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Homily

1st Sunday of Advent – Live with the end in mind

Posted on by Deacon Joe

Jer.33: 14-16; Ps.25:4-5, 8-10, 14; 1 Thes. 3:12—4:2; Lk. 21:25-28, 34-36

The Lord is coming, the Lord has come, and will come again.  Today begins the new liturgical year in anticipation of the coming of the Lord just as we have completed the celebration of the Lord King of the Universe.  The Lord’s kingdom is before us but are we before the Lord ready for his coming “blameless in holiness before our God and Father”?  Advent brings on a somber reality that we are to live with the end in mind.  Living with the end in mind will not find us unprepared or distracted by all that the world brings on. 

Since the Lord fulfilled his promise to the house of Israel and Judah with the coming of Jesus we have been living in the end times.  All that was prophesized with signs “in the sun, the moon and the stars” as well as the earth has been happening in each generation from natural disasters to world wars but it is not the final coming yet.  The blessed Mother Mary has appeared multiple times and around the world calling us to repentance while there is still time but most of the world has ignored her signs.  The world continues to live for itself unprepared for the “tribulations that are imminent”. 

We hear it said “We are in the world but not of the world.”  This means that we have been set apart by our faith and even if death should come it is only a death to this mortal body but our soul is eternal and we will be given a new body.  We are not to fear an end to this world but be prepared “to stand erect…because your redemption is at hand”.  We are to pray for strength to endure the final test with faith not fear.  This can only be our reality if we live our lives with the end in mind. 

Often when we experience a major event in life, marriage, the birth of a child, a new job, a tragedy or even death of a loved one, we come to recognize what is most important in life, what is our priority, and even ask ourselves “who do we serve?”  Every day we are tempted to make life all about ourselves, my wants, my choice, my pleasures, and my will be done.  In the end life becomes out of balance and we lose sight of the end to come.  As one man said to me as we stood at a funeral, he had made no arrangements for death because he felt he would live forever.  The funeral was a hard reminder mortal death is imminent and he didn’t want to think about it.  This is not living with the end in mind but living an illusion about to become a shock. 

To live with the end in mind is to always be aware of “who do we serve”.  Jesus came to serve and not to be served.  This advent is our opportunity to “reset” our priorities and keep Jesus at the center of our life.  Thanksgiving was a good reminder of what are we doing for the others in life and in our world.  We are given life in order to give life to others by our love, our charity, and our sacrifice.  Christ in Christmas is all about our giving of what matters.  A material gift is a good sign of our love but giving of ourselves, our time and our love is the gift that lasts more than an object. 

Living our life with end in mind is doing that which lasts till the end.  For example, what new memories are we creating that we will be sharing years from now?  What service have we done that will stand the test of time as a blessing to others?  What act of love is God receiving from us in our prayer, our worship, and our even our confession that is freeing us from all sin and building the kingdom of God for others to follow. 

Let this be our testimony this Advent that what other see in us they will seek to follow in imitation of Christ. 

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Homily

The Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe

Posted on by Deacon Joe

Dn. 7: 13-14; Ps. 93:1-2, 5; Rev. 1:5-8; Jn. 18:33b-37

Our Lord Jesus Christ has come and is coming again.  The Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end of all things is calling us into his kingdom while there is still time.  The majesty of the Lord surrounds us in all of creation.  We are to contemplate the beauty of creation from the heavens above to all of nature on earth, and the miracle of life that reveals the God who is with us. Creation is not an accident but an act of love from the King of the Universe who was from all time, remains with his elect, and keeps coming until the end of time.  Praise the King of glory! 

This act of love from God speaks to each of us that we are not an accident of humanity but an act of love from God who has given us the breath of life for a God given purpose.  Are we living our purpose for being here?  Our purpose is fulfilled only when we unite ourselves to his love.  Only then that our individual talents, the work that we do, and our state of life become a blessing from God and for God turning to gold, the gold of heaven that lasts for eternity.  This is the manifestation of God revealed to us and through us to be his disciples and witnesses that Jesus Christ is King in our hearts and that we belong to him in his kingdom. 

The alternative is what we see in this world that has rejected the God of all creation to become a god unto themselves.  It carries the mantra of “my choice my will”.  It denies the power that is greater than itself from which all creation exists to become the center of power for itself that no one else cares for.  It leads to a lonely world filled with darkness of soul, a sequence of disappointments with short-lived pleasures of the flesh.  It has rejected the grace of life for a culture of death.  The irony is that while it seeks to run away from death it is in reality running to it dying from within.  This is not the will of God but the free choice of those will it. 

The King of glory comes in the majesty of his love.  Jesus Christ joined our humanity that we may encounter him in a personal intimate bond of love.  We are called to love with all our heart, mind, and soul that our whole being may be an act of love to God and with God to others.  This is our communion of faith to join together in this act of love we call the Mass.  Here we offer ourselves up to him in his sacrifice for us to God the Father. 

The Mass is not an institution the Church created but a gift that Jesus Christ instituted for the Church, that is for the body of Christ in which we come to love him and to serve him.  The Mass is not about us and what we receive or as we sometimes comment as what we “get out of the Mass”.  Yes, we receive the Word and Jesus Christ in the Eucharist and sometimes the homily will speak to us with a word of knowledge but the Mass is foremost Jesus Christ going to the Father in his sacrifice for our sins.  Jesus is the lamb suffering on the cross as an offering to wash away our sins we confess as we begin the Mass.  He is worthy to be king of the universe. 

When we hear that “his kingship shall not be destroyed” we are reminded how Jesus spoke that his kingdom was not of this world.  The kingship of the Lord is his reign over his elect and we will not be destroyed but live for all eternity with the King of kings.  For this we not only bear the cross of this world but celebrate that the Lord is asking us to carry the cross of fidelity, the cross of love, the cross suffering but only for this brief time on earth.  This world is the extraordinary time of suffering before we enter into the ordinary time of eternal love in heaven.  Sin came into the world and took us out of the ordinary creation God desired for us.  Jesus Christ came into the world to take us back from this period of life that is outside of God’s perfection and bring us into his perfection.  Jesus Christ reigns! 

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Homily

33rd Sunday Ordinary Time – In those days

Posted on by Deacon Joe

Dn. 12: 1-3; Ps. 16:5, 8-11; Heb. 10:11-14, 18; Mk. 13:24-32

“In those days after the tribulation” now becomes our days, the end times in which we live.  As we come to the end of ordinary time the readings speak of what is to come in the “end times” or Eschatology.  Traditionally this is taken as futuristic, something to come along the historical clock that marks human time.  We should however also consider the end of ordinary time in the context of the end of our earthly time and the beginning of the divine life, the glorified state of coming face to face with our Lord and our particular judgement day. 

Daniel also speaks of what is to come in those days which is now our inheritance.  In other word, Jesus died for us and he is our inheritance here to remain with us when we choose the path of salvation.   Jesus is the “path of life”.  Jesus is the turnkey of what was predicted and is now with us in our times for the “wise” to shine brightly and the foolish in “horror and disgrace”.  As we come to the end of the Church calendar year we are reminded to “remain vigilant at all times” because we never know the hour when our own ordinary time on this earth can[JG1]  come to an end.

Who can say they are living the perfect life of holiness ready to “stand before the Son of Man”?  We are weak and only through God do we gain the strength to stand before him by remaining faithful to his will.  The flesh is weak and often settles for being minimalist when it comes to God.  The common sentiment is “I go to Church and I am a good person” and that is enough.  I once had someone say to me “I know I am sinning but as long as I go to confession before I die God will forgive me.”  Do we really want to be gambling with God?  We have a poor understanding of judgment. 

Judgment is for everyone.  We will all be judged and suffer the pain of our sins and it starts at the moment of our death with purgatory.  Purgatory is purifying our souls from the stains of sin that we may be perfect as God calls us to be.  We are called to holiness and nothing impure can enter into the glory of God.  How long we will suffer in purgatory is being determined today by how little or how much we are dedicated to loving God.  God isn’t interested in a “part-time” Christian or a cultural Christian who simply follows the social norms of society.  We are to remain in him, to pray always, to offer ourselves up to him in all, through all and with all of our being that our judgment will come to pass quickly.  The Mass is the prayer in which we offer ourselves up to him and seek his mercy. 

Jesus also speaks of his second coming “in the clouds with great power and glory” to gather his elect. By our baptism we have joined the elect but we remain with our free will to choose to remain in him or go our own way.  It only makes sense that what we do with our lives matters to God.  As some protestant theology preaches “once saved always saved” is a false teaching.  There is a “work” in salvation that we are called to be and do and not everyone is committed to doing the work.  The elect comes by being consecrated to him as a daily commitment to the divine will.  This is the cross we are to take up daily focused on his coming into our lives.  It is a work of joy and celebration done with love. 

We are the post resurrection generation that will not pass away until all that he promised is fulfilled.  How long will this “generation” last is not ours to know.  What matters is the lesson of the fig tree applied to our own lives.    God will look to see the fruit of our lives and the growth of our souls.  We may appear withered and dying away by our sins, spiritually dead with no life to give.  The Lord approaches our “gate” to call us to account for ourselves and we are living in those times.  What we call ordinary time we will look back as the extraordinary suffering of our sins and the new ordinary will be the glorious for all eternity. 

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Homily

32nd Sunday Ordinary Time – Once for all

Posted on by Deacon Joe

1 Kgs. 17: 10-16; Ps. 146:7-10; Heb. 9:24-28; Mk. 12:38-44

Once for all, Jesus has come to take away our sins by his sacrifice.  Though he came for all not have received him.  He offered himself up once, not repeatedly as our high priest “that he might now appear before God on our behalf”.  The Mass is that sacrifice of his death the priest offers up for all in our world.  Some question why as Catholics we continue to represent Jesus on the cross when he has already risen from the dead.  He is risen indeed but he also remains with us in his suffering for our sins which have not ended.  Jesus is present to take away our sins but we must turn away from sin and receive his mercy. 

We are living “at the end of the ages” awaiting the second coming in which he will “bring salvation” not to all but “those who eagerly await him”.  The signs that we eagerly await Jesus is our love of God put into practice.  The practice of our worship is to build our relationship with God not to fulfill a social-cultural tradition of simply coming to church.  The practice of our charity is to give of ourselves, our poverty as sinners, not as a token of our abundance.   The practice of our sacrifice for the greater good for the salvation of our souls and the souls of others reveals our true heart and priorities.  God first, in all and through all we do and say to be ever present in our heart, mind and will.  This is love. 

When Elijah asks the widow to bring him “a bit of bread” she responds with the truth of her condition ready to eat her last meal with her son and die.  Elijah promises her that the Lord will fill her jar with flour and jug with oil.  She does as he asks of her showing her faith and trust in the Lord and the Lord answered.  “She was able to eat for a year and he and her son as well.”  Notice that it says all three ate for a year, meaning Elijah remained with her giving of himself as well.  He stayed not to burden her but to serve her in spirit and in truth.  This is what the Lord is asking of us to “stay” with those who are in need.  We do this remembering to call, pay a visit, stay in contact and to journey with others.  This is the love of charity, not just adding to the jar and continuing on our way. 

As the Lord remains with us, one way we remain with him is by the way we remain attentive to the needs of others.  The Lord provides by asking of us to be his hands and feet that brings faith, justice, and food to the hungry.  Jesus called his disciples not only for the purpose of continuing his teaching but to serve the needs of his people in body and soul. 

The Lord gives us the example of two widows in today’s reading who give of their poverty as a true sacrifice of faith.  We give in gratitude for what we have received.  We give in sacrifice as a testimony of our faith. We give in thanksgiving for the sacrifice of the Lord once for all of our sins that we may be forgiven and be welcome to the table of the Lord. 

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