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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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Homily

28th Sunday Ordinary Time – On this Mountain

Posted on by Deacon Joe

Is. 25:6-10; Ps. 23:1-6; Phil.4:12-14, 19-20; Mt. 22:1-14

On this mountain!  A mountain of “juicy, rich food and pure, choice wines” makes for an irresistible banquet in Isaiah the prophet until we read in the gospel how the invitation by the king to the wedding banquet was rejected three times.  Who would reject such a banquet and why?  This seems unthinkable until we identify this “mountain” is Mount Calvary. 

On this mountain is where the wedding feast unites humanity to divinity in the body of Jesus Christ.  The rich food and choice wines come from his body and blood poured out for humanity.  This is the wedding feast rejected by the “chief priests and elders” after the Lord God sent his servants the prophets and apostles to summon them. 

Mount Calvary is not a huge “mountain”.  The “mountain” on Mount Calvary is Jesus on the cross.  He is the mountain of mercy, the wedding feast we attend on Sunday Mass and the food of salvation.  This is the mountain in which he “will destroy the veil…he will destroy death forever”.  Who can behold the man crucified on the cross and proclaim “Behold our God, to whom we looked to save us!” 

“The feast is ready” but wait there is “a man there not dressed in a wedding garment.”  Who is this person the king identifies as “My friend” and then orders to “Bind his hands and feet, and cast him into the darkness outside, where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth”?  All are invited but not all are prepared for the feast. 

We are all created in the image of God to be called “friend” but we are not all obedient to the call from God.  The wedding garment we wear is the baptismal robe to enter into the wedding feast of the kingdom of God.  The wedding garment reminds us that there are expectations in the kingdom to be met, expectations scripture gives as commandments and the church celebrates as sacraments.  There are also daily “circumstances” whether “living in abundance and of being in need” in which we turn to God in faith, hope and love.

In all circumstance we are reminded “My God will fully supply whatever you need, in accord with his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.”  We often say “God only gives us what we can handle” in difficult times.  We remind ourselves to turn to him in our time of need to carry us through the darkness, bear our cross and trust in his divine providence.  The God who is beyond all understanding loves to love with his glorious riches. 

This is the promise already present to “live in the house of the Lord all the days of my life”.  Receive “Only goodness and kindness” in all circumstances when we hunger for righteousness in Christ Jesus.  Remember, “Many are invited, but few are chosen.”  The chosen come dressed for the feast bringing the fruits of their love fest. 

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Homily

27th Sunday Ordinary Time: It’s vintage time!

Posted on by Deacon Joe

It’s vintage time, the time to produce fruit in now.  God’s time is the perfect time but God’s time is always the present moment for us to respond before becoming “wild grapes” in the world of sin.  The Lord prepared the “fertile hillside” for us to grow in his word of wisdom and in the flesh of the word.  He gave us the word made flesh in his son Jesus to yield a fruitful harvest. 

The Lord asks the question “why…did it bring forth wild grapes?  Without giving the answer he gives the consequence that comes to the “house of Israel and the people of Judah” which is the ruin of its land.  Isaiah speaks of “bloodshed! For justice, but hark, the outcry!”  Jesus is the bloodshed for justice the sacrificial lamb and the outcry is the call to crucify him, all still to come in God’s time.  The vintage time for us to produce fruit is now, we must answer for ourselves, for our own wild grapes of sin we live.  With each sin is the outcry “crucify him”. 

It’s vintage time to produce “whatever is true” we must hold onto in a world of personal truth over universal Godly truth; whatever is honorable in a world that dishonors life in abortion and euthanasia; whatever is just in a world that justifies retribution for past sins with current violence; whatever is pure in chastity in a world of perversion; whatever is lovely in a world seeking to destroy a heritage and culture of faith “in God we trust”; and whatever is gracious in a “me to” world of victimization.  Wild grapes are sown daily in the outcry to silence those who seek to produce the best we were created to be in God’s vintage time.

What are we to do?  St. Paul reminds us to “keep on doing what you have learned and received and heard, and seen in me”.  What we have learned, received and heard is Christ himself.  Keep on doing the work of the Lord in all humility and perseverance bearing “fruit that will remain.”  The fruit we bear is the legacy that remains by having followed the teaching of the Church which is the teaching of Christ, bringing our children to the waters of baptism, to the table of the Lord to receive Communion, to the altar of worship to give thanksgiving, and to the confession of our faith by “prayer and petition with thanksgiving make your requests known to God…Then the God of peace will be with you.” 

The choice of our times is as divided as darkness is to light.  Be strong, be faithful, and remain in our Lord Jesus Christ.  It’s our time now…vintage time! 

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Homily

26th Sunday Ordinary Time: Actions speak louder

Posted on by Deacon Joe

Ezek. 18:25-28; Ps. 4-9; Phil.2:1-11; Mt. 21:28-32

“Actions speak louder than words.”  This is a common expression we speak when we want to make it clear we want to see some conviction in the words we hear.  In the gospel today, Jesus proclaims the right action of sinners speaks louder than the words of the chief priests and elders.  The gospel speaks to obedience to the will of the Father.  The priests and elders claim righteousness by their proclamations while their hearts are resistant to the revelation of Jesus.  The actions of “tax collectors and prostitutes” to believe and accept the words of “John” (the Baptist) opened the kingdom of heaven to them. 

St. Paul in his letter to the Philippians also speaks of right action being united in heart, mind and love by looking out for the other will complete his joy in being united to Christ.  St. Paul speaks to a new commandment greater than obedience.  It reveals a deeper obligation to allow the love of Christ to dwell in us.  If Christ dwells in us then our words are confirmed by our actions.  It is no longer we who live our lives but Christ who lives in us doing the will of the Father in offering his love to the other.  What happened to our will, our identity, our freedom?  It is transformed into the perfect being without sin and our joy will be complete. 

In the secular world we speak of the “Golden Rule” by treating others as we would like to be treated.  It is a rule of equity and fairness but St. Paul speaks of a different standard by stating “humbly regard others as more important than yourselves”.  This is the standard of Christ on the cross, a sacrificial giving of ourselves so that Christ will be manifest in us and through us.  This is being of the same mind and same love “in the Spirit” of compassion and mercy. 

Ezekiel speaks to turning “from the wickedness he (sinner) has committed and does what is right and just…he shall surely live.”  Death comes from “iniquity he committed” thus sin carries death to our doorstep.  Sin carries the death of mind, body, and spirit.  When we sin against the body through indulgence, passions, and/or self abuse the body dies “a thousand deaths” slowly until it is no more capable of sustaining mortal life.  When we sin against the mind of God in our mind, we attach our thoughts to our psychological fears, obsessions, and pride to fall victim of our own thinking.  When we sin against the Spirit of God our spirit becomes invaded by other spirits of darkness and it is no longer “I” who lives but the darkness that lives in me and God no longer recognizes us.  How are we to overcome all these trials?  It begins with proclaiming “Jesus Christ is Lord”.  The word is made flesh in our being to be lived in right action.

Darkness turns to light when our tongues confess “Jesus Christ is Lord” with right action.  There is power in the Word of God.  It is the power to move us to right action.  One day as a counselor of children of abuse under the care of the State, I had a young child of eight who was in a state of depression.  She was separated from her home, her siblings, her school.  Not only had she been repeatedly molested as a child but also had a history of heart problems. 

After several meetings in which I did not see progress, I asked if she could say, “God loves me”?  She could not repeat the words.  I asked if she could say “I love myself”?  Again, she would not say those words as her whole body language appeared sunken, doing poorly in school, and having a difficult time adjusting to foster care.  Even with some coaching of positive affirmations she refused to say those statements.  I then asked her simply to repeat the words slowly after me.  It was a transformative moment.  The next session her foster mother said she was doing so much better at home and playing like a normal child. 

Words matter but actions speak louder and must reflect our words to be confirmed in the heart. In counseling people don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care. This is the beginning of unity. Actions do speak louder when united to “thinking one thing”, Jesus Christ is Lord!  Amen. 

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Homily

25th Sunday Ordinary Time – Not fair!

Posted on by Deacon Joe

Isaiah 55:6-9; Ps. 145:2-3, 8-9, 17-18; Phil.1:20c-24, 27a; Mt. 20:1-16a

Not fair!  How often have we heard those words from our children or felt in our hearts “life is not fair!”  Our God says, “Let the scoundrel…turn to the Lord for mercy…who is generous in forgiving”.  Not fair claim the self-righteous unless we happen to be the scoundrel then righteousness turns to gratitude.  That is why the Lord says, “so high are my ways above your ways and my thoughts above your thoughts.” 

Mercy is for all who call upon the Lord.  The parable by Jesus in the gospel is more about the Lord’s generosity to confront our sense of entitlement.  Each laborer received “the usual daily wage” even though all did not work the same hours.  The laborers “grumbled” with a heart of injustice, “not fair”.  Yet we know “The Lord is just in all his ways and holy in all his works”.  What we fail to see is that this life of ours is the beginning of all things the Alpha of the Lord’s work in us, but the Omega is the eternal yet to come when all justice is revealed to us.

Not fair that we wait for justice!  Give thanks that the Lord is generous with these days of ours to correct our sin and seek holiness while there is still time before we face the test of justice, the purgatory of life, the call to give an account of our own to the Master.  Let us pray to be worthy works of his love as his servants. 

Perhaps St. Paul gives us some understanding in his letter to the Philippians when he says, “For to me life is Christ and death is gain.”  This complete surrender to God is a pearl in the ocean of fish.  There are many fish in the ocean of humanity but few pearls willing to surrender completely to the Lord.  There are many religious but few saints.  There are many scoundrels but few repentant souls.  That is why the Lord is near to all who call upon him in truth.  In his goodness comes mercy as a Father of love.

St. Paul reminds us we are the “works” of the Lord, the works he is free to accomplish in us and through us as we surrender to him.  St. Teresa of Calcutta prayed to be a “pencil” in the hand of the Lord.  Her life was a storybook of surrender accomplishing the works of the Lord.  We each have our state in life as single, married, widow, parent, religious, layperson, clergy with works waiting to be accomplished for the Lord.  The beauty of serving the Lord’s works is the transformation of our being as a work of holiness in the hands of the Lord.  Call upon the Lord in truth and be transformed as we put our trust in him. 

Consider the heart of our Blessed Mother Mary alongside her son in his passion. He came into the world with all his works of love offering forgiveness, mercy, healing, compassion for the sick and poor, and teaching for the just and his reward by humanity was to crucify him. She held all things in her heart knowing she carried the divine child in her arms with the gift of seeing him again in the resurrection only to see him depart in the clouds. Her total surrender from the beginning claiming “I am the handmaid of the Lord” sustained her faith, hope and love beyond what this world could see. She did not seek fairness only offered up her love. This was her fiat for us to follow.

The heavens rejoice when we offer our self up in union with the sacrifice Jesus makes for us.  Let us make an act of surrender this day in prayer:  Lord of love and generosity, I consecrate myself to your sacred heart in surrender of my mind, will, and spirit to be transformed as a work of your presence in this world to accomplish the “works” your will for me in this day by the graces of your generosity in truth and obedience to your command.  In my weakness come to my awareness your constant presence, your ways above my ways, and your thoughts above my thoughts that I may see your hand at work in me.  Amen. 

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Homily The Deacon Joe

24th Sunday Ordinary Time God is mercy

Posted on by Deacon Joe

Sir. 27:30- 28:7; Ps. 103:1-4, 9-12; Rom.14:7-9; Mt. 18:21-35

God is mercy and mercy is forgiveness!  “Remember your last days” before you proclaim “no justice no peace”.  We are called to “forgive your neighbor’s injustice”.  Why do we “hug them tight” our wrath and anger when they are the poison of death while others remain alive?  In part, it is because we fail to see ourselves in the sinner.  In the heart we give thanks we are not like them and justify our “’righteousness” for anger and vengeance. 

False righteousness is like rejecting the leper for his visible disease while walking in ignorance of the invisible cancer growing inside.  “Remember death and decay and cease to sin!”  Jesus likened “the kingdom of heaven” to a king who “settles accounts with his servants” and whether “we live or die we are the Lord’s” with an account in need of justice. 

Justice is the offering of Jesus for our sins to the merciful.  It is conditional on our forgiveness of our brothers and sisters, neighbors and strangers “from the heart” for the injustice.  Jesus speaks to the disciples that “heaven is likened…(to) his master (who) handed him over to the torturers until he should pay back the whole debt”.  As servants of the Lord there is a place for those who fail to forgive for their debt which as a Catholic church we identify as purgatory.  Purgatory is for the chosen who remain with the stain of sin of unforgiveness among others. 

We live in times when the streets proclaim “no justice no peace” seeking reparation for a history of people who have long passed from the earth.  Some believe you can be the victim of other’s history standing in for another’s suffering with expectation of compensation as an entitlement.  They “hold them tight” wrath and anger for a historical identity as victims without personal sacrifice of suffering in the name of social justice.  This is likened to blaming God for the sin of Adam and Eve for falling into a world of sin and suffering.  It is a ludicrous philosophy of victimization for all creation. 

Who do we need to forgive?  It begins in the domestic church, husbands and wives must forgive each other from the heart; children forgive parents for imperfect parenting at best and abandonment or abuse at worse; forgive our friends and neighbors who we have stopped talking with.  The root of forgiveness lies at the seed of love from the home.  It begins with a decision to forgive and a prayer of petition to receive the grace of forgiveness in the heart.  We don’t wait for a feeling to forgive to arrive before forgiving.  We act on the command of God to forgive and trust God with our heart to bring us peace.

It is said by the grace of God many have not seen the inside of a prison.  Among those who have been imprisoned some leave more vengeful than before to commit more crime while others are humbled to never return.  One man appeared on AGT (America’s Got Talent) telling his story of being convicted of a crime against a woman who identified him as the perpetrator.  He had three witnesses who testified he was home at the time of the crime but was convicted and served 37 years in prison before DNA proved his innocence.  Singing kept him hopeful with courage to persevere.  Released his dream to appear on AGT came true as a man of peace.  He survived because his heart was not imprisoned by the walls of wrath and anger.  Many more live outside the walls of prison but their hearts are imprisoned by wrath and anger while they hold tight the key of freedom, the choice of forgiveness.  Choose forgiveness and receive mercy. 

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Homily The Deacon Joe

23rd Sunday Ordinary Time: “There I am”

Posted on by Deacon Joe

Ezk. 33:7-9; Ps. 95:1-2, 6-9; Rom.13:8-10; Mt. 18:15-20

“There I am in the midst of them”, the Great “I Am”.  Those who gather in prayer to fulfill the law of love, I am there.  I am there in your joys and sorrows; I am there in your conflict between each other; and I am there to heal the broken hearted.  Let us pray then together as one body of Christ for the sick, sorrowing, the sinful and speak as commanded by the Spirit to their hearts that they may not be hardened.  If God is love and love fulfills the law then the law of God makes him present in our love to speak with faith and courage and not be silent. 

I have often in counseling others expressed to others “don’t love me the way you love yourself”.  Our love of self is imperfect at best and dysfunctional at the worst.  Imperfect love of self is conditional for pleasure, profit, power and prestige.  When we satisfy these passions, we recognize a false pride that is only temporal.  Dysfunctional love takes these same conditional passions to a greater degree of harm of self and others.  It creates a dependency and/or an obsession spiraling into sickness and death of true self.   Can anyone desire this type of love from “neighbor” or offer the love of Christ which is truth, beauty, goodness and unity?  How can we then bring our brokenness into our relationships of conflict and find a peaceful resolution.  Only with the one true mediator, Jesus Christ do we come into the presence of the Father who promises, “there I am”. 

Jesus speaks to our hearts in the Holy Spirit that we may speak as “watchman” for the house that is “church” of God’s people.  The devil has no trouble speaking out through others calling out “hypocrites” those sinners who dare to speak seeking to silence them Souls who are given a voice to speak truth, goodness, beauty, and unity become “cancelled” in the current culture of oppression.  The devil lies ready to counter truth by calling out our hypocrisy, to counter goodness by calling out our sinfulness, to counter beauty by calling out our jealousy, and to counter unity by calling out our self-righteousness.  Just as the devil used Peter to chastise Jesus and Jesus responded with “Get behind me Satan” the devil uses those we love to bring division to our relationships and prevent reconciliation. 

In the same manner when Jesus asks “But who do you say that I am?”  Peter responds with the inspired truth “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”  The revelation to speak was revealed by the “heavenly Father” to Peter, a sinful man, a follower, a hypocrite who later denies Jesus three times, prideful and self-righteous but at that moment there was the heavenly Father revealing truth to the disciple.  We cannot say “who am I to speak?” when our first grace to speak came at baptism with the gift of the Holy Spirit.  To speak as “church” when two or three are gathered in his name is a command from God who warns “I will hold you responsible for his death” if we dare be silent.  Our salvation depends on it!  

Am I here for me or thee, that is the question?  Until our faith is cemented in how we answer this question we risk our salvation and play with fire from hell.  Often it is heard “where is God?”  This is heard in the midst of suffering or tragedy and it begs the question where is the fulfillment of the law of God?  Obedience is not the greatest of virtues aspired by humanity.  We place conditional limits to our obedience just as we place conditional limits to our love returning to the question, “am I here for me or thee?”  We don’t bring peace to conflict through conflict avoidance.  We bring peace to conflict following the formula of subsidiarity given to us in scripture today, starting with the individuals who hold the power at the principle level of where the conflict lies, brother to brother and sister to sister before turning to authority to bring reconciliation. 

Godly reconciliation is not a “compromise”, a fifty-fifty agreement, or a settlement of jurisprudence but reaching for a greater truth that brings salvation.  This greater truth comes from the “Great I AM” who promised “there I am”.  Speak now before this moment is forever gone.  Speak now in the Holy Spirit of truth to bring the goodness of God the Father, through the beauty of Jesus love on the cross, to bring the unity of reconciliation in heaven. Speak now through prayer at the urging of the Spirit.

A voice of truth in our times is not to be silenced through the culture of “safe spaces”, political correctness, or threats of being “cancelled” through an overall attack on our very humanity. There is a cross to bear when God speaks through us. All the great saints were threatened to be “cancelled” for disrupting the norms of their times. Holiness is not for the weak. We are all called to be great saints for our times.

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