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Homily

4th Sunday of Easter – The Good Shepherd

Posted on by Deacon Joe

Acts 4:8-12; Ps. 118:1, 8-9, 21-23, 26,28-29; 1 Jn. 3:1-2; Jn. 10:11-18

The good shepherd is Jesus Christ who laid down his life for us his sheep “by which we are to be saved.”  The Catholic Church proclaims the primacy of Peter for the one Holy, Catholic and Apostolic church given to us by Jesus as the cornerstone of our faith.  Jesus the good shepherd is the one under who our salvation is to be revealed to be like him, that is to be holy, catholic and apostolic as shepherds of our flock.   We pray in faith “Jesus, I trust in you”.  We are also given God’s grace to be like him as shepherds of the flock he has trusted us to lead.  Will we stand with the courage to give of ourselves for our flock or will we be like the hired man who sees the danger of the “wolf” in today’s cultural war coming to attack and runs away, that is runs away with no ownership except for their own survival. 

In the reading from Acts, “Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit” declares Jesus the Nazorean is the only name that brings us salvation.  What about the souls who have not received the name of Jesus as their Lord and savior?  Jesus lets us know he has “other sheep that do not belong to this fold” who will hear his voice and be of the one flock under the one shepherd.  Jesus came to his own, that is “all the people of Israel” yet his voice was received by Jew and by the other sheep, the Gentile alike who were converted and came to believe in the Son of God.  His voice was to spread to the ends of the world to bring all to salvation.  Do we have any ownership to witness to these sheep, the unchurched and bring them into the flock?  God places others in our path, like today’s modern day “none” who claim no religious affiliation with an opportunity to share the gospel message of salvation as Catholics. 

In the history of the world there is repeatedly a rise of wolves promoting a “Great evil done in the name of a great good”.  The crucifixion was a great evil believing it was better for one to die in the name of a greater good to preserve the Jewish customs.  The Holocaust was a great evil believing it was a great good to exterminate what was proclaimed as an inferior people.  We have seen the great evil of abortion done in the name of a great good defending the “right to choose” life or death of a child.  The evil of the death of a child in the womb seen in the sonograms is validated by modern science to be the killing of a beating heart.  That is why the number of abortions continues to decline and a greater number of the young people stand for life.  As one evil slowly gets defeated there is a rise of another wolf to follow.  What is the new evil to rise up? 

Gender selection is the new evil promoted as a “greater good” to a child as “questioning” their identity.  A child before the age of mature cognitive development is promoted gender selection as a great good supported by the rise of medication assisted treatment to promote a gender change.  Once indoctrinated to choose a gender opposed to the natural law of their genetic makeup then the child is victim to a life-long process of dependency on a medical system of care to sustain the big lie against the natural law.  If any voice of contradiction should rise then it becomes imperative to be silenced by the “cancel culture”, which is the return of the past great evil that crucified Jesus Christ to silence him and his followers for speaking truth to power.  The power that saves!  These are the wolves of our time and will we stand to defend our sheep that is the children from being scattered by these wolves.

The rise of the great evil in “cancel culture” is to promote a belief in a greater good of inclusive language by canceling what is professed to be racist speech for any opposition raised to speak up for the natural law of creation.  Mandatory cultural sensitivity is the new norm for indoctrination into the accepted culture in the cultural war of the new systemic bias towards inclusivity defined as an acceptance to any identity regardless of natural law.  What is lost in the argument is that systemic bias is what is driving the cancel culture against the norms, values, and morals founded on religious beliefs and liberty. 

First God was taken out of schools in the dogma of separation of church and state.  It opened up the doors to secular rule as the only “truth” for all the sheep to hear.  Now comes a pandemic crisis calling for the closure of church gatherings as a greater good and our children to stay home not only from school but from church catechesis of the faith.  We hear of reaching herd immunity to a virus that kills by eliminating potential hosts when all have been vaccinated or survived the virus.  The cultural war is seeking to create herd immunity to religious values with mandatory cultural sensitivity training as the vaccine against church teaching.  Promoters of great evil always believe “never let a crisis go to waste”. 

Who will shepherd the faith of our children and their understanding of their creation in the image of God and the natural law of God?  Will we let them come back to the church and continue their journey of faith?  Are we ready to teach the faith as the domestic church at home which we are called to shepherd and protect?  Are we fulfilling our baptismal vows?  Questions each of us must answer and take ownership as shepherds of our flock. 

Where is God, faith, and traditional values and morals in this new cultural war?  God is present in his church and his church stands opposed to abortion, homosexuality, gender neutral identity, euthanasia, assisted suicide, and more thus it is an abomination to the “new imagining” and a threat to the cancel culture.  It is better to take refuge in the good shepherd rejected by the builders of this cancel culture than to trust in man or the princes who lead what is being called the “new imagining”.   Will the “new imagining” bring us truth, goodness, beauty and unity or a return to the original lie of the serpent “you shall be like gods” by evolving into your own creation?

We are reminded “The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him.”  The cancel culture of the world is not a new phenomenon.  History proves that all the great evils done were done in the name of a great good.   The world will continue to reimagine itself into the culture of bringing about great evil for the purpose of the power that comes from it as a sheep in wolves clothing.  They hear not the voice of the Lord but their own voice of tyranny seeking to tear down in order to create a new world order.  When will the new imagining recognize there remains a heaven and hell that cannot be reimagined at the end of this life and all these visions being imagined failed to see beyond itself to the true greater good of the kingdom of God? 

The good shepherd says “I know my sheep, and mine know me.”  If we don’t have that knowledge of the good shepherd then we are invited to come to the sanctuary of salvation while there is still time.  “What we shall be has not yet been revealed” but it is not something we can reimagine.  To be “like him” is to persevere in the sacrifice of faith, hope and love for the one true good, that is for the good shepherd.  `

We are called to be one Holy, Catholic and Apostolic church.  Given the Holy Spirit at baptism we have entered into the kingdom of God to be like him, holy by seeking our identity in Jesus Christ the holy one, catholic by being united into the one body of Christ and apostolic by giving testimony of our faith by the witness of our lives.  Holiness is a gift of grace we seek in prayer to overcome the sin of our fallen nature.  It is not something we hope for after death but something we sacrifice for as disciples of the good shepherd.  We are Catholic in being united to the body of Christ when we come to receive his body and blood in the Eucharist.  Apostolic when we go forth transformed as sheep into shepherds in the image of Christ to spread to good news of Easter, Jesus is alive!  He lives in us and with us to spread the good news through us. 

Let us listen to the voice of the shepherd and be transformed into shepherds of the gifts and blessing we have been given and let us go forth to multiply the kingdom for the true greater good of salvation. 

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Homily

3rd Sunday of Easter – Jesus Christ, Advocate!

Posted on by Deacon Joe

Acts 3:13-15, 17-19; Ps. 4:2, 4, 7-9; 1 Jn. 2:1-5; Lk. 24:35-48

Jesus Christ, Advocate to the Father who is “expiation for our sins” that we may keep his word and “truly be perfected in him”.  We are perfected in him when we “keep his commandments”.  We are perfected in him when the Scriptures are opened to us to make our hearts “burn” in transformation to avoid the near temptation to sin.  We are perfected in him when Jesus is made known to us “in the breaking of bread” as we celebrate his coming in the Eucharist.  This is our Advocate who suffered, died, and rose again in victory. 

As Jesus appears once again to the disciples he asks “Have you anything here to eat?”.  Jesus not only rose from the dead but he has “flesh and bones” and an appetite.  The sting of death is transformed into the glory of the resurrected human body perfected in love.  The greatest hunger of the Lord is for souls to repent, to be converted and to return to holiness.  He is waiting for us to take that first step and seek that we should find our Advocate.  Why is it difficult for us to “ask” of him what he is waiting to give us?  Perhaps we know not how to ask.  Could it be that we ask for the wrong thing or that we simply cannot put aside our pride and have yet to repent? 

“Ask” for the Lord to reveal to us what we are to seek and to reveal if we ask wrongly.  We are to approach him with prayers and supplications. Jesus performed many miracles of healing to those who approached him in supplication.  If those who were lost knew to seek, find, and ask how much more has the path been opened to the believers to approach our Advocate to God the Father who cannot be denied.  It is time for us to rise up as believers and come to the table of the Lord in supplication for our needs and the needs of the world.  We come not with wishful thinking but with the faith to believe our Advocate can do all things in us and in the world for his glory. 

As baptized children of God we have received the gift of the Holy Spirit with the infusion of spiritual virtues of holiness to know to ask.  It begins with faith, hope, and love to unite us to the Advocate.  Ask our Advocate to increase our faith to believe in the mystery of our salvation, our hope to expect a revelation of truth, and our love to make an offering our ourselves.  “Ask” for an increase in the gift of the moral virtues of justice for right judgment, fortitude for the courage to act rightly, prudence to choose wisely and temperance to live in moderation and abstinence according to his commands of life with all its temptations.  The Lord is waiting for our “Ask”. 

Perhaps then in asking for our Advocate to reveal his will for us we discover we have yet to repent of our sin out of our pride.  We have judged incorrectly, having failed to respond courageously in the face of the attack from the enemy, and have to admit we have “acted out of ignorance” in our choices. We are now living the instability of our intemperance through the indulgence of our natural appetites and falling into the pit of darkness.  Why wait for the casualty of death to come because we have held on to our pride and denied the Lord his place as Advocate for our sins.  He stands at our side ready to give us forgiveness as he did to the thief on the cross by his side.

Jesus Christ, Advocate of mercy on the cross amends for our sins and
those of the whole world” if we but believe and repent.  “If” is the barrier between our sins and his mercy.  If first we “believe” what we profess that is that Jesus Christ is present to us and not a “ghost” of spiritualism.  He is physically present in the Eucharist!  This is a stumbling block to many, even those who profess to be believers of Christianity.  He is the food of salvation we are to hunger for as he hungers for us.  He multiplies himself to feed the world but the world does not accept him.  His mercy returns to him for it finds few places to make its dwelling place a home in the souls of the professed believers and nonbelievers also known as “None”.   Who are these who profess to be “None”? 

“None” is the modern-day identity of those who follow no religious affiliation.  They walk a journey of faith in themselves, as their own advocate of right and wrong professing their own righteousness.  Their righteousness stands while things remain in control but when a power greater than themselves shakes their foundation of faith in themselves, they crumble and fall in despair alone to suffer in their own body and soul the weakness of a godless existence.  There is “none” to advocate for them in their sins because they reach out to none.  If the “None” cannot accept our mother Church as the visible sign of Jesus Christ how can they welcome him in the invisible mystery of his presence? 

Jesus Christ, Advocate is a reminder we were created to be in unity and not in isolation.  We don’t reach out to none we reach out to Jesus Christ, King of glory.  We require the human touch to confirm our belief and strengthen our faith.  Our seven sacraments provide us the physical presence of the invisible grace being manifested in our lives.  Unity in physical presence is a “game changer” as it was when Jesus physically appeared to the disciples.  Imagine having only a vision of a loved one but without the ability to touch and experience the warmth and nature of another in our presence.  The sacramental life provides us a physical unity to be transformative.  Without touch, unity becomes an exercise of mental exchange short of perfection.

In baptism the child is touched with the sign of the cross by the priest, parents, and godparents.  The child is touched by the waters of baptism.  The child is touched in the Ephphetha on the ears to receive the word of God and on the lips to proclaim their faith as believers and they are to see in the light of the candle the light of Christ which they receive and is held before them.  The human touch is the sign and validation of unity. 

Jesus Christ, Advocate is present for our touch.  The world fears a pandemic from spreading by the closeness of our physical presence and our touch.  It seeks to create the isolation that is worse than the disease separated by clear barriers and virtual worlds.  Those who turn to the Advocate have the virtues to not fall prey to fears of the enemy under the guise of a “greater good” but moved by the spirit of the Advocate embrace each other with love and charity.  Just as a vaccine is created to protect against a virus so is the Advocate there to protect against the near occasion of sin. 

Recently having traveled into another diocese it was announced in Sunday Mass that the bishop of this diocese had earlier in the week issued a letter stating the Church of the Diocese would continue with maintaining the mask and social distancing mandates even if the State no longer was enforcing them.  Then later in the week a new letter was issued stating the Church of this Diocese would no long require any mandates and each person and family was free to determine what measures to take.  The only request was to respect the decisions of each parishioner.  The day is coming when each bishop will issue a similar letter to the faithful and we are to trust in our Advocate to guide us in spirit and truth. 

We live in times where “shaming” is a powerful weapon in the identified “cancel culture” which comes from the evil one.  It is time to rise from the dead of “cancel culture” to the truth of the “Resurrected Culture” of everlasting life.  It is time to fear not and determine personal risk factors with prudence in our decisions.  Jesus Christ, Advocate is the source of life in our “Resurrected Culture”.  There is a Spanish saying “El respeto al derercho ajeno es la paz” meaning the respect to others rights is the peace.  Jesus was, is and always will be the truth, the way, and the life to the peace he brings us as faithful servants. 

This is our Easter to rejoice and be glad.  We belong to him, we belong to the “Resurrected Culture” and it is time to rise again in faith, hope, and love and go forth to live in the kingdom of God! 

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Homily

2nd Sunday of Easter – Water and Blood!

Posted on by Deacon Joe

Acts 4:32-35; Ps. 118:2-4, 13-15, 22-24; 1 Jn. 5:1-6; Jn. 20:19-31

Water and blood testified “Peace be with you” in the Spirit of truth. What did the disciples experience in the witness of the resurrected Christ?  They first experienced the calming of their fears in his greeting of peace at the shock of seeing the resurrected Christ.  They experienced Jesus physical presence marked by the wounds of his hands and side.  They experienced the breath of Jesus coming into them as the Holy Spirit with power.  They experience a command to go forth to forgive and retain sins in the same Spirit of truth as the moral compass in this world. 

The water from the side of Jesus Christ is baptizing in spirit and truth.  The blood from his side is the sacrifice of the lamb in atonement for our sins.  They work together to bring us salvation for those “who have not seen and have believed.”  The disciples saw “many other signs in the presence of his disciples that are not written”.  In Jesus, the disciples saw the glory of the resurrected body transcending the natural law, the glory to come for those who believe and die in the faith of Jesus Christ.

St. Tomas Aquinas wrote of the seven qualities of the resurrected body to come for those who believe.  These qualities the disciples saw in Jesus resurrected and are listed as “identity, integrity, quality, impassability, sotility, agility, and clarity.  This is our hope and God’s promise to those who believe. 

Beginning with “identity” they recognized Jesus though he was transfigured by the divine light in his identity yet coming in his divinity.  We are created with our original identity perfect yet stained by sin and humanity’s weaknesses.  When he breathed on his disciples with the gift of the Holy Spirit then their hearts, minds, and souls received his perfect identity to go forth and minister to this perfect love to the world.  These were the same disciples who in fear ran and denied Jesus now are given the power to stand and testify to the resurrection.  Alleluia!

To this identity we are given our “integrity” of body without any further decay and our senses with perfect vision, mobility, without handicap or disabilities.  No more suffering or sickness but the fullness of health in mind, body, and spirit.  Alleluia!

Perfect integrity comes with perfect “quality” of life.  What is this “prime” of quality of life in the resurrection?  It is not a number in sequence of aging in which we return to be 21 again or 33 again.  It is a state of life in the spiritual maturity to know God, love God, and serve God.  It is being the best God created us to be with the gifts of grace he pours into us.  Alleluia!

Having entered into the divine life there is an “impassability” of returning to a mortal state where disease, injury, or death return.  Death has been defeated by Jesus resurrection and with it the power of evil.  When the dead rise again, they receive the resurrected body with the impassability to return to a “reincarnation” of a fallen nature.  Alleluia! 

Jesus appears to the disciples “when the doors were locked” both times demonstrating his “sotility” to pass through material nature.  Jesus tells Thomas “Put your finger here and see my hands, and bring your hand and put it into my side” shows us Jesus presence in body not as a spiritual image but full in body yet not restricted by the material doors.  Before Star Track came up with “beam me up Scotty” came Jesus by his own sotility with the power to be both tangible and unrestricted.  Alleluia!

In his divinity with both body and spirit Jesus demonstrates his power of “agility” to move through space at the speed of thought as the soul obeys the will to be agile as a spark of light.  In a world where we take for granted the speed of communication in technology we remain in our humanity as slow as a turtle.  Jesus “agility” demonstrates we will receive this same agility in our resurrection to be present where the will desires.  Alleluia!

Finally, Jesus demonstrates his “clarity” free from imperfections to the degree of “charity” meaning no signs of the scourging he endured yet he remained with the perfect sign of his charity with the nail marks and scar on his side.  How is this perfect “clarity” if marked by the sign of his crucifixion?  Jesus wounds remained for Thomas to see and believe as the crucifix remains as a reminder of his suffering for our sins.  This clarity of charity is perfect love until the day of his return in glory.  Alleluia! 

Jesus was perfect in love, knowledge and understanding when he calls out Thomas “do not be unbelieving, but believe.”  Even though Jesus was not present when Thomas declared “Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands and put my finger into into his side, I will not believe” Jesus had full knowledge of Thomas and in his love of Thomas welcomed him to believe as he invites us to believe and be blessed this Easter season.  Alleluia!  Alleluia! 

In a world with so much suffering, disease, anxiety, trauma, tragedy, and restlessness we long to receive the same peace given to the disciples and the breath of Jesus.  Jesus also longs to give us the same gift he gave to the disciples so where is the disconnect?  It begins with failing to live out the commandments even when the “are not burdensome”.  Love of God is faith in action!  We claim to have faith but our will is directed inward, not seeking the will of the Father.  Active love of God is constantly seeking “Lord what is your will?”  Resurrection comes with the death of the “old” self, opening up the soul to the inpouring of the Spirit to do the will of the Father.  This is a great step of faith.  Whoever is ready for this total surrender comes to the water and blood to rest in the peace of Christ.  The journey is a work in progress towards spiritual maturity and we all fall short along the path but Jesus remains present and waiting to lift us up and continue fighting the good fight.  Never give in to the spirit of defeat from the evil one.  In the darkest moments we will be made new again. 

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Homily The Deacon Joe

Easter Triduum – A Proclamation of love

Posted on by Deacon Joe

Easter Triduum is a proclamation of love in the person of Jesus Christ who through his sacrifice of love brings us salvation and passage into heaven.  Above we see three faces but one God in Jesus Christ as they all completely overlap to represent the same face. Each face represents the face of his passion as Veronica wipes his face on the road to Calvary followed by the face of his death wrapped on the Shroud of Turin, but then there is the face at the moment of the resurrection on the cloth covering his head, all available for us to see and believe in the relics of the Church.

Holy Thursday seen as the institution of the priesthood comes with the words “Do this!”  Good Friday, the only day without the celebration of the Mass is the paradox of being “Good” when at the same time the Lord is being crucified and proclaims on the cross “It is finished!”  Holy Saturday is the “Proclamation of the Exultet” from darkness to light with the lighting of the Easter candle, a sign of the Lord’s resurrection and the conquering of death concluding with Easter Sunday.  Thus, Easter is not a day or a moment but a living out of life through a process of love that begins with a command “Do this!” and so by doing it we enter into the life of Christ, his sacrifice, death, and resurrection. 

“Do this!”  The command of the disciples to follow “the way” of Jesus before his death was to take his high priesthood as son of God and bestow to his disciples the call to his royal priesthood.  This was not a public proclamation but a solemn event to those he called to be his disciples in order to give them a mandate of love through an act of charity by washing their feet.  This was “the way” of continuing to multiply the “loaves” of bread to feed his sheep and tend to his sheep through his body and blood in the Eucharist.  Jesus taught publicly many lessons but he reserved to these disciples a call to a life apart, a sacramental life, and a sacrificial life for the stranger making disciples of all nations. 

How is it that on a day when “sin” tries to claim its victory over God in the crucifixion of Jesus we recall it as a “Good Friday”?  Is there anything more of a paradox in life than to see Jesus crucified and call it “good”?  It is good that Jesus remained obedient to the Father through all his suffering even till death on a cross.  It is good that “it is finished” in bringing us the final victory over sin so that at the name of Jesus sin can have no power over us.  It is good that we never forget this day in the life of faith so we may endure our own suffering knowing grace and patience until the day of our deliverance.  Yes, it is good to recall “God doesn’t give us what we can handle, God helps us handle what we are given” by our “cries and supplications” to the God of deliverance. 

Exult for we have come from darkness to light, from death to life, and from sin to holiness.  Exult for the history of salvation is revealed to us in order to give us wisdom and understanding of the mysteries of faith.  Exult because now is the time of deliverance from the power of evil from the days of Adam and Eve to a new creation in Jesus Christ.  Let us exult for we now are transformed into the creation of the temple God longs to live in when we surrender into the waters of our baptism to rise again as he did from the darkness of death.  This is the “Proclamation of the Exultet” to rise again from our darkness. 

Rejoice children of God in Easter Sunday as the temple is raised again as promised in three days.  Rejoice because in rising from the dead he appeared to his disciples with a new command to forgive sins with the power of the Holy Spirit that is to come into them.  Rejoice children of God for our Shepherd is with us as we listen for his voice.  From the day of birth of mother church in the institution of the priesthood to the rising of the Son of God we rejoice for we are not alone, never abandoned nor forsaken by the Lord who suffered his passion in order to remain with us until the end of time.

Easter, a Triduum of love has been called the “silent times” in which we have offered our sacrifice of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving during our Lenten season in order to experience the resurrection of the Lord in our own mind, body, and spirit.  In these silent times God speaks and his words are both universal to the world as they come also to each of us to say “Do this for love of me.”  In the quiet of our hearts, we now come to Lord to receive his glory and to celebrate our own victory as we pass through from death to life in Christ.  Happy Easter!  Happy Resurrection Day! 

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Homily The Deacon Joe

Palm Sunday – It has begun, the final journey!

Posted on by Deacon Joe

Palm Sunday, it has begun!  The final journey to “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?”  “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” Death is a human experience of being “forsaken”, a fear of total separation “abandonment” to suffer the final battle for the soul at the hour of death with the evil one, the final test of faith.  Jesus walked the walk of death in his humanity though not in his divinity to leave us with the hope of salvation when the final hour comes calling for our souls may we be faithful to the end.  Palm Sunday is our remembrance not simply of his passion and death for our salvation but also of our readiness to undergo the test, the final battle and finish the good fight. 

It has begun with Palm Sunday, the beginning of the end not just of Holy Week in which we recognize the time has come to “walk” in the steps of the Lord’s Passion but of our own test of faith.  Do we walk the walk or do we deny?  From the agony of “tears and supplications” to the final breath Jesus taught us the way of faithfulness and obedience to the Father.  Jesus taught us there is suffering in which we feel alone and forsaken in order to testify to our faith.  We are greater than our feelings and our weaknesses.  We are being made perfect as we are transformed into the divine nature through death to self but not all.  “Not all” we shall consider later. 

It has begun are we ready to follow?  Jesus requested his disciples to go and bring him a “colt tethered on which no one has ever sat.”  Jesus has walked for years and has the strength to bear the weight of the cross to come but now he desires a colt to ride on.  What does this mean?  In short it means obedience to the Father in all of the smallest details foretold of his coming.  A king does not come into his kingdom on foot “see your king comes, seated upon an ass’s colt”.  As Saint Leo the Great pope wrote “Lowliness is assured by majesty, weakness by power, mortality by eternity.  To pay the debt of our sinful state, a nature that was incapable of suffering was joined to one that could suffer…was able to die in one nature, and unable to die in the other.”   He humbled himself in our human nature to bring us into his divine nature out of love. 

Jesus was not only fulfilling the prophesies of centuries past that pointed to his coming, he was fulfilling the law and the prophets the Father’s way while making all things new in himself.  The Father’s way is one of surrender to the divine will to become a new creation.  The Father’s way of obedience is not to create pawns out of humanity as puppets on a string.  Jesus came “taking the form of a slave…obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross” to deliver us from the slavery of sin into the freedom of God’s glory.  The Father’s way is to bring about a new creation in us perfect in his image with power and love beyond all understanding in order to go forth and make disciples of all nations.  Not our way but the Father’s way of humble service.  For this reason, the world cannot accept the Father’s way. 

The world looks to create its own power and define its own love, a temptation from the evil one from the beginning of time.  It was the free will of the angels that produced the fall of Satan and his dominion of angels.  It was the free will of Adam and Eve that allowed temptation to overcome them.  It is the free will of even Jesus’ followers to complain “Why has there been this waste of perfumed oil?  It could have been sold for more than three hundred days’ wages and the money given to the poor.  They were infuriated with her.”  “They” how quickly even one act of love from the “woman” with the costly jar of alabaster oil turned future saints into sinners and into a movement spreading anger, lack of understanding, and one of them, Judas Iscariot into a traitor to hand him over to the chief priests.  Let us consider how the evil one is quick to turn good upside down into evil.  Why “not all will enter the kingdom of heaven”. 

First, have you noticed how the Catholic church is criticized by some of the faithful for all the beauty of art it possesses in its shrines, cathedrals, and museums?  The criticism is that “it could be sold to help the poor.”  Sound familiar?  God granted a few a gift of grace to create a masterpiece not to be auctioned to the highest bidder but to serve as a gift of spiritual awakening accessible to all who come with an open heart of love.  We are blessed by those he has blessed so that the temples of our hearts may be enriched with faith, hope, and love. 

Second, consider how social justice in the “woke” culture.  What is “woke”?  “Woke” is slang for “awake” that is to awaken to social awareness of injustice.  The “woke” world of today’s culture has found a powerful weapon in social media to bring awareness to issues of racial injustice.  This has quickly been captured by some to weaponize with hate speech in order to shame others into silence.  When we listen to those who proclaim justice for some and not for all, when some lives matter more than others, when hate is seen as justice in the hands of some who desire to “woke” others into shame then the evil one is prowling about seeking the ruin of souls.  This is not the means sought by Martin Luther King, Jr., or Cesar Chavez, or Mahatma Gandhi who understood awareness does not come through hate, violence or oppression.  These are the weapons to gain power not unity and peace. 

If the goal of “woke” culture is to awaken us then let us be also awaken to the evil means that seek its own ends in a culture of death.  The world is quick to reject good for evil and create a “herd” mentality of rebellion.  “They” did it to Jesus then “they” can quickly become “us”.  Let us all become “woke” to the kingdom of heaven like the five prudent virgins in the gospel of Mathew (Mt. 25:1-13) who were prepared waiting for the bridegroom.  Stay awake!  Stay awake because the battle is raging institutionally in education, health care, in the church, and its coming home to divide Father against son, brother against sister.  But sin cannot hide in its darkness because the light of Easter has come into the world and we follow the light of truth. 

It is our free will that leads us to consider “not all” will be transformed and made perfect into a new creation.  Death separates the souls who died with the stain of sin waiting a final cleansing in purgatory.  Death also separates the “grain from the weeds”, that is those destined for the fire of cleansing from those destined to the fire of damnation.  Who will we follow, the Father’s way humbled as Jesus did unto death or the way of the past world that is the way of a fallen nature?  The freedom to choose is now before us before it is too late.  Are we ready to bend our knees and confess “Jesus Christ is Lord” of my life?

This Passover will be different not from the big “T” of Tradition but from the little “t” traditions of how we celebrate this coming week as directed by our Bishop, Daniel Flores.  It has already begun with the manner we entered without a procession to receive our palms.  Holy Thursday there will not be any washing of the feet and Good Friday we will not be touching or venerating the cross with a kiss, and Holy Saturday the darkness will not be lighted by candles but the light of Jesus will shine even brighter.  In the midst of all the darkness this world has endured this year faith, hope, and love never dies. 

This is our Passover from death to life. This is our calling to rise above the earthly pilgrimage and enter the kingdom of heaven in the “Via Dolorosa” and shed our sins before the mercy of God. How will it end?

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Homily The Deacon Joe

5th Sunday of Lent – Prayers and Supplications!

Posted on by Deacon Joe

Jer. 31:31-34; Ps: 51:3-4, 12-15; Heb. 5:7-9; Jn.12:20-33

Prayers and supplications create a clean heart to know the Lord and “cleanse us from our sin”.  Jesus the Christ offered prayers and supplications with “loud cries and tears” in his troubled heart and he “learned obedience from what he suffered”.  Suffering is a great teacher.  It reminds us of our mortality, it brings about a need for “other” recognizing we cannot do it alone.  It humbles in order to learn something greater outside of ourselves.  Suffering may even be a gift of grace from God to unite us to his suffering when we offer it up to him for a greater good. 

Suffering to the world is an evil against self-indulgence.  It prevents us from the freedom of our human inclinations to do more, have more, risk more.  Without suffering we would continue our habits not realizing the harm our actions may be causing.  Suffering has a purpose for the soul just as pain has a purpose for the body.  The pain of a fever serves as a messenger in the natural law warning us something is attacking our body and we must act before it becomes worse.  Suffering is a messenger to the soul as a call to action, a call to prayers and supplications and a call to learn obedience to the natural and spiritual laws of God. 

In one of the gospel readings from this past week from the book of John, chapter 5 there was a man who had been “ill for thirty-eight years” at the “Sheep Gate” by the “pool called in Hebrew Bethesda”.  It reads, “When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had been ill for a long time, he said to him, ‘Do you want to be well?’”  Imagine what kind of a question is this for someone who has been ill thirty-eight years waiting in hopes of getting into a pool believed to bring healing to the sick.  I picture today going to the waters of Lourdes, seeing the long lines of people waiting to get into the water that started with the appearance of our Blessed Mother in Lourdes to Bernadette and her digging with her hands to drink of the water coming out of the dirt that today brings millions from around the world in pilgrimage. 

Is Jesus asking a rhetorical question or does he mean what he says and says what he means.  When it comes to sin, do we want to be well?  Have we become so normalized in our own sin that we don’t even see the sin in our lives and live with our suffering from sin separating the suffering from the source?  Do we want to be well?  In my work in the field of addictions half of the people who come to treatment are not seeking to “get well”.  Many come with other motivations under pressure from family, the court, an employer.  When it comes to “getting well” they are in a pre-contemplative state of motivation with no intent of stopping their favorite drug of choice.  They want to continue their lifestyle and avoid the consequences of their actions.  What is our “drug” that binds us in sickness and suffering?  Is it money, work, power, control, greed, lust, food, alcohol, narcotics?  We can turn anything into a “drug” of choice even a sinful relationship when we allow it to become our obsession.

Jesus heals the man by the pool and later tells him “Look, you are well; do not sin any more, so that nothing worse may happen to you.”  What could be worse than thirty-eight years of lying on a mat in sickness unable to care for yourself?  The answer is the death that comes from sin.  While there is suffering and sickness there is hope of healing our mind, body and soul.  Death from sin is hell.  Jesus is asking us “Do you want to be well?”  Prayers and supplications create a clean heart to clean us from our sin. 

When we pray, do we believe we are being heard or are we left wondering does God hear our prayers?  God hears our every word and thought coming from our reverence.  It is sometimes said prayer is like “having a conversation with a friend”.  Do we revere our friends, do we give them high respect by being transparently honest and lovingly compassionate?  Then yes it can be like having a conversation with a friend.  It can also lack in reverence when we want to make our point and have it our way with selective memory and self-justification.  Then we are not giving reverence or being a friend.  We have a friend in Jesus who calls us his friends meaning he gives us his great love.  We must give him our reverence with deep devotion and love. 

It is always interesting to me to see the reverence given to a funeral procession in silence as cars pull over to give respect to the dead but see an ambulance with its sirens blasting and nobody wants to slows down for the living.  The Mass is a call for reverence to the mystery of faith, a profound love of Jesus before us.  It is not the memory but the living presence of Jesus.  Reverence is beyond simply respect for, it goes from veneration to worship and adore.  We will venerate the cross on Good Friday for all it represents as a sign of our worship and adoration of Jesus Christ.  Our reverence, that is our outward gestures give witness to our inward faith and God sees and listens to our prayers coming from the heart. 

How is Jesus the God-man “made perfect” when God is perfect?  It was through his obedience for the purpose he came into the world to be “lifted up from the earth” that is to be hung on a cross that he glorified the Father and was made perfect in obedience to the divine will.  This is how we are to be made perfect when our cries and tears lead us to walk in faith knowing God has heard us and now, we must go forth trusting in his divine will to his promise to be with us until the end of the world.  We are made perfect in obedience to his Word as the Holy Spirit speaks to our heart and mind.  Our works that give glory and honor to God make perfect our faith. 

In the celebration of the Mass our Lord is lifted up in the body and blood of the Eucharist having been made perfect for us to receive him in reverence with prayers and supplications.  The Mass is a unity of prayer to glorify the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit and our prayers are heard when our hearts are ready to receive his word.  If our hearts are ready then his word becomes incarnated into our hearts as he promised “I will place my law within them and write it upon their hearts” and he will be our God.  God is with us.

When we are troubled our prayer is often more of “save me from this hour”.  Jesus prayer was “Father, glorify your name.”  It is not about us.  We are to serve a purpose in changing hearts, minds, and lives when we pray “Father, glorify your name”.  These four words are an invitation that we may be made perfect transformed into a channel of grace through which the Lord wishes to reveal himself, his power and love.  Jesus did not glory in being a victim but in the power of God so that “the ruler of this world will be driven out.”  Today we are drawn to Jesus by the cross he suffered for us to serve the greater purpose of our call to holiness.  That purpose begins with reverence. 

Do we give each other the reverence of our love?  Do we listen with deep respect to understand what is in each other’s hearts?  Do we give ourselves the reverence of being created in the image of God in order to defend the sanctity of our own life?  Without reverence we objectify ourselves and others as a means to an end.  (V1) “O, honey!”  (V2) “What do you want?”  (V1) “Can you get me something?”  (V2) “Why can’t you get it yourself?”  Words matter!  A home without reverence becomes a place of shared space, cold, indifferent, until the moment suffering becomes the uninvited guest.  Then we recognize our need for the other.  Imagine the heart of Jesus getting that response.  It happens!  When?  When we treat others without reverence, we treat Jesus this way. 

What about our children and the deep love and respect we give God by our love and respect for them?  “They are only kids!”  God says, “Let the children come to me.”  When someone has power, we give honor to them for the power they have but when they no longer have power our respect wavers.  We respect our parents as children and then we grow in rebellion seeking our own way and when they age no longer responsible for our care, do we return to give them the honor of our love and respect?  Then, there is the poor, the sick, and the abandoned with no one to care for them worthy of our deep respect for their suffering.  If not by the grace of God that may be us if not now someday “from the least to the greatest” shall know God.  Reverence is always in season with God and so in honor. 

“The Father will honor whoever serves me” says Jesus.  We serve Jesus when we become the “grain of wheat” and die to ourselves to produce the fruit of love through sacrifice.  It is not one death but a daily collection of deathly moments we endure as we sacrifice for each other.  Age has a way of being the “wake-up call” that adds to the cross of suffering.  As we age, we uncover new sources of pain from years that take their toll on the body and from the sin of our lives.  I like to remind myself, “I go to bed feeling well and wake up to discover new aches and pain before I even face the cross of the day.” 

As we age, we also gain a deeper understanding of our sin.   We may suffer the memory of our past, the consequences we cannot change, the loss of relationship broken by neglect or abuse, even the death of being separated from God for some time.  This is the time for our “cries and tears” for mercy to a compassionate God.  This is the time to recover the joy of God’s salvation and come back stronger in faith with his spirit to sustain us. This is the power of one confession with a contrite spirit to cleanse us from our sin and set us free. 

A clean heart is a heart of love, a heart of forgiveness, a heart born of mercy knowing that regardless of our past, our sin, and the grave of death we dug for ourselves our bodies will not lie in waste but are given new life and hope because the Lord says, “I have promised, and I will do it.” 

The cross however does not have to be to suffer without meaning.  The cross is to love with purpose and meaning even if it hurts.  Love gives great joy to the heart to overcome suffering that our “cries and tears” may turn to joy and peace. 

Lent is a call to healing with prayers and supplications. Jesus is waiting to cleanse us from our sin in the waters of baptism, in the confessional and he is in the Eucharist so we may receive a clean heart this day.  Do we want to be well?  Then come and offer your prayers and supplications to the Lord who makes all things new again. 

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Homily The Deacon Joe

4th Sunday of Lent – Rejoice, O Jerusalem!

Posted on by Deacon Joe

2 Chron. 36:14-16, 19-23; Ps: 137:1-6; Eph. 2:4-10; Jn. 3:14-21

“Rejoice, O Jerusalem” “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life.”  John 3:16 is printed in posters, cups, shirts, billboards and proclaimed by all Christian people. It stands as a foundation of faith in Jesus Christ and unity for his people and we rejoice in Laetare Sunday to be children of God.  In the darkness of sin comes the light of faith bring hope into the world. 

Faith and works unite as one when we act in faith and allow the works of God to be his love through us.  We live in it we rejoice in it and we fulfill the works of God in it.  It is in the ministry of the priesthood that accomplishes the works of God in the church.  It is the works of God seen in the service of the laity coming from our baptism and the gift of the Holy Spirit.  Faith and works are not to be divided any more than our soul is to be separated from our body for we are given both to serve as one in this world. 

John 3:16 is one of the most quoted verses of the bible by Christians of all denominations.  Human nature being what it is has in the same way created disunity among Christian people when it comes to salvation between those who profess “saved by faith alone and not by works” and Catholic faith in salvation by grace in unity with works.  James 2:26 reminds us “For just as a body without a spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead”. 

Today Ephesians makes a strong argument for faith, “For by grace you have been saved though faith, and this is not from you; it is a gift of God; it is not from works so no one may boast”.  Saved by grace and rich in mercy is our God who desires us to recognize how great is his love that he gave us his only Son to save us.  It is clear salvation is a gift of grace from God who is “rich in mercy.”  We may ask how one confession wipes away all my sins if not by the rich mercy of God.  How can any of our works be considered justification for salvation since we believe in John 3:16, Jesus died in atonement for our sins that we “might not perish”?  The simple answer is we don’t.  An act of faith opens the gates of salvation to receive the grace of mercy from God.  So where does “works” stand in salvation? 

“Works” are the visible signs of God’s work in us “so no one may boast” as their achievement but give God the glory who is at work to bring salvation to the world.  Salvation is a gift “though faith” visible in the works of the faithful.  Anyone who claims to have “faith” gives light to their faith in the visible works of God as we surrender to him.  Consider the works of Moses, Elijah, and all the great prophets and all that God accomplished through their faith and trust in God and became the “handiwork” of God “for the good works that God has prepared in advance” for them.  It is our turn now as a people of faith to be the handiwork of God for the works he has prepared in advance for us “that we should live in them”. 

If we live in God’s works prepared for us then we live in the light of salvation but if we turn to the “infidelity” of our own works then we live in darkness of a faith that is dead. “Infidelity to infidelity practicing all the abominations…until there was no remedy.”  Does this sound like ancient medieval times or modern times?  We live in a time of infidelity practicing all the abominations going from good to evil, from the sovereignty of human life to calling for the rights of abortion to end life, from made in the image of God to made in the image of genetic manipulation to create an alternative life, from God’s natural law of sexual identity to human law of identity preference, from the right to life until the end of life to the right to die at the time of my choice.  Works that stand for death stand against the fidelity to God as an abomination. 

Not only have we lost the commandment to keep holy the “Sabbaths” but all the other commandments are no longer the tradition of the public square.  They are being held captive to remain within the walls of the church not to be seen in public not even on the walls of anything considered a wall of the State lest we be canceled for infringement on the rights of the anti-commandment culture of death.  Where does freedom come from? Is it by authority of the State or by authority of God through his command of life? 

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”  (Jn. 1:1) We are reminded in the gospel of John that “all things came to be through him, and without him nothing came to be.  What came to be through him was life”.  Our lifeline is God and without God we are already the walking dead “in our transgressions”. If the State by the authority granted unto itself chooses the darkness of death then let us stand apart as “the light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it” (Jn. 1:5) Take courage in that our kingdom is not of this world as children of God. 

What is the remedy?  Perhaps the critical question is “what is the remedy God will bring upon this world?  Perhaps it has already begun as we see the hand of God amid all the crisis in the world “until the land has retrieved all its lost sabbaths.”  The remedy is Jesus Christ!  The remedy is a call to repentance and retrieve the “lost sabbaths” by returning to the commandments of God.  The remedy is a contrite heart in confession for the times we failed to answer the call to holiness and purity of heart.  The remedy is the courage to give witness to our faith in the works God desires to work through us.  The remedy is more than being “called” children of God, the remedy is to be children of God by the testimony we give every day in every way as the visible sign of his work in us.  As Catholics the remedy is the sacrifice of the Mass in atonement for our sins and the sins of the world. 

Salvation is a gift of grace “through faith”.  The gift is there but it requires action on our part and the first act is an act of faith to believe followed by the natural works that respond to our beliefs that give life to our faith and glory to God.  The mystery of faith is Jesus Christ and the works of faith are the children of God who radiate the light of faith in a world of darkness.  The works of faith, that is the children of God is the treasure he came to save and raise up from death into everlasting life and glory.  The train has left the station since over two thousand years ago and it is making its journey calling the faithful to come aboard.  The ticket to ride is an act of faith but there is work to do on the train of salvation to reach our journey’s end.  The one who does not work does not eat of the bread of life. 

We are reminded that the harvest is ready but the workers are few, not a good sign for this world.  The faithful are becoming the silent minority as less people return to the pews.  We are reminded that “Early and often did the Lord, the God of their faithers, send his messengers to them, for he had compassion on his people and his dwelling place.  But they mocked the messengers of God, despised his warnings, and scoffed at his prophets, until the anger of the Lord against his people was so inflamed that there was no remedy.”  Jesus is the messenger mocked, despised for his warnings, and scoffed as a prophet then and now when we dare to speak for the truth of God. 

It is not personal it is the universal battle between good and evil taking place in our times.  We are called to battle for our faith, we are called to be the remedy.  If not us then who?  Jesus has already come to give us life and to bring about his works through us.  If not now when?  Are we going to witness the enemy “burn the house of God”?  It is already happening in other parts of the world as Christian temples are destroyed.  The “walls of Jerusalem” the city of God is being torn down because those city walls are the walls of our heart that bind us to the heart of Jesus.  All “its precious objects” are the lives of the unborn, the sick, and the poor destroyed in a culture of death. 

“All the kingdoms of the earth” have been given to us as an inheritance and we are his people called to go up to the city of God.  Let us sing to the Lord a new song of love and devotion and give him our troubled hearts.  “Laetare Jerusalem” “Rejoice, O Jerusalem” and be glad while there is still time.  Mother church rejoices in the children of God and we rejoice in Mother Church to bring us the miracle of the body and blood of Jesus in the Eucharist.  The heavens rejoice with us united to our Blessed Mother Mary, St. Joseph and all the angels and saints.

Let us remember that the Church has declared this the year of St. Joseph to be with us as our intercessor.  He who was the defender of the Holy Family may have been silent in the scriptures but not in his fatherhood to Jesus and spouse of Mary.  Just this week in the news a Christian school is promoting that the children no longer refer to their parents as mother and father.  The attack against faith enters through the back door in the form of language to change behavior only to fall into the pit of abominations.  Destroy the family unity and you destroy faith. 

Today in Mass is our portion of the city of God and may our “tongue” never be silenced, may we never forget the giver of life, and may our God be with us all the days of our life until we too are lifted up into eternal life. The “verdict” is in for those who live the truth “so that his works may be clearly seen as done from God.”  Let us rejoice as family! 

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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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