.  Look beyond our sinfulness as broken and fallen sinners to trust in his divine providence for the One Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church.

Then there is the sin of disbelief when our eyes see all that is wrong and evil in this world.  We hear it said, “How can a God who is all powerful and knowing allow so much evil in this world? I cannot accept that kind of God.”  That kind of God has set us free to make our choice and face our consequences.  Those who choose to be among the ones who reject him are the source of so much evil in this world and the consequence is eternal death.  Those who choose to be united to God are the source of what is truth, good, beauty and unity in this world and the reward is eternal life.  Believe and be opened to see the hand of God working to bring us all to receive salvation.  

What is left if we have no God, we have no life within us.  Without God life is a tragedy of survival waiting for death to happen.  Those who live this life keep asking, “How am I going to live and make it?  Why am I here?  What is going to happen to me?”  With God life is a drama of discovery where we don’t ask ourselves the how, why, or what but we turn to God to seek, to search and to find for ourselves his glory through humility, obedience, and faith.  Then the God of revelation will reveal to us the mystery of our purpose and call into this life and we shall be healed of our sins and infirmities. 

He is our God and we are his people opened to receive the glory of his revelation in us, with us, and through us.  Then we will be ready to go forth and proclaim his gospel message and the story of salvation as witnesses to what God is doing in our lives.  Be opened, be strong, fear not and love much!   Ephphatha! 

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