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Homily The Deacon Joe

24th Sunday Ordinary Time – God be merciful! 

Posted on by Deacon Joe

Ex. 32:7-11; Lk. 15:18; 1 Tim. 1:12-17; Lk. 15:1-32

God be merciful to me a sinner!   We are a “stiff-necked” people who become “depraved” by our own free will creating our idol worship.  Our God of mercy seeks a “heart contrite and humbled” as the acceptable sacrifice for his love.  God be merciful as we empty ourselves of our pride and seek your mercy. 

What is our “molten calf” we worship above the love of God?  One way to answer this question is to recognize what “it” is that we search for in this life.  When we are young “it” may be the recognition from others that our name may be raised above every other name but this becomes the desire to be our own God.  It is the desire to be first not last, to be served and not to serve.  To love God above every other name is true worship to recognize there is a God and we are not it.  God be merciful!

When we reach the age of human maturity “it” may be the wealth we search to grow to be free of any dependency on others, but this becomes the desire to be even free from God.  Wealth becomes the golden calf creating a false sense of power but the power it offers is transitory and consumes the wealth creating a demand for more wealth.  Material wealth is an illusion that there can never be enough wealth to control everything in our lives and the golden calf demands more of us.  True maturity is the divine knowledge and wisdom that comes from recognizing even the breath we breathe depends on the God of our creation who pours out his riches and glory for his kingdom of heaven.  We don’t wait for his kingdom to come we pray to enter into it in the present moment we live.  God be merciful! 

If we are blessed to reach the age in the fullness of human longevity “it” may be that we continue to search to escape death itself becoming “stiff-necked” in our demands from others to save us from death rather than seeking the light of God’s divine providence and our salvation from hell.  In the midst of good science that extends life and adds to our quality of life there is the golden calf that wants to be preserved, frozen in time and genetically reincarnated.  The goal of life is not to extend it perpetually but to complete it fulfilling the purpose for which we came into this world, our God given purpose.  As Jesus says on the cross, “It is finished!”  God be merciful!

St. Paul places himself as a witness of the mercy of God once a “blasphemer and a persecutor and arrogant” against Jesus has been mercifully treated as he says “because I acted out of ignorance in my unbelief”.  In this world there are many living in ignorance in their unbelief and the mercy of God will deliver them according to his righteousness, some to heaven, some to purgatory and others to hell.   Not all will be saved for he knows the heart of the unbeliever and in what faith they lived.  St. Paul’s ignorance was as a non-Christian but we are Christians, either raised in the faith or converted into the faith so what can we say to God?  We say, “God be merciful today while there is still time. 

When we pray for mercy, we recall the words of Jesus prayer “forgive us our sins as we forgive those who have sinned against us”.  God desires mercy and reconciliation ready to forgive as we forgive others.  We should not wait until we are on deathbed to call our loved ones and ask for forgiveness for our offenses.  The church calls us to come to the sacrament of reconciliation at least once a year but as often as needed when we recognize our sin and desire God’s mercy.  What about those we live with, those we work with, those who are part of our social and business world?  How many others would be reconciled with us if we reached out to them with an act of mercy?  God be merciful as we show mercy. 

Jesus reminds us in the parable of the lost sheep of the importance of saving each and every soul with his mercy.  Yet there is a truth God gives us “he cannot save us without us”.  He cannot save us without our repentance.  For the unrepentant sinner, God’s mercy passes over them seeking to find the soul who repents.  Confession is not a “get out of jail pass” to keep doing what we want to do.  Confession is a realization of our sinfulness with a desire to make amends for our sins and bring conversion to our life.  The truth of our confession is in the fruit we bear, the change we make, the mercy we offer.  God be merciful.

Then there is the parable of what we traditionally call the “prodigal son”.  The word “prodigal” is defined as “spending money or resources freely and recklessly”.  It is the younger son who demands a share of the estate with a sense of entitlement saying “give me the share of your estate that should come to me.”  There is an expression “prodigal habits die hard”.  Prodigal habits become the golden calf we keep feeding on a life of dissipation.  This younger son already had the prodigal sin before he demanded more from his father.  What the father provided in his home was not enough and so “he squandered his inheritance on a life of dissipation.”  God be merciful! 

We have an inheritance given to us at baptism with the purpose of multiplying our riches in heaven as servants of the Lord.  When we lose focus of this purpose, we risk squandering our inheritance in heaven for the entitlements we demand on earth.  Some may question whether the younger son was truly repentant or just realized how much better he would have it if he simply returned to his father seeking reconciliation.  Who are we to judge the heart of another when God already knows what he has in his sons and daughters.  Let God be God and let us not judge another but examen our own heart and our desire for repentance.  God is merciful!

Then we see the older son’s angry reaction to the father’s joy for his younger son.  Jealousy is a powerful sin that leads to division.  Among family there is a temptation to question who is loved more the “favorite” we call it.  Who gets a piece of the pie, the last bite or as the older son said “even a young goat to feast on”.  The disciples questioned Jesus, who is the greatest in the kingdom of God.  This desire to be first can make even a false martyr of our actions.  The father’s response, “we must celebrate and rejoice because your brother was dead and has come to life again…”.  God is merciful.

The older son’s complaint to the father “Look, all these years I served you and not once did I disobey your order”.  This is a hard lesson for the son to understand, the greatest is the one whose heart is to be the servant of all, to do good for others not for the reward but for the just cause.  We are to do it because it is the right thing to do and as the father says, “everything I have is yours”.  There is so much God the Father desires for us including all of himself in Jesus and yet we wander in this world in search of something greater and the greater is already a gift waiting for us in God.  God is merciful.

 [JG1]

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Homily

23rd Sunday Ordinary Time – Return, O children!

Posted on by Deacon Joe

Wis. 9:13-18b; Ps. 90:3-6, 12-14, 17; Phmn. 9:10, 12-17; Lk. 14:25-33

“Return, O children!”  The Lord never tires of calling us back to himself.   In every age, salvation history has a pattern of humanity “going our own way”, falling from grace, ending in despair, and hearing the Lord’s call to “return, O children”.  As a people of God, we come home to the Lord’s way where he is our refuge.

Sometimes people of other faith will question why we baptize children.  The most common answer Catholics give is for the forgiveness of original sin.  But we tend not to think of children as a sinner.  Perhaps you have that child who is always obedient, listens to everything you say and would never go against your will.  You say, “Clean your room” and they respond “of course right away”.  Children like to go their own way just as much as adults do and our struggle with obedience doesn’t get easier with time.  Sin is an act of disobedience. 

We also baptize children for the gift of the Holy Spirit to assist them with understanding, to recognize the fear of the Lord and the love of the Lord, to master their will for obedience to the Word of God and when they fall from grace to return O children.  We can only return to what we have already received and in baptism we receive God himself.  In fact, at birth we receive the gift of life thus God give us ourselves and what we do with ourselves is our gift back to God.  In baptism God gives us the gift of himself to remain in him and like the prodigal son when we refuse him he remains faithful to us calling us back, “return O children”.  

Today, St. Paul says “I, Paul, an old man” reminding us as the years go by all our past “are as yesterday…or a watch in the night (and) You (God) turn man back to dust”.  We see it in our children how quickly they grow what to them was forever since they were babies to us was just yesterday.  Now what?  Stay focused on the Lord, don’t fall into the culture of darkness where good is bad and bad is good only to burden the Spirit from God within.  The message is not just for the young who desire to “spread their wings” or for the old who see death approaching.  It is for every age of life to renounce everything in order to be his disciple. 

How can the Lord say, “If anyone comes to me without hating his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple”?  This is a hard saying, are we not to honor our father and mother, be obedient to each other as married couples, love family and neighbor, and love others as “thyself”?  As in all biblical text there is context and the two teachings are not a contradiction so we need to discern the Lord’s message. 

The context of today’s teaching by Jesus is based on a renunciation of sin.  Since we are all sinners, do we just then “hate” everyone including ourselves?  Obviously not, we hate the sin and love the sinner as Jesus did.  There is a misconception that if we “love” someone we accept their choices even when they go against our faith, morals, and values. Wrong!  Love requires us to bring truth, God’s truth to the one we love especially when we recognize the danger of their sin.  

The “boots on the ground” issues exist in almost all families these days.  Couples living together outside of marriage, all the sexual and gender issues being pushed as “normal” yet outside of God’s natural law, civil unions outside of the church are all part of what the Lord detests with the English translation word “hate” meaning an aversion to the sin.  God and sin cannot coexist so we cannot carry our sins into heaven.  That is why purgatory exists as a state of purification for the soul of its sins.  God forgives us our sins but demands a cleansing of sin to be his disciple and come into his presence. 

Do we love God?  This is love of God, to come to him and be cleansed of our sins.  Recalling the familiar expression “God loves us too much to leave us as we are”.   We are a people who become attached to our possessions.  Possessions are a resource for living but can become a burden of life when we live outside our means.  Before we know it, we are a slave to all we possess as we worry to pay for it, to maintain it, to hold onto it.  Where is our focus in life, where is our energy going, what does our actions say about what matters to us most?  This is what the Lord is addressing when he says, “anyone of you who does not renounce all his possessions cannot be me disciple”. 

Some will say the Lord is speaking to his “disciples” who represent the future clergy of the church.  This is for the priest who leaves father, mother, siblings and possessions to enter into the priesthood.  This is true as a priest is called to be another Christ.  It is also true for all God’s people to “carry his own cross and come after me” says Jesus.  We all carry a call to discipleship.  We all need to “calculate the cost” of discipleship and recognize how the world can become our obsession and we can lose ourselves that is our soul in what perishes rather than in what is eternal. 

Perhaps this is the day to reorder our lives according to God’s call to be his disciples.  When was the last time we cleaned our closet and were willing to let go of the “stuff” we don’t use.  Often the last thing we want do is to make a will and decide what will happen to our possessions. We leave it to our families to have to pick up after us and unfortunately sometimes to become divided over our possessions.  Even less practiced is the act of giving away our possessions while we live.  We make our “stuff” our cross rather than our service to Christ being the cross in following him. 

This is the day to be prudent and act in right judgment, to calculate the cost, to become all God created us to be in his image and likeness.  This is our time to be a witness of what it is to be his disciple that is to be Christ in our world, with all those we meet.  This is the Lord’s call to return, O children!

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Homily The Deacon Joe

22nd Sunday Ordinary Time – Humble of heart!

Posted on by Deacon Joe

Sir. 3:17-18, 20, 28-29; Ps. 68:4-7,10-11; Heb. 12:18-19, 22-24a; Lk. 14:1, 7-14

Humble of heart!  The Lord calls us to be humble of heart with the courage to take up his “yoke” and learn from him.  Humility raises the last to be first.  This is the guiding principle in the kingdom of God.  Humility of heart is the antidote to the sin of pride.  A humble heart is open to the truth greater than oneself beginning with there is a God and we are not him.  It is not about “my truth” but “the truth”.  We are living in a time when society no longer accepts there is an absolute truth but preaches finding your own way.  Being humble of heart is to return to the faith in one God, one truth, his way and to follow where it may lead us.  Today it leads us to take up the “yoke” and learn from the Lord to carry the grace of humility of heart. 

The meaning of the “yoke” is to become closely attached to each other such as the wooden crosspiece that unites two animals to work together in farming.  Baptism unites us to Jesus on the cross to live our faith with courage in the midst of sin and suffering and work together for salvation.  It takes courage to pick up the cross of Christ as Simon of Cyrene wrapped his arm across Jesus to help him lift up the cross and carry it.  They were yoked together as a sign of living the Christian dignity with humility of heart even unto death. 

The sin of pride is the desire to be first.  Jesus is first in the kingdom and we learn from him true humility by loving our neighbor as ourselves, desiring what is good for the other as a blessing to oneself.  Together we are yoked in one body that shares in unity both the joys and sufferings of life.  We are to celebrate together, work together, suffer together, offer ourselves up together and gather together to be one in the Lord this day in the celebration of the Mass.  The sin of pride looks to divide and determine who is the greatest in the kingdom.  Jesus’ lesson is “For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.” 

The grace of humility is a gift to pray for.  When was the last time we prayed, “Lord, give me the grace of humility”?  It will go a long way in fulfilling all the other virtues we ask for such as patience, perseverance, slow to anger, kindness and more.  Start with humility as a foundational virtue and many of the other virtues will come easier.  Prayer is for a conversion of self into the image and likeness of Christ.  We often turn to prayer to ask for a change in others, a change of events, a change outside of ourselves and forget to ask for the change the Lord wants to make in us for we lack humility of heart.  “Lord, change me!  Lord, give me a humble heart.” 

We can see in Jesus that humility does not deny the truth.  Jesus never denied himself as the Son of God, or his kingship.  With humility of heart, he dared to speak the truth and challenge the thinking of the Pharisees.  It was his love of other, love of our humanity, love for the purpose he came to serve that came through in humility.  What about us? 

There is the expression “the more I know the less I know”.  It expresses the humility of heart that comes with the maturity of time.  When were young we feel we have “it”, whatever “it” is that makes us confident and powerful.  Then we grow to realize how vast “it” is to come to the knowledge of the world and to understand “it” is all by the hand of God.  Scripture is filled with humility of heart; Genesis 43:28 “They bowed down in humility”; Leviticus 16:31 “spend your day in quiet humility’’; Psalm 18:35 “your humility exalts me”; Proverbs 11:2 “with humility comes wisdom”; Proverbs 22:4 “The reward of humility and the fear of the Lord is riches, honor, and life”; Proverbs 29:23 “Too much pride brings disgrace; humility leads to honor” and 1 Peter 3:8 “Let humility describe who you are”.  How are we doing on the path of humility?

I had just finished graduate school and was having my first professional interview for a job.  There were two people interviewing me one said, “you are very proud”.  It wasn’t a question but a statement.  It hit me like a slap on the face as I asked myself “Is this how I am coming across full of myself?”  When someone comes across as proud, they also can be called out as a “know it all”.  Not exactly the face of humility.  Does this ring familiar with anybody?  The culture for males is especially drawn to be heroes and warriors but it can be misguided to be “macho” as in arrogant and bully versus a true hero/warrior who is sacrificial and humble. 

As parents we lift up with pride our children, give them recognition for effort, teach them to keep their chin up, and place them on a pedestal and there are appropriate moments when they need this.   There is also a time for a healthy dose of humility where love means “no excuses”, saying “I’m sorry” or giving credit to others.  Whoever came up with the saying “love is never having to say you are sorry” is in a fantasy and not in God’s world.  In God’s world we go in humility of heart to confess “I am sorry for all my sins and having offended thee”.  Couples say “I’m sorry” more times in a day than “I love you”.  Maybe if we said “I love you” more often we would not need to say “I’m sorry”, something to ponder. 

What about “no excuses”?  In 3rd grade, I was the fastest runner in my class.  One day I lost my first race and somehow the teacher heard about it.  He brought it up in class and I said I was feeling sick.  He quickly responded “no excuses”.  All of a sudden, I felt humiliated in front of everyone, that is I was humbled by someone else and had to swallow my green beans, that is my pride.  I hate green beans.  Well, “hate” is a strong word so change that to “I love to give away my green beans”. 

Parents’ love is teaching our children to grow in virtue and preparing for the realities of life with a healthy dose of temperance.  It’s not all about them.  This reality hits home with the first major rejection in life and have we prepared them for it with healthy dose of humility?  Today suicide rates are up among the youth as they face social bullying, broken homes, access to drugs, and identity crisis in a world where anything goes.  For the world humility is not a virtue of value but a sign of weakness and everyone is to wear a happy face of pride but ultimately, we cannot deny ourselves.  We are dust and to dust we shall return but something greater is here and it is the love of God who created us for eternity and will raise us up to himself. 

Today the lesson is clear “conduct your affairs with humility and you will be loved more…(and) the greater you are”.  When we give the place of honor to others, we demonstrate we are living the greatest commandment.  Our love of God with all our heart, mind and soul is seen in the love we give our neighbor. Let us be humble of heart.

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Homily The Deacon Joe

20th Sunday Ordinary Time – “Fixed on Jesus”

Posted on by Deacon Joe

Jer. 38:4-6, 8-10; Ps. 40:2-4, 18; Heb. 12:1-4; Lk. 12:49-53

“Fixed on Jesus, the leader and perfector of faith” is faithful when we call out to him, “Lord come to my aid.”  This is our hope, in a world where humanity comes short of being a “faithful and prudent steward” as servant of the Lord, Jesus is ready to respond to our plea when we pray “Lord come to my aid!”  As a child or adult children of a dysfunctional world growing up with sin and suffering, abuse, broken homes, absent parents, drugs, alcohol, and all types of sinful “land mines” our hope is to remain fixed on Jesus.  Jesus is always ready for us even when we are not ready for him. 

Fixed on Jesus, “He drew me out of the pit of destruction” says the psalm.  Bad things happen and it happened to Jeremiah when the leaders turned against him for speaking up to the people what the Lord said was to come.  Take note that Jeremiah is silent other than speaking what the Lord was saying.  He is handed over to death but Jeremiah remained fixed on the Lord until he was rescued and spoke directly to the king. 

The Lord will rescue us if we trust in him.  He is the king we are to wait for who will direct our mind, heart, and soul with what to say to those who wish to destroy, persecute, or bring us to death for speaking up against the sins of this world.  Speaking against the sin of abortion, homosexual acts, gender transition, and the misuse of alcohol, drugs, food, money, and power is being the voice of Jeremiah, John the Baptist, the apostles, the martyrs and Jesus.  In all of them we are to recognize we are called to speak up for the Lord’s righteousness.

The Lord will “put a new song into my mouth” says the psalm.  It is a song of salvation to perfect our faith not by escaping this world but when we “persevere in running the race that lies before us while keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus.”  Jesus gives us the witness of shedding blood on the cross for our sins.  Now he is calling us in our struggle against sin to resist sin “to the point of shedding blood.”  Think of the lives of the saints and their acts of mortification.  Think of the temptation to sin when being rejected, cursed, bullied, sexually harassed, or denied fair treatment and instead of responding with hate, retaliation, revenge, or vengeance we resist sin and offer it up to God.  This is the shedding the blood of his mercy. 

Saint Francis threw himself onto a bed of rose thorns and Saint Theresa of Avila who was seen on her knees with a cord whipping her back.  They were ordinary people who took extraordinary acts to shed blood for their sins.  We are all called to sainthood and we are all given through the church an opportunity to make a sacrifice for the Lord.  It comes during the season of Lent, it comes when we kneel before the Lord in adoration, it comes in Mass when we enter into the mystery of faith beginning with our confession.  In many little ways we can make an act of sacrifice, do reparation, and offer ourselves up with love, for love, to love itself.  This is our shedding of blood when we are fixed on Jesus. 

What is up with Jesus today?  Why does he say, “Do you think that I have come to establish peace on the earth?  No, I tell you, but rather division.”  What happened to peace, love, and unity?  If our eyes are fixed on Jesus something has changed in us.  It will make others uneasy, having to see themselves in the light of our reflection of Christ and they will do one of three things.  They can rebel and go on the attack with words such as “religiosity, weird, eccentric, boring.”  They can withdraw, avoid us and “quietly quit” from having a relationship with us.  They can also be drawn closer seeking to understand asking questions that allow us to evangelize.  Where does our faith fixed on Jesus become most disruptive?  In the home where we not all are on the same level of commitment or share the same desire for unity with Christ.  A simple test question is “Who is ready for Mass on Sunday?” 

Readiness includes a predisposition to love God with all our heart, mind, and soul in the Mass.  It comes with thanksgiving for all the blessings of the week.  It is being childlike in our petitions trusting God and believing “the Lord comes to our aid.”  It is offering up a sacrifice of praise that goes from the lips down deep in the heart.  Are we that ready or are we simply minimalist, conforming to tradition but our hearts are far from God?  Thank God he is love and mercy, slow to anger, and rich in kindness who knows our true self and is faithful to us as a work in progress. 

The Lord works in mysterious ways.  Last week, I had just finished working on my homily and closed my tablet.  When I went to open it up to print it would not boot up.  At first, I thought it might be low on battery so I plugged it in and waited with no result.  I thought if I do the homily I am going to go from memory and that is not a good thing. My prayer was “Jesus, I trust in you.  It is in your hands.”  The weekend came and on Saturday I went to Best Buy to have Geek Squad check it out.  At this point I thought regardless I am not getting it today.  As I was standing in line with one person in front of me, I accidently dropped the tablet to the floor.  My thought was this could get worse.  I picked it up and automatically pressed the power button.  It lit up.  I lit up with a big smile of gratitude. 

Rather than stress about it for days, I waited for the Lord with a new song of prayer fixed on Jesus and he answered me.  Even if I had not had the written copy to go by, I believed the Lord was going to be with me and I was waiting to see with the attitude “it is in God’s hands”.   God must have thought, “I don’t trust his memory.”  If it has to do with God, he is on it.  It all has to do with God.  Let us keep our eyes fixed on Jesus.  He is the perfecter of faith and he is listening. 

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Homily The Deacon Joe

19th Sunday Ordinary Time – Ready by faith!

Posted on by Deacon Joe

Wis. 18:6-9; Ps. 33:1, 12, 18-22; Heb. 11:1-2, 8-19; Lk. 12:32-48

Ready by faith!  Abraham was ready by faith to obey “when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance…not knowing where he was to go.”  By faith, Abraham a man “as good as dead” and Sarah “herself was sterile” were able to have a child, Isaac and by faith he was ready to offer his only son as a sacrifice.  Are we ready to live by faith in the sure hope of things not seen?  We were not there to see the resurrection of Jesus and yet by faith we believe not only in his resurrection but in ours to come.  Faith builds up our readiness when we act on our faith.  

Here lies our dilemma, we say we have faith but we act as if we trust only in ourselves.  Our readiness to respond to God depends on living our life, all our daily acts believing in him, having his presence active in our lives.  If we recognize him in our daily walk, caring for us, loving us, nudging us, or stopping us in our tracks even when we thought we knew what we wanted then we stand ready to hear his voice and respond by faith to his command.

 Ready by faith requires a willingness to surrender to God and live according to his will.  This does not mean we are to act as helpless humans in our dilemma, to the contrary we act in faith according to the teaching of Jesus.  Today Jesus gives us a teaching on who is a “faithful and prudent steward”.  Who is the “servant of the Master” in charge of his “servants”?  First of all, we are all God’s servants and we are all entrusted with the responsibility to care others.  As servants we walk with God taking the right next step.  Too many people say “I follow my conscience.”  The word “conscience” implies a “unity” as “con” means “with” and “science” means “thinking”.  Thus, who are we thinking with, God or the world?  United to God in the teachings of Jesus we are ready by faith to take the right next step. 

Parents are in charge of God’s children.  Parents are responsible “to distribute the food allowance at the proper time”.  This responsibility is not simply the meal on the table but the spiritual food in raising children according to the faith.  Unfortunately, there is an attitude of minimalism when it comes to our faith.  We send our children to school and to church but are we involved in what they are learning from others to shape their faith, their understanding of themselves and of this world.  If we don’t engage them others will and social media is like a snake in the wilderness of society full of poison.  In each stage of life there are Godly lessons to learn. 

The Church is responsible to “distribute the food allowance at the proper time” in the sacramental life of the people of God.  Today it is popular to say “I’m spiritual, I’m not religious”.  Unless your dead that statement is an oxymoron.  Spirituality is lived in the totality of our humanity, body, soul, and spirit.  How spiritual is someone who has diarrhea or diarrhea of the mouth?  It runs but has no substance of Godly value.  Humanity is ritualistic from the moment we get up to how we get to bed we establish order and purpose in our actions.  The Church has order and purpose guided by the Holy Spirit in its distribution of the sacraments.  You can also be spiritually demonic and even that has a religious practice.  Don’t be fooled by the promotion of humanism that tries to make everything about “you” as spiritual. 

Ready by faith is a practice of virtues guided by the Holy Spirit.  In baptism we receive the Cardinal virtues from the Holy Spirit to guide the soul of a child from the beginning of their earthly pilgrimage.  The virtues of prudence for right judgment, temperance for right balance, fortitude for right exercise of power, and justice for right action.  The more we live our virtues the more ready we are to gain even greater virtues in generosity, charity, humility, going deeper into the true spirit of faith in action.

Ready by faith is living according to the spiritual and corporal works of mercy.  It is Agape, the love of neighbor as yourself.  It is being Christ according to the gifts we have received as “servants of God” for the care of others.  As Christians by our baptism and the gift of the Holy Spirit we come to know our “master’s will” and those who fail to answer the call “shall be beaten severely”.  Only the ignorant of the master’s will “shall be beaten lightly” for failing respond to the will of his master.  This “beating” we can image in the context of purgatory as we are reminded in Malachi 3:2-3, “But who can endure the day of his coming?   He will be like a refiner’s fire.”

We are reminded that nothing impure can enter heaven.  The Lord will forgive our sins completely when we seek his forgiveness but the impurity of our human condition must also be cleansed of our imperfections and make atonement for unforgiven sins for failing to confess.  Today we can offer up our spiritual and corporal works of mercy in atonement for our sins and receive the grace of purification as we come to be the master’s good servant. 

Ready by faith is not dormant but actively leading us to truth, goodness, beauty, and unity.    Ready by faith begins with prayer, a daily walk and talk with God.  It includes the “sure knowledge of the oaths in which they put their faith”.  This knowledge can be summed up as salvation history and the “oaths” as the promise of God realized in the person of Jesus’ passion, death, and resurrection to be with him in heaven.  We are blessed to be “the people the Lord has chosen to be his own”.  As a chosen people our humanity gets us through the desert of life with Jesus as our companion to see the promise land at a distance from this life.  Faith gets us across the bridge into the unseen glory waiting for those who believe. 

The Lord will deliver us from death and preserve us in spite of the “famine” of this world and all its suffering.  We hunger for truth, goodness, beauty and unity in our life, our family, our society but the world will never be the answer.  God is the answer to our hunger, the beginning and the end all of our search.  In faith we offer ourselves up and all our daily labor for what is hoped for and wait upon the Lord who provides the evidence of things not seen.  The evidence comes in answered prayer, it comes not by accident but by divine providence and it comes in the unseen realization that by the grace of God we are here, we exist and we have a divine purpose to live that will set us free.  We are reminded we are no longer slaves but heirs to the kingdom.  We are ready by faith! 

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Homily The Deacon Joe

18th Sunday Ordinary Time – Vanity of vanities! 

Posted on by Deacon Joe

Ecc. 1:2, 2:21-23; Ps. 90:3-6, 12-14, 17; Col. 3:1-5, 9-11; Lk. 12:13-21

“Vanity of vanities!   All things are vanity!”  We are reminded that we worry about many things, how to protect all our earthly possessions and treasures, all our “toil and labor”, either for what we have or for what we lack there is “anxiety of heart” and all is vanity.  By our baptism we are and continue to be renewed in the image of our creator as “Christ is all and in all”.  All else is vanity.  “If today you hear his voice” calling us out for having our priorities focused on the wrong treasures don’t wait to be called “You fool, this night your life will be demanded of you; and the things you have prepared, to whom will they belong?”  Death gives rise to entitlements as earthly treasures are divided yet who is concerned about their final destination when death comes calling? 

Jesus responds to “someone in the crowd” who is seeking a share in an inheritance from his brother.  Families often will become divided over an inheritance asserting rights and fairness and even going to a “judge and arbitrator” seeking entitlements “and yet it was another who labored over it who has left their property.  “This also is vanity and a great misfortune.”  The misfortune is placing so much value on earthly property that is destined to deteriorate, be spent, or discarded for lack of need.  Even the memory eventually fades and all things are forgotten as each person seeks to claim their own life to live and build their own treasure.  Eventually, “you turn man back to dust.”  Where is the treasure that lasts for eternity? 

Heavenly treasure is the gift that keeps on giving, multiplied by the impact of what is true, good, beautiful, and binding in love.  The gift of unity that makes us one body in Christ.  The higher good that places other at our side.  The truth that remains as valid yesterday as today.  The beauty of creation living out its purpose without fear for it rests in its creator.  This makes all creation binding in love. 

This treasure is seen in an infant coming to life in the womb and nurtured from same body and blood of the mother; received into the world expecting only goodness and love.  This is the path into this world that the child Jesus came to us for our salvation to represent all that is of God and from God.  For even while in the womb Jesus reached out to the womb of Elizabeth and John leaped for joy. Heavenly treasure is uniting our hearts to Jesus’ sacred heart so that the graces may flow from him to us doing his will in the mystery of faith. 

The mystery of faith is God’s presence in us and through us as we respond to the Spirit according to his will.  It is what gives us the writings of the bible by many authors and makes it all the “Word of God”.  It is an inspiration, receiving the breath of God and transformed into his image so we may say “it is not I that lives but Christ who lives in me.”  Anything else is our vanity of vanities. 

Lord, “Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain wisdom of heart.”  God first, God center, God always in our heart until the day you call us back.  This is life and the flesh is put to death.  Living with God is allowing him to guide our daily journey, explore the mystery of faith as he makes himself present in all our encounters in the world.  Ask, seek, and knock for God’s revelation is waiting for us to call to him.  Instead, we forget, we lose our focus, and begin to wander away into our vanities while he waits for us to turn back to him. 

Vanity of vanities appears in the sin of “immorality, passion, evil desire and the greed that is idolatry”, the false gods of our desire.  No one is greater than the other and the illusion that someone is also is vanity.  Ask someone to answer “who are you?” and they will tell you what they do, what their titles are, how they identify with an activity but “who they are” they have not identified. 

Our true identity is in God as three persons in whose image we were created.  Do we recognize ourselves this way?  I am a mortal in the flesh with an eternal soul created in the image of God sharing in the divine life of grace.  I am called by name for a purpose in this world and that shall not be denied to me from the evil one.  I am a child of God and in his image, I live a life of virtue.  This I am and was brought into this world for a little while but my destination is to get to heaven. 

Focus and “seek what is above”.  Listen for the voice of the Lord.  God speaks in all his creation and he speaks from within our souls but we must be still to listen.  We are not very good at being still.  We are always seeking “what’s next” as doers even when there is “free time” we look to fill it with something to do.  We are Martha doing and complaining and avoiding the opportunity to be Mary taking time for the better part.  In order to seek what is above we must focus and be still so God can fill the space in our lives uniting us to what is above, putting to death “the parts of you that are earthly” and giving us “the new self”. 

When we seek what is above, we quickly come to know the poverty of our being and are “Blessed” in the poverty of our spirit to receive the gifts of the kingdom of heaven.  We cannot be both “full of ourselves” and full of the spirit of God.  We must first empty ourselves in order to receive our inheritance from the treasure of heaven.  If we say “Lord, forgive me for I have sinned against you” then the next right step is to go to the sacrament of confession and receive the gift of absolution from a priest who acts in the person of Christ to “bind or loose in heaven”.  It is the body of Christ in the Church that sets us free. 

There is a perpetual sacrifice Christ suffers for our sins and he thirsts to set us free.  Jesus is asking us for water as he did the woman at the well.  He desires to free us but he cannot free us without us coming to him.  If today you hear his voice, then come to him “as is”.  We will never be ready if we waiting for the right moment in our life.  Jesus sees “the will to come” and comes to meet us where we are.  He is gracious in mercy and love, “slow to anger and rich in kindness” but he knows better than us that our “clock” of time is quickly passing and we have yet to seek him.  Let us not let our vanity of vanities keep us from hearing his voice this day. 

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Homily The Deacon Joe

17th Sunday Ordinary Time – Ask, Seek, and Knock!

Posted on by Deacon Joe

Gen. 18:20-32; Ps. 138:1-3, 6-8; Col. 2:12-14; Lk. 11:1-13

Ask, seek, and knock!  “You were buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith” born again from the womb of his love.  We have now “received a Spirit of adoption through which we cry, Abba, Father.”  In him we are to ask, seek, and knock and he will answer us.  Abraham “dared to speak” and was persistent in his asking God for mercy and justice for all for the sake of a few innocent people.  Abraham’s name begins with “Ab” meaning “father” in Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek as a father figure on earth speaking up for God’s people.  Abraham is leading us to recognize there is one who is coming who is truly innocent and for the sake of this innocent one nailed to the cross all of humanity can be saved through faith in him.

“Lord, teach us to pray” to “Abba” our Father who is in heaven.  Lord, teach us to recognize “hollowed be your name” which is the power of your name, how sacred it is and how careless we are when we treat your name in vain as just another expression of our self-centeredness in frustration or surprise, as in “O.M.G.” or calling out “Jesus” when angry.  When we treat your name in vain, we make of ourself a “god” and of you a servant and forget we are mortal creatures of dust and you are pure spirit of love eternal.  We forget you created us and yet when we use your name in vain, we try to create of you an object of our needs.  This is not how to ask, seek or knock on your heart in truth and holiness. 

Abba, Father “forgive us our sins” our vanity and false pride that leads us to fall once again.  Just as Abraham sought mercy for his people be merciful to us where sin abounds in the heart wash us clean through the sacraments of the church you instituted through your son.  Let us seek your mercy as you teach us to pray truly meaning what we say and saying what we hold deep in our souls, the naked truth of our being.  A sinner was I born but a saint I am being transformed. 

We are like “gods” only in the sense of when we come and follow you that you allow “your kingdom come” into our lives to live out your glory.  It is only then that we taste and see your goodness and the light of your glory.  Your kingdom is to be lived in the heart of your love “as we ourselves forgive everyone” from the heart even as the mind does not always understand we turn to you and trust in you, “your will be done”.  “Abba, Father” save us from the final test and the snares of the evil one who by the power of your name is defeated.  This we ask of you, seek your will, and knock upon the door of your heart.    

“Abba, Father” we ask that you “give us each day our daily bread”.  Father, you have given the bread of life to the church to feed us the body and blood of Jesus in the Eucharist.  Teach us to love you in this sacrifice of love you offer us as a daily bread from heaven.  Father, you told Moses to remove the sandals from his feet as he stood on holy ground.  You are the holy of holies in the sanctuary of the church remove the blinders from our eyes that we may see and give you the reverence and worship of our love for you. 

Abba, you have left us your daily bread in your word where we can seek you and you reveal yourself to us.  The incarnation of your word is a guiding light in the darkness of a world that tries to deny you, denies the truth of salvation in you and through you.  In the beginning was the Word and the Word was made flesh in Jesus who was and is calling us to ask, seek and knock on the door of your Word that we may join you in becoming the word to others.  Your word is our defense and protection against the culture of death that seeks to redefine “truth” as a relative term. 

Abba, Father “do not subject us to the final test” without your presence to sustain us for we are weak and you are strong.  It is enough to pass through the test of each day without falling into temptation.  It is difficult to persevere during the test of suffering hoping and waiting for some consolation.  Let us not despair from asking in faith, seeking in hope, and knocking with love on the door of your heart while we wait upon you.  This is our prayer to remain in you and you in us through all the days of our life “for we can do all things in Christ who strengthens us” (Phil. 4:19). 

To ask is an act of humility as we recognize our powerlessness without God.  We are humbled from our youthful pride as bones become brittle, our flesh weak, and our mind forgetful.  Our time in this world is passing quickly and we wonder have we prepared ourselves for the final test as our day of judgment approaches.  The test of love with all our heart, mind and soul and our others as ourselves.  We dare to ask of ourselves by doing all things with love to the Father of love. 

To seek is an act of faith believing in someone greater than ourselves, someone beyond our understanding, someone eternal, our creator who comes to us as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  We seek forgiveness from the God of mercy for having failed to love with godly love.  We seek what is lacking in us, the grace and power of holiness to do what is right, just, and merciful.  We seek to be in the image of God our Father that the world may believe. 

To knock is to first open the door of our heart, to trust in the Father’s plan for our salvation.  It is a plan tailored for each of us we wear as the perfect suit for our lives wrapped in his love.  We knock on the gate of heaven by living the sacramental life of the Church.  It is the gateway given to the disciples to become apostles of salvation.  We knock on the door of the Church to be received into the holy of holies from the fountain of love in baptism, confession, confirmation, the Eucharist, healing, and for those called to matrimony or Holy Orders.  These doors are opened to us as a channel of his grace. 

Abraham was an advocate for the people to the Father and the Lord heard his cry for mercy.  We are reminded of his persistence also in the parable of the “Friend” today by Jesus.  The Lord answers our cry for help and in the spirit of adoption we have received our advocate in the Holy Spirit.  We have a “Friend” in Jesus who lived our humanity and desires a stronger bond of love with us.  We also have our “Abba” Father ready to pour out on us his grace, his gifts of the Holy Spirit, and his promise of everlasting life. 

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Homily The Deacon Joe

16th Sunday Ordinary Time – Do everything with love!

Posted on by Deacon Joe

Gen. 18:1-10a; Ps. 15:2-5; Col. 1:24-28; Lk. 10:38-42

Do everything with love and let this be our sacrifice. “Martha, Martha you are anxious and worried about many things.  There is need of only one thing.”  “Martha, Martha” is Jesus’ way of emphasizing the important of what he is about to say and wants Martha and us to listen well and understand the meaning of his word.  Are we good listeners to Jesus, to his word, to his teaching in its application to us?  The disciples often heard what Jesus said but did not understand his meaning.  We often hear but only understand at the concrete level without seeking the greater message which is how am I a part of this teaching?  Jesus is asking us to listen with our hearts and discern the truth at it applies to us, to transform our hearts to do everything with love. 

Martha is the host who “welcomed him” and takes responsibility to “serve” Jesus.  Jesus calls us all to be servants of the Lord and every task can be offered “with love” in serving Jesus.  Martha’s “mistake” is often our mistake by comparing ourselves with others as she compares her role with that of her sister Mary who Jesus says “has chosen the better part and it will not be taken from her.”  It was a “choice” we make every day to serve God, to “do everything with love” in all we do as well as to stop and be still and listen to him.  Jesus loves both Martha and Mary but he cares that their actions come from the heart of love. 

Could Jesus have said to Martha, “you have chosen the better part”?  Possibly yes, if Martha’s attention to service was do everything with love for Jesus.  Then her hospitality becomes an act of love while Mary may simply care only to avoid work and was paying no attention to Jesus.  Do everything with love and it is transformed into an offering.  When we compare, we often judge others in a condescending attitude.  What underlies Martha’s attitude was fear of being judged by attempting to look good, being right, being a people pleaser, and trying to “fix” the problem she created in her own mind (“Four leaches”, Julian Treasure, How to speak).  Now we ask ourselves “does this attitude of fear show itself in us?”  Probably every day to some degree when our focus is on us and not on Jesus, we lose an opportunity to be transformative in our service. 

Looking good is the sin of pride when the focus is on being better than others as if we were in competition.  Martha’s sin of pride is to question Jesus “Lord, do you not care…?”  Martha, Martha are you making yourself to be the judge and jury better than Jesus?  In Martha’s view Mary by not helping is making her look bad.  Jesus’ response, “Mary has chosen the better part” is understood that he can see her heart is ready to listen to him. 

Martha is concerned with “being right” meaning Mary is wrong for sitting to listen to Jesus.  When we make an issue of being right, we again make ourselves better than the other and bring division to our relationships.  We make it about us rather than validating what others have to contribute.  When we become the “people pleaser” we reveal our underlying insecurity, seeking acceptance from others where acceptance begins from within.  The consequence of disordered thinking becomes disordered behavior as we try to “fix” what may not be broken, and we made a crisis for ourselves and others.   Stop and choose the better part.

The better part is instead of attempting to look good recall it is not about us but about him as Mary demonstrated.  Make it about the good of the other without complaining and ask for what you need by lifting up the other with a little kindness and recognition.  Martha could have said, “Mary, you are so good at setting the table, please assist me for a moment.”  Direct to the need maintains the unity without complaining or judging.  Say it with genuine love for that is what we are called to do. 

The better part instead of sounding off as “being right” or justified and judging others as wrong is to first seek to validate the other.  What if Martha had said, “Mary you have chosen the better part by listening to Jesus but I need you for a moment please”.  Validating first does not make anybody “wrong or right” just different in their behavior.  Validating a person does not mean that the behavior cannot be changed, improved, or when needed stopped.  It allows the person to look at themselves, their behavior and come to value other behavior as meaningful and appropriate and even called for in certain circumstances. 

“People pleasers” lose themselves in others becoming the chameleon that changes color to fit in, seeking to be accepted while in the process sacrificing their own values.  If you ask a people pleaser “who are you?”, they have no answer left wondering what the right answer is.  Being more concerned with being right the answer comes back “it depends”.  “It depends on who I am with” is what they are saying.  We all have different roles in life, but we do not have to wear different masks to “fit in” with the crowd.  Let us recall, I am a child of God created in his image and thus I am a person of faith, hope, and love. 

Martha wanted to please Jesus as a good hostess to receive her recognition rather than simply to do it with love of him.  Abraham was not seeking any recognition when the Lord appeared to him.  He recognized in the three men a “God-sent” and looked to please the Lord with his hospitality.  The focus was not on himself but on God’s messengers.  God’s reward is something Abraham could never have imagined that he would have a child with Sarah by the next year. 

“Fixers” perceive a problem where there may not be one to fix.  Fixers fall into the trap of being “worried and anxious about many things.”  Fixers follow the mantra “what if” and then act as if it was already happening.  Fixers can also fall into the trap of living two lives, theirs and the one for who they are trying to “fix” the problem. 

Jesus reminds Martha and us we are to choose “the better part”.  The better part is to do everything with love, and it will be transformative.  The better part is to silence the thinking and be listening for the voice of God working in us and through those we encounter as a “God-sent”.  The better part is when we pray “Jesus I trust in you” and go forth believing in faith, hope, and love.  Let us live the better part of the gift of life and grace coming from the Father, in the Son, through the Holy Spirit. “There is need of only one thing.”

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Homily The Deacon Joe

15th Sunday Ordinary Time – “Go and do likewise”

Posted on by Deacon Joe

Deut. 30:10-14; Ps. 69:14, 17, 30-31, 33-34, 6,37; Col. 1:15-20; Lk. 10:25-37

“Go and do likewise” as Jesus did “and you will live”.  This was the command Jesus gave to his disciples and to his “appointed seventy-two” he sent forth from last week’s readings.  “Go and do likewise” curing the sick, proclaiming the word, “to tread upon serpents’ and scorpions and upon the full force of the enemy and nothing will harm you”.  “Go and do likewise” in loving God with all your heart, being, strength and mind and “your neighbor as yourself” by the acts of charity caring for the needs of others “and you will live”.  “Go and do likewise” as Jesus continues to do in our lives, he is “near to you, already in your mouths and in your hearts; you have only to carry it out.” Are we ready to carry it out for eternity?

Do we believe in eternity?  Eternity begins now in the flesh as Jesus came in the flesh to show us how to live for eternity.  He came in the flesh and in his divinity to take our flesh, wipe away our sins and open the gates of heaven to begin to live in the spirit, in the divine spirit, in the law of the Lord, love itself.  If we believe in eternity, then it all starts in the here and now.  We see it in the lives of the saints who lived and died in the flesh but were already experiencing the glory of God on earth.  We see it in the mystery of faith through the sacramental life of the church carrying out the mission of Christ to the world.  We also see it in ourselves in our answered prayers where miracles happen every day and we are moved to give thanks and give all the glory to God.

“Go and do likewise” as a sign of our love of God to be his image to the world.  Love of God is a constant movement to act out of our love for him.  It is not a fleeting thought that crosses our mind when we come to church but a constant reminder of his presence in our life.  It is not a fickle emotion that inspires us one minute and then fades as we go on living what we call “our” life. Without his breath of life, we have no life.

Our faith calls us to belong to God, so we no longer live for ourselves, but as slaves of his love for it is then that we are free.  Our heart is then united to his sacred heart.  Love of God is not to be strong but, in our weakness to see his strength active in us to “go and do likewise”.  Otherwise, we are an empty shell of shiny mirrors without substance.  All our being is a gift, and it can all be lived for the divine purpose to “walk the walk and talk the talk” that comes from him “and you shall live”.

Are we alive in Christ?  Life is difficult and we pray to God to be with us, to help us discern his will and to be prudent in making good decisions.  Now what?  Now we walk in faith so God may open the gates of heaven as we “do likewise” being Christ in this world.  The mission of the church is to proclaim the gospels as it nurtures our minds with his word and feed us his body and blood that we may carry him in our being and then to send us forth at the end of Mass to proclaim the gospel in word and deed, and in Spirit and truth trusting in him.  Here is the human dilemma, do we trust in God?  Being alive in Christ is trusting in him. 

“Jesus, I trust in you” is easier said than practiced.  To trust in Jesus sometimes requires us to “go forth” taking the right next step and sometimes it requires us to wait upon the Lord in God’s time to answer our prayers.  The best discernment comes through prayer when to act and when to wait.  There is the old expression “reading the tea leaves”.  It is being observant, keeping watch, listening for the movement of the Spirit around us and in us.  Trust is a letting go and letting God be the driver as we follow and look at the signs for direction.  “Direct us O’ Lord according to your will.”  Trusting in God is living the Serenity Prayer:

“God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; courage to change the things I can; and wisdom to know the difference.  Living one day at a time; enjoying one moment at a time; accepting hardships as the pathway to peace; taking, as he did this sinful world as it is, not as I would have it; trusting that he will make all things right if I surrender to his Will; that I may be reasonably happy in this life and supremely happy with Him forever in the next.  Amen.” 

The works of the Spirit brings unity as it works in and through us as well as in and through others.  The mystery of faith comes through unity, the unity of the Trinity, the unity of the church, and the unity of the people of God.  It is a welcoming, inviting and calling spirit where two or three are gathered in his name.  If we do not discern this spirit of unity then it may be time to dust off our feet and move on trusting in God where he may lead us. 

Are we ready to “carry out” the will of God in our lives?  The will of God is to love others, “your neighbor as yourself”.   We assume we know how to love ourselves well and from our goodness we know how to love others.  This small word “as” implies knowledge of true love, Godly love, perfect love.  As we love ourselves poorly, we in turn will love others poorly.  This poverty of love is controlling, demanding, objectifying, failing to respect the dignity and worth of others.  It does not try to meet others where they are at but judges them based on where they are not.  Can anyone be saved if God judged us based on where we are not?  God meets us with his mercy as we are and calls us to something greater that he desires for us thus “go and do likewise”. 

To love ourselves well is to recognize ourselves as a creation of God according to his image.  Created in his image we then look to him to perfect us in love through the gifts of the Spirit, through his mercy, and through the power of his sacraments he left us in the Church.  To love ourselves well begins with Him and ends with Him and as we think in between “He is!”  He is the creator, the lover, the sanctifier, the consoler, the savior.  He is and always will be the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end, so let it be Him the acting source in our lives and our love will grow in perfection fulfilling his word, “So be perfect just as your heavenly Father is perfect.”  (Mt. 5:48) 

“Be perfect” is a command.  When we raise our thoughts, hearts, and will to God we enter into his perfection.  We are to “let perseverance be perfect, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.” (Jam. 1:4-6) Let us unlock the significance of the command “be perfect”.  It does not say “try to be perfect” for this implies something less than perfect is all that is needed.  We accept the idea “I try to be good” as if that is enough. We turn to the excuse “no one is perfect” and settle for less than the command.  Let our prayer be “I will be perfect as called to be in the perfection of this moment by the will of God”.  We are calling our being to “be perfect” and on God to raise us up to his perfect will at this moment. His promise will be fulfilled for we are asking God to be perfect in us as we “go and do likewise”.  God answers the call when we call upon Him which is his desire all along that we turn to Him, and he is there.  In your perfection Lord, guide us to your perfect will. Amen. 

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Homily The Deacon Joe

14th Sunday Ordinary Time – The Kingdom of God

Posted on by Deacon Joe

Is. 66:10-14c; Ps. 66:1-3, 4-7, 16, 20; Gal. 6:14-18; Lk. 10:1-12, 17-20

“The Kingdom of God is at hand for you.”  This promise given by Jesus is to those who welcome him and his “appointed seventy-two” into their home.  Do we welcome his “appointed” servants, through the one Catholic and Apostolic Church into our home and do we rejoice in the heavenly Jerusalem?  The Church is the heavenly Jerusalem on earth who provides us the “milk of her comfort that we may nurse with delight at her abundant breasts!”  We nurse from the sacramental life of the Church as a mother to its people.  As we welcome the church Christ is present in his body, blood, soul, and divinity. 

The Kingdom of God is opened up to those who welcome the church into their hearts.  How tremendous are the deeds of God in the church making of us a new creation through baptism, forgiving sins in reconciliation, curing the sick with anointing, exorcising demons, and confirming the faith to all who call upon the Lord.  If we belong to Christ then we all share in his body called to be one in union with him and in his body.  This is not some “spiritual thing” we feel but something tangible in the word of God, in the sacraments, in the Eucharist, and in the people.  Jesus’ resurrection was a tangible body, not a spirit of illusion.  He ate and drank and was touched.  Let us welcome the kingdom of God in body, soul, and spirit.  Are we not called to make of our bodies the temple of the Lord? 

“The harvest is abundant” in our times as many leave the church and pews become empty.  Others are simply raised not to believe but in themselves only.  In an age of mass communication there are many competing voices making “connections” with the world around us and yet people find themselves more isolated, more in search of a purpose, and more confused on what to believe.  They lack the one connection that matters most, God.  Here is the dilemma, God works through others, through the church, through his messengers so we cannot be disconnected from others if we desire to get closer to him.

God works through a husband to his wife and through the wife to her husband.  He works through parents for their children and through children to ponder the love of God when we gaze upon a child with love.  God works through the stranger who is charitable to us and through us in our charity towards others.  The kingdom of God is not a hardwired single line to heaven but even greater than an algorithm created by God to unite his kingdom from age to age, across generations, and when two or three are gathered together in his name. 

“The laborers are few” as less respond to the call to the priesthood or religious life and the lay people simply say “I have no time…it is not for me to evangelize…it is not my business…I don’t feel comfortable”.  If not us who?  We all have a call to speak for the kingdom of God each according to the state of life we have chosen.  It begins in our being, by being who we are that determines what we do.   Our being is an authentic Christian centered faith, practitioners of what we believe, and a “naturalist” of the law of God.  Our being is a manifestation of love for God.  God is love and in his being we reside through the love of charity by giving of ourselves not just from what we have but from who we are.  We are a child of God who is calling us to live in his love. 

 In each sacrifice of ourselves we bring God into the world.  It is the testimony that Jesus left us on the cross.  As he lived and died for us, we also live and die for love of God and others.  This is the significance of this weekend for this country.  It honors those who lived and died for freedom, the freedom we get to live this day.  This is the significance of the lives of the saints who lived and died for Christ in serving others.  This is the significance of bringing a child into this world who we live and sacrifice for because love makes the sacrifice meaningful. 

The Kingdom of God brings us the “peace of Christ” as it takes possession of our hearts.  This “peace” is the love of God who enters our hearts and dwells in us.    Its control over our hearts is through the virtues we receive to strengthen our resolve to do good, to love our neighbor, and to labor in the kingdom of God not as “busy-bodies” but with a God-given purpose to “never grow weary of doing what is right” (2Thes. 3:13).  Do all things with love and the kingdom is open to us this day.

When Jesus sent out the seventy-two to proclaim the kingdom of God they were to announce, “the kingdom of God is at hand”.  He knew not all would welcome his messengers for he said, “I am sending you like lambs among wolves.”  Evil exists in this world free to bring suffering, anger, jealousy, ridicule, and even death to the lambs of God but even death does not have the final word.  It is in dying to ourselves that we are born into eternal life so fear not the evil that this world will bring upon us.  God in his infinite mercy tells his disciples not to rejoice “because the spirits are subject to you but rejoice because your names are written in heaven.” 

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