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Homily The Deacon Joe

32nd Sunday Ordinary Time – All are alive!

Posted on by Deacon Joe

32nd Sunday Ordinary Time – All are alive!

All are alive!  The Sadducees did not believe in the resurrection and even the Pharisees who did believe considered the resurrection to come in the future.  Jesus reveals today our God “is not God of the dead, but of the living, for to him all are alive.”  We just celebrated All Saints Day and All Souls Day to affirm “all are alive” in Jesus.  There are some Christian denominations who believe after death a soul remains “at rest” in its body until the day of the resurrection except that the body decays so that cannot be.  The day of the resurrection came into the world with the resurrection of Jesus.  Jesus went into the netherworld and freed the souls in purgatory and is ready to free us from the grip of death.  If anything, the souls are in a state of purgatory not in the ground. 

Today we have the witness of the seven brothers and their mother to remain faithful to God in the midst of their persecution.  Are we as ready as the seven brothers and their mother to die for the Lord?  The Church teaches upon death there is an immediate particular judgment so we pass from mortal life to eternal life.  There is also a general judgement when we will regain our bodies but until then our souls exist to love and serve the Lord of the living together will all the saints and souls in purgatory.  This was the essence of the hope of the seven brothers and their mother as one says “with the hope God gives of being raised up by him”.  These seven brothers and their mother are an arch type of perfect love represented by the number seven and the mother of our Blessed Mother at their side facing the evil of this world who desires to impose their will upon them. 

In the Sadducees we are reminded that even among those who believe in God there are some who do not accept there is a day of judgment that will come swiftly and we must prepare ourselves each day for his coming.  Some claim there is no hell and we are all headed to heaven.  Others believe the body and soul cannot separate so the souls of the dead remain in the ground by their decomposed bodies asleep until the day of the resurrection.  From here comes the Halloween stories of ghosts at cemeteries but if we recall the angels appearing at the tomb claiming “Why are you looking for the living One among the dead? (Lk. 24:5)” He is alive and so are those who have died in Christ. 

There are those who represent the power of this world who in their own way desire to force the faithful to “eat the pork” of their values, laws, and decrees even when they are in opposition to our own faith and commandments.  It is our turn now to undergo the test.  Do we stand for the right to life or accept the right to end life in abortion, euthanasia, or a sentence to die?  Do we stand for religious freedom or quietly become silenced by a cancel culture in the public square?  The disciples were commanded to stop speaking in the name of Jesus.  They were persecuted and even killed but their joy was complete to stand as the seven brothers did knowing something greater awaited them.  Perfect love of God does not compromise his commands.  It does not go along to get along.  The Lord’s commands are a “red line” “to the endurance of Christ” which is unto death for the sake of the gospel. 

We are not to fear but to trust in the Lord who “will strengthen you and guard you from the evil one” for there are “perverse and wicked people, for not all have faith.”  What are we to do?  Keep the faith and wait upon the Lord’s coming for he will not delay at the hour of justice.  Jesus says to the Sadducees “those who are deemed worthy to attain to the coming age and to the resurrection of the dead…They can no longer die…they are the children of God because they are the ones who will rise”.  What does this say about the ones who are not deemed worthy, who crossed the red line into the perverse world?  It is called hell, the place for the souls of the damned.   

In the mystery of life every day we die and every day we are reborn into new life.  Science proves it and our eyes witness it.  A child is born an infant but their infancy quickly passes into being a baby, and then a child, an adolescent, and an adult. Science reveals that every five year our cells completely die and are replaced by new cells so that the person we were five years ago has ended and yet you are and are not the same person.  There a new body, the voice may change, facial features change, and even attitudes change, and with God there is even a transformation of our very being and yet the soul remains being who God created us to be.  This is the day we die with Christ because we desire to come to new life in him.  So, if we have died with him, we will also rise with him. 

We are fall familiar with the old Christian child’s prayer for bedtime that says, “Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my Soul to keep; If I should die before I wake, I pray the Lord my Soul to take.”  It has been changed up with various endings to not instill fear in children such as the one that says, “Angels watch me through the night, and wake me with the morning light.”  Both versions have significant meaning for us.  The original one is a reminder of the reality of death not to scare us but to give us hope and anticipation of what is still waiting for us which the psalm proclaims, “Lord, when your glory appears, my joy will be full.”  The revised versions represent the Lord’s protection beginning with our guardian angel for even in our sleep the evil one comes to disrupt our peace unless we cover ourselves with prayer. 

Prayer, fasting, almsgiving are our weapons against evil.  They not only protect us but purify us and strengthen us so when a shred of doubt comes there is no doubt how we will respond to the enemy.  I recently heard a different explanation of the “Footprints in the sand” story.   What we are familiar with is that when the trouble comes and we only see one set of footprints, it is then that he carried us.  The other interpretation is that when the troubles come, and we only see one set of footprints “it is then that we were walking in his steps”.  When we walk in his steps, we still have to carry our cross and live the “endurance of Christ” in this world but in his steps, we walk in the assurance of victory and in the promise of what is to come. Let us continue to pray for all are alive who have died in Christ even as we walk in his footsteps this day.

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Homily The Deacon Joe

31st Sunday Ordinary Time – Son of Man

Posted on by Deacon Joe

Wis. 11:22-12:2; Ps. 145:1-2, 8-11, 13, 14; 2 Thes. 1:11-2:2; Lk. 19:1-10

“Son of Man has come to seek and to save what was lost”.  What is it about Jesus that would have such a radical transformation on Zacchaeus as a sinner, tax collector, and extorter of the poor?  Zacchaeus knew himself a sinner in need of redemption and believed in the Son of Man.  Are we as clear-eyed of our own sinfulness and recognize our need for redemption from the Son of Man?  If the confessional participation or lack thereof is an indication, we may be living a false sense off holiness and righteousness. 

In his letter to the Thessalonians, St. Paul is seeking to keep the community from being “alarmed” or “shaken out of your minds suddenly” because of the preaching “that the day of the Lord is at hand.”  The community expected Jesus return in their lifetime and were driven by “fear of the Lord” as was Zacchaeus.  They were ready to give up their possessions and wait for his coming.  Keep in mind that hundreds had actually witnessed his appearance after his resurrection, no only the disciples.  The word was out that he is alive and coming back.  If Jesus appeared to us today and said “the day of the Lord is at hand” we would likely react in a similar way thinking, “This is it, the end is here”.  We would have a Zacchaeus moment of conversion. 

What is our motivation of faith?  As a child we are taught obedience by both fear and love as a means of gaining obedience.  A child is taught to fear fire, strangers, snakes, in other words the elements, other people, and creatures of nature for their protection.  At the same time a child is taught to love nature, people, and animals.  What is a child to fear and what is a child to trust?  A child does not fear the sandals on the feet but a “chancla” the sandal on the hand makes all the difference.  Does a child learn faith or simply obedience until the day the faith is tested and found lacking in strength.  The key to faith is relationship.  To believe, to trust, to have faith is to be in relationship with the other, the trusted one.  “Jesus, I trust in you” is a prayer of faith. 

The Old Testament reflects obedience from fear of the Lord.  The New Testament is centered on love of God.  For some this is two separate motives for obedience but the God who is all is one and the same God where the greater the love the greater the fear driven by love of offending the loved one.  This is the lesson of love and fear to grow in faith.   This is the basis of true relationship to love one another with fear of harm to our relationship.  The Lord is at hand to enter into relationship with us this day and our fear is to lack in our love of him.

Do you remember being asked as a child or as a parent asking your child “How much do you love me?”  The child extends his or her arms out to show you and you respond “I love you to the moon and back” to show how much greater love you have for them.  We want our child to capture how endless is our love.  The God of who is outside of time and space has endless love for us but we have to see how much greater our relationship can be with him if we but remove the barriers we create and allow him to enter into our very being with his love.    Jesus entered into this world for us to understand this love of God, this sacrifice for us, this calling to his mercy and into a deeper relationship with him and it begins here in the Mass. 

The Mass is the summit of receiving Jesus, coming to us in the Eucharist, his love, his sacrifice, his mercy.  When we receive the Eucharist, we are in full communion where his is present to us to open our hearts to him, our deepest thoughts and feelings, our fears and our love of the other.  God is ready to answer our prayer so let us not be distracted from receiving the grace he desires for us but let us allow him this time to not only to speak to our hearts but to change our hearts into his very image of love, peace, justice, and joy.  There should be a smile that Jesus has come to us today and we are thankful to be called a child of God loved all the way to eternity. 

We are told “not to be alarmed…that the day of the Lord is at hand” but in faith to pray “that our God may make you worthy of his calling”.  Every day is a day of the Lord called to be ready to receive him in this world and/or to be received by him in the next should we suddenly come to the end of this pilgrimage.  We are not to be alarmed of his coming but welcoming ready to receive him.  We want the Lord to come calling us excited to have an encounter with Jesus just as Zacchaeus desired to seek Jesus.  We want Jesus to stay at our house, not only to sanctify us and our family, but our home, our pets, and all our possessions so that the Lord’s spirit resides with us and shine its light upon us.  This is why the Son of Man came into the world to bring us his holiness and make us holy. 

Finally, there is something greater here that Jesus is revealing in calling himself the “Son of Man”.  Son of Man appears sixty-nine times throughout scripture.  Son of Man is Jesus’ claim on his divinity and authority.  He has come to judge as seen in the book of Daniel was “coming with the clouds of heaven”.  When Jesus asks his disciples “Who do people say the Son of Man is?” the disciples gave multiple answers but Peter reveals that by this title he is “the Messiah, the Son of the living God” (Mat. 16:16) This is the one before us on the cross, this is the risen one, and this is the Son of Man most present in the Eucharist, body, blood, soul, and divinity.  Are we ready for his judgment?

Today the Son of Man has come into this home, this sanctuary, calling us to open ourselves up to him, our very being and receive his power to forgive and to heal what is broken, injured, to make perfect what is imperfect. To receive Jesus is the call to be Jesus that others may come to see and believe.

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Homily The Deacon Joe

30th Sunday Ordinary Time – Finish the race!

Posted on by Deacon Joe

Sir. 35:12-14, 16-18; Ps. 34:2-3, 17-19, 23; 2 Tim. 4:6-8, 16-18; Lk. 18:9-14

Finish the race!  Through this ordinary time the Lord has been on his journey to Jerusalem persevering while being followed by both friend and foe, those who see him as a messiah and those who see him as a threat.  He is about to finish the race for salvation history to be consummated in his death and resurrection.  It is a race he embraces with love teaching us how to run our own race of life not in fear but in love of our final destiny.  Finish the race of love in spite of the trials, persecutions, and the unknown and unseen around the bend because we have the promise of what lies ahead at the end of our journey. 

St. Paul claims his “crown of righteousness” having “competed well; I have finished the race; I have kept the faith”.  St. Paul ran the race not for himself but for the call he received that through him “the proclamation might be completed and all the Gentiles might hear it”.  St. Paul understood his call and lived it.  Do we recognize our call before the Lord and are we on the right track to finish our race?  The race we run is not to build up our material fortune, to leave a legacy of accomplishments, or to reach what Maslow calls the top of the hierarchy of needs, self-actualization, becoming the best of yourself.

 Material goods including money becomes devalued, yesterday’s dollar is today’s dime.  Accomplishments become faded memories as the world asks what have you done for me lately.  Self-actualization is a humanistic concept that it is all about “you”, the best of yourself, but “no man is an island” so what about everyone else, does it matter?  Where is God in our search for meaning and happiness?  We can finish the race of life in search of ourselves and lose the connection to our creator who was waiting to take us on a different race, the eternal one. 

The race we run is for the salvation of our soul.  It is a godly race in the image of Jesus Christ himself, self-giving, sacrificial, and by divine design.  What God has intended for us is the first step for our discernment.  This ability to judge well God’s call can only come through prayer that we may hear his voice in our reflection as we seek to know and understand “who I am in God’s image called to be”.  In other words, just to be myself is not our purpose.  Our purpose is to discover our divine call and run our race.  Then the God of our salvation will open up the gates of heaven and bring down his power and love, pouring out his graces on those who dare to say “here I am Lord, send me”. 

Jesus called fishermen, a tax collector, and even his own persecutor in Saul, to a different race leaving behind all that they knew and believed for something greater was before them.  Something greater is before us in the Eucharist through the celebration of the Mass.  Jesus himself, body, blood, soul and divinity is present to us and the Church in America is calling for a Eucharistic revival to recognize Jesus is here for our worship, for our healing, and for our salvation.  Jesus wants to take us in a new direction radically different from the world while yet still in the world as we fulfill our earthly pilgrimage.  When we eat his body and drink his blood there is a revival of our souls becoming one with God in the Trinity.  It is more than spiritual food for the race, it is a conversion of souls in the image of Christ himself.  This is what happened to the apostles after the resurrection and they devoted themselves to prayer, teaching and the breaking of bread. 

We break bread when we gather together in a shared faith at the dinner table, with our social circles sharing our faith, or as we work together for a common purpose, it is the bread of living our faith with others expressing in word and deed who we are as a child of God.  I confess I am not one with the gift to proselytize challenging others in their faith.  I am more on the side of making sure I am keeping the faith I have received being faithful to the call.  There is however a time to be silent and a time to speak.  When we encounter Christians of other denominations or people of no religious background who ask “why do you Catholics baptize children, pray to Mary and the saints, believe in purgatory” or any other act of faith they question, this is our opportunity to evangelize by offering a clear understanding of our faith.

Jesus promises us an Advocate, the Holy Spirit to be with us that we may also be advocates of our faith by word and deed.  Our advocacy begins with love and ends with mercy.  This is the race we are all called to run to follow the “God of justice, who knows no favorites” and recognizes Christ present in all.  I believe it was St. Teresa of Calcutta who said it is beautiful to love others until you meet the other.  If you look at a Tasmanian devil, they are cute, shy and no bigger than two feet but they are carnivorous with powerful jaws and can cause serious harm.  We meet the stranger and we are polite and respectful then we turn to each other ready to attack with powerful jaws when things don’t go our way.  That’s the challenge of keeping the faith, can we be good when it’s not easy, convenient, or going our way? 

“The Lord will rescue me from every evil threat” says St. Paul.  The Lord will rescue us if we but recognize evil and call out to him.  The world has become immune to evil seeking to call it “justice, social norms, equity, restitution”.  The killing of the unborn is intrinsically evil says the Church violating the commandment “thou shall not kill”.  It is the work of the evil one who seeks to separate us by race relations, to cancel a culture based on religious freedom, to silence prayer among students in schools or employees at work.  Will we go along to appease the evil around us or will we be a voice of faith and run our race with courage? 

“The Lord hears the cry of the poor” so let us recognize our poverty, our brokenness, our lowliness.  In the gospel we see the Pharisee who was convinced of his own righteousness comparing himself to the tax collector and “the rest of humanity” who he sees as sinful while he exalts himself.  So quick to judge is the person of pride separating themselves from others.  It is the humble who recognize if not by the grace of God we are the sinner, we share in the sins of this world, and we too need our redemption.  Jesus on the cross is our reconciliation when we come to him “O God, be merciful to me a sinner”.  It is only when we turn to the grace of God that we will finish the race and keep the faith. 

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Homily The Deacon Joe

29th Sunday Ordinary Time – Proclaim the Word!

Posted on by Deacon Joe

Ex. 17:8-13; Ps. 121:1-8; 2 Tim. 3:14-4:2; Lk. 18:1-8

“Proclaim the word; be persistent whether it is convenient or inconvenient”.  A man once told me he did not accept scripture as “the word of God”, it was written by men not God.  On the other side of this argument are those who say they follow scripture only “sola scriputura” as the only authority of God.  It is an interesting paradigm of how humanity can look at the same thing and come up with two very opposing conclusions regarding scripture.  Today we are told to “proclaim the word” but which interpretation represents the truth from God? 

Today we read “all scripture is inspired by God”.  God works through humanity to bring us his salvation.  It is the inspired word of God but what about human error, could that have entered into scripture?  Some will point to inconsistencies in scripture such as in the genealogy of Jesus.  Do we interpret it literally, poetically, allegorically, in the context of history, or perhaps all of the above depending on the intent God has for our understanding.  Ultimately “who decides?”.  Who decided which books of scripture were to be in the canon of scripture we call the “Bible” and which would be left out?  There must be an authority given by God himself to someone among us. 

In today’s first reading that someone was Moses through who God gave us the Ten Commandments.  The Catholic church in scripture sees Peter as the first Pope, the Holy Father, the Vicar of Christ, the one called to lead his church and bring us his teachings.   Jesus himself did not write anything so we rely on God working through humanity to bring us his truth.  Thus, for me and my household we follow the unbroken teaching from 2000 years of authority given to the church which determined which books would comprise the “word of God” and how to come to understand the meaning of the “word”.  Follow the social science of history from the first apostles to the early church Fathers writings, to the magisterium of the church and there is an infallibility, that is no error in the teaching of faith and morals. 

Then there is the other side of the argument “sola scriputura” is the sole infallible source of authority for Christian faith and practice.  Give the Bible to ten individuals at random and you will get as many different conclusions of their understanding of faith and practice and each will establish their own interpretation and group of followers, we call today denominations in their multiplicity.  Is this what God intended or have we simply found our own way to say there is a God and we have done our own creation of him and his teachings?  Scripture itself says, “I praise you for always…following the traditions that I have handed down to you.” (1 Cor. 11:2) But wait is this Paul speaking or is this God speaking through humanity as God’s authority? 

Before there was a Canon of scripture, before there were gospels and letters written there was the Old Testament writings which Jesus came to fulfill and the beginning of a new Tradition called “the way” guided by the Holy Spirit from those who were witnesses to Jesus and his teachings.  Scripture as the inspired word of God comes through the Tradition of the Church from the early Apostles handed down by authority through the laying of hands to those God has called to teach, to preach, and to lead the flock.  Scripture is yesterday’s salvation history for our salvation today and tomorrow’s final destiny.  It matters who we follow and trust.  As Catholic Christians we trust Jesus and Jesus put his trust in his disciples and in the Church handed down to us through Scripture and Tradition. 

In this context we are to “Remain faithful to what you have learned and believed, because you know from whom you learned it, and that from infancy you have known the sacred Scriptures”.  This “infancy” is not only our personal childhood but the infancy of the early church we can trace through scripture and the writings of the early Church Fathers.  If there any doubt about the Catholic Church, follow the writings of the early Church Fathers and there will be no doubt about the Church Jesus founded.  From the “infancy” of the early church there is an unbroken history in the Catholic church “from whom we have learned it” that came before any other denominations ever came to exist. 

“All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for refutation, for correction, and for training in righteousness” and we are all to study the scripture to receive inspiration and wisdom from God.  Scripture as the word of God provides for personal revelation for our own spiritual development but woe to the one who would claim to lead others as an authority of scripture.  Let us trust the wisdom of the ages handed down to us and remain humble in our faith.

Thus, today in Exodus God is working through Moses giving us the teaching of perseverance in our battles of life.  In other words, “keep the faith” and “call out to him day and night…he will see to it that justice is done for them speedily.”  In God’s time is the perfect time.  We also see the humanity of Moses, “Moses’ hands, however grew tired” reminding us it is God working through Moses as he desires to work through our humanity and weakness.  Moses is no superhuman, he is old, weak, and needs others to support him but he is faithful.  He does what God commands and through him we see the power of God at work.  Gut check!

How is the power of God at work in us?  In how many ways do we proclaim the word of God?  It is done by simple expressions of faith in our normal discussion like “thanks be to God” or “God willing”.  It is done when we refer to the parables in scripture as an example being applied to our circumstances in life.  It is done when we encounter Christians of other denominations who ask “why do you Catholics baptize children, pray to Mary and the saints, believe in purgatory” or any other act of faith they question and we can give them a clear understanding of our faith.  We are to study scripture so we can proclaim the word when someone asks “where is that in the bible?” 

Just as importantly we are to proclaim the word in our works of faith, our acts of mercy, and our love of neighbor.  Finally, and not least of all we are to proclaim the word by our disposition.  Do we reflect the image of Christ as a person of peace, joy, patience, or tranquility, “There goes John, he seems to be so at peace; there goes Mary always with a smile and filled with joy”; or are we quick to be rude, angry, worrisome, complainers making a face not even a mother wants to look at?  Are we the person someone want to be around or is someone praying “go away, I have my own problems”? 

The greatest gift we can give another is ourselves, so we give ourselves to God but God also reminds us in scripture “what you did to the least you did unto me”.  Giving of ourselves to each other in the name of Christ brings him to us “where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there” he proclaims. 

So, if we find ourselves in weakness we are to call out to God “My help is from the Lord, who made heaven and earth” and he will be beside us to guard us and lead us “both now and forever”.  This is our consolation while we endure and persevere, we are not alone.  From the mouth of Jesus to his disciples, and we too are his disciples, “pray always without becoming weary”. 

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Homily

28th Sunday Ordinary Time – His saving power!

Posted on by Deacon Joe

2 Kgs 5:14-17; Ps. 98:1-4; 2 Tim. 2:8-13; Lk. 17:11-19

Once again, Jesus reveals his saving power to us as he journeys to Jerusalem.  He “remains faithful, for he cannot deny himself” in offering salvation to the believer.  The readings prefigure his saving power given to us through the sacrament of baptism.   Our challenge is to examine our faithfulness to the gospel message and “in all circumstances, give thanks”.  We ask ourselves “have I remained faithful to the faithful one this day giving thanks in all circumstances?” 

We are unfaithful and deny him when we fail to come to Mass on Sundays, a mortal sin and a sign to God that we don’t need him and we close ourselves to the graces of his love.  We close ourselves he does not stop desiring to pour out his faithfulness.  Mass is an act of love of God, the first and greatest commandment.  We are unfaithful and deny him in our neighbor as we are “destined for judgment under the law of freedom” when we fail to act in mercy and call upon judgment “but mercy triumphs over judgment” (Ja. 2:13) for the one who shows mercy. Be merciful!  He cannot deny himself as a God of mercy when we return to him for forgiveness.  The sacraments are the gift of God through the Church where mercy abounds. 

For Naaman it was the washing in the Jordan that prefigured Jesus’ baptism and the institution of this sacrament.  Naaman is cured of his leprosy, a disease taken as a punishment for sin in his time.  Naaman is converted by his healing from his unbelief to believing.  Naaman’s conversion required his obedience to “plunge into the Jordan seven times”, a number that represents perfection and “his flesh became again like the flesh of a little child”, the image of being born again of water and his spirit was renewed in faith.  Naman declares to Elisha, “for I will no longer offer holocaust or sacrifice to any other god except to the Lord.”  He does not say he will do this to the god of Elisha, he claims him as his Lord.  This promise from Naaman is to become his act of thanksgiving for the rest of his life.  The Mass is our act of thanksgiving today for our salvation to be done all of our lives. 

Jesus cures ten lepers but he saves the one who returns to give thanks to God.  Going to show themselves to the “priests” was to demonstrate evidence of healing and welcoming back into the community but it does not save them for eternity.  Nine were healed who did not return to give thanks to God continuing to live their lives for themselves only to someday die and then what?  Where is their act of thanksgiving?  The one who returns to give glory to God receives the greatest gift, salvation of his soul. 

Naaman’s visible leprosy represents our invisible sins.  What is our leprosy?  We are in need of healing of our many sins having already been washed in the waters of baptism but by following our own path into sin we remain in need of healing.  Is there a conversion moment in our lives?  Perhaps there are many recurring moments that bring us to the feet of Jesus in thanksgiving.  It is impossible to live this life without trials and tribulations or to not experience the cross of suffering.  Are we ready to call out to God “Jesus, Master! Have pity on us!”?  Are we there yet, ready for our encounter with him? 

We sometimes view suffering, trials and tribulations in Old Testament eyes as a “punishment” from God rather than in New Testament understanding as something that God allows to happen as a consequence of our free will, our freedom to choose, our separation from him.  If anything, we need to ponder this day is the message from Paul, “if we are unfaithful, he remains faithful, for he cannot deny himself”.  He is faithful to his love of us but he cannot save us without us returning to him.  “The ball is in our court” to quote a well-known expression. 

Salvation comes as daily encounter with Jesus.  He is faithful so let us examine our faithfulness.  How is our prayer life, our daily sacrifice for the Lord, our obedience to his word, our acts of thanksgiving, and our trust in him who saves?  Countless opportunities to be faithful to him and to encounter him but we must be ready, seeking with the eyes of faith and guided by the Holy Spirit to know when to act and when to wait upon the Lord, for God’s time is the time of perfection. 

Faith reveals his saving power.  Faith saves “but not by faith alone” for it “is justified by works” according to James 2:24. Faith leads us to a response to God.  Our response is our “work”.  Our “works” come through obedience to his word transforming us into his image and likeness.  Faith is the seed of his love while the growth of the seed is responding faithfully in our act of love in communion with him.  This is being in relationship, this is love, this is how we come to his saving power. 

The Lord reveals his saving power in Jesus and we reveal our hearts true love in our works.  While the world desires our works for itself its rewards are short lived and do not satisfy the heart.  The restless heart needs Jesus and we remain restless until we rest in him says St. Augustine.  Come to his saving power ready to take on the mission entrusted to us.  The mission is the work of salvation and he cannot be denied.  Don’t be left behind wondering “what if”. 

For some aging can be like wine gets better with time, a slow process with years of longevity, while for other it is like the making of beer, quick and out to market before becoming stale.  The perfect drink however comes from God, pure simple water with all its saving power to renew the body.   

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Homily

26th Sunday Ordinary Time – Man of God

Posted on by Deacon Joe

Am. 6:1a, 4-7; Ps. 146:7, 8-10; 1 Tim. 6:11-16; Lk. 16:19-31

“Man of God…compete well for the faith.”  “Man” represents all humanity, all of mankind gifted with body, soul, and spirit for the glory of God.  “Though our Lord Jesus Christ was rich, he became poor, so that by his poverty you might become rich.”  Now by our riches in Christ let us follow Jesus in his poverty in sharing our riches for the greater good.  This is the race we are called to run against all the other competitors of this world who seek their own victory over us. 

Who are these competitors?  There is the greatest of the world’s challengers, God calls out as “Mammon” with all the lure of earthly riches we identity as the “devil of covetousness”.   Mammon competes for the heart of mankind with a “me first” view of a world of winners and losers.  The faith of Mammon is in its riches.  God calls out Mammon “lying upon beds of ivory” as the “first to go into exile”.  We compete well with Mammon when “you, man of God, pursue righteousness” with a vision towards the eternal.  Living with the end in mind endures all things, perseveres to the end, awaits the greater riches of heaven. 

Man of God, there is the competitor of faith called pride who challenges us with his arrogance.  The pride of faith in self above all things.  Pride competes with the arrogance of being better than “thou”.  Pride has all the answers and even when it is wrong it claims the privilege of being right for themselves.  It competes with the faith of relativity, wrong for the other is still right for them.  We compete well for the faith when we recognize there is one truth, absolute and eternal and it comes from God.  We overcome pride with the faith of humility.  A humble heart has the ear of the Lord.    

Man of God, there is the competitor of faith called seduction who challenges us with concupiscence to lure the soul into indulgence of the body.  It places faith in the pleasure principle always seeking to avoid pain by indulgence in pleasure.  It runs its faith into exile as the more it demands the more it becomes an obsession for pleasure ending in powerlessness and death.  We compete well for the faith when we hold true to chastity.  Chastity places faith in the purity of heart for the good of the other.  Chastity holds onto the faith that it is in giving that we receive. 

Man of God, there is the competitor of faith called complacency.  The heart of this competitor assumes God’s love and mercy does not require any act on our part to get to heaven, just believe.  God has destined us so no worry about running the race at all just live and let live.  It is not what we decide to believe of God but what God has revealed to us of himself to accept.  Recall God is not made in our image and concept, but we are created to be in his image.  To be in his image is an act of how we choose to live and run our race.  God is not complacent in our lives and his teaching for us is one of action. 

Mankind faces many other competitors who will consume us with their gifted skill drawing us into their world that create more separation of each other than unity.  Media is major one drawing us to be more narcissistic searching for more “likes” more “selfies”, more riches of anything that we can consume and little of what we can give. 

The riches of God’s gifts come through the cross, his love, mercy and redemption. They come through the Holy Spirit to strengthen us with virtues in the race and they come through his poverty fully human to share our humanity in order to raise us up to his divinity.  The riches of God we receive is for us to respond to our encounter with him in the poor and the suffering to feed, shelter, and visit with him.

Jesus’ parable of the “rich man” is a reminder of the riches we have been given, the many blessings we sometimes take for granted and rather than share our blessings when we encounter “Lazarus”, we overlook the need that is before us.  The rich man is not given a name, but he is addressing the Pharisees who dressed in fine garments.  The rich man however knew Lazarus by name and sought his help a sign of hope.  The Pharisees believed that the dead would rise again so for them this parable is about what is next for the dead and for them. 

In hell hope is lost forever so what is this “netherworld” the rich man is found in?  This reading is one of several used to indicate this is a place we now recognize as purgatory.  The “netherworld” is considered “the place of the dead”.  Some attribute it to hell but recall in our creed we say that Jesus “descended to the dead” but for those in hell it serves no point.  When Jesus died, we read, “…and the tombs were opened.  And many bodies of the saints, which had been sleeping, arose” (Mat. 27:52).  Just to clarify we also say in the Apostle’s creed “descended into hell” so “what gives?” 

So as a disclaimer, I am not an expert in early language translations however it is my understanding that the word “hell” was used for both the place of the dead and the place of damnation though not the same place.  This is important for us to understand that Jesus did not go to the place of damnation to rescue “saints” as we read in Mathew 27:52. This is often an issue of confusion for many but important to spend some time clarifying for us this “netherworld” where the rich man was sent.  While he is suffering greatly it also leaves us with hope in a God of justice and mercy.  The rich man was going through God’s justice but left with hope for mercy. 

Given the witness of the rich man in the netherworld who could still see “Father Abraham” and pray “have pity on me…for I am suffering torment in these flames”, how serious are we to “compete well for the faith”?  In baptism we are reborn into holiness to receive the grace of God but the race is lifelong and we face many competitors for our souls to fall into sin.  The sacrament of confession is a renewal of our call to sanctity but we don’t seek it out enough and death can come suddenly.  

For this reason, we are reminded in scripture “Therefore, it is holy and beneficial thought to pray on behalf of those who have passed away, so that they may be released from sins.”  (2 Mac. 12:46) One day that soul in the place of the dead may be us in need of prayer.  Call it purgatory, call it the netherworld, call it the place of the dead, even call it the hell of torment but not damnation, just know what we do today will determine what comes after death.  Man of God live with the end in mind that we may not be caught by surprise when we face what is to come. 

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Homily The Deacon Joe

25th Sunday Ordinary Time – God or mammon

Posted on by Deacon Joe

Am. 8:4-7; Ps. 113:1-2, 4-8; 1 Tim. 2:1-8; Lk. 16:1-13

God or mammon, the choice is ours.  So is the choice for honesty or dishonesty, truth or lies, generosity or covetousness but both cannot coexist as a reality of the heart.  Mammon is the “devil of covetousness”.  The readings draw for us this contrast that we may discern our true heart’s desire.  The desire for God is a heart of generosity.  Spinoza the philosopher says “if love is the goal, generosity is the road to it.”  God is love thus if we desire love we desire God and if we desire God then generosity is the road to him.  Mammon is the desire of the heart that says “me first” and “too bad so sad for you.” 

The one who holds onto the devil of covetousness is their own God and all others are objects in the way or a means from where to gain the riches the heart desires to possess.  It is the psychology of “winners and losers and all is fair in love and war”.  It makes for great drama in movies and theatre but for the reality of life it is all a tragedy.  To those who “fix our scales for cheating” the Lord says “Never will I forget a thing they have done!” 

Never means never!  So, what about when the Lords says, “I will never again remember their sins” in Jeremiah 31:34 and again in Hebrews 8:12?  In God there is no contradiction.  The difference is between those who choose God, confess and are forgiven and those who chose mammon where the Lord says, “When he is judged, let the verdict be ‘Guilty’, and when he prays, let the prayer turn to sin.” (Ps. 109) We like to say “Don’t mess with Texas”.  Today we hear “Don’t mess with God!” God or mammon is an eternal choice. 

The devil of covetousness is the father of lies and if we believe there are only winners and losers then the choice is to win at the cost of others unless of course you are a follower of the way of the cross, God’s way.  As Mathew 16:26 reminds us “What profit would there be for one to gain the whole world and forfeit his life?”  For mammon, if you want to be a winner you accept the premise that others must lose by default.  The “low hanging fruit” of losers to pick on are the poor, those who have the least authority, and those who are most “needy” of the scraps from the table of indulgence.  God or mammon, the choice here is clear.  When God is forgotten the devil wins our souls.  The prudent choice for eternity is God. 

Jesus poses a challenge to us this day to be spiritually prudent.  The account of the rich man and his steward demonstrates “For the children of this world are more prudent in dealing with their own generation than are the children of the light.”  The children of the light are the baptized children in the faith given the light to act prudently through the Holy Spirit.  Prudence is one of the four cardinal virtues to judge rightly the will of God in our lives.  The children of the world as in the steward figure out how to manipulate the situation for their benefit “dishonest in small matters is also dishonest in great ones” yet acting prudently for their own good.  How much more should the children of the light act prudently for their spiritual good?    

Can we say Jesus acted prudently when “Though our Lord Jesus Christ was rich, he became poor”?  To die to self for the other is love that we may all have the choice of God or mammon, heaven or hell, the Lord’s generosity or our own covetousness.  Are we worth that sacrifice?  The Lord said “yes” and is here to redeem us even if it is one sheep that is one soul at a time.  Why?  Because the Lord cannot deny himself who he is as our Father the creator, the Son the redeemer and the Holy Spirit the sanctifier, the one God in three persons. 

Prudence is living with the end in mind.  What we do matters for the moment and with a lasting consequence.  It is the house that is not built in one day but every day adds to the structure of what is to come.  Scripture reminds of having a house on a firm foundation of faith, hope and love.  The world reminds us that it is also possible to have a house of cards built by illusion, by meta technology and to easily become lost in it.  When the trials of life come there is no solid foundation and it all comes crashing down.  Once a moment of time is gone, we cannot go back and recover it and for some things there is no “reset button”. 

Living with the end in mind does not diminish nor deny the idea of living one day at a time, being in the present, or trusting in the Lord.  We don’t all of a sudden throw caution to the wind with the attitude of “se la vie”, that’s lifeor a “que sera sera” whatever will be will be.  We trust in God’s divine providence yet prudently act as if he has now placed his trust in us because he has.  God is trusting in us as a Father to do the right thing, to be his witness of love, to go into the world not to be immersed in worldly things but to be a voice of truth, Godly truth. 

There is a misconception that our actions have little consequence in this world compared to the great cosmos.  We make it all about our own little place, it is all about us so whatever we choose the attitude is “what difference does it make?”  It makes a great difference for God.  It made a great difference for our Blessed Mother to give her fiat to the Lord as a vessel of eternal grace that brought us Christ into the world.  It makes a great difference to the child who is not aborted but given life to make a contribution to this world that can last for generations.  It makes a great difference when a person accepts to carry their cross in redemptive suffering as an offering to God rather than end of life choices through suicide or euthanasia. 

Prudence is acting in right judgment for the whole picture of life, our God given purpose, our calling for this day that leads us to the greater glory of God.  Our choice matters greatly to God.  It unites us to him or separates us from him.  It is the choice of God or mammon, heaven or hell.  Choose wisely! 

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Homily The Deacon Joe

24th Sunday Ordinary Time – God be merciful! 

Posted on by Deacon Joe

Ex. 32:7-11; Lk. 15:18; 1 Tim. 1:12-17; Lk. 15:1-32

God be merciful to me a sinner!   We are a “stiff-necked” people who become “depraved” by our own free will creating our idol worship.  Our God of mercy seeks a “heart contrite and humbled” as the acceptable sacrifice for his love.  God be merciful as we empty ourselves of our pride and seek your mercy. 

What is our “molten calf” we worship above the love of God?  One way to answer this question is to recognize what “it” is that we search for in this life.  When we are young “it” may be the recognition from others that our name may be raised above every other name but this becomes the desire to be our own God.  It is the desire to be first not last, to be served and not to serve.  To love God above every other name is true worship to recognize there is a God and we are not it.  God be merciful!

When we reach the age of human maturity “it” may be the wealth we search to grow to be free of any dependency on others, but this becomes the desire to be even free from God.  Wealth becomes the golden calf creating a false sense of power but the power it offers is transitory and consumes the wealth creating a demand for more wealth.  Material wealth is an illusion that there can never be enough wealth to control everything in our lives and the golden calf demands more of us.  True maturity is the divine knowledge and wisdom that comes from recognizing even the breath we breathe depends on the God of our creation who pours out his riches and glory for his kingdom of heaven.  We don’t wait for his kingdom to come we pray to enter into it in the present moment we live.  God be merciful! 

If we are blessed to reach the age in the fullness of human longevity “it” may be that we continue to search to escape death itself becoming “stiff-necked” in our demands from others to save us from death rather than seeking the light of God’s divine providence and our salvation from hell.  In the midst of good science that extends life and adds to our quality of life there is the golden calf that wants to be preserved, frozen in time and genetically reincarnated.  The goal of life is not to extend it perpetually but to complete it fulfilling the purpose for which we came into this world, our God given purpose.  As Jesus says on the cross, “It is finished!”  God be merciful!

St. Paul places himself as a witness of the mercy of God once a “blasphemer and a persecutor and arrogant” against Jesus has been mercifully treated as he says “because I acted out of ignorance in my unbelief”.  In this world there are many living in ignorance in their unbelief and the mercy of God will deliver them according to his righteousness, some to heaven, some to purgatory and others to hell.   Not all will be saved for he knows the heart of the unbeliever and in what faith they lived.  St. Paul’s ignorance was as a non-Christian but we are Christians, either raised in the faith or converted into the faith so what can we say to God?  We say, “God be merciful today while there is still time. 

When we pray for mercy, we recall the words of Jesus prayer “forgive us our sins as we forgive those who have sinned against us”.  God desires mercy and reconciliation ready to forgive as we forgive others.  We should not wait until we are on deathbed to call our loved ones and ask for forgiveness for our offenses.  The church calls us to come to the sacrament of reconciliation at least once a year but as often as needed when we recognize our sin and desire God’s mercy.  What about those we live with, those we work with, those who are part of our social and business world?  How many others would be reconciled with us if we reached out to them with an act of mercy?  God be merciful as we show mercy. 

Jesus reminds us in the parable of the lost sheep of the importance of saving each and every soul with his mercy.  Yet there is a truth God gives us “he cannot save us without us”.  He cannot save us without our repentance.  For the unrepentant sinner, God’s mercy passes over them seeking to find the soul who repents.  Confession is not a “get out of jail pass” to keep doing what we want to do.  Confession is a realization of our sinfulness with a desire to make amends for our sins and bring conversion to our life.  The truth of our confession is in the fruit we bear, the change we make, the mercy we offer.  God be merciful.

Then there is the parable of what we traditionally call the “prodigal son”.  The word “prodigal” is defined as “spending money or resources freely and recklessly”.  It is the younger son who demands a share of the estate with a sense of entitlement saying “give me the share of your estate that should come to me.”  There is an expression “prodigal habits die hard”.  Prodigal habits become the golden calf we keep feeding on a life of dissipation.  This younger son already had the prodigal sin before he demanded more from his father.  What the father provided in his home was not enough and so “he squandered his inheritance on a life of dissipation.”  God be merciful! 

We have an inheritance given to us at baptism with the purpose of multiplying our riches in heaven as servants of the Lord.  When we lose focus of this purpose, we risk squandering our inheritance in heaven for the entitlements we demand on earth.  Some may question whether the younger son was truly repentant or just realized how much better he would have it if he simply returned to his father seeking reconciliation.  Who are we to judge the heart of another when God already knows what he has in his sons and daughters.  Let God be God and let us not judge another but examen our own heart and our desire for repentance.  God is merciful!

Then we see the older son’s angry reaction to the father’s joy for his younger son.  Jealousy is a powerful sin that leads to division.  Among family there is a temptation to question who is loved more the “favorite” we call it.  Who gets a piece of the pie, the last bite or as the older son said “even a young goat to feast on”.  The disciples questioned Jesus, who is the greatest in the kingdom of God.  This desire to be first can make even a false martyr of our actions.  The father’s response, “we must celebrate and rejoice because your brother was dead and has come to life again…”.  God is merciful.

The older son’s complaint to the father “Look, all these years I served you and not once did I disobey your order”.  This is a hard lesson for the son to understand, the greatest is the one whose heart is to be the servant of all, to do good for others not for the reward but for the just cause.  We are to do it because it is the right thing to do and as the father says, “everything I have is yours”.  There is so much God the Father desires for us including all of himself in Jesus and yet we wander in this world in search of something greater and the greater is already a gift waiting for us in God.  God is merciful.

 [JG1]

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Homily

23rd Sunday Ordinary Time – Return, O children!

Posted on by Deacon Joe

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

“Return, O children!”  The Lord never tires of calling us back to himself.   In every age, salvation history has a pattern of humanity “going our own way”, falling from grace, ending in despair, and hearing the Lord’s call to “return, O children”.  As a people of God, we come home to the Lord’s way where he is our refuge.

Sometimes people of other faith will question why we baptize children.  The most common answer Catholics give is for the forgiveness of original sin.  But we tend not to think of children as a sinner.  Perhaps you have that child who is always obedient, listens to everything you say and would never go against your will.  You say, “Clean your room” and they respond “of course right away”.  Children like to go their own way just as much as adults do and our struggle with obedience doesn’t get easier with time.  Sin is an act of disobedience. 

We also baptize children for the gift of the Holy Spirit to assist them with understanding, to recognize the fear of the Lord and the love of the Lord, to master their will for obedience to the Word of God and when they fall from grace to return O children.  We can only return to what we have already received and in baptism we receive God himself.  In fact, at birth we receive the gift of life thus God give us ourselves and what we do with ourselves is our gift back to God.  In baptism God gives us the gift of himself to remain in him and like the prodigal son when we refuse him he remains faithful to us calling us back, “return O children”.  

Today, St. Paul says “I, Paul, an old man” reminding us as the years go by all our past “are as yesterday…or a watch in the night (and) You (God) turn man back to dust”.  We see it in our children how quickly they grow what to them was forever since they were babies to us was just yesterday.  Now what?  Stay focused on the Lord, don’t fall into the culture of darkness where good is bad and bad is good only to burden the Spirit from God within.  The message is not just for the young who desire to “spread their wings” or for the old who see death approaching.  It is for every age of life to renounce everything in order to be his disciple. 

How can the Lord say, “If anyone comes to me without hating his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple”?  This is a hard saying, are we not to honor our father and mother, be obedient to each other as married couples, love family and neighbor, and love others as “thyself”?  As in all biblical text there is context and the two teachings are not a contradiction so we need to discern the Lord’s message. 

The context of today’s teaching by Jesus is based on a renunciation of sin.  Since we are all sinners, do we just then “hate” everyone including ourselves?  Obviously not, we hate the sin and love the sinner as Jesus did.  There is a misconception that if we “love” someone we accept their choices even when they go against our faith, morals, and values. Wrong!  Love requires us to bring truth, God’s truth to the one we love especially when we recognize the danger of their sin.  

The “boots on the ground” issues exist in almost all families these days.  Couples living together outside of marriage, all the sexual and gender issues being pushed as “normal” yet outside of God’s natural law, civil unions outside of the church are all part of what the Lord detests with the English translation word “hate” meaning an aversion to the sin.  God and sin cannot coexist so we cannot carry our sins into heaven.  That is why purgatory exists as a state of purification for the soul of its sins.  God forgives us our sins but demands a cleansing of sin to be his disciple and come into his presence. 

Do we love God?  This is love of God, to come to him and be cleansed of our sins.  Recalling the familiar expression “God loves us too much to leave us as we are”.   We are a people who become attached to our possessions.  Possessions are a resource for living but can become a burden of life when we live outside our means.  Before we know it, we are a slave to all we possess as we worry to pay for it, to maintain it, to hold onto it.  Where is our focus in life, where is our energy going, what does our actions say about what matters to us most?  This is what the Lord is addressing when he says, “anyone of you who does not renounce all his possessions cannot be me disciple”. 

Some will say the Lord is speaking to his “disciples” who represent the future clergy of the church.  This is for the priest who leaves father, mother, siblings and possessions to enter into the priesthood.  This is true as a priest is called to be another Christ.  It is also true for all God’s people to “carry his own cross and come after me” says Jesus.  We all carry a call to discipleship.  We all need to “calculate the cost” of discipleship and recognize how the world can become our obsession and we can lose ourselves that is our soul in what perishes rather than in what is eternal. 

Perhaps this is the day to reorder our lives according to God’s call to be his disciples.  When was the last time we cleaned our closet and were willing to let go of the “stuff” we don’t use.  Often the last thing we want do is to make a will and decide what will happen to our possessions. We leave it to our families to have to pick up after us and unfortunately sometimes to become divided over our possessions.  Even less practiced is the act of giving away our possessions while we live.  We make our “stuff” our cross rather than our service to Christ being the cross in following him. 

This is the day to be prudent and act in right judgment, to calculate the cost, to become all God created us to be in his image and likeness.  This is our time to be a witness of what it is to be his disciple that is to be Christ in our world, with all those we meet.  This is the Lord’s call to return, O children!

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Homily The Deacon Joe

22nd Sunday Ordinary Time – Humble of heart!

Posted on by Deacon Joe

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

Humble of heart!  The Lord calls us to be humble of heart with the courage to take up his “yoke” and learn from him.  Humility raises the last to be first.  This is the guiding principle in the kingdom of God.  Humility of heart is the antidote to the sin of pride.  A humble heart is open to the truth greater than oneself beginning with there is a God and we are not him.  It is not about “my truth” but “the truth”.  We are living in a time when society no longer accepts there is an absolute truth but preaches finding your own way.  Being humble of heart is to return to the faith in one God, one truth, his way and to follow where it may lead us.  Today it leads us to take up the “yoke” and learn from the Lord to carry the grace of humility of heart. 

The meaning of the “yoke” is to become closely attached to each other such as the wooden crosspiece that unites two animals to work together in farming.  Baptism unites us to Jesus on the cross to live our faith with courage in the midst of sin and suffering and work together for salvation.  It takes courage to pick up the cross of Christ as Simon of Cyrene wrapped his arm across Jesus to help him lift up the cross and carry it.  They were yoked together as a sign of living the Christian dignity with humility of heart even unto death. 

The sin of pride is the desire to be first.  Jesus is first in the kingdom and we learn from him true humility by loving our neighbor as ourselves, desiring what is good for the other as a blessing to oneself.  Together we are yoked in one body that shares in unity both the joys and sufferings of life.  We are to celebrate together, work together, suffer together, offer ourselves up together and gather together to be one in the Lord this day in the celebration of the Mass.  The sin of pride looks to divide and determine who is the greatest in the kingdom.  Jesus’ lesson is “For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.” 

The grace of humility is a gift to pray for.  When was the last time we prayed, “Lord, give me the grace of humility”?  It will go a long way in fulfilling all the other virtues we ask for such as patience, perseverance, slow to anger, kindness and more.  Start with humility as a foundational virtue and many of the other virtues will come easier.  Prayer is for a conversion of self into the image and likeness of Christ.  We often turn to prayer to ask for a change in others, a change of events, a change outside of ourselves and forget to ask for the change the Lord wants to make in us for we lack humility of heart.  “Lord, change me!  Lord, give me a humble heart.” 

We can see in Jesus that humility does not deny the truth.  Jesus never denied himself as the Son of God, or his kingship.  With humility of heart, he dared to speak the truth and challenge the thinking of the Pharisees.  It was his love of other, love of our humanity, love for the purpose he came to serve that came through in humility.  What about us? 

There is the expression “the more I know the less I know”.  It expresses the humility of heart that comes with the maturity of time.  When were young we feel we have “it”, whatever “it” is that makes us confident and powerful.  Then we grow to realize how vast “it” is to come to the knowledge of the world and to understand “it” is all by the hand of God.  Scripture is filled with humility of heart; Genesis 43:28 “They bowed down in humility”; Leviticus 16:31 “spend your day in quiet humility’’; Psalm 18:35 “your humility exalts me”; Proverbs 11:2 “with humility comes wisdom”; Proverbs 22:4 “The reward of humility and the fear of the Lord is riches, honor, and life”; Proverbs 29:23 “Too much pride brings disgrace; humility leads to honor” and 1 Peter 3:8 “Let humility describe who you are”.  How are we doing on the path of humility?

I had just finished graduate school and was having my first professional interview for a job.  There were two people interviewing me one said, “you are very proud”.  It wasn’t a question but a statement.  It hit me like a slap on the face as I asked myself “Is this how I am coming across full of myself?”  When someone comes across as proud, they also can be called out as a “know it all”.  Not exactly the face of humility.  Does this ring familiar with anybody?  The culture for males is especially drawn to be heroes and warriors but it can be misguided to be “macho” as in arrogant and bully versus a true hero/warrior who is sacrificial and humble. 

As parents we lift up with pride our children, give them recognition for effort, teach them to keep their chin up, and place them on a pedestal and there are appropriate moments when they need this.   There is also a time for a healthy dose of humility where love means “no excuses”, saying “I’m sorry” or giving credit to others.  Whoever came up with the saying “love is never having to say you are sorry” is in a fantasy and not in God’s world.  In God’s world we go in humility of heart to confess “I am sorry for all my sins and having offended thee”.  Couples say “I’m sorry” more times in a day than “I love you”.  Maybe if we said “I love you” more often we would not need to say “I’m sorry”, something to ponder. 

What about “no excuses”?  In 3rd grade, I was the fastest runner in my class.  One day I lost my first race and somehow the teacher heard about it.  He brought it up in class and I said I was feeling sick.  He quickly responded “no excuses”.  All of a sudden, I felt humiliated in front of everyone, that is I was humbled by someone else and had to swallow my green beans, that is my pride.  I hate green beans.  Well, “hate” is a strong word so change that to “I love to give away my green beans”. 

Parents’ love is teaching our children to grow in virtue and preparing for the realities of life with a healthy dose of temperance.  It’s not all about them.  This reality hits home with the first major rejection in life and have we prepared them for it with healthy dose of humility?  Today suicide rates are up among the youth as they face social bullying, broken homes, access to drugs, and identity crisis in a world where anything goes.  For the world humility is not a virtue of value but a sign of weakness and everyone is to wear a happy face of pride but ultimately, we cannot deny ourselves.  We are dust and to dust we shall return but something greater is here and it is the love of God who created us for eternity and will raise us up to himself. 

Today the lesson is clear “conduct your affairs with humility and you will be loved more…(and) the greater you are”.  When we give the place of honor to others, we demonstrate we are living the greatest commandment.  Our love of God with all our heart, mind and soul is seen in the love we give our neighbor. Let us be humble of heart.

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