Solemnity of the Blessed Virgin Mary – the Mother of God

Posted on January 2, 2025January 2, 2025 by Deacon Joe

Num. 6: 22-27; Ps.67:2-3, 5, 6, 8; Gal. 4:4-7; Lk. 2:16-21

Why the Mother of God? This is the question we get asked as Catholics. Mary is just the mother of Jesus we are told. This is the question that is often raised by our protestant brothers and sisters. Mary is the mother of God because we believe in one God in three persons. The mystery of the Trinity is that there is but one God in the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Jesus lets his disciples know that in seeing him they see God. What more explanation do we need? The argument continues “but Mary is the creature and God the creator, how can Mary be before the creator?” Mary is the creature in who God the creator chose to become incarnate and become visible for our salvation. He who is and always will be chose Mary as the vessel to manifest his infinite glory. Mary is thus both the Mother of God and Mother of the Church.

Mary as a Jew received the blessing of the Israelites as we hear it from Elizabeth “blessed are you among women” for the Lord’s face shines upon her with kindness and peace to bear “God’s son born of a woman”. For this reason, we also say to pray to Jesus through Mary. If Jesus is our brother who intercedes for us to the Father, then Mary is our mother. The maternal love of a mother always points us to do the will of her son just as she responded at the wedding of Cana with the words “do whatever he tells you”. A mother’s love always seeks mercy for her children but she also seeks obedience to the father.

In baptism we are his adopted sons and daughters. This raises the question then “if it takes baptism to become children of God, what are we before baptism?” We are God’s creation that is creatures of God with a soul in need of a Father, Mother and brother. Often the general assumption is made that just by being born we are “children of God”. All creation belongs to God but baptism makes us reborn of spirit and truth, adopted sons and daughters, temples of the Holy Spirit to share in his divinity. Baptism is the gate to heaven and to the kingdom of God given to us by Jesus as he commanded his disciples to go and baptize “in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit” for our salvation.

What was the message given by the angel to the shepherds we hear in the gospel today. It was the message they had been waiting for that this child was to be the “savior, the messiah” who has come to free us. Jesus was born during the reign of Ceasar Agustus who was seen as a “god” who was the savior bringing peace to the region. The world then expected a new king to come and rule over them. They had no idea the type of king that was born to Mary. A king both human and divine bringing freedom of sin through mercy and love. Not exactly what they were hoping for and for this reason in the end they all cried out “crucify him”.

Today the God of mercy and of peace offers us a different world in the midst sin, war, crime, and hate. It is a world of his love and peace. It is transformative when we choose good over evil, when we seek virtue over indulgence, when we show mercy over vengeance. It is a call to live the word made flesh that is to put on Jesus and let him rule over us. Through faith we receive power, through suffering we receive redemption, through death comes the resurrection and through judgment a new majesty.

What New Year’s resolution will we make this year that we will soon be forgotten? Is it to improve our health, improve our relationships, work to reach a financial goal? Usually, we focus on what is temporary and forget the eternal. We are to resolve to prepare ourselves for eternity, for a closer walk with Jesus, for spiritual growth and understanding and to be all that Jesus is calling us to be. We don’t want to just reach for the stars we want to reach for heaven. There is no place like home and home is where God is. God is with us, welcome home. Happy New Year!

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Homily

4th Sunday of Advent – Blessed are you

Posted on December 21, 2024December 21, 2024 by Deacon Joe

Mt. 5: 1-4a; Ps.80:2-3, 15-16, 18-19; Heb. 10:5-10; Lk. 1:39-45

“Blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb”. Mary is not only blessed among women but blessed among all humanity for her act of faith having believed in the word spoken.

Blessed are we when we believe and accept the word of God that comes to us in scripture and in the teachings of the church. Blessings come through acts of faith, hope and love. The Lord waits for us to turn to him, seek him, and love him to shower us with his blessings as a father loves his child.

Blessed are you Elizabeth by the Holy Spirit for having believed to give birth to the child John to prepare the way of the Lord as a voice for repentance. John prepared the way with a baptism of repentance but who baptized John? Could John be Jesus’ first baptism in the Holy Spirit in the water of his mother’s womb?

Born of spirit and water, John came into the world ready to lay his life down with the knowledge of a prophet having encountered his savior in his mother’s womb. Blessed are you the unborn children who have died before birth whether by natural cause or by those who chose to end its life for the love and mercy of God is the innocent. Yours is a special place in the kingdom of God.

Blessed are you who fulfill the “will” of God by which “we have been consecrated” through our baptism to the Lord. Do we realize we are born with special gifts to fulfill a calling that adds to the kingdom of God? When we live to serve God’s will, the Lord adds to the graces we need to not only overcome all trials, hardships, and even persecution but to live in the glory of God with joyful triumph over sin, temptation, and evil.

Again, blessed are you who believe and then act on that belief trusting in the Lord. We are reborn in baptism to be great disciples as priests, prophets, and kings and no evil can enter when we remain faithful to the Lord.

Blessed is this season of Advent as a time of preparation not only to get our home ready for Christmas but to prepare our souls for the Lord’s coming. The temptation of Advent is to spend our time and energy in the external signs of his coming like a good Martha but it was Mary who chose the better part to sit and be still open to the Word of God.

The better part for a Catholic is taking time to make a good confession, reconciling and making peace with family and friends, coming to Church to give thanks to the Lord for the blessings of this year and giving the gift of self by our love for others.

The blessing of Advent is the giving of Jesus to us and our giving of self to him. In this the word is fulfilled “He takes away the first to establish the second”. God the Father takes away the sacrifice for fulfilling the old law and gives us the new law by example of his son Jesus as a sacrifice of self.

It is in giving of ourselves that we are born to eternal life. This Advent let us be true lovers of God by the many ways we can be a blessing to others by the gift of self that is greater than any material gift wrapped in paper. There was a priest back in the 80’s who would sing the same little chorus at daily Mass here at St. Francis Xavier “Count your blessing, count them one by one…”

We are more prone to keep count of the things that go wrong than all the blessings to go right in our life. Sometimes even when something is a setback it can be a form of blessing reminding us to trust in the Lord, give it to him, and remain at peace knowing all things work for the good of those who serve the Lord.

The psalm prays for the desire to see the face of the Lord and yet we can only see a reflection of his face when we gaze upon a newborn baby or see a mother bird hover over the nest of her babies, or a 90 year old man sit in silent prayer. It is moments like these that we realize there is a greater purpose in life than to simply to go about our business absorbed by the demands of this world.

Blessed are we when our life is set in right order before the face of God. The God who sees all and knows the depths of our hearts will reward his faithful this Advent with his coming to fill us with his love, mercy, and grace. Let us count our blessings and give thanks for the gift of Christ our Lord born in a manger to show us the way.

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Homily

3rd Sunday of Advent – Rejoice in the Lord

Posted on December 14, 2024December 14, 2024 by Deacon Joe

Zep.3: 14-18a; Ps.12:2-6; Phil. 4:4-7; Lk. 3:10-18

Rejoice in the Lord who comes with the good news of salvation. This is the 3^rd week of Advent and the color of the candle is pink to represent the joy of the Lord’s coming. It also signifies the joy of the Shepherds when the angel told them that Christ was to be born. We are to come to the Lord in a spirit of thanksgiving in our prayer and petition knowing that we belong to God and our peace rests in him.

Anxiety, stress, worries then is a sign that we lack the peace of God and our minds and hearts are restless not with fear of the Lord but with fear of the world. Fear and worry not only steal our joy but it can lead to despair and darkness separate from the light of Christ. We cannot rejoice in the Lord simply by hearing the good news but by living the good news. This is the message of John the Baptist who gives to each the answer to “What should we do?” We rejoice in the Lord by doing what is right, just, charitable, and loving.

We rejoice in the Lord because the “great and Holy one” is among us and “the Lord has removed the judgment against you”. The Lord comes with glad tidings of his mercy to wipe away our sins. He restores us to wholeness in recovery of our brokenness. It is up to us however to avoid sin and the near temptation to sin. This is not easy but we can begin by avoiding people, places, and things as much as possible that tempt us to sin.

The people ask, “What are we to do?” Treat others as you would like to be treated and know when to engage and when to walk away. Two young seminarians were walking through the mall on a summer day where there were young women lightly dressed in shorts and tops. One could not avoid staring while the other simply tried to look away. One said to the other, “I think its time to leave and go to the car and say a rosary.” Which of the two made the request to leave speaks to the faithful heart. It could have been the one who had had enough temptation or the one who simply felt no need to be in that environment.

“What are we to do?” We rejoice in the Lord, trust in the Lord, pray to the Lord and give thanks to the Lord for the answer to our prayer that his will be done. We rejoice in the Lord when we pray “Blessed be God, blessed be his Holy name, all glory and honor is yours almighty Father”. We rejoice in the name of Jesus that we have been redeemed, forgiven of our sins, and restored to holiness. This is why we rejoice in the holy cross of Jesus and carry it on us as a sign that we belong to him and he is our savior.

What are we to do with anxiety? We read that we are to “have no anxiety at all” but anxiety and worries are not the same thing. Worries come from our thoughts and we can change our thinking about a situation. Our thought can lead us to action to face our worries and resolve our concerns. We also can surely pray and petition to the Lord all our concerns. Anxiety however goes beyond our thoughts as an attack on the body.

First of all, as someone who has suffered with anxiety it can be a very debilitating cross. It is the evil one’s thorn at my side that remains despite all prayer and learning how not to feed into it. It does not come from my thoughts or else I would long have changed my thinking. It comes suddenly as an autonomic nervous system response of the body. The body is broken and gradually begins to fail us. Our soul however can also be injured from anxiety but it can be healed and learn to be free from the attack of anxiety even if the autonomic response of the body remains. We must prepare for the death of the body but rejoice in the freedom it will bring to the soul for we will be given a new body that will not perish and body and soul will be eternal. This is our joy in the Lord that our God comes to renew us and set us free from sin, sickness, and the death of this body.

Advent is our time to rejoice in the Lord for his coming is our freedom.

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Homily

2nd Sunday of Advent – A work in progress

Posted on December 7, 2024December 7, 2024 by Deacon Joe

Bar.5: 1-9; Ps.126:1-6; Phil. 1:4-6, 8-11; Lk. 3:1-6

The Lord has begun the good work in us and will bring it to completion but as any good work in progress it takes two, God and our response to God. We are not passive participants in the work of our conversion but required to be joined to the Lord through the grace and gifts we are given. The Lord saves but he will not save us without us. We must desire his glory and be prepared for his calling in the way that we are to follow.

The Lord does great things for us who are open to the guidance of the Holy Spirit. We cannot just go about our like and expect great things to happen simply because God is good. Great things include the work in progress for our salvation. It is not enough to just say “Lord, Lord” in a moment of need and ignore our Lord for most of our days. The work that has begun in us is for a divine purpose “to discern what is of value” for our souls to be “pure and blameless”. The work in progress for the conversion of sinners to saints.

The Church is given to us to “prepare the way of the Lord”. It is the Church that determined which books belong to the canon in the Bible. It is the Church that Jesus instituted to continue to consecrate bread and wine to bring us his body and blood. It is the Church who Jesus gave authority to bring us the sacraments including the forgiveness of sins. Many claim to believe in God but not in his church. The devil also believes in God but not in obedience to God. We can all say that every day we are all a work in progress but we are not all headed in the same direction. Not everyone who says “Lord, Lord” will enter the kingdom of God.

We are told “all flesh shall see the salvation of God” but it will be little consolation if he simply slips passed us. The gospel reveals to us how in the time of Jesus, John went about preparing the way with a call to repentance. Repentance is more than just our sins that we can confess. Repentance is also to make straight our path by the way we live our lives, the values we hold onto, and our priorities in life. For example, a good question to ask ourselves is what time, talent and treasure to we give to God through prayer, charity, and service? How we spend our time is a good measure of what we really value in life.

The first step on the way to Jesus is to acknowledge not only our sins but also our failure to come to Jesus. Jesus desires our hearts and he offers us his heart of love yet our indifference towards God is the sin of what we have failed to do in response to God’s love. Jesus came in the flesh and yet most of the world denied him or cried out “crucify him”. We too can deny him with our indifference of his presence in this world.

When our thoughts center on us and God is given lip service we return to the days of the Pharisees and Sadducees who stood in the temple only to be noticed but their hearts were far from God. If God is seen as simply being far above in the heavens we miss out on his revelation in our lives. Jesus is alive! He lives to live in us and for us to live in him. This is what we celebrate with the “splendor of God forever”. We rejoice not only in a person but in a relationship that saves. We rejoice because we see the hand of God guiding us, and the greater he reveals himself to us the greater our desire for him to open our minds and hearts to his will. A restless heart can only find rest in Jesus’ plan for our lives.

Doing the will of God is our peace. God’s will is not a promise of an easy road. It is a promise of victory in the transformation of our lives that the work he has begun in us we will see revealed in his glory for all eternity.

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Homily

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

Posted on November 30, 2024November 29, 2024 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 November 23, 2024November 22, 2024 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 November 16, 2024November 16, 2024 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 November 10, 2024November 10, 2024 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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Homily

31st Sunday Ordinary Time – I love you

Posted on October 30, 2024October 30, 2024 by Deacon Joe

Dt. 6: 2-6; Ps. 18:2-4, 47,51; Heb. 7:23-28; Mk. 12:28b-34

“I love you” are three of the most spoken words we hear in any relationship and three of the hardest to live up to. The Lord is calling us to love him with all your heart…soul…mind…and with all your strength” and “your neighbor as yourself”. The Father then sends his son as the perfect embodiment of this love “when he offered himself.” Praise the Lord our God who is slow to anger, patient in love, and enduring in mercy waiting for us to grow in that perfect love.

To love the Lord starts with fulfilling his statutes and commandments and is made perfect in offering ourselves up to do his will. To love a spouse is to fulfill your marriage vows at all times. To love your children is to bring them up in the love of the Lord that they may inherit the promises of eternal life. Love is active. An act of love opens the heart to all the emotions that reflect the giving of self but love is not the emotion.

Love is guided by Godly principles, spiritual virtues, and wise morals and ethics. Love is truth. Truth is true to the law of God who keeps his promises. Love is goodness. Goodness speaks to the good of the other and the goodness of all of God’s creation. Love is unity. Unity recognizes the one body of God we belong to where sin entered into the world through the union of one couple and redemption through the sacrifice of one for all in Jesus Christ. Jesus says, “he is always able to save those who approach God through him.” Love is sacrifice. Sacrificial love is godly love to die to oneself as Jesus died for us.

We find the word “love” endless times in scriptures but how often do we find the words “I love you” in scripture? In the Old Testament it appears 12 times. Judges asks “how can you say “I love you when your heart is not with me?” Samuel asks “Don’t I love you more than any…”. Psalm 116 “I love you, Lord!” Psalm 123 “The way I love you is like…”. Proverbs 7:4 “Say to Wisdom, I love you…”. Song of Solomon “My darling, I love you” and “My sister, I love you!” Isaiah 43:1 “That’s how much I love you” and “Because you are precious…I love you”. Jeremiah “But Lord, you know me, you see…how I love you” and “Don’t I love you best of all?” Three questions, one description, one command, four times in reference to a person, once to a virtue, once pleading with the Lord, and only once directly to the Lord. In other words, love is more about what we are doing that what we are saying.

In the New Testament the words “I love you” appear 12 times. Eight of those are from St. Paul to the different communities in his letters. Three times it is from Peter in response to Jesus when asked “Do you love me?” Jesus then directs Peter to put his love into action. Once from the 2^nd Letter of John “I love you because of the truth”. As many different books in the bible, love is mostly about love in action or failing to act. Love is about being a witness to Christ not by what we say but by what we do.

How often do we say “I love you, Lord”. It is probably more common to say, “I love THE Lord” that to say it directly to him. Love is active participation both in prayer and in doing his will. The Lord desires intimacy with us in a personal relationship and intimacy can be intimidating. When we come in prayer to the Lord we enter into intimacy with him. The Mass is our prayer to the Lord in which we actively participate to deepen our relationship with him, otherwise we are on the sidelines more as witnesses than participants symbolically making “burnt offerings and sacrifices” but our hearts are far from the Lord.

Doing the will of the Lord is active participation in salvation. Some people say, “I can’t serve at the altar because I don’t feel worthy”. To be in love with the Lord is to desire to serve him not out of worthiness but because he is there in the altar, in poor who come to the foodbank, in the children who come to catechism, in the sick and homebound who need to be visited by Christ who dwells in the Christian. We actively love him by being in union with him and through him with our neighbors.

The Lord is calling us to deepen our love with him. All that we are and all that we have is from the Lord. Love is what widens the narrow gate to heaven. Love takes everything out of us and then it returns stronger than before as a blessing from God.

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Homily

Called by God

Posted on October 26, 2024October 23, 2024 by Deacon Joe

Jer. 31: 7-9; Ps. 126:1-6; Heb. 5:1-6; Mk. 10:46-52

“Every high priest is taken from among men…but only when called by God”. Jesus did not glorify himself but is called “my son: this day I have begotten you” to be our great high priest “forever”. Even the blind man recognizes Jesus as “son of David” coming from the priestly lineage. The priestly call did not end with Jesus as many Christian denominations have given over to only pastors of the flock. Today the Church recognizes a shortage of priests and many are calling for change in who is called to the priesthood including for women and married men. The Church however is governed by Jesus our high priest who has established his law of governance.

As the Synod on Synodality progresses in Rome the one thing that does not change is that all calling is from God and not a people’s call. The Church is an institution established by God for God’s purpose and some things are not negotiable. Even as the Synod dialogues about the process of Synodality there continues to be circles that raise the topics of female priesthood, women deaconesses, and married priests. Were there married priests in the early church? Yes. Where their female deaconesses in the early church? Yes, but they were not ordained clergy. Were there female priests in the early church? Never. What the Lord declares is not for humanity to change.

All Christians by baptism are called by God to live as priest, prophet and king through our sacramental vows. In this way we carry our unique calling by God to share in the Lord’s priesthood in our domestic church that is the family. Humanity was created male and female to be the institution of family in which we live out our calling to love of God and neighbor. If the institution of the family fails then the pews will become empty and we won’t have a need for more priests.

The shortage of priesthood is not a lack of God’s call to men. It is a lack of formation of faith that begins in the home. If we don’t talk about God at home, we deny he exists by our silence. If we don’t pray to God at home, we set him aside to live our lives as we choose. If we are not growing in our own formation as adults and parents then we have little more to share about our faith to motivate our children in their faith. The answer to the shortage of priests is not women priests or married priests but building up the domestic church at home, that is the active participation of the family in what we believe.

The Synod on Synodality is more about the process of governance than hot topic issues. It looks to the leadership of the laity and women in the church. Hot topic issues have been set aside for continued “study” according to Catholic news reports coming out of the Synod. If we look to leadership in the Church then rather than looking simply at who is called to clerical life, we can look to the call to be saints. The Church has women, men and even children who have risen to sainthood. There are great women as Doctors of the Church. The great saints did not seek clericalism but holiness and they remain a great witness for us to learn from and follow.

While the priest is “made their representative before God” he is also “beset by weakness” in need of forgiveness called to serve the will of God as we all are in our own state of life. It is the Lord who does “great things for us” when we turn to him and accept our personal call to serve him in all states of life. Our joy is complete in him and he comes to each of us when we call out to him “Master, I want to see” you and follow your will. Let us come to him as we are and allow him to work in us and be our God.

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