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Homily The Deacon Joe

15th Sunday Ordinary Time – “Go and do likewise”

Posted on by Deacon Joe

Deut. 30:10-14; Ps. 69:14, 17, 30-31, 33-34, 6,37; Col. 1:15-20; Lk. 10:25-37

“Go and do likewise” as Jesus did “and you will live”.  This was the command Jesus gave to his disciples and to his “appointed seventy-two” he sent forth from last week’s readings.  “Go and do likewise” curing the sick, proclaiming the word, “to tread upon serpents’ and scorpions and upon the full force of the enemy and nothing will harm you”.  “Go and do likewise” in loving God with all your heart, being, strength and mind and “your neighbor as yourself” by the acts of charity caring for the needs of others “and you will live”.  “Go and do likewise” as Jesus continues to do in our lives, he is “near to you, already in your mouths and in your hearts; you have only to carry it out.” Are we ready to carry it out for eternity?

Do we believe in eternity?  Eternity begins now in the flesh as Jesus came in the flesh to show us how to live for eternity.  He came in the flesh and in his divinity to take our flesh, wipe away our sins and open the gates of heaven to begin to live in the spirit, in the divine spirit, in the law of the Lord, love itself.  If we believe in eternity, then it all starts in the here and now.  We see it in the lives of the saints who lived and died in the flesh but were already experiencing the glory of God on earth.  We see it in the mystery of faith through the sacramental life of the church carrying out the mission of Christ to the world.  We also see it in ourselves in our answered prayers where miracles happen every day and we are moved to give thanks and give all the glory to God.

“Go and do likewise” as a sign of our love of God to be his image to the world.  Love of God is a constant movement to act out of our love for him.  It is not a fleeting thought that crosses our mind when we come to church but a constant reminder of his presence in our life.  It is not a fickle emotion that inspires us one minute and then fades as we go on living what we call “our” life. Without his breath of life, we have no life.

Our faith calls us to belong to God, so we no longer live for ourselves, but as slaves of his love for it is then that we are free.  Our heart is then united to his sacred heart.  Love of God is not to be strong but, in our weakness to see his strength active in us to “go and do likewise”.  Otherwise, we are an empty shell of shiny mirrors without substance.  All our being is a gift, and it can all be lived for the divine purpose to “walk the walk and talk the talk” that comes from him “and you shall live”.

Are we alive in Christ?  Life is difficult and we pray to God to be with us, to help us discern his will and to be prudent in making good decisions.  Now what?  Now we walk in faith so God may open the gates of heaven as we “do likewise” being Christ in this world.  The mission of the church is to proclaim the gospels as it nurtures our minds with his word and feed us his body and blood that we may carry him in our being and then to send us forth at the end of Mass to proclaim the gospel in word and deed, and in Spirit and truth trusting in him.  Here is the human dilemma, do we trust in God?  Being alive in Christ is trusting in him. 

“Jesus, I trust in you” is easier said than practiced.  To trust in Jesus sometimes requires us to “go forth” taking the right next step and sometimes it requires us to wait upon the Lord in God’s time to answer our prayers.  The best discernment comes through prayer when to act and when to wait.  There is the old expression “reading the tea leaves”.  It is being observant, keeping watch, listening for the movement of the Spirit around us and in us.  Trust is a letting go and letting God be the driver as we follow and look at the signs for direction.  “Direct us O’ Lord according to your will.”  Trusting in God is living the Serenity Prayer:

“God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; courage to change the things I can; and wisdom to know the difference.  Living one day at a time; enjoying one moment at a time; accepting hardships as the pathway to peace; taking, as he did this sinful world as it is, not as I would have it; trusting that he will make all things right if I surrender to his Will; that I may be reasonably happy in this life and supremely happy with Him forever in the next.  Amen.” 

The works of the Spirit brings unity as it works in and through us as well as in and through others.  The mystery of faith comes through unity, the unity of the Trinity, the unity of the church, and the unity of the people of God.  It is a welcoming, inviting and calling spirit where two or three are gathered in his name.  If we do not discern this spirit of unity then it may be time to dust off our feet and move on trusting in God where he may lead us. 

Are we ready to “carry out” the will of God in our lives?  The will of God is to love others, “your neighbor as yourself”.   We assume we know how to love ourselves well and from our goodness we know how to love others.  This small word “as” implies knowledge of true love, Godly love, perfect love.  As we love ourselves poorly, we in turn will love others poorly.  This poverty of love is controlling, demanding, objectifying, failing to respect the dignity and worth of others.  It does not try to meet others where they are at but judges them based on where they are not.  Can anyone be saved if God judged us based on where we are not?  God meets us with his mercy as we are and calls us to something greater that he desires for us thus “go and do likewise”. 

To love ourselves well is to recognize ourselves as a creation of God according to his image.  Created in his image we then look to him to perfect us in love through the gifts of the Spirit, through his mercy, and through the power of his sacraments he left us in the Church.  To love ourselves well begins with Him and ends with Him and as we think in between “He is!”  He is the creator, the lover, the sanctifier, the consoler, the savior.  He is and always will be the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end, so let it be Him the acting source in our lives and our love will grow in perfection fulfilling his word, “So be perfect just as your heavenly Father is perfect.”  (Mt. 5:48) 

“Be perfect” is a command.  When we raise our thoughts, hearts, and will to God we enter into his perfection.  We are to “let perseverance be perfect, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.” (Jam. 1:4-6) Let us unlock the significance of the command “be perfect”.  It does not say “try to be perfect” for this implies something less than perfect is all that is needed.  We accept the idea “I try to be good” as if that is enough. We turn to the excuse “no one is perfect” and settle for less than the command.  Let our prayer be “I will be perfect as called to be in the perfection of this moment by the will of God”.  We are calling our being to “be perfect” and on God to raise us up to his perfect will at this moment. His promise will be fulfilled for we are asking God to be perfect in us as we “go and do likewise”.  God answers the call when we call upon Him which is his desire all along that we turn to Him, and he is there.  In your perfection Lord, guide us to your perfect will. Amen. 

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Homily The Deacon Joe

14th Sunday Ordinary Time – The Kingdom of God

Posted on by Deacon Joe

Is. 66:10-14c; Ps. 66:1-3, 4-7, 16, 20; Gal. 6:14-18; Lk. 10:1-12, 17-20

“The Kingdom of God is at hand for you.”  This promise given by Jesus is to those who welcome him and his “appointed seventy-two” into their home.  Do we welcome his “appointed” servants, through the one Catholic and Apostolic Church into our home and do we rejoice in the heavenly Jerusalem?  The Church is the heavenly Jerusalem on earth who provides us the “milk of her comfort that we may nurse with delight at her abundant breasts!”  We nurse from the sacramental life of the Church as a mother to its people.  As we welcome the church Christ is present in his body, blood, soul, and divinity. 

The Kingdom of God is opened up to those who welcome the church into their hearts.  How tremendous are the deeds of God in the church making of us a new creation through baptism, forgiving sins in reconciliation, curing the sick with anointing, exorcising demons, and confirming the faith to all who call upon the Lord.  If we belong to Christ then we all share in his body called to be one in union with him and in his body.  This is not some “spiritual thing” we feel but something tangible in the word of God, in the sacraments, in the Eucharist, and in the people.  Jesus’ resurrection was a tangible body, not a spirit of illusion.  He ate and drank and was touched.  Let us welcome the kingdom of God in body, soul, and spirit.  Are we not called to make of our bodies the temple of the Lord? 

“The harvest is abundant” in our times as many leave the church and pews become empty.  Others are simply raised not to believe but in themselves only.  In an age of mass communication there are many competing voices making “connections” with the world around us and yet people find themselves more isolated, more in search of a purpose, and more confused on what to believe.  They lack the one connection that matters most, God.  Here is the dilemma, God works through others, through the church, through his messengers so we cannot be disconnected from others if we desire to get closer to him.

God works through a husband to his wife and through the wife to her husband.  He works through parents for their children and through children to ponder the love of God when we gaze upon a child with love.  God works through the stranger who is charitable to us and through us in our charity towards others.  The kingdom of God is not a hardwired single line to heaven but even greater than an algorithm created by God to unite his kingdom from age to age, across generations, and when two or three are gathered together in his name. 

“The laborers are few” as less respond to the call to the priesthood or religious life and the lay people simply say “I have no time…it is not for me to evangelize…it is not my business…I don’t feel comfortable”.  If not us who?  We all have a call to speak for the kingdom of God each according to the state of life we have chosen.  It begins in our being, by being who we are that determines what we do.   Our being is an authentic Christian centered faith, practitioners of what we believe, and a “naturalist” of the law of God.  Our being is a manifestation of love for God.  God is love and in his being we reside through the love of charity by giving of ourselves not just from what we have but from who we are.  We are a child of God who is calling us to live in his love. 

 In each sacrifice of ourselves we bring God into the world.  It is the testimony that Jesus left us on the cross.  As he lived and died for us, we also live and die for love of God and others.  This is the significance of this weekend for this country.  It honors those who lived and died for freedom, the freedom we get to live this day.  This is the significance of the lives of the saints who lived and died for Christ in serving others.  This is the significance of bringing a child into this world who we live and sacrifice for because love makes the sacrifice meaningful. 

The Kingdom of God brings us the “peace of Christ” as it takes possession of our hearts.  This “peace” is the love of God who enters our hearts and dwells in us.    Its control over our hearts is through the virtues we receive to strengthen our resolve to do good, to love our neighbor, and to labor in the kingdom of God not as “busy-bodies” but with a God-given purpose to “never grow weary of doing what is right” (2Thes. 3:13).  Do all things with love and the kingdom is open to us this day.

When Jesus sent out the seventy-two to proclaim the kingdom of God they were to announce, “the kingdom of God is at hand”.  He knew not all would welcome his messengers for he said, “I am sending you like lambs among wolves.”  Evil exists in this world free to bring suffering, anger, jealousy, ridicule, and even death to the lambs of God but even death does not have the final word.  It is in dying to ourselves that we are born into eternal life so fear not the evil that this world will bring upon us.  God in his infinite mercy tells his disciples not to rejoice “because the spirits are subject to you but rejoice because your names are written in heaven.” 

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Homily

13th Sunday Ordinary Time – The Lord speaks!

Posted on by Deacon Joe

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

The Lord speaks!  The Lords speaks the words “Follow me” to each of us this day.  Elisha is anointed by Elijah and immediately Elisha recognizes the call by Elijah to follow him “as his attendant” his understudy “as a prophet to succeed you (Elijah)”.  In the same way in today’s gospel, the Lord Jesus speaks calling some to follow him but like Elisha they desire to attend to their personal and family needs before accepting the call.  Jesus words are definitive “let the dead bury their dead” and “no one who…looks to what was left behind is fit for the kingdom of God.”   The Lord speaks clearly to be his follower is a call to sacrifice for the greater kingdom. 

We are all called to the kingdom of God, but some receive a higher calling, to leave everything behind and “go and proclaim the kingdom of God.”  The church has discerned that the Lord speaks of this calling as special grace given to the priesthood and religious life. They leave behind not only the family of birth but the hope of marriage and personal family for the kingdom of God.  Perhaps this is why we dare not ask the Lord “Speak, Lord your servant is listening”.  The Lord speaks of a complete surrender to him something we fear and would respond to with the same desire to say “yes, but…let me take care of what is in my heart first”.  When the Lord speaks it is for us to place him in our hearts before all else. 

We too are baptized priest, prophet and king called to leave behind a life of sin in a world that seeks its own kingdom. We are called to sacrifice in union with the heart of Jesus.  This month is celebrated the Sacred Heart of Jesus with the church recognizing in June the Friday after the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ, (last Sunday) as the Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus.  The heart is a symbol of love and the image of the Sacred Heart of Jesus surrounded by the crown of thorns reminds us of his passion and death “for the ungodly” as proof of his love for us.  Even now as baptized and reconciled to him he gives us his promises to join our hearts of flesh with his most sacred heart when we come to him.  So, what do we fear? 

We fear surrender of our will, we fear what the Lord may ask of us, we fear the unknown.  We hold onto what we know and our desire for control and our illusion to live this life for ourselves as the center of our universe.  We don’t know how to detach, to let go and let God. To surrender to God is to gain everything while to hold on is to lose even ourselves for we are dust and to dust we shall return but to those united to the Sacred Heart of Jesus is to gain what is eternal. 

We pray prayers, we pray what is in our mind, but do we call out to God to say “Speak, Lord, your servant is listening”?  Are we listening?  Jesus is not speaking in the wind, he is not speaking in the fire, or the constant noise around us.  He said he would put his law of love in our hearts.  We have to search our hearts before we hear his voice and “the words of everlasting life”.  An examination of our heart brings us to Jesus and his Sacred Heart, to the truth of the gospel, and to where we are to go and follow him.  Dare we go there?  The real question to ask is “dare we not go there?”  Eternity depends on it. 

The Lord speaks of being called for “freedom”, a freedom from the flesh, a freedom from being focused on oneself, a freedom to “love your neighbor as yourself”.  The flesh is driven by the senses “what feels good” as the pleasure principle that no matter how much we try to satisfy the senses there remains a hunger for more.   The focus on self is driven by the mind to build oneself up, to be first among others, to create an image of false pride as if we did it “our way” and God was simply a spectator.  How foolish!   For the Christians, God is always active in our lives.  The freedom to love your neighbor as yourself is driven by the will that we may be one in union with God called to be one in the Trinity, in the communion of saints and in this world with your “neighbor”. 

The senses of the flesh are for us to taste, see, touch, hear and smell the goodness of the Lord in his creation.  They lift our spirit up to God.  Taken wrongly they become the purpose and not the means to a greater good.  We have all heard the expression of someone who “lives to eat” rather than “eat to live”.  This is indicative of misguided passions.  The mind is our connection to the truth of God set free to discern his presence in our life as a listening servant to do his will.  The mind can fool itself into thinking what it believes is the only truth that matters to claim for itself.  The freedom to love the other as yourself is an act of the will to do God’s will even when the other is unwilling to love.  It is the freedom to love that can protect us from sin and by not doing to others what we would not want for ourselves. 

Do we welcome Jesus into our heart and into our home?  Imagine Jesus walking into our home what he would see, feel, say and receive.  Would he see his peace and unity given to us as his followers or would he see individual battles being fought to gain control?  Would he feel the love of his sacred heart pouring out for the good of each other or would he feel the hurt, bitterness, anger of being offended by the insensitivity of others?  Would he say I recognize my own and my own recognize me or would he say “I do not know you” and would we even recognize him?  And what would he receive from us, our love, a place of rest to lay his head, a place at the table to break bread as a family or our complaints?  Consider and let us ask ourselves are we more prone to rejoice in what others do and celebrate life or to complain for what we want them to do? 

This week marks a major victory for the defense of life for the unborn child against the claim of individual rights to choose and privacy as a “constitutional right”.  There are limits to our freedom and privacy in many of the laws for a better society.  The right to choose and privacy does not exist when an adult commits the crime of child abuse and molestation within the privacy of their home.    The state recognizes the need for defense of the most vulnerable in our society.  That defense is now possible to extend to the unborn child in the womb.  While the battle will continue, we now recognize in science what was not known before in terms of the potential for viability and humanity of the unborn.  It is a child with the full potential to live in this world as a gift of life from God.  The Lord speaks for the unborn as his sacred heart calls out “let the children come to me and do not prevent them; for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.” (Lk. 18:16)

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Homily

Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ

Posted on by Deacon Joe

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

To all the fathers, Happy Father’s Day!  Today we celebrate the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ as the summit of our Catholic faith.  From Melchizedek in Genesis in his priesthood with “bread and wine” as a foreshadow of Christ himself to St. Paul looking back to the command of Jesus to “do this in remembrance of me” to Christ himself in the multiplication of the loaves and fish, it is a manifestation of the sacrifice of Jesus giving up his body and blood to nourish our lives, remain with us, and lift us up to heaven. 

God the Father has given us his Son for our salvation.  Jesus the Son gives us himself as a sacrifice of love of himself and the Father.  Together they are the epitome of what our lives as Father’s with our children are to reflect.  Our children are a gift from God and we are to give them up to God by raising them to be his children by coming to know, love and serve God.  Jokingly a parent may express their rights over a child with the words “I brought you into this world and I can take you out”.  Nothing can be a more distorted view of life that this, to assume “our” children means total rights over their life.  They as we are a child of God first and we carry a right of responsibility to bring them up as a child of God. 

Fathers are the first image of God the Father to be head of the domestic church at home.  This is a right to make the greater sacrifice for them.  It is in the sacrifice that we gain our authority to lead them in the way of God the Father.  Nothing gives a child more of a lesson of love and humility than to see their Father bow his head and pray, to listen to a Father’s prayer of surrender to God, to hear a Father’s words of love for God and their family.  In a Father’s prayer the mask of false pride and power is removed and the truth of our weakness and trust in God is revealed.  A father’s love is a powerful sign of our heavenly Father to grow in faith, hope and love.

Children believe what their fathers do more than anything they say so that our words may confirm what our actions reveal about our own faith and obedience to God.  If we desire the best for our children, it will never come from what we can give them of the world.  The best for our children comes from our relationship with them learn from us how to be the best God created us to be, to discover purpose and meaning in life, and to see in Jesus that it is in giving of ourselves that we receive the kingdom of God for eternal life.

If we truly believe there is a heaven and a hell and we will determine our eternal destiny by the way we live this life then there is only one thing that matters above all.  It is the “one way” God has provided for us to his glory.  The rest is just a “supporting cast” of gifts from God to live this one way to heaven.  Our home, our work, our friends and family all are a gift of God’s love and mercy.  The Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ is a reminder of the “one way” we die to ourselves that we may rise to eternal glory.  Let this be the day others see in us our love manifested in our acts of charity to be the true image of God in this world.  Then we will truly live our call as “fathers” making every day a Father’s day. 

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Homily

Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity – One in God

Posted on by Deacon Joe

Prov. 8:22-31; Ps. 8:4-9; Rom. 5:1-5; Jn. 16:12-15

One in God and three in one we celebrate this Most Holy Trinity.  The mystery of faith is this unity to be one in God united to the Most Holy Trinity.  Called to be children of God can we say, “The Lord possessed me”?  From the beginning who is this “I” poured forth “before the earth”?  “The love of God has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit” and through the blood of the Lamb in Jesus Christ.  God is love thus God has poured out himself throughout the earth giving of himself to us.  The Son of God “was his delight day by day, playing before him…When the Lord established the heavens” he was there.  Father, Son and Holy Spirit is there and there is now here with us and for us to be one in God. 

The “Spirt of truth” brings us the voice of God in the Son to guide us and strengthen us that we may even “boast of our afflictions in hope of the glory of God”.  The Lord finds “delight in the human race”.  We are his delight as a son is to his father who in his fatherly wisdom is guiding us through our afflictions to grow in sanctity that we may be perfect in faith, hope and love.  The struggle of humanity is recognizing when we fall from our sinfulness we may rise again by the mercy of a Father’s love.  When the world drives us to follow our own way limited by what little we know the Father sent us his Son to follow his way by the revelation of truth and the guidance of the Holy Spirit.  God is truth in its undefiled and unblemished totality coming to us in the Spirit.  

We pray “I believe in one God” Father, Son, and Holy Spirit and in “one Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church”.  The Church is the bride of Christ who has received the revelation through the Spirit of truth in its holy servants who by tradition and word have given us “the Word of God”.  Before the word was written down as scripture, before Word was made flesh in the Son of God, in the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God one in being and was poured forth “beside him as his craftsman”.  

One in God the Lord takes delight in us partakers of his creation.  Belonging to creative matter still “little less than the angels” we are to have “rule over the works of your hands” as trusted caretakers of creation.  The Spirit of truth comes that we may begin by taking care of our bodies to be kept holy as the temple of the Lord.  The Spirit of truth comes that we may care for the environment of whose elements our bodies are formed and sustained.  The Spirit of truth comes into our souls that we may be prepared to receive the gifts of the Spirit to be transformed even further into the image of God. 

Let us lift our voices up and proclaim “the Lord possessed me”, I am his and he is mine.  The Lord’s possession is one of love not as slaves.  We belong to a kingdom of love where treasures are there for us to possess as gifts of the Holy Spirit.  These gifts are the power to bring down other kingdoms of evil, to overcome spirits of darkness, to lift up others from their fallen state of death.  Possessed by the Lord we have the Spirit of truth, the power of love, and the victory over death.  Here lies the human dilemma none of this is possible by any act of our will but by our surrender to God that we may be possessed by him.  As we surrender to God we no longer live for ourselves but for his will to be done in us, we no longer seek our way but his way by having a true relationship of love with God, and we no longer belong to the kingdom of this world but to the kingdom of heaven one with God we remain in his presence. 

Most Holy Trinity come to us and remain with us as we rise up to the reality of the eternal kingdom among us for the glory of heaven, here I am. 

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Homily

Pentecost – Solemnity “If only!” 

Posted on by Deacon Joe

Acts 2:1-11; Ps. 104:1, 24, 29-31, 34; 1 Cor. 12:3b-7, 12-13; Jn. 20:19-23

“If only the Spirit of God dwells in you” then we are alive because of the righteousness of Jesus Christ who brought death to sin in the flesh.  Are we alive in the Spirit?  Surely in baptism we received the gift of the Holy Spirit and were confirmed in the same Spirit in Confirmation.  If alive in the Spirit, then sin cannot reign in our life for good and evil cannot share in the one body.  Temptation to do good or evil can enter the mind but the Spirit of love has one choice to follow.  Yet we are a sinful people in need of redemption called to return to the Lord through the sacrament of confession.  How is it for us to be in the Spirit and not fully there yet?  Called to be perfect the stain of sin can also rise again by our free will and enter to ruin the soul. 

“If only we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him.”  Here lays the human dilemma to take up our cross and follow him in our suffering.  Such was the faith of the early church Fathers and martyrs to suffer and die for their faith in the risen Lord.  Such is our calling to accept that which we cannot change and make it an offering to the Lord.  Suffering does not come from the Lord as Jesus gave witness to bring healing to the suffering.  Suffering is from the world where disease, violence, hate, evil, and tragedy enter and the evil one waits to see if we will weaken in faith and pounce upon the souls of the vulnerable.  It is in offering our suffering up that we become glorified in him. 

If only we believe willing to follow all that we have been commanded and keep his word out of fire of our love for him.  Fear is not to be the source of obedience to the law of God but love is.  Love is a relationship of knowledge where we come to know the three persons in one God and desire to be united to God doing his will out of love for him.   This is the sign of faith when we proclaim we believe we also follow our proclamation with the right action under the law of love for God.  If we say we believe only to follow our own way we only deceive ourselves.  And what about following our conscience?  Conscience is always associated with unity of thinking “con” meaning “with” someone.  Who is our thinking united to?  Is it with God, our friends, the norms of the world?  Our thinking is not our invention it is our alliance to something or someone? 

If only we can say “Jesus is Lord” to receive his spiritual gifts.  We say it in word and deed coming from the spiritual gifts, baptized and united to the one body of Christ.  “There are different kinds of gifts…different forms of service…different workings but the same God”.  Do we recognize the gift(s) we have received and practice the service that God is working through us? We are to be aware of the Holy Spirit at work in us and through us bearing fruit for the kingdom of God.  Otherwise, we may be like those who Jesus described as saying “Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy…drive out demons…do mighty deeds in your name?  Then I will declare to them solemnly, ‘I never know you.  Depart from me, you evildoers.’” (Mt. 7:22-23) Lesson learned, doing the will of the Father is not “window dressing”, looking the part and going through the motions of being called “Christian”.  Doing the will of the Father is a conversion into his very likeness. 

If only we were doing the will of the Father, then the words Jesus spoke “As the Father has sent me, so I send you” would be fulfilled.  To the disciples who he instituted as the priesthood “he breathed on them and said to them ‘Receive the Holy Spirit.  Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained.”  The gift to act in the person of Christ and forgive sins was given as a primordial commandment to the disciples with the Holy Spirit.  This came after the institution of the Eucharist when he said to the disciples at the Last Supper “This is my body, which will be given for you; do this in memory of me.” (Lk. 22:19).  These foundation stones of the church in the body of Christ are what many followers who say “Lord, Lord” have left behind. 

Many may say “if only I can pick and choose at will and still be saved” but that is not doing the will of the Father.  God said to Moses, say that “I Am has sent me to you.”  Am I living the “I Am” that is doing the will of the Father?  Is the Father in me and I in the Father as Jesus was in the Father and the Father in him?  The Holy Spirit comes as the Advocate that we may know he is in us and we are in him doing his will. 

Did you know that the words “I am” appears over 300 times in the Bible from Genesis to Revelations?  Jesus made seven profound “I am” statements “I am the bread of life…I am the light of the world…I am the gate…I am the Good Shepherd…I am the resurrection and the life…I am the way, the truth, and the life…I am the true vine” (google search).  In what way am I now able to claim I am living the gifts of the Holy Spirit by doing the corporal and spiritual works of mercy?  This is not a mystery but a divine revelation given to us to follow. 

If only we would “fear not” to do the will of the Father.  Did you know the words “Fear not” appear in the Bible 365 times” (google search)?   Essentially one for every day of the year, we are to fear not answering the call to holiness.  When we fear not, we walk in faith.  Where does our faith lie?  It lies in the mind of Christ being outward focused.  Where does our fear lie?  It lies in our mind being inward focused.  The more we focus away from ourself we put fears to rest in the hands of God and go forth.

“If only” implies not there yet.  We cannot get there on our own but the Advocate is given to transform us from a people of waiting upon the Lord to receiving the Lord and acting upon the Lord.  Let us eliminate the “ifs” in our lives and stay focused on “only”.  Only in God we trust.  Only in the gifts of the Holy Spirit does the fire of love come to know and serve our God.  Only in Jesus Christ and his seven “I am” proclamations does salvation come to us.  Only I can accept salvation by going from the fear of “am I?” to the transformation into “I am” a child of God come to do his will.  Peace be with you.  And with your Spirit.  As the Father has sent us Jesus, Jesus now sends us forth.  Amen. 

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Homily

Ascension of the Lord

Posted on by Deacon Joe

Acts 1:1-11; Ps. 47:2-3, 6-9; Eph. 1:17-23; Mk. 16:15-20

Ascension of the Lord, now what?  Now the Apostles wait upon the Lord in prayer for his return.  Now the Novena has begun in the upper room for the coming of the Advocate.  Now they wait for “the promise of the Father”, to receive the baptism in the Holy Spirit coming with gifts of the Spirit.  Now comes the gift of wisdom and revelation to have knowledge of God.  Now comes the gift of enlightenment to receive the hope and “riches of glory in his inheritance among the holy ones”.  Now we receive the “surpassing greatness of his power” which “he put all things beneath his feet and gave him (Jesus) as head over all things to the church which is his body”.  Yes, to the church something to reflect on how well we follow the precepts of the church.  

God the Father is giving us Jesus the Son and making it his body in the Holy Spirit, his body in the Eucharist, his body in the Magisterium of the church with authority and power and calling us his people to be his body in spirit and in truth.  The question we may ask is “why is this the way God chose to return to us after the Ascension of the Lord?”  God is making himself present in us, with us and through us in all things to remain a visible presence to the world.  He makes of himself a continued sacrifice to give himself to us with “surpassing greatness of his power” trusting in humanity his plan of salvation. Are we ready for this?   Are we up to receiving the body of Christ called to be his body as he comes “to equip the holy ones for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ”?  By our fruits we will have answered to God our readiness or not. 

Today in our times many are asking “Lord are you at this time going to restore the kingdom of Israel?”  We see war, violence, tragedy, death to the unborn, and the threat of nuclear annihilation and as in every generation the question is asked “will it happen in our time?”  The Lord’s response has not changed “It is not for you to know the times or the seasons that the Father has established by his own authority.”  “Punto final!”, final point!   What we do know is the power given to us in the Holy Spirit to be his witnesses of faith, hope, and love to every soul we encounter beginning at home and spreading to our neighbor, friend, and stranger.  This we do know, what we do with ourselves has eternal consequences.  So, people of Christian faith “why are you standing there looking at the sky?” Keep marching forward doing the will of the Father until he comes to take us up to himself at the moment of our death or at the end of time. 

“Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved; whoever does not believe will be condemned.”  Do we believe in God enough to trust him with our pain, sorrow, and suffering or do we turn from him complaining like the Israelites in the desert?   Do we believe in God when tragedy comes to the innocent in this world and we lose a child, a spouse, or a friend in a tragedy or do we cry out for vengeance?  Do we believe when we pray and pray and God is silent or do we give up and choose to go our way? 

“These signs will accompany those who believe, in my name they will drive out demons…”  In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit in baptism original sin through exorcism is driven out.  When we make the sign of the cross with Holy Water, we drive out the evil one.  When we call out to God proclaiming “Jesus is Lord” the demons rush away.  When we honor our Blessed Mother Mary demons tremble in fear.  This is the power given to us and the weapons of spiritual warfare. 

“They will speak new languages” says the Lord.  The Spirit comes with the language of truth, love, and mercy planted into our hearts.  We proclaim the Word of God as the language of authority to be our light and salvation.   

“They will pick up serpents with their hands, and if they drink any deadly thing, it will not harm them”.  We lift up in our hands the poisonous serpents in a culture of death threatened if we do not comply and accept what this world calls its freedom to choose against the moral conscience of the church.  We will not be harmed with the deadly drink of secular ideologies fed to us and forced upon us through the powers of godless institutions. 

“Conscience” meaning in Latin “con – with” and “scire – know”; with whose knowledge do we associate with?  Is it with the knowledge of God through the church or with the thinking of the world?  Our individual thinking will make an alliance of conscience in support or against the authority of the Church and as for me and my house we stand with Papa and Mother church. 

“They will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.”  When we place our hands in the hands of God it is he who heals relationships, raises up the spiritually dying, and restores faith, hope, and love to the sick.  We are but instruments in his hands.  The world is in need of recovery from the sickness of narcissistic thinking, from the passions of self-indulgence, and from the lies from a culture of indoctrination that wants to take our children and raise them up to believe they are a creation of their own mind and not of God.  So many false teachings with information overload that our children are left asking “what is truth?” 

We need more of God to blare the trumpets.  We need the Lord Jesus who in the Ascension “was taken up into heaven and took his seat at the right hand of God” to work with us and through us to confirm the word with signs of his presence.  We need a conversion of souls and he is with us calling us to be the one to make a difference. 

The trumpets are blaring!  We are blessed that this day we can sing hymns of praise to the Lord because he already reigns over us though we are in this world we belong to him.  He reigns “far above every principality, authority, power and dominion and every name that is named not only in this age but also in the one to come.”  Are we listed in the book of names?  By our baptism we have been named but we must also remain in him….and that is the work we are being called to accomplish this day.  Amen.

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Homily

6th Sunday of Easter – The Advocate

Posted on by Deacon Joe

Acts 15:1-2, 22-29; Ps. 67:2-3, 5,6,8; Rev. 21:10-14, 22-23; Jn. 14:23-29

“The Advocate, the Holy Spirit…will teach you everything”.  The Advocate is here to remind us that the Word made flesh in Jesus is to incarnate in us as the temple of the Holy Spirit.  Just as in Revelation, John sees no temple in the holy city of Jerusalem “for its temple is the Lord God almighty and the Lamb” is Jesus.  The word incarnate in us gives us the peace of Jesus “not as the world gives” peace but through the Holy Spirit as he comes to dwell in us.  Do we invoke the Holy Spirit regularly to be our Advocate in prayer?  The Holy Spirit is the gift received at baptism through who we receive the graces and virtues to know and understand the will of God in our lives.

Until the Holy Spirit came at Pentecost the disciples were sheep still failing to understand all that Jesus was instructing them.  Then came the Advocate and they became as one in the Spirit guided to make the right decision as apostles and shepherds to the Gentiles and to all the followers to come after the death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus.  Pontius Pilate asked Jesus “what is truth?”  Jesus says to his disciples at the Last Supper discourse “I am the way and the truth and the life.”  Jesus is the truth being revealed to us through the Advocate in our daily encounter with life.  If we were to consider Jesus is the truth of theology then the Holy Spirit is the applied theology as the Advocate that makes all thing work for the greater good. 

In the first reading there is a dilemma as the early church is still struggling with the applied theology and some leaders were calling upon the Gentiles to be circumcised following the Jewish tradition and law going as far as to say, “Unless you are circumcised according to the Mosaic practice, you cannot be saved.”  By what authority were these leaders relying on?  It was the historical authority and practices of the people of God.  Everything that Jesus instructed had not been written down and in what is written down Jesus says nothing about circumcision.  To have unity authority matters.  The final human authority rested on the apostles whom Jesus appointed and called Peter to be the “rock” to build his church.  The divine authority as spoken by the apostles and elders “It is the decision of the Holy Spirit and of us not to place on you any burden beyond these necessities”. 

What a great gift given to the apostles and to us to receive the Holy Spirit as the Advocate in discerning “doing what is right”.  We cannot lose sight in recognizing that as we all share in the gift of the Holy Spirit there remains the wisdom of God in providing the church an authority for the applied theology that we may all be one in faith and practice.  We cannot be a church unto ourselves and each simply believe they are doing what is their “right” when it goes against the church authority, something to reflect on.  Through the centuries many have tried and failed from Arianism, the belief that Jesus was not fully divine one with the Father to Luther’s Reformation and the revolt into Protestantism, the church has prevailed by remaining faithful to the authority and working of the Holy Spirit. 

In our times, Protestantism is failing because it continues to divide itself into more and more denominations and they break from each other because there is not one authority in the applied theology of what is “right”.  Still, we cannot cast stones within the Catholic church for we share a history of schisms when some choose to break from authority.  In the past it was Luther and today the church in Germany is at risk of doing the same with what it is calling the “synodal way” to reintroduce ideas that church authority has already addressed like female priesthood and acceptance of homosexuality.    

Have a dilemma pray to God the Father to receive his glory, pray to Jesus to be our lamp and light the way and pray to the Holy Spirit to reveal the word of truth and understanding for the answer we need to receive.  Try to remember a moment when faced with a dilemma where a difficult decision needed to be made and finding ourselves unsure how to discern the right or best decision.  Who do we turn to our parents, a spouse, our friends, or even a priest?  Do we take it to prayer and do we call upon the Advocate? 

One day as a young adolescent, I had a dilemma and needed to make what was to me a major decision at the time.  The dilemma was whether to play football or take band in school since at the time you could not take both.  I wanted both but it was not allowed and could not make the choice.  I asked my mother for guidance expecting her to help me decide.  I was quite surprised when she quickly and simply said, “You will have to decide.”  Did not see that coming.  It was not the response I expected and only later came to understand that I had to take ownership of the decision that would impact my life for the next several years and longer.  So, I prayed and asked God that I was making the right choice and was at peace with my decision.  This is the working of the Holy Spirit.  God was going to use whatever decision to help me grow as a person and in my faith.  God works through our free will when we call upon the Advocate to remain with us and lead us to the will of the Father. 

Are we ready to trust God with our life choices?  When we offer our decisions up to the Father for his glory, trust in Jesus to open the way for us, and call upon the Advocate to give us the wisdom to be at peace we are truly entering into the providential life of the Spirit.  In the Trinity God works for those who love him.  The Advocate is coming and is already here from the day of our baptism if we only turn to call upon the Holy Spirit and pray then we will hear his voice and know God is with us. 

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Homily

5th Sunday of Easter – Love one another!

Posted on by Deacon Joe

Acts 14:21-27; Ps. 145:8-13; Rev. 21:1-5a; Jn. 13:31-33a, 34-35

“Love one another as I have loved you.”  Just ponder the significance of this commandment.  We are more ready to say “yes, but” than simply “yes, Lord”.  “Jesus, you loved us unto death itself and yes but I am not perfect as you are perfect.”  Do we turn away from this commandment and settle for some other teaching like “just be good” or “no one is perfect so try your best, God knows”.  God does know and recognizes a lukewarm heart with no passion for living his love.  As he loved us, he died for us.  Who are we willing to die for?  Who are we willing to sacrifice for?  Let’s begin here for in sacrifice we die to ourselves for something outside of ourselves.  Unfortunately, we sacrifice more for the dollar that for the “dolor de amor” the pain of love. 

Jesus loves us that he suffered and died for us giving us his perfect love.  Love is not a movement of emotion it is a movement to act.  We are moved to action even knowing that the cost may be our very self.  We act out of the spirit of generosity, kindness, sacrifice, and commitment for the good of the other.  This is the love we receive from Jesus, the witness he left us to follow.  Jesus’ love is transformative and we are to transform others through our love as we are being transformed by his love for us.  When love works, it works for the good of the other and it results in an interior change in us.  We recognize, “It changed me!”  Are we a changed person because we dare to love one another as God loves us? 

If our love is not growing then it is gradually slipping away.  The world is very good at keeping us so busy with a movement to act not out of love but out of pride.  It is the false pride that worries more of our own reflection than reflecting the love of God for one another.  We can drive ourselves to burnout, working longer, doing more, expecting more from ourselves and others not out of love but out of pride.  Driven to succeed we fail to love.  As the song “Cats in the Cradle” says, “When are you coming home dad?  I don’t know when but we’ll get together then, you know we’ll have a good time then.”  Then never came!  We are left to regret the lack of love that makes life meaningful and the kingdom of God is still waiting for our love. 

We want our children to succeed but in ways that reflect success in the world not success to be the best God created them to be.  We are created to know, love, and serve God with the gifts he has given us.  This is greater than any title, position, or status in this world.  Growing in love with God fulfills the promise, “Behold, I make all things new” in us.  We are then both the same person and not the same person, changed by love.  Are we still holding on to the old self remembering how it use to be when we were younger trying to hold on to the past illusion of vanities?  Those good old days when we eat, drink, stay out late and indulged in our passions thinking we are “it”.  It is time to awaken from the slumber and recognize it is not about “me”, never was yet how long will we keep trying to make God in our image than to be transformed into his? 

Love is a transformation into the image of God.  Love is a reflection of God himself.  The highest form of expression of love is self-sacrifice coming to us in the sacrifice of Jesus to save us.  This is love described in Christianity as “agape” which represents unconditional love not just coming from God to us but being offered by us to God.  Is our love for God unconditional yet?  Each day we are to die more to ourselves to love God the greater and it comes when we love one another for God dwells in one another thus what we do to the least we do to God himself says the word of God.   

Jesus in his humanity demonstrated “philia” that is brotherly love to his disciples teaching them in all things. Jesus in his divinity demonstrated “agape” the unconditional love of his sacrifice for us on the cross.  By our baptism we enter into the divine life called to this unconditional agape love.  There are many good people in this world who share in brotherly love for others willing to offer support when they recognize a need for help and in this we have a common bond of humanity.  Even people of no faith can act out of the goodness of humanity but are we prepared to go beyond our humanity and enter into the divinity Christ opened up for us on the cross?  Are we willing to make it a sacrifice and grow in divine love?

We are born for “philautia” that is self-love but true self-love is a calling to love God in self by guarding ourselves from sin, taking care of our mind, body, and spirit from the temptations of the evil one.  We honor God beginning with how we guard ourselves, guard our dignity and respect our own life for we are his creation.  He has given us ourselves but what we do with ourselves is how we honor God as a gift of ourselves to him.  Temperance is an infused virtue to be in right balance with our physical, psychological, and spiritual needs.  In our mortality and as the temples of the Holy Spirit we are to govern ourselves first before we can be a true witness of God in our love for one another.  How we eat, sleep, work, play and pray all signs of philautia, a true self-love. 

We can then ascend to share with others in “philia” that is as brothers and sisters in Christ being in fellowship, sharing in the one faith and in the care of each other.  Many people will claim “I am a good person” meaning that is good enough.  That is not where God is calling us in the love for one another.  He is calling us to see in Jesus the higher good of divine love through his sacrifice.  Have we gone there yet?  The Lord is calling us to do his divine works in the corporal and spiritual works of mercy.  We are living in the age of mercy.  When there is great evil rising in the world, God comes with great mercy.  Jesus recognized that God was being glorified in him.  God desires to be glorified in us.  When we turn from our sin to God, he will glorify himself in us “at once” for is love is perfect.   

What are the Lord’s works that give him thanks?  We are the works of the Lord when we invite him that we may be instruments of his love.  He works through us to fulfill his works.  God dwells with us and works in us through the indwelling gift of the Holy Spirit.  He comes to us as we approach the table of the Lord and receive him in the Eucharist.  God’s word never ends, always at work, seeking souls to work through.  Will we receive him this day as he has loved us? 

 [JG1]And

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Homily

4th Sunday of Easter Voice of God; Happy Mother’s Day!

Posted on by Deacon Joe

Acts 13:14, 43-52; Ps. 100:1-2, 3, 5; Rev. 7:9, 14b-17; Jn. 10:27-30

The voice of God is always present, do we hear it?  Happy Mother’s Day to all the women who gave life to a child either by birth or by upbringing.  As moms you accepted to give of yourself so that a child could also receive the gift of love and hear the voice of God through you and all of God’s creation.  As mothers you also bring the love of our Blessed Mother Mary to her son in your faith to accept this awesome calling to serve God as moms.  Blessed are you for your fiat to serve as the voice of God to a child. 

The voice of God is to flow through Mothers both with the authority of God but also through the sensibilities of tenderness, patience, and mercy.  Ask a little child, “who’s the boss of you?”  They will most likely identify their mothers as being in charge.  Women hold onto your motherhood and don’t be deceived by the currents of politically correct culture who try to simply label women as “birthing persons” as if women are asexual and only different because they have a womb.  Women are much more than a body part; you are gifted to be mothers. 

“We are his people” who hear his voice says the Lord.  In times of distress, we may question God “Does God hear our prayers?”  The question for us however needs to be “Do we hear his voice?”  The voice of God is always present to us when we turn to the scriptures as the “gold standard” of knowledge and the “diamond” of wisdom.  The voice of God comes to us through his appointed ministers guided by the Holy Spirit to shepherd his people.  The voice of God comes to us in prayer when we become still in silence and wait upon the Lord. 

If we desire to hear the Lord, we are to open up the scriptures and spend time with the Lord reflecting on his word.  If we desire to hear the Lord, we come to receive the sacraments through the hands of the priesthood and the indwelling spirit will speak to us.  If we desire to hear the Lord, prayer is our daily constant in all its forms, the prayer of the Mass, the prayer before the blessed sacrament in adoration, the prayer of the family, and the silent prayer of the heart that calls out to God as we invite him into the moment of our day.  

We are to ask ourselves, “Is our desire to hear the Lord?”  A quick examination of conscience gives us the answer to the extent we study the scriptures, celebrate the sacraments and pray.  How long will we keep the Lord waiting for us to come to him, desire his presence, be in dialogue with him?  Last Sunday, Jesus asks Simon Peter “Do you love me?”.  We say we love God and yet how much is he a part of our day? 

We say we love our family but if we only see them in the morning before we all leave home and at night to check in on them then how strong is that love that will stand united when troubles come?  Time together is the bond of love that strengthens all relationships and God desires a relationship not simply an act of worship.  If today we hear his voice, it is because our love for the Lord brings us here to celebrate his presence in our life, our relationship with him.  Otherwise, we are simply living by tradition, a ritual of life on top of all the other rituals and habits that may have lost their meaning. 

The voice of the Lord makes our hearts burn within us as he speaks to us and opens the scriptures to us.  If you recall the movie “City Slickers” the three men went out to find that “one” thing in life they needed.  The one thing we need is to hear the voice of the Lord to give us peace, consolation, hope, mercy, all wrapped together in his love.  The voice of the Lord is the key that opens up the mystery of faith in tangible ways for us to follow.  This one thing makes everything else come to order in our priorities.  If we are not hearing the voice of the Lord then are we going in the wrong direction?  

The Lord comes to us in his body and blood in communion, in fellowship, and in sacrifice.  Today we see in the first reading Paul and Barnabas coming into the synagogue on the sabbath as Jews that those gathered may hear the voice of the Lord in the word of God revealed by the apostles.  This is their evangelization to bridge the old with the new.  Then on Sundays they gathered as believers to break bread as followers of Christ, that is as Christians.  The early church was attempting to bring about a reformation of the Jewish tradition and have Gentiles follow Jewish law but the more the Jews rejected and persecuted the Christians the more they recognized the voice of the Lord was making all things new for the Church and guided them in a new direction.  Not our will but thy will be done Lord. 

Paul and Barnabas were happy “they shook the dust from their feet in protest”, a sign they accepted it was not their fight to convert anyone.  They spoke “boldly” but only to urge them “to remain faithful to the grace of God.”  The lesson from Paul and Barnabas is that no one condemns us but those who reject the word of God “condemn yourselves as unworthy of eternal life”. 

Oh, how we desire to convert the world to the truth of the gospel but sometimes we struggle to convert our own household.  We have fallen away siblings, children, even parents.  It is not our fight it belongs to the Lord.  We are to pray for conversion to begin with us to witness to the truth by the testimony of how we live our lives and pray “Jesus I trust in you” for others to seek you and hear your voice.  The closer we get to holiness the greater the voice of God will resonate through us to others.  We worry and have anxiety about so many things and people but this only resonates fear and control to others and nobody is drawn to fear and control.  The voice of fear and control keeps the voice of God silent next to ours.  Let us resonate the voice of God through love and mercy. 

The world remains in a time of great distress in the voices of war, death, violence, and persecution in order to gain power over others.  We wash our robes white with the blood of the lamb.  This blood comes to us by remaining faithful to the voice of the Lord and in the body and blood of Christ who we join with in the suffering for our sins and those of this world.  Revelation does not say we will not have tears in this world but “God will wipe away every tear from their eyes” and lead us “to springs of life-giving water.”  Marian apparitions call us to “pray for the conversion of sinners”.  The power of prayer is not our power but the power of the one sent to us.  In the name of Jesus, the apostles demonstrated his power to heal, bring about conversion and other miracles.

If today you hear his voice know that you belong to the Lord.  If we cannot hear his voice then we are to turn back to the path he provided for us to follow and we will know the “good shepherd” is with us and no one can take us out of his hands. 

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