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Homily

25th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Posted on by Deacon Joe

Am. 8:4-7; Ps. 111-2, 4-8; 1 Tim. 2:1-8; Lk. 16:1-13

Jesus entered the world into the poverty of a stable, grew up in the poverty of a carpenter’s son, walked and slept among the poor in his ministry, and died on the poverty of the cross, “he became poor, so that by his poverty you might become rich.”  All the riches of the world are his yet the riches he offers are not material abundance but spiritual abundance in the graces of faith to believe, hope to trust, love to care, prudence to judge rightly, justice to be fair, fortitude to  demonstrate courage, temperance for balance, knowledge to understand, and wisdom to know God.

Jesus chose solidarity among the poor to witness his love of humanity for we all enter the world poor and return to the dust of the world yet “He raises up the lowly from the dust”.  In this we see the promise of being raised up from the dust to heaven with the riches we have received and not squandered.  The Lord calls the poor in spirit blessed knowing our fallen nature brings us the poverty of sin yet his mercy endures forever.

We will all be asked to “prepare a full account of your stewardship” the graces we squandered and those we multiplied.  Are we prudent as children of the light to recognize these gifts and invest them into the greater good of humanity?  It is tempting to “fix our scales for cheating” as the steward trusted with the master’s wealth acting “prudently” in our own interest.  The parable however was of a steward who was not prudent with the master’s property until he got caught for squandering his property.  Lesson then is a “person trustworthy in very small matters is also trustworthy in great ones”.

If we serve the god of mammon, the material god then we are anxious to preserve our riches and least eager to share them, the scales are always tipped our way.  Jesus is ready to share his riches with us, generous to those who “Ask and it shall be given you; seek and you shall find; knock and it shall be opened to you”.  There is no limit to the degree of riches we can receive in Jesus.  Unlike the megachurches who preach material wealth, look to Jesus and his witness on earth to see the fallacy of those false teachings.

Material goods are a blessing not as a reward for good behavior or a trophy of recognition as perceived in the Old Testament but a blessing for the purpose of doing a greater good in service to God.  One of the criticisms of the Catholic church is the amount of wealth invested into some of its cathedrals and basilicas while people are walking on the streets hungry and poor.  Those beautiful churches also feed the spiritual needs of the poor in comforting their lowliness as a visible sign of God’s presence closer to them than their suffering.  The church, that is the people of God inside the building are called to respond to the physical needs of the poor.

In union both spiritual and physical needs are cared for as one body in Christ.  With all the power of God and all the miracles Jesus manifested he never bestowed material wealth to the poor, to his parents, or his disciples.  Instead he asked them to trust him and sent them out in poverty to minister to the world.

Today we are reminded one of our ministries to the world is for the “supplications, prayers, petitions, and thanksgiving be offered for everyone, for kings and all in authority.”  As a society we choose sides and attack the authority in control when they don’t represent our views.  They need the most prayer because their authority impacts the “quiet and tranquil life’ we seek.  As we become more interdependent with the world in a global economy, a nuclear age, and the geopolitical tensions around the world no one is immune from the next global threat.  There are wars of weapons, trade wars, virus attacks, environmental wars, and cultural wars.  Our leadership needs our prayers and “This is good and pleasing to God our savior who wills everyone to be saved.”

The Lord pours out his riches into our souls to bring us the peace we seek in our homes, comfort in our suffering, forgiveness of sins, blessing for our work, joy in our hearts, the confidence to persevere in our challenges, help at the hour of death with the assurance that our names are written in the book of life for all eternity.

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Homily The Deacon Joe

24th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Posted on by Deacon Joe

Ex.32:7-11, 13-14; Ps. 51:3-4, 12-13, 17, 19; 1 Tim. 1:12-17; Lk. 15:1-32

Come to Jesus!  The Lord “will make of you a great nation” of saints for Christ apart from those who “have become depraved…”.  Has God prodigally given his love on his people…see how stiff-necked this people is”.  Depravity is the moral corruption of the soul that does not reflect the light of truth but the darkness of sin.  Apart from Jesus and the Blessed Mother immaculate without sin the rest of humanity has passed through the darkness and fall of Adam.  “Sinners who were not under the law will also perish outside of the law; sinners subject to the law will be judged in accordance with it…All have sinned and are deprived of God’s glory” (Rom. 2:12, 3:23).  This we refer to in social sciences as the baseline of the human condition.  There is a chant that says, “we fall down…we get up…we fall down…we get up”.  The history of salvation is the fall and rise of nations of God.  It begins with the fall of Adam and Eve meaning we pass through our own personal falls into sin and rise in mercy.

I recall the story of a confessor telling the penitent, “as soon as you walk out of the confessional you will sin”.  Thank God, the Church and the Holy Spirit are given to us to recognize all sin is not equal between mortal sin and venial sin.  God is a just judge who sees the mind, will, and heart that govern the intent of the soul and offers us mercy.  “I will rise and go to my father…Have mercy on me O God; my sacrifice O God is a contrite spirit”.  A contrite spirit often comes after the fall from pride and a return to humility.  A contrite spirit recognizes our sinfulness, weakness, and in humility calls out to God the Father for mercy.  The God of mercy “relents in the punishment” our sin merits and a contrite heart responds with “I am grateful to him who has strengthened me” as Paul says in the letter to Timothy. 

The Lord not only forgives he strengthens us and transforms the sinner into a saint.   Paul gives testimony of his transformation from a “blasphemer…persecutor and arrogant…acted out of ignorance” in his unbelief.  Paul uses himself as an example of the love of Christ Jesus and his “patience as an example for those who would come to believe in him for everlasting life”.  Christ is patient, kind, slow to anger and he is ready to moment we turn to him to receive us.  It is a tragedy when someone says they cannot come to Christ for forgiveness because they have not forgiven themselves.  It is a trap of the evil one to keep a soul in bondage for the depravity of their sin.  Come to Jesus! 

The Gospel is a reflection of three parables, the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the lost son.  The focus is not the sense of loss but on “Rejoice”.  “Rejoice with me because I have found my lost sheep…Rejoice with me because I have found the coin that I lost…rejoice because your brother was dead and has come to life again; he was lost and has been found”.  Who found the brother, did he not come “to his senses” and return on his own?  Jesus never stops seeking us in his patience, kindness and mercy.  It is up to us to repent, receive sanctifying grace and return to the nation of saints.  It is not a nation of race, territory, or geopolitical ideology.  Those barriers foster moral depravity when they become “a molten calf and worshiping it”.  This we see in our world when violence is justified as a means to an end, when dialogue is silenced with threats, and the Word of truth becomes relative.  What do we do then?  Come to Jesus!

The word “prodigal” has two concepts.  One is a person who spends money recklessly as in the son who squanders his inheritance.  He suffers the fall from pride to humility and is left with a “reality check” to return to the father.  The second concept of prodigal is a person overly generous and giving an abundance.  The father in the story is overly generous in giving what was his to one son and telling the other “everything I have is yours”.  This is God the Father’s love for us in abundance ready to forgive and receive us back.  In birth God gives us ourselves, the gift of life with a desire we give ourselves back to him.  In baptism God gives us himself generously ready to pour out an abundance of grace for our inheritance.  Our fall is squandering our grace in a world of depravity.  God’s generosity is mercy. 

In moments of solitude and prayer I get these inspirations, I believe we all receive and I considered it “God speaks”.  This one came to me in one of those moments and I will close with it. 

ORIGINALE VERBUM

Once was a “word”, a friend able to carry meaning sent forth to generate life and come to rest in understanding. 

A life of relationship and unity of purpose to reveal truth and true meaning was defined in the word.

The word’s flight ascended higher above and descended deeper within creating a bond between other words as soul mates on a journey of understanding. 

Then the enemy comes who undefined any meaning by redefining a flight of meanings through individuation, isolation, and rationalization in a complexity of contextual uses ever changing. 

The intent of the enemy is an essence of purposeless subject and purposeful objects for power to be gained in one instant and discarded the next for a new intent ever fleeting. 

The “new” word wills to cannibalize Sophia into prostitution; with image distorting mirrors of vanity for the kingdom of One…hell. 

The original Word filled with grace and beauty allowed Sophia to unite faith and reason to ascend to heaven. 

The “new” word is weaponized with self-defined technical innuendos to distort meaning in flight through reflective colored lenses for a disordered reality. The enemy hears himself alone while others are silenced. 

Our hope is in the hollowed Word made flesh and not the flesh filled words that seek to disarm truth. 

The original Word descends and breaks into consciousness the lost meaning.  The word revealed in its’ full splendor is the original Word incarnate.   

Come to Jesus in prayer, come to Jesus in song, come to Jesus in the Eucharist and receive the abundance of his love. 

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Homily The Deacon Joe

23rd Sunday Ordinary Time

Posted on by Deacon Joe

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

“Do you love me?”  That is the question posed to Peter and the question of the day for us.  “In every age O Lord, you have been our refuge” for those who love you.  Beginning with Genesis the story of salvation history has 7 wisdom warriors against the sin of the world “plus one”.  They include Adam vs his fall; Abel vs Cain, Noah vs flood, Abraham vs wicked nations, Lot vs the wicked people, Jacob vs night visitor, Joseph vs. his brothers; and then comes plus one.  “Plus one” is Moses who represents a new era as he battles the pharaoh.  Moses brings in the era of Israel as a child of God.  What these eight warriors share is the discipleship of abandonment to God.

Jesus is calling us to a greater love, a love of abandonment to his sacred heart.  We hear the English word “hate” used by Jesus and for us that has a strong meaning of rejection and lack of love.  It appears to imply a lack of love of others and even our own life.  Jesus however is not posing a contradiction to his call to the greatest commandment for love of God and love of neighbor.  Do we hate mother and father against the fourth commandment?  No more than we would “hate” angels, saints or our Blessed Mother.  The Greek word translated into the English has a different emphasis meaning a “preferential treatment” of placing Jesus before all else in priority of life.  We are all made for the one body of Christ to be in communion.   Spiritually we should not place anything or anyone before Jesus and when we do, we should hate the act of doing it.

In the English context we don’t hate the gift of our life, we place God before us and that requires of us an abandonment to God’s will and carry our cross.  As disciples there is a sacrifice to bear.  To bring it home to our reality, Jesus institutes his body as church.  As members of that body we cannot be cafeteria Catholics, especially in matters of doctrinal teaching.  Imagine that at the moment of death we face Jesus and our only response is “I met you halfway, like a brother.”  Where will that get us, halfway to purgatory? 

Many listened to Jesus and went away having “calculated the cost” and feeling his teaching was too hard.  Others may think it sounds great but it is not the “real world” we live in.  In whose world do we want to live in?  The choice we make has eternal consequences.  What is lacking is the first commandment, the Love of God above all else.  Where else are we to go?  We cannot save ourselves but God cannot save us without ourselves responding to Him.  Love opens the heart and soul to wisdom from above.  We receive wisdom through the Holy Spirit to respond to God’s divine will.  

To please God, it begins with an abandonment to his love.  Love leads to God’s revelation and a response to the wisdom from above.  Left only to our humanity “deliberations of mortals are timid” and “what is within our grasp we find with difficulty”.  God is within our grasp here present at the altar of sacrifice in the Eucharist and yet with difficulty we come to him especially through the sacramental life of the church.  Baptism opens the door to the Holy Spirit to receive wisdom from above; then we need the gift of fortitude to have the courage to grasp it and make it our own.  This is the incarnation of truth in our souls to overcome “the corruptible body (that) burdens the soul”.  I find it amazing that by the grace of God there are the “Incorruptible” that is saints whose bodies have remained incorruptible.  They are a testimony of someone who abandoned themselves to the will of God having had the opportunity to travel and see some of them.  He is closer to us than we are to ourselves.  The question remains, “Do you love me?” 

Paul an “old man” not only “a prisoner for Christ” is our wisdom warrior abandoned to the love of God literally a prisoner awaiting his death sentence.  He is the spiritual father of a slave Onesimus.  We can say what the Pope is to Peter, the priesthood is to Paul, a spiritual Father to his people.  Onesimus is a slave owned by Philemon.  Paul is advocating for a slave to be recognized as a brother in Christ. 

When Jesus asks Peter “Do you love me?” three times we think of it as a reminder of Peter’s denial three times.  And yes, how often do we deny Jesus in his call to love him above all.  It is also believed Jesus asks the question using the Greek word “agape” for love meaning unconditional love and Peter responds with the word “phileo” for brotherly love.  If you have a brother or sister it is not always that hard to say “no” to them.  Unconditional love is what Jesus asks of us today.  Peter!  God is before you and you respond with a weak brotherly love?  How do we respond to God’s call?

In a world of hierarchy there is always an authority we respond to even within the church and yet obedience to authority is a fellowship of love in Christ for a greater good, the good of other.  Today we are reminded that discipleship is more than “phileo” it is “agape”, unconditional and sacrificial love.  Together we sacrifice and abandon ourselves to the love that is waiting for our response.  “Yes Lord, you know that I love you”.  It is a love without end.  Amen.

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Homily

22nd Sunday Ordinary Time Christian Perfection

Posted on by Deacon Joe

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

Inward humility manifests itself in outward charity for Christian perfection.  The Lord speaks to our sense of justice and our call to Christian perfection in two statements.  First is “God in your goodness, you have made a home for the poor” and then he says “Rather, when you hold a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind; blessed indeed will you be because of their inability to repay you”.  First, we recognize God is good and in his “goodness” he cares for the “poor” and we all share in being among the poor.  Second in our poverty of humanity we are to demonstrate our humility by charity to the poor that is among ourselves for Christian perfection.  When we do good we feel good because the goodness of Christ lives in us. 

God’s home for the poor is the tabernacle in the sacred heart of Jesus.  He is “the mediator of a new covenant” we receive in the Eucharist, “the sprinkled blood that speaks more eloquently” to live is us that we may be at home in our being in Christ.  The poor is not a class system of disparities between the “haves and have nots”.  We all share a poverty we bring to Christ as an offering and let his will be done.

The word of God was often spoken in parables to be understood by the spirit of God at various levels of understanding for “The mind of a sage appreciates proverbs”.  There are for example the poor who suffer economic stress having to choose between buying food or buying their medications.  There are the poor of health suffering from chronic illness, trauma, or genetic conditions.  There are the poor in spirit who suffer from anxiety, depression, obsessions, and/or abandonment.  There are also the poor in grace who suffer from separation from God crippled by sin, blind from God’s presence. 

The Lord’s response to all the poor is, “you have approached Mount Zion and the city of the living God…and God the judge of all, and the spirits of the just made perfect, and Jesus the mediator of a new covenant…”.  In our poverty spiritual and corporal, we come to Jesus the just judge to be transformed into the “just made perfect”.  How are we made perfect given our own weakness, sinfulness, poverty and brokenness?  When we do good, we feel good because the goodness of Christ lives in us to be made perfect in Christ.  Christ says, “My child, conduct your affairs with humility, and you will be loved more…the greater you are, and you will find favor with God.”  When we recognize our own poverty before God, we give life to our spirit of humility and our actions are transformed into charity for a greater good. 

Our call is to be perfect as our heavenly Father is perfect and it begins in humility and leads to charity.  Jesus says, “Learn from me, for I a meek and humble of heart; and you will find rest for your souls” (Mt. 11:29)  For this perfection we cultivate a temperance among all virtues, love without selfishness is not about what’s in it for me; obedience without servility is about what is good for both not one over the other; patience without weakness is standing firm in our faith, firmness without pride is honesty, courage without recklessness is prudence, and authority without haughtiness is justice with a heart of love. 

Finally, I want to do a “shout out” for the souls in purgatory with the reminder that “alms atone for sins.”  The souls in purgatory suffering in the “flames of fire” hunger for atonement of their sins.  They thirst for water that quenches their suffering and our prayers, Masses, offerings of charity in remembrance of them is water that quenches.  I just finished the book titled Hungry Souls on the apparitions of the souls in purgatory to many people.  What all these souls have in common is they seek some form of atonement by the person they appear to while in purgatory to shorten their suffering and time in purgatory on their path to heaven.  This is perfect charity to make atonement for the souls in purgatory “because of their inability to repay you.  For you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.” 

I say again, “When we do good we feel good because the goodness of Christ lives in us.”  We just may be shortening our time in purgatory in atonement of our own sins in perfect charity.  We are all called to be saints and heaven is waiting to receive saints.  Purgatory is waiting to purify the souls who died short of Christ’s perfect call.  Let us pray to receive the grace to follow the call to perfection while there is time. 

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Homily

21st Sunday of Ordinary Time

Posted on by Deacon Joe

Is. 66: 18-21; Ps. 117:1, 2; Heb. 12:5-7, 11-13; Lk 13: 22-30

In Quincianeras (15th year Celebrations) I enjoy playing the “Knock-knock” game with the quincianera. The game starts like this:

“Knock-knock” (Q: “Who’s there?) “God is” (Q: “God is who?”) “God is your Father who is in heaven calling you to be the best he created you to be”

“Knock-knock” (Q: “Who’s there?”) “The big O” (Q: “The big O who?”) “The big O of Obedience who is your BFF, best friend forever”.  Called to obedience in God’s greatest commandment is in our DNA search for happiness.  We come to know who God is in obedience as he reveals who we are in his image.  Not who we are in general as a people of God but who we are individually as a unique being with a given purpose and meaning in this life and time.  Obedience to the natural law as God created it is for the greater good even science cannot deny it.  Obedience to God’s command is the “narrow gate” many will “attempt to enter but will not be strong enough”.  All are invited to enter the “narrow gate” but are we strong enough to resist the sin in our lives that draws us away? 

“Knock-knock” (Q: “Who’s there?”) “The big D” (Q: “The big D who?”) “The big D of Discipline to “endure your trials as ‘discipline’…For what ‘son’ is there whom his father does not discipline?”   With discipline we stand for our faith or we may fall for the sin that is pleasing at the moment.  Discipline is the workforce that makes obedience come easy.  Parents love is based on discipline to mature in truth for learning freedom is not free it is a sacrifice out of discipline.  Discipline “later brings the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who are trained by it”.  Discipline begins by doing the next right thing in obedience to the law already in our hearts from our baptism.  Parents teach and reinforce this law by their testimony of love through discipline.  “Endure your trials as discipline”, is it not as punishment.  When we suffer we have an opportunity to purify our souls, wash clean our baptismal robes, unite ourselves to Christ in his passion for our sins and make an offering of ourselves. 

“Knock-knock” (Q: “Who’s there?”)  “The big W” (Q: “The big W who?”) “The big W is the work plan that comes through Jesus.  Scripture says, “I am the way, the truth and the life, says the Lord; no one comes to the Father, except through me”, through his love embodied in discipline.  The work plan is to spread the Good News we have been given.  The plan of salvation is an invitation to all the people of all the nations and “they shall come and see my glory” says the Lord.  Salvation is not an accident waiting to happen, it is a calling and we are free to respond yet not all have.  That is why we are reminded in the gospel there will be those outside the “door…(with) wailing and grinding of teeth”.  Lesson learned is we take so much in life for granted until it is gone.  

There was a program on EWTN with Father Mitch Pacwa interviewing a doctor of philosophy named Dr. Frey (first name not captured).  She was invited to Yale University to debate with a doctor of psychology on the topic of happiness.  She proposed the question that if there was a box in which the person was guaranteed to always be stimulated to feel happiness would they enter and be left there.  The psychology doctor said yes.  Others however saw the logic of being trapped in a box with reservation.  The “box” represents a place of isolation and happiness comes from being outside yourself in relation to God and others.  She stated 25% of college students suffer from anxiety, depression, and isolation.  This is the lie of Satan mentioned last week to live each day thinking only of yourself a little more until you find yourself in this box of artificial stimulation and emptiness.  One of the main tools becoming an addiction is social media.  The box is the phone to create an altered reality filled with artificial and narcissistic grandiosity of happiness because the world that is waiting outside the phone is too intimidating. 

The Good News is happiness comes from the unconditional love offering of giving of ourselves to God and others.  Follow the way of Jesus giving of himself out of love in the freedom of a world created for us to give good fruit.  “So strengthen your drooping hands and your weak knees.  Make straight your paths for your feet, that what is lame may not be disjointed but healed”.  Let us live outside the box of sin.  There will be trials through the “narrow gate” but also great consolation as we enter into his presence, healed by his love and at peace.  The discipline is a life of virtues all serving the greater good for ourselves and others. 

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Homily

20th Sunday Ordinary Time

Posted on by Deacon Joe

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

“I have come to set the earth on fire.”  If our faith on fire or simply lukewarm?  Jesus speaks of a baptism to come though he was already baptized by water in the Jordan river by John the Baptist.  His great “anguish until it is accomplished” is his passion and death on the cross.  Christ teaching was a two-edge sword of division. 

For the institutions of this time there was the Jewish tradition with governance by its law and the other was the Roman political structure in control of the territory or as we would refer to in our time as church and state.  Jesus word would cut through both ways dividing long held Jewish beliefs and traditions for families and threatening the status quo for the state.  Who is the identified enemy?  For many it became the messenger, Christ and his followers.  For Christ it was peoples’ sin the “struggle…you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding blood.” 

St. Francis of Assisi threw himself on thorn bushes to mortify his body against the temptation of sin.  Other saints have used flagellation to mortify their bodies and some have done simple acts of mortification such as placing a pebble in their shoe to feel the constant reminder for holiness in every step of discomfort. Even modern psychology in behavior therapy will use the example of having a rubber band on your wrist to pop yourself every time you are tempted to do a negative behavior like biting your nails to break the habit.  As a church we have the Lenten season to deny ourselves with fasting and abstinence to mortify our bodies.  For the world a voice against the normalization of sin must be silenced. 

Jerimiah was a voice against sin in his time.  He prefigures Christ the King.  King Zedekiah hands him over to the people for his crime.  What is his crime?  He is “speaking” and teaching the people against sin and this is judged as “not interested in the welfare of our people but in their ruin.”  When evil held as good and good is attacked as evil kingdoms fall to ruin.  The voice of Jeremiah, the voice of Christ is counterculture.

Before, during and after Christ until the present to challenge the institutional norms is treated as a crime worthy of death.  We have only to look at our own world history in the making to see the same culture of death as Jerimiah and Christ faced.  Speak of sin and you will quickly make enemies and there is no end to the labels that are thrown out ending in “phobic” to silence anyone willing to speak up.  It is not a phobia to speak of the natural law of marriage between male and female, or beliefs and lifestyles contrary to the natural law.  It is simply defending God’s creation through his Word and his Word is the foundation of his creation in natural law.  It is the source of life not for his good but or our greater good. 

I was listening to a homily on EWTN where the priest shared a story of another priest who approached a group promoting the Church of Satan.  He asked them what they believed.  They said they practiced being “friends of Satan”.  The taught their followers to practice thinking of themselves a little more each day. If everyone follows this logic to the end then every person will create an island within themselves to exist in isolation from others.  To have a friend is to think of the other before yourself.  The great lie is Satan has no friends, it is all about him and his followers are simply puppets of this lie.  Place a person in solitary confinement and deny them all human contact and they are more likely to become depressed and suicidal than to grow in happiness and peace.  Hell is a deprivation of love. 

“Lord, come to my aid!”  The pit of destruction is to live thinking of ourselves more and more until we become abandoned in the mud of sin and swamp of evil.  Jeremiah preached against sin and was thrown into the pit by many but it took only one person to intercede for him with a voice for justice.  We must be that voice of justice in this world.  We can go to Christ our King to hear our cry for our own family, our church, and all the sins of the world.  We can offer our sacrifices coming to Mass, in Adoration, in sharing our faith.  When we make an offering of ourselves Christ will give us what we are to speak and how we are to serve.  Be open to this grace and trust in the Lord. 

The earth is on fire as Jesus foretold and from this fire some will journey down to the fire of hell.  Others will pass through the fire of purgatory that purifies on the way to heaven.  One path has no end to pain and the other is a flame of love to enter into God’s friendship.  This is the fire of love that calls the sinner to repentance and divides the righteous from the unrighteous.  If our faith is on fire, we are a voice for righteousness ready to love the sinner not the sin.  Let us pray for those who identify more with the sin that with the creator while there is still time.  The fire of faith is a flame of love from the Sacred Heart of Jesus. 

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Homily The Deacon Joe

19th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Posted on by Deacon Joe

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

“Where is that in the bible?”  Many non-Catholics question the church’s position on purgatory.  They ask “where is that in the bible?”  Purgatory is in the Old and the New Testament as a just judge comes to ensure the cleansing of our baptismal robes in our call to sanctity. Listen to these words, “That servant who did not make preparations nor act in accord with his will shall be beaten severely; and the servant who was ignorant of his master’s will but acted in a way deserving of a severe beating shall be beaten only lightly.”  Who is God speaking to, the sinner who died without faith in hell or to the ones he says “All these died in faith”?  Satan is the master of the fallen, Jesus is the Master of the redeemed. There is no doubt that justice belongs to God and he promises a time of atonement.  Jesus died for our sins yet when was the last time we went to confession to seek forgiveness of our sin?  If this night our life is demanded of us what then? 

The Catechism teaches in #1030 “All who die in God’s grace and friendship but still imperfectly purified, are indeed assured of their eternal salvation; but after death they undergo purification, so as to achieve the holiness necessary to enter the joy of heaven.”  The bible tells us in the book of Maccabees (2 Mac. 12:43-44) to atone for the dead through prayer “for if he were not expecting the fallen to rise again, it would have been useless and foolish to pray for them in death” yet even in the Old Testament we have Maccabeus talking a collection to send to Jerusalem for “an expiatory sacrifice” for the dead soldiers.  We are reminded how important it is to offer Masses for the dead and pray for them in atonement of their sins.  Yet how often in a funeral do we hear of purgatory?  Focus is given to being in heaven as our hope which is the final destiny but not necessarily a straight ticket. 

“Much will be required of the person entrusted with much, and still more will be demanded of the person entrusted with more” reminds us of the one sin we often fail to recognize.  It is the sin of omission.  The ten commandments have a focus on what “you shall not” but Jesus comes to fulfill what we shall be called to do.  There is a truth of accountability in God’s justice for all.  When will it be demanded if not now?   It comes at death in the purging of our sins in a state of purification called purgatory. 

Just as the more we give the greater the reward the less we serve the greater the sin by God’s commandment.  Charity is God’s call for justice and the sign of our love of God.  Wisdom says, “Your people awaited the salvation of the just”.  The just are the “holy children of the good” doing the will of the Father offering sacrifice of charity.  Charity is a sign of faith a “realization of what is hoped for and evidence of things not seen”.  Faith is the awareness that our time is coming when we will be before God and he recognizes his own in the love we offered in obedience just as Abraham did.  Our obedience is to respond to the call to serve.  We are a people of faith and we know our Father’s will, are we preparing ourselves by acting according to his will or is purgatory our next stop?

Why settle for purgatory when we are called to be saints? The opportunity to be charitable is constantly around us?  It begins in the home.  Husbands and wives when we get upset, frustrated, or even disappointed with each other what do our children witness in our behavior?  We can respond in outbursts, anger, criticism, blame or in charity express our concern, disappointment, and our desire for something greater of each other.  When we see our children picking on each other using language we ourselves say is it simply kids misbehaving or are they already following down a path that justifies being uncharitable.  Love is patient, kind, generous, charitable and at times a difficult challenge.  Our heart cries out “If you only knew what I have to live with!”  Our goal is to get each other to heaven so don’t simply live with it, make it better.  It begins by working on ourselves and we will see the impact our life can have on others. 

One thing is certain that a just God knows the degree of our sinfulness, our understanding, and our will to be just, loving, charitable, and merciful.  Dante speaks of purgatory as the place we go to get our baptismal robes cleaned.  The stains we carry are the stains we have not confessed.  It is a sure sign of heaven coming, an inheritance delivering us from the death of sin we carry.  Today that sin can be confessed and our sacrifice is to “avoid the near occasion” of sin yet when we fail, we have a loving Father ready to reconcile us back to him. 

Finally, where is the “evidence of things not seen”?  It is there on the cross and in the resurrection of Jesus.  For all who give evidence by their testimony, Jesus is alive.  “Stay awake and be ready!”  The Son of Man is coming and it is in the bible, in the Mass, and in our hearts.

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Homily The Deacon Joe

18th Sunday Ordinary Time

Posted on by Deacon Joe

Eccl 1:2; 2:21-23; Ps 90:3-6, 12-13; Col 3:1-5, 9-11; Lk 12:13-21

“Vanity of vanities…all things are vanity!  If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.”  I took a personality profile and my profile was defined as a “strategist” which is a combination of Introverted, Intuitive, Thinker, and Judging.  This represents only 1.5% of all personality types in the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator.  At times I toil with anxiety of heart and at night my mind is restless as I strategize for the next day or how to resolve a problem.  “This also is vanity.” 

God you created me and now I carry this cross.  Still the Lord will “prosper the work of our hands!”  A strategist is also a gift but first we must learn to surrender our gift to Him for his greater glory.  What is the desire of our hearts, greed or service?  Greed leads to lying and deception and the psychology is that it is a “dog eat dog world” of winners and losers.  “This also is vanity”.  In service we are open to the guidance of the Holy Spirit to use our gifts for a greater good. 

If there is anything that causes family feuds it is inheritance.  It is driven by greed and/or a sense of entitlement.  The heart cries out “I was there for them you were never there” or “You have more than I and I need it more than you.”  The riches that matter to God is how we give of ourselves to benefit others which includes the use of our resources.  Our heavenly treasure is the giving of ourselves to family, friends, neighbors, and strangers.  The earthly treasure one builds up in a lifetime becomes the surplus of disposable goods another receives as inheritance to spend at pleasure.  “This also is vanity.”

Others plan for that retirement day when we can rest, eat, drink and enjoy our wealth.  Meanwhile we ignore our health, the growing up years of our children, the purpose of our marriage and the greatest commandment is compromised for the mighty dollar.  Profit, prestige, power, and pleasure go up in smoke in an instant with one major illness, a divorce, a loss of work, or a tragedy.  We sacrifice for the mighty dollar but our sacrifice for the heavenly glory is put aside for another day.  “You fool, this night your life will be demanded of you” says the Lord.  We turn back to dust in a short lifespan but did we “number our days aright” says the Lord.

Are we to ignore our responsibilities?  Absolutely not, we are to offer our responsibilities to God to bless them and guide us.  The recovery community of addiction follows what is known as the Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions.  The first step in recovery to bring about change is “we admitted we were powerless over (fill in the blank our obsession with money, work, gambling, food, sex, etc.) that our lives had become unmanageable”  If today you hear his voice and life is unmanageable take the first step of honesty and truth.  Nothing changes until we make a decision for change.

Step 2 says, “Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.”  The insanity is that we all are given the truth in our hearts of our sins and we keep doing the same thing.  The time for change is always now!  This is our time to “gain wisdom of heart”.  We can spend a lifetime building up anxiety about anything and everything or we can surrender ourselves to God, trust in Him and be set free. 

Step 3 says, “Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understand Him” so that “the gracious care of our God be ours”.  Our faith and reason are “challenged” by many doctrines and by our own concepts as we have turned away from the truth to false teachings.  Turn back to God while there is time that we may not be found asleep in our sinfulness when he comes. 

The Twelve Step tradition is a simple process of faith, hope and love with a long-lived history of success for those who follow it.  Our challenge is to not be tempted by all things of vanity which number our days as sorrow, grief, or anxiety.  Renew the decision to trust in God each day “that we may shout for joy and gladness all our days”. 

God’s mercy comes to seek the sinner who turns their will and life to the care of God and he will open the minds, hearts and souls to the truth and freedom of his love.  What do you get when you put two strategists together?  Silence!  In the silence of our hearts we hear God’s voice, “harden not your hearts” let us trust in Him. 

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Homily

17th Sunday Ordinary Time

Posted on by Deacon Joe

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

“Will you sweep away the innocent with the guilty?”  “For the sake of those ten (innocent), I will not destroy it.”  Thus history has proven the great mercy of God.  Generation after generation each lives with the corruption of its time.  Where is God, we ask?  He is attentive to the outcry against the sins of this world that rise up to him and has sent us his son to spread his mercy.  Jesus Christ comes to nail our sins to his cross that we be raised with him in glory.  His mercy however must be won one soul at a time.  The good harvest must remain among the weeds for now.  Abraham of old spoke for the innocent as Jesus now speaks for those who turn to him.

The Lord is attentive to those who cry out to him for help but often we look to take things into our own hands before seeking the Lord’s justice and guidance in spirit and truth.  We can be following our own truth and be truthfully in error.  Turn to any news channel and you hear opposite positions from individual recognized for their knowledge and each holds to be true.  Colossians reminds us we can be living a life of death in our transgressions and he will bring us back to life in him if we first recognize our sinfulness and in contrition turn back to him with a resolution to avoid the sin in our lives.  As long as we hold onto our truth and not ask, seek, or knock on the door of God’s mercy we remain at risk of the grave sins of Sodom and Gomorrah.  A godless nation cannot survive but its destruction will come from its own doing not God. 

How are we to turn back to him?   We are to say the prayer he gave us and then live it and proclaim it.  Live the holiness of God’s name by seeking holy lives.  Alone it cannot happen.  It happens when we are in communion with God.  We remain in communion when we come to Mass, we pray, we ask, seek, and knock in search of God’s will in our lives. 

Call on the kingdom of righteousness to be lived in our actions.  Being in the kingdom does not offer an easy road.  The kingdom is a place of love and peace where we come to rest knowing we are not alone in this world.  The world remains a Sodom and Gomorrah and evil brings about tragedy in the living dead who are far from the glory of God.  God is with us in every moment we seek him, not simply because we are Christian but because we are Christ centered.  The kingdom is a spiritual compass pointing the way to God. 

Receive the daily bread in the Eucharist, in the Word of God, and in the Holy Spirit.  Pray for forgiveness of our sins to the God of mercy with a contrite heart.  Hope that we may overcome the daily test of battle for our souls from the evil one so that the final test at the hour of our death to a mortal life will have long been won in dying to ourselves and rising to Christ in our daily living.  The victory will have been won as we pass into the eternal kingdom.  Who desires not a peaceful death after a long journey of life?  Those prepared will express the confidence of readiness to enter into life beyond this world.  Can we say if death came like a thief in the night this day I am at peace and ready to meet my creator? 

Finally, pray for the grace of perseverance.  Persist in prayer and let prayer guide your perseverance along the way of the Lord.  The Father is ready to give us the gift of the Holy Spirit in abundance to a soul well prepared to receive it.  Are we prepared?  Do we rise to prayer and does our prayer lead to right judgment in doing the will of God?  Words are not enough.  A well prepared soul has nailed their sins to the cross and is a new creation. 

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Homily The Deacon Joe

16th Sunday Ordinary Time

Posted on by Deacon Joe

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

“It is Christ in you, the hope for glory.”  Christ is our blessing but we must do justice and persevere “with a generous heart” to live in his presence.  The world demands “what have you done for me lately?”  Our response is “Christ’s justice” not as the world demands but in his glory. 

We live in an age of constant stimuli demanding our attention.  We look at it as a challenge to be good at multitasking and take pride in doing more at once and in less time.  The expectation is that we will have greater productivity and more outcome of success.  If this is true then there should be more time in our day for silence, contemplation, prayer, and God.  The balance and rebalance of our lifestyle should produce a harvest of time between our commitments to family, work, church, and to our personal growth in Christ.  Does it?  Temperance is one of the gifts of the Holy Spirit to be in balance with our humanity and spirituality living in Christ and serving in justice for his glory.

“He who does justice” must “think the truth in his heart”.  Where is this truth to be found?   In the movie the “Passion” Pontius Pilate seemed lost in asking what was “truth” as he is pressured to do “justice” before those who called for Jesus death and the truth in his heart knowing the innocence of Jesus.  His choice was to crucify the holy one for his own self-preservation in maintaining control of the crowd.  The truth was in his presence and he failed to do justice.  As Christians the truth has been placed in our hearts, we have either to respond in the presence of Christ in justice or once again crucify him in our hearts. 

Today’s readings we have a contrast between Abraham, Martha and Mary.  Abraham was so ready to serve the Lord who appeared to him by offering the three men water to bathe their feet, food to be refreshed giving of his fine flour, choice steer, curds and milk and waited on them as a favor.  This is a generous heart in action out of love of God and neighbor and it yields a harvest.  The desire to serve others brought Abraham a blessing from God when the men promised him that Sarah “will have a son.”   The Lord’s presence moves the hearts of the believers into acts of love and the rewards are greater than we can imagine. 

Martha is “burdened” thus her heart is not in her “serving” Jesus it is in her self-preservation.  It is all about her.  Jesus reminds Martha who is “anxious and worried about many things” taking time to listen to Jesus is “the better part and it will not be taken from” Mary.  In fairness to Martha she acted in many ways as Abraham in responding to having a guest show up in the home.  The difference was she did not recognize the Lord in her presence acting out of her burden not her love. 

Mary is moved in her heart to be still before the presence of Jesus.  She is attentive to the truth she witnessing acting out of prudence, justice, fortitude, and temperance.  These are the gifts of the Holy Spirit she was experiencing in the presence of Jesus.  Prudence because she made a conscious choice to respond to the “need of only one thing…the better part” as Jesus states.  Justice because the spirit called her to be a witness to Jesus teaching.  Fortitude because she knew her sister wanted her help yet there are times when we must choose between several options of which there is no wrong but one is the better part and it takes courage to make that choice.  Finally, temperance is finding that right balance in our lives to be still for God and to be active for God.  The active contemplative seeks to do both by being mindful of God in all things for a greater good. 

The lesson from Abraham is service is an opportunity to receive God’s blessing when we are generous in our giving of ourselves.  From Martha we learn when we make service all about ourselves, we suffer our own burden and little is gained.  In Mary we recognize the “better part” begins by being attentive to the Lord in our presence.  We are all familiar with the expression “work is never done”.  God’s work is never done either so whose work are we attentive to ours, the world’s or where God is calling us to serve? 

I remember as a child visiting at my grandmother’s house in Mexico.  She had dirt floors and in the winter season they used a tin basin to burn wood to keep warm.  The morning routine was to water down the dirt floor to keep the dust down and pack the dirt.  Today you buy a floor sweeper to run around the rooms.  No sooner has it swept that dust begins to settle on the floor.  The convenience of technology is not simplifying our lives unless we make a conscious decision to focus on our priorities.  God is a priority in which we can be active through him, with him and in him. 

Most of us live active if not overcommitted lives and the world is ready to push information overload and steal any time left.  Even our vacations may be planned to fill every hour of the day and the downtime is for social media posting, likes, and following other peoples lives. In other words, we are continuously tempted to fill our minds and time with activities with little lasting value.  The expression “what difference does it make?” is an important thought to ask ourselves.  A better way to reframe the question is “what difference can I make in Christ?” 

Christ will make a great difference in us if we allow him into our lives at every moment to be an instrument of his love, peace, justice, and wisdom.  We will make a lasting difference for ourselves in heaven and an immediate difference in the lives of others.  Christ in us is the difference for true justice.  Invite him and you will be the difference he desires for this world. 

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