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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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27th Sunday Ordinary Time – Spirit of power!

Posted on by Deacon Joe

Hab. 1:2-3, 2:2-4; Ps. 95:1-2, 6-9; 2 Tim. 1:6-8, 13-14; Lk. 17:5-10

Spirit of power is the promise of the Lord.  “If you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you would say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea’, and it would obey you.”  The spirit of power comes to the faithful to govern our lives, to not fear but persevere, and to “stir into flame the gift of God.” 

The spirit of power comes at our baptism through the Holy Spirit and the Lord dwells with us in power and truth.  The spirit is strengthened when we come to receive each of the sacraments that we may grow stronger in faith, hope and love.  The spirit of power is also diminished by sin as we separate from this power by our own free will seeking what is not of the Lord.  It is a power that responds by grace as we open ourselves up to him in prayer, fasting, and almsgiving.  We say to him “come Lord” by our actions and he responds by the size of our faith.  Now we ask ourselves what size is our faith?  Faith will hear the voice of the Lord and be confirmed to go forth trusting in the Lord. 

Must we be begged and pleaded “If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts”?  It is us who are to beg the Lord and plead our cause for love and mercy.  “The rash one has no integrity” because of pride and arrogance of heart “but the just one, because of his faith, shall live”.  The just recognize there is a God, and we are not only not our god, but we are here to serve our God.  This is the vision we are to hold onto, God “will surely come” and not be delayed.  When God comes with the spirit of power it is no longer us who live but God who lives in us.  This is the power we cannot harness nor create but it comes as a gift from God’s will and remains with the faithful, the just, and the servant.  If we truly desire the spirit of power then turn back to a life of faithfulness to his word, righteousness to his people, and service to our king of heaven and earth. Come Lord, this day with your spirit of power, we believe, we pray, and we trust in you. May the flame burn brightly in our souls.

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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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The Deacon Joe

21st Sunday Ordinary Time – “Discipline of the Lord” 

Posted on by Deacon Joe

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

The discipline of the Lord is to be endured as a trial “for whom the Lord loves, he disciplines”.    Discipline comes through perseverance and perseverance through faith.  If we do not believe that the hand of the Lord is active in our discipline through life then we fall into the search for the path through least resistance.  What is the easy way instead of seeking the better way?  The Lord calls us to “Make straight paths for your feet” and follow the discipline of faith.  This discipline comes through the teaching of the Church, following the sacramental life, and living life as another Christ in this world.  That discipline is hard we say.  Jesus says, “Strive to enter through the narrow gate”. 

We live in a time in the church when rules, traditions, church law, even church doctrine is frowned on as too institutional, too rigid.  Notice how many Christian churches keep rising up under the banner of “just have faith” or “follow your conscience”, or forget the Old Testament writings and just follow the gospels.  Even in the Catholic church some characterize the requirements of the sacraments and its form and matter as too legalistic after all “Jesus understands”.  Jesus understands the call to discipline as good for the soul.  Today Jesus warns against those who assume because “we ate and drank in your company” we are saved.  The discipline of the Lord is for us to avoid being among those to who he will say, “I do not know where you are from.” 

To those who say “just have faith” risk the pit of destruction by minimizing sin as simply a human fault after all “no one is perfect”.  The theology here is “as long as we believe we are going to heaven.”  Consider the fact the devil believes in God and his sin caused him to fall from grace taking with him to this day all he can get to be deceived by this theology.  The discipline of the Lord is to separate us from sin not to normalize it.  The argument is made for “just have faith” as justified by faith alone but scripture argues that faith without works is dead.  The discipline of our works is the sign of faith we are to live.  In the discipline of the Lord we have works, we pick up our cross and follow him.  One is the visible sign of the invisible faith as the Lord says, “I know their works and their thoughts.” 

To those who say “follow your conscience” believe their thoughts and beliefs will always justify their actions.  Jesus says, “I am the way, the truth and the life” and our ways are not his ways.  A conscience is formed and a well-formed conscience comes through the discipline of the Lord with right teaching.  The word “conscience” implies our thought are “con” meaning “with” the thinking of someone.  Is our conscience united to the teaching of Jesus or with the world’s cafeteria options to choose from?  A well-formed conscience is rooted in the discipline of the Lord and whom a parent loves they discipline in the faith of Jesus Christ. 

The call of a parent to love a child comes with the obligation to discipline beyond behavioral or social norms as visible signs of good parenting.  The call of a parent comes with the obligation to provide the spiritual discipline for an increase of faith, hope, and love in God.  It begins in the discipline of faith to believe in one God, the Father almighty with all the mind of acceptance and in his only begotten Son Jesus Christ with all the heart of love and in the Holy Spirit with all the will of obedience and in his one Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church with all the discipline of the sacramental life.  It is a covenant of love that unites us to God the Father, through the Son in the Holy Spirit in the sacramental life of the Church. 

Then there are those who say the bible is written by men so only what Jesus is quoted can be trusted recall that Jesus gave authority to the apostles to “go and make disciples of all nations”.  It is Jesus who first used the word “church” calling on his followers to gather together in the “house of the Lord” that is “ekklesia” in Greek meaning church.  The discipline of the Lord comes through his church in the unbroken authority given to the apostles we call today the magisterium of the church.  To dwell into the mind of Christ cannot come or be sustained in the mind of one person but in the unity of those he called and continues to call to the priesthood.  We trust in the outcome of this unity as guided by the Holy Spirit.  It is the wisdom of the ages still true today as from the beginning. 

It all begs the question if the world is given all this truth from God why is there a growing phenomenon of persons identified as “nones”?  These are the “unaffiliated” without any religion.  They include atheist, agnostics, and those who say “nothing in particular”.  According to pewrearch.org 60% question religious teaching, 49% have “opposition to the positions taken by churches on social and political issues”.  Below that 41% dislike religious organizations; 37% don’t believe in God, 36% consider religion irrelevant to them, and 34% dislike religious leaders.  What is missing in the “nones” is a personal encounter with the living Christ. 

This is a people who hold to their beliefs justified only by their thinking wandering in the desert of their mind for the living water and die believing there is nothing more and the promise land is a fable otherwise if God was real to them, they would want that connection to him and seek him even in church.  This is a people without hope for eternity and they only exist for this moment and the moment is quickly coming to an end because death is real and unavoidable.  The ”nones” is not something new just a new way of labeling a certain group of people who have always been there.  The reasons given are not new, it is how the world remains from age to age.  What is new perhaps is the number who have grown up in the faith and left the church to become “nones”. 

We as church need to question “what is happening” from within.  Have we become lukewarm, lost the discipline of the Lord, fallen into minimalism, and/or just holding on for the sake of tradition.  Where is the fire that burns from within?  What happened to our “come to Jesus” moment or have we not had that moment yet?  We should not wait for the 911 day in our life for God to rescue us.  God is good and the path opens up to us when we get back to the basic discipline of the Lord and follow the narrow path. 

The USCCB (United States Conference of Catholic Bishops) is calling for a National Eucharistic Revival in this country.  We need a transformation from within as a people of God and Jesus in the eucharist is the “source and summit of our faith”.  In the eucharist is the mystery of faith that is transformative.  Here he lies as the answer and we come in faith to be healed, renewed, and strengthened for this pilgrimage on earth. 

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Homily The Deacon Joe

20th Sunday Ordinary Time – “Fixed on Jesus”

Posted on by Deacon Joe

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

“Fixed on Jesus, the leader and perfector of faith” is faithful when we call out to him, “Lord come to my aid.”  This is our hope, in a world where humanity comes short of being a “faithful and prudent steward” as servant of the Lord, Jesus is ready to respond to our plea when we pray “Lord come to my aid!”  As a child or adult children of a dysfunctional world growing up with sin and suffering, abuse, broken homes, absent parents, drugs, alcohol, and all types of sinful “land mines” our hope is to remain fixed on Jesus.  Jesus is always ready for us even when we are not ready for him. 

Fixed on Jesus, “He drew me out of the pit of destruction” says the psalm.  Bad things happen and it happened to Jeremiah when the leaders turned against him for speaking up to the people what the Lord said was to come.  Take note that Jeremiah is silent other than speaking what the Lord was saying.  He is handed over to death but Jeremiah remained fixed on the Lord until he was rescued and spoke directly to the king. 

The Lord will rescue us if we trust in him.  He is the king we are to wait for who will direct our mind, heart, and soul with what to say to those who wish to destroy, persecute, or bring us to death for speaking up against the sins of this world.  Speaking against the sin of abortion, homosexual acts, gender transition, and the misuse of alcohol, drugs, food, money, and power is being the voice of Jeremiah, John the Baptist, the apostles, the martyrs and Jesus.  In all of them we are to recognize we are called to speak up for the Lord’s righteousness.

The Lord will “put a new song into my mouth” says the psalm.  It is a song of salvation to perfect our faith not by escaping this world but when we “persevere in running the race that lies before us while keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus.”  Jesus gives us the witness of shedding blood on the cross for our sins.  Now he is calling us in our struggle against sin to resist sin “to the point of shedding blood.”  Think of the lives of the saints and their acts of mortification.  Think of the temptation to sin when being rejected, cursed, bullied, sexually harassed, or denied fair treatment and instead of responding with hate, retaliation, revenge, or vengeance we resist sin and offer it up to God.  This is the shedding the blood of his mercy. 

Saint Francis threw himself onto a bed of rose thorns and Saint Theresa of Avila who was seen on her knees with a cord whipping her back.  They were ordinary people who took extraordinary acts to shed blood for their sins.  We are all called to sainthood and we are all given through the church an opportunity to make a sacrifice for the Lord.  It comes during the season of Lent, it comes when we kneel before the Lord in adoration, it comes in Mass when we enter into the mystery of faith beginning with our confession.  In many little ways we can make an act of sacrifice, do reparation, and offer ourselves up with love, for love, to love itself.  This is our shedding of blood when we are fixed on Jesus. 

What is up with Jesus today?  Why does he say, “Do you think that I have come to establish peace on the earth?  No, I tell you, but rather division.”  What happened to peace, love, and unity?  If our eyes are fixed on Jesus something has changed in us.  It will make others uneasy, having to see themselves in the light of our reflection of Christ and they will do one of three things.  They can rebel and go on the attack with words such as “religiosity, weird, eccentric, boring.”  They can withdraw, avoid us and “quietly quit” from having a relationship with us.  They can also be drawn closer seeking to understand asking questions that allow us to evangelize.  Where does our faith fixed on Jesus become most disruptive?  In the home where we not all are on the same level of commitment or share the same desire for unity with Christ.  A simple test question is “Who is ready for Mass on Sunday?” 

Readiness includes a predisposition to love God with all our heart, mind, and soul in the Mass.  It comes with thanksgiving for all the blessings of the week.  It is being childlike in our petitions trusting God and believing “the Lord comes to our aid.”  It is offering up a sacrifice of praise that goes from the lips down deep in the heart.  Are we that ready or are we simply minimalist, conforming to tradition but our hearts are far from God?  Thank God he is love and mercy, slow to anger, and rich in kindness who knows our true self and is faithful to us as a work in progress. 

The Lord works in mysterious ways.  Last week, I had just finished working on my homily and closed my tablet.  When I went to open it up to print it would not boot up.  At first, I thought it might be low on battery so I plugged it in and waited with no result.  I thought if I do the homily I am going to go from memory and that is not a good thing. My prayer was “Jesus, I trust in you.  It is in your hands.”  The weekend came and on Saturday I went to Best Buy to have Geek Squad check it out.  At this point I thought regardless I am not getting it today.  As I was standing in line with one person in front of me, I accidently dropped the tablet to the floor.  My thought was this could get worse.  I picked it up and automatically pressed the power button.  It lit up.  I lit up with a big smile of gratitude. 

Rather than stress about it for days, I waited for the Lord with a new song of prayer fixed on Jesus and he answered me.  Even if I had not had the written copy to go by, I believed the Lord was going to be with me and I was waiting to see with the attitude “it is in God’s hands”.   God must have thought, “I don’t trust his memory.”  If it has to do with God, he is on it.  It all has to do with God.  Let us keep our eyes fixed on Jesus.  He is the perfecter of faith and he is listening. 

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Homily The Deacon Joe

19th Sunday Ordinary Time – Ready by faith!

Posted on by Deacon Joe

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

Ready by faith!  Abraham was ready by faith to obey “when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance…not knowing where he was to go.”  By faith, Abraham a man “as good as dead” and Sarah “herself was sterile” were able to have a child, Isaac and by faith he was ready to offer his only son as a sacrifice.  Are we ready to live by faith in the sure hope of things not seen?  We were not there to see the resurrection of Jesus and yet by faith we believe not only in his resurrection but in ours to come.  Faith builds up our readiness when we act on our faith.  

Here lies our dilemma, we say we have faith but we act as if we trust only in ourselves.  Our readiness to respond to God depends on living our life, all our daily acts believing in him, having his presence active in our lives.  If we recognize him in our daily walk, caring for us, loving us, nudging us, or stopping us in our tracks even when we thought we knew what we wanted then we stand ready to hear his voice and respond by faith to his command.

 Ready by faith requires a willingness to surrender to God and live according to his will.  This does not mean we are to act as helpless humans in our dilemma, to the contrary we act in faith according to the teaching of Jesus.  Today Jesus gives us a teaching on who is a “faithful and prudent steward”.  Who is the “servant of the Master” in charge of his “servants”?  First of all, we are all God’s servants and we are all entrusted with the responsibility to care others.  As servants we walk with God taking the right next step.  Too many people say “I follow my conscience.”  The word “conscience” implies a “unity” as “con” means “with” and “science” means “thinking”.  Thus, who are we thinking with, God or the world?  United to God in the teachings of Jesus we are ready by faith to take the right next step. 

Parents are in charge of God’s children.  Parents are responsible “to distribute the food allowance at the proper time”.  This responsibility is not simply the meal on the table but the spiritual food in raising children according to the faith.  Unfortunately, there is an attitude of minimalism when it comes to our faith.  We send our children to school and to church but are we involved in what they are learning from others to shape their faith, their understanding of themselves and of this world.  If we don’t engage them others will and social media is like a snake in the wilderness of society full of poison.  In each stage of life there are Godly lessons to learn. 

The Church is responsible to “distribute the food allowance at the proper time” in the sacramental life of the people of God.  Today it is popular to say “I’m spiritual, I’m not religious”.  Unless your dead that statement is an oxymoron.  Spirituality is lived in the totality of our humanity, body, soul, and spirit.  How spiritual is someone who has diarrhea or diarrhea of the mouth?  It runs but has no substance of Godly value.  Humanity is ritualistic from the moment we get up to how we get to bed we establish order and purpose in our actions.  The Church has order and purpose guided by the Holy Spirit in its distribution of the sacraments.  You can also be spiritually demonic and even that has a religious practice.  Don’t be fooled by the promotion of humanism that tries to make everything about “you” as spiritual. 

Ready by faith is a practice of virtues guided by the Holy Spirit.  In baptism we receive the Cardinal virtues from the Holy Spirit to guide the soul of a child from the beginning of their earthly pilgrimage.  The virtues of prudence for right judgment, temperance for right balance, fortitude for right exercise of power, and justice for right action.  The more we live our virtues the more ready we are to gain even greater virtues in generosity, charity, humility, going deeper into the true spirit of faith in action.

Ready by faith is living according to the spiritual and corporal works of mercy.  It is Agape, the love of neighbor as yourself.  It is being Christ according to the gifts we have received as “servants of God” for the care of others.  As Christians by our baptism and the gift of the Holy Spirit we come to know our “master’s will” and those who fail to answer the call “shall be beaten severely”.  Only the ignorant of the master’s will “shall be beaten lightly” for failing respond to the will of his master.  This “beating” we can image in the context of purgatory as we are reminded in Malachi 3:2-3, “But who can endure the day of his coming?   He will be like a refiner’s fire.”

We are reminded that nothing impure can enter heaven.  The Lord will forgive our sins completely when we seek his forgiveness but the impurity of our human condition must also be cleansed of our imperfections and make atonement for unforgiven sins for failing to confess.  Today we can offer up our spiritual and corporal works of mercy in atonement for our sins and receive the grace of purification as we come to be the master’s good servant. 

Ready by faith is not dormant but actively leading us to truth, goodness, beauty, and unity.    Ready by faith begins with prayer, a daily walk and talk with God.  It includes the “sure knowledge of the oaths in which they put their faith”.  This knowledge can be summed up as salvation history and the “oaths” as the promise of God realized in the person of Jesus’ passion, death, and resurrection to be with him in heaven.  We are blessed to be “the people the Lord has chosen to be his own”.  As a chosen people our humanity gets us through the desert of life with Jesus as our companion to see the promise land at a distance from this life.  Faith gets us across the bridge into the unseen glory waiting for those who believe. 

The Lord will deliver us from death and preserve us in spite of the “famine” of this world and all its suffering.  We hunger for truth, goodness, beauty and unity in our life, our family, our society but the world will never be the answer.  God is the answer to our hunger, the beginning and the end all of our search.  In faith we offer ourselves up and all our daily labor for what is hoped for and wait upon the Lord who provides the evidence of things not seen.  The evidence comes in answered prayer, it comes not by accident but by divine providence and it comes in the unseen realization that by the grace of God we are here, we exist and we have a divine purpose to live that will set us free.  We are reminded we are no longer slaves but heirs to the kingdom.  We are ready by faith! 

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