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Homily

Sixth Sunday of Easter – Love one another!

Posted on by Deacon Joe

Acts 10:25-26, 34-35, 44-48; Ps. 98:1-4; 1 Jn. 4:7-10; Jn. 15:9-17

“This I command you: love one another”, says the Lord.  Our gospel today is a continuation from last week with a common theme to remain in Jesus by following his commandments.  This is the proof that we remain in God and God in us by the greatest commandment not only by our love of God but when we love one another.  Love of the unseen God is bound with the love of one another who we do see.  This love will bear fruit, lasting fruit that remains “so that whatever you ask the Father in my name he many give you” says Jesus.    

There are many who say “I believe in God.  I am a Christian” Having faith is only the beginning of our relationship with God.  Jesus asked Peter “Do you love me” three times and then he commanded him to demonstrate his love by caring for others.  Love of God is active participation in the salvation of souls.  The Mass is an act of love by our active participation with our prayers, hymns, intentions, and offerings.  Love one another is active participation bringing our family to church, making sure our children receive their sacraments, becoming a community of faith that participates in spiritual and corporal works of mercy.  To love is to receive life from God just as death is to refuse to love. 

God is love.  The God of creation brought us mercy, redemption, and salvation through Jesus his son as an expiation for our sin.  God’s love is always active for our greater good but we also must know how to ask rightly from the Father.  Often when we pray, we focus on what are our needs, wants, hopes and desires.  We begin with the love of “I” and not the love of God.  Let our prayer begin with the love of God by asking and trusting that his will be done.  He knows the desire of our hearts and we can express all those desires in the right context of our surrender to the will of God.  Recall how Abraham was put to his greatest test of faith and love called to offer up his son.  Abraham trusted in God and remained obedient to his will and God proved him to be a righteous man.  Abraham also a human being bore lasting fruit that remains to this day. 

Today we see in the first reading Peter who is given homage by Cornelius but Peter raises him up declaring he is also a human being and treats him as a brother.  There is a lesson here that we are all called to be servants of the Lord even as we are all given different authority in the service of his church.  Peter is given authority in the person of Jesus while we are to reflect the image of Jesus as human beings.  As a family our authority rests in the domestic church at home.  The apostles were given authority to lead the faithful as a magisterium of the Church. 

Peter preaches in the name of Jesus and the power of the Holy Spirit descents upon all present, Jew and Gentile, baptized and unbaptized, circumcised and uncircumcised something to ponder.  The heart that is ready to receive the Lord will not be denied the love of God and the gift of the Holy Spirit was poured out onto everyone including the unbaptized.  Peter recognized the mystery of faith at work and called for everyone who received the Holy Spirit to be baptized.  He acted not by the law of division but the law of love for unity of one another.  We must remain open to the guidance of the Holy Spirit calling us to unity and love of one another. 

This is not what we see in the news every day, where division, hatred, persecution and even violence is waged on the streets of cities, college campuses, and on borders of nations.  You cannot have an act be racist against one race of people and not be racist against another race.  You cannot call an act as persecution against one group of people but declare it to be justified “equity” when it is returned back to those people.  As the common expression says, “two wrongs don’t make it right”.  Two wrongs make for endless hate carried on from generation to generation.  It is time to bring an end to this cycle of hate or it will bring an end to us.  History has demonstrated this reality in the rise and fall of neighborhoods, cities, and nations.  Mass migration is often a people in flight from persecution and in search of greater freedom.  Love one another!

Love one another is not easy.  People are not easy to accept much less to love.  When a couple gets married the early years are a struggle to accept each other as we are.  We often assume that the other will change “if they love us”.  This philosophy doesn’t work and it takes a few years to come to realize we can’t change anyone.  The vows to love in good times and in bad should also include to love “as is” with all our good qualities and bad faults and pray that God is not done with us yet.    

We say we love God and his people but when we come to church, we avoid “those people”, those we know because of politics, those that have misbehaved children, those that like to sing loud but can’t sing well, and well those “other” people that look different, dress different, or whatever other things we think of them.  The nature of the flesh is not to love one another.  The spirit of love for another is a gift that we must seek because it will always require some form of sacrifice.  The flesh is not open to sacrifice.  We must unite our will to the will of the Father and be ready to respond to act in love of one another for the greater good.  Easier said than done.  Jesus recognizes his own who recognize him with love of one another. 

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Homily

Fifth Sunday of Easter – Remain in me!

Posted on by Deacon Joe

Acts 9:26-31; Ps. 22:26-28, 30-32; 1 Jn. 3:18-24; Jn. 15:1-8

Remain in me!  This is our Lord’s command today.  We remain in him by following his commandments.  There is a famous expression that says, “trust but verify”.  The way we verify that we remain in the Lord each day is by an examination of conscience.  Let us examine our word and deed against the commandments of the Lord and what fruit they bear coming “from the Spirit he gave us”, the Spirit of truth.

The Lord says, “remain in me” and “if our hearts do not condemn us” we will “receive from him whatever we ask, because we keep his commandments and do what pleases him.”  Sadly, there are many who follow their conscience and whose hearts do not condemn them but fail to keep God’s commandments.  We see this every day in the secular world who preach their own secular doctrine of agnosticism believing in a world without God.  We also see it in our own community among what is called “cafeteria Catholics” who are selective when it comes to following the teaching of the Church.  With one foot out and one foot in trying to have it their way is not remaining in the Lord. 

The teaching of the Church is the application of God’s commandments in our times on all the issues of life and death, justice and peace, good and evil.  It is not relative to each person’s individual conscience but to sacred truth.  While someone’s heart may not condemn them failure to fulfill the commandments in practice reveal a misguided conscience and the separation from the will of God.  This is the Lord’s teaching on faith without works is dead because they are not the works of the Spirit of God but a misguided faith. 

This is the lesson Saul teaches us when he was following his faith as a Jew zealous in following his beliefs by persecuting Jesus and his followers at the same time.  Saul was righteous in his heart until he encountered Jesus and all things changed.  We need an encounter with Jesus, the world needs an encounter with Jesus, and Jesus is ready for the encounter but he is waiting for someone to be bold in their faith, trust in the Lord and remain in him.  The disciples feared Saul, but Barnabas was brave taking charge of Saul revealing the work of Jesus through Saul and verifying his authenticity by his deeds.  A good examination of conscience can ask how our actions towards others are persecuting Jesus when we failed to love, to forgive, to give of ourselves and denied him what he desires of us. 

Today we recognize the tremendous fruit that came from Saul’s conversion to become Paul, God’s servant to the Gentiles.  Why was Paul such a good evangelist?  He did what the Lord commanded.  His obedience from the Spirit he received was joyful regardless of the risk to his own life.  When we remain in God, we accept the reality that there will be good times and bad times but our spirit of joy remains because he remains in us.  We can offer ourselves in all times for his greater purpose.  Even our suffering can bear fruit and bring others to the foot of the cross and remain in him. 

Finally, the Spirit of truth verifies that Jesus remains in us when we know how to pray, seek and ask.  The God who is “greater than our hearts and knows everything” remains waiting to give to his people the desires of what is good for the soul, what is pleasing to the Lord, and what will bear much fruit.  The Spirit of truth is a revelation of just how much God loves us when we remain in him, trust in him, and seek him.  Jesus entered into our humanity that we may encounter his divinity and remain in relationship with him. 

Every day we are in constant communication with each other over all kinds of things from what to wear, the weather, what to eat and what needs to be done but when do we stop to have a heart-to-heart conversation with each other?   Those are the talks we remember when our parents sat us down and felt it was important enough to stop all the other distractions and share from the heart something that really matters in life.  It may have been that car ride moment, sitting on the bar stool, taking that walk together but it still remains with you.  Those are “the talks” that still have an impact in our life.  Hopefully we are having those type of talks with our children because they will never forget how important it was to us.  That is the type of talk Jesus is waiting to have with us.  His talk will bring us to our knees but when we rise up, we will remain in him and he in us. 

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Homily

Fourth Sunday of Easter – The Good Shepherd

Posted on by Deacon Joe

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

The Good Shepherd has come, laid down his life for his sheep and raised it up again but not only his own life but his own people who died with him in faith and obedience to his word.  This is the good news of our Easter season that Jesus is the good shepherd and the God of the resurrection of the dead.  Recall how immediately after Jesus died “the veil of the sanctuary was torn in two…The earth quaked, tombs were opened, and the bodies of many saints who had fallen asleep were raised…they entered the holy city and appeared to many (Mt. 27:51-53)”. Jesus is raised indeed and so are his saintly people.  Jesus is the good shepherd of the dead who have come to life and of the living awaiting their mortal death.

Jesus is the good shepherd of those who hear his voice and turn to follow him.  Unlike sheep who are simply human creatures of this world, in the name of Jesus we are now called the children of God.  Often the question is raised to Catholics asking “why do Catholics baptize infants since they have no knowledge, cannot repent and no free will in the decision?”  In the early church baptism was given to complete families so if the head of the home accepted Christ not only was he baptized but so was his family and his slaves so this practice goes back to early Church history and tradition.  Baptism comes with the free gift of the Holy Spirit, that is the grace of God to enter the soul and be the light of truth, the good shepherd of the soul towards salvation. 

With the gift of the Holy Spirit comes the virtues including to grow in faith, hope, and love.  Who would deny their child this gift to get their life started in perfect sanctity open to hear the voice of the good shepherd as it faces the temptations of the world.  Without baptism the voice of the good shepherd is being drowned out by all the other voices of this world competing for its soul.  

As Jesus said to his disciples “allow the children to come to me for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these (Lk. 18:16).”  The good shepherd wants to enter our souls from the beginning of our life and remain with us all the days we are given.  The test of the good shepherd is less about us coming to him as it is to see if we can remain in him, something to ponder.  In the days that Jesus walked the earth many came to him but few remained with him because his teaching was hard to accept.  The good shepherd proved he was faithful unto death on a cross as he prophesized “I will lay down my life for the sheep”. 

Jesus gives us a tease in today’s gospel.  He speaks of having “other sheep that do not belong to this fold” but drops the topic only to proclaim that in the end “there will be one flock, one shepherd.”  Who are these other sheep?  One question that gets asked of Catholic Christians is whether only Catholics will go to heaven. It is also asked of other Christian denominations who profess to be the “true religion”.  Who belongs to the other flock is a mystery the Lord chose not to reveal.  

Consider first that for centuries the people of God were not “Christian”, they were not baptized in the name of Jesus yet in the transfiguration we see Elijah and Moses next to Jesus.  Consider also how many Christian denominations are now in existence becoming more divided than unified.   Recall what Jesus said his disciples, “For whoever is not against us is for us.  Anyone who gives you a cup of water…will surely not lose his reward (Mk. 9:40-41).  The mercy and love of God came that all may be saved but salvation is a process of purification of souls and God is not done with us yet, not with this world, not with all sinners, not with Christian believers as we struggle to carry the cross of our calling. 

What we carry with us is the promise that “what we shall be has not yet been revealed” but “we shall be like him”.  Today we are already called to live in the image of Christ the good shepherd, caring for those little ones, for the hungry and the poor, for our neighbor and the stranger.  Each according to our state in life has a cause given in which we serve the Lord transformed into the image of the good shepherd, Jesus the cornerstone by which we are saved. 

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Homily

Third Sunday of Easter – Lord, open our minds!

Posted on by Deacon Joe

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

Lord, open our minds!  Today we see how the disciples were incredulous, amazed and joyful but still doubtful thinking that Jesus was a ghost.  Not only does he say “touch and see” but he eats a piece of baked fish for their benefit and for ours that we may believe in the resurrection of the dead.  Recall that Jesus before his death had already told them that he would suffer, die, and rise again but left to their own human reasoning their minds were closed to the reality in front of them.  Lesson learned is if we are left to our own human thinking we cannot advance in faith unless we believe in the work of the spirit asking our Lord to open our minds.  Faith is a revelation just as love is a process. 

Today we are his disciples, today we have Jesus before us in the Eucharist and yet left to our own human reasoning surveys report that only one-third of Catholics believe in the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist.  Faith is not blind, nor is it only at act of the mind, nor is it simply an act of the will.   Faith comes from uniting our will to the will of the Father when we pray for the Lord to open our mind to his revelation. 

For example, in today’s world the trend is to claim sexual identity by an act of the mind thus a person is male or female because they will to be one or the other.  I recall the story of Padre Pio who was told he willed to have the stigmata to which he responded to try to will growing horns and see if you can.  Our identity comes from God, made in his image ordained for God’s purpose.  During a Quincianera, I will ask the girl “who is (name)?”  Often, I get a blank look.  No wonder we are losing our youth to a disordered identity?  In order to know thy true self we must come to know the true God who created us.

Today we have many Catholics who don’t read scripture and the primary reason is they don’t understand what they are reading.  They don’t understand the context, the history, when to take it literal or allegorical or poetic so they read a little and soon give up.  Others may read it and come up with their own ideas and interpretations, sincere but sincerely wrong.  Thanks be to God that he gave us a Church that has already struggled through centuries guided by the Holy Spirit to open the minds of his appointed apostles and discern all that Jesus has revealed to his people.  Last week in the gospel we heard how Jesus appears to the disciple, breathes on them and gives them authority to build up the kingdom of God as his church. 

Thus, faith is a revelation coming from God when we seek him.  He will reveal to us with the same understanding he gave his disciples the spirit of truth.  The purpose of faith is not simply to believe but to act in faith.  Faith is not a treasure we hide but a call to love in faith.  Our act of faith is to love and love is a process.  The first act of love is repentance followed by faith that our sins “may be wiped away”.  The work of love for the disciples as priests is to forgive the sins of the repentant soul. 

When a couple gets married the vows taken are an act of faith and a promise to love each other in good times and in bad.  This promise of love is the start of the process of loving each other that each must work at for the rest of their lives.  It is not a feeling but a process of growing together, knowing each other, supporting each other and forgiving each other for the times we have failed to act in love.  For married couples the work of the Lord begins in the marriage and the Lord will often use one spouse to open the eyes of the other to God’s will but that is not an excuse to say “well God told me to tell you…”; that is not from God.  Just as parents have a responsibility to be instruments of God’s will to help open the eyes of their children to God’s truth.  God gives the domestic church at home its own authority to serve him in the process of loving each other. 

Some may say “I pray but I feel that the Lord does not hear me or does not answer me.”  When we pray, we are not to wait for a feeling or for things to turn out the way according to our will.  Prayer is about God’s will who knows best for our salvation.  Recall many decades ago the television series “Father knows best” with Robert Young in the 1950s.  In the middle of some conflict there was the voice of reason and authority that in the end was for the good of the whole not just the one.  Our God knows what is best even when we suffer our losses and are burdened by our cross. 

Recently a young woman of 32 died after several months of a terminal illness.  The small community where she was from rallied behind her and many prayers, sacrifices and masses and acts of charity we done for her.  There was great hope for a miracle yet in the end the disease ended her mortal life.  In times like these it is easy to question God and wonder why God did not answer all the prayers, did he hear them.  God heard every one of their prayers and her suffering brought many closer to God, and her witness of faith and courage as she made public her journey was evident by all who came to her funeral.  This is our faith, this is the work of the Lord to lay down our lives for each other, this is being a true witness in the image of Christ on the cross. 

Before the funeral mass started her husband got up and shared a brief testimony.  He stated that at the end the only thing keeping her alive was the continuous blood she was receiving.  At that point while still very much alert and understanding her circumstances she told him it was time to stop the blood transfusion and give the blood to someone else who could be helped.  Asking her if she understood that it would end her life, she simply acknowledged she was ready to “bring it on”.   The Lord had opened her eyes to something greater than this life, something her faith had grown even further by the love she gave and received in those last months of this life.  She opened herself to love and the love of God poured in through many and from God and all became one.  Let us open our minds and hearts to the love of God this day and in every way to follow the will of our Father who knows best.

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Homily

Second Sunday of Easter – Spirit is truth

Posted on by Deacon Joe

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

From fear to the Spirit of truth.   The disciples were locked in spiritual fear that they were next to be arrested and killed after seeing how they crucified Jesus.  They were also physically locked in the upper room when Jesus appears to them with the words of courage “Peace be with you”.  Jesus frees them from their spiritual fear as he breathes on them the gift of the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of truth.  Are we locked in our fears in need of the Spirit of truth to set us free.  The Lord is here, he is risen ready to set the captives free. 

As parents we fear for our children anxious about many things yet our children belong to God.  Our children are a gift to raise up in the Spirit of truth and to set them free to serve their God given purpose.  We fear illness and disease as we age recognizing our own mortality yet even Jesus had to suffer a mortal death to rise again giving us the evidence of victory over death and the hope of eternity. 

We fear the powers of this world that seek to take our freedom and burden our lives claiming authority to rule over us.  Jesus tells Pontius Pilate he has no power over him reminding us that our kingdom is not of this world but resides in the Spirit of truth within and that freedom cannot be taken away.  We fear the evil that prowls about the world seeking the ruin of souls.  We have the power over evil, we are covered by the Spirit of truth, we live the sacramental life that receives Jesus body, blood, soul and divinity in the Eucharist and in the Holy Spirit.  Fear not!

When Jesus breathed on the disciples giving them the Holy Spirit it came with a mandate.  It wasn’t a gift for their indulgence or self adulation.  It was a gift of power and authority to serve God in the person of Christ with the sacramental duty to forgive sins in the name of Jesus.  As we recall Jesus had already instituted the Eucharist and the priesthood on Holy Thursday to be done in remembrance of the Lord but the disciples did not fully understand what their “call” to duty included. 

This was and is the new beginning of the people of God to be of one body that is of one Church.  This did not deny the past history of the law of Moses and the call to obey the commandments, it fulfilled it in a more perfect way.  It did not deny the priesthood but renewed it with Jesus as our high priest.  Jesus also did not write down one word but was the Word made flesh and by the gift of the Holy Spirit gave the disciples the spirit of truth so that his Church would carry his authority to forgive and retain. 

Why do we go to a priest to confess our sins?  It is the Jesus way in which having already recognized we have sinned we must now present ourselves in an act of obedience and humility to receive confirmation of the Lord’s forgiveness and complete the sacrament with act of penance to wipe away our sins.  The Spirit of truth if we are fully sorry for our sins is confirmed in not only in our words but also in our actions.  As Jesus said to the Leper in Mathew 8:4 who had been healed of the Leprosy to go and present himself to the priest to be examined of his healing and make an offering.  In forgiveness of our sins through the sacrament of confession we too must go and present ourselves to the priest to be examined and in our penance make a spiritual offering.

Thomas came to believe because he saw with his own eyes and so today our world is filled with many who walk in the shoes of Thomas unable to believe but more sadly unwilling to seek in order to believe.  The world is filled with people whose life is based on their mortal senses and have no desire to discover the God of their creation.  Instead, many turn to their own inner spirituality believing in their own creative thoughts, the human potential, and dismissing the Godly potential and promises of the divine. 

This is the day to receive the mercy of God and in his divine mercy to separate ourselves from the sin of the past and rise with Christ in the spirit of truth.  His is risen indeed so let us also rise with him to new life. 

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Homily

Palm Sunday of the Lord’s Passion

Posted on by Deacon Joe

Mk 11:1-10; Is. 50:4-7; Ps. 22:8-9, 17-20, 23-24; Phil. 2:6-11; Mk. 14:1—15:47

Today marks the beginning of Holy Week in which we bring to the Lord our offering of ourselves as we have served him through the Lenten season with hearts of love in our acts of faith, hope, and charity.  This day also commemorates Jesus entering Jerusalem as he willfully offers himself up for us on the cross.  Our readings provide an overview of Holy Week as we prepare to enter into the mystery of life, death, and the resurrection through the anointed one.  Jesus is Lord and we are his people. 

“Hosanna in the highest!”  Hosanna means “save, we pray”.  This is our prayer this day that the Lord comes to save us.  We sing it in adoration for the one who saves by his sacrifice on the cross.  All of biblical history and prophesy points to this day and now it has arrived in our time, for our people that the Lord Jesus may save us from our sin.  This day is and will always be a day of the present for the sinner who seeks redemption and forgiveness, who desires to be made whole and be holy. 

Jesus is the one of whom Isaiah speaks of who gave his back to those who beat him and set his face like “flint”, without rebellion regardless of what he faced remaining obedient to the Father to the end.  The end was to simply mark the beginning of a new heaven and earth, the kingdom of God in our midst.  All this because of his obedience to give glory to the Father.  What are we to say to God our Father, “save me” from every pain of life and let tnm anhis pass over me without sacrifice?  Jesus reminds us of his prayer to the Father was “Father, glorify your name.”  Jesus willed to do the will of the Father and that is how we are to pray “let thy will be done.” 

As we recall the passion of the Lord let us also reflect on our own mortality.  We are to prepare for death just as we prepare for to face each day of life.  It begins with prayer and ends with prayer.  Prayer of thanksgiving for the blessings of life, prayer of adoration to our God that he may reveal himself to us this day, prayer of contrition that we may reflect with an examination of conscience, prayer of supplication in humility for our needs and for the needs of others, and prayer of silence to simply listen and wait for our God does not delay in coming. 

While prayer is the beginning and end of our day, we also go forth to live out our prayer as a faithful servant of the Lord answering the call, walking in the footsteps of Christ in imitation of him, trusting in the guidance of the Holy Spirit, and always listening for his voice to speak to our hearts.  In this manner we live for the Lord and we die for the Lord and death has no power over us. 

Let us now enter into his passion and walk the villa dolorosa with him this week that we may rise with him this Easter. 

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Homily

5th Sunday of Lent – Father, glorify your name”

Posted on by Deacon Joe

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

“Father, glorify your name.”  Jesus gives us a testimony of how we are to face the adversities in our life.  Knowing he is about to be condemned and crucified, Jesus tells his disciples he cannot say “Father, save me”.  It was for this purpose that he came to die for us.  When we find ourselves having to face a hardship, we pray that the Lord will save us from this hour.  Jesus shows us instead to pray, “Father, glorify your name.”  We are to give it to the Father and wait for the Lord to use that circumstance to show us the power and glory of his name that we too may be lifted up by his glory.

To pray, “Father, glorify your name” is to trust in the Lord, to be open to the guidance of the Holy Spirit, to let go and let God.  We deny ourselves a miracle when we want to take control and let our will be done instead of his.  Jesus was lifted up to be glorified by his death and resurrection.  Now it is our turn to be a “grain of wheat” and produce the fruit that will last for eternal life.  Dying to oneself is not a onetime event but a series of daily occurrences when we make a sacrifice of ourselves for the good of the other.  The Lord will glorify himself in us as we come to serve him, that is in imitation of Christ. 

This Lent is our call to pray to the Father that he will glorify himself in us, in our testimony by the way we live our lives, by the sacrifice we make in his name, by the charity of our self-giving service to others.  Lent is a season to refocus our priorities in what matters most to God.  What is not on his list is often the desires we seek in a material world.  What matters most to God is our relationship with him and with others. 

The longer we live it seems the faster time passes and our days come quickly to an end.  What time have we made for our God?  Lent is a reminder to pray a little more, read a little more scripture, give a little more in service, sacrifice a little more for what is pleasing to the Lord.  The world in its wisdom will tell you to “save for a rainy day” and invest for the future.  The future is eternity and our investment needs to be on what matters most to God that our lives may glorify his name.  What is our offering this Lent to the Lord? 

The Lord Jesus offered “prayers and supplications with loud cries and tears” but who is he praying for, himself or us?  He prayed that we may not be overcome by the evil one.  The son became obedient and that is how our prayers are answered.  We are to pray always but we also are to always be obedient to the Father, in his commandments.  Our obedience will create a clean heart.  The law of God in the heart comes from obedience to the commandments and by coming to receive the sacraments that nourish and strengthen the soul.  In the sacramental life we gain a clean heart and are made perfect.  

God’s perfection is not about us never having made a mistake, or had all the right answers, or had a perfect batting average.  God’s perfection is about our life-giving glory to his name.  This is how we will know him, the one true God as he reveals himself in our heart from the “least to the greatest”.  The least is the infant child brought to the waters of baptism where God gives himself to them with the gift of the Holy Spirit.  The greatest is the one who calls out to God for mercy coming to repentance and reconciliation in confession.  Like the parable known as the prodigal son, our Father in heaven is rejoicing when we return to him having repented for our sins. 

Today in the gospel Jesus tells us that he will be lifted up from the earth and he will “draw everyone to himself”.  Jesus will be lifted up on the cross to die for us and in dying he becomes the new covenant of the law.  This is the fulfillment of the prophesy we hear in the first reading by Jeremiah.  Jesus is the new covenant who comes into our hearts and makes all things new for us.  Today we are to welcome him into our hearts and make our lives a temple that he may dwell within us.  Jesus was also lifted up from the earth in his ascension from this world.  Just as he was lifted up, he will return to lift us up to himself.  Let us prepare and be ready for this day recalling that our earthly days are numbered and coming to an end. 

What do we live for?  We live to be lifted up with Jesus, sometimes in our suffering and sometimes in our joy so as we live, and die may we glorify the Lord.

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Homily

3rd Sunday of Lent – You shall not!

Posted on by Deacon Joe

Ex. 20:1-17; Ps. 19:8-11; 1 Cor. 1:22-25; Jn. 2:13-25

“You shall not!” says the Lord over and over again as he gives his commandments going into some detail to make sure we know how to live these commandments.  He goes into great effort to describe the behavior of the “children of those who love me” in the first commandment.  We get two more proactive commandments in “keep Holy the sabbath day” and “Honor your father and your mother”.  Three of which “you shall” and seven of which “you shall not!”  However, in avoiding the seven that “you shall not” we also demonstrate our love and commitment to God. 

We avoid what offends the relationship of those we love. This is why love of God is sacrificial love but not only love of God but true love between husband and wife, brothers and sisters, parents and children.  In true love we are willing to sacrifice for the other.  We value the other so much as not to offend the one we love.  Sadly, this is not the culture of our times where the “self” is before all else and the other becomes “cancelled” through marital divorce, legal persecution, abandonment of the elderly, abuse of children, and even claiming the right to die or to kill the unborn.  Yet before we assume we are living in the worst of times recall that all this was also in existence when Jesus entered the world and how he died for us. 

Divorce granted since the time of Moses, legal persecution is how the Jews brought charges against Jesus, abandonment of the elderly justified by giving alms to the synagogue, abuse of children in the massacre of the innocents trying to kill baby Jesus, right to end life at all stages is how people were conquered and power was won.  The world remains a den of thieves and we must separate ourselves from the culture of the world by remaining alive in the culture coming from the law of God which gives justice to true love, Godly love. 

“You shall not” is not about depriving us of freedom but of safeguarding us from the human condition of sin that leads to a loss of freedom and ultimately back to slavery.  What slavery one may ask?   The slavery of disordered attachment to the passions of the flesh, to the material world, and to the ego of pride to be our own god.  Disordered attachments are the cancer of the soul leading to death. 

A parent says to a child “you shall not” more often than giving permission to go forth and do their own will.  The wisdom of a parent knows the risk and harm that can come certain actions.  It is more than an act of love to watch over our children, it is a call of duty to raise up a kingdom for God in the law of love of God and neighbor.  The world has accepted the lie of the evil one to become your own god by “remaking” yourself into what sex you want to be, “reimagining” your world by the passions of the flesh that drive the imagination, and “cancelling” any who question or stand for a different set of values. 

Today it is not enough for a parent to simply say “you shall not” when there is so much pressure on our youth to follow in the world’s “alternative” lifestyles.  Today we must all stand and be a force to how we are to “go forth” together in the way of the Lord.  We must be able to instruct our youth in how to answer to the challenges they face and why do we believe what we profess.  The practice of apologetics, that is of defending the faith through reason and discourse must be taught at each stage of a child’s growth age appropriately.  What is a child to think when the teacher arrives to class in a dress and make up as a girl but yesterday was male?  Should they remain silent or be free to say “I know you’re a man dressed like a girl”?  This is our call of duty as a parent and a church to guide the faithful in the world we must all live in.   

The Lord asks us today where is your “zeal for your house”?  What matters in defending our faith?  The world preaches political correctness, let it be to each his own but the world is not satisfied with following its own way.  It wants to create a future generation of followers and keeps seeking to enter our homes and claim our children with greater rights decreed by law.  We don’t see Jesus becoming physically aggressive often but his actions were always aggressive against what was the sins he confronted.  He did not hold back in speaking the truth. 

The Lord’s truth is that no matter how much people and institutions try to conquer and control others, the force of his power is beyond any human authority.  He claimed it when he says, “Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up.”  The Jews did not understand what they were about to do in bring Jesus to death “but Jesus was speaking of the temple of his body”.  In the same way no matter how much we see and must live through in the world, even death will not claim us because we believe in the resurrection of the dead and Jesus is our testimony.  Lent is our time to recall and live what matters most so that we shall not deny him.  We go forth united to the one God in three persons.  Let the world ponder that.  Jesus knows us all. 

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Homily

6th Sunday Ordinary Time – Be made clean!

Posted on by Deacon Joe

Lv. 13:1-2,44-46; Ps. 32:1-2, 5, 11; 1 Cor. 10:31—11:1; Mk. 1:40-45

Be made clean through the power of God’s love and mercy.  From the time of Moses to the coming of Jesus, leprosy was seen as a punishment from God, a progressive decay of the body, an “unclean” person in body and soul destined to live apart from the people of God.  We are all familiar with the expression “cleanliness is next to Godliness”.  For some this means keeping up an image on the outside of self-respect by the way we dress, keep the house clean, take care of our property.   Jesus however comes to bring about our cleansing inside out.  He comes to wash us clean of sin. 

Today we are to identify the leprosy of sin in our lives.  It is the visible sign of an impure heart.  It comes through the eyes of envy, jealousy, lust, anger, impatience.  It spills out of the mouth with criticism, sarcasm, threats, ridicule, and gossip.  It turns to vengeance in the hands through abuse, violence, punishment, and control.  The leprosy of sin is the seed planted in the mind, nurtured in the heart until it gains power of over the will and the act is committed.  It likens to a cancer that is dormant until triggered by our weakness and quickly becomes malignant causing death, death to our relationship with God, with others, and even with our true image as a child of God.  Who do we blame? 

We can’t say “the devil made me do it” because the devil has no power over us unless we invite him into our lives.  All the devil does is plant the seed of thought where he can find weakness in our soul.  We can’t blame others for our actions since it is how we choose to respond to them and not their demand on us.  Personal responsibility is how God responded to Adam and Eve and to the serpent, each according to their act of the will.  Personal responsibility is how God responds to us by the choice we make.  The God of love and mercy is also the God of justice.  The work of justice from God is not a punishment but a cleansing of the soul.  The work of justice is to transform the impure and make it pure.  Forgiveness and reconciliation are the beginning of the work of justice something to contemplate.

Too often and too many view the Lord’s forgiveness as a “get out of jail pass” and a freedom of consequence.  That is not the work of justice.  It does not even reflect the love of God in his mercy.  It is the start of his merciful love to begin to transform us, the change agent to cleanse us of our sins is the work yet to be done.  God’s love is not to leave us to be as we are a sinful people but as call to follow in his footsteps, to live in imitation of Christ, to allow the word of God to become incarnated into body and become a true temple of the Holy Spirit.  God is a change agent for nothing remains the same in his creation.  It is all a movement in the direction of the eternal waiting to be revealed.  Are we ready for the eternal?  God is ready for us. 

Today God says to us “I do will it.  Be made clean.”  God’s wills for all to come to salvation but he cannot save us without us, that is he cannot save us against our will.  We must come in faith to receive him.  When we receive him, we come in humility not pride, we come as a sinner in need of redemption, we come willing to trust him and put our faith in the work he has prepared for our calling.  In other word we come to do the will of the Father.  The will of the Father is the work of salvation that all may be made clean.  It is in serving that we grow in holiness and shed the scales of our sinfulness. 

When Jesus healed the leper, he told him to tell no one but the healed man could not contain the mercy of God within himself.  When we experience the mercy of God, we cannot contain the love that has entered our soul.  It is a light that cannot be kept hidden.  When we become the Lord’s servant doing the will of the Father then we become a light to the world and others will seek that light.  This is how we know we are living in his light when God sends us his poor, his hungry, his sick just like people kept coming to Jesus.  Who is God sending to us this day?   Let us be ready to receive him and to offer up to God an act of faith, hope, and charity.  Greater is the change from within coming from God from a single act of mercy than all the material world can create.  Greater the treasure in heaven than the riches of this world.  Be that person! 

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Homily

5th Sunday Ordinary Time – All things to all

Posted on by Deacon Joe

Jb. 7:1-4, 6-7; Ps. 147:1-6; 1 Cor. 9:16-19, 22-23; Mk. 1:29-39

St. Paul claims to be “all things to all” to save at least some.  St. Paul is acting “in persona Christi” for it is Christ who came into this world to be all things to heal the broken hearted.  We all share in the brokenness of humanity and are in need of healing.  Job is broken hearted in a state of restlessness and despair as he contemplates an end to his happiness.  St. Paul makes of himself “a slave to all to win over as many as possible” sharing in the weak, the poor, the suffering, the sick his own weakness.  As Jesus poured himself out on humanity, Paul takes up the cross and carries it for Jesus.  How then are we carrying our share of the cross by being all things to those who God has placed in our path?  We do this by living the gospel.   

Job is a reminder that no one gets through this life without a share of suffering.  Suffering removes all the distractions of this world.  We spend our time on creating wealth, spending our wealth, entertainment, travel, and all the external focus of our interests.  Suffering is a recentering on what really matters, our connectedness to God, family, and others.  Suffering is our wake-up call that our days are numbered and how are we fulfilling our purpose.  Suffering serves its own purpose to brings about an examination of conscience, a reconciliation with God and others and even a purging of our sinfulness.  We no longer desire to sin but to be saved.  Save us O’ Lord for we have sinned.  In suffering we become all things to all who share through their own suffering the cross of Jesus. 

St. Paul is a reminder that we are to live and be in imitation of Christ who came to serve and not be served.  St. Paul desires to walk in the footsteps of Jesus by walking in the footsteps of the suffering.  It is here that he encounters the presence and love of God.   In St. Paul we see our purpose as baptized Christians is to “win over as many as possible”, to be disciples as witnesses to the gospel, and to be holy.  If we look to the saints and why they were able to lead others to Christ we recognize it was not from their humanity as in their leadership skills, or intelligence, or persuasive speaking but from the divine call to be all things to all.  People were attracted to saints by their holiness seeking to share in becoming one in holiness. 

In the gospel we see Jesus entering the house of Simon and Andrew and curing Simon’s mother-in-law.  This act of healing is a reminder of Jesus addressing the most pressing need first before being concerned with preaching the gospel.  He gives us an example of subsidiarity addressing the most immediate needs of the people first before moving on to other villages that he may preach there also.  He cared for the pressing needs of the people before pursuing his purpose for coming into the world.  To be all things to all begins by caring for others and meeting them where they are at and not where we want them to be. 

We become all things to all by loving the present moment in giving of ourselves to the present needs.  A King knows he must first strengthen his warriors before going into battle or he will surely lose the fight.  Maslow’s hierarchy of needs recognizes in humanity the value of meeting the physiological needs before progressing up to a transcendent stage of development.  Jesus cured many of various diseases and drove out many demons in order to return a person their integrity as a child of God before the call to “follow” his teaching.  Charity to the human condition comes through the corporal works of mercy and the spiritual works of mercy.  This is our higher purpose that together we may transcend to higher ground and win as many as possible. 

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