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Homily The Deacon Joe

Heaven or hell – 33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time

Posted on by Deacon Joe

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

Heaven or hell that is the question.  As we come to the end of the church calendar year the readings have focused on the end times, the last four things to come; death, judgement, heaven or hell.  The study of the last four things is called Eschatology.  The time of tribulation is upon us.  It began as soon as Jesus was lifted on the cross but now its our turn to pass through the tribulation of our times and answer the question for ourselves, heaven or hell.  Will we rise or will we fall?  Will we be found “written in the book” to live forever or fall into the everlasting horror of disgrace?  One way to answer the question is whether we are we among those who “lead many to justice” or whether we contributed to the sin of others. 

Often, we fail to ask ourselves if we have lead others to sin or to justice.  Wisdom from Daniel today is asking us to examine our lives based on the impact we have made in the lives of others.  It is not just about my responsibility to myself but also my responsibility to others and it begins in the home.  For example, the moral compass we teach our children to follow.  Does the commandment “you shall not kill” apply to the unborn?  Does hate speech lead others to justice or to sin?  Does “male and female he created them” allow someone to change their sexual identity?  Have we led others to love God or to just love themselves without awareness of their creation in the image of God?  Our action or inaction has a lasting consequence for the good of justice or for the sin of injustice.  It is the ripple effect from generation to generation that keeps on giving or sinning.

We have a tendency to judge ourselves based on a simple attitude that “I am a good person”.  Let us recall the words of Jesus, “Why do you call me good, only God is good.”  We are sinners and we have a tendency to overlook our sins.  We might assume that if we have not committed a grave sin we are headed straight to heaven.  Thank God for purgatory for the sins we have overlooked.  We may be surprised of all the sins of omission we committed in not responding to the call to serve God in every moment and opportunity we had to “go forth” and live the gospel. 

The good news is that “by one offering he has made perfect forever those who are being consecrated”.  The baptized are being consecrated to live the gospel.  When we come seeking forgiveness “there is no longer offering for sin”, his sacrifice has atoned for our sin on the path to heaven and yet there is still a judgment day to come.  Now then the question is “have we come seeking forgiveness” or are we in the delusion that being a good person there is no need to seek forgiveness and remain in our sin till the day of judgment.  “But the wise shall shine brightly” for in their humility they have come seeking forgiveness as often as they fall and “rise like the stars”.  Heaven not hell is the just reward for the penitent.  “Lord have mercy on me a sinner.”

“But of that day or hour” be vigilant.  Recently a servant of the Lord came knocking on my door.  He had recently been baptized in his protestant faith and was sharing his views on the end times.  He believed we were living the end times in our generation and the Lord would come soon.  I could not agree with him more with the exception that he understood it would be in his lifetime.  “There is no time with God: a thousand years, a single day, it is all one (2 Peter 3:8)”.  Jesus says, “Amen, I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things have taken place”.  The disciples heard this and believed it represented “the Son of Man coming in the clouds” in their lifetime.  But in the absence of time with God the “day or hour” is simply the moment he has established for “all these things (to) have taken place”.  God’s time is always in the present thus we are to look at the last four things as always happening in the current moment.  Each day many come face to face with their last four things their death, their particular judgment, and heaven or hell.  That moment could be our moment on any day. 

Who is in hell?  The Church is silent and we won’t know for sure till until we pass through the last four things but in Dante’s “Divine Comedy” (c.1320) there are nine circles of hell and he places three Popes there.  We might have our own list of who we consider having gained the judgment of hell but as the sinner hung on the cross next to Jesus and asked to be remembered Jesus gave him the gift of mercy.  Hell is real and Jesus proclaims it in Mathew 25:45-46 “He will answer them, ‘Amen, I say to you, what you did not do for one of the least ones, you did not do for me.’ And these will go off to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”  “Depart from me, you accursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. (Mt. 25:41)” Eternal punishment is hell for there no more hope of salvation from this suffering.  The path to heaven or hell is clearly laid out for us by Jesus. 

The world is filled with many who are among the least who hunger, thirst, are a stranger, locked up within the cells of sinners and have no one to bring them the care from heaven.  They are the golden path for us to bring them the kingdom of God we carry within us and minister to their needs.  This is the path of righteousness Jesus is calling us to follow.  If we claim to be “a good person” are we a good person to the least or just good to those we love?  If God came calling this day and placed us in front of a mirror, what do we see?  Do we simply see ourselves or do we see the image of Christ in us, or is the reflection darkened by our sins that we cannot make out the image in front of us?    If we see the image of Christ then heaven not hell is waiting.  If we simply see ourselves then the “good person” we believe we are may need to the path of purgatory to wash clean their baptismal robes.  But, if we cannot see an image through the darkness of sin hell not heaven may be coming soon. 

We are to learn to seek, go, and do.  We are to seek daily the mercy of God, go to confession when we knowingly have committed mortal sin, and do acts of penance and reparation.  Like children we want to be forgiven and the sin forgotten and let Jesus’ suffering once atone for our sins.  Is there a need for us to do our reparation to atone for our sins?  Repentance comes with doing an act of love for the wrong we have committed.  Let us never ignore, forget, or discount the value of doing reparation for our sins.  Just like those “small” sins add up so do our small acts of love to bring us the grace of God from heaven.  To love God with all our heart, mind and soul is to join him in his suffering for our sins and the sins of the world with the love of atonement.  The love of prayer is atonement, the love of the Mass is atonement, and the love of serving the least is also atonement.  Heaven or hell waits but not for long. 

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Homily The Deacon Joe

“Do not be afraid” – 32nd Sunday in Ordinary Time

Posted on by Deacon Joe

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

“Do not be afraid” of the sacrifice we may be called to make for the Lord.  If we belong to the Lord then all we are and all we have is of the Lord. Do not be afraid if we are called to offer our “whole livelihood” for the Lord.  This is the testimony of Elijah who calls the widow to trust in the Lord and “make a little cake” for him so that in the end “the jar of flour did not go empty, nor the jug of oil run dry”.  This is also the testimony of Jesus who recognizes the poor widow who from her poverty “has contributed all she had, her whole livelihood”.  Do not be afraid to leave it all on the field of love for love is what endures and returns multiplied to fill the need. 

“The Lord loves the just.”  Is it justice when Elijah asks the widow to give the last bit of food and take care of him first before taking care of her hunger and her child?  The world would cry out the injustice of the request of Elijah a stranger to this woman.  Elijah however was prepared to offer the widow the promise of the Lord and “gives food to the hungry” not just for that day but “until the day when the LORD sends rain upon the earth”.  Lord let your justice rain down from heaven to feed the souls who hunger for your righteousness and let us respond with love to the needs of the poor. 

Is it justice that a poor widow gives “from her poverty…all she had, her whole livelihood” to the scribes who “devour the houses of widows” while they sit in “seats of honor in synagogues”?  Clearly Jesus is pointing out the injustice of the scribes who receive from the poor to live their riches and “recite lengthy prayers” but offer nothing in return to feed those who are hungry.  “They will receive a severe condemnation” from the Lord of justice. Do not be afraid to stand for justice.

The Lord of justice enters the sanctuary of the Mass as our high priest who offered his blood once “to take away sin by his sacrifice…Not that he might offer himself repeatedly…but now once for all.”  There is a misconception among some non-Catholics that the Mass is a repeated sacrifice of Jesus on the altar.  This is wrong at two levels, first it is Jesus who offered himself as our high priest, we cannot make another sacrifice of him.  Second, the Mass is a commemoration of the one sacrifice that remains with us for our sins. 

Why does God allow some of his servants to receive the stigmata, the wounds of Christ?  If he is the one who was crucified and died once for our sins what is the meaning of the stigmata in the lives of the saints?  Is it not a reminder of the same suffering of Christ that remains with us for our sins that we continue to commit?  The justice of the Lord suffers today for our sins until the day of his return. Do not be afraid of the sacrifice for justice we may be asked to make for the Lord.

The sacrifice of the Mass is the sacrifice “offered once to take away the sins of many” but not all.  The God of mercy will “bring salvation to those who eagerly await him”.  Like the scribes there are many who “will receive a very severe condemnation.”  For those who believe there is no hell hear these words from the Lord while there is still time for conversion for “human beings die once and after this the judgement”.  Mercy comes to those who seek and justice to those who find.  Justice is what purgatory is all about to be purified in the fire of justice with the promise of eternal glory.  “Condemnation” is what hell is all about for those whose sins remain not by God’s choice but by our own. 

We live in a world that is ready to offer “blood that is not his own” in the sacrifice of abortion for the choice of sexual freedom, in the sacrifice of stem cells from aborted fetuses for research, in the sacrifice of education of children for social reform, in the sacrifice of the poor for economic prosperity, in the sacrifice of the sick for the right to die by choice, in the sacrifice always of the “other” for the good of the self.  This is the right to choose our own condemnation when we follow the teachings of the world because the good of the self always comes at the sacrifice of the “other”. 

Heaven comes at the sacrifice of the self for the other.  We see in the lives of the saints, the martyrs, the souls who quietly give of themselves for us, our parents and grandparents.  We see it in the stories of those who risk their lives every day to protect our peace, to rescue the stranger from a fire, to tend to the sick in hospitals, nursing homes, and during those final days with palliative care.  We see it in Jesus who appeared “to take away our sin by his sacrifice…at the end of the ages”.  This is love, Godly love.  Do not be afraid of being called to offer ourselves for Godly love.  It is the path of justice to heaven. 

It would be a misconception to think that only priests are called to give up their “whole livelihood” for the Lord and follow him.  It is true that the consecration of the priesthood to the church is a call to abandonment of self for the other.  Just like God cannot save us without us neither can the priest.  We each are called to make the same sacrifice in our daily lives.  We can offer up all our daily struggles and sacrifices for atonement of our sin.  We can offer up our work to serve a greater mission of love as we give testimony of our faith by our works.  We can be generous in trusting the Lord by returning to him from the little or the greater of our abundant riches most especially the richness of our love for him.  If it is worth doing it is worth doing for the Lord. 

I heard a story of a poor woman who entered a butcher store and asked for a gift to eat.  The butcher looked at her and said “What will you give me in return for my gift?”  The woman answered, “I have no money to give you but I can go to Mass for you and offer to be there for your soul.”  The butcher was not pleased since he was of little faith but he said, “Ok, go and offer yourself for me at your Mass and I will give you something.”  The woman left and went to the nearby Church, attended a Mass for the butcher and came back to the store.  The butcher was surprised to see her return. 

She said to him, “I have attended a Mass for your soul can I receive something to eat?”  The butcher thought quickly and wrote on a piece of paper “one Mass in exchange for something to eat.”  He placed the paper on the scale and the paper slowly caused the scale to weight down a little.  He took out a small piece of prime meat and placed it on the scale expecting the scale to tilt over.  Nothing happened.  Surprised he grabbed a large piece of ham and laid it on the scale.  Instead of the weight of the ham causing the scale to tip over the paper caused the scale to tip more in its favor.  Shocked he went to the freezer and came out with a quarter leg of beef and hung it on the scale hook.  The scale then went all the way down on the side of the paper.  With no words to say he gave the woman the meat and asked her to remember him in her prayers. 

The value of the sacrifice of the Mass cannot be measured.  It is a sacrifice of love that can transform us, save us and free the souls in purgatory.  It is the gift of love we make for Christ when we come to love him in the Mass.  Do not be afraid to love him by offering our whole being, all that we have and all that we are for our salvation and that of the whole world.  It is the gift that keeps on giving more than we can imagine.  Do not be afraid to love more.

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Homily The Deacon Joe

You shall love! – 31st Sunday in Ordinary Time

Posted on by Deacon Joe

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

You shall love!  “You shall love with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength” the Lord our God.  How does God recognize true love?  When we keep his word, live by his commandments, and love our neighbor as ourself. His word is love.

You shall love the Lord our God.  Our love for the Lord is through the love of his son, Jesus Christ “who has been made perfect forever”, “when he offered himself” for our sins.  Love of God is love of the Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  Love of God is not to love an idea or an ideology but the love of a person.   You shall love the person of God who we encounter and grow with in a relationship of mutual love. 

You shall love with all your heart is the love of his passion, the love of the cross seen in the giving of ourselves taking our own cross and uniting it to him for his sacrifice for us.  A love from the heart is a merciful love that recognizes this is the day our love can save us.  The love of the heart groans for the one we love in its agony to be with our loved one.  Imagine where does a beautiful voice that can sing come from?  It does not come from the throat but from deep inside the lungs that groan to give out the sound of love in word and harmony with the one we love. 

You shall love with all your soul is the love of understanding to see the hand of God in our lives.  People hear not what you said but what they understand you said, the perceived intent from how you express your understanding of them.  If we don’t express our understanding of others then they never hear what we say.  Will God hear us if we have no understanding of him or will he say I never heard your heart speak? 

You shall love with all your strength is the love coming from the will to love in our weakness, in good times and in bad.  It is great to hear “I love you”, to make the sign of the heart with your hands, or sign language the letters of “I”, “L”, and “Y” with one hand but is our love strong enough to endure in our weakness when we are criticized, held accountable, offended or treated unfairly?  This is where we dig deep in search of humility to remain faithful to our love of other.   

You shall love your neighbor as yourself is to see God in every child, adult, and stranger.  King David in one occasion came into a town and was being cursed by Shimeia of the house of Saul.  His soldier said to the King, “why should this dead dog curse my lord the King?  Let me go over and take off his head.”  But the King replied, “What business is it of mine or yours…that he curses?  Suppose the Lord has told him to curse David”.  (2 Sam. 16:5-14) If we were in King David’s position, would we take the position of the soldier or of King David and accept the cursing?  Would it even occur to us that God could be calling us out for something or someone we have wronged? 

In today’s “cancel culture” we would be justified to cancel them as the current culture dictates.  If the criticism came from a subordinate employee, would we take it into consideration or respond “Your fired” and justify ourselves?  Our pride does not take criticism well and we often react with “who do you think you are?”  This is where our love is put to the test not only for who we see but for the God we don’t see calling us out to become what we were created to be in his love which is to manifest his love. This takes even more courage to remain humble in the midst of the offense we are faced with. 

If every person is made in the image of God, then why is there so much evil in this world? 
Evil is from the evil one who enters the heart and soul with temptation to sin and weaken the will to commit the wrong we desire not rather than the good we were created for.  What are we to do when we are faced with evil?  We are to pray always for the will of God in the midst of the darkness to send us the comforter and give us the courage not only to persevere but to pray God’s will be done.  God’s will be done for the soul of the one who allowed the evil to take possession of them.  God’s will be done for the good of salvation. 

When our Blessed Mother was at the foot of the cross in the midst of the evil she was witnessing the agony and death of a son. It would have been expected for a mother’s love to call out to God the Father to “save him” from this hour.  Where would salvation be if God had heard and answered that prayer.  That is not the prayer of faith or of perfect love.  Perfect love and faith is to prayer for the will of the Father.  We are reminded in Romans 8:26 “the Spirit too comes to the aid of our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought”.  Too often we pray that our will be done. We pray for the miracle we want not for the miracle God is seeking in our lives.  This type of prayer I heard a priest on Relevant radio, a Catholic station describe it as the “pagan prayer”. 

He called it the “pagan prayer” because we want to have our will be the answer and not God’s will.  We pray, “God save me from this hour”, “God heal my loved one from this sickness”, “God take this cross away”.  In other words, “God do as I want and not as you desire.”  Yet Romans 8:27 tells us “And the one who searches hearts knows what is the intention of the Spirit, because it intercedes for the holy ones according to God’s will”, not according to our will. 

Then what is the purpose of intercessory prayer if we are to pray for the sick and suffering or even for our hopes and dreams?  Intercessory prayer is to unite our will to God’s will and “the Spirit itself intercedes with inexpressible groanings”.  God wills in some cases to give someone a near death experience, sometimes already clinically dead and bring them back to serve his will.  In other times, God wills that the soul pass from this life into eternity even when that soul is but a child for their mission is in heaven and not earth. God wills our salvation and the Spirit will intercede to bring our prayer in line with our salvation and that of others.  God wills that we desire his will for he cannot save us without us.  This is the fulfillment of love to love our neighbor as ourselves that all may be saved. 

This Sunday we begin what can be considered the “Tridium of the dead”.    We can look to Halloween as the beginning of the celebration of the death to death. Oh, death where is your sting?  “Hallow” mean “to honor as holy” and so it is the eve of All Saints Day, the holy souls in heaven.  Jesus came to bring an end to death that all may rise again and live.  November 1st then is the rise of all saints already having obtained the glory of God in heaven putting to death their own death by their love, faith and works of their lives.  You shall love your neighbors the saints in heaven united to us in the one body of Jesus Christ. Pray for their intercession for us to assist us in loving our God with all our hearts, souls and strength for by the grace of God they’re there. 

The last who are awaiting to put to death all suffering are the souls in purgatory who we are to pray for and visit their graves on November 2nd, All Souls Day.  This week was the showing of the movie “Purgatory” at the Cinema.  It is based on the Church teachings on purgatory created in a documentary style.  It includes stories of people who have been given visions of purgatory and apparitions of souls in purgatory seeking prayer.  The mercy of God’s love was to allow for justice for sinners to enter heaven by their cleansing in purgatory. The souls in purgatory are cleansing their baptismal robes from the stain of sin assured of heaven but not yet there.  You shall love your neighbors the souls in purgatory as yourself who we may one day be joining them on our way to heaven.

Often as Catholics we misinterpret the forgiveness of sins in confession as the “get out jail pass” straight to heaven.  What the movie highlighted for me was the message that heaven is for the souls made perfect and we should get on about the business of our perfection in this life in order shorten our time in purgatory.  There is much we can do for atonement of our sins and for the souls in purgatory from minor mortifications to offering our suffering up but what the souls in purgatory seek most is prayer and the greatest prayer to offer is the Mass.

Let us pray that when our time comes to put an end to our death and pass into eternity we shall be loved and remembered by the prayers of the Church and those we can call “friends” as Jesus calls us “friends”. 

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Homily The Deacon Joe

God save us! – 30th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Posted on by Deacon Joe

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

“God save us!”  We call out to God to save us but the salvation we seek is of the flesh.  God comes to save us from the greater sin of our flesh.  Like the blind man who says “Master, I want to see” he desires to recover his sight.  Jesus’ response is “Your faith has saved you” saved his soul and given him the vision to see with his eyes so that to “go your way” was to “follow him on the way”.  Yes, the blind man wanted to see with the eyes of the flesh but he also was given the eyes of faith to call out to Jesus.  Faith opens the spiritual eyes for salvation.

The blind man had a spiritual vision of Jesus when called out to him, “Jesus, son of David, have pity on me.”  He could have looked with only the eyes of the flesh and called out to Jesus, “Jesus, son of Mary and Joseph” or “Jesus of Nazareth” claiming only what others believed that Jesus was only this human prophet.  His blindness gave him the vision of faith to see someone greater than a prophet. God save us from the eyes of the flesh and give us the spiritual vision to seek what is above and to pray “God save us and grant us your salvation”.

What we seek is to meet the needs of the flesh.  The blind man wants to see, the leper to be healed, the people in the desert seek water to drink.  Humanity seeks the needs of the flesh.  It is Maslow’s hierarchy of needs describing a “Theory of Human Motivation”.  We are motivated by the flesh beginning from the bottom up seeking our physiological needs first for food, water, and shelter, then followed by safety, a sense of belonging, our esteem from others, our aesthetic pleasure in our own creation, our self-actualization by our work, in other words it is all about ourselves before we look to the transcendence to become what we were made to be outside of ourselves. 

We were made to be someone beyond ourselves with meaning and purpose for God’s greater good.  We were made to be in the image of God, revealed in Jesus, and guided by the Holy Spirit to seek first what is above, the greater need and he will provide for humanity the essential needs.  Our God provides for all of his creation not only the essential needs but the essential purpose for salvation. We find our freedom not in the flesh that keeps us captive but in the transcendent that unites us to God and saves us. 

We call out “God save us” from our sickness, from danger, our fears, even from ourselves our thoughts, emotions, and impulses.  God’s answers us as he did the blind man with a salvation that is greater than the flesh that perishes.  God saves us for himself for all eternity.  God comes to “save us” from the temptation of sin, from the evil one, from the fire of hell but he cannot save us without us.  We are to call out to God to save us and defend us from our weaknesses, from falling into mortal sin, and from eternal death. 

God the Father sends us Jesus the Son to teach us the most essential need is “the way” of salvation.  Motivated for salvation is the transcendent need and the other needs become less demanding upon the flesh.  You hear how many saints lived a very ascetic lifestyle requiring very little food while maintaining a very rigorous life.  Padre Pio was one of those saints who ate little but did enjoy a little wine with supper. 

While our lives don’t live a priestly vocation, our vocation becomes less about the needs of the flesh and more about the need for God in our lives.  Our vocation does not come from the world, from what the market is seeking to feed itself with workers, or from the passions of the flesh.  Our vocation comes from God and we serve God with our vocation in the world with the works of salvation.  Our works begin at home building up the kingdom of God by increasing our faith in all we do as a blessing coming from God.  We are to be the channels of grace he desires to pour into us. 

We are to pray to see with the eyes of faith the work of God in our lives.  When our Protestant friends ask “have you been saved?”.  Our response can be “every day I am saved”.  The battle for our souls is not a “one and done” but a constant struggle of life to fight the good fight.  Adam and Eve fell from grace that is going from a state of obedience to God to one of disobedience thus so can we and we do.  Who can say they are 100% obedient to the will of God?  This is the call to “be perfect” and we are not there yet.  Yet every day we are saved from the accident of sin when we call out to God to save us. 

Our sin is a separation from the grace of God and our faith will help restore our favor with God.  The blind man called to Jesus with faith and Jesus not only restored his sight but he recognized his salvation.  We are to work on our faith daily to receive the graces and virtues to live holy lives.  We are also to know and be prepared for God’s way is not our way.  Just because we pray for healing of the flesh and that healing does not happen “our way” does not mean that we lack faith or that God did not hear our prayer.  God hears every word that is spoken and unspoken from the heart.  Thus, even in death it may be God’s way on answering a prayer for something greater than the flesh.  Did not our Lord have to suffer and die to bring about the resurrection of the body the greater good for the soul of humanity. 

Do we have faith?  We all have faith but our faith can be misplaced trusting only in ourselves, trusting only in science, trusting only on the eyes of the flesh.  Do we have a brain?  Has anyone ever seen their brain?  Unlikely, yet, we all believe it is there even when we have never opened our cranium to see our brain.  That is faith but there is a greater faith than the eyes of the flesh can see.  There is a faith that comes from grace given freely by God to lift us up from the sorrow, pain, or agony of the flesh, or from the stain of sin, or from the despair of the soul.  This faith we must seek and once we find it, we must not separate from it, become complacent with it, or fail to exercise our faith for even greater faith. 

We separate from our faith in God through sin.  Sin is the greatest enemy of faith because it denies us the grace to stand for what we believe.  Sin not only weakens our faith but it invites death to the flesh, death to the soul, and death to faith beyond what our eyes can see.  Sin will always undermine faith like a house built on sand.  No sooner that the test comes to survive the storm and it collapses and is ruined. 

We become complacent with faith when we only call upon it when the going gets tough and we find ourselves unable to have the control over life that we want.  We believe we have faith in good times expecting it to remain ready for us.  However, without the exercise of faith daily when the time comes for the “test” we are like Peter on the water, “Lord save me!”.  Complacency is the slow death of faith. 

We fail to exercise our faith when our prayer life becomes a ritual for compliance, or we end any prayer life in our day.  An exercise of faith comes when we “go forth” with the armor of God to overcome the test of life through acts of faith.  It is in the encounter with life that we discover the strength of our faith and help it grow.  The exercise of faith is the connection of what we believe with what we practice.  If we believe in God as we say we do then there is a practice of prayer to receive him in our daily encounter with life. 

We refer to a mystery of faith to believe in God in three persons however, the evidence for God has been proven by science such as the need for a prime mover for creation to exist.  The probabilities that creation is simply an “accident” is debunked.  It has been proven by the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus more than any of the miracles he performed.  It has also been proven in our experience of faith through prayer when our faith brings about a conversion from within.  We have been touched by God’s grace and we know that we know it was not us but something greater than us that we received. 

We are to pray “Lord increase my faith for your salvation”.  God save us from a culture of death seeking to deny God, suppress the freedom of religion, and cancel the voice of faith in the public square.  God save us from the sin of the flesh when “I do not do the good I want, but I do the evil I do not want” says Romans 7:19.  God save us from the blindness of our own sin when we fail to recognize evil and call it good in abortion, euthanasia, and gender neutrality.  God save us from the fires of hell for our mortal sin through his mercy and love coming from our confession of faith.  God save us, but he cannot save us without us.  This is the day of salvation when we accept to be followers of the way he left us.  This is the day to transcend ourselves and become what we were made to be, the children of God.  This is the day that our faith can save us. 

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Homily The Deacon Joe

We can with timely help – 29th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Posted on by Deacon Joe

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

We can with timely help be the servant of all for the greater good.  “We can” says James and John. Can we?  Yes, we can approach Jesus for the throne of grace is waiting for us with a great high priest in Jesus Christ.  We are to “confidently approach the throne of grace to receive mercy and to find grace for timely help”.  God’s time is the perfect time.  “Timely help” can serve for the greater good.  “Timely” can be immediately or it may require our wait upon the Lord with the grace of anticipated patience believing and knowing he listens to our confession and can sympathize with our weaknesses.  For this he “passed through the heavens” to be with us in all things but sin.  The “servant of all” represents the good of all and not the few who wish to be first. 

“We can” says James and John as they approached Jesus with the “open checkbook” request.  Sign the check and let us write in the amount.  What boldness or foolishness or both!  Their request, “Teacher we want you to do whatever we ask of you.”  They wanted an answer before revealing the request.  It is the kind of request you expect from a child, “Mom if I ask you for something will you promise to say ‘yes’?”  Chances are the answer is already understood to be “no” because it is being hidden from the truth.  Jesus comes to reveal the truth to us and how to live it.    We live it when we strive for the truth that creates a “win-win” for the greater good and not when we create winners and losers striving to be first among others. 

Jesus let James and John know there is a “cup” to drink with their request and they do not know what they are asking that comes with that “cup”.  It is a baptism by the fire of persecution that Jesus will be the first to bear and they will need to endure next as his followers.  Can we drink of this cup in our life?  We come to drink of the cup of life in communion so we can endure the cup of sacrifice and suffering in our lives and be strengthened by grace with timely help.  He who does not sacrifice does not serve and we are called to be a “slave of all” in our sacrifice for the Lord.  What does it mean to be a “slave of all”?  

What it does not mean is to be at the beck and call of all without the will or the courage to respond to the truth of the gospel.  Thus, what it means is to serve all with the gospel truth as a slave to the truth of the gospel.  The gospel is the path to the throne of grace and eternal life.  The truth of the gospel is to do all things with love in humility through the guidance of the Holy Spirit whose cardinal virtues we receive to be prudent, just, and to respond with fortitude and temperance to the test of life and all its’ challenges.  The servant of all serves for the good of all and not all things serve the good of all so seek the wisdom to know the difference. 

“We can” overcome our sacrifice and suffering by the grace of God who is with us.  Can we trust in him?  Trusting in Jesus is not being passive waiting for change to happen.  Trusting in Jesus is knowing we can take the next right step trusting his divine providence to open the path of righteousness for us to follow guided by the Holy Spirit.  Trusting in Jesus is an active response of faith.  When all our control is gone and our only control left is how we respond to our circumstances then we are left with our faith to still believe God is there in the unknown with timely help for a greater good.  We are all sent to “go forth” at the end of Mass and it represents having received the grace needed to overcome the “test” of living out our faith strengthened by the Eucharist and with the light of the Holy Spirit.

We can by grace of God carry the cross with Jesus without being crushed.  Isaiah prophesied Jesus coming was “to crush him in infirmity…as an offering for sin” to bear our guilt.  We turn to Jesus to lift us out of our cross with “timely help” and to help us bear what we must as a servant of the greater good of all.  We turn to Jesus to offer our confession to then receive the throne of grace.  The throne of grace will not only lift us up but send us forth to bear witness as servants of the Lord.  Thus, when we say “we can” it represents we can offer our confession for our guilt, we can receive the throne of grace from God’s mercy, and we can go forth to be his servant in life.  “Timely help” is less about us and more about him in search of his servants.  Who will serve him with a timely response of “we can”? 

“Can we?”  Can we live outside of our comfort zone?  In a world that demands having their “safe space” by avoiding a challenging environment and without question to whatever identity they adopt we can be a voice of light in the darkness of sin.  God has already given us an identity in his own image and there is no comfort zone outside of his identity for us.  Jesus laid his head upon a stone to rest outside of any comfort zone as a sacrifice and “ransom for many”.  We can say “we can” to the Lord and accept his call to live outside of our comfort zone by his grace. 

Can we accept the challenge from God to go outside of ourselves, our comfort, our fears, our worries and speak out the truth of the gospel in word and deed?  As believers we all want to serve God but can we accept the challenge of being asked to contribute by volunteering as members of his body serving the poor or serving as CCE teachers, lectors, or extraordinary ministers of communion?  Who wants to get to heaven?  We all do.  Who want to go through death to get to heaven?  We don’t.  There is a comfort in knowing what you have in this world even when it includes suffering compared to the unknown passage into death.  Jesus gave witness of a life after death with his resurrection and left us the hope of eternal glory. 

We are wired for life and death appears as an apostasy to life and yet Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection reveals it is in dying that we are born again.  We die to sin every day in our confession, we die to our childhood in order to enter the adult life, we die to self in our baptism and confirmation, and when someone we love dies a part of us dies with them in our separation from them and the relationship that existed.  Even our bodies are continuously having our cells die and creating new ones in order to live longer.  Death is a part of our daily life and we are to be at peace with it because we have seen in our God the power to rise again. 

This is the story of Jesus “a great high priest who has passed through the heavens” to join our humanity and die to self as an expiation for our sins.  The cup he offers us in his body and blood is to drink of the cross as we lay down our life so that life can remain in us for all eternity.  How much are we willing to sacrifice in order to live in the heavens and earth.  Those who choose to retreat from life and remain in themselves offer little of themselves for the kingdom of God and are retreating into the darkness of a lasting misery.  Repent while there is still time and pray “Lord, let your mercy be on us, as we place our trust in you.”  The Lord who comes with “timely help” will hear our prayers and rescue us.

Can we look to the eternal through the lens of suffering with Jesus by carrying the cross and following him?  The cross to bear comes through difficult relationships, sickness, persecution, betrayal, rejection or any other suffering mental, emotional, physical or relational but it is also a means of coming into God’s perfection.  The cross can serve to purify our souls.  It is the cup to drink that we face by the baptism of fire with the courage that we are not alone in those challenging situations.  God’s mercy and “timely help” is with us.  The unbearable becomes bearable as we discover in the mystery of suffering the love of God for us.  Yes, we can!  Yes, we can with the grace of God live through “it” whatever “it” is and this too shall pass.  Even death is not the end but the next right step towards heaven.  No avoiding or denying “it” for it comes to pass for God’s glory. 

What is our purpose in building simply an earthly kingdom to satisfy our pleasure, our pride, or our passions knowing it is a fleeting moment of life and then it all ends?  How sad for anyone who holds to this purpose to foolishly say “I did my way!”  Will “my way” bring us lasting happiness or the joy of love or a peaceful death?  For this St. Augustine reminds us that we are restless until we rest in him.  Jesus followers were known to be followers of “the way”.  There is unity in “the way”.  It is the unity of being of the same mind and heart of Jesus in living the way to perfection. 

The world will say “to each his way” but to followers of Christ “to each his way” is a path of self-destruction.  If we are trying to find “our way” then it is Jesus Christ who can reveal to us the way to our salvation, our “little way” of being his child and coming to him with all our trust in him.  No matter our age to God we are simply a child in need of a Father, of a mother, and a family. He provides us our Father in heaven and our Blessed Mother, our brother in Christ, and our mother church, and our gift of the Holy Spirit to bind us all as one family.  Can we?  Yes, we can be a servant of all the good with all the sacrifice and love coming with timely help from our God. 

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Homily

“All things are possible”– 28th Sunday in Ordinary Time

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” including meeting the precondition to be a follower of God.  The man who ran up to Jesus was given a precondition for he was “lacking in one thing”, giving up all his possessions before coming to follow Jesus.  He was attached to his possessions in a way that was holding him back from his desire for the “eternal life”.  Nothing we have as our possession we take with us into the eternal life.  Naked we came into the world and naked we will return.  What is that one thing in the way keeping us from the eternal life? 

We can be attached to people, places and things that hold us back from growing in our faith.  We can be attached to our sins that we refuse to separate from.  We can turn something natural into something abusive from food to entertainment from sex to work it can all become an attachment of sin.  People, places, and things are not the end all but the means to come into relationship with our God.  But “all things are possible with God” to transform our attachments from sin to service, from dependency to freedom.  

Something good can become something that stands in the way of our call to love God above all things.  God first!  Who are our attachments that hold us back from coming to Jesus?  We can be attached to people who we love so much that we lose sight of God.  Recall when Jesus was told his mother and brothers had arrived to see him.  He asked “who is my mother and who are my brothers?”  Jesus’ love for his mother was not any less than a son to her but he understood his calling was greater than his love for his earthly family.  He came to build up a heavenly family and that did not mean loving anyone less but being willing to love more by sacrifice for something greater.  We are called to make a similar sacrifice when we decide we are ready to “cling” to a “suitable partner”. 

Last week the theme of the readings was about leaving behind mother and father and clinging to your “suitable partner”.  We don’t love our parents less we only grow in love as we come to appreciate even more what they did for us, their sacrifice, and the love so we could be ready to love even more in marriage and with our children. When we get married our focus is on our mission as a couple to help each other get to heaven. 

Priests leave behind mother and father and cling to the mother Church with a sacrificial love for their calling to serve the poor, the neighbor, and the stranger.  If a husband or wife decides they have no intention of coming to Church do we still come and fulfill our commitment to God first?   Won’t our prayers for our family be more of a sacrifice by still coming to Church and serve as a reminder to your spouse that God comes first?  St. Augustine’s mother St. Monica prayed and sacrificed for her son when he was living his life of sin and not only were her prayers answered but she became a saint through her sacrifice.  Come and pray for their conversion for “all things are possible for God.” 

We can be attached to places like our workplace.  Work is a calling from God and scripture reminds that he who does not work should not eat.  Work is especially fruitful when we make our work a place where we invite God into that he may multiply the blessings of our work.  Work can also become an attachment for sin when we don’t work to live but live to work as workaholics.  Workaholism is closely linked to the love of money.  Otherwise, there is plenty of work to do at home, to volunteer at church if someone has the energy and time to give more and the payback can be even greater than any money will buy. 

We can even be attached to things that represent our “silver and gold” like our cell phone.  Can we try putting that cell phone down for just a day, or even just a meal to sit and face each other in conversation?  Let us ask ourselves “how difficult is that?”  Something that has made our life so convenient in communications can even turn to evil.  Evil comes in the form of social media and cancel culture, stalking and bullying.  Youth are more driven to suicide by social media than by going out and living life.  The phone is the silver and gold of youth and can turn into the weapon of Satan if parents are not aware of what their children are viewing.  The evil one can turn all things into possibilities for sin and destruction. 

All things are possible for God”.  Greater than silver and gold are the “countless riches” at the hands of wisdom that bring “all good things together”.  “Nothing in comparison with her” not silver, gold or priceless gems compare to the countless riches coming from the spirit of wisdom in the kingdom of God.  Search for the things from above and greater than any earthly riches will be given.  The things from above work together to separate the darkness from the light and bring us the gift of wisdom.

It takes wisdom to see the hand of God in our presence and recognize in life not just what is but what is becoming of us for we are the unfinished work of God in search of his perfection.  God’s work in us is to grow in holiness, to be made perfect in love, and to come and follow him in doing his will.  Wisdom is the outcome of living the infused virtues coming from God through the gifts of the Holy Spirit put into practice in our human encounters with life in God’s presence. 

“Then come, follow me” sets the precondition to being a follower of Jesus.  Something needs to occur before we become followers of Jesus.  What is our “then come” that is keeping us from entering into the eternal life?  Is it our possessions or even something deeper like our pride?  Do we need to come to the waters of baptism and accept Jesus as our savior?  We need to come to Jesus in humility and accept his love and mercy.  Jesus is waiting?  As he said to a young Maria Faustyna Kowalksa in a vision, “How long will you keep me waiting?”  It was the moment of conversion for St. Faustyna.  For most of us, it is a moment by moment conversion until our last breath.  Jesus does not push us away from him we keep pushing ourselves away from him still trying to live “our life”.  Our life is a breath away from ending the moment the breath of Jesus stops breathing on us. 

The disciples claim to have met the preconditions as Peter claims, “We have given up everything and followed you.”  Jesus’ response is a promise to receive “a hundred times more…now in this present age…and eternal life in the age to come.”  Jesus is preparing his disciples for the coming kingdom of his church on earth that comes with “houses” of worship, “brothers and sisters” in Christ, “mothers” from the Church and children from the followers and with “lands” from the four corners of the world as the gospel is proclaimed.  It also has its sacrifice “with persecutions” as the early Church is persecuted but it’s reward “in the age to come”.  After the resurrection of Jesus, the disciples received “a hundred times more…in the present age”, they received the power to heal, to cast out demons, to proclaim the gospel with authority and even to forgive sins in the name of Jesus for “all things are possible for God.” 

We can count our blessings a hundred times but we also need to recognize our gifts coming from God in all the little and big ways he answers our prayers.  God provides us the wisdom to raise our family, the justice to protect the innocent, the resources to feed the hungry, the fortitude to defend our faith, the temperance to balance our life, the prudence to judge rightly and the breath of life to live as true witnesses of the gospel message. 

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”  When there is doubt between the word of God and our thoughts and feelings there is no doubt.  The gift of prudence helps us accept the word of God in humility, to recognize what is lacking in us as poor in spirit comes in the fullness of God’s truth and we trust in him.  “All things are possible for God” when we invite him into our lives.  We come to him in the poverty of our humanity, with all our limitations, all our faults, all our needs and hopes.  We ask for forgiveness in what we have done and failed to do and the most merciful God in his riches hears our prayers and answers. 

Let us remember to pray the Rosary.  It is a meditation on the life of Christ with the Blessed Mother Mary echoing our prayer to her son.  With each mystery place yourself there and imagine witnessing the mystery and experiencing the joy, sorrow, glory, and the light.  Soon we can come to enter into the mystery itself and receive the graces from God who makes all things possible. 

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Homily The Deacon Joe

Cling to Jesus– 27th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Posted on by Deacon Joe

Gen. 2:18-24; Ps. 128:1-6; Heb. 2:9-11; Mk. 10:2-16

Cling to Jesus that we may become of one flesh with his body and blood.  “The two shall become one flesh” is the foundation of experiencing the love of God in holy matrimony.  “That is why a man leaves his father and mother and clings to his wife, and the two of them become one flesh.”  To be of one flesh is to come together and be of one mind and heart and reveal ourselves to the other.  Jesus reveals himself to us to know him, love him and serve him and by doing so we recognize him, his love for us, and his continual sacrifice for us. 

Husbands how well do you know your wife and wives how well do you know your husband?  Parents know their children and spend a lot of time observing them seeing them grow and understanding who they are to help them become the best that God created them to be.  In doing so however do not lose focus on each other as husband and wife or you may wake up one day and ask “who is this person I live with?”  Two persons united to Jesus in the mystery of faith become of one body to be fruitful vines who know thyself as a person, as a couple, and as children of God.  In marriage we are to help each other grow in holiness to be the best of thyself for the other. 

Are men clingy to their wives?  Just ask the wife how clingy a man is when he gets sick.  She will tell how quickly a man becomes like a child clinging to his wife to care for his needs.  Clinging to our wife should not wait until we are faced with our mortality.  Clinging in the healthy sense is recognizing that marriage is the priority.  The job is not first, the friends don’t come first, the money not does come first, that boat or golf clubs don’t come first.  “Querias!” you asked for it and vowed with the words “I do”.   

Are women clingy to their husbands?  Just ask the husband if his wife changed priorities with the birth of each child how far down the priority he has fallen.  Children are a priority that succeeds only when the marriage works in being of one mind and body, that is working together for their good.  We can cling to our children like helicopter parents unwilling to face the empty nest and they will grow to be adults despite the clinginess of parents or they will suffer the insecurities of life afraid to go forth and master the gifts of their talents for a greater good.   We cling to our spouse but not to our children because they are a gift from God that needs to return to him.  He left for the man and woman each other to cling to as a “suitable partner”. 

Children grow up and leave the home but who do they first call when they get sick?  They call home to mom to cling on for a remedy.  Moms do you like having your husbands and children clinging onto you?  Sometimes clinginess can become burdensome and we hear the frustration and impatience come out with “what do you want? Not now!”  Not only is a husband flesh of your flesh through matrimony but children coming from the womb are literally flesh of your flesh.  In loving them it is the love of self being expressed in the other that binds us into one flesh.  The challenge for parents is to allow our children to grow apart from us, to struggle into maturity and eventually to see them leave us as parents and cling to another and becoming one flesh in search of the fullness of life.

Jesus says, “Let the children come to me” and nothing like having to face hardship through illness, trauma, tragedy, or sin and seeing our lives come apart to realize how much we need to come to our God as clingy children of faith, seek forgiveness and be healed.  We are all called to cling to Jesus.  Jesus is our salvation.  Remember when Jesus was left behind in Jerusalem as a child and his parent had to return and search for him.  It is the fifth mystery of the Joyful mysteries of the rosary.  They found him in the temple ready to go about the will of God the Father but he remained obedient to his parents because his hour had not yet come.  The hour eventually comes for all of us to decide who will we cling to?  Cling to Jesus!

In marriage preparation the question to ask is whether the person we to want to marry and cling to we are also willing to sacrifice and die for.  Too often in our culture marriage is seen as a “trial” experience or one person is ready for that lifetime commitment but the other lacks that sacrificial love of other and the relationship deteriorates after months, years, or even decades of failing to enter into a covenant of love.  The early pitfalls of a marriage are those good intentions that do not equal readiness to enter into a covenant love with each other especially if that covenant love has not been established with God first. 

We need to grow in covenant with God to recognize when true love is there as an offering coming from someone else.  The first teachers of that love are our parents when it is there. When it is not there due to divorce, a dysfunctional home, or the evil of sin in the lifestyle choices then “love” is simply a word of desire or emotion with unmet needs.  No one can fill that void in life without God first.  God is love.  God is a person we enter into a personal relationship with that is to define any and all other relationships of love.  In God’s love we grow in maturity within our human experiences to know true love, beauty, goodness, and truth when we enter into the unity as husband and wife. 

MRI studies (magnetic resonance imaging) indicate the male brain does not fully mature until age 25 while the female age is at 21 years-old.  Now add today’s culture of drug and alcohol misuse and for some the maturity is not only extended into later life but for others it becomes locked into the immaturity of a child, self-centered, impulsive, and driven by the passions of the body and temptations of the world.  The result is the danger of clinging onto someone who is not only unhealthy to themselves but to the relationship of marriage in the least and in the worst can be damaging to the soul.  For these the church recognizes it was never a covenant marriage and allows for the annulment of what never was. 

Just because the marriage is annulled does not make illegitimate the children of the marriage.  In fact, all children in marriage or out of marriage, in the womb or out of the womb are legitimate children of God.  Jesus is reminding us “let the children come to me”, let the unborn “come to me” for at the moment of conception they have receive their soul and it is not righteous that they be denied life for the sins of another.  That is not a choice for God or for love of God.  It is a choice for evil and to suffer the consequences of that evil. 

The sanctity of the family is under attack for it is the first institution that determines a child’s foundation of faith.  When divorce becomes prevalent in society not only is the family broken apart but the trust of commitment to each other is broken.  We no longer cling to each other in a covenant bond to last a lifetime.  We begin to establish those conditional “prenuptial agreements” that say “I will love you conditionally as long as you are faithful to the agreement” instead of fidelity to the person.  Even when the agreement is not in writing it is already a condition being written into the heart of the person who seeks marriage.  Adultery of the heart begins before there ever is adultery of the flesh and divorce will not be far behind. 

It is in the home that a child learns they are a creation of God to grow to be the best they were created to be in the image of God.  God first is the greatest commandment.  Beliefs that attempt to rise above God from ideologies of the world are attempting to replace the primacy of God for the primacy of theory and laws that satisfy the human desire for power.  “He ‘for a little while’ was made lower than the angels that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone…(is) bringing many children to glory”. This is not a theory but a person, Jesus Christ.  He is above all to be in all and through all who receive him.  He did not bring us a theory of God but the person of God to be our God, “leader to their salvation perfect through suffering”. 

God’s love is “brought to perfection in us” by our participation in the mystery of faith through the bond of marriage.  In marriage we struggle together, we celebrate together and at times we suffer together but never alone for “if God is with us who can be against us”.  Our goal in holy matrimony is to help each other get to heaven. There is a choice and a consequence for the greater good or for the greater evil by how we choose to participate.  God’s work of perfection in us begins in the family when we create a Godly home, secure in faith and commitment to God and to each other.  Our presence in church is a sign of that commitment.  If coming to church is not priority then how can we say “God comes first” in our life? God is most present to us here in the Eucharist.

We all became comfortable in participating in “church” virtually with the pandemic.  It is in church however where “the two become one flesh” when we take and eat and drink of his body and blood.  Spiritual communion is not the ideal that Jesus left us to do in remembrance of him.  He desires our transformation into his body and blood by receiving him in the Eucharist so that it is no longer us but Christ is us that lives and we cling to him who is life eternal. 

The infant Jesus born of the womb of Mary did cling to his mother to grow as the son of Mary and Joseph in his humanity.  Mary the Immaculate Conception was brought to perfection to be the channel of grace for her son to be born who “for a little while was made lower than the angels” to cling to the cross that “he may taste death for everyone” so that we may “all have the same origin” to become of one flesh with Jesus.  This is our call to return to the promise land in the flesh.  Thus, Mary did cling to Jesus to remain by his side at the hour of his death, at foot of the cross on his last breath and at the hour of her death when she ascends to heaven to remain at his side.  Do we cling to Jesus?  Jesus desires to cling to us calling us to his salvation. Jesus does not push away from us we push away from him.  

Today, cling to our blessings, cling to the fruitful vine who God made to be “your suitable partner”.  Cling to our Mother Mary and Father in heaven that you may see your children’s children.  Cling to the cross that this moment may soon pass by into the greater glory of God.  Cling to our mother church who is here to sanctify us and be with us in the journey.  Cling to Jesus, that the Lord may bless us all the days of our lives. 

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Homily The Deacon Joe

In the one spirit – 26th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Posted on by Deacon Joe

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Homily The Deacon Joe

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

Posted on by Deacon Joe

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Homily The Deacon Joe

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

Posted on by Deacon Joe

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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