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Homily

29th Sunday Ordinary Time – Called to serve

Posted on by Deacon Joe

Is. 53: 10-11; Ps. 33:4-5, 18-20, 22; Heb. 4:14-16; Mk. 10:35-45

Jesus came to serve by giving his very life “as a ransom for many”.  We too are called to serve by the way we live our lives in imitation of Christ.  Who is the “servant” spoken of in Isaiah who “gives his life as an offering for sin”?  It is Jesus.  We are “justified by his suffering” not to boast for his cross but to pick up our cross and follow his call to serve. We go forth in Jesus and call upon him in our time of trial knowing how he suffered and died for us.  With confidence we cry out “Jesus, I trust in you!” 

When we approach the “throne of grace” we receive both uncreated grace and created grace.  Grace represents the free gift of Jesus and from Jesus.  In the sacramental life of the Church Jesus gives of himself to us, his uncreated grace that is transformative of our very being.  Simply said, receive the sacrament and receive Jesus himself.  He is the throne of grace from whom we receive from Jesus, mercy and timely help through his created grace working through humanity who is created and called to serve the greater good.  This is Jesus’ prayer of unity to God that we may all be one in him.

James and John come to Jesus in a spirit of a child, “do for us whatever we ask of you”.  This is what a child wants from his parents before the “ask” question is given, to agree unconditionally.  A wise parent can only agree unconditionally to their love of child, otherwise there is no “blank check”.  James and John’s request to be first is put to the test “Can you drink of the cup”.  Even though they do not know what they are accepting, Jesus accepts their openness to the “cup”.  It is a cup of sacrifice, suffering and even death.  Jesus however also gives us a sense that there is a plan at work, the plan of salvation that has a place at his right and left “for those whom it has been prepared.”  What are we to think then when it comes to us?

We are included in this plan of salvation and there is a place prepared for us at the table of the Lord but the invitation includes the call to “come and follow” him.  We are called to serve in his footsteps what has been prepared for us to fulfill.  The Lord places us in position to do his will but we have to respond to the call.  When we do we open the gates of heaven to receive his grace.  When we deny him, he will not deny himself but we have denied ourselves the grace and blessing he desired to pour into us.  This is when we shall ask when did we see him hungry and suffering and denied to serve him.    

Our call is always to love God and love neighbor.  It is an act of being filled with his love and acting in charity through his love.  We give because we have received and it is just and right to do God’s will.  This is why we can say we receive uncreated grace from Jesus in giving of himself to us who is uncreated but we also participate in created grace in the call to serve through the gift of charity in the giving of ourselves as created beings.  This is why the Church strongly defended that Jesus is true God and true man that we too may come to be one with him.  The divine has taken on flesh that the flesh may now enter into the divine as a new creation. 

For this reason, receiving the word is only the beginning of the salvation plan.  The word must take on flesh, be incarnated into our being through the sacraments and produce the charity that gives life in return. 

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Homily

28th Sunday Ordinary Time – All things are possible

Posted on by Deacon Joe

Wis. 7: 7-11; Ps. 90:12-17; Heb. 4:12-13; Mk. 10:17-30

“All things are possible for God”.  Praise be to God for his mercy is everlasting.  The man who ran up to Jesus seeking eternal life walked away “sad, for he had many possessions”.  He was put to the test that asks of him and us to place God first in our lives.  God is first asking of us to have a spirit of self-denial, sacrifice, and detachment.  Even when blessed with many resources our focus is on Jesus and not our material wealth.  We are to carry a spirit of poverty in the flesh for we are both soul and body with a fallen nature in need of healing.  

The living word is Jesus able to discern the heart of the man who remained attached to his possessions.  Is Jesus calling everyone to go and sell all their possessions if we want eternal life?  Jesus is seeking a heart of detachment from our possessions recognizing the limited purpose of material things compared to the greater reward of eternal life.  It is a message he repeats when he says “What profit is it for one to gain the whole world and forfeit his life?” (Mt. 16:26).   What is our priority, what or who are we living for? 

The riches of heaven are the gifts of the Spirit that make all things possible.  Prudence and wisdom are given to make Godly choices.  The commandments are given as foundation stones of love to build a holy temple for the Lord, the temple within our very being.  The commandments are also the guardrails against sin.  They are the clear markers of obedience to the law of God.  As the man points out his obedience to the commandments, Jesus points him to something greater waiting for him.  The man chose to walk away.  He is the arch-type of each of us who says “yes” but with limitations.  “Yes Lord, but only this far.”  God’s redemptive love on the cross was complete surrender and this is what he seeks from us. 

Thus, the question from Jesus disciples, “Then who can be saved?”  Jesus’ response, “All things are possible for God.”   As Jesus revealed to St. Faustina there is “an ocean of mercy” ready to be released to those who seek him and he reveals the prayer called the “Chaplet of the Divine Mercy” as a means of seeking his mercy.  We also receive the love and mercy of God when we go to confession and sacramentally are forgiven of our sins.  Our spiritual and corporal works of mercy are spiritual treasures for the sake of the gospel in which we will receive “a hundred times more now in this present age…and eternal life in the age to come.”  Jesus comes to save us but he cannot save us without us.  He provides the way but we must follow him. 

When the man called Jesus “Good teacher”, Jesus’ response includes saying “No one is good but God alone.”  Jesus wants us to recognize him in his divine nature. He also is making it clear our human fallen nature is marked by sin.  God is the fullness of good and in his goodness, he has come to save us.  All salvation history is God’s divine intervention in humanity to rescue his people.  One thing we can learn from the Bible is how often we fail and fall short of God’s divine plan but with God all things are possible. 

Even in death for the sinner who believes the possibility of purgatory awaits, for a final cleansing of sin.  This is our hope.  The imperfect is to be perfected in the image of Christ.  The image is by way of the cross.  Let us take up our cross and begin to offer it up as a sacrifice for our sin and that of the whole world.  This is the redemptive power that makes all things possible coming from the love of God.  Glory to God in the highest!  He makes the impossible not just possible but a promise. 

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Homily

25th Sunday Ordinary Time – Servant of all

Posted on by Deacon Joe

Wis. 2: 12, 17-20; Ps. 54:3-6, 8; Jas. 3:16—4:3; Mk. 9:30-37

Who is the greatest?  The one who came to be the servant of all, Jesus Christ.  We are called to be in imitation of Christ as a servant of all the gifts, blessing we receive, our family, our friends, our neighbor, our work, our talents, and not least of all the stranger.  We have a responsibility to the world around us even when the world rejects us when we stand for our beliefs.  The Spirit within moves us to build a better world for we are all inheritors of God’s creation to love and to serve. 

The disciples were looking to Jesus as a king to rule in the material world.  They witnessed his miracles over nature and believed in a kingdom where the power of Jesus would bring all humanity to their knees.   They anticipated it would be a new era in this world and they wanted to hold a high place of honor.  It is as if they expected to live forever and never die.  Perhaps the spirit was revealing a truth to come but not in the way they envisioned it.  The victory over death would come through death to the eternal. 

We bend our knees not by fear but by choice and by choice we become the servant of all.  This is how we possess the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.  This is the message when Jesus claims the first shall be last and the last shall be first.  It is in giving that we receive the greater glory.  It takes a humble heart to trust and surrender to the will of the Father. 

St. James reminds us that our human passions is what leads us to war and division, envy and selfish ambition.  It is what divides families over inheritance and creates a culture of entitlements expecting to be served than to serve.  The more we covet the least we possess because we seek wrongly and do not receive the blessing.   As a parent we want to give our children everything that we did not get growing up.  As a result, we teach them to covet and expect more.  Then they grow up and expect the same from the world only to realize the world cares about what are you ready to give under the principle that nothing is free.

As Christians we are in the world but not of the world.  We are called to be a counter culture that rejects the eye-for-an-eye view of life.  “The wisdom from above is first of all pure” that gives without counting the cost.  We give because it is not the world that upholds our life but the Lord.  It is the Lord who we serve and him through others.  The Lord is the just one revealing to his disciples that he is the one to be condemned to a shameful death but three days after he will rise from death. 

Victory over death came through death in the resurrection.  We too await our victory over death.  We have the promise of the resurrection and the eternal life.  The life we live in imitation of Christ is the assurance of our victory and so we offer ourselves up to God and pray that his will be done in us as we live our temporary time in this world.  What are a few human years compared to eternity and yet we are filled with the “I” of selfishness and lack the “eye” of divinity.  Divinity is already waiting for us to begin to live when we become the servant that God desires of us. 

We cannot save ourselves.  The Lord saves us but he cannot save us without us entering into the covenant of love to be transformed into his image as a servant of all.

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Homily

24th Sunday Ordinary Time – The Chosen one

Posted on by Deacon Joe

Is. 50: 5-9a; Ps. 116:1-6, 8-9; Jas. 2:14-18; Mk. 8:27-35

Jesus is the Chosen one, the Christ, the anointed.  Jesus poses the question to his disciples “Who do you say that I am?”  People were claiming he was John the Baptist, Eljah or one of the prophets but Peter answers correctly, “You are the Christ”.  To be the Christ is to claim to be the Chosen one sent from God who the Israelites were waiting for to save them. 

Today some people believe Jesus was a prophet, a teacher, or even a mythological figure who did not do all the things that are said of him.  Who is Jesus for us this day?  Is Jesus the Chosen one in our lives who we encounter in a personal relationship or do we treat him as a distant Lord who we will come to face some day but not today? 

The meaning of the word “Christ” is “to anoint” thus Christ is the anointed one from God who in Hebrew is translated as “Mesiah” or one who is anointed.  Christ then is the “God-man” who is named Jesus by God in his humanity and called Christ in his divinity.  Jesus the anointed one is who God proclaims “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.” (Mk 1:11) Jesus is the chosen one anointed to anoint our humanity into Christendom, that is into the kingdom of God. 

If God is for us who can be against.  The only real enemy to defeat come from within to allow God’s will to be done in us.  It is often said that we can be our worst enemy.  God is for us but we must be for God to receive the blessing and graces he desires for us.  That is the condition that comes from having free will.  Those who call out God saying “where is God” when bad things happen have not entered into a covenant with him living in relationship in order to see the hand of God in all and through all.  Jesus was crucified and where was the Father if not with the Son and the Spirit, always present in the suffering.  Jesus’ suffering was for a greater good something to contemplate in our own suffering. 

God’s will for us is to walk in faith, that is to do the works of faith not just to believe.  Many claim to believe but choose to walk their own way with a false assumption faith is enough.  Today we hear St. James say that faith is not enough, going so far as to say “faith of itself, if it does not have works, is dead”.  This cuts right to the heart of those who claim “saved by faith alone” is enough. 

Yes, we are justified by faith but it is only the first act we take before we are called for more.  Our works don’t earn us our salvation they validate our faith.  They are the true sign of our faith.  Without works our claim to faith may be only a false illusion, a house built on sand that washes away when the test of faith comes as a strong tide under its foundation. 

Jesus is the Chosen one, anointed for the work of salvation and he explains to the disciples that this work entails suffering and death but also his resurrection.  Peter’s “rebuke” of Jesus is his way of saying don’t go there “faith alone” is enough.  Jesus’ response “Get behind me Satan” is a reminder that the evil one tries to deceive us to not take up our cross but believe it is enough to have faith and live our own life apart from the call to do the works of God.  Without the cross there is no resurrection.  This is the way of salvation for which Jesus was anointed for.  This is the narrow way he teaches us to follow if we wish to rise with him in glory. 

We cannot be deceived by the evil one to believe salvation is an easy road to follow.  Jesus tells the crowd in order to follow him they must deny themselves and take up the cross.  To deny ourselves is to forgive, to fast, to abstain, and also to make acts of atonement not only for our sins but for those of the world.  To take up the cross is proclaiming the word by our actions, our charity, our service, our prayer.  This Mass is our highest form of prayer in which we can offer ourselves up to Christ. 

The Chosen one has given us himself that we may imitate him in doing the works of salvation.  The works of salvation begin with the work of ourselves inviting Jesus to work on us that we may know how to truly follow him.  The works of salvation extend out to others as he leads us in calling others by our spiritual and corporal works of mercy.  Let us do the work and we shall be among the chosen ones. 

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Homily

23nd Sunday Ordinary Time – “Be opened!”

Posted on by Deacon Joe

Is. 35: 4-7a; Ps. 146:6-10; Jas. 2:1-5; Mk. 7:31-37

“Be opened!”   Be opened to the word of God.  Be opened to receiving the Holy Spirit.  Be opened to the mystery of faith that “makes the deaf hear and the mute speak”.  The Lord is ready to reveal himself in us but are we ready to receive him?  We are especially called to be open without partiality to receive Christ in the poor and the suffering.  The Lord “loves the just” and justice shows no partiality especially in doing good. 

Be especially opened to the reality that the Lord is among us and he “comes to save you”.  The Lord is our refuge and all creation is subject to his word.  He not only returns sight and hearing but he multiplies the bread as his true body and the wine as his true blood in the Eucharist to transform our very being to be Christ to the world.  The Lord lives and he desires to live through us not just with us. 

“Ephphatha!” is the prayer that is said in baptism over the ears of a child that their ears be opened to the word of God and over the lips that they may proclaim the word of God by their lives.  Baptism opens the soul of a child to receive the gift of the Holy Spirit to be guided by the spirit of God.  It opens the child to come to see good and evil, to search for something greater than this world, and to be protected from the powers of darkness.  Who does not desire this for their child?  In baptism we are open to receiving the graces from God to lead a virtuous life. 

In a world with constant noise around us seeking to grab our attention to be open to the Lord requires our silence.  To hear the voice of the Lord we must find a quiet place and be still.  Where is that quiet place we go to in our lives?  Is it the early morning before the days rush begins, or maybe at night when everything settles down, we can “turn everything off” literally and figuratively and listen for the Lord.  During the day can we turn off the music, the constant “news alerts” or how about put that phone on silent mode for 15 or 30 minutes and find some rest and peace in the Lord? 

There is the expression “I have no time to think”, just too busy, too many demands, maybe someday.  Then one day we realize where did the time go and who did we really live for God or for the world.  To be open to God is to give him our time as we go through the day aware of his presence active in our souls.  To be open to God is to come and worship giving thanks to him in our prayer in Mass, in adoration, in opening his Word and allowing him to speak to our hearts. 

We were created in God’s image and so we reflect who God is in our being.  We connect to God in our soul with our thoughts, emotions, and will.  Our will desires his will, our emotions desire his love, our thoughts reflect on his Word and he opens us to receive his truth, his passion, and his good for our salvation.  Be open to surrendering ourselves to the Lord and we will receive his greatness. 

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Homily

22nd Sunday Ordinary Time – Doers of the Word!

Posted on by Deacon Joe

Dt. 4: 1-2, 6-8; Ps. 15:2-5; Jas. 1:17-18, 21b-22,27; Mk. 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23

Called to be “doers of the word and not hearers only” give true testimony of our faith by taking right action.   Doers of the word are united to the heart of Jesus to receive every good gift from above.  The good gifts from above lead us to the service of others that we may taste and see the goodness of the Lord.  A doer of the word does justice and justice is to care for the sick, the suffering, and the poor.  We give without counting the cost because in the end if we belong to God then all we have and all we are is his blessing upon our life. 

Moses gave the statues and decrees to go along with the commandments with a word of warning not to add or subtract from them.  Over a thousand years later Jesus is calling out the Pharisees for “teaching as doctrines human precepts” meaning they raise their own traditions as a doctrine from God while disregarding the commandments from God.  They not only added so many rules but they have raised their rules to be equal to God’s teaching.  In doing so they make of themselves the god of authority and not the servant of the God of authority.  They have become empty vessels of the truth of God filling themselves with evil thought, unchastity, theft, murder and every kind of sin including blasphemy. 

In being a “doer of the word”, it begins with recognizing it is all about God and not about us.  It is a surrender to the will of God.  We empty ourselves of ourselves to receive the graces necessary to live the word of God.  This is hard to do.  It demands great trust in God and trust is not something that comes easy unless we have a deep relationship with the one, whom we trust. 

Who do we trust?  All our relationships of trust are based on conditional experience.  We learn to trust and distrust as we grow in relationship with others.  How much have we grown in our relationship with God?   We may be a ship out in the deep waters waiting for the wind to send us in some direction without purpose or destiny.  God is our destiny and he provides us our purpose in life as a doer of the word so let us be as people of action, doing what is right, just, and guided by our Lord and savior. 

How good are we as doers of the word, that is living the word of God?  To keep oneself “unstained by the world” is not easy when we want to belong to the world and receive every good gift from the world.  We see what others have and we are tempted to desire it for ourselves.  We enter into what the world offers and soon learn that there is a cost to what is described as a “rat race” to be first and a “dog eat dog” culture that in order to get ahead there will be a cost that demands we compromise our values, accept the world on its terms, and “play by their rules”.  It does not have to be this way.  When we trust in the Lord, he will provide the means and the way to remain in him and his righteousness. 

It all begins with what is in the heart, the good and the evil that are constantly at battle.  When the heart is burdened by every kind of evil temptation it does little good to simply ponder our weakness.  Overcoming our weakness comes from taking right action and doing an act of justice, charity, humility and sacrifice.  The act can be transformative to the heart giving life to the heart of love and God is love.  Just “do it” and let God give birth to the virtues of love.  A doer of the word is doing the will of God and it pleases our Lord to see the soul surrender in obedience to his word. 

The Lord comes in glory to lift up the soul who is faithful to his word, not waiting for a sign, not waiting to receive the gift or a special calling.  God does not send an email, a letter, or a messenger to move us into action.  He has already sent us Jesus and given us the word to follow so now its up to us to respond. 

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Homily

21st Sunday Ordinary Time – This is the day!

Posted on by Deacon Joe

1 Jos. 24:1-2a, 17-18b; Ps. 34:2-3, 16-21; Eph. 5:21-32; Jn. 6:60-69

This is the day to decide “whom you will serve”.  Joshua called together all the tribes of Israel and their leaders in order to make the decision of their priority.  He was witness to how the people were being influenced by the “gods” where they were dwelling.  We could say they were becoming a “fallen away” nation and it was time to bring them to account for their actions.  The people remembered their past and recommitted to the Lord.  This is the day the Lord gives us in the same way to recommit to the practice of our faith.  It is enough to say “I believe” but when our actions say our priority is not the Lord then this is day to recommit to the Lord. 

In the same way, Jesus has been leading his disciples to recognize he is the bread of life to eat and drink but “this saying is hard; who can accept it?”  Many did not and left him but the twelve he chose remained convinced he was “the Holy One of God”.  This was the day to choose to follow the way of the Lord or return to their former way of life.  The same is true for our times when many are leaving the practice of the faith of their childhood or choose only to identify as Catholic without following the practice of faith the Church teaches.  It is a compromised faith that lives not by the word of God but by personal ideology.  Personal ideology is to be our own god. 

Many say “I believe in God but do not accept what the church teaches.”  The church is the bride of Christ who he has given us to follow as his teaching authority.  The church guards against false teachers who rise and fall in every generation.  If Jesus is the fullness of revelation, then everyone who claims to teach the word of God must accept the foundation of faith that goes back to Jesus and his disciples passed on from generation to generation.  To claim “God has revealed to me something new” is a false teacher and we have a long history of false teachers.  There is only one Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church that Jesus established and this is the day to decide who do we follow. 

Simon Peter was wise when he answered Jesus, “Master, to who shall we go?  You have the words of eternal life.”  Peter was willing to put aside all of his own ideas, beliefs, thinking and be open to receive the revelation from Jesus even if it did not make human sense at the time.  Peter quickly came to the realization that Jesus was the Messiah sent from God who he either accepted completely or not at all.  With Jesus there is no compromise to the truth.  In a world that teaches to each their own truth they are deceived by the evil one.  Peter surrendered his mind, heart, and will to Jesus and he became the rock on which Jesus built his church.

Jesus uses the example of the marriage between a man and a woman to describe his love and commitment to the Church.  The Church becomes one with Christ in the Eucharist.  Jesus is the head of the Church and the Church is to remain obedient to Christ.  The bond between Christ and his Church is a covenant of love, sacrificial love for each other, a love that keep on giving.  

Jesus gives us the image of an ideal marriage where love of the other is love of self.  In marriage preparation, I remind couples that this is the person they have chosen to live and die for.  Most couples don’t have this image of love or marriage.  It is more probable that their love is a conditional love not subordinate to each other but challenging each other for control.  Who controls the bank account, the credit cards, the remote control, the family time, the leisure time?  Letting go is hard to do.  We are called to let go and let God be the Master of our life but we can’t even let our marriage partner have authority.  This is the day God gives us to decide while there is still time.  There will be no time for regrets in heaven or hell. 

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Homily

20th Sunday Ordinary Time – The catch

Posted on by Deacon Joe

1 Kgs. 19:4-8; Ps. 34:2-9; Eph. 4:30—5:2; Jn. 6:41-51

Jesus is both the fisherman and the catch.  Jesus has been telling the people that he is “the living bread that came down from heaven.”  As a good fisherman he is reeling in the people with his word providing wisdom for the ages by revealing who he is.  He is not only the Son of God who came down from heaven but the food we are to eat in order to have eternal life.  This is the catch for those who believe, caught in the net of salvation.  Jesus goes from being the fisherman of our souls to becoming the catch that we will eat in order to live. 

This is the mystery of faith is how the fisherman becomes the catch.  Many refused this teaching then and even to this day.   Even now for many the question remains, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?  The answer is because he is God the Son who took on human flesh in order to be the sacrificial lamb of atonement for our sins.  More deeply is because he is love, the beginning and the end of the eternal who desires to transform us with his own body and blood becoming united as one in a spirit of love.  Love is the purpose, journey, and the catch.   

Are we caught up in the net of God’s love tasting and seeing the goodness of the Lord?  The heart of love gives thanks always and for everything, for everything is a gift from God when we remain in him, he promises to remain in us.  How good it is to be caught up in the net of Jesus.  It is the net of freedom, the promise of salvation and way of justice.  How is it that in a world of information technology makes access to the revelation from God so available so few seek and find the way?  Being part of the catch of coming to Jesus also has a “catch”. 

The catch of coming to Jesus has a “catch” in all of the history of salvation.  From the time of Moses and the giving of the Commandments to the teaching of Jesus “faith alone” does not fulfill the requirement.  Faith is a movement in which we act, love, and live beyond simply a belief.  Many can say “I believe’ but not live the faith that is given to us by the Father, by Jesus and by the Spirit.  Faith is a movement, we are moved by faith to give of ourself in a way in which we empty ourselves of “self” in order to serve a greater good, a higher purpose, a divine calling.  The catch is an obedience to the faith and this is where we stray away to our own misery.  The well-known expression is “Jesus cannot save us without us.” 

Everyone is not going to heaven and it is not Jesus’ fault.  He gives us his own body and blood to eat and drink every time we come to Mass that we may live and so many value it so little.  This is the bread to live forever.  So, I invite everyone this day with the question “what is holding you back from receiving this bread?”  “I am not Catholic.” There is a way to become Catholic.  “I am not married in the church”.  There is a process of convalidating a marriage.  “I was married before this marriage.”  There is a juridical process to examine the validity of a marriage and resolve the issue.  “I haven’t gone to confession in years.”  There are confessions every week or you can schedule an appointment with a priest.  There is a way and God provides the way through his church.  Come to the way and enjoy the catch!

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Homily

19th Sunday Ordinary Time – The living bread

Posted on by Deacon Joe

1 Kgs. 19:4-8; Ps. 34:2-9; Eph. 4:30—5:2; Jn. 6:41-51

Jesus confirms today he is the living bread from heaven.  The past few weeks the gospel readings are building up to understand Jesus’ teaching on who he is.   We have heard him say “I am the bread of life”.  While many Christian denominations take his teaching to imply that scripture is the word that is the bread of life, today he makes it clear that he is the living bread he gives and it is his “flesh for the life of the world”.  He gave his flesh on the cross of cavalry to save us and he does it today in the Holy sacrifice of the Mass.  This flesh we can only receive by coming to receive him in the Eucharist.  End of story or should we say the beginning of eternal life. 

Jesus reminds us about the manna the Israelites ate in the desert like “flakes” and they died but the living bread today we receive is a host that resembles a flake “so that one may eat it and not die.”  Not only does Jesus offer us himself as the living bread but he also fulfills the prophesy “They shall all be taught by God” because he is God the Son of the Father in heaven.  The people see only “Jesus the son of Joseph” and they are filled with “bitterness, fury, anger, shouting, and reviling the son of God.  They see with the eyes of humanity without faith and cannot believe. 

Unless we come to Jesus, the living bread for healing of our sins, our weaknesses, our concupiscence, and our attachments to this world we cannot “taste and see the goodness of the Lord”.  In the words of an old cliché “oil and water don’t mix”.  In the freedom to choose we cannot have both the desires of the flesh and the goodness of the Lord.  This is not to say we cannot have good things in this world.  Good things are a blessing to serve our needs that we may fulfill a higher purpose in our lives.  They are a means to climbing our own mountain of Horeb as we see in Elijah. 

After only one day’s journey into the desert, Elijah was ready to quit praying “This is enough, O Lord!”.  Without God he would have never made it but he prayed and God answered him.  So often we encounter our own hardship in life and in our weakness want to give up or we do give up without calling on God’s help and mercy.  Elijah was beyond his human capacity to live and ready to die until an angel touched him.  Death was not God’s purpose for Elijah who we also encounter in the Transfiguration of the Lord next to Jesus.  By trusting in God, Elijah fulfilled his destiny.  Elijah surrendered to God and there began his victory over death.  Have we surrendered to the will of God in our lives? 

Elijah was rescued by the angel of God who provided for him the food and drink to strengthen his resolve and continue on his journey to serve God’s purpose.  There used to be a very popular television series called “Touched by an Angel” in the 1990’s.  The core of each episode was to bring “guidance and messages from God to various people who are at a crossroads in their lives” (Wikipedia).  In the television world this was a genre of fantasy and drama but in God’s world Elijah was touched by a real angel and messenger from God.  We also can be touched by an angel who watches over us.   We belong by our baptism to the communion of saints and angels when we choose God in our lives and live for a higher purpose. 

God is calling us each by name and he has a mountain for us to climb.  We were born for a greater purpose just like the many lives we read in the scriptures who lived and died not knowing how their lives added to the history of salvation.  It is our turn now to do our part, to answer the call. 

What is our mountain today?  It may be to be a voice and bring comfort to the suffering or a word of Godly truth to someone who needs to her it and is on the wrong path; it may be at act of charity to feed his sheep or persevering during difficult times as God fashions us to be more into his image.  It may be a steady stream of challenges or one huge event that transforms our lives.  To each God provides both the call and the living bread.  Jesus gives himself to us today.  Are we ready to give ourselves to him?    

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Homily

18th Sunday Ordinary Time – The work of God!

Posted on by Deacon Joe

Ex. 16:2-4, 12-15; Ps. 78:3-4, 23-25, 54; Eph. 4:17, 20-24; Jn. 6:24-35

The work of God is believing in Jesus.  Jesus is the I am who gives us the bread of life.  Our readings are a continuation from last week as the bread of life in which all things point to Jesus. 

Jesus captures the human condition when he says, “you are looking for me not because you saw signs but because you ate the loaves and were filled.”  We see it in the grumbling of the Israelites who hunger for food that is perishable and forget the God who set them free.  The lesson from Jesus is simple, to hunger first for righteousness and God will provide all that we need. 

Imagine taking Maslow’s pyramid of hierarchy of needs and turning it upside down.  Instead of the primary need being our physiological needs, our primary need is our self-actualization as a child of God, coming to know ourselves as God created us to be.  Our esteem comes from being in the image of God, putting on the mind of God, the passion of God, and the will of God.  In his image we can follow the way of the Lord by loving and belonging in relationship of giving of ourselves as we have received from the Lord.  The Lord provides us our safety knowing we are protected by our guardian angel and all the angels and saints.  Finally, our hunger and thirst is satisfied not with more for the bodily needs but with more food for the spirit. 

The Israelites asked “What is this?  It is described as “fine flakes” which Moses claims is the bread that the Lord has provided for them to eat.  The host we receive in the Eucharist also resemble fine flakes made with unleavened bread.  It is our food for the spirit coming as the body and blood of Jesus.  We have the blessing of being able to look back at salvation history and connect the story across time in a way the Israelites of the Old Testament and in Jesus’ time could not.  We can worship Jesus in the Eucharist and receive him as the bread of life.  This is our time to fulfill the work of God by believing and allowing him to transform our lives. 

Jesus is ready to do the work of God in us and through us if we allow him.  Be open to the will of God and he will reveal himself in our lives by the work that we are called to accomplish in his name.  This is the testimony we see as Jesus’ disciples are transformed into apostles with the power of the word in their hearts and minds.  This same word is given to us each time we come to Mass to not only transform us but to call us to the work of God by believing and trusting in his love to lead us in the more perfect way. 

Jesus came from heaven to give life to a world that is dying in secularism and agnosticism rejecting the one true God for a personalized ideological god.  Paul in his letter to the Ephesians calls the faithful to “no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds”.  He is also speaking to us today in a world that considers the “mind” as the ultimate reality unto itself.  Whatever the mind can reimagine itself to be is a reality others must accept.  The mind has the capacity to be delusional, paranoid, fearful, exaggerated, of living in fantasy while being seriously sincere yet seriously wrong.   The mind is a gift for the purpose of living in search of the truth.  The truth lies outside of the mind.  The truth lies in God. 

God is the source of all creation and all creation serves the creator.  Anything that comes between this link is a lie from the evil one who is here to cause division and confusion.  The world is filled with division and confusion.  It is our turn now to be the light of truth, not my truth or your truth but God’s truth.  It is the truth that sets us free and gives us our joy and peace.  Let us live it and we will be doing the work of God. 

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