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Homily The Deacon Joe

15th Sunday Ordinary Time

Posted on by Deacon Joe

Dt. 30: 10-14; Ps. 69: 14, 17, 30-31, 33-34, 36-37; Col. 1: 15-20; Lk. 10: 25-37

“…written in the book of the law”–The word “law” sets to mind a set of rules commanded and enforced by a controlling authority.  It is the first of several definitions but the most common understanding of the word.  Christ Jesus is the word of authority made flesh.  He is the antithesis of a controlling authority set by law to enforce rules.  The law is commanded by “being” a creation of God, a natural law “already in your mouths and in your hearts; you have only to carry it out”.  The controlling authority is our free will responding to the law within.  When we were born God gave us a gift.  It is the gift of self.  We fulfill the law through our free will. 

The “firstborn of all creation” came to rule by love, “the image of the invisible God.”  Jesus is God with us.  The bracelets that were popular for a while had the letters “WWJD” What Would Jesus Do.  We follow as Christians the will of God through Jesus.  We are called to be a visible image of the invisible God. 

The natural law of love is in our hearts, we have only to carry it out.  If love is in our nature one would think we are all great lovers of God and neighbor.  We have only to look at the world to see something went wrong.  Why is there so much evil then?  We can also ask ourselves “where is the peace and love in my life?”  What is missing?  Missing is uniting our will to the will of God.  The natural law of love is given at birth then the enemy of love comes.

Love is visible in an infant ready to respond to an act of love.  An infant is totally dependent on love to thrive.  Food and water alone are not sufficient nurturing for a child to thrive.  A child responds to two hearts of love beating in the womb, the child’s and its mother’s heart.  You are a child of God.  The heart of Jesus unites to our hearts in the Eucharist.  We are all the child in need of the mercy of God’s love. 

We are the victim on the street stripped of love.  We have been robbed of our innocence and purity when we are exposed to all the sins of the world seeking our weakness to cause our own fall from grace.  Who can resist the lure of the wolf in sheep’s clothing dressed in white and gentle to the touch?  Inside ready to be poured out is the trauma of a tragedy ready to happen. If we only understood the natural law of “consequence” we would seek first the will of God. 

Every act will have a just reward or punishment by consequence of natural law.  It may not only impact the person but generations to come.  The aborted child, the child raised by adoption, the sinner who turns their life around and uses that past to help others in the future has consequence.  One decision impacts a world of people.  The unknown is whether we will respond with “yes” to God or not. 

Love begets love and evil begets greater evil.  Those intoxicated with evil in any of its form sins against their own flesh and the outcome is but certain death.  It is death to self, to our identity as a child of God, to natural beauty and goodness.  In the end it is death to love, the essence of life left on the street of abandonment. 

Before we judge “not me, I have what I need” let us ask ourself “how well am I at loving?”  Am I one to show mercy when I am offended and hurt or when I see the less fortunate?  Is my love connected to them or only for myself and my select few?  Our capacity to love is our capacity to experience God and his mercy.  Our incapacity to love is our sense of abandonment from God’s mercy and love.  God is present yet without mercy we are isolated on “skid row” with poverty from love.  Life becomes a poverty without peace.

The command “Go and do likewise” is the assertion of truth.  It is not imposed on humanity it is what makes for humanity in God’s image.  This is what holds us together, the unity of the church with Jesus as our head to be Christian.  By nature, I am an introvert.  Introverts make the minority of the population 1:3 ratio introverts to extraverts.  Give me a book and a comfortable chair and I am detached from the world.  I would drive my mother crazy growing up because I buried my head in a book and people I avoided.  She would say, “I just want to hear you talk.”  If she could see me now standing before you preaching, maybe she is (after death).  God works miracles and has a sense of humor at it. 

Love is about attachment.  “Go and do likewise” is not easy and I must work at creating attachment, especially with the stranger.  There are some people who “never met a stranger” in the sense their interests in people moved them to reach out to others.  God bless them.  You may be like me or more of an extrovert yet both are commanded by love to reach out.  Love is transformative and it will change you as much as you allow to be that change agent in others. 

Christ is “the firstborn of the dead”.  He did not rise as a spirit but in body and spirit.  St. Thomas felt with his hands the wounds of Jesus and the disciples ate fish with him on the seashore.  He made himself present in the body.  We are to prepare our bodies for the resurrection.  Jesus carried the scars of the sins of others hate but we will carry the scars of our own sin as a sign of our redemption in Christ.  Now is the time to heal those scars before death and regain the purity of our bodies and souls. 

Before death as in after death our bodies and souls are our nature to live out in the image of the first born of creation, Jesus Christ!  “Go and do likewise”. 

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Homily The Deacon Joe

14th Sunday Ordinary Time

Posted on by Deacon Joe

Is. 66: 10-14c; Ps. 66: 1-7, 16, 20; Gal. 6: 14-18; Lk. 10: 1-12, 17-20

“Peace be with you!”  Sealed by the Holy Spirit, let us bear the marks of Jesus.  “…for I bear the marks of Jesus on my body” says St. Paul.  The Greek word for marks is “stigmata” which is understood to reference Jesus’ five wounds.  It is possible St. Paul bore the stigmata literally but this is not known through tradition.  It is believed St. Paul is speaking in reference to the suffering and persecution he endured for Christ “through which the world has been crucified to me” he states.  These marks came from his persecutors who wanted to continue the Jewish law of circumcision for Christians.  St. Paul’s challenge to them as it is to us is to bear the sign of the cross as a “new creation”.  This sign we accept by faith at our baptism. 

Recall the rite of baptism begins with the priest making the sign of the cross on the child claiming the child for Christ.  He then invites the parents and godparents to do the same.  Together the Church, parents, and godparents have a responsibility to raise the child in the faith.  We are a new creation to be conformed to Christ by living our sacramental life “be sealed with the gift of the Holy Spirit”. 

Sealed with the gift of the Holy Spirit comes with a cross.  Our faith will not only be challenged, it will be attacked.  Early in the Christian church many were persecuted and martyred.  Among them was St. Perpetua and St. Felicity in the year 203 not only for claiming to be Christian but refusing to deny their faith.  “Two days before the scheduled execution, Felicity went into labor delivering a baby girl.  The guards made fun of her, insulting her by saying, “If you think you suffer now, how will you stand it when you face the wild beasts?  Felicity answered them calmly, ‘Now I’m the one who is suffering, but in the arena, another will be in me suffering for me because I will suffer for him’.  She gave birth to a healthy girl who was adopted and raised by one of the Christian women of Carthage.”  (www.catholic.org)

Saints Perpetua and Felicity carried peace of Christ to their death.  The seventy-two who were sent were to offer “peace” to the household.  “If a peaceful person lives there, your peace will rest on him.”  We offer each other a sign of peace in our Latin rite with the words, “Peace be with you” and the response “and also with you”.  This peace can only rest on a “peaceful person”.  Are we at peace in Christ?  The world is ready to disrupt our peace if we dare speak of our faith in the public square and even when we dare not it intrudes on our peace. 

We live in times when it is tolerated or even accepted by the mainstream culture to have public cursing, hate speech, and militant groups who riot to promote hate through the veil of freedom of speech and to organize.  In contrast through the same veil we have peaceful marches to rally for “Life” and the protection of the unborn.  The irony of the story of St. Felicity is that for the persecutors to “kill a child in the womb was shedding innocent and sacred blood” (www.catholic.org) In the midst of hate in the killing of Christians the unborn was held as sacred.  Today the unborn is seen as a commodity of “choice” to be terminated even at the moment of birth.  The godly choice is to love them both. 

Peaceful people are not silent people no more that St. Paul was not silent in the midst of persecution.  His desire was to evangelize and “let no one make troubles for me”.  In Paul we see our normal humanity, no one wants trouble for themselves but they can also not deny themselves.  The early Christian martyrs refused to deny themselves.  St Perpetua said it best when her father frantically wanted her to deny her faith and prevent her death.  She said to him “Pointing to a water jug ‘See that pot lying there?  Can you call it by any other name than what it is?’ Her father answered, ‘Of course not.’ Perpetua responded, “Neither can I call myself by any other name that what I am—a Christian.”  It takes courage to stand up for our faith.  It takes the “grace of our Lord Jesus Christ” as a peaceful person.

The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ is the power given to the seventy-two to subject even demons at the name of Jesus.  The world needs the peace of Jesus but as the song says, “let it begin with me”.  We must first subject the demons of sin in our lives if we hope to bring peace into the world.  It begins with us and it is nurtured in our home. Husbands and wives, when your spouse calls you what is your response?  “Si mi amor” with words of endearment or “What do you want?”  Siblings, if your brother or sister takes something of yours how do you ask for it back?  “Please return it to me” or “You better give it back!”  

“Let the peace of Christ control your hearts; let the word of Christ dwell in you richly”.  This peace in our hearts comes by bearing the marks of Jesus.  The seal in our bodies is renewed in the Eucharist.  The world of Christ is the guiding light for the soul to dwell in.  The fullness of Christ “source and summit” is our celebration in the Mass.  Each of us is given a harvest to work.  Where you are is a harvest waiting for you and you will not know the impact of your harvest until we reach heaven.  You may also not know until the impact God was waiting for you make by saying “yes” and was missed and lost.  It can extend as far as we are willing to go.  We have the “power to ‘tread on serpents’ and scorpions and upon the full force of the enemy and nothing will harm you.” 

I have a 1984 Mercedes sports car.  I was asked how fast have I driven it?  I responded the “speed limit”.  Most vehicles come with greater power than we will ever utilize out of prudence.  We treat the power of the Holy Spirit in the same way.  It is a gift underutilized.  We are a people of faith, hope, and love.  Let us challenge ourselves in the arena of life to call on the power of this gift and “another will be in us with his power because we will be in him”.  Peace be with you. 

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Homily

13th Sunday Ordinary Time

Posted on by Deacon Joe

1Kgs. 19: 16b, 19-21; Ps. 16: 1-2, 5, 7-11; Gal. 5: 1, 13-18; Lk. 9: 51-62

Go back!  When God created humanity, he gave us a gift.  I asked a Quincianera (15th Birthday celebration) what she thought was the gift from God when she was born.  She responded, with one word “freedom”.  A wise young lady because the gift we receive is the gift of ourselves.  Freedom is the gift of free will to choose.  Choose wisely. 

“Go back! Have I done anything to you?”  Elisha is being called to serve God out of his freedom.  By our baptism you and I are being called to serve God out of our freedom.  When we are baptized, we receive another gift from God.  What is the gift?  It the gift of God himself in the Holy Spirit he comes.  “You are my inheritance, O Lord.” 

“For freedom Christ set us free…do not use this freedom as an opportunity for the flesh.”  Using Freudian language, we can understand our humanity of the flesh.  Freud speaks of the “Id” as the drives of passion in the words “I want it now”.  The church speaks of the same drives of passion as the seven Corporal sins.  They are pride, envy, lust, anger, gluttony, greed, and sloth.  Freud speaks of the “ego” as the intellect that considers its options in the words, “I need to do a bit of planning, to get it”.  The church speaks of the intellect in terms of the gifts of virtues to choose wisely through justice, prudence, fortitude, and temperance.  The intellect is guided by the Holy Spirit to the greater good whether convenient or inconvenient.  Freud speaks of the “superego” as a moral compass in the words, “You can’t have it.  It’s not right.”  The church speaks of the moral compass as the great commandment to love God with all our heart and our neighbor as ourselves.  It is beyond the greater good, it is morally the only answer God seeks for us.  Do we have the spiritual muscle to respond in freedom to God’s call? 

“Live by the Spirit and you will certainly not gratify the desires of the flesh.”  Choose wisely for the world also seeks to make us a slave to itself apart from our God.  “If you are guided by the Spirit, you are not under the law.”  The Old Testament begins the history of salvation by the giving of the law and the call to obedience.  A child learns through obedience but a child also hungers to learn more than obedience. 

Jesus comes to feed us more than obedience to the law. His commandment is one of love, sacrificial, persevering, and divine love.  Jesus feeds us himself and by his grace we can do all things through him who strengthens us “with his glorious riches” as stated in Philippians 4:19.   God is rich in mercy and love so why don’t we ask?  We fail to see the gift waiting for us.  We focus on the pain of giving away something of ourselves.  That something is our attachment to the passions of our humanity directed inward.   God’s passion directs us outward in relationship to others. 

Jesus makes clear the message “Follow me” with these strong words “No one who sets a hand on the plow and looks to what is left behind is fit for the kingdom of God.”  We cannot keep a hand on our sins which we indulge in and say I will follow and be fit for the calling.  This week was the global movement to pray one billion Hail Mary’s for the priesthood around the world.  This is the age of mercy and mercy comes with the need for purification within the church.  Pray for our priests who receive the call yet struggle in their humanity. 

No one who wishes to follow in the footsteps of Jesus and looks with regret at what they could have had is ready to be his disciple.  St Augustine prayed, “God make me chaste but not yet.”  His confessions are a witness to our humanity in the desire of the flesh.  The way of perfection is by facing our imperfections by the light of truth.  Yet it is more common to hear the excuse, “No one is perfect” as reason to keep doing what we do.   We cannot proclaim, “Here I am Lord” for one hour on Sunday and then choose to do as we please. 

St. Augustine also said, “It was pride that changed angels into devils; it is humility that makes man as angels”.  Too often we confuse humility with “turning the other cheek”.  Humility is the courage to face the truth.  Truth can be a painful reality to see ourselves in our imperfection.  Truth can also be a liberating reality to see ourselves in the love of God. God will reveal to us the “path to life” if the child we are to him seeks this truth.  We pray, “Here I am Lord, humbly I seek your grace to say yes in the perpetual moment of this day.”  Every moment is an opportunity for the “fullness of joy” in the Lord’s presence.  Do we go forth or do we go back? 

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Homily

Solemnity the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ

Posted on by Deacon Joe

Gen: 14: 18-20; Ps. 110: 1-4; 1 Cor. 11: 23-26; Lk. 9: 11b-17

“Give us this day our daily bread”.  Melchizedek, both king and priest uses bread and wine to offer a blessing and Abram gives his “a tenth of everything”.  Imagine before all the history of animal sacrifices there is this event that prefigures Jesus sacrifice on the altar with bread and wine.  That is why all of salvation history either point forward to Jesus or back to him, “You are a priest forever, in the line of Melchizedek”.  He is the eternal sacrifice poured out for us on the altar today in the Eucharist.  How important was that blessing to Abram that he gives a tenth of everything to Melchizedek?  The importance of a blessing by God will “deliver your foes into your hands.”  When we receive Christ in the Eucharist, we receive power over evil and sin in the spiritual warfare of this life.  Do we bless our children before they walk out of the house to go out into the world to face “the wickedness and the snares of the devil”?  When we go to confession what is the first thing we say?  “Bless me Father for I have sinned.”  We ask for a blessing to be forgiven and healed from the wounds of sin. 

A blessing is not giving “best wishes”, it is affirming favor with God and calling on his protection.  A child says, “Mom/Dad I’m leaving”.  How do we often respond?  “Ok, take care, don’t do anything I wouldn’t do, stay out trouble.”  How about, “May God bless you and keep you, may his face shine upon you.”  A blessing fulfills the song, “In the morning when I rise, give me Jesus”.  “Do this in remembrance of me.” 

“Do this” is to make Jesus alive in the Eucharist, to receive him and proclaim his sacrifice and death until he comes.  Jesus coming is always a present event for he comes in the Most Holy Body and Blood in the Eucharist.  Having just visited many holy shrines in Italy, one place we visited was Lanciano, Italy.  Here is the “Miracle of Lanciano” where the sacred host changed into flesh and blood.  Able to stand within feet of the reliquary which holds to this day the flesh and blood you see the fleshy host and below it five globules of blood intact.  Within the miracle itself scientist weighed each of the five separate parts and found that each part weighs the same as all five together.  They also determine that the fleshy host is human cardiac tissue of type AB blood and they can point exactly what spot of the heart muscle tissue it comes from.  This is consistent with all other Eucharistic miracles in the church.  What are we to believe?  More importantly do we believe Jesus is “the living bread” in the Eucharist “that came down from heaven” and the source of eternal life when we “eat this bread”?  This is our celebration today!

We celebrate the kingdom of God already present able to heal us and strengthen us when the priest raises the host and multiplies the heart of Jesus that we may receive our equal amount of blessing.  In the gospel, Jesus blesses the five loaves and two fish and it is multiplied to feed the five thousand plus.  God is the creator of natural law thus his power is outside of the natural law.  We are bound by natural law but he is not bound b y the object of his creation. 

Years back we went on a pilgrimage to Israel.  Our guide was a very well educated older Jewish man with a sense of humor.  He was also in much better physical shape than a lot of us younger people.  During daily Mass he always sat in the back but remained in church.  He had a good understanding of Christian history and was a very good guide.  When discussing the faith of the church in transubstantiation, the changing of the bread and wine into the body and blood of Jesus in the Eucharist, it was a stumbling block for him.  His response was “it cannot be that easy”.  It is that easy if it is the will of God.  What happens the next day after the multiplication of the loaves?  The people want a sign from heaven to believe in him.  Jesus responds by saying, “Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day” and again repeats “Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him”.  (Jn. 6: 54, 56) How did many of his disciples respond?”  They said, “This saying is hard; who can accept it?”  Many left and “returned to their former way of life and no longer accompanied him.” (Jn. 6:66) How do we respond to the invitation today?  Do we follow the teaching of Jesus or do we go through the “cafeteria line” and pick and choose only what we can accept? 

Today this teaching is a stumbling block for many other Christian denominations.  Some take crackers and grape juice to reflect communion as a symbolism skipping over Jesus teaching.  The literal meaning is too hard to accept.  Some say the Word of the gospel is the body of Christ as we consume his word to transform us.  We receive both in the Liturgy of the Word and the Liturgy of the Eucharist for the fullness of truth.  Do we believe what we profess every day in all the tabernacles of the world?  The miracle is present for us today.  Believe and receive, but go to confession first for the blessing of forgiveness.  “Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses…” 

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Homily

Pentecost Sunday

Posted on by Deacon Joe

Acts 2: 1-11; 1Cor. 12: 3b-7, 12-13; Jn 20: 19-23

Can you say “Jesus is Lord”?  I was listening to a program on ETWN with Dr. Ray.  He had a guest who had been a prison guard at a maximum security prison in California.  His shift was at night and finding little to do he requested to review the files of the prisoners.  He noticed that many of the prisoners had histories of “Satanism”.  When he went home and told his mother she warned him to be careful and said one thing they cannot repeat is “Jesus is Lord”.  Given his curiosity he decided to put his mom’s statement to the test.  At night he went up to a prisoner and offered him a nice meal if he would say three words.  Incredulously the prisoner agreed.  When he told him all he needed to do was say “Jesus is Lord” the prisoner started to attempt the words and he became possessed making evil sounds.  The guard quickly closed the solid door in front of the rails that secured the prisoner.  The next night he tried again with another of the prisoner and the same thing happened.  Soon he found out that all these prisoners with satanic history could not mutter the words “Jesus is Lord”.  “Only through the spirit can one say ‘Jesus is Lord’”.  

One tragedy of this story is that one of these prisoners is the serial killer who killed one of our youth from this parish. This community has dedicated a school after and she is our goddaughter in heaven.  Evil is real and we are in the battle against the “wickedness and the snares of the devil” but we have been given the greatest power to overcome evil.  Where does this power lie?  It is in the unity of the one body when we come together and receive of the different gifts.  Jesus appears to the disciples who are gathered together and “breathed on them and said to them “Receive the Holy Spirit”.  When we gather together in prayer and call upon the Holy Spirit, we are given the power to go forth and face our battles with courage transformed to witness our faith in action and we will “renew the face of the earth”.    

In the Old Testament you may recall how the people gathered together to build the tower of Babel.  They wanted to reach the heavens by their own power.  God sent them tongues of confusion that kept them from understanding each other and they were dispersed because of their pride.  God is now sending down his Spirit with tongues of fire to bring back the dispersed into unity with God through his Son and the Holy Spirit that we may be one in him.  They are “different kinds of spiritual gifts but the same Spirit…all baptized into the one body”. 

For those who say “I believe in God but I go my own way” listen to this.  Our own way is the way of pride and confusion and the evil one knows our weakness to bring us down.  In an article in the National Catholic Register (NCR 06/09/2019, by P.J. Smith) it reports a growing trend of “Nones”, that is persons who claim to have no religious affiliation.  The percentage is 23.1% of Americans but among Gen-Z, those between 18 and 22 years old it is 40.4% as “Nones” with 16.2% Catholic and 14.4% as evangelical.  This separation from faith begins with our youth as they move away to college and find themselves apart from the unity of a church community.  Gradually these believers are challenged in their faith.  They stop going to church and separated from any affiliation with a group of faithful Christians the evil one finds their weakness.  Slowly they move from practicing their faith, to non-practicing and end up as “Nones”. 

Our power lies in unity within a community of faith that shares in the different kinds of gifts for the good of the one body of Christ we all belong to.  No one person can bear all the gifts except the one from who they come but we can all share in them and in our charity and love draw from them for the greater good.  Will there be martyrs along the way who will be singled out for their faith?  Yes, history remind us well of all those who gave their life for their faith.  They are dressed in white robes to be reminders of the one true sacrifice we all share in.  God prepares a special place for them as the book of Revelations makes clear. 

Having returned from Italy where thousands were sacrificed as followers of Christ, one place we celebrated Mass was at a cave in the catacombs.  There are miles of tunnels and within the walls are carved out spaces where the dead were laid to rest.  Within the smell of the dying the early Christians gathered to celebrate life in the breaking of the bread for they had witnessed the resurrection of Christ and believed.  Along one of these walls is a mosaic dating back to the first centuries with the image of Peter and Paul.  Peter husky with a big head of white hair and beard and Paul slender dark skin and long pointed dark beard.  The keys of the kingdom and the spread of the gospel is given to the church in these two men and we are the inheritance of this treasure.  Let us remain faithful that is a people of faith, hope, and love. “Come, Holy Spirit, come!” 

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Homily

Ascension of the Lord

Posted on by Deacon Joe

Acts 1:1-11; Ps 47:2-3, 6-9; Eph. 1:17-23; Lk. 24:46-53

Today our Easter time joins Jesus passion, death and resurrection to his ascension. First, “shouts of joy” to the pilgrimage group from EWTN led by Father Miguel as we visited the shrines of Italy in May.  It was a blessing to celebrate Mass daily whether in large basilicas or down in caves and catacombs where Christians were buried.   One of these places we visited was the Shrine of the Holy Face of Jesus in Manoppello.  Divine providence allowed us to be present as the community was celebrating Mass on the day the Holy Face of Jesus was being exposed for veneration by the community. 

Here we learned about the studies that have been done on Veronica’s veil, the Shroud of Turin and the Holy Face of Jesus burial cloth.  Jesus in his love and mercy has left us these signs to increase our faith.  Science has determined that these three cloths overlap each other perfectly representing the same person who suffered, died, and was coming to life. 

They are a sign of his passion, death, and resurrection.  In Veronica’s veil we recall Jesus scourging and bloody mouth which Veronica wiped away.  In the Shroud of Turin we recall Jesus death as he lay in the womb three days.  In the Holy Face of Jesus we have the hood that covered the face representing the moment of the resurrection as he came to life.  Together they represent our Easter time.

“This Jesus who has been taken up…will return in the same way as you have seen him going into heaven.”   “Only the one who came from the Father can return to the Father: Christ Jesus” (CCC 661).  Christ now opens the gates of heaven to share in his glorified life, not by our own power but through his coming for us.  What is this glorified life we are promised? 

After the resurrection for forty days Jesus appeared to the disciples and revealed his glorified state in which we are all to share.  The church speaks of four properties of a glorified resurrected body.  They include:  impassability, subtlety, agility and clarity.  Reflecting on each is seen in the resurrected body of Jesus who leaves us his witness of the glorified state. 

Impassability is the promise that we will no longer pass through suffering, physical sickness or death for the body “shall rise in incorruption” (1 Cr. 15:42)   There is no reincarnation or return to “try again” at a more perfect state of life from our past sins.  Even science demonstrates the world is in perpetual motion forward and no second chance.  We pass from mortality to immortality.

Subtlety is the spiritualized nature of the body with the ability to pass through the material.  Jesus appeared to the disciples as he passed through the doors.  It is important to remember that the body and soul is one nature of humanity thus our spiritualized resurrected body will be of one nature in its subtlety.  Just as a hand runs through running water the spiritualized nature will remain as one. 

Agility is the glorified body’s ability to obey the soul and be transported at the speed of thought (1 Cor. 15:43).  This was seen in Jesus appearance and disappearance on the walk to Emmaus to the two men.  We also have seen testimony of this in saint’s ability to bilocate, is to have appeared in other places. 

Clarity indicates the glorified body will be free from any deformity, filled with beauty and radiance (Math: 13:43/Wis. 3:7).  This is the healing Jesus provides us when he heals the blind, and paralytic.  You may ask then why did Jesus’ resurrected state remain with his wounds, a sign of imperfection.  In a homily by Father Wade Menezes (EWTN homily 05/29/19) he expressed the need for perfection of charity.  That is to the degree we demonstrate our charity we are perfected.  Jesus wounds remain as a sign of our imperfect love which he so desires of us. 

It is important to clarify that the glorified state is a grace obedient to the will.  When someone we love dies in their humanity they are alive in Christ.  Saints often expressed their intent to do more for us in dying than in their humanity.  This can only be by our will to pray and ask of them, of our Blessed Mother Mary, and of God in the Trinity.  The glorified state honors the will of the other thus Jesus stands at the door of our hearts but we must invite him in.

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Homily The Deacon Joe

Fourth Sunday of Easter

Posted on by Deacon Joe

Acts 13: 14, 43-52; Ps 100: 1-3, 5; Rev 7:9, 14b-17; Jn. 10:27-30

“All who were destined for eternal life came to believe”.  Who is destined and how do we know?  I have often asked the question in RCIA (Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults) who believes in predetermination or self-determination.  Answers vary in the group with some feeling in the tradition of Calvinism that God has predetermined everything and we are living out the plan.  Others go to the other side of feeling in the tradition of Gnostics that God created us and placed us here to work out our salvation but remains distant from interfering with our life.  Then there are others who simply never considered the question and have no idea.  Where would you stand as a believer? 

The believer who does the will of the Father is destined for eternal life.  This does not imply that God is simply an observer of our daily life waiting to determine our destiny simply by our actions.  Jesus stands at the door of our hearts knocking ready to engage us in our daily life but our hearts must respond to receive him.  Is there a plan of salvation written into our hearts for each of us?  Absolutely, it is custom drawn to go with our personal state of life for us to follow.  God also knows our inherent weakness and free will and will continue to knock on our hearts to return to his plan for us.  The prodigal father and son remind us of this reality.  No matter how much we turn away from him he cannot deny himself and his love is everlasting.  Yet not all live to do the will of the Father.  In predetermination there is an individualized plan but not all follow. 

“Follow me” is the core message of last week meaning follow Jesus.  Self-determination then is our journey of faith governed by our free will, intellect, and emotions that are the essence of our soul.  To unite our free will, intellect, and emotions is to unite our soul in relationship with the Father’s will, the mind of God, and his love.  The perfect union is the ecstasy of grace one in being with the Father in the Holy Trinity.  Into this plan of truth, goodness, beauty, and unity we are a people of God.  If this does not excite us then we are not ready to simply let go and let God be my Lord and savior. What is the resistance that keeps us from being glorified in the word of the Lord?  We remain set on going “my own way”. 

“No one can take them out of the Father’s hand”.  This is not predetermination that “once saved is always saved.”  We choose to take ourselves out of the Father’s hand in our self-determination.  The word has been given to us since our baptism.  God is waiting for what we choose to do now.  Signs to awaken us to his presence surround us.  We have Jesus life, death, resurrection, the descent of the Holy Spirit, his body and blood in the Eucharist, and the church to serve as his authority.   Follow these signs and graces will pour out of his riches in glory.   

“My way” does not listen for the voice of the Lord.  It is not watchful and attentive to a God who is nearby.  The soul wanders seeking to discover “the way” as the Israelites in the desert who were never far from the promise land but kept wandering within a region while God waited for the conversion of their hearts.  In what ways are we wandering in search of truth, goodness, beauty and unity without turning to our God?  God waits for our conversion and it begins with an act of the will to let go and receive him who is love.  Jesus is the way to follow to the promise land “and they will never perish”.   In God are truth, goodness, beauty and unity of love.  Let us answer the call and follow the good shepherd and we will know we remain in his hands. 

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Homily The Deacon Joe

Third Sunday of Easter

Posted on by Deacon Joe

Acts 5: 27-32, 40b-41; Ps 30: 2, 4-6, 11-13; Rev 5: 11-14; Jn 21: 1-19

“Follow me”.  The core message of the call to Christianity is follow Jesus.  In the third apparition of Jesus to his disciples Jesus continues to bestow on them the power to follow with the authority of Jesus.  He has already appeared to them and called them to go forth with authority as he breathed on them in the first apparition with the words “Receive the Holy Spirit.”  He has given them the power to forgive sins, “whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, whose sins you retain are retained”. 

These disciples are now being given authority to be the witnesses of Jesus himself as apostles and carry forth with authority the will of the Father.  What is their response?  Jesus finds them back at their trade as fishermen going back to the day in which he first called them to follow him at the beginning of Jesus ministry.  This is the process and the cycle of conversion and growth in holiness. 

We have been called from the day of our baptism to follow not in weakness but in the power of the name of Jesus.  Baptism has given us the virtues of faith, hope, and love to believe in God and to practice what we believe.  In the waters of our baptism we are cleansed and we receive the Holy Spirit.  It is the fire to grow in perfection living out the virtues of prudence, justice, fortitude, and temperance.  This spirit of courage gives wisdom to understand in right judgment the will of the Father, seek justice for all, have the fortitude to act rightly, and the temperance of balancing the scales of love of God and love of other in our unity to him. 

Then comes life in all its truth, goodness, beauty, and unity to be one with our creator, to “follow me”.  Our response is often “I go my way.”  The disciples have seen the miracles, the sacrifice of Jesus for them, the resurrection of the Lord, the fire of the Holy Spirit descend on them and they go seeking their way.  Their way is often our way, the way of our comfort zone.  We seek to return to what is known than to for forth into the unknown but that is not the cycle of life. 

Life is always going forth into the unknown but not alone.  In the unknown God is with us to lead the way.  We are not the same person of our childhood, our youth, or our later stages of life.  I am reminded that every five years our cells completely replicate and we are not the same person we were before. If we question that reality then just look in the mirror and be convinced. Not only our features change but we are in a transformation into someone new and the old passes away. The laws of physics are the force of motion forward and we must prepare for this destiny.  Mortal life is but a fraction of this destiny thus we are called to vigilance and readiness to respond to the call of this moment.  What is God asking of me to respond in faith, courage and love?

The unknown is the journey of faith what tomorrow brings us.  It brings us growth and maturity for the young, hopes and dreams as we discover our gifts and God given graces, struggles and challenges in our obstacles that strengthen our spiritual muscle, and letting go to let God move in us to go forth and follow him.  Our temptation is to hold on and not let go or let God be our God.  We hold onto our self-image when God offers us his image.  We hold onto our strong will that is unreceptive to the guidance of the spirit simply because as Jesus prayed, “they know not what they do”.  We hold onto our control because of our insecurity when God offers us a power greater than ourselves.  We also hold onto our sins because we find a false identity in our weakness and hide in our darkness of the soul. 

The soul is given the light of Christ to be kept brightly burning, not looking back but going forward in this light. The disciples first left their nets to follow Jesus to be baptized, catechized, to live the passion with Christ and now receive the gifts of the Holy Spirit.  Where does Jesus find them in today’s readings but back in the comfort of their trade still waiting for a messiah to come?  Jesus has come for them and for us to go forth giving testimony of God’s real presence in our lives.  Trust Jesus and your light will shine with the power of the word made flesh in our being.

Still they needed the real presence of Jesus to go forth after the resurrection.  We need the real presence of Jesus to go forth in our lives.  He makes himself present in our prayer life, in the Eucharist, and in our sacrifice of love for other.  He is prepared to manifest his miracles through us and bring all to salvation.  He instituted the church as one body of authority to carry forth his love in the sacraments and in fellowship as Christians. 

Three times Jesus asks Peter “Do you love me?” Do we really love God? He waits for our answer with the rising of the sun to rise to follow him. He wants us to follow him by doing the will of the Father. Jesus lets Peter know his calling is “feed my sheep, tend my lambs”. We need more holy priests. We need them as pastors of the flock not administrators of the parish. To administer the parish is the “other duties as assigned” but the call is to be a pastor. A pastor tends to the spiritual needs of the people, administers the sacraments, and goes out to be with the flock in their world in order to call them back into God’s kingdom.

“Follow me” into the light and release the yoke of sin we carry with false pride.  Our pride is in the one who gives us the power to follow in ways of truth, goodness, beauty, and unity.  This is the resurrected life of our Easter time.  This is living in the perfection of the Lord this day.  We are in this moment in time called to follow.  Fear not the call into the unknown but in unity to our God be open to amazing grace and we will be his apostles in Christ.

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Homily The Deacon Joe

Palm Sunday of the Lord’s Passion

Posted on by Deacon Joe

Lk. 19: 28-40; Is. 50: 4-7; Ps. 22: 8, 9, 17-20, 23-34; Phil. 2: 6-11; Lk 22: 14 – 23: 56

It has begun the source and summit of “Christendom”.  Palm Sunday is the complete narrative of our faith as Christians.  The preparation of Lent is to receive Christ as Lord and King and to be welcomed into his kingdom for all eternity.  Palm Sunday is the beginning of the final journey into eternal life in Christ.  It is a celebration of joy and sorrow, the joy of our salvation in Christ and the sorrow of our sins which persecute Christ even to this day.  “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord.  Peace in heaven and glory in the highest”.  For this we must never be silenced in the public square.  Even as the Pharisees tried to silence the people Jesus responds, “I tell you, if they keep silent, the stones will cry out!” 

Our times are filled with threats to those who speak in the public square their religious beliefs.  It goes as far to the extreme as to call it “Hate speech”.  It is condemned because it does not show tolerance or inclusive language.  Today gender neutral belief seeks to deny God’s creation of humanity as male and female by natural law.  The freedom to choose personal gender identity, the right to give life or end life, now extends to the demand that others comply with these social norms or lose their rights to exist in the public square.  In times of darkness comes the light.  Jesus is the light and he comes as a disruptive force to the Pharisees despite all their attempts to silence him. 

The words of Jesus, “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?” is a reminder of his deep sorrow and suffering in his humanity.  He is a God who joined us in all our human suffering and in agony feels the separation from God as we often wonder and question where God is when we suffer.  His supplication “But you, O Lord be not far from me” is followed by a commitment “I will proclaim your name to my brethren; in the midst of the assembly I will praise you.”  In joy praise comes naturally but in suffering do we remain committed to praise the Lord? 

Poor Peter, “I tell you, Peter, before the cock crows this day you will deny three times that you know me.”  Peter’s weakness is our weakness yet Jesus turns to Peter to be the rock “Simon…once you turn back you must strengthen your brothers.”  This is our joy we must turn back to the Lord from our sins and be the rock of strength for our family, friends, and a sign of hope to the stranger.  We are to serve the Lord as the light in the darkness with fortitude, justice, prudence, and temperance.  The light is received in our baptism through the Holy Spirit to be kept burning brightly with love in action willing to go forth into the darkness.  It cannot be kept hidden beneath church ceilings or within the soul of a believer. 

The sign of hope is a servant’s love to lift others by our testimony in word and act of charity with all humility.  Jesus offers us his cup and his bread that is his body and blood to strengthen us in this our personal crosses we bear in this life.  Our hope is the end of death by sin, the redemption of the sinner we are, and the resurrection into new life in the covenant of love.  Lent is our preparation time for a new beginning just as the world celebrates the New Year with a new resolution we celebrate our conversion.  Each day brings its joys and sorrows, trials and triumphs, beginning and end.  Each day is an offering of us to God and Easter is our springtime to be new once again in our faith, hope, and love. 

Let us invite Jesus into our lives and see the miracle of transformation beyond all understanding.  Let us now live our “Passover” from death into eternal life in the joy of the Eucharistic celebration, the sacrifice of the Mass and the going forth to love and serve the Lord.  “Jesus wept” is the shortest sentence in scripture.  Now Jesus waits.  How will you and I respond?  We belong to Christ! 

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Homily

Fifth Sunday of Lent

Posted on by Deacon Joe

Is. 43: 16-21; Ps. 126: 1-6; Phil. 3: 8-14; Jn. 8: 1-11

This is our final Sunday of Lent and I am consoled by the words from St. Paul, “forgetting what lies behind but straining forward to what lies ahead.”  Perhaps the most difficult thing to forget is our mistakes, our sins of the past.  This is because sin brings about suffering and it leaves its scars in our souls.  In the resurrection, Jesus appears to the disciples with the scars of his wounds.  They remain as a reminder of our sins he bears today for us. 

In contrast good time memories seem to need to be summoned up to recall those blessings but our suffering is always before us.  Jesus wants to heal our memories and free us from this cross.  The good news of the gospel is no one can condemn us for no one is without sin and God will not condemn us if we repent and sin no more.  God heals our memory from the pain to go forth to what lies ahead.  Going forth requires new behavior, a change of attitude, and a commitment.  The temptation is to return to the behavior of our past as creatures of habit, the easy road.  The road less traveled is following the path God is calling us to seek. 

This is the time to reflect on my behavior changed this Lent.  Does it have lasting commitment replaced by new behavior for the greater good?    It is easy to see Lent as a temporary behavior adjustment to pray a little more, cut back on some treats, or clean out our closet and give to charity.  Now what?  Do we simply slip back to our past habits or do we continue to pursue the goal, the “prize of God’s upward calling in Christ Jesus”? 

Each moment of life is a new experience and no two moments are exactly the same.  If we read scripture last week and we now read the same scripture passages it may have a new significance given what is going on in our current moment.  The Word of God is organic in its lifegiving principles.  Lent is not intended to be simply a bump on the road of “living my life” but a call to conversion into the image of Jesus in our suffering, our daily duty, our relationship with him and through him with humanity.

Jesus command is direct, “Go, and from now on do not sin anymore.”  Ever wonder what Jesus was writing on the ground for all the Pharisees and scribes to see?  While we don’t know, I suspect a list of sins that the accusers would recognize as their sin on the ground.  The impact of seeing words like adultery, theft, covetousness, gluttony, murder and knowing it applied to them made them drop their rocks and walk away. 

Jewish tradition had many laws to follow, breaking one would be very likely for which they made atonement with sacrifices of animals.  Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement for repentance is found in the Book of Leviticus, chapter 23.  “Blood atonement” by the shedding of innocent blood from a bull and goat in the Holy of Holies was the sacrifice on the altar.  Jesus gives his blood as the spear is thrust into his side and blood and water gush out.  Jesus is the innocent lamb for our sins and we are redeemed by his blood.  The command then for us is “Go forth and sin no more!” 

Mortal life is but a 100 years for some and for most much less but divine life is eternal and every day we are one day closer.  Dare we put off God for tomorrow, if not now when?  “Even now says the Lord, return to me with your whole heart; for I am gracious and merciful”.  Lent is our time of atonement and be washed clean to celebrate Easter with the “upward calling in Christ Jesus”.  The prize is waiting and our time is now.  Don’t leave this world without it.  The prize is heaven in Jesus Christ. 

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