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Homily The Deacon Joe

2nd Sunday of Lent – Here I am planning for heaven!

Posted on by Deacon Joe

Gen 22:1-2, 9a, 10-13, 15-18; Ps: 116:10, 15-19; Rom. 8:31b-34; Mk. 9:2-10

“Here I am!”  This is the response of Abraham in obedience to God.  “Here I am” is also the response he gives to the Lord’s messenger and to his son Isaac on the way up the mountain.  These words come from the wisdom of a man who is a centenarian having lived past 100 years.  They represent an acceptance for the will of God and a readiness to follow God wherever he leads even at the cost of separation from his homeland and the pain of offering up his son Abraham he was ready.  Are we ready?

Yes, “Here I am” represents a surrender of life for a greater good beyond our understanding.  This is living our love and truth to the ultimate sacrifice and we shall find blessing as the Lord promised “all this because you obeyed my command”.  The day is coming when the Lord will call each of us by name to atone for our sins. Here I am facing all the times I looked the other way when Jesus came in the poor, the hungry, the suffering seeking a sign of mercy and peace.  This is the time to pray, “Here I am have mercy on me Lord.”  The day is coming when the only response acceptable is “Here I am” to the great “I AM”. 

In Genesis, the story of Abraham prefigures the coming of Jesus and the sacrifice of his passion and death.  Abraham in his “old age”, who is to become the father of nations through Sarah his wife a childless woman gave birth to their son Isaac.  When Abraham is put to the test it is Isaac who carries the wood on his back while Abraham carries the fire and knife.  Isaac was young and strong to carry the wood and when he realized his father planned to kill him as a “holocaust” offering Isaac could easily have resisted, perhaps thought “this is a crazy old man”.  Instead, he responded obediently allowing Abraham to bind him on top of the wood as the sacrifice to God.  In Abraham and Isaac, we see the love of a father willing to give up his son and a son willing to obey his father as God the Father allowed Jesus his son to carry the wood of the cross and die as the true holocaust offering in atonement for our sins and Jesus surrendered his life for ours. 

We cannot lose sight of the significance of the intent of a “holocaust” offering.  In Jewish law the sacrificial offering was to “burn completely on the altar” a sign of complete and mass destruction. In our times we think of a holocaust as the slaughter and mass murder of many lives. Thus, Jesus death on the cross is a complete offering for the destruction of all the sins of the world.  He is the holocaust of death for endless souls before, then, now and yet to come. One death for the sins many souls but each soul must enter into his passion, death and resurrection to share in his glory, to “walk before the Lord, in the land of the living”. 

When we live by faith in the spirit of “Here I am” then who can be against us?  We are living our test of faith with this pandemic, winter storms and record number of hurricanes this past year but it is God who is our strength and defender.  These are stressful times for families and emotions can be overwhelming with all the little things, no milk or bread, no gas to fill up or heat up, short on cash to make it till payday, and poor internet connection for the kids to get their school work done at home.  What’s next?  It is here that St. Theresa of Calcutta would say, “Not all can do great things, but we can do small things with great love.”  It is “Christ Jesus – who indeed intercedes for us.”  In his humanity he went without food, a place to rest his head, who faced charges of condemnation but also was “raised and is seated at the right hand of God”.  We are called to live in the land of the living by doing all things with great love regardless of what’s next. 

The gospel witnesses give testimony to Jesus transfiguration, his power to rise up and come down.  Transfigure comes from the Latin ‘trans’ meaning ‘across’ and ‘figura’ meaning ‘figure’.  Thus, the figure of Jesus came across the veil of humanity to reflect his divinity and leaves us that sure hope of the resurrection. It is our time to come across the bridge of mediocrity and go beyond the attitude of “I am only human” to reflect the figure of Jesus who through our baptism we invited to reside in us.  We are not only human we carry the divine light and our attitude is to be “Here I am”. 

The old adage is “people don’t plan to fail but fail to plan”.  What is our plan for heaven?  Better yet, have we asked God what is his plan for us to get to heaven?  That is the question we should be asking.  What is his will that we may follow?  Part of it is no mystery for he has already given us the commandments, the guidance of the Holy Spirit to reject sin and embrace love of God and neighbor.  He has also given us the Church to bind and loose as the moral compass on earth. 

But there is more than just rejecting sin.  There is the call to virtue.  Recall in Mathew 5:21, Jesus warns “If your virtue does not surpass that of the scribes and the Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven”.  2nd Peter 1:5-7 lays out the building blocks to heaven, “For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, virtue with knowledge, knowledge with self-control, self-control with endurance, endurance with devotion, devotion with mutual affection, mutual affection with love.  For in this way, entry into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and savior Jesus Christ will be richly provided for you.”  This is the journey of faith, proactive towards the good to bring us the riches of heaven.  The better way to approach Lent is not simply “what to give up” in Lent but what to embrace this Lent to enrich our faith for righteousness. 

If there is anything that destroys a relationship it is taking the other person for granted.  Most people are people of faith in a God but not all are invested in creating a personal relationship with God.  Some are simply in the weeds that call out to God only when the thorns of life draw pain and blood.  Others are in the sand as a sculpture to be admired as “good people” until the storms come and wash away the pretense of faith.  Still others seek to create a strong foundation of faith on solid ground by “working” their faith in a relationship with Christ to weather the storms of life, never alone, always in union with our God.  Our plan for heaven begins and ends with that relationship.  It is all about relationship and not just “God and I” as some claim but God in relationship with us as a community of faith. 

In our relationships if we just live the moment for our corporal needs then our moments may be stolen from us by everything that demands our attention.  When we incorporate into our corporal needs a spiritual plan of “God first” our eyes will open up to receive the blessing of the moment and serve as a blessing to others.  Our plan for heaven is to receive the graces from God and be transformed into his feet to follow where he leads, his hands to share the bread we eat, his heart to comfort the sick, his eyes to give vision to the lost, his mind to testify to the truth.  Our plan is not a reward system but a transformation system into the divine.  This is our time and our land to say “Here I am to be transformed according to your will Lord.”  Let me begin to live in the land of the living for heaven and not of the dead. 

The land of the dead is without hope, living in fear, and isolated in darkness.  It is not difficult to get lost in the land of the dead for the evil one is always alert to any weakness on our part to inflict pain and suffering.  The land of the dead promotes a culture of death in disguise of doing good and it happens every day, in fact every second of the day by institutions who govern by laws that protect the rights to bring death into the world.  It is the ultimate death of faith through abortion, euthanasia, and science that objectifies human life to the genetic degree until life itself is “canceled”. 

The land of the dead does not trust in God but in its own power to define life, truth, and justice.  This is not our land this is not our kingdom.  We rise up to defend life as sacred, truth as coming from God, and justice as God’s plan, his gateway to heaven.  We are a people who plan for heaven ready to say, “Here I am”.  Readiness gets our life in order through the sacraments of the church.  The church lays the foundation now it is up to us to build the kingdom of God up.  Are we ready? 

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Homily The Deacon Joe

The Baptism of the Lord – Nature and Grace

Posted on by Deacon Joe

Is.55:1-11; Is.:12-6; 1 Jn. 5:1-9; Mk 1:7-11

Nature and grace have joined in the body, blood, soul, and divinity of Jesus Christ to testify to the one true God.  “So, there are three that testify, the Spirit, the water, and blood, and the three are of one accord.” They testify that God is with us.  This day marks the second aspect of Jesus epiphany that is his revelation to the world in the words of God himself, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.”  In birth we are given the gift of life, what we do with our lives is our gift back to God.  When we come to the water of baptism our nature and God’s grace are united in the revelation of the Holy Spirit that now lives in us.  Come to the water!  This is the Lord’s invitation by his own baptism to sanctify us that we may receive the grace to testify to his loving presence in our lives.

In baptism we receive the gift of the Holy Spirit, the gift of God himself, his mercy and love are with us through faith.  This is a mystery of faith.  Mystery at its root meaning includes “mythos” something transmitted by the word with a hidden meaning revealed by divine revelation.  God is revealing to us his Son and who is sent for our salvation.  He comes to testify to his real presence with us, in us and through us.  That is our epiphany the revelation of God who lives in our love.  How we live out our faith is the work of the Holy Spirit to testify by grace as children of God.  Thus, nature and grace have joined in the mystery of faith and revealed itself to the world.  In baptism it is not only I that lives but the Spirit of God at work in our surrender to him.  The question is “Am I willing to surrender to Him?”  “Let go and let God” is about our trust in Jesus and that is a battle of our will each and every day. 

The Spirit works as one accord in the Trinity, three persons one God thus, it is a work where two or three are gathered in the name of Jesus.  Recall when Jesus was rejected at Nazareth departing with the words, “A prophet is not without honor except in his native place and among his own kin and in his own house” (Mk. 6: 4-5). He leaves his home town where he grew up “not able to perform any mighty deed there.  He was amazed at their lack of faith.”  Jesus the son of God works in communion with his people just as we must work in communion with our nature and grace and in union with each other to reveal the power of God in our lives.  Bottom line we cannot do this by ourselves.  To say “me and God alone” does not work.  We are called to be a community of faith by living our nature and grace in unity of love and mercy together. 

The works of grace are from the power of the Holy Spirit at work in us just as it is not the water itself with the power but the power through water and Spirit.  Also, it is not the blood alone of the flesh but the sacrifice of the blood as an offering that saves.  Thus, I dare to say to those who believe “faith alone saves” faith without works comes with sudden death when it is tested by the cross we bear.  In what ways do we offer our blood that is our sacrifice of ourselves for the good of others that opens the gates of heaven for us?  Our nature and grace have joined to give testimony to the love of God for his people.  Through baptism we are to be the image of God giving testimony of his mighty deeds at work through us. 

We celebrated the great Epiphany of Jesus manifestation in his birth last week and again today in his baptism but what about our epiphany of the Spirit at work coming to us today?  It is that moment in which we receive the desire to do a simple act of love.  It is the moment we receive the insight to act prudently in good judgment of right and wrong.  It is the moment we gain the awareness of our call to respond to a just cause.  It is the moment we are given the strength to be a voice for truth in the middle of a cancel culture that wishes to silence any voice that speaks of God.  The epiphany of our daily lives is at work in the Spirit we received through the water of baptism to respond to our natural gifts with the grace of divine revelation.  It is that moment we choose to say yes to the will of God that we receive the power of his grace. 

In some ways 2020 was the year of darkness with the pandemic causing fear, separation, isolation, sickness, loss of work and even death.  The evil one celebrated his test of the faithful with churches closed, the lingering scandals within the clergy, the rise of a cancel culture, and violence in the streets.  The new year has started where the old ended, a new mutation of the COVID virus, reinstituting restrictions on gatherings, more violence on the streets and a rebellion against democracy from both extremes of society. In 2021 what will be our response, our epiphany, our sacrifice for the greater good.  Must we kneel and pray?  Absolutely!  Must we do more as members of our society and defenders of our faith?  There is no doubt we are to see in John the Baptist the need for a voice crying out in the desert where secularism, cancel culture, and hate speech prevail the need for repentance, penance, and atonement. 

In philosophy they speak of the hero and the saint.  The hero lives for honor and self-satisfaction while the saint lives for love and self-giving.  The hero gets recognition from among the world while the saint builds treasures for the greater glory of heaven.  The hero is temporal, here today and stored in the archives of history to be read and admired.  The saint is for all eternity who remains with us, an intercessor in the present, to be called on able to do more from heaven than even during his days on earth. 

In baptism we are called to be great saints as the militant church on earth.  Our battle is to attack sin wherever it lies and let it begin with us, from within our souls, within our families, within our environment, and within a nation of nations.  The victory can only be won with the power of our nature and grace.  When Saint Francis of Assisi was called by God to rebuild his church, he started with himself by embracing with love the poor and the lepers, embracing with love other brothers and sisters in faith as followers, embracing with love the institution of the church, embracing with love the beauty of nature and love of animals. 

Steven Covey speaks of the four human dimensions of life.  They include to live, to love, to learn, and to leave a legacy.  In a life well lived by nature and grace we begin to live our true self when we enter into baptism called to be the best we were created to be in the image of God.  We begin to love when our actions reflect the generosity of God’s love.  We begin to learn the mystery of faith through prayer and study of the Word, the Word made flesh in Jesus.  We begin to leave our legacy when our nature and grace are transformed through the power of the Holy Spirit in water and blood, that is by love and sacrifice into the bride of Christ, his holy people. 

Let us live well our nature and grace, let us live a holy life in Jesus Christ, let us return to the water of our baptism in faith, hope, and love. 

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Homily

2nd Sunday of Advent – Prepare the way of the Lord

Posted on by Deacon Joe

Is. 40:1-5, 9-11; Ps. 85: 9-14; 2 Peter. 3:8-14; Mk. 1:1-8

Prepare the way of the Lord!  Has the Lord come to us this day?   Have we prepared to receive him?  The Lord sends out his messenger, first it was John the Baptist then came the Lord and now it is our turn to “make straight in the wasteland” of a sinful world “a highway for our God!”  “Let it begin with me” is the appropriate prayer in creating a human highway of souls ascending to the Lord by making straight our own lives as a channel of grace. 

Prepare the way of the Lord as a channel of grace by caring for his people.  The Lord comes in the “other” to be received by how we treat our neighbor.  Grace comes from the Hebrew “to show favor” as the Lord will show favor in us to care for his people.  His grace is the gifts we receive to minister to others of the love of God with spiritual and corporal works of mercy.  As we prepare the way of the Lord in service to others by virtue of our fiat we are being prepared for our own highway to God. 

In scripture we see how angels appeared to his people to prepare their way and give knowledge in the path to follow.  He did this to Mary, to Joseph, and to the disciples.  He can do this for us for he promised even greater things to those willing to serve as instruments in salvation history.  Be the difference.  Invite the Lord to send you his messenger but don’t look to the sky, look to the other who is being a channel of grace for you.  The Lord works through us to bring about his kingdom and manifest his love.  “If today you hear his voice harden not your hearts” (Psalm 95) make a difference. 

In the 1980’s my wife and I were heading the youth ministry at our parish.  We had planned a summer trip for them at Garner State Park.  On our way back home, we stopped in San Antonio at the Alamo.  I told my wife I only had $10 left for gas.  These days we carried no credit cards.  My son needed to go to the bathroom so we went looking for a place and found one.  Inside the stall he said to me “Dad, I found a penny on the floor”.  I looked down to the floor instinctively and saw a wallet.  I opened the wallet and it had no identification, it was empty except for one folded bill.  I pulled it out and realized what it was.  I told my son, “Hey Mark, I found $100 dollars”.  As we made our way back to the group, I told my wife what I had found and was sitting on the wall of the Alamo when from the crowd an old ragged looking man approached me quietly and placed his hand out.  Immediately I thought God provided me money for our needs and now out of all the crowded people this man comes to me.  I pulled out my $10 dollars and gave it to him.  He did not say a word to me, just turned and disappeared back into the crowd.  This was my God encounter of the day.  God comes for our salvation when we are watchful for his coming. 

“The Lord does not delay his promise…but he is patient” with us in the ever presence of the moment seeking our salvation that we may turn from our sins and see the face of the Lord and not perish.  For the Lord time is as if yesterday, today, and tomorrow are all one “one day is like a thousand years and a thousand years like one day”.  This is our time to be mindful of our ways, come to repentance and remain in the spirit of sanctity.  Our wait and bringing about that day of righteousness comes with victory over death in life by “conducting yourselves in holiness and devotion”.  This is our day for us to claim our victory over death by living the sanctity of life.  Live it! 

“Do not ignore this one fact…that the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and the heavens will pass away…and all the elements will be dissolved by fire…”  The Lord has come in history, he is coming this day for us and he will come again at the end of time when time will end and eternal begin.  Eternal glory or eternal fire is coming and this is our time to prepare the way of the Lord and be received into “the new heavens and a new earth” of righteousness or receive the fire the unrighteous.  Prepare the way of the Lord. Jesus is the way.

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Homily

1st Sunday of Advent – Be watchful!

Posted on by Deacon Joe

Is. 63:16-17, 19b, 64:2-7; Ps. 80: 2-3, 15-16, 18-19; 1 Cor. 1:3-9; Mk. 13:33-37

“Be watchful!” in mindfulness.  We begin the new year in the Church this first Sunday of Advent mindful of a year overtaken by a pandemic and watchful of a continued virus threatening the world.  The Lord also calls us to be both mindful of the Lord “in our ways” and watchful in this the year of the Lord for his coming. 

“Mindfulness” is the current cultural trend in wellness as something new.  We learn however from today’s first reading that mindfulness is as old as the book of Isaiah in the words “that we were mindful of you (Lord) in our ways”.  In mindfulness the focus is remaining in the present awareness not only of your inner being but also of your “watchful” eye around you.  This keen awareness allows for the eye of the soul to focus on what matters apart from the noise that steals our attention cluttered with worries, temptations, constant distractions, and mindless activity aimed at filling in for the silence and avoiding the presence of God. 

We believe in the presence of God and we say “God is in control” but do we remain mindful of his presence in all “our ways”?  We must recall “our ways” are not his ways and here lies the great divide between what we profess and “our ways”.  Our ways focus on “self” according to pleasure, power, prestige, and profit.  However, the gospel of Mark reminds us “For what would it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul? (Mark 3:86)”.  The higher purpose of “mindfulness” is to unite our “self” to God’s way.  Our watchfulness is to see the hand of God at work in our ways and give glory and honor to our God. 

God’s way is to remain mindful of him as “our father, our redeemer”.  Mindful of God our father we recognize him as the “potter” and “we are the clay” seeking to form us in his loving hands into his image of love.  As a loving father he molds us by grace with all the spiritual gifts to enter into “fellowship with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord”.  Mindful of God our redeemer is awareness “we are sinful…and our guilt carries us away like the wind”. Mindfulness of God allows us to also recognize the evil one coming in fear, temptation, distraction and mindless activity to separate us from the love of God. 

Mindfulness is to be watchful “as you wait for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ”.   In mindfulness we remain watchful “for the Lord hears the cry of the poor” and our poverty lies in our separation from all that is truth, unity, good, and beauty.  This is our separation from the love of God.  Be watchful for the coming of the Lord to lead us along the path of righteousness, to answer our prayers, to give us the grace to respond in our trials with the power of his love.  Be watchful as the Lord comes to destroy what is evil, to destroy the enemy of death, to purify the soul for the final coming to lead us home. 

In mindfulness there is an awareness that all things matter in spirit and truth.  This includes the awareness of sin.  We don’t live by the rule “I did not kill anyone” as if avoiding mortal sin is all that matters.  It recognizes if all things matter the smallest of venial sin matters in our awareness of having offended thee O’ Lord.   The evil one tries to convince us “no harm done” if we lie a little, cheat a little, steal a little after all when we did it when we were little it was cute.  Soon we believe no harm done in little things and become immune to bigger things. 

When I was little, we were poor but I didn’t know it.  Most of my toys were made up from my imagination until Christmas when Salvation Army came by to drop off a box with toys from stores.  One day my mother went to visit one of her friends who had children.  I saw all these toys in the house.  When we got home my mother noticed I was acting different.  She asked me, “what’s the matter?” in Spanish.  I said “nada” meaning nothing and started walking backwards.  I lead her to the bed where I had hidden a toy I took from the other children as I kept saying “nada”.  She made me take it back and treated it as not so cute.   Has your child ever taken a candy at the store and you made them take it back or was it just not worth it after all it is just a little thing?

Mindfulness is not obsessiveness.  Bad politicians like to say “never let a crisis go to waste”.  The devil could not have said it any better.  In this pandemic we see mental health issues, a rise in depression, addictions, anxiety, and suicide.  This is especially a time to be mindful of the evil ones’ opportunity to bring chaos into our relationships.  The evil one will lead your mindfulness to obsession and neurosis.  We are mindful of safety precautions with a virus and act prudently to protect ourselves but obsession creates such fear of germs as to become obsessed with washing of hands that it leads to neurosis.

As an introvert being intra-mindful is more natural than extra-mindful.  An introvert is simple task oriented focused on going deeper in spiritual awareness at the risk of not losing awareness of the beauty around us.  For an extravert it is more natural to be extra-mindful and better at multi-tasking to see the hand of God at work around us.  Whether we are being intro or extra-verts, God is above us, beneath us, behind us, before us and remains within us for our awareness as we go about our ways.

Father Miguel Marie from the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal on EWTN whenever he celebrates mass says “as if this was the first time, the last time, the only time”.  This is love.  This is an awareness of the significance of the moment of the presence of God.  Mass is an act of thanksgiving for the sacrifice of Jesus on the altar.  Each moment of life comes once at this time and moves us closer to the eternal.  Be watchful!

Until the hour of his coming we are to be mindful of our Lord in all our ways in order to be ready to receive him in all our heart, soul, and mind.  Who can we turn to in as our reminder of true mindfulness more than Our Blessed Mother who did all things with her watchful eyes of love toward her son. Thus, be watchful of his coming and mindful of his presence that we may follow his way to the eternal glory of God. 

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Homily

Solemnity of Christ the King – Viva Cristo Rey!

Posted on by Deacon Joe

Ezek. 34:11-12, 15-17; Ps. 23: 1-3, 5-6; 1 Cor. 15:20-26, 28; Mt. 25:31-46

Christ the King reigns in our lives, Viva Cristo Rey!  “For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet.  The last enemy to be destroyed is death.”  Christ the King reigns in our world and lives in battle with the enemies of this world.  Who are these enemies?  They are the legion of “evil spirits that prowl about this world seeking the ruin of souls”.  The most sinister is pride among the seven capital sins that include its generals of greed, wrath, envy, lust, gluttony, and sloth leading the army of other deadly sins. 

Christ the King has his own powerful army of angels led by St. Michael to instill in his people the weapons of virtue against each deadly spirit.  The battle against greed is the virtuous weapon of charity, for wrath is patience, for envy is gratitude, for lust is chastity, for gluttony is temperance, for sloth is diligence, and for pride is the virtuous weapon of humility.  The battlefield is in our souls and Christ the King is here to destroy the enemy.  Christ has already won the battle against Satan that sought to destroy him now he comes after us and we are to prepare each day for the attack of temptations.  Consider the week not only as a daily battle against the enemy but as a daily strategy of response to the attack.

Monday’s attack comes after the day of the Lord with the spirit of sloth bringing resistance to work.  Diligence wins as we rise and accomplish our first task in making our beds ready.  Beginning with the end in mind not only overcomes sloth but reminds us of the importance of being ready.  Ready for a morning prayer to strengthen the soul we offer our work of the day in thanksgiving for the talents received to build up the kingdom of God. 

Tuesday’s attack comes as a thief in the night with the surprise attack of wrath with the unexpected car that swerves in our way, delay in our plans, breakdown of communication and all the little things that matter.  Patience wins when the enemy enters the heart in rejection of others claiming rights to justice in an unjust world.  Wrath says “how dare you” but the spirit of patience comes to counter wrath with empathy in a search for understanding that dares to pray for our enemies.

Wednesday’s attack brings in focus the comparisons with others in envy as we get passed up on that promotion, recognition goes to someone else, see the rich get richer in the struggle to cover expenses.  Envy is defeated when we view the hand of God at work to who much is given much is expected and we are grateful for our portion of expectations.  Gratitude wins as we respond in appreciation for others gifts in support of their success, we unite to create a better world for the kingdom of God. 

Thursday’s attack follows envy from behind with greed to forget others in a world seen as a “dog eat dog” world where only the strong survive and thrive while the weak are marginalized from society.  Charity wins when begin to see Christ in the hungry, thirsty, naked, ill, imprisoned, and in the stranger.  We resist greed when we recall the charity of Jesus with his words in the last supper on Holy Thursday as he breaks bread “do this in memory of me” as a self-sacrifice.  Greed is the betrayal of Jesus who in charity offers up himself to God the Father and calls us to follow him in the same manner.

Friday’s attack looks to greed to permit the attack of lust with consent for entitlement to all the passions the mind can imagine having bought into the world’s doctrine of “my body my choice”.  Chastity wins the battle as we recall the passion of Christ when the “good” of Good Friday was Jesus dying on the cross for the good of others in atonement for our sins.  The power to say “no” to self and “yes” to the Lord conquers lust.

Saturday’s attack allows lust to open the door for gluttony once entitled there is no limit to the sins that follow to store up in our bellies and in our illusion of wealth.  Gluttony is a slow death to the soul and must be met with an equal amount of daily temperance.  Temperance wins in reminder of the Easter Vigil’s long wait for the coming of the Lord to keep all things in balance and be ready.  Ready as the militant church on earth for the attack with the sword of Jesus’ word just as he spoke to Satan in his own temptations.

Sunday’s attack comes in for the kill with pride to be our own god, to be the beginning and the end of all our actions.  Humility wins the against the final attack as we enter again into the resurrection day of Easter Sunday and claim victory for our souls in the resurrection of Christ.  When we come in humility to receive Christ the King’s mercy in the Eucharist the battle is won where evil cannot exist in the souls of the just. 

Our battle is won when faith takes action to counter evil and do good as Jesus promises “And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age”.  Faith is an incarnation of Jesus to do his will recognizing his presence in the poor, hungry, thirsty, naked, ill, imprisoned, and in the stranger.  Faith alone is a lost sheep ready for slaughter by the evil spirits.  By taking action faith is an invitation to Jesus to come into our lives and fulfill his work and be recognized in our presence. 

Faith in action separates the sheep from the goats.  It creates our identity through self-sacrifice, love of others, and service to each other.  Doers of the word come together as sheep while goats simply talk a good talk and scatter apart.  Faith in action creates an identity such as the difference between people who play an instrument and musicians, people who like to sing and a vocalist, people who have children and a parent, or someone who is an ordained a priest and a pastor.

Action forms faith in thanksgiving, in reparation, in redemption, in mercy, in love, in justice, in fellowship, and in unity with the one true God.  Action builds up faith as a connection with God in the works of mercy.  Be merciful and see Christ the King our good shepherd for the battle is won.  Claim your victory, Christ the King lives “Viva Cristo Rey”. 

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Homily The Deacon Joe

33rd Sunday Ordinary Time – Born to be rich!

Posted on by Deacon Joe

Born to be rich!  This is not the traditional silver spoon babies receive at birth or the hopes received in prosperity Mega Churches of today. This is the riches from heaven. In birth God has already deposited in his servants an investment of wealth waiting to see the return on his investment.  God’s investment of his riches is not an economic, social or political investment, it is a personal investment of himself in a treasure of gifts, talents, graces, and virtues. 

Our treasure chest may include among others the gift of voice to sing praises to the lord or proclaim his word, the talent to build up the kingdom of God in our homes and community, the grace to comfort the sick and attend to the suffering, and the virtue of humility to honor God in our service and mission in life.  We all receive our unique set of treasures in who God created us to be.  All born to be rich by our active participation in salvation.  God multiplies the wealth we receive in the faithful servant. 

In today’s gospel the servants receive different amounts of talents.  Here a talent being a set large sum of money per talent.  The parable is a reminder that the time is coming when the “Master” will come and we will account for his investment in our lives.  Those who are ready to give a good account with be rewarded and hear “Come, share your master’s joy.”  Those who are foolish as the virgins of last week, or as the servant who “dug a hole in the ground and buried his master’s money” will hear “throw this useless servant into the darkness outside, where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth.”  Is “Papa” God being mean to his people?  No “Papa” God is giving us a reminder of a reality in time, God’s time is coming when there is no more redo or “next time”, when we already made our choice and by consequence enter eternity by the choice we made. 

There is a general theory that 20% of the people do 80% of the work in any group effort.  Apply that to the church and it would indicate that 20% of Catholics are active participants in their faith.  It is a sad indicator and warning we receive today of individual responsibility.  Last week we understood from the “foolish virgins” that the wise cannot share their oil if we consider the oil as each person’s share in salvation.  Each must bring their own works of salvation.  Today it is reinforced with the talents understood as money that was put to work to earn more and not wasted that brings the reward or punishment.  Jesus also gives the example of how in the end time two will be in bed and only one will be taken up because in the end it is all about our individual responsibility and accountability. 

In the first reading we hear of the “unfailing prize” of a “worthy wife”.  In today’s phobic politically correct world it might be called sexist to speak of a woman as a prize, implying some type of “trophy” wife who has all the sex appeal but it makes clear that “charm is deceptive and beauty fleeting”.  Remember the expression “you won the prize” referring to having a good husband or wife?  Did you win the prize?  I know I did.  The prize of a faithful spouse, great kids, even a blessed mother-in-law. Now you are going to go home either there will be joy and “loving hands” or grinding of teeth and choke holds. 

The prize comes from being the person God created us to be with our gifts, talents, graces and virtues in fellowship with others.  In this reading the woman works hard at her trade with “distaff” and “spindle”.  The distaff was the stick that held the fibers to then be spun on the spindle making the thread or yarn that she “works with loving hands”.  She then “lets her works praise her at the city gates”.  We look to this proverb and recognize women in the workplace is as old as history.  I think for the most part women still carry the stick in the home to spin the family into order. 

I remember my mother-in-law when she lived, she loved to sew and of course go to Walmart to buy material.  One of her hobbies to help herself financially was making throw pillows, all sizes and styles.  She had her customers, family, friends and friends of family as she used the best marketing tool, word of mouth to sell her pillows.  In this case she let “her works praise her at the city gates” of her front door.  She was “the woman who fears the Lord” making sure her children went to church even if they had to walk to get there as a family.  Faithful parenting raises a faith filled child to be a “worthy wife” or a worthy husband, “whose value is far beyond pearls.”   Born to be rich doesn’t just happen it takes the active participation of a loving family to develop our God given talents. 

We are not only to be faithful in small matters we are to be faithful in all matters.  The Lord reminds us we are to be perfect as our heavenly Father is perfect.  All things matter!   As children the world is simply black or white, right or wrong, yes or no.  As we grow, we develop a sense that the world is more complicated and there is some gray, right when but not if, yes if but no when.  Jesus is tested often by the Pharisees and Sadducees and his answers are simple, clear and unconditional.  In other words, there is a clear divide and we have a choice to make.  Lie or be honest, do our best or try to get by, persevere or give up, stay awake or slumber, be ready or be left behind. 

I like to say that my three favorite topics are religion, economics, and politics.  It is what the world considers generally taboo if you want to keep your friends.  Then the Lord did say he came to bring division which happens when we stand up for all things that matter.  We can stand to protect the unborn or stand idle, we can defend religious freedom or defend the separation of church and state in the public square, we can be a voice for the poor and marginalized or remain silent to oppression, we can support the environment or pass on to our children the dangers to come. 

In 1776 a nation was born to be rich in freedom and justice for all.  In biblical history the people of Israel asked for a king to be appointed, they sought someone to rule over them.  God had set them free but God answered their request and a ruler was appointed.  The people went on to become people in slavery.  We often hear “Freedom is not free!” Freedom is a work of mercy we are all called to live as a nation under God.  Separate God from the nation and freedom is lost.  Government is no substitute for God. 

The nation is divided and unity cannot exist in a cancel culture that seeks to suppress the voice of freedom.  The gift of freedom does not come from economics by having enough money, or politics by being in the majority, or even religion by following all the Judaic laws for we can become legalistic and forget the deeper purpose of faith.  The gift of freedom comes from God in our souls born with the riches to be free. We may squander our riches and create our own chains.  We can also master the gift of our riches in our works, the works of salvation and inherit the kingdom of God. Faith is not a thought or a feeling.  Faith is a connection with God.

In the parable of the talents we recognize God’s work is entrusted to us individually and collectively as the work of the church.  Life in the church happens in its works of salvation for the people.  Each Thanksgiving the church community comes together to offer the Feast of Sharing for the local community with a hot plate of food.  It is a tradition that survives because God wills to move his people to act not only in support of feeding the hungry but to say God loves you.  The faces change the mission remains.  We need to be reminded of God’s love in the language that speaks to our hearts.  The language of love is found in all the works of mercy.  Born to be rich in mercy.  Be merciful, contribute! 

We are the treasure chest, what lies inside is the deposit of God’s treasure. Invest wisely!

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Homily

32nd Sunday Ordinary Time – Stay awake and be ready!

Posted on by Deacon Joe

Wis. 6:12-16; Ps. 63: 2-8; 1 Thes. 4:13-18; Mt. 25:1-13

“Stay awake and be ready!” Be ready for the last four things, death, judgement, heaven and hell by active participation in salvation. We live in times of slumber like the five “foolish virgins”.  Are we ready to go to the game on Friday nights?  You bet!  Are we ready to go to Mass on Sunday mornings? Well, we sure like sleeping in.  Even the extra hour of “Fall back” daylight savings time helps only for a short time before we fall back to our slumber.  Stay awake and be ready is an act of prudence that comes from wisdom. Wisdom is a gift of grace from God as “she hastens to make herself known” but it is our act of good judgment that seeks out truth and receives wisdom. 

Stay awake and be ready to receive a word of wisdom from God in prayer.  Ready to sit still and watch some T.V.?  You bet!  Ready to sit still and do the rosary?  By the time we get to the first decade, we are already yawning.  “Behold, the bridegroom!”  Jesus comes in wisdom and is sitting at our gate prepared to speak to our hearts and minds in prayer but our minds are active in our own thoughts drifting away rather than attentive to his desire to make himself known. 

Stay awake and be ready to receive a spirit of wisdom in the sanctuary in our thirst for God.  We cheer the team, “We have spirit, yes we do, we have spirit how about you?”  How about us?  Do we live by the Spirit of God who promises to be with us and come to us in spirit and in truth?  We are to rise up in praise and worship and sing to the Lord.  This is the day the Lord has made for us let us rejoice and be glad.  Glad that God is with us in all our trials and he gives us the Consoler, the Spirit of courage and hope.  Be not afraid! “Whoever watches for her at dawn shall not be disappointed”. 

Stay awake and be ready for a word of knowledge as he makes himself known in scripture.  The will of God makes himself known in scripture proclaimed for our discernment as it applies to us in our time, our home, our struggles and our blessings.  It is not a word spoken only to the people of its time.  It is alive and active for us to discernment how it applies to my life now.  Let not our minds be dimmed in drowsiness as they drift during the homily and we lose sight of his revelation to our hearts.  A homily helps us with the applied word in a form called exegesis.  Exegesis from Greek means “to lead out”.  It leads us out in a critical interpretation and understanding of scripture.  It leads us out as the applied word to our lives. 

Stay awake and be ready to receive his body and blood as he makes himself known in the breaking of the bread.  We hunger for the good things of life.  We are restless and at times bored looking for fulfillment.  Our souls are restless until we come to rest in the truth, goodness, beauty and unity of Christ.  We are to hunger for and not lose sight of his real presence in the Eucharist.  The Eucharist is the summit of our faith, hope and love.  We come as unworthy servants but only by his word are our souls healed of sin and purified by grace. 

Stay awake in our actions.  The Church is prudent by making us stand, sit, and kneel during the Mass so we can stay awake, be active participants in prayer and worship.  Our body language speaks loudly of where we are in our relationship with God.  Our souls need to reflect the light of Christ in our behavior and reject the darkness of evil.  “Lifting up my hands, I will call upon your name” says the psalm.  We lift up our hands to pray the prayer Jesus left us in the Our Father.  Mass begins in word and act with the sign of the cross.  It says, “I am a believer!” Who are we to respond as in this world? We respond as the “I AM” a believer!

Stay awake and be ready to confront the evil one seeking to ruin souls when we allow our passions to drive our priorities as “the foolish ones” while the passion of Christ suffers for our sins.  “Then the door was locked” and he said in reply “Amen, I say to you, I do not know you”.  Seems a harsh response for the lack of readiness and poor planning yet it reflects the message of keeping our priorities straight.  God first!  Some say “I am a good person” as if that is all that matters.  Readiness is an active participation in the work of salvation for our souls and those of the whole world. 

Be ready, “Behold the bridegroom!”  Ready as the wise virgins ready with flasks of oil.  The Church prepares us with the oils of salvation; the oil of catechumen, the oil of the sick, and the chrism oil keep the light of our soul shining ready for the bridegroom.  At baptism the light is entrusted to our parents, godparents and the community to keep the light burning.  As we grow the light becomes our responsibility to be the “wise ones”.  No one else can save us or share their “oil of salvation”.  It is the prudent who are prepared to respond to God’s calling.  Every day is a calling to readiness as we do not know the hour or the day of his coming nor the hour or day of our departure from this world. 

Be ready for the four last things!  Death, judgment, heaven and hell we tend to avoid giving it as much thought as it deserves.  We know our time is coming and we are reminded each time someone we know dies.  Our psyche is shaken into this reality and we are encouraged just to move on with our lives.  We are not to move on but be moved deeper into our readiness to face these four last things that lead to eternity.  Do we really move on from having had a loving relationship with someone or do we carry our cross with love in reminder that we are to be prepared for we do not know the hour or day of its coming? 

As early as I can remember as a child my mother would lie in bed and begin acting and saying in Spanish, “Ya me voy a morir!”, “I am now going to die!” Then she would close her eyes and lie motionless.  At first, I would not believe her because she had done it so many times but the longer she laid there even though I knew it was a trick the more it scared me.  Later in life I thought of it wondering why she would play that game on a little child.  As she became chronically ill and into her eighties, I came to realize she understood she lived in poor health and wanted to prepare me for the day and in the event, she died while I was still young.  Fortunately, God blessed her with a long life and she carried her cross of illness for a long time but the gift she left me was a reminder, Be ready, for the last four things to come.

November is the month in the church calendar when we come to the end of the liturgical year and so it is most appropriate to reflect on the four last things, to pray for the dead, to offer Masses for the souls in purgatory still waiting to be washed clean and purified in the fire of mercy.  Let us show mercy by keeping them in our prayers. 

Readiness is the prayer, “Here I am, Lord!”  When the bridegroom comes at his hour will we be the Adam and Eve who hid themselves from the Lord or like a new Adam and Eve purified in the waters of baptism, washed clean in confession, filled with wisdom from obedience to his word and reflecting his image in the sacrifice of love in the Eucharist prepared for his coming?   Be wise people of God, let us keep our light burning brightly ready to say, “Here I am, Lord!” 

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Homily

All Saints Solemnity: Highway to Heaven

Posted on by Deacon Joe

Rev. 7:2-4, 9-14; Ps. 24: 1-6; 1 Jn. 3:1-3; Matt. 5:1-12

The Beatitudes is our highway to heaven as Children of God in our mission to be called saints.  John tells us “Everyone who has this hope based on him makes himself pure, as he is pure.”  It is the hope of being called “Children of God” by living the life of sanctity.   Today we celebrate All Saints those who made themselves pure to see God “as he is”, amazing, loving, joyful, even a little intimidating.  How would you feel to see God as he is this moment?

“Allhollowtitle, allhollowtide” is the holy triduum of the dead! All Saints’ Eve, All Saints Day, and All Souls Day is the time to remember the dead including martyrs, saints and all the faithfully departed Christians.

Revelations identifies the Children of God as those who are “the children of Israel” and “a great multitude, which no one could count from every nation, race, people, and tongue…who have survived the time of great distress; they have washed their robes and made them white in the Blood of the Lamb”.  These are the Children of God called to be saints who took the high road.  We are saints in the making and the Beatitudes is our Highway to Heaven.

St. Thomas Aquinas describes four qualities of the glorified state after death we can attribute to all saints.  The first is called “impassability” meaning we pass through this human condition of life only once where there is disease and death, never to go through it again.  St. Paul says it is “sown in corruption and it shall rise in incorruption” in 1st Corinthians 15:42.   We are pilgrims on a journey to sanctity and this is not our final destination. 

Second is called “Subtlety” meaning we will have a spirit-like body as we read how Jesus appears to the disciples after his death and resurrection by passing through the door.  We are not bound by physical matter yet we will possess a body.  “Beam me up, Scotty” for those who remember the old TV series from Star Trek.  This Highway to Heaven is a spiritual highway. 

Third is called “Agility” meaning the glorified body will obey the soul with the speed of thought called teleportation, transported across space and distance instantly.  “It shall rise in power” says 1st Corinthians 15:43.   Even before death some saints had the power to bilocate meaning they appeared in places of great distance from where they were.  Saint Padre Pio was known to bilocate and be at the bedside of someone who was dying.  We are no longer bound by space and time and free to be present where the will desires, especially close to the suffering and those we love. 

The fourth is called “Clarity” meaning the glorified state will be free from any deformity filled with beauty and radiance.  This the light of Christ will shine brightly in the Children of God.  “The just shall shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father” (Mathew 13:43).  I don’t know if beauty includes getting rid of some wrinkles and extra weight and looking young again.  Think of the “deformity” of children with developmental conditions, mental illness, seizures, and all the health problems we suffer and being restored to be perfect as God is perfect. 

Baptism gives us our “white robe” of sanctity which we stain with sin yet it is our hope to remain as Children of God by washing our robes in confession, in receiving the blood of the lamb in communion, and in living the beatitudes laid out by Jesus in the gospel.  If we fall short in this life in making ourselves pure then there is purgatory which Dante describes as where we go to wash our baptismal robes of remaining sin. 

Remember the three children of Fatima, Lucia, Jacinta and Francisco?  Lucia asks Our Lady if she will go to heaven and Our Lady says yes, then if Jacinta will go to heaven and Our Lady says yes again, finally she asks if Francisco will go to heaven and Our Lady says he will need to say a lot of rosaries, make sacrifices and do penance.  I am not sure if it has something to do with being a boy that we get ourselves into more trouble.  We all could follow Our Lady’s desire to get to heaven by praying more, making sacrifices and doing penance.  We don’t have to wait for Lent to offer some sacrifice for our sins and the sins of the world. 

When someone is sick, we often ask others to keep them in their prayers as we pray for them also.  Prayers give us hope and bring healing to the sick.  There have been studies in science where there are two groups of patients, one is being prayed for and the other receives just follow-up care.  The group that receives the intervention of prayer recovers better with less complications that the control group.  Pray, offer a sacrifice, and even an act of penance, the trifecta for God hears the cry of the poor. 

Last week’s gospel, Jesus gives us the two parts of the great commandment, the love of God united to the love of neighbor.  Today he lays out the attributes of the Children of God in the beatitudes.  “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God” says Jesus.  Who keeps the peace at home?  Is our home where we go to retreat from the world our taste of heaven on earth or are, we wanting to run away from home tired from yelling, arguing, and even fighting to be heard and understood?  Do we hear ourselves or others saying “my way or the highway” that is the highway to hell?  Our nerves scream “listen to me” and our hearts are saying love is patient, love is kind.  Love is not the easy road and neither are the Beatitudes because they represent an act of love but it is the road to sainthood. 

This month a young schoolboy named Carlo Acutis became “Blessed Carlo Acutis” by the Church.  He is the first millennial to be one step away from canonization as a saint for all those millennials out there and there is a lot of you.  Born in 1991 he only lived to be 15.  He taught himself to be a computer programmer and developed a website for documenting Eucharistic Miracles and had a deep devotion to the Eucharist.  He claimed the Eucharist was his “highway to heaven”.  He was beatified October 10, 2020 in the Basilica of St. Francis Assisi in Italy.  He was considered a “computer geek” but he also was a normal kid who liked soccer and playing PlayStation.  He wanted to use the media to evangelize.  He will be the patron saint of computer programmers which is quickly becoming taught to kids, the next must have essential skill.  Think you can’t be a “normal kid” and a saint think again. 

Pope Francis’s exhortation Rejoice and Be Glad explores the meaning of the Beatitudes and we could call him the Pope of the Beatitudes for his focus on the blessed who are poor, meek, and merciful.  He reminds us that sanctity is a life for everyone to live right there where we are.   We are saints in the making.  How?  By living the commandments, the sacramental life of the church, and remaining in the presence of God through prayer.  Pray, pray, and pray more. 

Remember being a child or if you are a child or even as an adult yet a child at heart and wanting to go on those carnival rides that give us just the right amount of thrills and fear?  Our stomach turns and our heart races but the joy of living the ride makes us want to do it again. We are called to joy of living the ride of sanctity as children of God, don’t miss the opportunity to ride the “highway to heaven.” 

To end let us remember who remained on the highway to heaven from conception to her Assumption, our Blessed Mother Mary. She is a sign that with God all things are possible. Amen.

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Homily

30th Sunday Ordinary Time – I love you!

Posted on by Deacon Joe

Ex. 22:20-26; Ps. 18: 2-4, 47,51; 1 Thes. 1:5c-10; Mt. 22:34-40

I love you!  These three magical words we all love to hear.  There is a hand sign to say it with one gesture.  It is in sign language the “I”, “L”, and “Y” all together to say “I love you”.  When our children are little, we say it to them all the time then they grow up and we say a lot of things but sometimes forget to say “I love you”.  Same thing for couples, we repeat it to each other often before marriage and then like tradition we say it for our anniversary once a year.  We sometimes ruin the message when we say “I love you, BUT”.  The one who hears “BUT” goes from being open to love to being guarded wondering “but now what?” 

I love you is unconditional until we say “but”, and now realize it comes with expectations and standards.  Did you ever think God’s love is conditional?  That is a radical thought.  I will come back to that idea later.  Today God says, “keep my word”.  The essence of the great commandment is love him by keeping his word.  Love of God and neighbor is evident by keeping not simply our word but his word.  Our word is subjective based on our thoughts and feelings.  It is as diverse as we are.  God’s word is a covenant, a commitment for all time to love us in truth, goodness, beauty, and unity.  If love is the goal and God is love then God is the fulfillment of love in all of its truth, goodness, beauty and unity. 

I was viewing EWTN when an animation came out with the headline “I am Catholic…BUT”.  It gave a litany of things people say such as “I am Catholic BUT I believe in abortion; I am Catholic but I don’t believe in the real presence of Jesus in the Eucharist; I am Catholic but I don’t believe in going to confession with a priest.  If you remove the flesh of a person you are left with a dead skeleton.  When we remove the teaching of the Church coming from the word of God, we strip the flesh off the body and kill the soul.  

The message of the animation was to explain the church position on all the “BUTs” and concludes with we cannot call ourselves “Catholic” as “cafeteria Catholics” who pick and choose the “word” we want to follow.  This is not love of God if we cannot keep his word.  Why don’t we keep his word when it has been proven to represent the essence of love?  The reason is here before us with Jesus on the cross.  To love God is to follow in sacrifice for him as he did for us. 

The words “I love you God” lose their meaning apart from his word.  The words “I try to go to Mass on Sundays BUT God is everywhere so it is ok if I miss, God knows.”  Yes, God knows and that is the hard reality that God knows when we are not faithful to his word.  Churches were forced to stop holding Mass with the pandemic and now are slowly allowing limited numbers to gather.  Who will join in the sacrifice to return to Mass and who will remain away thinking “God knows”? 

In Thessalonians, St. Paul says “You know what sort of people we were…, so that we have no need to say anything.”  What sort of people were they?  They not only preached the word they sacrificed themselves for the word.  They let their actions speak for the love they gave for Christ and for the community.  We say, “I love you God but” with how many buts added on?  What about God’s unconditional love?  Remember I asked earlier “Did you ever think God’s love is conditional?” God’s unconditional love comes with expectations and standards as a sign of love.

God’s love is unconditional even though we sin when we fail to keep his word “BUT” we are the ones who become conditional with our love until we become unrecognizable.  Consider couples who after many years of marriage end in divorce and one of the reasons is because we believe something changed in the relationship and we say “that is not the person I married”.   Let us hope and pray God does not look at us and say “that is not the person I created you to be”.

When a baby is an infant our love for them is unconditional and sacrificial.  We sleep with our ears alert for any sound and as they grow up, we don’t stop hovering over them as helicopter parents “but” we still have expectations of them as they grow.  Keep my rules we tell them.  We will always love. It is because we love them that we also have our expectations of them and enforce our consequences for their actions.  Love has expectations because it is relational and requires for there to be truth, “just don’t lie to me”; goodness “no temper tantrums”, beauty “comb your hair”; and unity “we all go to church on Sunday.”  “But why?”  It is hard being a parent, imagine how it is for God as his children with all our “BUTs”. 

Today Jesus in the gospel connects two passages from the Mosaic Law, love of God from Deuteronomy 6:5 with love of neighbor from Leviticus 19:18.  He makes it clear that all the 600 laws plus in the scripture can be summarized in these two commandments and you cannot have without the other.  If we claim to love God then we keep his word by demonstrating our love for neighbor that is every other human being is the evidence of our love of him.  Two sides of the same coin, love of neighbor fulfills our love of God. He is the head and we are the followers. 

Some say there is no hell because of God’s unconditional love.  God says, “keep my word”.  The first reading from Exodus reminds us the God of love is also the God of justice with consequences.  God’s love is unconditional without “BUTS” and with expectations and consequences.  Love is not separate from justice.  Love hurts just look at the crucifix and see the pain of love.  If you doubt that try raising a child and see how it hurts.  Jesus answers the group of Pharisees and Sadducees stating the commandments require “all” of our heart, soul, and mind.  No holding back no “BUTs”. 

Always remember, God loves you!

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Homily

29th Sunday Ordinary Time – Grace to you

Posted on by Deacon Joe

Is. 45:1, 4-6; Ps. 96: 3-5, 7-10; 1 Thes. 1:1-5; Mt. 22:15-21

“Grace to you…to his anointed…I have called you by your name” to come into this world with a purpose a “title” as servant of the Lord to fulfill your “work of faith and labor of love and endurance in hope of our Lord Jesus Christ”.  “It is I who arm you…in power and in the Holy Spirit” to respond to your calling.  In summary these excerpts from today’s reading capture the message of this Sunday leaving us to ask ourselves “what is our title?”    

“Grace to you” and what is “grace”?  Grace represents God’s freely given gift to us of himself to be with us in each and every moment as we respond to our call with truth, goodness, beauty and unity to him as a “labor of love”.  Grace is God himself “opening doors before him and leaving gates unbarred”.  We can do all things through Christ who strengthen us.  Be not afraid to welcome grace and allow God to be the force to be great saints. 

Grace is the gift to speak truth to power as the Pharisees claim “not concerned with anyone’s opinion” “chosen” for this time and in these circumstances to stand for Godly truth.  These are our times to bear the cross of truth to the world as the early apostle went forth knowing there would be persecution.  We stand for truth when we allow God into the public square as the guiding principle of our actions.  We stand for truth as “one nation under God”. 

Grace to you with the gift of goodness “in holy attire” dressed with the goodness of giving of ourselves for others.  Wear the coat of righteousness seeking justice in our everyday relationships.  Others see the world as politics, a “dog eat dog” world of oppression, suppression, and hunger for power.  Grace is the greater good of hunger for righteousness in serving God through others.  Goodness is in the heart for right action.  Take the next right step and allow God to open doors trusting him in his goodness. 

Grace to you with the gift of beauty with a “new song”.  The song we sing gives honor and glory to the Lord with the sound of praise in joyful exultation of the wonders our God has done. “How awesome is he” as we sing “thanks be to God”.  In the popular show America’s Got Talent, the judges separate those with a good voice from those who sing from the heart showing their identity and connecting to the audience.  We can let our song be a routine melody of tradition or a “new song” of conversion praising who God is in our lives. 

Grace to you with the gift of unity as “families of nations” seek peace and equity among our resources.  In a world where hunger and poverty are an epidemic in some nations with limited resources our grace is a gift of giving to meet the needs of others in generosity.  Unity is the feast of sharing our gifts for a greater good, not hidden, not stored away, but exposed in service that the grace of God may multiply them in our lives. 

We give honor and glory to God in the practice of the graces received for a greater good and purpose.  As Spinoza the philosopher states “if love is the goal then generosity is the road to it”.  The human capacity to love is essential to life and to happiness thus if love is the goal and God is love then God is the fulfillment of our happiness. 

We thus return to the initial question “what is our title”?  We wear many titles through life, titles that bond us members of our family, titles that are given in our work environment, titles bestowed as honors for personal achievement, all good in which we may honor God with our lives.   Is that it or is there another title destined by God for us to achieve a greater purpose, a saintly purpose?  Let us consider our purpose in life as a calling to be apostle, apologist, healer, teacher, martyr, servant, religious, deacon, priest, and a witness to give testimony to our faith.  God is listening for a response from our heart to his grace.   We are his anointed by title.

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